Chapter 109: Blackbeard’s Heart

This year’s New Year’s banquet of the Black Tiger Family was as lively and joyful as ever.

Although the conflict between Lin Qi and Arthur cast a faint shadow of blood over the banquet, Lin Qi’s return to the family to attend the New Year’s banquet was enough to offset all the negative effects.

So the banquet was still successful and satisfactory, everyone enjoyed themselves thoroughly, and everyone’s spirits were much higher than in the past three years.

After all, no matter what, Young Master Lin Qi, who had grown up under their watchful eyes, who had been mischievous and troublesome since childhood, and who fit perfectly with the worldview and life philosophy of all members of the Black Tiger Family, had returned, and this was definitely a great thing.

As for Arthur, who had been beaten bloody by Lin Qi on New Year’s Eve, basically no one paid any attention to him.

After all, he was just Blackbeard’s adopted son. In terms of importance or closeness, even though Arthur had a pretty face, he simply couldn’t compare to Lin Qi.

Moreover, that pretty face had been disfigured by Lin Qi—was a one-eyed pretty face really all that pleasing?

Under the enthusiastic attention of countless joyful family members, Lin Qi eventually, and gloriously, got drunk again, and like Enzo, he was helped back to his bedroom by the servant women.

Late at night, Lin Qi lay groggily on his bed, feeling a stream of heat continuously flowing from his chest into his entire body, constantly washing through his Meridians.

This heat even penetrated his muscles and bones, seeped into his internal organs, his whole body felt feverish, sticky sweat continuously seeped out, his body twitched repeatedly, and he felt a light, floating sense of ease.

The effects of the alcohol were completely dispelled by this heat. Now clear-headed, Lin Qi opened his eyes.

Blackbeard, covered in sweat, was standing by Lin Qi’s bed, his right palm pressed tightly against Lin Qi’s chest.

That wonderfully pleasant heat was coming from Blackbeard’s palm.

“Father!” Lin Qi murmured softly.

Blackbeard rolled his eyes and sat down heavily on the stool by the bed.

He crossed his legs, lit a Cigar for himself, took two deep puffs, then pointed to a bowl of black medicinal soup on the bedside table.

Lin Qi picked up the bowl, which was as big as his head, and drank the pungent, bitter medicinal soup in one gulp.

Immediately, a rolling wave of heat rushed out from his abdomen, flowing through the Meridians that Blackbeard had just unblocked for him, spreading throughout his entire body.

Lin Qi didn’t dare delay. He quickly sat cross-legged on the bed, silently recited the family’s ancestral ‘Mysterious Tiger Force’ technique, and guided this heat to every part of his body.

The rolling heat seemed almost endless. After circulating three times within Lin Qi’s body, it transformed into powerful, substantial Combat Qi and was stored in his Dantian.

It took a full three hours of guiding before Lin Qi completely absorbed this heat.

His whole body felt light, as if he could float away with the wind at any moment, yet when he clenched his fist, he felt boundless energy within, as if killing a bull with one punch would be an easy task.

Although his Combat Qi hadn’t broken through to the Earth Rank Intermediate Stage, its sheer volume had increased at least tenfold compared to before, and his physical strength had also improved somewhat.

What surprised and delighted Lin Qi even more was that all the Meridians in his body were completely unblocked. At least with his current strength, he couldn’t detect any Meridians that were still clogged.

Gently shaking his body, his joints cracked like thunder.

Lin Qi took a deep breath, nimbly jumped off the bed, and bowed slightly to Blackbeard. “Father.”

Blackbeard rudely blew a thick cloud of smoke right at Lin Qi.

Lin Qi, not to be outdone, reached into Blackbeard’s pocket, pulled out a large Cigar, lit it for himself, then sat on the edge of the bed with his legs crossed, puffing smoke back at Blackbeard, one puff at a time.

Blackbeard grunted. The heavy sweat from earlier had already vanished as if it never existed, and his previously somewhat rapid breathing had now returned to normal.

He said in a low voice, “I just spent some effort to completely unblock all the Meridians and key points in your body, all the way up to the Middle Heaven Rank. From now on, as long as you work hard yourself, your Combat Qi will reach the Middle Heaven Rank without any bottlenecks.”

Lin Qi nodded firmly but said nothing.

Blackbeard pondered for a moment, then shook his head. “The grudge between you and Arthur, well…”

Lin Qi said calmly, “If I get the chance, I will definitely kill him.”

Blackbeard remained silent for a long time. Then, he sneakily glanced left and right, lowered his voice, and muttered, “He can’t possibly be any threat to you. Think about it, he’s so much older than you, so why hasn’t his Combat Qi even broken through the Earth Rank by now?”

Lin Qi looked at Blackbeard in surprise. “I remember when we were young, you used to praise his Combat Qi talent!”

Blackbeard rolled his eyes and sneered coldly. “Of course! In front of all the brothers on the Northern Coastline of the Continent, I had to praise him properly. It wasn’t empty praise; his Combat Qi talent was only a little worse than yours!”

He sneered a few more times, blew out a thick cloud of smoke, and said in a deep voice, “But, when he was fifteen, just like I did for you today, I secretly unblocked all his Meridians.”

Lin Qi stared at Blackbeard, horrified. He gritted his teeth and said, “Hey, letting benefits flow to an outsider? You unblocked all his Meridians for him, he…”

Blackbeard gave Lin Qi a mysterious look and said coldly, “But he’s not my real son. A wolf cub can’t be tamed—I know that much. So, I unblocked all his Meridians, but… accidentally, I unblocked them a bit too much. To be precise, I made many small holes in his Meridians. He works hard to cultivate every day, but out of every ten portions of Combat Qi he develops, nine leak away.”

Lin Qi stared blankly at Blackbeard; these words shocked him to the core. All along, Blackbeard had treated Arthur extremely well. Many times when Lin Qi tried to kill Arthur, it was Blackbeard who saved him, and Lin Qi had even been severely punished many times for these attempts.

Lin Qi never would have dreamed that Blackbeard had secretly ruined Arthur’s potential way back when Arthur was just fifteen. No wonder Arthur, even at his age, was inferior to Lin Qi in Combat Qi cultivation, and every time they fought, Lin Qi always came out on top.

“That kid, if he wanted money, I gave him money; if he wanted women, I gave him women. He lost his virginity at thirteen and grew up surrounded by women.” Blackbeard said with a cold laugh, “Losing his virginity at thirteen… even if I hadn’t tampered with his Meridians, his Combat Qi could never break through to the Heaven Rank.”

He took a deep breath, narrowed his eyes, and a cold gleam flashed in them, making Lin Qi unable to meet his gaze directly.

Blackbeard said indifferently, “After all, he’s an adopted foster son, the only son of my ally. I had to take him in and take good care of him. But he’s not my flesh and blood. Me taking good care of him doesn’t mean he can climb over my own son, and it doesn’t mean he has the right to covet the Black Tiger Family!”

Lin Qi silently raised both his thumbs in admiration. Masterful, truly masterful. Blackbeard adopted Arthur and nurtured him with such apparent dedication since childhood. Everyone under heaven said Blackbeard was righteous and heroic, that anyone with a brother like Blackbeard would die without regrets. But who would have known that Arthur had actually been thoroughly sabotaged by Blackbeard himself all along.

This method was truly ingenious.