Charles York cried for a while, wiped her tears, and choked out, “Don’t worry, Charles York gege, I won’t tell anyone else.”

After a long time, the two of them gradually quieted down. Holding Charles York in his arms, the soft feeling against his chest and the faint girlish fragrance that occasionally drifted into his nose made Charles York feel a bit strange inside. He casually patted Charles York’s butt and said with a grin, “Silly girl, you wiped your snot all over me!” The soft, springy sensation in his palm made Charles York freeze for a moment, as if struck by lightning.

In Charles York’s embrace, the warmth made Charles York’s body stiffen. She had been so happy just now that she’d completely forgotten about the differences between boys and girls. After Charles York patted her a few times on the butt, she suddenly realized something was wrong. Like a kitten whose tail had been stepped on, she jumped up, her cheeks burning as if on fire, and lowered her head, not daring to look at Charles York. “Charles York gege, your meridians just recovered, you should rest more. I’ll head back now!”

“I’ll walk you back,” Charles York said a bit awkwardly. The way he’d just patted Charles York’s butt was indeed a bit out of line.

“No need.” Charles York ran off as if fleeing.

Watching Charles York’s disappearing figure, Charles York couldn’t help but laugh. He looked at his palm and suddenly had a strange thought: this girl Charles York’s butt actually felt pretty nice.

In the distant grass, watching Charles York walk into the small courtyard, Charles York was still standing where she was, her cheeks still burning, her heart pounding like a little rabbit. After a moment, she pouted, muttering a bit unhappily, “Charles York gege is such a bully. Is a girl’s butt something you can just pat?” Then she suddenly giggled, her smile blooming like a flower. But as if she thought of something else, her expression dimmed. “How much longer can I stay here in the Ye Family Fort?”

The girl’s sense of loss was like the trembling parasol trees in the night.

Chapter 7: The Sea of Profound Qi

Charles York returned to his own small room, feeling a sign that the profound qi in his body was about to break through again. He quickly sat down and began cultivating the Thunder Emperor Technique, and the profound qi in his body started circulating rapidly.

Perhaps because Charles York had already cultivated to the peak of the sixth level before his meridians were severed, his foundation was still there, so the speed of his qi improvement was extremely fast.

As he sat cross-legged and activated the flying dagger in his mind, a surge of vast profound qi gushed out from the dagger, quickly flowing into Charles York’s limbs and meridians.

The flying dagger contained a huge amount of pure profound qi, far purer than the qi of heaven and earth. Charles York no longer needed to absorb the qi from the world around him; just refining the qi pouring out of the flying dagger was enough for him.

The qi inside the flying dagger was so pure that Charles York could only absorb one-tenth of it each time, with the remaining nine-tenths being lost.

“So wasteful. Will the profound qi in the flying dagger eventually run out?” Charles York thought with some concern. He remembered that strange dream, that vast, boundless sea of profound qi. If that was the world inside the flying dagger, then no matter how much he wasted, he could never use up all the qi contained in that sea!

For now, he put these thoughts aside. Whether it was wasteful or not, the most important thing was to quickly improve his strength. The Yun Family Fort harbored wolfish ambitions and had been eyeing the Ye Family Fort for a long time. The Ye Family Fort was in a precarious situation. If he didn’t improve his strength quickly, he wouldn’t even have the power to protect himself, let alone his loved ones.

As he circulated his profound qi, Charles York gradually entered a meditative state. It was as if a mysterious, distant voice was reciting and explaining the many secrets of the Nine Star Heavenly Chen Technique in his mind. Charles York calmed his heart and listened quietly. From that indistinct voice, Charles York learned some information.

The Nine Star Heavenly Chen Technique consisted of nine chapters, each containing a different cultivation method. The Thunder Emperor Technique was just one of them. Each method complemented and counteracted the others. Only by cultivating all of them could one be said to have truly practiced the Nine Star Heavenly Chen Technique. Because all nine methods had to be cultivated simultaneously, the difficulty was much greater than other techniques. However, the power of this technique was also unmatched by any other.

The Nine Star Heavenly Chen Technique only contained methods for cultivating qi, not martial skills. But any martial skill in the world could be powered by the profound qi cultivated from the Nine Star Heavenly Chen Technique—there was nothing superior in the world of martial arts!

Charles York couldn’t help but marvel that such a miraculous technique existed. When he first started learning martial arts, the family’s martial instructor had told Charles York that cultivation methods and martial skills complemented each other, with martial skills relying on the foundation of the cultivation method. For example, the Ye family’s Thunder Roar Inner Strength came with sixteen martial skills, and only those who cultivated Thunder Roar Inner Strength could use them. Those who practiced other methods could not. It was the same for other families’ martial skills—without the corresponding cultivation method, even if you stole another family’s martial skills, you couldn’t use them.

Without the cultivation method, martial skills were useless.

That’s why family heritage was so important. An ancient family’s cultivation methods had been improved countless times to better suit its members. In addition, countless geniuses, relying on these methods, created unique martial skills, allowing the family to survive in an empire full of powerful rivals.

After cultivating the Nine Star Heavenly Chen Technique, one could actually learn all the martial skills in the world. This completely overturned Charles York’s understanding.