Mentality Two

"More people from the Incense Gathering Cult?" Wei He's heart stirred, a fierce glint flashing in his eyes.

"Hiding near my house at this time, even if they aren't bad people, they have malicious intent. I'll beat them to death first!"

He suddenly turned, launching a punch at the backs of the two men.

His sudden turn was a surprise attack from behind.

The two men didn't know him at all. They were focused on their journey, so how could they have expected a random passerby to suddenly attack them?

Furthermore, they were just ordinary members of the Incense Gathering Cult, their reaction speeds were already much slower.

With two muffled thuds, Wei He knocked them both to the ground with one punch each, their spines snapping.

Their bodies twisted at strange angles, and they tilted their heads back, about to scream.

With two crisp cracks, Wei He caught up and stomped on each of their faces, forcefully silencing their cries into the ground.

His expression remained unchanged as he twisted his feet with force.

With two more crisp cracks, the two men fell silent.

Wei He dragged their bodies to the riverside outside the wall, tossed them into a pile of dry reeds, then took off a straw hat, put it on his head, and turned to chase in the direction Xu Wei had left.

He ran wildly, recalling Xu Wei's strength and reaction from earlier. Without hesitation, the Boundary-Breaking Pearl in his chest exploded.

Instantly, a large wave of hot Blood Essence surged into his body. Wei He's muscles rapidly swelled and filled with blood, his skin erupting with dense, blood-red spots. His fists gradually turned grayish-white, dull and lusterless, like rock.

In just a few breaths, Wei He's physique grew by a whole size.

His Blood Essence flowed through him, surging and powerful.

The killing intent in his eyes intensified, and his speed increased. In a few moments, he had disappeared into the alleys.

Xu Wei was leaning against the wall, waiting for the cult members to call other Incense Masters to kill Wei He.

Suddenly, he heard faint footsteps and looked up.

"They're here already?" he murmured, looking towards the entrance of the alley.

But as soon as he saw, he was met with the sight of the burly Wei He walking quickly towards him.

He hesitated slightly. The person approaching him was dressed similarly to Wei He earlier, in common gray trousers and a long coat, but their physique was completely different. Moreover, they were wearing the standard wide-brimmed straw hat of the Incense Gathering Cult.

"May I ask which Incense Master has come to assist?" he asked, cupping his fists.

The other party reached out, grasped the straw hat, and pulled it down.

The moment the straw hat revealed the face.

Puff!

A handful of quicklime was thrown directly at him.

Xu Wei was caught off guard. Although he reacted quickly, raising his hands and closing his eyes, and retreating several steps, a bit of the powder still hit his eyes, blurring his vision with a burning sensation.

"You!"

His Blood Essence surged, and he felt a gust of foul wind approaching. He closed his eyes and unleashed a Black Lotus Palm forward, intending to block the opponent's attack.

But the moment he struck, he felt something was wrong. His right palm landed directly on something sharp, like a spike.

He grunted, and his palm was immediately pierced and bleeding.

"You!!" He was shocked and enraged, about to shout for help. But as he opened his mouth, another handful of quicklime was thrown in succession, most of it splashing into his face and mouth.

"I!!" Xu Wei was in unbearable pain, his mouth unintelligible. He swung his palm forward blindly again.

Unfortunately, he again met the same spike from before.

Chichichi!!

Three consecutive palm strikes were all met by the spike. Xu Wei felt his palms go numb, losing all sensation. His heart filled with dread, and he turned to flee.

Puff!!

A fist smashed hard into the back of his head, knocking him to the ground, unconscious.

Wei He stepped forward, skillfully placing his foot on the man's cervical spine and twisting it forcefully.

Crack.

A perfect finish.

Papap.

Faint applause echoed from the alley entrance.

"Good skills." A man stood leisurely at the alley entrance, looking at Wei He.

"Your movements are ruthless, your killing intent decisive, truly swift and resolute."

Before he could finish speaking, his vision blurred. Wei He, who had been some distance away, suddenly lunged forward and threw a punch at his face.

The man was greatly alarmed. He raised his hand to block and stepped back, trying to escape.

But it was too late. The fist struck his arm, its immense force, exceeding the power of two Blood Essences, like a heavy hammer, producing the crackling sound of breaking branches.

The man cried out in pain and fell backward. He was about to roar, but he was a step too late.

He was kicked hard in the side of the head by Wei He.

With a snap, his head broke instantly. His eyes widened, staring blankly in death.

Wei He quickly dragged the two corpses over to where he had just dumped the bodies. From the dry reeds, along with the bodies he had already thrown in, he tossed them one by one into the Feiye River.

The Feiye River was a large river. Although it had dried up considerably, the current was still swift. After being thrown in, they disappeared without a trace in the blink of an eye.

It was an excellent place to destroy evidence.

After Wei He finished cleaning up, he returned to his own courtyard a short while later.

If it weren't for his sharp eyesight, noticing the man's legs trembling slightly and fine beads of sweat on his forehead, he might have been fooled by that person's calm demeanor.

It was only after he broke through to Blood Essence, reaching Stone Hide, that his senses became sharper. Coupled with his naturally cautious nature, he wouldn't be so easily deceived.

That person probably realized he couldn't escape, so he decided to pretend to be a master, not part of the Incense Gathering Cult, and try to trick him with words.

Unfortunately, he was too naive.

After finishing everything, Wei He leisurely returned to his courtyard.

Wei Ying had already been drawn out by the commotion and was standing in the courtyard, holding a stick and looking wary.

Seeing Wei He enter from the side gate, she immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

"Xiao He, where did you go just now? I heard noises outside and was startled. I wanted to find you, but I couldn't see anyone."

Wei Ying relaxed and quickly walked closer.

Suddenly, she saw spots of blood on the front of Wei He's clothes.

"Oh no, why is there blood on you!?"

She exclaimed in alarm.

Wei He's expression remained unchanged. He pinched his nose hard.

"I just got a nosebleed. Ugh..." He quickly tilted his head back, letting a little blood drip from his nostrils.

"Oh, you really have a nosebleed! How could you!" Wei Ying immediately became worried.

"Wait here, I'll go find something to stop it." She quickly turned to find something to plug his nostrils.

After some fumbling, she quickly stuffed Wei He's nostrils and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"How could you get a nosebleed? Could it be that the weather is too dry?"

She thought about making him some cooling soup tomorrow, perhaps the dry weather was causing him to get an internal heat.

Wei He sat down, feeling the sensation after breaking through to Stone Hide and undergoing a second Blood Essence breakthrough.

His blood flowed vigorously, and his body felt like it was transforming every moment, being reshaped by the even more immense Blood Essence.

His body had greater capacity, tougher skin, stronger explosive power, keener senses, and a lighter physique.

Is this what breaking through feels like? He lowered his head and pulled open his collar, looking at the freshly cleared patterns on his Boundary-Breaking Pearl.

Clearing the Boundary-Breaking Pearl for the second time left him with a sense of emptiness.

I had planned to try breaking through slowly myself, but this world doesn't allow it.

He sighed inwardly.

The next morning.

He woke up early and headed towards the Huishan Fist Academy.

He had no intention of hiding his strength as a trump card. The more critical the situation, the more he needed to display his potential to gain more resource allocation.

Hiding his strength would only prevent him from receiving adequate nourishment for his growth and development.

With a creak, he pushed open the door and entered.

Wei He saw Li Jue and two other disciples had already arrived and were moving their training equipment.

He went over to help, and then looked around for Cheng Shaojiu and Ouyang Zhuang.

Unfortunately, he had probably arrived too early.

Cheng Shaojiu hadn't arrived at all, and Ouyang Zhuang was also absent, likely on vacation or working a side job.

Old Zheng had led a team to spar a few days ago, and now it would probably return to normal, having to wait slowly until mid-morning.

Wei He rested for a while. Since no one was there, he didn't waste any time and immediately began his own training.

It wasn't that he wanted to show off or flaunt his strength, but after breaking through to Stone Hide, the subsequent training methods, ways to improve Blood Essence, and skin-grinding methods were all different.

He needed to inform Old Zheng before he could receive the next stage of techniques.

Therefore, unless he wanted to stagnate, he had to inform Old Zheng of his progress.

At this moment, Cheng Shaojiu had no time to attend to other matters.

He was confronting his uncle due to family affairs.

Cheng Zhengxing, as the head escort of the Yonghe Escort Agency and also Cheng Shaojiu's uncle, had no children of his own and treated Cheng Shaojiu as his own son.

Normally, the young master of this escort agency wanted to do whatever he pleased, even keeping idle people around, and he didn't mind.

The business was good, and there was plenty of money, so letting a few idle people freeload was understandable.

But now the escort agency's business wasn't as good as before, and he was still bringing back all his cronies from home to be supported.

He called it loyalty, but it was going too far.

Cheng Zhengxing had argued with Cheng Shaojiu about this many times. But this guy just wouldn't listen to reason.

Inside the main hall of the Yonghe Escort Agency.

Cheng Zhengxing wanted to be stern, but facing his only nephew, he couldn't muster any real anger.

"Shao Jiu, the escort agency's business is not doing well now. You should be more considerate of the family. Those friends you recommended, their monthly stipends alone are already a considerable expense for the agency," Cheng Zhengxing said earnestly.

"Uncle, haven't I already let Zhou San and the others go? I've sent away quite a few people. The rest are my true brothers in loyalty. If you make me drive them away at this critical juncture, how will they manage out in the world?" Cheng Shaojiu retorted angrily.

He understood the family's current financial difficulties and had helped explain the reduction in monthly allowances.

He had also helped persuade some brothers to leave.

But now, to ask him to disband all his brothers and sisters, especially during such a critical and difficult time, wasn't that putting him in a position of being unrighteous and disloyal?

"You also know that after what happened at the agency, coupled with the current changes in the situation, our business has plummeted. If you continue to be so willful, the family might truly not be able to hold on," Cheng Zhengxing sighed.

Who would have thought that the main agency, which had been thriving before, would end up in such a state?

If only Shao Jiu could have befriended more young masters from influential families like Jiang Yan, they could have helped now.

As for the others from humble backgrounds, no matter how many he befriended, what good would it do? They couldn't help the escort agency overcome its current predicament at all.