Chapter 19 : Chapter 19
Chapter 19: Wang Longcheng, a Ruthless and Decisive Beast
Li Mu’s eyes became like a form of x-ray vision, seeing straight through the meridians inside Wang Longcheng’s body.
It looked almost like a navigation map displaying routes.
All of the meridians were green.
Only in the region of his lungs were there two meridians glowing a deep red.
And that red had already begun spreading toward the lungs themselves.
At the point where the red converged, the two meridians were actually crossing and colliding with each other.
It was like two lanes of traffic on a highway, each marked to go in opposite directions, only for their lines to bend into the other side.
And at that point of intersection, the endless stream of cars was crashing into one another again and again.
Li Mu could not help being stunned.
Two meridians had been switched around? Wang Longcheng himself could not feel that?
Yellow Rank inner sight relied on perception. But once one stepped into the Profound Rank, inner sight became incomparably clear.
The spirit would pass into the profound, and the mind could roam within the body.
If that was the case, then there was only one possibility: Wang Longcheng had not yet reached the Profound Rank.
But Li Mu could clearly feel how powerful he was.
At the very least, he had to be Yellow Rank, Ninth Grade.
And the strangest thing of all was this: how could two meridians possibly be switched around? A microscopic surgery?
Had he switched them himself, or had someone else done it to him?
Li Mu had no way of knowing any of it.
One had to understand— meridians were not blood vessels.
They were a self-contained network of qi channels within a martial artist’s body.
They could not be understood through the laws of physics.
People often said that a powerful martial artist’s Dantian was as vast as the sea, and his meridians as broad as rivers.
They were a kind of existence that lay somewhere between imagery and reality.
Although Li Mu had seen through it, he did not dare ask about it.
But the moment he withdrew his gaze, he saw Wang Longcheng staring at him with sharp eyes.
Li Mu hurriedly pulled his eyes away.
The level of his Fiery Golden Eyes was still too low. It was not enough to make his eyes visibly change color.
But to use an ocular technique to probe a Ninth Grade expert— how could the other party possibly fail to notice?
The very instant Li Mu activated Fiery Golden Eyes, Wang Longcheng had sensed it.
He could even clearly feel the exact place where Li Mu’s gaze had focused!
On the surface, Wang Longcheng’s expression did not change in the slightest.
But in his heart, monstrous waves had already begun to crash!!
What was going on!?
The energy of this boy’s ocular technique was clearly peering inside his body.
And it had focused, without the slightest deviation, directly on his lungs!
No one knew better than Wang Longcheng what had happened there!
Could it be that this kid could actually see his hidden trouble??
Seeing that Li Mu did not dare speak, Wang Longcheng did not expose him either.
Instead, he smiled and said, “A hero truly does emerge from youth. I heard your Flowing Cloud Six Shocks even made Instructor Qin suffer a loss?”
Li Mu hurriedly waved his hands modestly.
“Instructor Qin was going easy on me. He was merely careless for a moment.”
“Hah, now you’re being very polite, aren’t you, brat!”
Qin Zhanye said irritably.
“Where’s that fierce spirit you had when you were asking me for rewards? Why’d it die out now?”
As he spoke, Qin Zhanye smoothly turned to Wang Longcheng and said, “Oh, right, Leader, I haven’t submitted the report to you yet.”
“I gave this kid two High-Grade Techniques, one premium Spiritual Treasure, one premium weapon, and one special-grade warhorse as rewards!”
“I got it from Old Zhou!”
As he finished speaking, he pointed at Old Zhou.
Old Zhou, sitting at the side, was so frightened he nearly sprang to his feet, hurriedly putting on a smiling face.
At this table today, aside from Li Mu, his position was the lowest.
When Qin Zhanye had called him over, he had barely been able to believe it.
Although Qin Zhanye had promised to put in a few words for their stables before the higher-ups, that happiness had come far too quickly.
Not only had he gotten to sit with Professor Xu and Director Song, he was even sitting at the same table as Wang Longcheng!
He was practically overwhelmed by the honor.
How could Wang Longcheng fail to understand Qin Zhanye’s intention?
Qin Zhanye was using this chance to report the account to him.
All these rewards given to Li Mu had to be formally reported, and Wang Longcheng just happened to be the one in charge of that area.
Now that he knew about it today, there would be no need for them to file an application afterward.
“Enough. The rewards aren’t the issue. The key is the merit.”
“Director Song, Professor Xu, how is everyone in the Techniques Department progressing in their understanding of the Five Shocks of Flowing Cloud?”
Wang Longcheng turned to ask the two of them.
“Commander Wang, rest assured. Everyone is currently intensifying their exchanges regarding the Five Shocks of Flowing Cloud.”
“I believe it won’t be long before a new version of the Five Shocks of Flowing Cloud is produced, and its classification will still remain a mortal-grade technique.”
“It’s just that the difficulty of cultivating it will inevitably increase somewhat. Even those with poorer comprehension should at least be able to use the Flowing Cloud Four Shocks.”
Director Song said.
Wang Longcheng nodded.
“Our military district has nearly twelve thousand personnel.”
“Among them, there are at least more than three thousand spear-and-staff martial artists who can make use of the Five Shocks of Flowing Cloud.”
“If the death rate among spear-and-staff martial artists begins to decline,”
“then the value of these Five Shocks of Flowing Cloud will only continue to rise.”
Wang Longcheng said, pointing at Li Mu.
The Abyss-Suppressing Army had always been strict about making reward and punishment clear.
As for how great Li Mu’s contribution really was, it still could not be fully seen at the moment.
What followed was a stretch of eating, drinking, and idle conversation.
As the junior at the table, Li Mu was naturally questioned about all sorts of things.
Before long, the topic turned to how his S-Rank talent had been stolen, and how he had then been expelled from the Li Family.
Qin Zhanye was instantly furious.
He had never imagined that there could be such a shameless family.
Director Song and Professor Xu also felt deeply sympathetic toward Li Mu.
But sympathy was only sympathy.
Family powers had always been a special kind of group within China.
Some of the great families even controlled half the nation.
With them making the decisions, forces of the family kind were exceptionally united.
A Li Family by itself was naturally nothing remarkable.
But without hard evidence, if the Abyss-Suppressing Army rashly interfered in another family’s affairs, then those much greater families would seize on it as a handle.
That would place the Abyss-Suppressing Army in an extremely passive position!
But if the Li Family dared provoke the Abyss-Suppressing Army, then the situation would become completely different.
The military and family powers had not been competing for leverage for only a year or two.
Once the meal was over, Li Mu took his leave and prepared to return to the surface.
But Wang Longcheng said, “I happen to be heading home as well. I’ll give you a ride.”
Li Mu naturally knew that Wang Longcheng had something he wanted to ask him.
And there was no way for Li Mu to refuse.
After they reached the surface, Wang Longcheng’s adjutant drove Wang Longcheng’s personal vehicle, a powerfully built military car, speeding along the elevated highway.
Li Mu and Wang Longcheng sat together in the back seat.
“What... did you see?”
After a long stretch of oppressive silence inside the car, Wang Longcheng suddenly spoke.
“Deputy Commander Wang, was this place injured before?”
Li Mu pointed directly at the area of the lungs and asked.
He knew there was no use trying to avoid it.
Besides, there was no need for him to avoid it at all.
The adjutant driving in the front immediately paused slightly in surprise and glanced at Li Mu through the rearview mirror.
This young man was rather interesting.
When the Deputy Commander spoke, he showed almost no fear, unlike those officials who started trembling the moment they saw Wang Longcheng!
“Yes!”
Wang Longcheng’s eyes lit up slightly.
“There are two meridians crossing over each other there, and their True Qi keeps colliding again and again.”
“As for why it affects the lungs, I don’t know.”
Li Mu said.
Wang Longcheng’s breathing suddenly grew rapid, and he stared at Li Mu as he asked, “Can you tell clearly which two meridians they are?”
“Barely.” Li Mu had actually seen them with perfect clarity, but he could not speak too absolutely.
“Look again.”
Wang Longcheng suppressed the excitement in his heart with difficulty.
That coughing problem in his lungs was the greatest obstacle blocking his attempt to break through the bottleneck into the Profound Rank.
And the more anxious he grew, the more severe the hidden trouble in his lungs became.
He knew perfectly well that the issue lay in his meridians.
But unless he broke through to the Profound Rank, he could not clearly inspect all of his meridians from within and repair himself.
Yet without removing the hidden trouble, he also could not break through into the Profound Rank!
That vicious cycle had only made the situation worse and worse.
It was a tremendous obstacle to both his cultivation and his career.
Li Mu nodded. He had no choice but to activate Fiery Golden Eyes again.
Now that the two of them were sitting face to face at close range, Li Mu naturally saw everything with extreme clarity.
“Focus on it!” Wang Longcheng reminded him.
Li Mu directly raised his hand and pointed. “Right here.”
As he spoke, he pointed at the area of Wang Longcheng’s lungs.
At that exact moment— Wang Longcheng let out a muffled grunt.
Li Mu saw the two meridians he had fixed his gaze on suddenly crack with a snapping sound— and explode inside Wang Longcheng’s body!
“What the hell!!” Li Mu was so startled that his whole body slammed backward into the car door.
For a moment, he thought he had somehow looked so hard that he made them explode!
Yet after the energy rampaged inside for a brief moment, Wang Longcheng quickly suppressed it.
“Look again now. Are they still there?”
Wang Longcheng seemed to be in such pain that even his breathing was trembling, yet the excitement on his face could not be concealed.
He forced down the wild exhilaration in his heart and asked Li Mu.
Only then did Li Mu come back to himself and stare in shock.
Those two red meridians had already disappeared. Inside Wang Longcheng’s body, only clear green meridians remained, and even the red region in the lungs had begun slowly shrinking.
Li Mu’s scalp instantly went numb.
He had blown up his own meridians.
That was too damn beastly!