Chapter 54: Train of Thought

After getting to know each other for just a few days, Yuan Qinghua could practically see right through Xu Yi. He knew well that his boss was not the kind of person who would allow himself to suffer any losses.

Xu Yi’s face flushed with anger. “What do you mean by that? Am I a scheming person to you?”

“Boss, don’t fake it anymore. Tell me quickly! Otherwise, I won’t be confident when I make the sale!”

Yuan Qinghua kept on pressing.

Unable to brush him off, Xu Yi could only reveal the truth.

It turned out that Xu Yi knew that the golden armour was already nearing its breaking point after taking over a hundred of his punches. If they took it to a proper shop such as Linglong Hall, the defect would most likely be discovered, and they would have to sell it at a discount for no good reason at all. However, if they sold it to an individual, they would not know better. Just with the appearance of the golden armour, they would likely still be able to sell it for a good price.

After hearing the reason, Yuan Qinghua was practically ready to get on his knees for Xu Yi. Suddenly, he decided to swear to the heavens, “Boss! If I ever dare to lie to you in future, may I get struck by lightning and die a no-good death!”

This was not just a boss but practically a devil. Whoever dares to challenge him in a test of cunning would be sure to die a horrible death.

Xu Yi waved his hand. “Enough. Stop your antics. Right; after you moved me here, how did you settle things at the office? I still have a job to do there.”

Yuan Qinghua slapped his thigh. “If you didn’t mention it, I would’ve forgotten. Director Gao of the Patrol Division sent someone over to check on you and even left behind plenty of gifts. I was told to tell you that you could put your work aside for now and focus on recuperating. Hehe, Boss, you really are someone special. Even a bigshot like Gao Seven Swords would send gifts to you,” he said with surprise.

With the last big issue settled as well, Xu Yi heaved a sigh of relief. “It’s late now. You have lots of things to do tomorrow. Go back and rest.”

Yuan Qinghua acknowledged his order, then left. But then, he returned shortly with a tray containing a platter of buns and a pot of porridge. Xu Yi gobbled them down, then thought of LIttle Qiu’s request. He then told Yuan Qinghua all the food that the little girl wanted.

Yuan Qinghua acknowledged the instructions, then quietly left through the door. As he left, he felt a strange feeling within his chest.

After knowing his Boss for these few days, Yuan Qinghua already knew that his Boss was just an outsider that the old man from the Mu family had fished out of the river.

But from how his Boss treated the grandfather and granddaughter, he was clearly repaying them with all his love and care. Not only was he taking care of their daily lives, according to what Yuan Qinghua heard, even the conflict between him and the Black Dragon Hall came about because he was standing up for the two of them.

It was truly rare to see someone who knew how to repay his debts.

“Working under a boss like this really sets my heart at ease!”

Yuan Qinghua quietly spoke to himself as he shut the door.

Yuan Qinghua was gone, but Xu Yi had no intention to sleep. He stacked his pillows up, lay down comfortably, and began to plan his next step.

After the recent battle, the rabid dog known as Black Dragon Hall must surely be driven mad by him. Compared to Gao Pan, his upcoming opponents would most likely be quite a few times stronger.

As he quietly calculated, Xu Yi began to straighten out his train of thought.

Firstly, forging his Dragon Alligator hide into armour is the utmost priority. The evidence was clear now that the defensive capabilities of the Dragon Alligator hide is top-notch. In the recent battle with Gao Pan, his defense was completely reliant on the piece of Dragon Alligator hide. However, tying the hide to his chest with a piece of rope meant that his defensive coverage was just too limited. By forging it into armour and protecting his entire body, only then can he ensure that he will not lose.

Secondly, Martial Technique. In other words, the Raging Force Mantra must be practiced until results are obtained.

Ever since Xu Yi received the Raging Force Mantra, he had read through it many times. It was clear to him that the essence of this Martial Technique was to use his body of flesh and blood to absorb raging energies in the medicines used. Thereafter, by manipulating the Qi throughout the body, he would be able to explosively unleash a mighty punching power.

For every stage, the required medicinal herbs were all different.

The most difficult part about cultivating this skill is the extreme pain that comes with absorbing the energy within the herbs that is far beyond what most can endure. The last part of the mantra even emphasized that this mantra can only be cultivated by those with the strongest willpower. Furthermore, during cultivation, one must never be alone. This is so that at any point of danger, the cultivator can be forcefully pulled out of the medicinal bath to stop the absorption of the medicine.

When it comes to pain, Xu Yi was confident that he could endure, hence he already made up his mind to cultivate in the Raging Force Mantra.

“Dragon Alligator hide for defence and the Raging Force Mantra for attack. It looks complete, but I’m still missing an ultimate move that can ensure my survival. An ultimate move. Sigh… How could I forget that?”

While racking his brain for ideas to increase his martial prowess, he suddenly thought of the broken finger within his pouch.

He took off the ring, and with all his strength, he sent the broken finger flying away in a huge arc. He brought the ring to a brighter spot and examined it for a while. Xu Yi could roughly guess that this contained a firing mechanism, and the only possible firing hole was the mouth of the snake. This also matched Gao Pan’s behaviour of twisting the ring at the crucial moment in battle.

“Just how is the mechanism triggered?”

For safety, Xu Yi aimed the head of the snake towards a thick folded blanket. In case anything incredible shot out, there would not be any ricochet as it would be blocked by the blanket.

After pressing the snake’s head many times, he could feel something moving, but nothing fired out.

Holding onto the ring and mulling over it for a long time, Xu Yi suddenly thought of the metal spirit that he had in his pouch. That required his palm energy in order to activate. Perhaps this object was the same.

With that thought in mind, he pressed the snake’s head into the blanket, slipped his left index finger into the ring, then exerted his palm energy. However, nothing came out. Suddenly he then remembered that there must be a reason behind having a moveable snake’s head.

Immediately, he tried turning the snake’s head the moment he exerted a force. A soft woosh sound was made, and a hint of recoil was felt in his finger. Xu Yi knew then that he had successfully fired a shot.

In case there were more rounds that were not fired, Xu Yi repeated the steps many times, but he no longer felt any recoil. He then knew that the ring only had one shot.

After a good fifteen minutes or so, Xu Yi finally found the green needle.

The reason why it took so long was because the penetrative force of the green needle exceeded Xu Yi’s expectations. Initially, he thought that whatever shot out would be stuck in the blanket. After all, the blanket was folded and stacked a few feet. It should provide astonishing resistance.

Afterwards, after searching through the blankets with no results, he found a tiny, almost unnoticeable hole on the bed. Following the hole, he then found the green needle, thin as a strand of hair, on the granite floor under the bed.

“This can kill someone?”

Xu Yi was suspicious of the needle.

Although it had astonishing penetrative power and extremely fast firing speed that made it nearly impossible to defend against, it was simply too fine. Unless it hit the heart or the head, it would never be fatal.

“No, that’s not right. Venom, it must be venom!”

As the thought flashed through Xu Yi’s mind, he almost threw away the green needle in fear.

Indeed, for something so small and fine, the only way for it to be fatal was for it to contain a vicious venom.

After getting to the bottom of the ring’s mystery, Xu Yi was still not too exhilarated.

If he’d not been fully prepared, the ring could indeed be an excellent secret weapon.

However it was a consumable. Once it was used, that was it.

And he had two more battles to face.

Furthermore, if he encountered an opponent with an extremely tough armour, would the green needle be able to punch all the way through?

Although slightly upset, he still managed to get his hands on a pretty good treasure. Xu Yi carefully put down the green needle, then began to investigate how to place it back into the ring.

Without the green needle, the ring lost its intimidation factor. Xu Yi boldly worked at the ring, and in no time at all, he figured out how it worked. He separated the needle into two pieces, carefully placed the green needle into the opening before assembling the ring together and tossing it into his pouch.

After thinking for a long time, Xu Yi still could not think of any trick that could ensure his survival. He knew that these things could not be rushed. He thought of the Dragon Alligator hide, which took care of his defense, and he began to feel more at ease. With lots to do the next day, he closed off his mind to these thoughts and quickly fell into a deep sleep.