<h4>Chapter 3 - Dragon Vein</h4>


    While Long Chen remained in a daze, the Qi released from the mysterious dragon jade pendant had appeared in his dantian. “Where did this Qie from? Perhaps the pendant absorbed it from my father’s body?!”


    Long Chen was only at the peak of Body Quenching Stage so the amount of Qi far exceeded his body’s capacity. Explosive energy radiated from the depth of his bones, even sting dust and soil around him into the air!


    A warm wave surged through his chest. Long Chen cried out in pain, clenching his jaw tight. He was already drenched in sweat!


    Qi surged powerfully within his dantian, as if it would cause an explosion at any time. If this carried on, he would die from spontaneous explosion. Long Chen’s eyes reddened when he thought of dying without even leaving a corpse. “I’m not going to die this easily! Dragon vein! Let’s <i>go</i>!”


    The nine Draconic Stages came after Body Quenching. When a martial artist umted enough Qi in his dantian, he would be able to consolidate all of it into a dragon to break through the first dragon vein. Currently, there was more Qi in Long Chen’s dantian than necessary for this breakthrough! “BREAK!”


    Clenching his jaw, his sweat dripping to the ground, Long Chen let out a deep roar. Using his mighty willpower, he turned the Qi in his dantian into a roaring dragon that charged towards the dragon vein.


    The reverberations broke the dragon vein, unleashing an angry flood of Qi into the dragon vein. It had been tightly shut but the strong collision with Qi made it slowly expand inch by inch. During this process, the dragon-shaped Qi quickly grew in strength!


    <i>Boom! </i>


    The first draconic vein was unblocked in fifteen minutes. The Qi dragon circled the dragon vein several times before returning to his dantian. However, the returning Qi was still violently unstable, its powerful momentum making Long Chen’s entire body swell ufortably.


    “I just broke through the first dragon vein! I have attained the First Draconic Stage! I’ve got to admit the Qi in my dantian is abnormally powerful; looks like I can try my luck with the second stage too!”


    Long Chen had a feeling. He had not used up too much energy during the first breakthrough, and now that he had a good momentum going, he wasn’t going to let this chance go. He stood before his father’s grave, clenched his jaw, then directed his Qi towards the second dragon vein.


    Breaking through the second dragon vein required much more Qi than the first one; this pattern continued through the stages. It was easy to imagine how difficult it was to advance through the stages. Hence, even the best warriors in Baiyang Town might not beat a martial artist past Draconic Stage even if they had spent their whole lives and fortunes fighting.


    Wielding his dragon-like Qi, Long Chen stood before his father’s grave with great confidence. This was a life-changing day for him. As he clenched his teeth, a great wave of Qi pushed through the dragon vein. Unblocking the second dragon vein was much more difficult, and if he failed, he would have to start again!


    Fifteen minutes passed. Long Chen had only unblocked ten inches of the vein. He was utterly exhausted by this point, but when he thought of his father’s words and tearful eyes the moment before his death, Long Chen felt like the pain and suffering was nothing at all!


    “That bastard wanted me to be powerful, and I made a promise to him! I swear to fulfill every promise even if it costs me my life! I will get my second breakthrough today, and you will be shocked!”


    At the same time, he thought about all the people in the Yang family who bullied him in private and every single person who had ever mocked him. “While I don’t consider myself very violent, if you’ve ever humiliated me ... I’ll take my revenge if I’m fortunate enough to surpass you!”


    <i>Boom!</i>


    Two hourster, he finally broke through the second dragon vein. Qi flowed unobstructedly through two dragon veins, heading to different parts of Long Chen’s body and healing them. Even more Qi coiled within his dantian, which was now the main source of Qi in his body.


    As Qi flowed through his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, everything appeared much sharper. Although it was night time, his field of vision was muchrger than before, and the sounds of birds and insects around him had grown much clearer.


    It was as if he had metamorphosed upon stepping into the Draconic Stage. Although his body was as light as a sparrow, the impact from his punch easily reached 500 kilograms.


    Long Chen stood up with a smile, energized.


    He was now a Second Draconic Stage martial artist. Felling therge tree next to him with one powerful punch bolstered by some Qi would not be a difficult task.


    From today, he was going to be a true martial artist!


    He looked at Long Qinn’s tombstone and kowtowed several times. “My sess is all from you. I used to hate you because you didn’t give me anything, but I was wrong. You’re a good father.”


    He straightened, then hurried back to Baiyang Town on his horse carriage. “That’s not right ...”


    Long Chen furrowed his brows. “This mysterious dragon jade used to be in Father’s dantian. I thought the dragon jade appearing in my consciousness was just an abnormal incident, but now that I think of it, it’s likely Father knew it would happen. That’s why he was confident enough to encourage me to take it out. The dragon jade is very mysterious, and what he said about some Dragon Continent and world superpower was strange, too. Perhaps Father had a mysterious past?


    “Then again, no one knew anything about Father before he arrived in Baiyang Town.”


    His brows knitted, and he wondered aloud, “Most importantly, he definitely knew what the jade pendant was, but he died because it absorbed all his Qi. Why did he pass it down to me then? It’s all shrouded in mystery.”


    Mentally returning to the sea of consciousness, he found the mysterious Dragon Jade Pendant levitating quietly there. He probably would not figure out why it was there even if he had ten brains.


    The sea of consciousness was an intangible ce. No one would believe it if he said that a physical object had entered it. The fact that it had happened was enough to prove that it was a mysterious artifact.


    It was then that Long Chen realized the dragon jade was still supplying Qi into his dantian, just not as much as before.


    He was overjoyed. “If my Qi is constantly increasing, it will probably surpass their cultivation speeds. It shouldn’t be too difficult to overtake their abilities.”


    His mediocre life was suddenly filled with hope.


    Gazing upon Baiyang Town not far away, he thought of Long Qinn’sst wish. “The Family Meeting. Those talented kids from the Yang family are all prodigies. I’m so far from being able to defeat Yang Zhan, wouldn’t it be more difficult with them? Father wants me to beat them all to get the Dragon Seal, that’s impossible ... Is it really that important to be the Dragon Warrior?”


    By the time he reached Baiyang Town, it was alreadyte at night.


    Long Chen didn’t live in the Yang Residence. Instead, he had bought a house on the eastern side of town to live alone. Although he had bullied many people throughout his life, he rarely offended anyone important so nothing serious happened to him even though he lived alone.


    As always, he went into his house and quickly washed up. When he drew close to his bed, his gaze turned cold. “The sheets have been touched. Was a thief here?”


    Suspicious, Long Chen inspected his room but nothing was missing.


    Heughed mirthlessly, theny down in bed. It had been an eventful day for him. He’d broken through two dragon veins to attain the Second Draconic Stage. He was still full of energy and couldn’t fall asleep.


    It was still early in the morning and most normal people were still sleeping. Now that he was a martial artist, Long Chen’s senses were heightened, and he could vaguely sense someone slowly approaching his house.


    He quickly pressed a switch on his headboard, which dumped him into an underground space under his bed. His bed returned to its original appearance.


    He quietly observed the room through a tiny gap in the floorboards. After a few breaths, two masked men dressed in all ck infiltrated his room. When they saw the mound of sheets, one of them shed the bed without a word. The bed snapped in half with a loud bang. “Eh? The idiot’s not here? Didn’t we see him enter just now?”


    “He must’ve noticed that we’d been here and slipped away!”


    “Hmph, he might escape today, but can’t run forever. We’ll be back tomorrow. We’re patient enough, and it’ll be easy killing a spoiled brat, don’t you think?”


    Although he had attained the Second Draconic Stage, there were still powerful people in Baiyang Town. Long Chen did not dare let his guard down. He’d sensed a dangerous aura radiating from the two people who tried to kill him, and a direct sh would not end well for Long Chen.


    “Thank goodness I was smart enough to make this switch, or I would’ve died.” His eyes shed coldly. “I can’t believe someone sent two skilled assassins after me in Baiyang Town. I’m such an unimportant figure, am I worth the effort?”


    He frowned again as he went through a list of people he knew. He still couldn’t figure out who would send assassins after him.


    The members of the Yang family ignored him, and it didn’t seem likely they would send skilled assassins after him. “There’s a hidden intent here. Fine, I’ll move back to the Yang Residence tomorrow. I’ll be safer there. Also, even though I’ve attained the Second Draconic Stage, I might still lose to a guy in the first stage if I don’t learn any techniques. The Yang Residence has a Martial Scroll Pce, and I’m still a Yang family member. Maybe I can still get something there.”


    “A good fighting technique can greatly amplify your strength ...”


    He’d seen Yang family members use their fighting skills inbat, and they were powerful!


    Long Chen still had his quarters in the Yang Residence, he just never stayed there. When the sky brightened, he brought the few bags he owned and returned to the Yang Residence.


    The ce was gigantic, so naturally, no one paid attention to his return.


    After tidying up his quarters, Long Chen started to work on strengthening his cultivation. After one night, his Qi had already strengthened significantly. He expected that he would be able to work towards the Third Draconic Stage.


    Of course, the most important matter now was to get abat technique from the Martial Scroll Pce.


    ording to the Yang family rules, any Yang family member who had attained the first Draconic Stage had the right to take one technique from the Martial Scroll Pce. Long Chen already fulfilled the requirement.


    Along the way, Long Chen ignored cold res from handmaidens and guards alike. He couldn’t be bothered to deal with their constant whispers.


    Thanks to his excellent memory, he still remembered the way to the Martial Scroll Pce despite only having seen it once when he was much younger.


    The Martial Scroll Pce was a private area, so no outsiders were allowed inside. Even handmaidens and guards could not enter it.


    Long Chen looked at the stone gate deep in the forest. A tall tower, the Martial Scroll Pce, was beyond it.


    Before he reached the gate, Chen Liu appeared and blocked his way.


    Chen Liu was the one who’d spat on Long Chen. Both of them were of simr age, he too was in the Second Draconic Stage. He was surprised to see Long Chen heading towards the Martial Scroll Pce and he paused beforeughing. “Young Master Chen! How did you find the time toe here? I heard some idiot from the Yang family keeled over yesterday. Why aren’t you doing your job as a filial son?”


    Long Chen knew that Chen Liu was only trying to get a reaction out of him, but he secretly burned with rage. The Martial Scroll Pce was just a stone’s throw away and he didn’t want to get into any trouble before he had a martial technique. Pushing his rage down, he walked past Chen Liu.


    Still, Chen Liu would not let him go. He stepped in front of Long Chen again and grinned coldly, “Have you gone deaf, Young Master Chen? Did you not hear me?”


    “I’ve already attained the Draconic Stage. Also, you’re an outsider, how is the Martial Scroll Pce any of your business?”


    Long Chen looked up coldly at him.


    Since he fended for himself in the streets despite not having any substantial powers, Long Chen could be intimidating if he wanted to. Now that he had also attained the second Draconic Stage, his steely gaze was enough to scare Chen Liu into taking a step back. “What? Did I hear that right? You can’t just im you’re at the Draconic Stage without proof. I have some time today so let me see if what you say is true!”