Chapter 41: Three Great Hidden Vessels

Quick! Quick! Quick!

Ning Xiaochuan circulated his blood to its peak as he made his desperate escape by zipping through the jungle. The blood from his back had completely soaked his shirt through and was now dripping to the ground.

Xiao Li gave chase quickly, and soon the distance between him and Ning Xiaochuan began decreasing. A hundred feet, ninety feet, eighty feet…

If he were to send Sword Qi flying towards Ning Xiaochuan now, it would definitely be able to strike the protective Mystical Fortification that Ning Xiaochuan was encased in.

Once Xiao Li managed to reduce the distance to thirty feet, his Sword Qi would definitely be able to break through Ning Xiaochuan’s protective Mystical Fortification.

“Hua la la!”

Ning Xiaochuan could hear the sounds of a river. It came from a large, roaring river that flowed past the hillside up ahead. The sight of this river gave Ning Xiaochuan hope, pulling him from his despair.

He was about thirty feet away from the large river. Once he crossed this distance, he would be able to survive.

Ning Xiaochuan quickly retrieved a mid-grade Pill, which he immediately popped into his mouth before running towards the bottom of the hillside.

“Boom!”

The medicinal potency and Qi of the mid-grade Pill exploded within his body, increasing his speed sharply. However, Xiao Li’s speed was still slightly faster than his and Xiao Li was getting close.

Ning Xiaochuan allowed the medicinal potency of the mid-grade Pill course through his body, his gaze never leaving the large river in the distance. He felt a deep chill run down his back, he was completely soaked in sweat, while the sound of rushing wind behind him became louder and louder.

“Boom!”

A pillar of Sword Qi had shattered his protective Mystical Fortification.

Ning Xiaochuan was only one step away from reaching the large river but now that his protective Mystical Fortification was broken, jumping into the large river now would only spell certain death for him.

In this life and death situation, Ning Xiaochuan forcefully turned himself around. He circulated his entire body’s worth of Combat Qi and condensed a Qi Sword. “Qi Sword Five Continuous Cleaves.”

“Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!”

Ning Xiaochuan sent out five continuous slashes.

At the same time, Xiao Li also sent out five continuous slashes. His five slashes hit Ning Xiaochuan square in the chest, sending Ning Xiaochuan flying back. With a loud splash, Ning Xiaochuan fell into the large river.

Xiao Li rushed towards the river’s shore and stared into the murky red water. He lightly touched his neck with his fingers and realized that his neck had a small gash.

It was definitely the result of the fifth slash from Ning Xiaochuan’s “Qi Sword Five Continuous Cleaves”.

The fifth slash was quite powerful and even Xiao Li could not block it in time.

If that fifth slash was angled slightly differently, Xiao Li would have been beheaded and killed.

‘A Stage Nine Qi Heart-nourishing Master managed to almost kill me. How infuriating.’

Xiao Li knew Ning Xiaochuan was not dead yet; although all five of Xiao Li’s slashes had hit Ning Xiaochuan square in the chest, they had missed all of Ning Xiaochuan’s vital points, resulting in a non-fatal attack.

A martial artist had strong vitality, so death did not come easily.

Xiao Li walked along the river, attempting to track Ning Xiaochuan’s trail downstream.

About ten miles down the large river, Ning Xiaochuan pulled himself out of the water by gripping onto the water plants. His entire body was covered in blood and his face was as pale as a sheet of paper.

“Pfft!”

Ning Xiaochuan spat out a mouthful of river water and it came out of his mouth mixed with blood.

Due to the excessive blood loss, Ning Xiaochuan felt dazed and dizzy. His eyesight went dark for a second and he fell into the muddy ground and grass, heaving heavily as he did so.

After a long moment, Ning Xiaochuan sat up with difficulty, enduring the great pain and weakness his body was feeling. He circulated the Combat Qi within his body to seal his wounds, temporarily stopping the blood loss.

‘It’s fortunate that I ate the mid-grade Pill earlier, letting me stay underwater for an hour, otherwise I would’ve died today. Huh! Why do I have three more blood vessels in my body?’

Ning Xiaochuan realized he had three extra blood vessels in his body now. These blood vessels were extremely fine, barely visible to the naked eye, and could only be seen using inner sight.

The first blood vessel started from the Combat Atrium into the cerebral cortex, before it looped back into the Combat Atrium from there. It was the shortest of the three blood vessels.

The second blood vessel started from the Combat Atrium and spread through the five viscera and six bowels1 before returning to the Combat Atrium.

The third blood vessel started from the Combat Atrium and went through all four limbs before it returned to the Combat Atrium, making it the longest of the three blood vessels.

All three blood vessels were independent of each other and also separated from the other blood vessels in Ning Xiaochuan’s body. They all circulated through weird routes.

This was something that Ning Xiaochuan would not have even about before; it was beyond conventional understanding.

‘Are these possibly my body’s Three Great Hidden Vessels?’

These Three Great Hidden Vessels appeared in his body after he had consumed the mid-grade Pill.

However, the Three Great Hidden Vessels had not opened up yet so they were currently closed up “dead vessels”.

Once a martial artist opened these vessels and turned them into “live vessels”, their ordinary body would turn from rotten into celestial and would morph into the Divine Body. Then, all the Divine Treasures hidden in their body would be activated and various unimaginable divine skills would be born.

Since Ning Xiaochuan’s Hidden Vessels had now appeared, things would be so much easier now!

Ning Xiaochuan began sending impacts to his Hidden Vessels, immediately deciding on the third Hidden Vessel—the one that looped from the Combat Atrium and into his limbs!

The longer the length of the Hidden Vessel, the more time it would take to open up. If it were any other time, Ning Xiaochuan would have chosen the first Hidden Vessel, the one that was connected to the brain, instead. After all, it was the shortest, which meant it would use the least time.

However, he was in an emergency now. His powerful enemy would come for his life at any moment so Ning Xiaochuan had no choice but to pick the third Hidden Vessel.

If he could open up the third Hidden Vessel, then he would be able to transmit Qi from his Combat Atrium directly to his limbs. Not only would doing that make his legs go faster, but it would also increase the strength of his arms.

Although these Hidden Vessels were blood vessels, Combat Qi flowed through them instead of blood. This naturally meant that Ning Xiaochuan needed to use Combat Qi to impact the Hidden Vessels.

“Boom!”

“Boom!”

…

After multiple failed attempts, Ning Xiaochuan quickly calmed himself. He no longer forced all of his Qi against the Hidden Vessel since doing that repeatedly would only affect his internal injuries.

Ning Xiaochuan controlled the Qi within his Combat Atrium and mobilized a wisp of it so that he could condense the Qi as fine as a needle. He then slowly pushed it into the tip of the Hidden Vessel.

“Bang!”

The Qi managed to pierce through a small part of the Hidden Vessel.

It was a success!

Although it was only a small part of the vessel, it was still a small entrance into the vessel.

The vessel, which was as thin as a strand of hair, was completely blocked.

Ning Xiaochuan was now going to open up the Hidden Vessel so that Qi could flow through it.

Ning Xiaochuan slowly inched the Combat Qi through the vessel. With every section the Combat Qi passed through, the pain that wreaked through his body increased.

The Combat Qi had only made it through one-tenth of the Hidden Vessel but Ning Xiaochuan already felt like he was going to die from the pain as drops of blood seeped from his pores.

Ning Xiaochuan quickly maneuvered the Combat Qi back into the Combat Atrium before he released a long breath. He then cleaned the bloodstains on his body with water.

Although he had not successfully opened up the third Hidden Vessel, this was still something to be celebrated.

‘The fact that I managed to open up one-tenth of the Hidden Vessel on the first impact is great. I need three days, by then I should be able to open up the third Hidden Vessel. I won’t be that much slower than Xiao Li once I’m done.’

Suddenly, Ning Xiaochuan felt something. He slowly spread the water plants and looked towards the opposite bank of the large river, only to see a young man dressed in white standing on the distant shore. The man seemed to be searching for something, his gaze deadly.

Despite being separated by the large river, Ning Xiaochuan could still see the opposite bank clearly.

The young man was Xiao Li!

Xiao Li stood on the water’s edge, his gaze scanning the area in search of any trace of Ning Xiaochuan. A martial artist in the Divine Body Realm had exceptionally sharp eyesight; they would be able to see even the wrinkles on the wings of an insect that was flying a thousand meters away.

“I can see you. You’re on the opposite bank and I’ll be coming for your life now,” said Xiao Li, laughing loudly right after.

Ning Xiaochuan felt his heart leap in his chest. He almost exposed himself by dashing out of the water plants.

However, he quickly readjusted his position instead. ‘I almost fell for his trick. Xiao Li is definitely baiting me. If he had really seen me, he would’ve already quietly come over here to kill me. He would’ve never said anything to shock me out of hiding.’

Ning Xiaochuan held his breath and waited for a moment. Once he realized that Xiao Li was merely testing him and had not crossed the river, Ning Xiaochuan heaved a sigh of relief.

‘This won’t work for long since, sooner or later, Xiao Li will search over here. I should leave.’

Once the sky was dark, Ning Xiaochuan emerged from the marsh full of water plants and ran into the forest.

However, it did not take long for Xiao Li to catch up to him.

“How can this be? How did you find out where I was?” Ning Xiaochuan was fleeing quickly but he was utterly confused.

“Whoosh whoosh!”

Xiao Li leaped from the top of one tree to another, approaching Ning Xiaochuan rapidly. With a sneer, he said. “My Combat Atrium is the Abnormal Beast Atrium, which is extremely sensitive towards the scent of my enemies. It would have been fine if you hadn’t left the water but once you did, your scent was easy to pick up. So, finding you was more than easy.”

Ning Xiaochuan finally understood why during the day, Xiao Li had stood in that position while trying to bait Ning Xiaochuan out into the open. His Abnormal Beast Atrium must have picked up on Ning Xiaochuan’s scent but since Ning Xiaochuan was hiding in the marsh, Xiao Li could not pick up Ning Xiaochuan’s exact location. Therefore, he attempted to lure Ning Xiaochuan out into the open.

Xiao Li must have stood there until Ning Xiaochuan came ashore before immediately giving chase.

Since Ning Xiaochuan finally understood the reasoning behind it all, he quickly stopped in his tracks before dashing towards the river once more.

Xiao Li chuckled coldly. “Do you think you still have a chance?”

Xiao Li spread his arms out and condensed five Qi Swords that revolved around his body. He then mobilized the Qi Swords, morphing them into sword images that rushed towards Ning Xiaochuan all at once.

“Qi Sword Six Continuous Cleaves!”

Ning Xiaochuan sent six slashes out in a row. Each slash was larger than the previous one, rippling through the air as it flew.

“Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!”

All six swords shattered Xiao Li’s five sword images.

“You better try to stop me from achieving the Divine Body Realm, otherwise, death is coming for you.” Ning Xiaochuan spat coldly as he ran, disappearing into the forest.

“He actually got stronger again!” Xiao Li’s eyes were cold before he, once more, gave chase.

The first time they had crossed swords, Ning Xiaochuan could not stop his five swords and had thus been greatly injured.

However, Ning Xiaochuan actually managed to shatter his five swords this time.

This was too much progress for just a day.