White-Robed Chief
chapter-26

Chapter 26: Cultivation

Zhao Ying nodded. “A restaurant… Will the Public House approve?’

“Are you not convinced? The Public House encourages such things,” Chu Li smiled. “Zhao Ying, you need not worry. Leave it to me, I will make sure it works.”

After all, Chu Li was someone had lived two lives. Pair that with his desire for power and influence, it drove him to constantly be aware of the bigger picture. He had already considered all the relevant details early on.

The Public House had a strict rule where the stronger ones were not allowed to bully those who were weaker. They were also not allowed to pressure people using their positions of power or they would be punished.

A lot of people believed that the Public House did not allow them to do business. However Chu Li was clear in which kind of business was allowed and which was not, and a restaurant did not fall under the restrictions.

“Three hundred thousand taels of silver…” Zhao Ying shook her head. “These fellows deserve the fate we gave them!”

Obviously, these were all loot from their robberies, and with each pile of silver was accompanied by the death of many victims. For The Raging Tiger Troupe Troupe were well known to have always killed their victims before robbing them. That was why there was no proof or witness of their evil conduct and that allowed them to do so freely until now.

“If we use the silver to build a place for them to live, it’ll a way to lead them down the right path.”

“Hmm, let’s try it!”

“Leave it to me!”

“Oh right, what about the level of your martial arts now, Brother Chu?”

“I’m an Innate Master now.”

“I thought you couldn’t train your inner energy without a foundation?”

Chu Li smiled.

“Did Brother Chu have a unique encounter?”

“I suppose you could say so, yes.”

“What kind of encounter?” Zhao Ying eyes became brighter as she questioned excitedly.

Chu Li shook his head and smiled. “Nothing much, I ate a unique fruit and that’s it.”

“What fruit is it?”

“I don’t know, I believe it was the Transformation Fruit.”

Zhao Ying tilted her head and looked at him as she asked curiously, “Does this Transformation Fruit build one’s foundation?”

Chu Li smiled. “Read more after this and you might find out.”

“Aren’t you a little too lucky, Brother Chu?”

Chu Li shook his head and smiled bitterly. “If I was lucky, I wouldn’t have missed the perfect time to build my foundation. I could have avoided being bullied entirely.”

“That’s true, too.” Zhao Ying nodded.

She saw how pitiful Chu Li was as he could not even cultivate martial arts without his foundation. He had been through so much with the many people who laughed and looked down on him.

“When did you eat the Transformation Fruit?”

Chu Li shook his head, trying to change the topic. “The Transformation Fruit can only fill in the gap of foundation. To become an Innate Master, you’ll still have to cultivate yourself. It doesn’t come to you overnight. There is no magical unique medicine that can make you reach innate mastery right after you eat it.”

“Innate Mastery…” Zhao Ying sighed.

When she thought about the innate mastery domain, she felt like someone standing atop a hill as high as the clouds; watching as she feared, as she had no confidence to make the jump.

“Your foundation is very stable, it won’t be a problem!” Chu Li smiled.

“Mmm!” Zhao Ying nodded with strength, trying to encourage herself.

She thought about how Chu Li had given her a lot of Torso Refiners. Her meridians were also way tougher than the rest. Thus she had a huge advantage over everyone, so she could most definitely achieve innate mastery.

Both of them used Light-body Technique to travel back and their speed was almost the same as a horse’s. When Zhao Ying almost ran out of inner energy half a day later Chu Li placed his hand on her back and a steady flow of inner energy was quickly transferred over.

Zhao Ying could feel how pure and thick Chu Li’s inner energy was. Out of curiosity, she asked Chu Li which heart technique he was cultivating. She was shocked when she heard that Chu Li had actually learned the Infinity Azure Sea.

The Infinity Azure Sea was very popular but not many people had trained it. He trained it because he was curious, and he heard that it allowed him to beat his peers and masters with ease. However cultivating it was like drinking poison to cure thirst, it was practically suicide.

“Chu Li, The Infinity Azure Sea is very dangerous.”

“I know.”

“And you’re still cultivating it? …oh, I understand now. The Torso Refiner!”

She had an epiphany. The Torso Refiner could strengthen one’s meridians and exponentially increase one’s tolerance to a great concentration of inner energy. It reduced the harm brought by the Infinity Sea of Azure!

Chu Li smiled.

“It’s no wonder…,” She finally understood how Chu Li seemed to be powerful without match. The strength of a completed Infinity Azure Sea was no laughing matter..

Soon, the both of them made it back to the Public House. They separated when they arrived. Zhao Ying went to the Martial Arts Hall in order to hand in her mission, while Chu Li returned to the East Garden to meditate. Zhao Ying promised to pay a visit to the East Garden in two days.

Chu Li finished his dinner in the late evening, and returned into the Moonlight Orchid parterre. The orchid was releasing a gentle crescent-like light, it was as beautiful as usual.

The Nightmare Flower grew really slowly without the nourishment of Chu Li’s spiritual force nourishment, at this rate it should be blooming tonight. Whereas the Moonlight Orchid was doing fine, in fact it had already split into three sprouts. Seemed like Li Yue was doing a good job.

A gentle footstep could be heard, followed by the arrival of a pleasant fragrance. Chu Li turned his head and saw Su Ru in her apricot robe. She looked as gorgeous as ever as she walked towards him.

She waved her hands, signaling Chu Li to skip the formalities as she sat in front of him.

“You did such a great job!”

Chu Li sat down and poured her a cup of tea. “You’ve received it already?”

“Mmm.” Su Ru took a sip from the tea cup and smiled.

“The tea from Li Yue is really good. It’s fairly enjoyable. Lady Xiao has taken a liking to it.”

Chu Li cracked a smile.

“How was the journey?” Su Ru looked over at him with an ambiguous smile. “Did the Protector do her job well?”

Chu Li put a hand over a fist and smiled. “Thank you, Chief!”

Su Ru waved. “don’t thank me, I merely provided you the chance but it all depends whether you seized it or not.”

“It was quite the thrill, we got into a fight with the Raging Tiger Troupe Troupe.”

“The Raging Tiger Troupe Troupe… I’ve heard of them before.”

Chu Li shook his head and sighed.

“Did the Public House know of the behavior of the Raging Tiger Troupe Troupe?”

Su Ru could tell that there was something wrong through his facial expression. She furrowed her brows and asked, “Did they offend you?”

“Offending me was fine, but they…” Chu Li told Su Ru the whole story. Su Ru pursed her lips tight and her face started becoming gloomier. The atmosphere was restricting, it was as if the air had stopped moving.

She was also an innate master and one that was quite powerful. She was capable of combining cultivation and foundational talents to form an impregnable force.

“Damn it!” Su Ru cursed, “Damn the patrol in the Public House!”

Chu Li shook his head. “This case itself should have been the responsibility of the Public House. But they kill those they robbed right after, hence realistically nobody ever reported about their transgressions to the authorities since they were dead. Meanwhile, the authorities decided to turn a blind eye to it, hence nothing was ever done about them.”

It did not matter in which dynasty or which imperial court. All bureaucrats were the same. They would rather have lesser things to deal with, and they would not take the initiative in dealing with problems.

“This is the responsibility of the patrol! Those guys aren’t doing their job! I’ll report this to Lady Xiao and start an investigation!” Su Ru scolded.

“The Raging Tiger Troupe Troupe has already been obliterated.”

Chu Li shook his head as he told Su Ru what happened. Her eyes widened as if it was too hard to believe.

Chu Li spread his hands. “That only leaves some pitiful women who were hostages in the Raging Tiger Troupe Troupe. Lady Xiao could order someone to look after them.”

Su Ru furrowed her brows and groaned for a moment. She recalled all the information she had been told, and asked, “Wouldn’t there be Innate Masters in the Raging Tiger Troupe?”

Chu Li nodded. He told Su Ru about his unique encounter, just like how he told Zhao Ying.

“If that’s the case, does that mean you’re an Innate Master now too?”

“Yes.”

“Then, do you want to challenge the Ranking Tower?”

“I don’t want to be a Protector, a Scribe itself is good enough for me.”

“Scribe…huh. Interesting!” Su Ru covered her mouth and smiled. “People like you are rare. Most people are blinded by the high salary of being a Protector.”

“Those women are very sympathetic. I’d like to start a restaurant in town so they may earn their own living. I found quite some silver in the Raging Tiger Troupe Troupe’s village that we could use,” Chu Li said.

He did not hide what he had found from the troupe. There was definitely quite an amount of treasures to be found in a place like the Raging Tiger Troupe Troupe, therefore there was no point to hide it. In fact, the rules of the Public House specified that they could keep what they found, without handing it in.

“Starting a restaurant…,” Su Ru furrowed her brows. “It’s not an easy job, but it’s a great idea. It’s better for them to be earning their own living than sitting around worrying about handouts.”

As a woman, she took a liking towards Chu Li’s actions.

“The quality of the food is the key point of a restaurant! If the dishes don’t taste nice, then it’s useless!” Su Ru gave it a few minutes of thought. “We need to figure out how to pull over a few chefs from the Capital!”

“Understood.”

“Alright, leave this to me. For their sake, I will help you this once!”

“Thank you, Chief!” Chu Li wrapped his fist and bowed. “I’ve poked a hornet’s nest this time by obliterating the Raging Tiger Troupe.”

“A good move with the obliteration!” Su Ru muttered, “Wait, what hornet’s nest?”

Chu Li shook his head.

“The leader of the Raging Tiger Troupe was trained in the art of the Sentient Menace.”

“What?!” Su Ru was startled as her expression changed. “the Sentient Menace?”

Chu Li slightly nodded.

“The Tempest Temple… This isn’t good!” Su Ru bolted up. “No, I must report this to Lady Xiao, right now!”

“I left no survivors so the news probably won’t spread out.”

“The four main sects have existed for many generations! Over the years they’ve come up with all sorts of weird and powerful techniques! It’s almost impossible to defend against them!”

Su Ru twisted her waist and dashed off into the distance, waving her hand and bidding goodbye as she left.

Chu Li shook his head and sighed. This was a troublesome problem to deal with. That man even had the Sentient Menace secret guidebook with him, the Tempest Temple definitely would not let it just be.

He came to the shore and stood under the willow tree, the moonlight reflected on the surface of the lake, the glimmers of the small ripples lit up his quiet face.

The Tempest Temple itself was not a normal sect. According to current information, even the Public House was not as strong as the Tempest Temple.

In a short moment, Lady Xiao and Su Ru came together standing on the front of the boat side by side. Lady Xiao was wearing a gown that was white as snow, she was like a fairy above all commoners.

The moonlight shined on her face, illuminating her beauty, and her eyes were like shimmering stars.

Both women seemed to glide towards Chu Li.

“Lady Xiao,” Chu Li wrapped his fist and bowed.

Lady Xiao waved her hand. “The Tempest Temple?”

“There was this man who had the secret guidebook to the Sentient Menace,” Chu Li answered.

Su Ru turned around and looked at Lady Xiao. “Lady, this is bad!”

Lady Xiao slightly furrowed her brows and looked at Chu Li. “You found it?”

Chu Li nodded.

Su Ru did not seem to be happy at all, she stomped on her feet and said,”This is going to be very troublesome!”

Lady Xiao asked, with her brows furrowed, “What now?”

“I think I can learn from it,” Chu Li answered.

Su Ru rolled her eyes. “Stop dreaming! If it were that easy, the secret martial arts of the Tempest Temple would have already been spread to the whole world.”

Lady Xiao waved her hand. “That’s certainly not necessarily true. While many of their secret guidebooks have been circulated, no one could ever successfully master them due to various reasons.”

Chu Li furrowed his brows. “I don’t believe that it is that hard?”

He had browsed through the book earlier, and he believed that it did not seem to require much effort to learn them. He even thought that it was easy to master it to greater levels.

“The martial arts of the Temple of the Tempest are powerful, but they require a strong Buddhist dharmic base. Without a strong enough dharmic base, they may never succeed,” Lady Xiao explained. “The monks of the Tempest Temple are split into either civil or military too. To be allowed into the temple, you must train both your foundation and dharmic base in parallel for ten years. Only if both their foundation and their dharmic base is strong enough will they allowed to practice the martial arts of the temple. Without a strong dharmic base, they would be completely prohibited from practicing any form of martial art.”

“Are they not worried about their martial arts spreading outside the temple?”

“It’s not too hard to find the secret guidebook to the Sentient Menace, but no one dares to study it.” Lady Xiao shook her head as she said, “That is why they don’t keep any secret guidebooks for it in both the Wisdom Tower and the Martial Arts Hall.”

“But why?” Su Ru asked.

Lady Xiao said: “As soon as they started practicing it, they would succumb to their internal demons. At first, people questioned the authenticity of the guidebooks, but later they realized it had nothing to do with the guidebooks, it was simply because the practitioners simply did not have a strong dharmic base.”

Su Ru asked, “Why did it end that way?”

“All forms Tempest Temple martial arts are demonic in nature, therefore a strong dharmic base is required to repress those demons. If your dharmic base isn’t strong enough, learning the Sentient Menace itself is suicidal.”

“Chu Li you better not do anything stupid!” Su Ru quickly said.

She looked at Chu Li, worried. It was the infamous Sentient Menace! It was a popular technique and that belonged to the pinnacle of what the Tempest Temple had to offer. It was so powerful that no one could stand its temptation. If Chu Li had already started on it, it would be quite hard for him to stop!

Chu Li smiled.

Lady Xiao looked at him strangely.

Chu Li smiled. “Yes, Lady Xiao, I have quite a strong dharmic base, if I may say so myself”

Su Ru suddenly realized what he meant.