Chapter Ninety-Three: A Turtle Trapped in a Jar

Inside the hall, only a few faction leaders—Tu Guiwu, Political Commissar Gong, and Xie—remained, along with Jing Hui. Everyone else had withdrawn to a distance. At this moment, all eyes in the hall were fixed on Jing Hui, filled with a mixture of surprise, suspicion, and mockery.

"Everyone here knows my relationship with Liang Jing. The failure of our previous plan was due to other factors, as I believe you have all heard... This time, only we know the plan; Liang Jing has no way to escape."

"As for the matter of the mole, I trust you leaders have already taken care of it, so I won't concern myself with that. What we must deal with now is Liang Jing. First, we can confirm that he is currently in the village or nearby; otherwise, he could not know our every move and react so instantly. In this case, Liang Jing has been too clever for his own good and has exposed himself."

The crowd nodded. It was true—when Young Master Tu ordered a secret, meant to be kept private, to be shouted out loud, Liang Jing had immediately responded. In an era where communication was difficult, this could only mean that Liang Jing was in the immediate vicinity.

"Then, what we need to do next is to capture and surround Liang Jing. We don't need to lure him or force him; we can make him come to us."

"Oh? How so? What exactly should we do?"

"Speak up!"

Looking at the slightly anxious crowd, Jing Hui wore a confident smile. "It's actually quite simple. Since Liang Jing wants to hide in the village, let him stay there alone. I don't believe he carries much food with him. Once he runs out, he will have no choice but to emerge from his hiding spot. All we need to do is station people to surround and guard the perimeter of the entire village. Liang Jing will be a turtle in a jar."

"That's it!"

The eyes of the crowd lit up. Political Commissar Gong’s expression shifted as he looked at Jing Hui again. This was a talented individual—clever and an Awakened. Perhaps he could be recruited.

"Exactly! Why didn't we think of that before? Such a simple logic."

"Yes, yes! Let's pull everyone out of the village immediately. Let's see how long he can last and who he can kill while hiding there alone. He'll starve to death if he doesn't come out."

For a moment, the hall was filled with excitement, especially Tu Guiwu, whose agitation was palpable. He felt as if the heavens had finally opened their eyes, having found a way to deal with the demon that was Liang Jing.

"Everyone! We must be careful in executing this plan. Do not leak the news to others as we did last time. Also, the other factions need to be handled by Young Master Tu and Political Commissar Gong."

"To the outside world, we will claim that we have discovered a mutated plant whose fruit can rapidly increase the cultivation speed of an Awakened's true energy. We will say it is guarded by powerful mutated monsters and that we need everyone to work together to deal with it and split the rewards."

"In short, we must withdraw everyone from the village without alerting Liang Jing, then set a trap. Once that is done, we monitor for any suspicious individuals, keep a strict registry of everyone's personnel, and kill anyone who acts out of place immediately."

The crowd fell silent, agreeing with Jing Hui’s plan. They turned to Young Master Tu and Political Commissar Gong, the two leaders, waiting for their orders. One had a powerful family backing him, and the other possessed the greatest personal strength. Although the Commissar rarely took the lead in giving orders, no one dared to ignore him.

The group proceeded to discuss and refine the plan, ensuring there would be no mistakes.

...

Deep in the basement, Liang Jing had no idea of the impending danger. He only felt that his enemies had become smarter; they were all hiding and staying far apart. Although this made it easy for him to pick off zombies to capture "materials" for his [Light of Temptation], killing only one or two "traitors" felt like a waste. Having grown accustomed to "large meals," dealing with these small fry felt counterproductive. He also knew the time for a final showdown was approaching.

Liang Jing was currently focusing on improving his strength.

Sitting cross-legged in the basement, he used his mind to accelerate the flow of true energy along its established path. It moved two or three times faster than it did when left to its own devices. The true energy he had just expended was rapidly replenished as it absorbed the life essence within his body. He had performed this process many times over the past two days and was extremely proficient. He dared not—and had no time to—experiment with different paths for his energy; he was surrounded by enemies, and if he were discovered while struggling with a failed experiment, it would be disastrous.

"The difference in life essence between ordinary people and the Awakened is truly vast!"

As he circulated his energy, a thought crossed his mind. Yes, although his true energy had reached the third tier and its quality had changed significantly, the quantity was only double what it had been at the second tier. It wasn't an absurd amount, but ordinary people could not compare to the Awakened. The life essence of an Awakened seemed to contain a unique substance—something only they possessed—which allowed Liang Jing to absorb and convert it into pure, powerful true energy, helping him break through.

He had reached the third tier by killing three Awakened. Although they were only first-tier, their pure life essence had allowed his energy to surge forward.

As he guided the energy through his meridians, Liang Jing could feel it passing through various nodes. With each node, the energy underwent subtle changes.

It was like a person growing up, constantly encountering different people and environments. Through these interactions, one undergoes invisible changes based on their upbringing, their circumstances, and the people around them—some become stubborn, some insidious, some cheerful, some weak, and so on.

Liang Jing could only follow the instinctive path of his true energy. He believed these naturally occurring paths must have their reasons. Through his research, he found that different Awakened had different internal paths for their energy, passing through different nodes and with different frequencies. The quality and attributes of their energy varied accordingly.

Liang Jing felt these nodes must be what were known as acupuncture points. He then began to search for a place that was absolutely essential—a place that appeared in every reality, novel, martial arts tale, or cultivation story: the Dantian!

Three inches below the navel, the storehouse of essence—the Dantian!

Previously, because his energy flowed automatically and slowly, and he lacked the ability of internal vision, he could only instinctively sense the direction of the flow and the faint activity in his mind-sea. He couldn't see clearly. He realized his energy didn't seem to return to the Dantian, and he couldn't sense it there, which was vastly different from his understanding.

Doesn't true energy require meditation and specific techniques to circulate through the meridians?

Why could the Awakened circulate and improve their energy without meditation or techniques, even if the efficiency was low?

Isn't true energy supposed to be stored in the Dantian?

Why did the Awakened rarely use the Dantian, storing the energy directly in their meridians instead? Liang Jing was perplexed. This differed greatly from what he had been taught. Was his knowledge false, or was there a fundamental difference between the cultivation of the Awakened and the ordinary?

Perhaps this was what people called "cultivation," and it was fundamentally different from the Awakened. At the very least, the Awakened didn't need to meditate to keep the energy flowing; their meridians were already open, and they were born with innate abilities and supernatural powers.

Hmm?

Liang Jing’s expression suddenly changed. What was meant to come, would come. He hadn't expected that just as he found a moment to study his energy, the enemy would make a move. It was time to pay a visit to that "old acquaintance."

A cold glint flashed in Liang Jing's eyes. It was time for a showdown. He could not drag this out any longer, or he would never find peace of mind.