The blazing inferno dyed the silent night red, lighting the heavens bright.
Nearly five hundred corpses crackled and sizzled in the flames, slowly being consumed.
Those who walked the martial world grew old in the martial world. Vanishing in flames was better than dying by the roadside and being gnawed at by wild dogs.
He looked much the same as when he had arrived.
Only, he had changed into fresh robes and gained a small chest and two booklets.
When he returned to Duobao Town, every household had its doors and windows tightly shut. Even as he walked the streets, he could hear faint thunderous snores drifting from within.
Before long, Li Yan returned to Treasure Official's Manor. Familiar with the route, he scaled the wall and entered. He first went to the rear kitchen, where he wolfed down some leftover food, then quietly slipped into the study.
When he entered the secret chamber, Li Fucai was sleeping soundly. The ground nearby bore traces of disturbed dirt and stones; he had likely buried the corpses of those Black Cloud Stronghold bandits.
With no intention of disturbing him, Li Yan sat down at a tea table to the side. He took out the two booklets and began reading by the flickering firelight.
Martial Arts: Thunderous Strike Unlearned (0/400)
Simply learning this saber technique required 400 Experience Points. That alone showed how much more formidable it was than he had imagined.
Without the slightest hesitation, Li Yan connected with the system. As his Experience Points decreased, Thunderous Strike stepped into the Initial Glimpse stage.
The instant he opened his eyes, Li Yan's gaze blazed with light. This saber technique was even stronger than he had expected!
The technique displayed the tyrannical wildness of heaven's punishing thunder. It also carried the heroic spirit of being invincible beneath heaven—when all arts saw me, they must lower their brows.
At this moment, Li Yan could confirm that Thunderous Strike was surely one of the finest saber techniques in the martial world.
However, Li Yan did not rush to upgrade it again. Afraid it would turn out like the Flower Cultivation and Leaf Nurturing Art from before, he planned to test it himself first.
Waning Moon left its sheath, and Li Yan began to work through the technique in the basement.
The Initial Glimpse proficiency made his movements rigid, and there was much awkwardness in his advancing steps and saber swings.
Yet one had to know that Li Yan currently had the Hundred Battles Saber Technique at the Return to Truth realm as his foundation. Most saber techniques in the martial world should have come readily to hand.
The harder Thunderous Strike was to wield, the more it revealed its uniqueness and profundity.
The sounds of his steps and saber swings startled Li Fucai awake. When he saw Li Yan wielding his saber, his eyes first filled with confusion, then shock, disbelief, and finally panic.
"Y-you... why are you here?"
Hearing him, Li Yan turned around and saw Li Fucai staring at him in alarm.
"Of course it is me. Why does Official Li look at me like that? Have I become some flood beast or ferocious monster?"
"No, how are you here? How are you here?"
"Shouldn't you be at Black Cloud Stronghold right now, dealing with those bandits?"
Li Yan burst into laughter. "I forgot. Official Li has been hiding down here all this time, so news from outside does not reach you very quickly."
Then Li Yan pointed toward the exit. "If you leave the manor now, you can probably still see half the sky dyed red. I went to a great deal of effort to burn Black Cloud Stronghold down with a single fire."
"W-what?!"
Li Fucai's face was full of astonishment, as though he had heard some tremendous joke.
Yet he could not laugh. The calm and unruffled manner of the man before him made it impossible for him to determine whether it was true.
But decisive evidence soon landed before Li Fucai.
When he saw the booklet called the ledger, his expression shifted wildly. In no time, sweat poured down like rain. His underclothes were soaked through with cold sweat, and his face turned deathly gray.
"It's over, it's over, it's all over!"
Li Yan chuckled. "Why would Official Li say that?"
Li Fucai glared at him furiously. "You fool! Are you truly determined to condemn my Li family to eternal damnation?"
What was that in his hand? A ledger!
What kind of ledger?
A ledger recording Wu Zongren's embezzlement and bribery!
Of course, this was not some fatal weapon that could overthrow Wu Zongren. It was a talisman that summoned death!
The Great Wu Dynasty's court was muddled and rotten. The Wu Emperor indulged in his harem all day and ignored state affairs, directly allowing Grand Commandant Wu Zongren to cover the sky with one hand, with no one able to restrain him.
At a time like this, obtaining this so-called ledger was no different from taking hold of a death-summoning talisman.
And this was naturally Li Yan's deliberate doing.
Li Fucai had become the Treasure Official of Duobao Town, attracted Wu Zongren's attention, and built such a vast estate. Li Yan did not believe he was merely a nouveau riche.
This man surely possessed other exceptional qualities. Li Yan simply had not discovered them yet.
But since Wu Zongren thought highly of him, Li Yan naturally had to ruin the arrangement. This ledger was the best possible sowing-discord scheme.
Sure enough, Li Fucai now looked exactly as Li Yan had expected. This was his best opportunity.
"Official Li, are you blaming me for letting you learn this secret, for making it possible that Wu Zongren will set his sights on you?"
At those words, Li Fucai gritted his teeth and glared at Li Yan. "You... you were not trying to help me. You deliberately wanted to harm me!"
"Ah, where did that come from? I helped you deal with Black Cloud Stronghold in a single day. This thing was obtained from Black Cloud Stronghold."
Hearing this, Official Li froze. Black Cloud Stronghold had truly been wiped out?
That made sense. Only a place like Black Cloud Stronghold could possibly have such a thing.
Those mountain bandits and thieves feared neither heaven nor earth. Only they would dare collect something like this, to prevent others from settling accounts with them after the autumn harvest.
After a long while, Li Fucai finally steadied himself. Though his gaze toward Li Yan remained angry, he had calmed down considerably.
"What exactly do you want?"
Li Yan smiled. "Nothing much. I merely want to help Official Li eliminate this thorn in your side forever."
"Forev... you!"
"Shh. Official Li, from the moment you finished reading that ledger, you no longer had any way back..."
That night, Li Fucai was destined to be unable to sleep. Perhaps for a long time afterward, he would never again sleep peacefully.
The fire on Dark Cloud Peak burned for a long time. By the time someone climbed the mountain, the entire stronghold atop the peak had been reduced to blackened ruin.
The man's expression was exceedingly grim as he looked over the pitch-black stronghold, then he entered and began investigating.
Though the fire had been fierce, with so many corpses piled atop one another, it was ultimately impossible for every last one to burn cleanly away.
And from those corpses, the man discovered several clues.
Almost everyone had been killed with a single stroke, and the overwhelming majority had been struck in the throat.
The saber had been swift, and it was an exceptionally rare and fine blade. Yet the moves used were not particularly exquisite; instead, they resembled the saber techniques used in clashes between military formations.
At that thought, the man narrowed his eyes slightly.
He had heard that a young man named Wan Sanhuo had recently emerged in the martial world. He was most skilled in the Hundred Battles Saber Technique and had already cultivated it to the Mastered realm. Could it have been him?
The man turned the scorched stronghold upside down. Finally, as he looked at the empty hidden compartment, his face darkened like iron, and he could only turn and leave.
After he departed, another figure quietly arrived.
"Tsk, tsk. Five hundred men all died beneath his saber. That kid has such murderous intent!" The newcomer murmured, "Yan Qi, your eye for people truly is venomous..."