A Clash of Gods - Chapter 52
Chapter 52 Hidden Dangers
Hearing the words of Duan Canghai, Yang Ning knew that he had figured out something. Yang Ning was aware that it would get worse if he kept lying, since Duan Canghai had already seen through it somehow.
Besides, Duan Canghai’s comment was correct. At this time, what worried Yang Ning the most was how to get rid of the burning sense in his belly.
He knew that the burning sense in his belly must be the result of sucking internal power from others. He was familiar with combat moves and even the meridian and skeleton of human body, but before the time travel, he had never dealt with anything like internal power.
The internal power he had sucked was stored up in his belly, while Yang Ning had no idea about how to regulate them.
He was a clever guy, knowing that it would be harmful if he couldn’t properly regulate all the internal power he had sucked, which was stored up in his belly.
Duan Canghai was a good martial artist, so he had definitely practiced internal power. It might be a good time to learn from him.
However, there was no good explanation for the fact that he had learned this kind of martial arts sucking internal power from others. If Yang Ning was right, the real earl knew nothing about martial arts, let alone practicing internal power. Now that he had performed such a weird skill, Duan Canghai definitely had some doubts about it.
“Uncle Duan, I…!” As Yang Ning thought about making up a story to explain this, Duan Canghai raised his hand and said, “Your Excellency, please be seated!”
Seeing Duan Canghai was looking serious, Yang Ning sat down in the chair without any hesitation. Duan Canghai stretched his palms and suddenly padded at Yang Ning. Yang Ning was slightly in shock. He thought that Duan Canghai had figured out something and wanted to take Yang Ning down. Yang Ning was hesitating about whether to fight back, but he also knew that if he fought back at this time, he wouldn’t be a match for Duan Canghai. Besides, this would definitely verify what Duan Canghai was doubting about. If that happened, Yang Ning would be in a very dangerous situation.
Yang Ning repressed his astonishment, while Duan Canghai padded at Yang Ning’s chest with palms. Yang Ning felt that his body rocked a little, but the padding didn’t bring any pain, so he felt relieved a little.
Duan Canghai continued the padding for several times, and his palms always landed around the Danzhong acupoint. Then he let down his palms, asking, “Your Excellency, how do you feel right now?”
Yang Ning took a deep breath, and found that the burning sense in his belly had magically disappeared, and the unsettling internal power in his belly was also regulated now.
“Uncle Duan, I…I am fixed!” Yang Ning was surprised. He didn’t expect that his biggest problem would be solved by Duan Canghai so easily. This guy was a true master, who could take care of this kind of issue with just one move.
Duan Canghai shook his head and said, “Your Excellency, there is plenty of internal power stored up in your belly. What I did could only temporarily coordinate the internal power with your body, but it’s just a palliative measure.”
The excitement of Yang Ning cooled down, and he said, frowning, “Is…is there any way to fix it for good?”
Duan Canghai explained, “If my guess is correct, Your Excellency never practiced internal power, judging by your pulses, so the internal power of those people was all sucked into the body of Your Excellency.”
Such a master!
Now in Yang Ning’s mind, he respected Duan Canghai even more. He forced a smile and said, “In fact, I don’t know why the internal power would be sucked into my body, I…!”
“Your Excellency, you don’t need to tell me why you know this magical skill,” Duan Canghai interrupted, “But Your Excellency never practiced internal power. Now the internal power in your body is at least as powerful as a master of third grade, and this is very dangerous.” He explained, “For the body to have internal power, we need to practice starting from taking in and breathing out. The practice of internal power demands a solid foundation. Normally it would take at least three to five years to make the flow of strength smooth in your body. Even for those who are extremely talented, it takes at least one year to master the elementary knowledge of the flow of strength.”
Yang Ning nodded slightly. He knew that it was difficult to practice the internal power.
“There are different mental exercises for the practice of internal power, so for different people, the flows of strength they have are not the same,” Duan Canghai said seriously, “Like Qi Feng and I, we both have practiced internal power, but the flows of strength in our bodies are totally different, due to the difference of practicing measure and even the environment. The flow of strength in my body is coordinated with my meridians, but if my flow of strength goes into the body of Qi Feng, it could only cause harm.”
Yang Ning’s eyes twitched a little, astonished at the complexity of the flow of strength.
“However, for the masters of internal power, even if they take in different flows, they could slightly regulate the flows and coordinate their bodies with the flows coming from others, making use of the flows. If a person is perfectly skilled with the flow of strength, he could do some mental exercises to regulate the flows, and the finest mental exercise would help him keep seventy to eighty percent of others’ flows of strength inside his body for him to use,” Duan Canghai said, “Now there are at least seven or eight types of flows in the body of Your Excellency, and they are messed up. If Your Excellency knew how to perform the finest mental exercise, Your Excellency could regulate your body with those flows of strength, but now…!” Duan Canghai forced a smile and said, shaking his head, “Now the flows of strength in the body Your Excellency…!”
Yang Ning felt a chill down his spine. He didn’t know how dangerous the flows of strength inside his body were until he heard the explanation of Duan Canghai.
“It is like that an ordinary person, who knows nothing about using a sword, obtains an ancient magical sword one day. The magical sword is extremely sharp and invincible…and if the sword is in the hand of a proficient sword master, it will be very powerful, of course, but…but if it is in the hand of someone who knows nothing about how to use a sword, it will be of no use. Besides, if that person ever be careless, he could get harmed. Do you understand me, Your Excellency?” Duan Canghai explained with a sombre expression.
“Uncle Duan, so…so what should I do?” Yang Ning was anxious, “Is there any measure to take away all the flows of strength inside my body?”
Duan Canghai, “There is a method, but we are in no condition to conduct it.”
“What is it?” Yang Ning anxiously asked.
Duan Canghai said in a serious tone, “Break your meridians and destroy your belly to make the internal power vanish.”
Damn!
Yang Ning felt a chill down his spine, and he immediately denied that method. Even for someone who knew nothing about the internal power, those words would scare him to the bone.
“Once the belly gets destroyed, it would be impossible for Your Excellency to practice internal power in the future, so we definitely can’t use this method,” Duan Canghai said, “Other than this, maybe…maybe we could find someone else who could suck people’s internal power like Your Excellency. Maybe he could suck away the flow of strength inside the belly of Your Excellency.”
Yang Ning thought that the Skills of Six Directions is originated from the Five Poisons Palace, but he was not sure about whether there was someone who had mastered the Skills. Even if there was someone in the Five Poisons Palace who was proficient at the Skills, Yang Ning dared not to go over there recklessly. If people in the Five Poisons Palace got to know that Yang Ning had learned the Skills of Six Directions, they surely would take away his internal power, and they might even kill him.
“Don’t worry, Your Excellency.” Seeing the sombre expression on Yang Ning’s face, Duan Canghai tried to console him, saying, “I will figure out a way to help Your Excellency with this issue, but right now, we shall not be too anxious. Your Excellency, now there are many flows of strength inside your belly. There is no way to regulate them, so they are all stored up in your belly. Luckily, the belly is a proper place for storing the flows of strength, so right now the life of Your Excellency is not in danger. If the flows of strength were stored up in another part of your body, the meridians of Your Excellency would have exploded by now.”
Yang Ning clenched the arms of Duan Canghai, saying, “Uncle Duan, please hurry and come up with a solution. I don’t want to die of the explosion of meridians.”
“Don’t be afraid, Your Excellency.” Duan Canghai thought Yang Ning was just scared right now, so he gently consoled Yang Ning, “I will figure out a way. By the way, Your Excellency, before we find a way to regulate your breath, you must not take in any internal power. The internal power in your belly is already extremely powerful. The more you take in, the more dangerous it will be. Please bear this in mind.”
Yang Ning slightly nodded. Hearing this from Duan Canghai, Yang Ning felt there was a small piece of stone inside his belly, so he asked, “Uncle Duan, how about teaching me something to regulate my breath. I want to try it.”
“You must not.” Duan Canghai said in a stern voice, “Your Excellency, I have felt your wrist pulse. Most of your meridians have never experienced any flow of strength. If you regulate your breath recklessly and mobilize the flows of strength, it is highly possible that you may harm your meridians once you lose control of the flows of strength inside your body. It may cause paralysis or even kill you. You must keep it in mind that you shall not regulate the flows by yourself before I figure out a proper method for you.”
Duan Canghai looked so serious and his tone was convincing. Yang Ning knew that Duan Canghai was caring for him, so he nodded and said, “I will keep that in mind.”
Duan Canghai stood up and said, “We will leave for the Loyalty Cemetery at the first light tomorrow morning and it will be a long day. Please have some rest, Your Excellency. We will be outside guarding you.” Without saying anything else, he raised his hands and went outside of the room, shutting the door before he left.
At this time, Qi Feng was the only one guarding at the door. Seeing Duan Canghai coming out, Qi Feng said in a low voice, “Zhao is patrolling behind the house. Brother Duan, how is the earl now?”
“He is fine now.” Looking at the closed door, Duan Canghai said in a low voice, “Did you also figure it out?”
Qi Feng nodded slightly and whispered to Duan Canghai, “I have felt the wrist pulse of that assassin, and he almost lost all of his internal power, but the earl’s eyes were so fierce. If I am right, it was not the assassin who had sucked the internal power. It was the earl!”
“We must not leak any information to the outside” Duan Canghai said in a low voice.
“I’m not that stupid.” Qi Feng smiled and then said frowning, “Brother Duan, when did the earl ever practice martial arts? We have been in the mansion for so many years and we watched the earl growing up. We never saw him practice martial arts and he couldn’t even kill a chicken.” After a pause, he continued in a low voice, “Besides, the skill he has performed is something I have never heard about. Why would there be such a magical skill of sucking internal power from others?”
“You can’t say something doesn’t exist just because you never heard of it,” Duan Canghai said in a cold voice, “There is always someone who is better than us, and there are many things you have never seen.” Darted a look at Qi Feng, Duan Canghai said in a low voice, “Judging by the look of the earl, I think that he even didn’t know that he could perform such a magical skill of sucking internal power from others. If I am right, the one who taught the earl didn’t tell him the truth during the teaching process!”
“Taught?” Qi Feng was in shock, “Brother Duan, are you saying that the earl…the earl has learned this from someone?”
“Do you think that the earl was gifted with this magical skill?” Duan Canghai said with contempt and rolled his eyes at Qi Feng, “For such a magical skill, there must be someone who has secretly taught the earl, and I think he might have told the earl to keep it a secret. That’s why we didn’t know anything about this.”
Qi Feng got more confused and said, “How could this happen? Who would secretly teach the earl about martial arts? In the Mansion of the Marquis of Honor, we never heard of someone who knows this kind of…!” Speaking of it, Qi Feng suddenly shut up. He was in great shock, and surprise showed in his eyes. Staring at Duan Canghai, Qi Feng said in a shivery voice, “Brother…Duan, are you saying that it was the Second…the Second…!”
“It could be him!” Duan Canghai interrupted him and excitement showed in his eyes, “If he is alive, the Mansion of the Marquis of Honor will never go down!”