He sat on his bed, pondering the gap between him and Fang Qingyang.

　　The depth of inner energy did not matter since he could use the Life and Death Scripture to make up for it. However, its purity could not be made up by using that method.

　　Nonetheless, the Cloud Slashing Power could be used to circulate and refine his inner energy and with his boundless inner energy from the Life and Death Scripture, it was very easy to refine his inner energy. As long as he put some effort into cultivating the Cloud Slashing Power, this would not be a problem as well!

　　Right now, the crucial point was his meridians.

　　Every time he advanced a level in the Heavenly Demonic Power, his body would become more powerful; such was the case with the Life and Death Scripture. When he advanced a level in the Life and Death Scripture, some changes had occurred in his body, increasing its toughness by twenty percent. Otherwise, he would not have been able to perform such a refined Spear Finger Strike.

　　He also had the Sentient Menace and Sun Cultivating White Tiger Portrait, which could strengthen his physique as well, but because he had not achieved a high enough boundary in his martial arts, their strengthening effects had now reached a bottleneck and he found it hard to advance any further.

　　When cultivating these torso tuning techniques, the beginning part was easier for him than for most people but after reaching a certain boundary, it was very difficult for him to achieve a breakthrough.

　　He had been searching for the cause of it as he wondered why the ancients had managed to reach higher boundaries in their torso tuning technique cultivation while most people today could not do so, including himself.

　　Unfortunately, he had not found the cause just yet. When comparing ancient and modern times, there were too many variables influencing the self-cultivation process and it was impossible for him to achieve all variables. The most surface-level difference he could think of was in the object of contemplation.

　　The Sun Cultivating White Tiger Portrait required a person to envision a white tiger. The stronger aura the white tiger possessed, the faster he would advance in his cultivation of the Sun Cultivating White Tiger Portrait. However, he had never seen a white tiger before, as he had only come across ordinary tigers in his past and current lives. There was a world of difference between a white tiger and those ordinary ones. Thus, his cultivation had now reached a limit and could not advance any further.

　　It was impossible to use the Sentient Menace to strengthen his meridians since he passed the meridian training stage, so it could no longer be used to strengthen his meridians anymore. There were only two ways for him to further strengthen them, which were the Sun Cultivating White Tiger Portrait and the Heavenly Demonic Power. In the case of the former, it would be very hard for him to advance in it unless he went to the Hundred-Thousand Hills to find a white tiger. Therefore, his other option would be to cultivate the Heavenly Demonic Power.

　　However, he was still far from achieving a breakthrough in his Heavenly Demonic Power. Although he had acquired a whole night of inner energy from Fang Qingyuan, he was still far away from advancing to the next level. It was not something he could achieve within a short amount of time and Fang Qingyang would certainly not give him that much time anyway.

　　In the end, he came up with a stupid way — the Life and Death Scripture.

　　While he was deep in thought, the Cloud Slashing Power repeatedly flowed according to his circulatory cycle until refined inner energy as fine as a hair strand finally appeared. Wherever it passed, it would leave a dull pain in his meridians.

　　Then, as the spiritual energy from Heaven and Earth flowed into this strand of inner energy, it became thicker and his meridians felt better.

　　He continued circulating the Cloud Slashing Power and after going through a few more cycles, he felt a burning sensation in his meridians again. Following that, the spiritual energy from Heaven and Earth poured in once again, but this time, instead of entering into the inner energy, it went into his meridians, soothing them.

　　After having reached the third stage of his Life and Death Scripture, the spiritual energy it channeled was extremely refined and full of vitality, significantly nourishing his meridians while slowly removing the burning sensation.

　　Then, the spiritual energy from Heaven and Earth entered into the strand of inner energy once more and as the inner energy continued to be purified and began to burn his meridians yet again, the spiritual energy from Heaven and Earth poured in to soothe and nourish the meridians as well. By using this stupid method, he went on strengthening his meridians.

　　While this stupid method produced some results, his meridians had their limit too. After reaching a certain point, no matter how he stimulated them, it became no longer effective. Instead, it felt like the meridians were going to fall apart.

　　He frowned and pondered over this for a while before suddenly disappearing in a flash.

　　In the next instant, he appeared in Qing Yun Town and found Xiao Shi trimming some plants in the courtyard.

　　She was dressed in white clothing and had her sleeves rolled up slightly, exposing half of her lower arms as smooth as white jade. This sight left Yang Baoshu distracted as his gaze would drift over from time to time.

　　When Yang Baoshu noticed Chu Li, he quickly greeted him with a fist salute and a bow.

　　Chu Li waved a hand at him. “How have you been?”

　　Yang Baoshu merely laughed in an awkward manner as he scratched his head; his gaze drifted back to Xiao Shi.

　　Chu Li smiled. “Yang Xu, Menglan, you two stay here. I’ll be going somewhere else with the Princess for a little while.”

　　“Understood,” the two women replied.

　　Yang Baoshu sounded reluctant to see them go. “Mister Chu is leaving already?”

　　Chu Li said, “I’ll be back very soon. Don’t slack off in cultivating your Agile Monkey Fist.”

　　Yang Baoshu hurriedly answered, “Understood. I just feel like I can’t advance any further no matter how hard I cultivate it.”

　　Chu Li advised. “You’ll improve more after gaining more fighting experience. There’s no need to worry. When the conditions are right, success will follow naturally.”

　　“Understood.” Yang Baoshu gave a solemn nod.

　　Chu Li took Xiao Shi’s wrist. Without her sleeves covering her wrists, her skin felt as smooth and warm as a Suet White Jade against his touch. The two of them glided away and disappeared from their sight over the wall.

　　Yang Baoshu was staring in the direction where they had gone as an envious and melancholic expression appeared on his face.

　　Yang Xu chuckled lightly. “Master Yang, isn’t the Princess beautiful?”

　　Yang Baoshu laughed in embarrassment. “Sister Yang, stop making fun of me. I’ll be leaving now.”

　　“Go on, go on,” Yang Xu said as she smiled. “Tell your mother she need not be so courteous.”

　　“My mother is just grateful to Mister Chu.” Yang Baoshu explained. “Without Mister Chu’s guidance, I wouldn’t be where I am today!”

　　“Alright then.” Yang Xu laughed and nodded.

　　She was aware of the whole story behind it. Without Chu Li’s guidance, Yang Baoshu would still be a small underling and the Yang Family would not be living such a good life.

　　Therefore, whenever Sister-in-law Yang knew they were coming over, she would prepare some good meals for them. Since her culinary skills were excellent, Xiao Shi and Chu Li happily enjoyed her cooking as well.

　　…

　　The two of them appeared at the Spirit Cranes Peak.

　　Two white shadows flashed toward them as soon as they appeared. The two Spirit Cranes charged over with their sword-like beaks.

　　Chu Li let go of Xiao Shi and welcomed them with his fists. His Divine Light Fist attacks hit both their long beaks and the fist force of the Cloud Slashing Power poured into them.

　　However, it was a pity that such a powerful fist force could not strike them as it was blocked right after passing through their long beaks. Their feathers were tough yet smooth and when his inner force hit the feathers, it was immediately neutralized wave after wave. Before the force could enter their bodies, it had already dispersed.

　　“Bang, bang, bang, bang…” The sound of cranes crying was mixed with some muffled noises as Chu Li and the two cranes engaged in battle.

　　Xiao Shi retreated behind a huge tree, letting the tree shield her from the strong wind to prevent herself from falling over. The flapping of the cranes’ wings and the magnitude of Chu Li’s fist force had formed a gale so strong that she could not even keep her eyes open.

　　Sometime later, the two cranes finally cried out in discontentment and stopped flapping their wings. They stood on the ground instead to show affection to him by rubbing their long beaks on him until he almost fell.

　　Chu Li could faintly sense their dissatisfaction. They were upset that he had not come over for a long time.

　　He patted their necks and went to sit under a tree. Meanwhile, Xiao Shi plucked a fruit and ate it. The fruit left a lingering fragrance in her mouth and she felt full after having just one.

　　Previously, she had heard from Chu Li that the fruits on the Spirit Cranes Peak were extremely delicious, but because they did not suit the Spirit Cranes’ tastes, the cranes would not eat them at all. Thus, they had never picked any of the fruits for Chu Li and the others and she was not able to taste them until now.

　　When she finally tasted it this time, it was indeed rich and flavorful.

　　As Chu Li sat under the tree, he began channeling the Cloud Slashing Power.

　　The spiritual energy from Heaven and Earth at the Spirit Cranes Peak was definitely purer than from King An’s Imperial Residence, so it could nourish his meridians to a larger extent. He would also be able to save a great deal of time and effort in cultivating the Cloud Slashing Power.

　　After channeling his inner energy for a while, he reached the limit of his meridians once again. He had achieved significant improvement, but now that he had reached another limit, it became even harder for him to forge ahead.

　　Right now, the limit of his meridians had allowed his inner energy to be refined to its maximum potential, which was enough for him to compete against Fang Qingyang.

　　Unfortunately, his inner energy still could not suppress him. In that case, the matter would be very troublesome.

　　Considering how many ancient martial arts and antique studies he knew, Fang Qingyang would surely know more of them. Even if he managed to win by trickery, Fang Qingyang would never admit defeat and would definitely keep bothering Chu Li as long as he did not kill him.

　　He raised his head and looked at the sky.

　　It was a clear shade of dark blue and the air around him was fresh and crisp.

　　He suddenly frowned and let out a whistle.

　　After battling him all this while, the two little Spirit Cranes seemed to have developed a telepathic connection with him. Upon hearing the sound of his whistle, they understood at once that there were enemies approaching and flew up into the air, fixing their eyes on the incoming threats.

　　Since Fang Qingyang had set his mind on killing him, the man would definitely see it through and would never give up halfway.

　　Moreover, seeing as he had managed to attain such a high position at a young age, his arrogance would never allow him to accept failure. Thus, he would very likely return to kill him within the next two days.