After the few of them sat down, the atmosphere in the private room grew even more oppressive.
Xu Feng gulped down a mouthful of cold tea, his eyes bloodshot, as he recounted the entire incident in detail once more.
Originally, the trip had been very smooth. In Linyuan City, they had used several underground channels established years ago and happened upon a large auction, successfully converting all their money and goods into rare Martial Arts Resources.
To ensure nothing went wrong, Xu Feng even made a point to contact two other well-established caravans for the return journey so they could travel together.
"But who would have thought? Just as we were passing through the narrow pass at Tiger Leap Gorge, it was as if they had already cased the area. We walked right into a trap set by the Wind Evil Stronghold!"
Xu Feng slammed a fist onto his thigh and gritted his teeth. "The Wind Evil Stronghold’s strength is absurdly high! The ones leading the charge were their second-in-command, Feng Dakui, and third-in-command, Feng Yuncheng. Both of them are bona fide Muscle Forging Realm experts! The moment they attacked, they were like two ferocious tigers descending a mountain. Several of our Refining Flesh Realm Perfection experts tried to stop them, but they couldn’t even take a single blow!"
"If it weren’t for the two Muscle Forging Realm experts leading the other two caravans, I’m afraid even our people would have been wiped out!"
After hearing this, Lin Wanzhu’s pretty face was covered in a layer of frost. She asked in a heavy voice, "So what’s the situation now? Since the people managed to escape, has there been any word from the Wind Evil Stronghold?"
"After the incident, we immediately returned to Linyuan City to make inquiries. The Wind Evil Stronghold is infamous in the area, but their stronghold is built on an impregnable cliff that’s easy to defend and hard to attack. Their leader, Feng Han, is a notoriously fearsome expert at Muscle Forging Realm Perfection. Even the Linyuan City Lord’s Mansion organized several suppression campaigns, but they all ended in failure. So, I’m afraid this can’t be resolved with brute force alone."
Xu Feng sighed helplessly. "However, these bandits have an unwritten rule: ’buy back lives, ransom the goods.’ As long as we pay a large enough ransom, we can get our goods back. For the past few days, we’ve been relying on the head of a local caravan to act as a middleman and negotiate with the Wind Evil Stronghold."
"Oh? How big are these bandits’ appetites? What’s their asking price?" Lin Wanzhu’s eyes turned cold.
Xu Feng shook his head with a bitter smile. "They’re demanding an exorbitant price... sixty thousand taels of Snowflake Silver!"
BANG!
A dull explosion echoed!
Hearing this number, Lin Wanzhu’s phoenix-like eyes flew open, and she slammed her fair, jade-like hand down on the huanghuali wood table in front of her.
CRACK—BOOM!
The sturdy, solid wood table, under the force of her violent Muscle Forging Realm Qi and Blood, was like paper-mâché. It instantly shattered into pieces, sending wood splinters and porcelain shards scattering across the floor.
The room fell deathly silent. Jiang Liuchuan, Yang Gang, and the others were as quiet as cicadas in winter, not daring to speak.
Sixty thousand taels!
This was no small sum!
If they really paid it, the profits from this trade route would be completely wiped out. The various parties might even have to pay out of their own pockets.
Besides, even if they paid, there was no guarantee they would actually get the goods back. This was especially true since the cargo contained a large amount of Martial Arts Resources.
It was even possible that the Wind Evil Stronghold had already pilfered them.
"Sixty thousand taels is too much. We can’t agree to this! Tomorrow, contact the other two caravans. See if we can unite and negotiate with the Wind Evil Stronghold again. If we can’t reach an agreement, then we’ll have to fight!"
"With me, we now have three Muscle Forging Realm experts. They’ll have to show us some respect!"
...
「The next morning.」
Dawn came extremely early in Linyuan City, and the air was filled with a bone-chilling cold.
In the spacious rear courtyard of Lin’s Snow Ginseng Hall, the sound of a blade slicing through the air, like tearing silk, shattered the morning tranquility.
Lin Wanzhu pushed the door open and immediately saw the tall, straight figure in the courtyard.
Su Yu was bare-chested, his defined muscles gleaming like molten iron in the faint morning light. Wisps of white steam rose from the top of his head as he held a Nine-Ring Saber, lost in his practice in the courtyard.
SWOOSH—
As the saber in his hand chopped down with the force of splitting a mountain.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
The nine steel rings on the back of the blade rang out in unison like a clap of thunder.
A terrifying Demon-Slaying Saber Stance instantly coiled around the blade. The broad edge cut through the air, creating a wave of pressure that felt like Mount Tai crashing down!
Just as the saber, carrying immense force, was about to strike the ground, Su Yu’s Great Tendons in his waist twisted sharply, and his wrist flipped!
CLANG—
The nine rings sang out in unison once more!
The saber, which had been as heavy as Mount Tai with its wide, sweeping movements, transitioned from stillness to motion in an instant, becoming as light and agile as a Spiritual Ape emerging from a cave!
With a single arm extended, like an Ape Arm Star-Picking, he swept the saber outwards. It was as swift as lightning, leaving only a heart-stopping, cold white gleam in the air!
Standing under the eaves, Lin Wanzhu watched with a pounding heart, her beautiful eyes shimmering with amazement.
’What pure saber technique! The power of this Demon-Slaying Saber Stance, the artistic conception of subduing demons... it’s simply flawless!’
Recently, Su Yu had mostly used the incomparably domineering Mountain-Shaking Demon Ape Fist in front of others, so much so that Lin Wanzhu had almost forgotten that her junior brother’s saber skills were just as terrifying!
However, that wasn’t what shocked Lin Wanzhu the most.
In the instant Su Yu flipped his wrist and swept his saber, she detected the change in his Qi and Blood, and the crisp, explosive snap of his Great Tendons, like a powerful bowstring being released!
An unbelievable thought suddenly formed in her mind, causing her chest to heave violently.
In the courtyard, Su Yu had actually noticed his senior sister’s arrival long ago. But he didn’t stop, instead following the growing enlightenment of the saber’s intent in his heart, he continued to execute the final moves of the Spiritual Ape Demon-Slaying Saber with fluid grace.
As he completed the final move, Demon Ape’s Chaotic Dance, and brought the saber into a finishing stance.
The long-awaited ink-wash text finally appeared before Su Yu’s eyes:
[Spiritual Ape Demon-Slaying Saber Skill Level +22]
[Martial Arts]: Spiritual Ape Demon-Slaying Saber (First Layer) (Perfection)
In the next moment, a stream of pure enlightenment poured into the depths of his mind like a sacred infusion.
"Form like a Spiritual Ape climbing through clouds and mist, intent like a Vajra subduing legions of demons... When the mind-ape is tamed, the edge is revealed; one slash to cleanse the world of all its filth!"
His comprehension of this saber art, born from the Demon Ape lineage, had finally broken through its shackles, and he had stepped into the true realm of Perfection!
The next moment, without gathering any momentum, he simply held the saber in a reverse grip with one hand and brought it down on the green flagstones at his feet with a casual strike!
This strike had none of the thunderous clanging of the nine rings, nor the fierce saber stance that had previously saturated the air with the pressure of Mount Tai.
To an outsider, it looked as if a common woodsman was casually chopping firewood—utterly ordinary.
Previously, at the Great Success Realm, when Su Yu swung his saber, the Demon-Slaying Saber Stance would manifest as visible blade qi coiling around the edge, looking incredibly impressive. But now that he had reached Perfection, that domineering stance seemed to have vanished completely!
However, the moment the blade touched the ground, the change became apparent.
PFFT!
There were no flying sparks, no deafening roar.
The Nine-Ring Saber, astonishingly sharp, sliced through the hard ground as if it were tofu. The blade sank deep into the earth, embedding itself until only a few of the iron rings were visible, rattling softly from the aftershock.
’This is returning to true simplicity! The essence of Perfection!’
Su Yu grasped the hilt, and understanding dawned on him.
’So, that seemingly majestic saber stance from before was actually just a crude and wasteful display of my power! All that overflowing energy was just for show, nothing more.’
Now that his saber art had reached Perfection, his restless mind was calm. All of the Demon-Slaying Stance’s power was perfectly concentrated into the single line of the blade’s edge!
A casual swing was now a perfect move, his control over his body’s strength refined to a masterful degree.
A true expert would see it at a glance: in the instant the blade touched the ground, the ultimate demon-quelling, killing force had erupted to its absolute peak! This was why the hard flagstone had been sliced through as easily as tofu!
Under the eaves, Lin Wanzhu stared at the saber embedded deep in the ground, completely numb with shock.
’This rascal is always so shocking. You don’t see him for a few days, and he improves as easily as breathing.’
She walked up to Su Yu and said softly, "Congratulations, Ah Yu, your saber skills have improved again. But that’s not what I want to ask, and you know it. Quick, tell me, what Realm are you in now?"
Seeing the curiosity and anticipation in his senior sister’s beautiful eyes, Su Yu didn’t hide it from her. He leaned in and whispered close to her ear, "Muscle Forging Realm."
’Muscle Forging... it’s really Muscle Forging!’
At this moment, Lin Wanzhu felt her heart pound wildly as she stared blankly at Su Yu.
’Ah Yu broke through to Muscle Forging just like that? No way, is breaking through to the Muscle Forging Realm that easy?’
Having just broken through to the Muscle Forging Realm herself not long ago, she knew exactly how difficult that threshold was to cross.
She had prepared for so long, and with the help of that Upper Profound Grade Fish-Dragon Tendon, she still had to overcome countless difficulties to finally break through to the Muscle Forging Realm.
’And this rascal, Su Yu, how long has he even been practicing Martial Arts? He broke through just like that?’
’Honestly, this is just monstrous! If I hadn’t felt that body of his for myself, I would have really thought Ah Yu was some kind of demon!’
’I can’t believe he’s about to catch up to me in such a short time!’
In the next instant, her mind couldn’t help but drift back to a scene from two years ago.
Back then, Su Yu was just a lowly apprentice. Seeing that his family was poor but his heart was set on learning Martial Arts and he was constantly improving, she had sponsored him with one hundred taels of silver.
She never expected that those mere one hundred taels would yield such an astonishing return.
Now, not only had this rascal helped her break through to the Muscle Forging Realm, but his own Realm had also caught up.
’I’m afraid it won’t be long before he has me under him!’
"Ah Yu, this must be the source of your confidence in volunteering to handle the Wind Evil Stronghold. Now that you’ve broken through to the Muscle Forging Realm, with you and me together, we’ll have more leverage when we negotiate with them."
Lin Wanzhu couldn’t help but gaze at Su Yu with a burning intensity as she spoke in a low voice.
However, Su Yu just shook his head. "Senior Sister, I have no intention of negotiating with the Wind Evil Stronghold."
"Then what are we going to do?" Lin Wanzhu was confused by his attitude.
Su Yu wrapped his arm around her slender waist and whispered, "Senior Sister, just leave everything to me. As for the Wind Evil Stronghold, there’s only one word."
"Kill!"