Return to Simplicity?

"Bang, bang, bang!"

Yan Nu ran wildly up the mountain, his figure rising and falling.

Right when he landed from one of his leaps, a commotion suddenly sounded by his ear.

He glanced over and only saw a patch of bushes.

The sky was too dark, and he didn't know what kind of monster was hiding inside.

So Yan Nu bent down, picked up a convenient pebble, and smashed it behind the bushes.

This smash was infused with true qi, and the stone shattered mid-air, falling like scattered heavenly flowers.

"Awoo!" A blackish-grey ferocious wolf leaped out. Its legs had already been smashed to a pulp, and with scarlet eyes, it didn't dare approach Yan Nu, desperately tilting its head to howl at the moon.

"Gulp..." Yan Nu was so tempted he saluted it in his heart. Once, he and Grandpa had slaughtered a wolf, and that was one of the few times he had ever eaten meat.

At this moment, seeing the ferocious wolf howl, Yan Nu swooped over with a whoosh at extreme speed... and then, he collided with the ferocious wolf and killed it...

"This guy summoned a wolf pack... I'd better hurry up and find my sister."

Yan Nu glanced with some pity at the corpse of the ferocious wolf, ignored it, and instead accelerated his pace.

Although the mountain road was rugged, his physique was nimble, and his bare feet strode and leaped across bizarre rocks... He didn't dare step on trees; the branches couldn't support his force.

"Awoo, awoo, awoo..."

Wolf packs were best at hunting, and in the mountain forest, wave after wave of wolf howls echoed.

Yan Nu ran while looking around, occasionally catching glimpses of ferocious wolves weaving through the dense forest, so he casually snapped off a thick, long pine branch to use as a temporary weapon.

However, using a branch as a weapon meant he couldn't use too much true qi, or it would shatter directly.

Therefore, he only needed to use a tiny bit of true qi. Whenever a ferocious wolf lunged or bit, a poke or a strike was enough to break the fragile waist of the ferocious wolf.

Yet this pack of wolves had scarlet eyes and ferocious gazes, completely unafraid of death. As soon as one died, more lunged forward.

They were even arranged in an orderly fashion, providing cross-cover just like troops fighting a battle.

Among them were also a large number of wild dogs cooperating with the wolf pack to surround and attack, as if they were all one family.

If it were an ordinary person, even a martial artist with lofty cultivation, sooner or later their qi and strength would be exhausted by this group of ferocious wolves and wild dogs.

However, what Yan Nu feared the least was exhaustion, and he truly didn't understand any fancy moves. He simply fought brute-force style with true qi, since it never ran out anyway!

Just like that, without even knowing how many wolves and dogs he had beaten to death along the way, Yan Nu reached the mountainside.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of battle ahead, along with wolf howls, dog barks, and someone screaming hysterically.

"That sounds like a man's voice, is someone else being besieged by a wolf pack?" Yan Nu didn't hesitate, immediately leaping over to rush there.

Soon, he saw a grotto dwelling with a stele carved with three characters, but Yan Nu didn't recognize a single one.

Beside it was a stream of spring water flowing down from a higher stone peak.

Right at the entrance of the grotto dwelling, a youth holding a long spear was being besieged.

Riding on his back was a two-foot-tall monkey. That little monkey actually possessed true qi as well, and was using small iron pieces as hidden weapons to shoot at the wolf pack.

As for the youth, he kept his back to the stone wall, facing the siege of the wolf pack and ferocious dogs, dancing a long spear into a watertight defense.

Yet it was also very obvious that both the youth and the little monkey were panting heavily and were at the end of their tether.

The ferocious dogs surrounded them tightly, frequently making feinted lunges as if waiting for them to completely lose their strength.

Without a word, Yan Nu jumped into the arena, sweeping his wooden branch across a large area, and shouted, "Follow me!"

The youth was overjoyed and hurriedly followed, but immediately afterward he was somewhat speechless, purely because the moves Yan Nu used to wield his stick and staff were far too reckless.

They were crudely made to the extreme, a sheer waste of true qi.

There was no telling how many dogs and wolves were in Flag Mountain; how could such waste be allowed! He himself was someone about to be worn to death right here, unable to escape.

Just as the youth was about to ask, his facial expression suddenly changed, and he changed it to a warning: "Careful! That spirit beast is back again!"

"Woof!" A huge yellow dog stepped on tree branches, leaped several zhang, and lunged fiercely from afar.

This big dog, different from the other dogs and wolves, had clear and even extremely intelligent eyes.

It was extremely fast, suddenly darting to Yan Nu's side. Carrying astonishing vital energy, the shockwave of its impact alone shattered Yan Nu's wooden branch.

A brutal aura hit him in the face; with a blood-red maw and interlocked canine teeth, it bit down gleaming with cold light.

"Bang!" Yan Nu threw an uppercut.

This punch packed twenty years of cultivation!

With a whistling sound, it heavily struck the lower jaw of the big yellow dog. The air even distorted, and visible ripples expanded with a whoosh at the point of impact!

The big yellow dog's mouth was forcefully shut, and blood spattered.

Its body traced a blood-streaked trajectory in the air before landing heavily among the wolf pack.

Before long, however, it shook its head and crawled back up, sticking out its tongue, drooling, and emitting a weird cold laugh as its dog eyes stared fiercely at Yan Nu.

"Click, click..." The big yellow dog moved its shattered jaw, dripping blood continuously as it slowly retreated.

Yan Nu's facial expression was solemn: "Is this the monster of the mountain?"

"No, it's a half-monster spirit beast, the offspring of the Flag Mountain dog demon!" Seeing that Yan Nu had actually 'fully exploded' his true qi in one breath, the youth's facial expression instantly turned anxious.

"Do you still have true qi? Quick! Use my spear!"

He threw the long spear in his hands, and Yan Nu caught it casually, swung his arm in a full circle, and smashed it down!

"..." The youth practiced a family heirloom exquisite spear art, and seeing him use a spear like this made him feel thoroughly uncomfortable.

Yet every single move of Yan Nu's erupted with twenty years of cultivation, possessing peerless might.

"Bang!"

With a single spear strike, rubble splattered! The shockwave expanded!

Although the big yellow dog dodged, it still felt lingering fear.

That dog had cackled earlier precisely because it thought Yan Nu had exhausted all his true qi in one breath, never expecting that every single one of Yan Nu's moves was this powerful.

Normally, other people's twenty-year cultivation was split into over a hundred moves to use, but look at Yan Nu—every single move could burst forth with this much, and he could squander it a hundred times!

"What terrifying might!" The youth got a huge fright.

It's impossible for a person to have this much true qi, so are his moves so exquisite that I can't understand them?

The youth considered himself exceptionally talented. At only twenty-four years of age, he was already at the Second Stage Body Tempering and ranked among the first-rate; otherwise, how would he dare come to Flag Mountain?

Yet after looking at Yan Nu's 'spear art', he learned that there are always stronger people.

The power of each strike was equivalent to the explosion of an ordinary person's twenty years of cultivation. If it relied entirely on true qi infusion, could that even be possible?

Impossible. Even if he possessed sixty years of cultivation, he wouldn't be able to unleash two such moves.

Therefore, behind this, there must be extremely exquisite breathing and force-generating techniques supporting it. With each move, relying on only a few pieces of true qi, he could amplify the power dozens of times.

Otherwise, there was no way to explain it.

True ultimate skills did not lie in how many external changes they had, but in their internal force-generation.

Top-tier experts could unleash immense power with a simple, ordinary slash; that was the reason why.

Figuring out this point and looking at Yan Nu again, he seemed to be swinging wildly and blindly, but in reality, his grand skill seemed clumsy! Every move was fetched at will, returning to simplicity.

"Hm? This is..."

Immediately following that, the youth discovered another peerless and exquisite aspect: the quality of Yan Nu's true qi was extraordinary.

The faster true qi was poured into a weapon and converted into vital force, the higher the quality.

In addition was the vibration frequency of the weapon when bearing the true qi. When quality reached the ultimate skill tier, the sound was like a thousand birds singing.

As for the divine skill tier, it was supreme sound producing no noise!

He saw that the long spear in Yan Nu's hand had a barely visible vibration amplitude. Clearly, the vital force was entangled, yet there was no spear-hum sound... This was the typical true qi of a divine skill.

"The vital force transforms into two: one spirals left, one spirals right. This is the cultivation technique of the orthodox Xuan sect... Eh, no! What is this in the middle..."

"Ah? The Three-Body Problem!"

The youth's expression changed again and again, his state of mind shaken again and again.

This was because he could see that the nature of Yan Nu's true qi was not limited to just Yin and Yang; there was also a righteous and direct force running through it like a single breath.

The three forces were like twin serpents wrapping around a beam of shooting stars—such a structure was something he had never heard of before.

This wasn't because the youth was ill-informed, but rather because Yan Nu's situation was far too special.

Yan Nu had studied the Great Emperor White Jade Scripture, but he wasn't using it normally right now...

The hammer true qi stubbornly coexisted within him. As long as he didn't convert all the hammer true qi into qi vortices, every time he circulated his cultivation technique, the Yin-Yang Qi Vortex would entangle with the hammer true qi and burst forth together. The three bodies entangled, and the might was vast.

In this world, true qi was only divided into chilly, upright, and blazing heat. Upright true qi could not be practiced together with cultivation techniques of the other two types, so anyone capable of possessing the Three-Body Problem simultaneously was extremely rare.

Yet Yan Nu naturally carried a kind of true qi, and from start to finish he had only ever practiced the Great Emperor Scripture, free from any worries of cultivation technique conflicts.

Unintentionally, he had elevated the body-tempering chapters of the Great Emperor Scripture to an entirely new realm.

"Bang, bang, bang!" Yan Nu used his spear as a hammer, waving and thrashing wildly. The wind whistled as he swept away the surrounding flying sand and stones, making dogs bark and wolves howl!

Every single burst of force transformed by true qi was immensely huge, its power comparable to the sword qi of a Three Essences Body Tempering martial artist.

Yet Yan Nu hadn't undergone body tempering at all. To release true qi externally required reaching the Three Essences, so all the vital force Yan Nu launched out was essentially accelerated air—nothing more than palm wind or the like.

Using palm wind to rival piercing-body sword qi was equivalent to using the methods of a third-rate martial artist to achieve the effects of a top-tier martial artist.

Under such a chaotic flurry of movement, that big yellow dog simply didn't dare get close, showing facial expressions of fear.

Many ferocious wolves that couldn't dodge in time were directly beaten into a pulp of flesh.

"Good spear! Long and hard, I like it!" Yan Nu was radiant with joy, praising it repeatedly.

He found that this spear was much more useful than the chains. Not only did true qi propagate faster through it, but there was also almost no waste.

Seeing his unorthodox moves beating the half-monster spirit beast into steady retreat, the youth couldn't help cheering, "Good!"

Overcome with excitement, tears filled his eyes: "This is the Mysterious Iron Spear refined by my father. It's tough and peerless. It's only right to use this spear to kill monsters!"

"Woof, woof!"

The big yellow dog understood human speech, coldly glanced at the youth, and seeing that Yan Nu was truly formidable and unwilling to confront him head-on, it suddenly barked wildly and retreated deep into the pitch-black cave.

The other ferocious wolves and wild dogs instantly went mad, charging and killing fearlessly to consume his true qi.

"Again! This ferocious dog is cunning; it wants to exhaust your true qi and then come kill us!" The youth's expression was anxious.

He then asked Yan Nu, "I'm running out of steam, brother, how much true qi do you have left?"

Yan Nu didn't really know how to put it, so he said, "Just a little left."

"What! Then let's hurry and leave!" The youth's facial expression changed drastically. Would just a little left even cut it?

If it was exhausted, it would be his time to die. Rather than that, he should take advantage of having some remaining strength to break out!

"Alright." Yan Nu wasn't eager for battle either, taking the youth and running toward the higher stone peaks.

"Eh? Where are you running!" Halfway through running, the youth discovered that Yan Nu wasn't heading down the mountain, but rather up the mountain toward a higher range of peaks.

Yet turning back now was no longer an option; behind them were entirely ferocious wolves and wild dogs.

Yan Nu wanted to protect the youth, so he didn't run at full force either, consistently staying side-by-side with him.

However, with things this way, how could they possibly run faster than the wolf pack?

The youth was almost caught up to and bitten, thanks only to the little monkey on his shoulders, which still had a sliver of strength left and used hidden weapons to kill two of the wolves that ran the fastest.

"A large pack of ferocious wolves and wild dogs is specifically raised on this mountain to wear down our energy. Many wandering knights who come to Flag Mountain to eliminate monsters don't even get to see the monster's face."

The youth panted heavily; without true qi, he simply couldn't shake off the wolf pack.

Seeing that the little monkey was gradually running out of true qi as well, he wore a grief-stricken expression and sighed, "Brother, the two of us can only have one survive. I beg you to take my monkey away; his name is Wanzi!"

With that, he had the little monkey jump onto Yan Nu, but the little monkey grabbed onto his hair for dear life, squeaking frantically with tears in its eyes.

"Brother, I'll give you this Mysterious Iron Spear."

The youth grabbed the monkey, threw it to Yan Nu, and then pulled out a dagger to use as a weapon, his gaze filled with extreme struggle.

"I share a sea of hatred with the Flag Mountain dog demon. Even if I die, I'll kill a few more of these running dogs!"

"Bang!"

Just as he was hesitating whether to stop and fight to the death, a spear flew past his side, piercing and killing a wolf on the spot, causing even the wolf's corpse to burst open with blood spraying.

Yan Nu followed closely behind, grabbed the long spear, and began his windmill spear art once again!

The youth watched the flying sand, stones, and spattering flesh before him, completely dumbfounded.

"You... do you still have that much true qi?"

Yan Nu's moves were wide and powerful, looking nothing like someone whose true qi was about to bottom out.

"Uh, I still have a little bit left." Yan Nu replied honestly.

"..." The youth was truly speechless, no longer believing his "little bit."

Seeing Yan Nu violently slaughter dozens of wild dogs with a single long spear—although the power had sharply decreased compared to when he was fighting the half-monster, it was still no small feat.

He couldn't help pressing, "Just how much is actually left? Ten percent? Or twenty percent?"

Yan Nu suddenly realized: "Oh, less than half a percent."

"What!" The youth's face turned green with fright.

He said with utmost urgency, "Brother! Do not get bogged down in battle! Do not get bogged down in battle!"

"Run, run, run!"

Yan Nu wasn't anxious at all, instead saying, "These wild dogs are chasing like madmen; how about I stay behind while you take the opportunity to escape down the mountain? I still need to go up the mountain to find my sister, our paths don't line up."

As he spoke, he threw the little monkey back to the youth, and the monkey immediately grabbed tightly onto the youth's hair and refused to let go.

The youth said sternly, "Brother, you saved my life; how could I abandon you and leave!"

He immediately brandished his dagger and joined the fray as well.

Both he and the monkey were at the end of their tether, and after fighting for half the time, they only managed to dispatch a few wild dogs.

Looking back at Yan Nu, he had already killed seventy or eighty of them, returning with his spear slouched over his shoulder, bathed in blood.

The youth asked somewhat dazedly, "Brother, has your true qi... run out yet?"

"Almost." Yan Nu's true qi was indeed bottoming out, with probably about 'twenty years' left.

As for the remaining wild dogs, they changed their strategy, adopting only feinted guerrilla tactics and no longer swarming up to throw their lives away.

"These ferocious wolves and wild dogs are well-trained. That big yellow dog from earlier is actually commanding from the shadows! If too many die in a short time, they won't go toe-to-toe either. In short, they'll use whatever method they can to wear us down." The youth explained while panting.

Yan Nu nodded and asked, "Are there any steamed buns to eat..."

Here near the mountain peak, everywhere was stones, and he couldn't find any grass by looking down.

"Yes!" The youth hurriedly pulled out several sheets. Steamed buns were the most common food; they were simple to make and easy to preserve.

The two of them ate their fill while running toward higher ground.

Sure enough, after chasing for a while, the ferocious wolves and wild dogs suddenly turned fearless of death again, howling as they swarmed up to attack.

Yan Nu had no choice but to turn back ahead of time and once again open up his counter-slaughter time.

By this point, the youth was already numb. Weren't they supposed to be running out of true qi? What kind of divine skill was this, exactly?

The numerous fierce wolves and wild dogs were, after all, merely ordinary beasts. The demons raised them to be fiercely fearless of death, treating them entirely as expendable supplies.

As long as Yan Nu could not be exhausted to death, the ones destined to be destroyed would be the demons themselves.

Finally, Yan Nu slaughtered the fierce wolves and wild dogs until only a couple of kittens and puppies were left, wiping out over four hundred in total from start to finish.

A bark echoed from the distance, and the survivors stopped entangling, scattering away in a swarm until not a single one remained.