Chapter 374: 374

Yan Liqiang couldn’t respond for quite a long time while feeling the extra ball of energy in his head .

He was absolutely certain that there was never such a thing in his sea of consciousness before this . He didn’t know what it was, but he had a hunch that it had something to with the Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth and energy that his brain had absorbed earlier . It was as though… as though that mysterious area in his brain had transformed the absorbed energy into this little golden vortex . It felt kind of similar to when he would completely empty out his dantian and transform the Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth that poured forth into in body as vital Qi .

However, just what exactly was that golden vortex?

Yan Liqiang wasn’t really a greenhorn . He had access to precious secret manuals and techniques in both reality and the Heavenly Realm and he had also seen many talented experts . Even so, being able to conjure something up in the mind was news to him . It contradicted every martial arts cultivation method on the Silver Continent . This was truly an incredible discovery .

To be on the safe side, Yan Liqiang carefully examined his whole body with his inner sight, particularly his brain . He found that there was no discomfort in his body . His bodily functions, senses, and consciousness were all performing in top condition . The inner and vital Qi in his dantian were circulating smoothly too . The small golden vortex didn’t seem to be causing any side effects .

When Yan Liqiang was checking the inner and vital Qi in his dantian, only then did he remember that he had forgotten to empty out the vital Qi into the Heavenly Stone . He had forgotten to do so when he was cultivating Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing because he was too mentally exhausted when he had returned today . Due to that, the vital Qi inside his dantian didn’t increase and wasn’t refined at all through the strengthening effects he received today .

“Woof… woof… woof… woof…!”

Just when Yan Liqiang was about to seriously study what the golden vortex in his sea of consciousness was for, Goldie suddenly barked from the yard downstairs, notifying Yan Liqiang that he had a visitor .

There were three knocks on the door from downstairs . The voice of the servant who usually delivered his meals then rang out from outside . “Commandant Yan, your humble servant is here to deliver your dinner…!”

Yan Liqiang’s stomach rumbled like thunder when he heard that dinner had arrived . When his mouth watered, only then he was reminded that he had skipped lunch today and was famished now .

He went downstairs and Goldie came running to him . It circled around Yan Liqiang while wagging its tail excitedly . With Goldie’s keen sense of smell, it had already caught a whiff of the food aroma inside the box outside the door .

“Alright, alright . I know you skipped lunch too and worked hard by guarding the yard the whole afternoon . You can eat more tonight too!” Yan Liqiang patted Goldie’s head and opened the door .

“Ah, Commandant Yan, this is your dinner…” A warm and humble smile appeared on the servant’s face as soon as he saw Yan Liqiang .

Compared to before, the food box that servant always delivered to Yan Liqiang was a size bigger now, and he also carried an extra food box . The extra box contained Goldie’s meal while the bigger one contained Yan Liqiang’s meal . Ever since he became the deputy manager of Deer Villa, his position and the treatment he received in Deer Villa significantly improved, though he never entered the palace nor was he really involved in managing affairs . There were many maids in Deer Villa and Eunuch Liu was initially planning to let a few of them take care of Yan Liqiang, but Yan Liqiang rejected the offer . Likewise, Yan Liqiang’s daily meals became more sumptuous ever since the Emperor’s visit as they were filled with more rare delicacies and tonic ingredients .

“Oh, how is your son doing with the archery training that I had you teach him last time?” Yan Liqiang asked with a smile when he accepted the food box .

The servant quickly nodded and looked as though he was overwhelmed by favor . “He is still practicing, still practicing . My son is quite dull, the things Commandant Yan taught him are enough for him to practice them for a few years . We will have to let him build a solid foundation first before proceeding…”

“That’s good!”

“Oh right, this is a letter that someone wrote to you, Commandant Yan . Since I was going to deliver your meal, I conveniently brought it here…” the servant said while he fished out a letter from his chest . He handed it over to Yan Liqiang with both hands .

Yan Liqiang glanced at the envelope . The character ‘Fang’ was written on it, indicating that it was from Fang Beidou . Both of them had an agreement that the latter would send a letter to Deer Villa if he needed something from him .

“Alright, thank you for the trouble!” Yan Liqiang accepted the letter and immediately stashed it into his chest without even opening it .

“My pleasure to be of service to you, Commandant Yan!”

……

Dinner was exceptionally sumptuous tonight . The dishes had expensive ingredients like deer placenta cream, red sage, Chinese wolfberries, and even a few more that Yan Liqiang couldn’t recognize . When he was only halfway through his meal, he felt his entire body becoming comfortably warm as blood pumped through his body and the hunger he felt completely vanished . Eunuch Liu and the Emperor must have known about his upcoming challenge so they took out some good stuff for the Deer Villa kitchen to whip up their best dishes . His daily meals were prepared to nurture his vital Qi and replenish his physical energy .

By the time Yan Liqiang finished his food, his body had fully recovered and was bursting with energy .

Yan Liqiang only took out the letter from Fang Beidou and started reading it after the servant left .

On the surface, Fang Beidou didn’t really write much in the letter . The content was filled with general pleasantries and some trifle matters in the publishing company . If this letter fell into someone else’s hands, it would impossible for them to obtain any useful information out of it . However, Yan Liqiang’s expression turned grave by the time he finished reading because Fang Beidou had started the letter off with ‘My worthy younger brother, Liqiang…’ . According to their previous agreement, starting the letter with such a greeting would imply that the publishing company had encountered a huge problem .

What kind of trouble could a newspaper office possibly encounter?

Yan Liqiang put the letter down on the table after reading it . He frowned and started mulling over it while rubbing his chin . Truth be told, he truly had no idea what kind of trouble the publishing company was in . The ‘Great Han Times’ was fully established in the Imperial Capital city and the newspaper sales had risen to record highs . Everything was already on the right track and he no longer needed to worry about it . How could there still be any problems that required his involvement at this time?

After thinking for a while and coming to a dead end, Yan Liqiang simply tossed the matter aside and stopped pondering over it .

The blindfolded contest would take place in a few days time and his life was at stake . At a time like this, what else could be more important than your own life? Without taking the trial of death, one would always feel that all sorts of matters were important . However, when one was challenged with the trial of death, only then he would truly realize that everything else that didn’t concern life and death were merely trivial matters .

Regardless of what the publishing company had encountered, he would find out when he met Fang Beidou tomorrow .

Yan Liqiang burned the letter in a firepan and stopped thinking about it . As the sky slowly turned dark, Yan Liqiang spent the rest of his time concentrating on finding out more about the small golden vortex in his head .

He spent the entire night using every method he could think of . Even so, the small golden vortex was still slowly spinning in the same spot in his sea of consciousness as though it was non-existent .

By the time it was late into the night, Yan Liqiang still didn’t manage to figure out anything so he entered the Sword Cavern again and tried to decipher the unique rare beast core crystal on the sixth floor of the crystal pagoda . Unfortunately, he still couldn’t identify it after a few hours because all the rare beast core crystals looked and felt identical to him . In the end, he could only leave the sixth floor of the crystal pagoda and return to his bedroom again to sleep .

To solve the challenge on the sixth floor of the crystal pagoda in the Sword Cavern, only one word could sum up Yan Liqiang’s only strategy —’Drag’!

Yan Liqiang was at a complete loss in the crystal pagoda and he couldn’t ask anyone for help either . He was wondering if he could find some clues in reality . Fortunately, time was frozen in the Heavenly Realm after he exited the place . He could only stay seven days at most in the crystal pagoda and the maximum temporal distortion between the Heavenly Realm and reality was also seven days . This meant he had an additional fourteen days in reality to solve the difficult challenge on the crystal pagoda’s sixth floor .

It felt like he was cheating, but who would find out?

If he still couldn’t solve that challenge over the seven days in the crystal pagoda and fourteen days in reality, he would have no choice but to admit defeat .

The next day, Yan Liqiang went to Ji Xiaoyao in the early morning . There, he spent the entire morning training Yan Liqiang with the blindfolded contest method .

It was strange that although this was only Yan Liqiang’s second time undergoing the same training that depleted the same amount of spiritual and mental energy, it didn’t feel like his head had been emptied out and dead tired today . Instead, he still felt like he had a lot of stamina and spiritual energy left to carry on .

Yan Liqiang ended his training at Ji Xiaoyao’s place and returned to his courtyard . He discovered that the small golden vortex in his consciousness had suddenly shrunk significantly and a considerable amount seemed to have been depleted . Realization dawned upon him with this discovery . Could it be that the morning training had depleted the ball of strange energy in his sea consciousness?

This discovery made him feel as though he was catching on to something, yet he still couldn’t quite put a finger on it!

Yan Liqiang only cultivated one round of Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing . After the mysterious, black hole-like area in his brain absorbed a lot of Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth and energy, the small golden vortex was restored again . Not only that, it seemed to have grown slightly bigger . Since he didn’t deplete enough energy today, the strengthening effects of Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing weren’t as obvious as the first day .

After lunch, Yan Liqiang left Deer Villa to find Fang Beidou to discuss what kind of problem the publishing company had encountered…