"Huff, huff!"
The sound of heavy, ragged breathing suddenly echoed through the secluded, empty place. After a long moment it finally calmed, and Li Heng, regardless of his entire body being caked in mud, propped himself up against a boulder to sit upright.
"I was used by that man... He was after the Wang Family."
From Zhou Ying and Wang Qi’s reactions just now, it was clear that the Wang Family was in the midst of refining some important Pill. When Li Heng infiltrated the Prince’s Mansion late at night, he hadn’t even noticed the alchemy business going on.
The Wang Family had to be keeping this matter secret—at the very least, they were not making a spectacle of their alchemy. Yet that man knew of it—he must have come well-prepared.
"I can lend you a hand... But whoever approaches the inn again—dies!"
This was the voice transmission from Su Mu within the city. The higher a cultivator’s cultivation, the keener their intuition. Li Heng trusted his own intuition very much, and felt certain that the Su Mu in the inn was far more terrifying than the Wang Family behind him.
Thoughts spinning, Li Heng found that he did not bear any resentment toward Su Mu for using him. No matter what, it was thanks to Su Mu’s direct assault tonight that he managed to escape. Otherwise, with just that one fragmentary Instant Teleportation Talisman in his possession, he’d never have gotten away.
Moreover, as long as disaster befell the Wang Family, Li Heng would be delighted. The enemy of my enemy is my friend; it mattered little who pulled the trigger. In Li Heng’s eyes, the Wang Family was even more abhorrent than the Zhou Family.
"To betray my Li Family comes at a price!"
Li Heng gazed in the direction of Qifeng Town, thought no more of it, swallowed several Pills, and began tending to his wounds.
...
Qifeng Town, Wang Family.
"Enemy attack! We are under attack!"
"What? The thief dares to return... How many men has he brought?"
"One man!"
Even the overwhelming crimson sea of fire could not obscure that terrifying cyan flame. The Martial Artists of the Prince’s Mansion formed a squad, each holding a torch, surging toward the cyan flame like a tide, drawn by the noise.
"He’s really alone? Finish quickly—we strike together and slaughter him!"
"Insolent wretch! You have guts!"
Cries burst from the crowd. Seven or eight figures drew their blade soldiers from all sides at once. Cold light glinted everywhere as they closed in, pouncing to slay the intruder who had broken into the Inner Mansion.
"It’s the instructors taking action!"
"Each of the instructors is a seventh-grade fighter at Third-Time Yijin. They’re all attacking at once—this brat is dead for sure!"
A Seventh-Grade Martial Artist at Third-Time Yijin would be considered a powerhouse in the Qingyun Three Counties, enough foundation to establish a major faction. But here, beyond the Land of Cyan Clouds, such fighters were only fit to serve as wardens or instructors for the Wang Family.
Amid the fierce shouts, several leaped into the air, their martial robes snapping sharply from the Power coursing through them. Their encirclement was complete: as blades flashed with cold light, even the air seemed to freeze. This sight made the Wang Family onlookers’ faces fill with awe.
Yet, surrounded in the middle, the thief’s face showed not the slightest ripple. He merely kept his eyes wide open, watching as the waves of force-laden blades cut downward.
"Arrogant fool—die!"
Yet, just as those blades of cold light were about to touch the thief’s clothes, a colossal bell sound, as if existing since ancient times, exploded forth—along with the earthshaking roar of a tiger.
"Dang! Dang! Dang—!"
"Roar! Roar! Roar—!"
In an instant, a surging, tangible Power erupted from the thief, golden light rippling across every inch of his skin. Suddenly, the Power soared up, condensing into a two-zhang Cyan Flame Grand Bell.
Back at the Qifeng Mountain Range, Su Mu’s Gang Force had not been able to surpass the two-zhang limit. But now, in Su Mu’s hands, Gang Force could already condense a Cyan Flame Grand Bell two zhang tall.
The very moment the Gang Force solidified, Su Mu had already surpassed the vast majority of Martial Artists in terms of Power, reaching a level few could ever dream of in their lifetime.
Gang Force, endlessly generating, needed no conscious activation from Su Mu—the force flowed of its own accord. Even had he neglected his Martial Dao, Gang Force would continue to grow with the passing years. Such is a qualitative difference. All the more, Su Mu had never neglected the Martial Dao and possessed the terrifying comprehension of dragon-and-phoenix level talent.
Molten Fire Golden Body and Molten Fire Golden Bell!
Amidst the fray, the figure did not budge as blades struck. He simply pressed his palms together, then the golden bell turned slowly.
"Splurt, splurt, splurt—!"
Eight splashes of blood and flesh exploded in midair, not even time for a single scream before each was reduced to a blood blossom on the outer shell of the Cyan Flame Grand Bell.
"The instructors are all dead?!"
"Hiss! What is this Martial Arts—it’s horrifying to such a degree!"
"All eight instructors, slaughtered... His strength may even surpass the elders!"
The eight Wang Family instructors, charging in to kill, were instead shattered to bloody paste by a single strike from the intruder. The scene was too shocking to comprehend. Everyone present went pale, terror spreading through the crowd: murderous intent vanished from the Wang Family’s eyes, replaced instantly by dread—no one dared advance further.
Su Mu’s gaze swept the scene—none dared meet his eyes. After blasting apart the Wang Family’s Seventh-Grade Martial Artists who rushed him, Su Mu had no intention of striking again.
But soon, his eyes narrowed slightly, spotting a familiar figure amidst the throng.
Wang Qiang, like everyone else, stared at Su Mu in terror. When he felt Su Mu’s gaze fall upon him, his whole body shuddered violently.
"No—please, don’t kill me..."
Wang Qiang’s legs shook uncontrollably; a warm stream trickled down between them. Before he could beg for his life, Su Mu brought his fingers together and jabbed with a single finger.
"Vast!"
The Vast Qi, resting quietly beside the Gangjin Pill within Su Mu’s dantian, was roused. Silver light flashed in Su Mu’s eyes; the Vast Qi pouring from his fingertip shaped into a small, crude Vast Sword that shot forward.
Splurt!
The Vast Sword crossed several meters, piercing skull and brain. Wang Qiang’s eyes popped wide as he felt hot liquid running down his face from between the brows; reaching up, he found his brow pierced through at some unknown moment. A blood-curdling scream ripped out before he crumpled to the ground with a crash.
Instantly, the crowd’s fear soared, the scene falling into chaos.
At this moment, Su Mu’s brows showed delight, but were also faintly furrowed.
Ever since entry-level Nurturing Vast Qi, and formally stepping onto the Confucian path, each time Su Mu’s Vast Qi grew, his mind would feel refreshed, spirit clear. Previously, he attributed this to breakthroughs in comprehension.
But now Su Mu understood that was not the whole story.
"Confucian Cultivation Method can even enhance Spiritual Power!"
Joy welled in Su Mu’s heart; his eyes flickered with silver light. In the dark of night, everything was as plain as day before him. After mastering the Nine Body Tempering Realms, he had awakened Spiritual Power—whose range was but a single zhang at first.
Even after killing Tao Xingzheng, his Spiritual Power grew only a little, falling short of a zhang and a half. But after refining the Confucian method—
Now Su Mu’s Spiritual Power probe had more than doubled, reaching three zhang, three chi. He did not know if this was considered strong or not.
He only knew that with this increase, he could wield Spiritual Power far more skillfully, no longer suffering the great toll and stagnation whenever he tried to use it before.
Looking down slightly, he saw the Vast Sword at his fingertip—a marvelous use of Spiritual Power. Vast Qi differs from Gang Force; the latter is refined from one’s body through countless Martial Arts, moved with a thought through the flesh.
But the body alone cannot steer Vast Qi. Vast Qi requires the guidance of Spiritual Power. Su Mu recalled the flying sword of Gongsun Li, and thought how his own Vast Qi, not yet strong enough to condense sturdy blade soldiers, might be formed as a small flying sword instead. He tried the idea on a whim—and astonishingly, succeeded at once.
"To slay an Eighth-Grade Martial Artist at a distance of one zhang in a flash—the power is weak, yes, but the speed is superb."
That was the joy for Su Mu: within his ever-strengthening Vast Qi, at last, he had found a use. As for his frown—this day had led him to a deeper understanding of the Sun Family Ancestor’s words.
When he used Vast Qi to instantly kill Wang Qiang, under Introspection, he could clearly see that the seventy-nine strands of Vast Qi in his dantian had changed.
The instant Wang Qiang died, Su Mu’s inner Vast Qi dimmed a fraction; within the pure Vast Qi, a few flecks of murkiness appeared, but they quickly faded, and the Literary Qi, in turn, brightened a bit.
A fraction dimmer, two fractions brighter—one subtracted, two gained. In the end, his seventy-nine strands of Vast Qi grew more refined, more pure overall.
"The Confucian path is to cultivate oneself, govern the country, bring peace to all under heaven; to carry the Dao with literature, to take the world’s welfare as one’s duty... If I use Vast Qi to kill, does this cause my Literary Qi to darken, to develop blemishes?"
"And what of using Martial Dao methods to kill?"
Pensive, Su Mu took a step forward. Several Wang Family outer courtyard men, crazed, rushed with gleaming blades to attack him.
"Splurt, splurt!"
Their corpses fell at once. Blood splattered three paces. Again, Su Mu sensed the change in his internal Vast Qi—though compared to using Vast Qi for the kill, the change was more minute.
There was still a subtract-and-add pattern, resulting in equilibrium in the end.
"If I strike only at those who seek my life, there’s this ebb and flow; but senseless killing would surely reduce it in the main. So, that’s how it is..."
At this, Su Mu’s brow remained faintly furrowed. The Martial Artists’ way is rooted in killing; Martial Arts was born for battle. On the Martial Dao path, one cannot avoid struggle and killing—which clearly stands in opposition to the Confucian method.
"Vast Qi’s growth doesn’t affect Gang Force, but if I kill, then Vast Qi may wax or wane. If I kill with Vast Qi directly, these fluctuations become more pronounced."
"The Sun Family Ancestor wasn’t wrong... Now I see, this Vast Qi which can’t be moved by flesh or Qi Blood truly is an ’impurity’—or rather, an unstable variable for the body."
As he pondered, Su Mu noticed a Wang Family member in the crowd take out a strangely-shaped Jade Pendant and, using it, send a message for help. He made no move to stop it.
As for the remaining Wang Family members, as long as they did not attack, Su Mu had no interest in striking further. He wasn’t Li Family; he bore the Wang Family little enmity to begin with.
His intervention tonight was purely because the Wang Family had plotted against him. Su Mu settled scores as they came, but it was clear that such machinations came from the Wang Family’s upper echelon—not the ordinary folk here.
And besides, this had been his agreement with that Li Family member—to lend his hand when needed.
Every debt has its source; destroy the primary villain and the rest is done.
"All things wax and wane; Tang Taizong used Wei Zheng as a mirror—gains and losses made clear... My Vast Qi too can serve as my mirror, that I may not lose my true heart."
At this thought, intent arose.
Buzz!
Su Mu paid no mind to still being surrounded by the Wang Family; he simply sat down where he was. The Cyan Flame Grand Bell shielded him, and the grand martial resounding of Tiger Roar and Bell Sound continued ceaselessly.
Meanwhile, within Su Mu’s Mud Ball Divine Palace and dantian, the Dragon of Spiritual Power and the Vast Qi burned fiercely, surging without stop!
Faintly, those seventy-nine strands of Vast Qi seemed as though they were slowly condensing into a single character.