Arrangements and Gifted Wine

After Chu Xin left with Lord Li, Teng Qingshan brought Li Jun to the guest hall. After another round of pleasantries, Li Yuan’s family also left the guest hall with Grandmaster Teng Yonglei.

"Grandpa!"

Gu Sheng looked around, then said in a deep voice, "Everyone heard what Uncle Li just said. Someone may already have their eyes on Little Jun’s family, who have settled in Teng Village.

"So, starting tomorrow, the Hunter Squad must not go out. Everyone is to remain in Teng Village on standby. Qingshan, don’t go into the mountains to train during this period either. Just stay in the village, in case anything happens!"

"Okay~"

Teng Qingshan agreed readily. Li Jun reminded him of Little Cat. Little Cat was already gone, and he did not want something like that to happen a second time.

"Qinghu, isn’t this making too much of it?"

Several clansmen, including Teng Yongxiang, looked confused. They had no idea how much wealth Li Yuan’s family had brought with them this time.

"This isn’t making too much of it!"

Gu Sheng lowered his voice. "Before coming here, Mr. Li Yuan brought most of his family’s possessions with him. He even handed over the ancestral secret recipe for spirit wine. They have more than a hundred thousand taels of gold alone."

"A hundred thousand taels!"

The clansmen all sucked in a cold breath. Taken together, everyone in Teng Village could barely scrape together a hundred thousand taels—but that was silver, nowhere near a hundred thousand taels of gold.

Teng Yongfan and Teng Yunlong exchanged a speechless look. A hundred thousand taels of gold was enough to buy several dozen Teng Villages!

Gu Sheng continued, "How is the clan’s cultivation of Tiger Fist and Inner Force techniques going?"

"Quite a few clansmen have already cultivated Inner Force using the Inner Force technique. As for Tiger Fist, some people have already built a foundation."

Teng Qingshan sighed inwardly. The appearance of the Inner Force manual had sparked a wave of Inner Force cultivation in Teng Village, which had only just begun practicing Tiger Fist. More clansmen preferred the Inner Force manual because it was easier to master.

"That won’t do!"

Gu Sheng saw the problem in Teng Village at a glance. The Inner Force manual truly was not the path Teng Village should take.

"Grandpa!"

Gu Sheng said firmly, "The origins of this Inner Force manual are dubious, and it could easily cause trouble. It cannot become the foundation of Teng Village. Qingshan’s Tiger Fist has tremendous potential. That is what should become the foundation of our village’s inheritance.

"So, let the older people be. But for the younger ones—anyone under twenty—who hasn’t cultivated Inner Force through Tiger Fist is forbidden from practicing the Inner Force manual. In fact, even if they’ve mastered Tiger Fist, they shouldn’t practice the Inner Force manual before the age of twenty-five."

Teng Qingshan’s Internal Fist was easy to begin learning, but achieving anything with it was no simple matter. Without ten or more years of hard work, it was impossible to reach a profound level. However, if someone had yet to break through to the Grandmaster realm by the age of twenty-five, switching to the Inner Force manual might instead open another path toward greater achievements.

"This…"

Teng Yunlong hesitated, but when he saw the determination in his grandson’s eyes and the seemingly calm expression of his grandson-in-law, he ultimately chose to trust Gu Sheng.

"All right, that’s enough for now. Qingshan, come with me for a moment!"

As Gu Sheng spoke, he stood up. After calling out to Teng Qingshan, he walked out of the guest hall.

Gu Sheng and Teng Qingshan walked slowly for a while before soon arriving at the courtyard of Teng Qinghu’s home. Inside the spacious courtyard, a pile of wooden-chest-like objects had been arranged neatly.

A huge black panther and several Blood Shadow Wolves guarded the pile, warily scanning their surroundings from time to time.

"Qinghu, you little rascal, you’re finally back!"

The moment Gu Sheng and Teng Qingshan entered the courtyard, Qinghu’s mother came forward with a frightened look on her face. She grabbed Gu Sheng and refused to let go, looking him over from every angle as she tried to see how her precious son was doing.

Her heartless son had really been ruthless. He had run off for more than two months for the sake of some wealthy young lady, and when he came back, he had brought several enormous, ferocious beasts with him. They had made her too afraid to even approach the courtyard.

Even worse, before they had exchanged more than a few words, that rascal had actually picked up a chest and run off. He was practically trying to anger his own mother to death!

This was the first time Gu Sheng had been handled so enthusiastically by a middle-aged woman, and he could not help feeling awkward. However, he did not show any displeasure. Since he had taken over Teng Qinghu’s identity, even if he could not provide for Qinghu’s mother until the end of her life, he still owed her the proper respect.

"Mother, go back inside for now. I’ll talk with you later!"

Gu Sheng smiled as he spoke, then led Teng Qingshan toward the pile of objects guarded by the Black Wind Leopard and Blood Shadow Wolves.

"What is this?"

Teng Qingshan watched as Gu Sheng carefully took a gourd out of one of the chests, and could not help feeling puzzled.

"Don’t ask yet."

Gu Sheng kept him in suspense. He found a small bowl and handed it to Teng Qingshan, then pulled out the stopper and poured the Vermillion Fruit Wine from the wine gourd.

"Splash, splash~~"

Light-red liquid poured from the mouth of the gourd, spreading its fragrance through the air. Teng Qingshan’s nose twitched, and a trace of anticipation appeared on his face.

"Drink it all."

The moment Gu Sheng spoke, Teng Qingshan eagerly opened his mouth and gulped it down. His throat moved repeatedly. "Glug, glug~" Before long, he had swallowed an entire cup of Vermillion Fruit Wine.

"This is…"

Teng Qingshan was utterly astonished. His body was undergoing some unknown transformation. His face flushed red, hot vapor rose from his head, and his entire body burned with heat. He felt his dantian expanding and his muscles and bones transforming.

"This is an unparalleled treasure for practicing Internal Fist!"

Teng Qingshan immediately began practicing Internal Fist. His Tiger Fist moved with tremendous force, and every form stirred up waves of wind. With every passing moment, Teng Qingshan could feel his strength increasing and his body transforming.

"Cousin, this stuff…"

Teng Qingshan opened his eyes in delight. In that short time, his strength had increased by nearly a thousand jin. He felt that if he had enough wine, it would be enough to directly turn him into a first-rate martial artist with more than ten thousand jin of strength.

"Take this gourd home."

Gu Sheng handed over a gourd without hesitation. He still had plenty, so why did he not give more? For one thing, favors were best kept within proper limits. There were plenty of examples where excessive kindness had turned into resentment.

Another reason was that the better one’s physical constitution and the higher one’s Internal Fist realm, the more Vermillion Fruit Wine one could absorb. An ordinary martial artist with a poor constitution who had never practiced Internal Fist would not be able to absorb much at all.

For example, Gu Sheng and Chu Xin had both been supplied with unlimited Vermillion Fruit Wine. Because of the system, Gu Sheng was constantly improving every moment, allowing him to use the Vermillion Fruit Wine to raise his strength to the limit of his current Internal Fist realm.

His physical strength had now surpassed that of most Iron-Arm Apes, reaching an astonishing twelve hundred thousand jin. With the unique force-release amplification of the Heaven-Grade Manual Meteor Blade’s incomplete section, he could unleash more than sixteen hundred thousand jin of strength in a single burst, already surpassing even a newly ascended Xiantian Void Core expert.

Chu Xin, on the other hand, had mastered Internal Fist with the help of the Lord God and had reached a fairly high level with Gu Sheng’s assistance. Yet even after drinking a large amount of Vermillion Fruit Wine, she had only barely broken through to the first-rate realm. With the amplification of her human-grade technique, her explosive strength approached twenty thousand jin.

Of course, the portion of the Vermillion Fruit Wine that Chu Xin could not absorb had not simply gone to waste. Most of it remained in her body and was converted into potential, gradually improving her constitution as she cultivated.

As for Teng Qingshan, his physical constitution had yet to be tempered by the Jade Cold Pool and developed to its utmost. Thus, he was not much better than Chu Xin. However, his potential was truly terrifying.

Gu Sheng estimated that with him offering the Vermillion Fruit Wine ahead of time, Teng Qingshan might not even need to wait until he was seventeen to break through to the Xiantian realm.