Chapter 208: What?! The Seventh Young Master Trained So Hard He Fainted?
In Tang Wen’s Sea of Consciousness.
Thirty-one pictographs flickered with a steady light.
Though they were only black and gray, they emanated a deep, azure glow and a pale blue one.
His Spiritual Power was surging and plentiful.
He began to sketch out the thirty-second pictograph.
Stroke by stroke, curve by line.
It was done.
A jolt of joy went through him, causing his spirit to ripple gently.
It was like a dragonfly on a summer evening, accidentally popping a soap bubble blown by a child in the square.
The thirty-second pictograph shattered.
’Damn it!’
He cursed under his breath.
He took a deep breath to calm himself.
He tried again.
The thirty-second pictograph was steadily sketched out.
This time, he felt neither joy nor sorrow.
Finally, the thirty-second pictograph stabilized.
Still, it was as fragile as a newborn baby.
He exited the Spiritual Meditation Method.
Tang Wen recalled Bai You Ruo saying that the Spiritual Meditation Method was relatively simple at the beginning, but grew more difficult the further one progressed.
All along, Tang Wen hadn’t taken her words to heart.
It wasn’t until recently, when he reached the thirty-second pictograph,
that he truly felt how difficult it was.
It was safe to say that the difficulty of sketching this one pictograph was greater than sketching all the previous thirty-one combined.
He hugged the Azure Stone Slab.
In his Sea of Consciousness, twelve pictographs turned black.
They flickered in an orderly fashion, looking steady and powerful.
[Spiritual Power Lake connection established. Begin absorption?]
Tang Wen thought for a moment, and nine more pale gray pictographs appeared in his Sea of Consciousness.
One look at their color told him they didn’t contain much Spiritual Power.
He calculated silently. He had a total of eight days left to use the Azure Stone Slab.
’Why not be a little bolder? Why not squeeze the Stone Slab a little harder?’
To put it bluntly, his mentality was like that of a virile man having an affair with a very... receptive lady.
’She’s not my wife, anyway!’
’Why hold back?’
’Time to use every trick in the book. There’s only one thing to do: go all out!’
If the Azure Stone Slab had a consciousness, it would probably sprout legs and run for it right now.
Having made up his mind, Tang Wen suddenly remembered something.
He exited his cultivation state and opened the door.
He shouted upstairs, calling both Liang Yu and the housekeeper down.
Standing in the training room,
Liang Yu’s eyes revealed an eager excitement.
The housekeeper’s eyes were also full of desire.
Tang Wen glanced at the two of them, held up the Azure Stone Slab, and said,
"Time is precious, and it’s not like I’ll be using this nonstop. You two know the Spiritual Meditation Method, right?"
The two women froze, then understanding dawned on them, followed by utter shock. ’You can do that?!’
After the two women nodded,
Tang Wen smiled. "Good. The three of us will use it together. Of course, I’m still the main user. We’ll take turns. The person can be idle, but the Stone Slab can’t!"
"Young Master is brilliant! How did I not think of that!" Liang Yu’s eyes were filled with adoration.
"I’ll do whatever the Young Master says!" The housekeeper only had eyes for Tang Wen.
Liang Yu glanced at her. ’Looks like I lost this round. Was my flattery too obvious?’
The housekeeper returned a smile, raising her chin slightly.
Liang Yu narrowed her eyes. ’Heh! A woman vying for favor.’
"Your practice methods might be different from mine. Figure it out for yourselves. Don’t copy me."
After giving his instructions, Tang Wen paid them no mind and turned to lie down skillfully on the mat.
The housekeeper, who had never married or been with a man, swooned. ’The Young Master is so handsome even when he’s lying down. Every move he makes is perfect.’
Liang Yu was lost in thought. ’I heard the Young Master keeps a few women in the outer courtyard... Hmm, could it be that he likes this position?’
Too bad Tang Wen’s mind wasn’t on either of them, and he didn’t have a Mind Reading Technique.
Otherwise, he’d have to give Liang Yu major points!
As expected of a married woman, she really understands more... my ass.
The two women didn’t dare to disturb him. They tiptoed outside, closed the door, and waited for Tang Wen’s summons, even slowing their breathing.
Inside, Tang Wen established a link between his Sea of Consciousness and the Spiritual Power Lake.
Under the pressure of the blue bubbles, twenty-one pictographs began to shatter one by one.
Fortunately, it stopped after three of them shattered.
The spiritual characters stabilized at eighteen.
This meant that six of the pale pictographs were receiving Spiritual Power simultaneously.
His efficiency had doubled compared to before.
The gray characters flickered.
When Tang Wen awoke, his eyes once again shone with a fiery light.
He used his Spiritual Power to open the door and tossed the Stone Slab into Liang Yu’s arms. "Bring it back in three hours."
Before Liang Yu could answer, the door slammed shut with a BANG.
Outside, Liang Yu’s face lit up. She brandished the Stone Slab in her arms at the housekeeper. ’I win!’
The housekeeper couldn’t help but snort. Seeing the other woman’s "headlights" sway, her expression darkened.
’Her headlights are brighter than mine!’
Liang Yu felt even more triumphant. ’That’s two wins for me! How infuriating must that be for her!’
’Wait, this woman has been serving the Hall Master since she was a child.’
’She’s never been married.’
Her mood, like a roller coaster, suddenly plunged to the bottom.
’It’s over!’
’I admit defeat!’
Inside, Tang Wen took out the hidden Instant Step Contemplation Method and immersed his spirit in it.
「Two hours later.」
His Spiritual Power was nearly depleted, but his understanding of Instant Step was still zero.
He had clearly noticed and even performed every single movement and detail.
But forget about executing Instant Step, or even a simple teleport.
His movements looked like he had just stumbled out of a car crash.
"I’ll just have to take it slow."
Tang Wen adjusted his mood.
The housekeeper was already standing gracefully at the door, holding the Azure Stone Slab.
"Did you change your pants?"
The housekeeper was wearing a pair of tight white pants.
He couldn’t tell what kind of leather they were made of, but they were form-fitting, thin, and elastic.
At first glance, Tang Wen thought he was looking at white yoga pants.
He didn’t say anything more.
He took the Azure Stone Slab, closed the door, and practiced the Spiritual Meditation Method.
When he woke up again, he tossed the Stone Slab to the housekeeper and continued his attempts to comprehend Instant Step.
And so it repeated.
Over and over.
Time passed in this endless cycle of repetition.
"Young Master! You’ve been practicing for a day and a half—a full thirty-six hours! If you don’t come out to rest, this servant will have no choice but to kneel here and accompany you."
Hearing the voice, Tang Wen paused for half a second before turning to look.
He saw another Maid kneeling at the door.
"Where are the housekeeper and Liang Yu?"
"The two of them went to rest after their cultivation."
"Alright, I’m coming out. Prepare a medicinal bath."
The Maid was overjoyed. "The hot water has been kept ready!"
The medicinal bath washed away his fatigue and slightly increased his Constitution.
When he came out of the bathroom, an enticing aroma filled the living room.
It stirred Tang Wen’s appetite.
Platters of pink meat slices were piled high across three tables.
The aroma wafted up from three different hot pot broths.
Spicy, sweet and sour—the smell alone was mouth-watering.
Three Martial Artist Maids deftly picked up slices of meat—so thin they were translucent, like a cicada’s wing—and placed them into the bubbling copper pots.
Each slice had to be scalded for exactly twenty-three seconds, no more, no less.
The cooked meat was then placed into seven different dipping sauce bowls.
Tang Wen grabbed his chopsticks, picked up a bowl, and poured the meat and sauce straight into his mouth. "Mmm, not bad. Delicious!"
The housekeeper appeared from nowhere, bent her long legs, and knelt on a cushion beside Tang Wen, her hands resting on a bottle of medicinal wine. "They have only been serving you for a short time and don’t know your tastes yet, so they prepared a few extra sauces."
After trying every flavor, Tang Wen nodded. "I’m not picky at all. I have no dietary restrictions. As long as you all think it’s delicious, feel free to make it for me."
"Yes, I’ll remember that."
Despite his words,
the housekeeper still observed him carefully.
Over the course of the meal,
after dozens of pounds of Exotic Beast Meat had gone into his stomach,
she discovered that this Young Master ate the "minced garlic + chili oil + sesame paste + a touch of fermented bean curd" sauce combination the most.
His second favorite was the oil-based dip made from a mixture of various oils.
And third was the number of times he ate the meat plain.
’Hm?’
’Could the sauces be too salty?’
After eating and drinking his fill, he slept for three hours.
Tang Wen woke up on schedule and continued his training.
Time flew by.
Fourteen full days had passed since he’d gotten the Azure Stone Slab.
On this day, Vice Hall Master Zhang came personally to retrieve the Stone Slab.
When he saw Tang Wen, whose eyes were shot with thick, red veins, he almost didn’t recognize him.
Liang Yu, who was familiar with him, pulled him aside and delivered a well-rehearsed speech: "The Hall Master went to great lengths, even offending the Eldest Young Master and others, to secure another seven days for him. The Seventh Young Master has been working day and night, sleeping only three hours every day and a half. I have never in my life seen such diligent cultivation!"
Seeing Tang Wen’s haggard appearance, Vice Hall Master Zhang immediately believed her.
Not long after he left, that very evening,
the story of how Tang Wen trained sleeplessly, pushing himself to the point of collapse out of a desperate desire to be with the Third Miss sooner, began to spread throughout the organization.
However, the person in question was completely unaware of this.
And as for Tang Wen, after fourteen days, his own gains were enormous.