Under One Person: The End of Technique, Company Building

When Zhuge Qi pushed open the door, the copper bells under the eaves were ringing in the morning breeze, their sound as clear and crisp as a handful of broken silver scattered on a bluestone slab.

He walked along the corridor towards his uncle's study. As he passed the courtyard, he saw Zhuge Guan squatting by the well, brushing his teeth with foam all over his mouth. He mumbled a greeting to him, "Brother Qi, up so early today?"

"Practice your skills," Zhuge Qi said succinctly.

Zhuge Guan said "Oh," spat out his saliva, and added, "My third aunt made wontons for breakfast. Remember to come and eat them when you're done, they won't taste good if they get cold."

"understood."

Zhuge Qi slowed his pace as he passed through the second courtyard.

He had thoroughly memorized the contents of Samadhi True Fire, and he had memorized every mental technique, every point of attention, and even the annotations left by those who supplemented and copied it.

The phrase "quick-witted" not only boosted his thinking speed, but more importantly, gave him the confidence that comes from having a photographic memory.

He stopped at the door of Zhuge Gong's study and knocked three times.

Knock knock knock.

The rhythm was even, the force moderate, exactly the same as when he knocked on Zhao Fangxu's door at headquarters.

"Enter."

Zhuge Qi pushed open the door and went in.

The study was already lit, and Zhuge Gong sat behind his desk with steam rising from the teacup in front of him, indicating that he had been up for quite some time.

He was wearing a dark gray Chinese-style jacket with the cuffs rolled up twice, revealing his lean forearms. His hair was neatly combed, and he looked quite energetic.

"Is everything ready?" Zhuge Gong raised his eyelids and glanced at him, his tone indifferent.

"Hmm." Zhuge Qi sat down opposite him, placing his hands properly on his knees. "I felt pretty good this morning and wanted to give it a try."

Zhuge Gong picked up his teacup and took a sip, not answering immediately. "Actually, there's no need to rush. You can take your time. Have you had breakfast yet?"

"not yet."

"Go eat first," Zhuge Gong said. "After you finish eating, rest for half an hour to regulate your Qi before coming to find me."

Zhuge Qi did not argue, but stood up, replied "Okay," and turned to leave.

When he arrived at the kitchen, his third aunt was busy at the stove. The water in the large iron pot was boiling vigorously, and the plump white wontons were floating and sinking in the boiling water.

Zhuge Sheng was already squatting by the stove, eating from a bowl. When he saw Zhuge Qi come in, he called out indistinctly, "Brother Qi, come quick! Auntie made some shrimp filling today, it's so fresh!"

Zhuge Qi didn't stand on ceremony. He took a porcelain bowl from the cupboard, scooped in half a spoonful of soup, added a dozen or so wontons, sprinkled on some chopped green onions and dried shrimp, and sat down on a small stool next to the stove, slurping the soup down.

The wonton wrappers are thin and the filling is generous, the shrimp are springy, and the soup is made with pork bones, which is rich, white, and fragrant. A bowl of this will warm you up from head to toe.

After finishing his meal, Zhuge Qi washed the bowl clean and put it back in the cupboard. He thanked his third aunt, then returned to his room, closed the door, and sat down on the edge of the bed.

He didn't rush to sit down to meditate, but instead mentally went through the entire process of lighting the fire again.

He remained in this position for about half an hour.

Then he opened his eyes, stood up, pushed open the door, and walked back towards his uncle's study.

Zhuge Gong was already waiting at the door of the study.

He was wearing a thin black coat and holding a copper key. When he saw Zhuge Qi approaching, he didn't say anything, but simply turned and walked towards the backyard.

Zhuge Qi followed, and the two walked one after the other through a long corridor with portraits of ancestors hanging on it, and stopped in front of a wooden door with iron corners.

Zhuge Gong inserted the copper key into the lock and turned it once. The lock made a "click" sound, and the door was pushed open, revealing a section of stone steps extending downwards.

The stone steps were made of bluestone, which was a bit slippery when stepped on. There were no windows on the walls on both sides. Every few steps, an oil lamp was embedded in the wall, and the flames danced in the glass cover. The dim yellow light cast long shadows of the two people.

After climbing about twenty stone steps, a bright and spacious room suddenly appeared before us, a stone chamber about two zhang square.

The ground was paved with large bluestone slabs, and the four walls were undecorated except for a Tai Chi symbol carved in the center of the ground.

"This is where the clan uses for seclusion." Zhuge Gong walked into the stone chamber and stood by the wall. "The bluestone slabs and the four walls are engraved with array patterns that isolate auras. Light a fire inside."

Zhuge Qi nodded, walked to the Tai Chi diagram, took off his shoes and socks, and stepped barefoot onto the bluestone slab.

The stone surface was cold and rough to the touch, and the acupoints on the soles of my feet felt like they were being gently pricked by something.

He sat down in the center of the Tai Chi diagram, cross-legged, with his hands forming a mudra in front of his lower abdomen, his back straight, his eyes slightly closed, and his breathing returning to normal.

Zhuge Gong did not approach. He leaned against the wall in the shadows, his arms crossed, silently watching the young man in the center of the Tai Chi diagram.

The stone chamber was extremely quiet.

The oil lamp flame flickered occasionally, making a slight crackling sound, but nothing else; even the sound of breathing was absorbed by the stone wall.

Zhuge Qi sat in the center of the Taiji diagram for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, then slowly exhaled and began to work.

At the moment when Yin Qi and Yang Qi converged in his dantian, he clearly felt a surge of heat gushing out from the core of his body. This heat flowed up along the meridians, through the spine, through the chest, and through the throat. Everything went smoothly, even more smoothly than he had expected.

Then the fire in my heart came.

In that instant, he felt as if he had been thrown into a boiling pot.

The heat rising from his dantian suddenly transformed into something else entirely, and countless images exploded in his mind, so fast that he couldn't even process them.

He saw the scene from when he first met Zhao Fangxu when he was twenty-three years old.

"So you're the young man sent by the Zhuge family? Alright, let's get started."

He witnessed all the embarrassing and awkward moments along the way, being gossiped about behind his back by colleagues as a "nepotism hire," being ridiculed to his face by members of the Eccentric Family, and being questioned by his subordinates about his youth and lack of experience.

It is a sign that inner demons are about to emerge.

He usually kept these things well under control, storing them in the deepest part of his heart, but now, the Samadhi Fire has unearthed them all.

The temperature inside the stone chamber was rising rapidly.

Zhuge Gong leaned against the wall, his arms, which had been crossed in front of his chest, were now lowered and hanging at his sides, his expression becoming somewhat serious.

He looked at Zhuge Qi in the center of the Tai Chi diagram. The young man was still sitting cross-legged with his back straight and his hands forming a mudra. However, his clothes had begun to move without wind. The hem and cuffs of his shirt trembled in the air as if they were being pushed outward by an invisible force.

Zhuge Qi's face was expressionless, his brows were slightly furrowed, his lips were pursed into a line, and the veins on his forehead were faintly visible, but overall he was still relatively calm.

Zhuge Gong served as the head of the family for decades and personally sent more than one clansman into this stone chamber to ignite the Samadhi True Fire.

He had witnessed ignition scenes four or five times, though not many.

He knew what normal ignition should be like, and although the whole process was dangerous, it was all within a controllable range. But the scene in front of him was completely beyond his comprehension.

Zhuge Qi was not on fire, but every bluestone slab in the stone chamber was scorching hot, and the flame of the oil lamp was pushed to one side by an invisible airflow.

As a protector, he should not act rashly at this time. The one who ignited the fire is at a critical stage, and any intervention from external forces may disrupt the flow of Qi within the other party's body. At best, it will all be in vain, and at worst, it will lead to qi deviation.

However, Zhuge Gong was already somewhat uneasy; he could sense that the result of the other party igniting the fire was not quite right.

Then he saw a ball of fire.

A bluish-green flame rose from Zhuge Qi's palm.

It was a solid, almost materialized flame. When its bluish-green light shone in the stone chamber, it made the oil lamps' glow look like fireflies under candles.

Zhuge Gong subconsciously took a half step back.

That's not the proper state that "ignition" should be in.

The normal ignition process should involve the flame appearing first, then being guided by the ignited flame to grow until it stabilizes into a state that can be controlled at will.

However, the blue-green flame in Zhuge Qi's palm showed a strong degree of autonomy from the very beginning. It didn't seem like it was being guided, but rather like Zhuge Qi was "taming" it.

Moreover, this ball of fire is too big.

Zhuge Gong had seen the records left by his predecessors. When the Samadhi True Fire was first formed, it was only the size of a fist. It would take several years or even decades of nurturing before it could be used freely.

Such a massive amount of real fire, I'm afraid I'm not confident I can subdue it successfully in one go.

Zhuge Gong quickly figured out where the problem lay.

The Samadhi True Fire depends on one's cultivation of character and destiny.

The path Zhuge Qi has walked these years is not the path of an ordinary extraordinary person. The karma he carries is becoming heavier and heavier, and his destiny has become far greater than what should be expected at his age.

When you ignite it, everything accumulated in your body will turn into fuel, not just emotions and obsessions, but also those roots that are connected to power, responsibility, and the fate of your family.

When all these things are combined, the fire that burns is naturally much stronger than others.

With such a large fire, can Zhuge Qi control it?

Zhuge Gong raised his right hand, a ball of pale blue Qi condensing in his palm.

He had prepared for the worst; if Zhuge Qi showed signs of losing control, he would have to intervene.

Forcibly interrupting the ignition will damage the meridians, but it's still better than letting the person who lit the torch burn to ashes.

However, in the next instant, Zhuge Qi suddenly clenched his five fingers.

As if grasping a struggling bird, the blue-green flame was suddenly compressed in his palm, emitting a muffled "hum" sound.

He grabbed that blazing, scorching flame and instantly melted it away.