Obtaining the Indestructible Vajra Skill

Chapter 45: Obtaining the Indestructible Vajra Skill

"Liu Jianshan?"

Fang Yuan's brows furrowed slightly.

This Liu Jianshan was not a commander under his command. He had come to Qingyang Commandery to investigate the deaths of his son and grandson, Liu Jierong and Liu Xuan, and was not under Fang Yuan's jurisdiction.

"Let him in!"

Fang Yuan said calmly.

"Greetings, Commander Fang!"

Liu Jianshan entered the study and clasped his hands toward Fang Yuan.

"Commander Liu, what brings you here?"

Fang Yuan asked directly.

"The Vajra Sect's hiding place has been wiped out. I personally interrogated every Vajra Sect disciple taken alive. They said there was no one named Cheng Shifei in the Vajra Sect. The person who killed my son and grandson must have been someone else in disguise. I have uncovered some clues, so I came to report them to Commander Fang."

Liu Jianshan said in a deep voice.

"What clues?"

Fang Yuan asked.

"According to my investigation, my grandson Liu Xuan had a conflict with Zhou Shan. Moreover, Zhou Shan also cultivates Vajra Sect martial arts—the Golden Bell Shield, as well as the Great Strength Vajra Palm and Great Strength Vajra Leg. I request permission to investigate Zhou Shan."

Liu Jianshan said.

"This is only your speculation. What evidence do you have?" Fang Yuan said. "Zhou Shan has just rendered great merit. Without evidence, I will not approve your request."

"Commander Fang, I never said that Zhou Shan was definitely the murderer. I merely wish to investigate him."

Liu Jianshan said, his brows knitting slightly.

"I said no! If there is nothing else, you may leave."

Fang Yuan said blandly.

"Damn it!"

After leaving the study, Liu Jianshan was filled with rage.

He had a premonition that this Zhou Shan was the murderer who had killed his son Liu Jierong and grandson Liu Xuan.

He had both motive and the strength to do it.

Since Commander Fang would not allow him to investigate, he would go to the Guiyuan Sect and ask the Law Enforcement Hall to handle it.

Although the Liu Family did not have a Martial Dao Grandmaster of the Innate Realm holding the fort, they still ranked among the top five powers in Taishan Commandery. Their inheritance stretched back several centuries, and they were not without connections in the Guiyuan Sect.

One of the deputy hall masters of the Guiyuan Sect's Law Enforcement Hall had a deep friendship with the Liu Family.

Though Fang Yuan was the commander of an entire commandery, he had no authority to interfere with the Law Enforcement Hall.

Meanwhile.

After having the crates of gold, silver, jade, jewels, and other goods transported in moved into the Commander's Residence, He Yong put away the iron box Commander Fang intended to give Zhou Shan and immediately returned to Luyang County.

Originally, he had planned to enjoy himself properly in Qingyang City.

But now that Commander Fang had something important to deliver to Zhou Shan, he did not dare delay, fearing that he might ruin an important matter.

"My lord, this is what Commander Fang asked me to deliver to you."

Upon returning to Luyang County City, He Yong immediately went to the Commandant's Residence and handed the iron box to Zhou Shan.

"Commander Fang?" Zhou Shan was briefly stunned. Then he accepted the iron box and nodded. "Understood."

"This subordinate takes his leave."

He Yong tactfully withdrew.

Bang!

Zhou Shan gripped the lock on the iron box and exerted a little force, shattering it with a tremor. He then slowly opened the box and saw a golden book inside.

Five large words were written on the golden book's cover: "Indestructible Vajra Skill."

"This is... the Indestructible Vajra Skill!"

Seeing those five words on the cover, delight appeared in Zhou Shan's eyes.

Originally, he had been thinking that after breaking through to the Innate Realm, if he could not obtain the Golden Bell Shield's subsequent Cultivation Technique, the Indestructible Vajra Skill, he would cultivate another Marrow Cleansing Blood Changing martial art. He had not expected Commander Fang to send it over.

Zhou Shan picked up the secret manual and flipped through it. He confirmed that it was genuine martial arts, but since he had not yet broken through to the Innate Realm, he could not cultivate the Indestructible Vajra Skill to undergo Marrow Cleansing Blood Changing.

"I now have 209 years of internal power. I'm not far from breaking through to the Innate Realm."

Zhou Shan thought to himself.

According to the records in the Golden Bell Shield manual, once one cultivated roughly 250 years of internal power, one could break through the Ren and Du Meridians, enter the Innate Realm, and become a Martial Dao Grandmaster. As for him, he had only just opened the first of the Twelve Primary Meridians.

In terms of realm, Zhou Shan was now a Half-step Grandmaster.

With Zhou Shan's cultivation progress and his Nine Breaths Assimilation talent, he could accumulate one year of internal power per day. He needed only forty-one days to reach 250 years of internal power.

"In forty-one days, I'll break through to the Innate Realm."

A smile appeared on Zhou Shan's face. The road ahead seemed broad and smooth.

At the same time.

After the Shangguan Family's caravan in Qingyang Commandery received news that the Xu Family had been destroyed, it immediately dispatched riders on swift horses to Yun Province Prefecture City. However, Yun Province Prefecture City was far from Qingyang Commandery, with two commanderies lying between them.

Even traveling a thousand li a day, it still took three days to reach Yun Province Prefecture City.

Thus, by the time Xu Haoran, who had remained in the Shangguan Family cultivating, received the news, three days had already passed.

"What did you say? My Xu Family has been destroyed!"

Upon hearing this news, a handsome young man of around twenty changed expression drastically.

This handsome young man was Xu Hongtao's eldest son, Xu Haoran.

"Who was it? Who destroyed the Xu Family?"

Xu Haoran could not stop himself from roaring. An incomparably terrifying aura erupted from his body.

At the same time, a dreadful blaze rose from his body, and the temperature around him abruptly soared.

The Profound Fire Body—this was the special physique Xu Haoran possessed.

Once one reached the level of Marrow Cleansing Blood Changing, every successful blood change transformed the body once. Depending on the Cultivation Technique practiced and the heavenly treasures refined, the body's direction of transformation also differed. The descendants born to these Grandmasters of Blood Changing then had a certain chance of retaining some of those transformed traits.

That was the origin of special physiques.

The Shangguan Family's ancestor cultivated a technique known as the Nine Heavens Profound Fire Skill.

Therefore, descendants of the Shangguan Family could be born with the Profound Fire Body, a special physique. But the emergence of such a physique followed no pattern whatsoever; it depended entirely on luck.

Shangguan Yun had originally been the illegitimate daughter born to a concubine of the Shangguan Family head. Her status had not been high, which was why she had married Xu Hongtao, who had possessed some fame at the time, and later gave birth to Xu Haoran.

As Xu Haoran gradually grew older, Shangguan Yun discovered that he was different. He had actually displayed the exceedingly rare phenomenon of ancestral bloodline reversion, awakening the Shangguan Family's special physique, the Profound Fire Body.

Shangguan Yun had been overjoyed and immediately sent Xu Haoran to the Shangguan Family to be raised and trained.

Because of this, Shangguan Yun's status rose with her son's success.

However, the Shangguan Family had not publicly announced that Xu Haoran possessed the Profound Fire Body. Even within the Shangguan Family itself, very few people knew that Xu Haoran had the Profound Fire Body.

The outside world only knew that Xu Haoran possessed decent martial talent and had reached the Aperture-Opening Realm by the age of twenty. In truth, Xu Haoran's martial cultivation had already surpassed the Aperture-Opening Realm. He had opened the Twelve Primary Meridians and was a Half-step Grandmaster.

Feeling the terrifying temperature suddenly rise through the air, the Shangguan Family members felt as though they had been thrown into a furnace. They continuously backed away, distancing themselves from Xu Haoran, before saying, "It... it was Zhou Shan, the Black Armored Army Commandant of Luyang County."

"Zhou Shan, I will skin you alive, pull out your tendons, and carve you into ten thousand pieces!" A vicious glint flashed through Xu Haoran's eyes. Then he said, "Prepare a horse for me at once. I'm going to Qingyang Commandery."

"Wait!" At that moment, a man with graying temples and sharply sculpted features appeared. He said to that family member, "Leave first. What happened today must not be spread."

"Yes, Family Head!"

Upon hearing this, the family member immediately withdrew.