The Twenty-Third Move of Qi

  Currently, Tang Yan is a 9-star Dou Shi. If he upgrades one more level, he can reach the stage of releasing his Dou Qi externally. At that time, he can condense his Dou Qi into sword energy, knife energy, fist energy, palm energy... His strength will also increase by about twice as much. These Dou Qi will also become stronger due to individual's strength. Tian Xiong had said before that once reaching the Dou Sheng level or above, one can easily crush a giant peak with just a casual hand movement. Reaching the Dou Huang level allows one to use Dou Qi to transform into a pair of wings and fly...

  Previously, Tang Yan had used his claws to withstand the Five Elders' blow. The reason he was able to do so was that he had concentrated his internal energy on his fingertips, achieving an effect of cutting through metal and shattering jade. Unfortunately, he had underestimated Tang Yan too much. Tang Yan's Thirty-Two Sword Techniques, in one breath, chopped him into a state of no return, only able to parry and block, until his internal energy was broken by the Snow Blow, and he was cut in half by a single knife, meeting an untimely death.

  Tang Yan's self-created Thirty-Two Sword Techniques are not particularly powerful, but what makes them strong is that they can be executed in a short span of just a few seconds, with moves like consecutive thrusts, sweeps, chops, and slashes. This keeps the opponent constantly on the defensive, unable to counterattack. However, if you reach the level of spiritual energy, you can gather your internal energy and use it to deflect the attack, then immediately counterattack your opponent.

  After dinner, Tang Yan and Zi Lan went out to buy clothes. In the future, Tang Yan couldn't wear just two sets of clothes every day, could he? Although Shisong Town was small, the things here were as good as those in big cities, with many goods coming from big cities, so the quality was very good, which made Zi Lan want to buy more. Sometimes, Tang Yan wondered if he was buying clothes or if Zi Lan was buying clothes for him. He only bought five sets, while she bought six. Not counting the small belly wraps, it could be said that women were born to be shopping crazy.

  "I'll put those undergarments in the storage ring for you, we've kissed before, do you still mind about this little thing?" Tang Yan said as he saw Zilan holding a packaged underwear.

  "You still have the nerve to mention this. Last time you said something about flying pigs, and ended up getting kissed!" Zi Lan said, hearing Tang Yan bring up past events.

  "I just put my mouth close to your face, looking at the pores on your face, who knew you turned around and kissed me!" Tang Yan said, refusing to admit it.

  "Are you going to protect me like this forever?" Zi Lan suddenly asked, sinking down.

  "Of course, you are my junior sister and also my future wife. Master has already said that as long as I break through to the Great Dou Shi, he will arrange for us to be married. I am currently a 9-star Dou Shi, and it won't take me many days to break through to the Great Dou Shi. At that time, you will be my fiancée!" Tang Yan said, holding Zi Lan's small hand.

  "Who wants to be your wife, hum!" Zi Lan said with a pout.

  "Let's go for a walk in the market!" Tang Yan said, looking up at the sky which was approaching 6 o'clock in the evening.

  As soon as Tang Yan said he wanted to go to the market for a stroll, Zilan thought Tang Yan was going to buy vegetables and let her cook for him. However, Tang Yan only said he was going for a stroll and didn't mention buying anything. So Zilan didn't ask any more questions, but that doesn't mean she wasn't thinking about it in her heart. Zilan wondered, if she became Tang Yan's woman in the future, would she have to cook three meals a day for him?

  It's normal for a woman to cook, but the problem is that Zilan has never cooked before. As the daughter of a wealthy family, she usually had her meals prepared by servants.

  Although it was already evening, the market was bustling with many ordinary people coming and going, and the surrounding vendors' calls were incessant. However, Tang Yan wasn't there to buy anything, but rather headed towards a place that sold animals. Unfortunately, there weren't any magical beasts or the like, but there were plenty of domesticated fowl, which made Tang Yan feel a bit hesitant. If it had been in the past, Tang Yan wouldn't have let even a single cockroach go, but now these domesticated birds didn't hold much significance for him.

  "Sir, would you like some turtle?" A man who looked like a farmer asked Tang Yan while carrying several turtle-like things.

  "I want a demon beast, I want to eat demon beast meat, do you have any?" Tang Yan searched around in several circles, but didn't find any small demon beasts, only seeing a few small wild rabbits and the like.

  "Monsters, they're only available in the hands of morning hunters, by noon they're usually all gone. But you can ask at the hotel, they should have some. Most of the monsters in Shisong Town are bought from them!" said the kind-hearted farmer to Tang Yan.

  "Oh, okay then! I'll come back tomorrow morning! Here's a silver coin for you!" Tang Yan tossed a silver coin to him and said.

  "Thank you, sir!"

  Hunters, they usually set traps in the forest at night and go to collect them around 5 or 6 am. They catch live ones and immediately send them to the town to sell for money. So, it's said that mornings are hunters' business, but most of those who buy small magical beasts are taverns or minor nobles.

  As Tang Yan descended the mountain for the first time, he somewhat enjoyed this ancient way of life and couldn't help but stroll around the streets of Shisong Town, despite its small size. There were gambling dens, brothels, pawnshops, and small guilds, among other things. Tang Yan had seen these things on TV before, and regarding the so-called guilds, he had also read about them in some books. Simply put, they were like scattered arrow bureaus and banks, which could escort goods and also help find things for a fee based on the difficulty of the task.

  Originally, Tang Yan wanted to take a look at the brothel and the casino, but thinking that he had Zi Lan by his side made him feel a bit inconvenient. It wasn't that Tang Yan was lecherous or fond of gambling, it's just that he liked this era too much. Although he had some money on him, after today's expenses, Tang Yan discovered that keeping a beauty like Zi Lan required not only strength but also wealth.

  They just strolled around with Zilan for a while, and they had already spent over thirty gold coins on clothes. Afterwards, she bought some accessories, rouge, and powder, which added up to nearly a hundred gold coins. The journey to the Imperial City of the Purple Dragon Empire was long, and the tuition fees were unknown, causing Tang Yan to start feeling pressure.

  "Sister, let's go take a look at that junk shop!" Tang Yan said, thinking of the fifth-grade ice-elemental magic core in his spatial ring.

  "Great!" Actually, Zilan usually doesn't spend much money either. It's just that these days have been really happy, so she went shopping to vent her emotions.

  Junk shop, inside really is buying junk, ordinary things like monster skin, books, maps, and many unknown things. However, Tang Yan wasn't there to buy things, but to sell them. He took out a tattered Snowscale Beast hide from his spatial ring and placed it on the table in front of him, asking the shop owner if he would buy it.

  "What is this thing?" a young man asked, staring at the snowflake-like skin on the table.

  "This is a fifth-grade Snowscale Beast hide!" Tang Yan said.

  "Wait a minute, I'll go call the boss to see if it's true!" The young man was shocked when he heard that it was a fifth-tier demon beast. His small shop had never purchased such high-level demon beast skin before. Usually, the highest level they dealt with was third-tier, and in a year, they wouldn't even trade more than three or four pieces of third-tier demon beast skin.

  Zilan watched as the young man went into the inner hall, and immediately pulled Tang Yan over: "You didn't really kill that Snow Scaled Beast in the back mountain forest, did you?"

  "Hmm, about right, what's up?" Tang Yan asked.

  "What about the Bone Dissolving Grass by the Bone Dissolving Pool? You won't tell me you ate it, will you?" Zi Lan had also heard her father mention Snow Scale Beast.

  "Alright! Wait a minute, I'll tell you more when we get back to the wine shop, the boss is here!" Tang Yan said.

  An middle-aged man came out from the inner hall, first glanced at Tang Yan's body, then looked at the scales on the table, with a very surprised expression. However, he shook his head and sighed, saying that this was the worst piece of demon beast skin he had ever collected.

  Rotten? Yes, I don't know if it's because Tang Yan's blow was too sharp or if he had never skinned a demon beast before. On one piece of four-square-meter-large scale skin, there were several big and small holes the size of fists.

  "Can I take a look at this magical beast core? Otherwise, it's really hard for me to tell if it's a fifth-order Snowscale Beast or not!" The Snowscale Beast is a rare magical beast, but reaching the fifth order is even rarer.

  "Alright!" Tang Yan didn't think much about it, he just hoped to buy more living expenses or tuition fees. Anyway, having more money on him wasn't a bad thing.

  The demon core was not very large, only slightly larger than a walnut, crystal blue in color, and emitting a faint chill. As soon as the demon core appeared, this guy's eyes narrowed again, but he wasn't staring at the demon core in Tang Yan's hand, but rather the space ring on his hand, because the space ring was several times more valuable than the demon core in his hand, and it was priceless.

  Generally, those who possess spatial rings are either kings or members of ancient families. It's rare for a noble to have multiple spatial rings, so the boss had to be careful in handling this matter.

  "Hmm, it's indeed a 5th-grade magic core!" The boss said, holding a crystal-like object and placing the magic core on top of it, determining its grade by looking at the light emitted by the crystal.

  "How much is this Snow Scale skin worth?" Tang Yan asked as he put away the magic core.

  At market price, a fifth-order demon beast skin is worth five thousand gold coins. Since it's a rare ice-type snow scale beast, it can be added to six thousand gold coins.

  Next to Tang Yan, when he heard the six thousand gold coins, his eyes narrowed and almost laughed out loud. However, the boss didn't finish speaking, as he pointed at the several broken holes on top. He shook his head in dismay and said: "Originally it could have been bought for a good price, or even made into an extreme quality war helmet. But these few broken holes are fatal flaws, its value is at most three thousand gold coins. You see, sir, are you satisfied with three thousand gold coins? Of course, the magic core in your hand is worth more, it can be sold for fifty thousand gold coins!"

  Demon core, Tang Yan won't make a move, who knows if it'll be useful later. So Tang Yan only sold this one Snow Scale Beast skin for 3,000 gold coins.

  After taking three thousand gold coins, Tang Yan and Zi Lan left the miscellaneous store. At this time, it was already after 9 pm, and there were fewer pedestrians on the road. Some were just men who were looking for flowers and asking for willows, but no one dared to rush up to Zi Lan to flirt with her, perhaps because they saw the giant sword on the man's back beside her, plus Tang Yan had defeated a Dou Shi in the tavern today, and it had already spread throughout Shisong Town.

  "How long are you going to tail me!" Tang Yan turned around and asked the two guys who had been lurking in the shadows behind him, seeing that there was no one in front of them.

  "Haha, I didn't think you'd find us, young master! Our old master invites you to come to our mansion for a gathering!" The two guys who were discovered walked out of the alley and said to Tang Yan.

  "Alright, it's already late at night. Why don't I go over again tomorrow noon? And you all shouldn't follow me either, just go back and tell your master!" Tang Yan said, not intending to kill this small fry.

  "Alright, let's go!" They heard Tang Yan say.