Chapter 24: Pulse-opening and Meta-developing

During the night, all the stars and the moon were hidden behind the dark clouds, and the sky was pitch black. However, An Nan city came alive with brightly lit street lamps and rows of buildings with their windows letting out light from inside. A few women with heavy makeup were giggling and flirting in front of a brothel.

The Huang family mansion stood glamorously in the West of An Nan city, occupying a large area of land. Inside the brightly illuminated hall was a young man lying on a stretcher, whose arm was wrapped in bandages. He had a sad expression on his face.

A middle-aged, muscular man dressed in black robes who resembled him was standing in front of the stretcher.

He looked at the young man who had lost an arm with a long face.

“Father, you must seek revenge for me! If not, how could I face the others? What will the others think of me?”

Huang Yi looked at his father, Huang Tai, and sobbed loudly.

“Damn it, what the hell happened? Who did this to you?”

The man was Huang Tai, the Lord of the Huang family and a Ning Gang Ninth Sky cultivator.

With his cultivation level, he was practically a ‘King’ in a small city like An Nan.

“It was the Mu family. It was a young man from the Mu family. I’ve never met him before, but earlier today, when I was riding my horse, he dashed out and tripped me. He also injured my subordinates and even chopped off my arm. It was definitely the Mu family!”

Huang Yi shouted in despair. He didn’t know Mu Feng, but he recognized Mu Cang and Mu Lan, who had accompanied Mu Feng, so he knew that his assailant was from the Mu family.

“The Mu family? Damn it! We’ve always minded our own business, why did he suddenly do this to you?”

Upon hearing Huang Yi’s explanation, Huang Tai squinted his eyes and sensed that there might have been something more to the story.

“Father, I’m sure that he was from the Mu family. Bring your men to the Mu family and kill him!”

Huang Yi was desperate. Right now, his mind was full of nothing but revenge. He wanted his father to kill the young man immediately!

“Hmph, I’ll see what I can do. If he’s really from the Mu family, I’ll definitely demand an explanation from them! However, we can’t just kill a person like that. This Mu family branch in An Nan city is supported by the main Mu family in the capital, which is an upper-class family in the Nan Ling kingdom.”

Huang Tai sneered coldly. Being the Lord of the Huang family, it was necessary for him to have a clear head. Of course, he was furious because of what happened to his son.

To make things worse, only a Royal Alchemist had the skills to grow his son’s arm back, and he was not a person who had the right to ask for favors from someone like that.

This meant that Huang Yi would lose his arm forever. However, he could always ask a mechanic to make a prosthetic arm for him.

“I heard that the Mu family is now in a pinch since they were defeated in battle. On top of that, they also offended the North King. Their family is already on the verge of annihilation, so we don’t need to worry about them too much.”

Huang Yi was stunned by his father’s words and said puzzledly.

However, why did a young boy like Huang Yi know that the Mu family was in a pinch? Was it because the news about the Mu family’s current state had started to spread already?

Actually, it was because the Huang family was involved in the army as well. A Huang family member was a general, so it wasn’t weird that Huang Yi knew about the current political state of the Mu family.

“You’re still too young to understand. As the saying goes, a starved camel is still bigger than a living horse. Although the Mu family is on the verge of destruction, they aren’t completely wiped out yet. They can still destroy a small family like ours if they want to. However, I agree that we shouldn’t worry too much about the branch family. Since the main family is in a pinch, I’m sure that they won’t have the time to bother about the branch family anytime soon. I’ll go over to their place tomorrow morning and demand justice on your behalf. At the very least, I won’t let the man who hurt you off the hook that easily!”

Huang Tai said coldly.

“Thank you, father! I swear I’ll kill that brat myself! I’d rather die than not be able to seek revenge!”

Huang Yi said with murderous intent while lying on the stretcher.

Meanwhile, the fragrance of newly blossomed chrysanthemums drifted in Mu Feng’s courtyard.

There were three young men in the living room, with Bai Ziyue standing in the middle. A young man dressed in black robes stood in front of him with a resolute face.

Mu Feng looked at Bai Ziyue and said in a serious tone: “Have you made up your mind? Are you really sure that you want to take the path of cultivation?”

“I’m tired of living a rat-like life, Brother Feng. I’ve made up my mind!”

Bai Ziyue looked at Mu Feng and said with eyes full of determination.

“What if you die?”

Mu Feng asked.

“I’d rather die than bear regrets!”

Bai Ziyue gritted his teeth and said.

“Alright then. Uncle Zhong!”

Mu Feng called for Mu Zhong. After a short while, Mu Zhong walked out from the corner of the living room with a branding iron in his hand.

“Take off your clothes! Soon, I’ll be teaching you cultivation methods from the Mu family, and since you’re not a Mu family member, according to our family’s tradition, you’ll have to be marked with our family’s symbol. If there comes a day where you reveal our cultivation methods to others, bear in mind that you’ll be hunted down by the Mu family!”

Mu Feng said.

A blue-colored Meta-fire lit up in Mu Zhong’s palm and he heated the iron until it was hot-red.

Without hesitating, Bai Ziyue took off his clothes.

Mu Zhong then pressed red-hot iron down onto Bai Ziyue’s arm.

Sizzle!

A gush of white-colored smoke rose up and Bai Ziyue gritted his teeth in pain. His body trembled slightly, but he didn’t make a sound and endured the pain with strong willpower.

After a while, Mu Zhong removed the hot iron, revealing an ancient Chinese character — Mu, on Bai Ziyue’s arm.

After that, Mu Zhong stood in front of Bai Ziyue and placed his palm on his head. A gush of white-colored Meta-power with no attributes started to channel into Bai Ziyue’s body.

“Umph……”

Bai Ziyue groaned softly. Shortly after that, the Meta-power started flowing into one of the Meta-pulses in his body.

Upon seeing this scene, Mu Zhong quickly covered his ears.

“Ah…!”

Bai Ziyue screamed in pain as he instantly felt a sharp pain coming from his body.

To one’s astonishment, Mu Zhong’s Meta-power was actually opening up his first Meta-pulse. It was the pain that came from the forceful opening of his Meta-pulse that made Bai Ziyue scream in pain.

This was known as Pulse-opening and Meta-developing!

In most families, a Ning Gang level cultivator or above would forcefully open up one’s Meta-pulse and channel some of their own Meta-power into it.

With the aid of this Meta-power, a cultivator could cultivate their own Vitality much faster and open up the rest of their Meta-pulse themselves.

Of course, this method could only be applicable if there was a cultivator who was willing to help.

A cultivator could also open up his first Meta-pulse on his own without any aid, but the process would take a much longer time.

As for the remaining Meta-pulses, they could only be opened by the cultivator himself, because if the same method was used, the Meta-pulses would be crushed instead.

The first Meta-pulse in Bai Ziyue’s body was like a clogged pipe that was forcefully unclogged by a gush of white-colored Meta-power. This Meta-power remained in the Meta-pulse after it was opened up.

Bai Ziyue spat out a mouthful of black-colored blood. It was full of impurities from inside his Meta-pulse.

After a while, Bai Ziyue opened his eyes and felt a warm stream of energy circulating inside him, which was actually quite comfortable.

Suddenly, just as Mu Zhong was about to stop channeling his Meta-power, something weird happened!

A suction force appeared in Bai Ziyue’s body, and he continued to absorb Mu Zhong’s Meta-power!

Mu Zhong’s expression changed and he immediately pulled his hand back. However, Bai Ziyue’s first Meta-pulse was already filled with Mu Zhong’s Meta-power!

“Wh-what on earth…”

Mu Zhong stared at Bai Ziyue in horror, causing Bai Ziyue to freak out and back up a few steps. He then wore back his clothes and looked at Mu Zhong vigilantly.

He couldn’t possibly be interested in me, right?

Bai Ziyue scanned at Mu Zhong from head to toe and thought to himself. A weird feeling then rushed through his body.