Chapter – 81
Small Perfect Awakening
At the same time, inside a mansion in Qingyun Fortress, a middle-aged man held a crimson military token in his hand, his face deep in thought.
This man had a flawless face and was exceptionally handsome, exuding the refined, scholarly air of a gentle gentleman.
“Has Fifth Master given any instructions?” the man asked, putting down the military token.
“Report to Second Master: Fifth Master said the owner of this token has an unknown background but terrifying strength. He hopes Second Master can investigate, preferably within two hours,” replied the young attendant.
“Dismissed.” The middle-aged scholar instructed. Once the attendant left, he called over an elder and handed him the military token. “Within one hour, find out which tribe this token belongs to.”
“Yes, Second Master,” the elder responded and departed with the token.
The middle-aged man calmly sipped his tea, not in a hurry. In less than an hour, the elder returned.
“How is it?” the man asked.
“Report to Second Master: this token’s origin cannot be determined.” The elder looked surprised. Normally, a military token could reveal its owner unless someone had tampered with it.
This was a tactic used by large tribes to protect their geniuses during training; its purpose was obviously to ensure safety.
The middle-aged man remained silent for a moment, then asked, “How about the military merits inside?”
“They are substantial,” the elder replied. “They can be exchanged for twenty pieces of high-grade spirit stones, as determined by the Heaven-Earth Stone.”
“Twenty!” The middle-aged man’s expression changed, though not because he was concerned about the stones—he was shocked by the military merits themselves.
Though the token was deep red, the Heaven-Earth Stone indicated it could be exchanged for twenty high-grade spirit stones, which was abnormal.
“The Heaven-Earth Stone reports truthfully. In my opinion, the owner’s background is far from simple,” the elder said.
“How so? Aside from large tribes being able to tamper with tokens, there’s one other possibility,” the man smiled. “That is, this person belongs to a one-star tribe. Only one-star tribe tokens cannot be traced on the Heaven-Earth Stone.”
“If he didn’t slay ten ten-thousand-strong officers, then he must have killed an important figure of another race to gain such enormous military merits,” the elder explained. “At this stage, the latter is more likely. His strength is terrifying and may not yet have reached the Top Perfection realm. How else could this be explained if he wasn’t a genius from a major tribe?”
The man nodded, agreeing. A one-star tribe could never produce such a talent.
“Fifth Master is still waiting for Third Master’s response,” the elder reminded him.
“Hurry to the warehouse and take thirty high-grade spirit stones, along with this military token, and send them over.” The middle-aged man instructed.
“Second Master, this…” the elder was confused. The token should only be exchangeable for twenty spirit stones—why thirty?
“If this person is truly a genius from a major tribe, Qingyun Fortress should seek to befriend him. But if he isn’t…” the man mused.
“And if he isn’t?” the elder asked.
“Even better!” The man smiled. “Someone who grows strong despite adversity and possesses terrifying power deserves our favor. We can’t lose either way. Also, inform Fifth Master that this person will be an honored guest of Qingyun Fortress; all trade taxes are waived, and help will be given wherever possible.”
“Understood.” The elder departed to deliver the message.
The middle-aged man returned to sipping his tea. After a while, he stood at the doorway and muttered to himself, “If he truly grew strong in adversity, the opportunity he must have had…”
Even so, the man found it hard to believe. He still thought Qin Mo must be a genius from a major tribe.
Unaware of the investigation over his military token, Qin Mo left Fifth Master’s courtyard under Dan Xiong’s guidance and went to an inn within Qingyun Fortress, choosing a top-floor room to meditate and rest.
About two hours later, a young attendant from Fifth Master arrived, knocking on the door with a smile.
“Master Qin, Fifth Master asked me to return your military token along with your military merit exchange. Fifth Master says that in the future, if you encounter any difficulties, seek him out; if he can help, he certainly will.”
“Please thank Fifth Master on my behalf,” Qin Mo replied, accepting the box and closing the door.
This time, he did not toss the box aside but placed it on the table and opened it.
“Whoosh!” Qin Mo gasped, staring at the sparkling spirit stones inside—so cold and lustrous it was almost unbelievable.
The moment the box was opened, the entire room was filled with energy, so thick that a single breath felt invigorating, almost urging a breakthrough.
Counting carefully, he found not ten, nor twenty, but thirty high-grade spirit stones—equivalent to 300,000 low-grade spirit stones.
Even someone like Qin Mo could hardly contain his excitement. Though he knew he was safe in Qingyun Fortress, he still carefully closed the box and sat on the bed to rest.
His heart raced for half an hour, trying to calm down as he wondered why there were thirty stones instead of ten or twenty.
Even if he didn’t know how to calculate military merit, slaying a thousand soldiers could at most earn twenty high-grade spirit stones—how could it be thirty?
“Could it be that they think I’m a genius from a major tribe and want to befriend me?” Qin Mo reasoned.
If there were malice, they wouldn’t have sent so many stones—they were not fools.
The only possibility was that they truly believed him to be a major tribe genius.
Realizing this, Qin Mo laughed wryly. He certainly wasn’t a genius from a major tribe. In the ten-thousand-mile radius around him, his Hammer Stone Tribe was among the smallest, at the bottom of the ranks.
Since they thought so, he had no need to explain—he happily accepted the reward and began to rest.
By midnight, Qin Mo awoke from meditation and began to organize his belongings.
This visit to Qingyun Fortress had been fruitful. The thirty high-grade spirit stones made him giddy for hours—after so many years of poverty, he finally had wealth!
Among his belongings were other spirit stones. Those obtained from Li Xuanfeng had yet to be examined—he was surprised to find forty medium-grade spirit stones, without a single low-grade one.
No wonder Li Xuanfeng had been so reluctant to give them—forty medium-grade spirit stones equaled four hundred low-grade stones. Not as much as the thirty high-grade stones, but still substantial.
Including those from Dan Xiong and Fifth Master for purchased goods, he now had seventy stones. In the past, he couldn’t have imagined amassing so many.
Yet even these pale in comparison to thirty high-grade stones, equivalent to the annual production of a three-star tribe.
Carefully storing the stones, Qin Mo took out a single high-grade stone. Its dense energy, though sealed, filled the room.
He inhaled sharply, drawing the dispersing energy into his mouth, and felt all eighty of his meridian points activate, absorbing it completely.
Previously, such energy could open dozens of meridians, but now it nourished his newly awakened eighty meridians, which began to rotate and shine brightly, like eighty miniature suns illuminating the internal world.
A sensation of satiety came—not from hunger, but from the meridians themselves.
The meridians felt like hungry infants, eagerly needing nourishment.
Qin Mo crushed the high-grade stone. The room was enveloped in thick energy, nearly condensing into liquid.
“Vroom!” His body trembled as the nearly liquid energy surged. He inhaled again, and the torrent entered his body.
The energy didn’t go to the eighty-first meridian; it expanded his existing meridians and veins.
As the energy increased, the eighty meridians spun faster, forming tiny suns.
A brilliant light enveloped Qin Mo. The hunger was gone, replaced by a swelling, almost painful feeling.
He realized he had reached the limit; the meridians could not expand further. The remaining energy surged toward the eighty-first meridian.
“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!” His body felt like a flood, smashing everything in its path.
“Boom!” A deafening roar exploded in his mind. His seven orifices bled; he nearly lost consciousness.
The sound was internal, produced by the energy torrent hitting the eighty-first meridian.
He continued relentlessly. Normally, a single high-grade stone’s energy could obliterate even a third-level Top Perfection cultivator. If his body were as before, the inn would have been destroyed.
But his body had strengthened. If his meridians couldn’t absorb it, the blood would; if blood couldn’t, bones; if bones couldn’t, skin.
The torrential energy coated him in a white glow, making him seem like a celestial being.
Yet it still wasn’t enough. One high-grade stone’s energy was immense. With nowhere else to go, and the eighty-first meridian unbroken, it filled his body to the extreme.
He was like an overinflated balloon; anyone using a needle could explode him and the entire inn.
There was no one around, but he felt the danger. Yet he could find no further place for the energy.
Just as he reached the limit, a red light flashed in his mind. A gourd appeared in his body, seemingly sentient, opening its mouth to absorb the excess energy, leaving only a fraction inside him.
That remaining energy condensed into a crystal-like energy arrow, shooting into the eighty-first meridian.
“Pew!” It pierced the barrier without obstruction. Qin Mo immediately felt clarity and comfort throughout his body.
The eighty-first meridian had broken. He raised his hand, feeling as if he were the universe itself, eighty meridians spinning in harmony, radiating dazzling light.
The light converged inside him and burst outward, soaring like a smoke signal into the sky, carving the endless heavens…
