She just felt annoyed when she heard it, so she interrupted the other person and drew her sword.
Xi Heng was quite skilled in dealing with those who were good at using long swords. After all, most of the constables and bandits he encountered on the way to the capital were also good at using swords.
After a few moves, Xi Heng saw the flaws in the opponent's moves and directly drew a shallow bloody mark on the enemy's chest.
After the sword strike, the woman who looked like a bodybuilder lowered her head and wiped the blood on her chest. She looked at the blood on her hand and sighed, "If our bodies were different, I would have won with that move just now."
"..." Xi Heng's face was full of black lines: "According to the order, it should be your leader's turn, right? Go and call him quickly."
"Brother Leader is not here today." The deputy leader replied.
"Huh?" Xi Heng twitched her lips. She had originally wanted to kill all the members of the Qingle Gang from top to bottom tonight, but now she had missed the biggest leader.
What should we do next? Should we retreat? Or should we wait for the gang leader to come back and do it again?
"Forget it... I'm here now." Xi Heng took a deep breath, pointed his sword at the people of Qingle Gang in front of him, and a hint of murderous intent appeared in his eyes.
……
A few minutes later, there were no more people gathering in the outer courtyard of the brothel to watch the fun.
When Xi Heng drew his sword, the bystanders started running away while shouting "Murder!"
Many lower-level members of the Qingle Gang also ran away, and it was difficult for Xi Heng to hunt down so many fleeing people on his own.
However, most of the gang leaders who came here were dead.
"All the spells I prepared before coming to the capital have been used up, so let me replenish them." Seeing that there was no one around, Xi Heng started to get busy.
Among the bloody corpses around, there were several people who had just fought with Xi Heng, as well as warriors from the Qingle Gang who had been hiding in the dark at first, but later came forward to fight when they saw that Xi Heng had the murderous intention.
But their strength was below the peak of Ming Jin, and Xi Heng, who had magical powers, could easily deal with them with just two or three moves.
The bodies were either beheaded, or had their hearts pierced, or were cut in half, leaving pools of blood on the ground.
Xi Heng passed by the bloody and horrible corpses, picked up a few that were relatively intact, and dragged them to an empty alley across the street.
If the imperial detectives tried their best, they might find out soon. Xi Heng was unwilling to perform the Sea of Blood magic in the streets.
The girl threw the corpse into a dark alley, cast a magic circle, chanted a spell with her fingers, and drew patterns on the back of her hands.
After the sacrifice was completed, no detectives or soldiers arrived.
Xi Heng went back and grabbed two more corpses to continue his magic, muttering to himself:
"Just as Yan Hongji said, the jurisdiction here is much more relaxed."
She completed this sacrifice again, and the backs of her arms and hands were already covered with lines. Then a night watchman approached the place with a lantern, but seeing the cruel scene on the ground, he became panicked and fled in a hurry.
Xi Heng saw this scene in the dark alley and slowly retreated away.
She took off the black gauze hat on her head and the dark red coat stained with blood and threw them away. She was only wearing the long skirt and straight-collared single-piece dress underneath. She walked neatly and heroically in Qinxie Changxiang, which attracted a lot of attention.
The girl rejected the invitations of the women on the road one by one, found her way back to Huamanlou, entered the door and climbed the long steps.
I returned to my room and was about to take off my clothes by the bed when I heard a few gentle knocks on the door.
bang bang,
"Please come in." Xi Heng said subconsciously.
The door was slightly open, and she thought it would be an unexpected guest, but the visitor was just a maid in the pavilion.
"Sir, the water in the bathhouse is ready. If necessary, you can come with me to the bathhouse to cleanse yourself. Also, if your clothes are dirty, you can give them to me to wash." The other party's voice was soft and his attitude was extremely gentle.
So docile that it seems that even if I make some excessive requests, the other party will not refuse.
However, Xi Heng didn't have any thoughts on this and just hesitated whether to take a bath.
She sniffed her fingertips and indeed there was still a lot of blood smell left, so she replied, "Go ahead."
"Please follow me, sir." The maid nodded and led the way.
The bathroom was on the first floor. Xi Heng entered the women's bath and was accompanied by the maid from his own room. She poured water into the larger wooden bathtub to test the temperature, picked flower petals and dropped them on the bathtub one by one, and also put some scented orchids.
"Sir, could you please try the temperature?" The other party was quite polite.
Xi Heng moved closer and reached his hand in, which was quite nice.
"Would you like me to help you undress?"
"No, no need." Xi Heng didn't like the touch of strange women. She was still relatively conservative about physical contact.
"I'll listen to you, sir." The other party withdrew his hand.
Xi Heng nodded slightly, looked at the other person's tender face, and asked, "What's your name?"
"Sir, just call me Chunxian..."
"Oh." Xi Heng nodded and wrote down the name, then took off his clothes and handed them to the other person who reached out to take them.
The white jade-like skin was revealed inch by inch. The maid watched quietly beside her, pursed her lips slightly, and her eyes were a little dazed.
Xi Heng didn't pay attention to these things. She just treated it as being in a bathhouse. Although she felt a little shy in her heart, her reason told her that this was a normal thing and it was nothing serious.
She stepped on the wet steps towards the bathtub, and her two soft feet made a few popping sounds on the water, like the sound of raindrops.
The girl raised her knees and first put her toes into the warm water to be wrapped in warmth, then her ankles, calves, knees, thighs...
"Huh..." As the warmth with the scent of flowers enveloped his entire body, Xi Heng gradually relaxed and let out a long sigh.
Sure enough, after a busy day, you should stay in the bathtub or tub and rest for a while.
It’s a pity that I didn’t have the conditions on the road before, and I only had the opportunity in the capital.
Xi Heng reached out and stroked the warm water in the bucket, watching the bright red petals soaked in water flow between his fingertips and skin.
She raised the back of her hand, and the flower leaves touched the surface of her skin, giving her body a slight fragrance.
"Sir, would you like a massage?" The maid named Chunxian behind him folded the clothes and slowly put them aside.
"Massage?" Xi Heng looked back and saw that the other person was also taking off his outer shirt.
The maid raised her soft and slender fingers and nodded gently.
“What kind of massage?”
"Massaging your arms, shoulders, neck, etc. can make your body feel more comfortable." Chun Xian said this first, her eyes fell on Xi Heng's face and figure, her cheeks slightly flushed: "If you are willing, you can also take me to the guest room for a full body massage. However, I have not been working in the building for half a year, and I have never done this kind of thing... If the service is not comfortable enough, please bear with me."
Why do I feel something is wrong the more I listen?
Xi Heng gradually realized that ever since he stepped into the Qin Xie Chang Lane, everything around him seemed to be inexplicably tainted with some erotic charm.
Is this Qin Xie Chang Lane?
Xi Heng waved his hand to decline, "Not necessary today."
"Yes..." The maid Chunxian's eyes flashed with disappointment, and she stepped back obediently: "I will go to the back to wash clothes for you. If you have any instructions, you can just call or knock on the door."
"Well, thank you for the trouble." Xi Heng waved his hand.
"Don't be so polite, sir." The maid said softly and humbly, then went into the laundry room.
Xi Heng breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the other person's figure disappear.
For some reason, even though she had already trained herself to be able to kill without blinking an eye, she was still shy and timid about this kind of thing.
"Aren't people in ancient times said to be very conservative... Why am I the most conservative one after arriving in the capital?" Xi Heng raised his head, squinted his eyes and sighed softly.
Just now she was a little curious and hesitated whether to try this so-called massage.
But the more I thought about it, the more I felt something was wrong. This was Qinxie Lane, where many entertainment industries gathered in Beijing. The so-called massage should not be a serious service...
"How strange." Xi Heng held his forehead, shook his head to get rid of these thoughts, and silently wiped his blood-stained skin in the bathtub.
...............
Chapter 36: Break through the barrier to meet the king
Xi Heng just washed up, asked the maid to bring a towel and wiped his body briefly, then returned to the room wearing a blue and white bathrobe embroidered with red and purple round flowers. After his body was dry and refreshed, he prepared to circulate his qi and blood.
What martial artists learn is not just external skills and techniques; the control and concentration of Qi and blood in the body is equally important.
She had practiced the Life-Saving Technique three times, and the energy and blood she had condensed in the past two years was comparable to that of an ordinary warrior who had practiced continuously for ten years.
Xi Heng recalled what Senior Sister Hong Miao had said, and went to the desk in the room first:
"To advance to Dark Power, one needs to strengthen the Qi and blood, and use the Qi and blood to push open the tendons and bones..."
After sitting down, Xi Heng opened the drawer, took out the book on the Red Line Sword's Dark Power, turned to the preface, and reread the steps to advance the Dark Power that her senior sister had written for her.
Read softly:
“To beat the Qi and blood is to invigorate the Qi and blood in the Dantian and meridians, so as to consolidate the Qi and blood and open up the tendons and bones that have become increasingly stiff with age, thus rejuvenating them.”
"The human body has twelve major joints, two hundred and ten minor joints, and four hundred and eighty-five tendons, sixty-two in the upper part of the body, and one hundred and twenty-six in the middle..."
"……many."
It seems that just breaking open these tendons and bones is already quite time-consuming and laborious.
And even after breaking through, it is not yet considered dark power. After that, one needs to practice the strength of muscles and bones until one is familiar with it, and then open up a key meridian acupoint, before one can twist the qi and blood into dark power and become a dark power warrior.
Each of these steps is essential and requires not only talent and determination, but also persistent patience.
Xi Heng sighed.
Fortunately, her senior sister had marked some of the tendons and bones that were easy to open in the book, and drew a route map from easy to difficult, and also attached an illustration depicting the location of the tendons and bones.
The method of advancement written by the senior sister was quite detailed. As long as one's Qi, blood and sword intent reached a sufficient level, and then calmed down and practiced step by step, it seemed that one would be able to smoothly step into the dark power.
However, Xi Heng still doesn't know whether his blood and sword intent are sufficient to achieve dark power.
"Anyway, start with the simplest part first." After reading it again, Xi Heng closed the book on the desk and walked to the bed in his wooden clogs and sat down.
Xi Heng took off his clogs and sat cross-legged on the bed properly, with his hands in the shape of orchid fingers resting on his knees.
Close your eyes and breathe steadily, sense the energy in your body, and try to gather the energy and blood in your meridians.
When Dantian was full, Xi Heng took a deep breath, manipulated his Qi and blood, and continued to apply pressure to Dantian.
As a result, the qi and blood contracted for a moment like a sponge being squeezed tightly, but when the pressure applied by Xi Heng was released, it immediately returned to its original state.
"After being compressed for a while, the Qi and blood did become a little tighter. Is this the way to temper the Qi and blood?" After practicing, Xi Heng found that the seemingly complicated words left by his senior sister were not difficult to understand.
"continue."
In the first half of the night, Xi Heng kept gathering his strength to tighten his Qi and blood, just like a blacksmith forging a sword, making the originally loose Qi and blood even more condensed.
After two hours, Xi Heng used his tempered qi and blood to open up several loose tendons and joints.
After a simple "click" sound, that small part of the body became more relaxed and flexible.
When he was finally exhausted, Xi Heng tried to break through a slightly more difficult joint, but he just couldn't.
She then relaxed her body and placed her right hand in front of her and moved it slightly.
The joint of the little finger was opened up by the qi and blood, and now it is obviously much more agile when moving.
"If I can open up all the joints in my body, my body's flexibility should be greatly enhanced, and then my overall strength, muscles and bones..." Xi Heng muttered to himself:
"This kind of gradual advancement should take a long time and cannot be accomplished in a short period of time. Moreover, for some reason, when I circulate my internal energy, I always feel that my sword power is not yet pure enough to break through..."
"I am not short of time, so I will take my time. As for the sword spirit, I will slowly find opportunities to hone it later."
"Let's take a rest today." She covered her lips, yawned, and curled up in the quilt.
A peaceful night.
The next morning, Xi Heng woke up to the sound of kingfishers singing outside.
He stood up and picked out a set of light pink clothes from the closet and put them on. After washing up, Xi Heng sat down in front of the dressing table and quietly tidied up his appearance and dressed.
Perhaps influenced by the atmosphere in Qin Xie Chang Xiang, Xi Heng's eyes no longer showed indifference and murderous intent as before, but had a bit of gentleness that should be in a prosperous era.
After dressing herself up, Xi Heng came to the balcony on the side of the house and leaned over to look around.
It is only early morning now, but there are already many figures on the street. Some have just woken up, while others have stayed in this long alley all night and wandered around until this moment, rubbing their eyes and slowly leaving.
The warm breeze blew in the early morning, and the roses planted in the flower beds on the road fluttered gently.
The lanterns have not yet been completely extinguished, and there can be heard some light laughter from far away outside, accompanied by the petals blown by the morning breeze and drifting away into the distance.
Standing on this flower-covered building, no matter how you look at it, the surrounding area is filled with prosperous and flourishing scenery.
