Young hero, stay put and don't be reckless.

Chapter 15 Bargaining

Jiang Xun was taken aback, then realized who she was talking about.

My heart skipped a beat.

Why is she asking this?

His eyes had just rolled—

"Think carefully before you answer." The man in black's voice was as cold as a razor blade scraping bone, each word uttered with gusto. "Lie once, and you'll lose a finger."

Jiang Xun's words, which were on the tip of his tongue, were stuck in his throat, as if someone had grabbed him and choked him.

He shut his mouth, a cold sweat breaking out on his back, making him feel chilly.

Three breaths of silence.

Then he spoke up honestly, his voice lowering.

"He saved me. Seven years ago, he picked me up from a pile of corpses. He raised me for seven years, taught me to read, taught me to steal, and taught me how to survive in Jiangzhou."

The man in black listened, his eyes remaining unmoved, like a stagnant pool.

What did he give you?

"no."

"Has anything been told to you?"

Jiang Xun thought about it, going over it in his mind again and again.

"Just... just let me live. That's all."

The man in black did not respond.

The silence was even heavier than before, so heavy that Jiang Xun felt a little suffocated.

After a while, she took something out of her bosom and opened her palm.

Iron plate.

The iron plaque that Ajiu gave me.

Jiang Xun's heart skipped a beat, and he almost choked on his own blood—it must have been her who stole it while he was unconscious.

"This," the man in black asked in a flat tone, "where did it come from?"

Jiang Xun opened his mouth.

"First, it was a gift from a friend..."

"What friend?"

This time he didn't dare to play tricks again, and honestly told everyone what Ah Jiu looked like, how they met, and how they separated.

The man in black frowned slightly after hearing this.

"A-Jiu?"

She repeated it softly, a complex emotion flashing in her eyes.

She then put the iron plate back into her bosom.

"I'll take this."

She stood up, looked down at him, and spoke in a tone as indifferent as if she were talking about something insignificant.

"From now on, we are even."

After saying that, he turned and left.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Jiang Xun cried out anxiously, scrambling to his feet but nearly falling again. "Wait a minute!"

The man in black stopped but didn't turn around.

Jiang Xun pointed at her, his finger trembling slightly.

"You beat me up and stole my things, and you call that settling things? Who do you think you are?!"

The man in black turned around and glanced at him.

His gaze was indifferent, no different from before, but Jiang Xun inexplicably felt a chill down his spine, as if a cold wind was blowing through his back.

"So what do you want?"

Jiang Xun was stunned for a moment.

He hadn't expected this woman to be so easy to talk to.

His eyes darted around, and then he suddenly grinned.

"Teach me the internal energy cultivation method."

The man in black raised an eyebrow.

"That's the deal. You teach me internal energy and help me control that true qi, then we'll be even."

The man in black looked at him and remained silent for a long time.

Jiang Xun felt uneasy under her gaze, a chill running down his spine, but he forced himself not to look away and even managed a forced smile.

After a long while, the man in black suddenly spoke:

"Aren't you afraid I'll kill you?"

Jiang Xun laughed, a roguish laugh that revealed two rows of white teeth.

"If you wanted to kill me, you would have done it long ago. Why wait until now?"

The man in black did not speak.

Jiang Xun continued, his tone unhurried, like someone haggling at a market:

"The fact that you took the metal plate means it's important to you. The fact that you didn't kill me means I'm still useful. Of course, useful people will bargain."

The man in black stared at him.

Those eyes were so bright they could reflect a person's image, like two knives held to his neck.

A very, very long time passed, so long that Jiang Xun thought he was going to be stared through two holes—

The man in black suddenly turned around and walked back to the old pine tree, where he sat down cross-legged.

"come over."

Jiang Xun's eyes lit up, and he ran over excitedly, almost tripping over a tree root.

The man in black looked at him, his tone still indifferent.

"Do you know the origin of that inner energy within you?"

Jiang Xun shook his head and said honestly:

"I don't know. It just suddenly appeared one day."

The man in black nodded and didn't ask any further questions.

"sit."

Jiang Xun sat down opposite her and tried to cross his legs like her. It took him a while to get his legs into that position, and it looked awkward no matter how you looked at it.

The man in black looked at his clumsy movements, a hint of helplessness flashing in his eyes, like watching a duck learning to walk.

"The internal energy within you is extremely domineering and constantly circulating on its own. If it is not guided, it will explode and die sooner or later."

Jiang Xun nodded—the old monk had said those words, and he remembered them clearly, never forgetting them even in his dreams.

"I will now teach you a breathing technique that can temporarily suppress this true energy. As for whether you can completely control it—"

She paused.

"It depends on your fate."

Jiang Xun pricked up his ears and stared at her intently, afraid of missing a single word.

She began to teach.

It's called teaching, but it's actually very simple—how to sit, how to breathe, and how to feel the energy in your body.

There are no mantras or secret formulas, just a few sentences repeated over and over.

"Sit cross-legged, sit up straight, and place your hands on your knees."

"Inhale, slowly, even slower, inhale as much as you can."

"Exhale slowly, and exhale completely."

"Do you feel warmth in your lower abdomen?"

Jiang Xun did as she said.

At first, I didn't feel anything, except that my breathing was slower than usual and my chest felt a little tight.

But after a while, my lower abdomen really started to feel warm—not the kind of heat that's about to explode, but a warm, gentle warmth, like drinking a bowl of hot soup, slowly spreading out from my stomach.

The heat slowly spread, moving up the body, to the chest, to the shoulders, to the arms, like warm water washing over sand.

"stop."

The man in black spoke, his voice crisp and clear.

Jiang Xun opened his eyes and looked at her.

"That surge of heat just now was your internal energy," the man in black said, his gaze fixed on the man's lower abdomen. "What you need to do now is not to let it run wild, but to press it back into your lower abdomen."

"Push it back?"

"Yes. When you inhale, feel it; when you exhale, imagine it going down. Slowly, it will sink down."

Jiang Xun closed his eyes and continued trying.

This time, the heat flow wasn't so obedient.

He tried to guide it downwards, but it kept leaping upwards; he tried to calm it down, but it kept surging outwards, like a handful of quicksand that he couldn't hold back no matter what he did, making him sweat profusely.

Jiang Xun gritted his teeth and tried to suppress it again and again, fine beads of sweat appearing on his forehead and trickling down his temples.

The back of my clothes gradually became damp, sticking to my skin and feeling cool.

I don't know how long I struggled with it, my back ached and my legs were numb, but I finally managed to push it back down a bit.

The heat stopped surging around and settled quietly in his lower abdomen, curled up like a tamed cat.

When he opened his eyes again, it was already completely dark.

A few stars hung coldly overhead, the shadows of the trees swayed, and all around was so quiet that only the chirping of insects could be heard.

The man in black sat not far away, watching him.

In the dim light of day, Jiang Xun caught a glimpse of something flashing in her eyes.

It felt like an accident, yet also like a little...surprise?

But it was only for a fleeting moment.

That expression vanished as quickly as it had appeared; when she spoke again, her face was utterly indifferent, as if she were wearing a mask.

"His natural talent is acceptable."