Shattered Porcelain

Amidst a pile of broken rubble, the old ape's ears twitched slightly, catching a faint sound. He grinned, bent down, picked up a piece of broken tile, weighed it in his hand, then rose and hurled it out with lightning speed. The tile sliced through the wall and roof as if they were made of tofu, tearing through the air with a sound like wind and thunder, its trajectory aimed precisely at the source of the noise.

Unfortunately, the old ape didn't see the boy. He tapped his toes, his burly body launching off the ground. He stepped on an old roof beam, using the rebound to leap high out of the hole in the roof and land on the ridge.

The old ape saw the boy, carrying a wooden bow on his back, standing on the upturned eave of a distant rooftop, looking intently at the white-robed old ape.

The old ape knew he had miscalculated. Throwing the tile had been too loud, likely spooking the prey and making the little mud-legged boy from Mud Bottle Alley realize something was wrong. He'd probably given up on using the advantage of his bow and arrow to gain an edge. The old ape smiled, spreading his hands to show he held nothing, then beckoned with a finger, signaling the boy to continue his fancy maneuvers. He was willing to play along and stretch his muscles.

If anyone were to call the old ape a trickster, they would be mistaken. This mountain guardian ape from Zhengyang Mountain, with its thousand years of cultivation and thousand-zhang true form, possessed movement techniques that could be described as earth-shattering.

Throughout the long years of the Mountain-Moving Ape's cultivation, especially in the early days of Zhengyang Mountain's establishment, when the fledgling sect was surrounded by enemies and wolves, after the death of Zhengyang Mountain's founder, the old ape, as its top general, had experienced countless life-and-death battles. Today's "minor skirmish" on the rooftops of an alley was no different in principle from those past battles. In those grand, soul-stirring wars, top cultivators and great Qi refiners had used magic treasures to keep the old ape at bay, not daring to engage him head-on. Like the swift light cavalry of Great Qi on the mortal battlefield, they would never directly charge the heavy armored soldiers of Great Li. Instead, they would use quick strikes to slowly whittle away at the edges of the ironclad formations, searching for an opportunity.

Currently, the old ape was one of the characters most suppressed by the Heavenly Dao of this place, second only to Prince Song Changjing. The Grandmaster of Military, who wore the tiger tally, was "favored" by this world due to his special status. Thus, despite his considerable cultivation, the influence was not as pronounced.

At this moment, facing a nimble boy who was far from an ordinary town resident, the old ape felt a hint of the exhilaration he'd experienced in his bloody battles of the past.

The old ape didn't deny that the boy had given him many unexpected surprises. He could calculate people's intentions, set traps, and utilize the terrain. Of course, most importantly, he wasn't lacking in courage.

The old ape glanced at the sky. The sun was setting in the west, twilight was approaching, and visibility would increasingly be affected. He was completely unfamiliar with the town's layout, which was likely one of the boy's advantages, a passable sort of protective charm.

The old ape began to run, his speed like a galloping horse, covering over ten feet in a single stride, a terrifying sight.

The moment the old ape moved, the boy turned and fled. He didn't head north along the continuous alleys and rooftops, as that area contained Fulu Street and Taoye Lane, with their many wealthy households and hidden experts. If anyone were to intervene on the old ape's behalf, Chen Ping'an didn't believe he could escape a coordinated pursuit. Therefore, Chen Ping'an decisively fled west. The south, towards the Covered Bridge, offered open views with no place to hide. Given the difference in their speed, Chen Ping'an estimated that once he lost the cover of obstacles, he would have little chance of escaping the Mountain-Moving Ape.

West of the town lay deep mountains and old forests, with lush vegetation. Many hidden paths were rigged with traps set by hunters.

The mountain paths were difficult to navigate, and even more so if one strayed from the established routes. Chen Ping'an knew this better than anyone.

The boy's thoughts were not wrong, but he had underestimated the old ape. As the mountain guardian ape of Zhengyang Mountain, the old ape's understanding of the mountains and rivers ran far deeper and longer than the boy's.

When the boy leaped off the last rooftop and landed, he bent his knees, skillfully absorbing some of the impact. He quickly glanced back before continuing to charge forward, hunched over.

During his run, the wooden bow and quiver had vanished without a trace.

In the forest, if Chen Ping'an chose to abandon the paths trodden by generations of ancestors and "flee in a panic," they would inevitably become a burden.

Seeing the boy about to slip away like a loach into water, the old ape felt a surge of impatience. He glanced back towards the direction of the Li Family residence on Fulu Street. In truth, once they entered the mountains, the old ape wouldn't claim to have every advantage, but he would certainly be far more at ease than chasing the little brat around the town.

The old ape made up his mind, quickly weighing the pros and cons. He took a deep breath of "fresh air," just enough, if there were no major deviations, to kill a man. The old ape's face flickered with waves of purplish-blue ripples. His burly body, without warning, erupted from the ground. The poor house beneath his feet was half-destroyed by his kick. Fortunately, the people living on the west side of town were poor, and their houses were much flimsier than those on Fulu Street. For instance, the wood used for the beams and pillars was quite inadequate. The family of four living there, fortunately, were not inside at the time.

The old ape leaped high, tracing a massive arc in the air. When he landed, he was right beside the boy. Two large pits appeared where his feet touched the ground, sending soft spring mud splashing everywhere.

The old ape swung a fist at the boy's back.

The back of a person's body contains the Yang channels, connecting the meridians and internal organs to the back. Especially the area between the shoulder blades, mere inches from the heart, is the most vulnerable.

On the verge of death, The boy, hearing the movement beside him, suddenly exerted himself, moving two to three tenths faster than when he had lured the old ape onto the rotten rooftop earlier!

This at least meant that the boy had been hiding his strength all along.

As a result, the old ape's punch not only failed to pierce the boy's back and smash his heart but merely grazed the boy's back, an inch below the spot between his shoulder blades.

Although he didn't take the full force of the punch, the boy was sent flying like a bell struck by a hammer, his feet leaving the ground.

The next scene showcased the boy's astonishing agility and nimbleness to its fullest.

With blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, the straw-sandaled youth, after being sent flying by the punch, should have face-planted into the ground. However, he extended his hands, bracing himself on the ground. His elbows bent and then straightened, allowing him to execute a fluid mid-air somersault, landing on his feet. He then used the forward momentum to continue his escape at full speed without slowing down.

Even the seasoned and battle-hardened Mountain-Moving Ape couldn't help but feel a pang of frustration at the tenacity of the town boy.

The old ape raised his hand, his back covered in blood.

This minor injury was nothing, and the old ape dismissed it with a laugh. However, his resolve to kill the boy grew even stronger.

As for the reason for his injury, it was not complicated.

The spring chill was biting. The boy, who usually wore thin clothes in his humble alley, was noticeably more heavily dressed when he appeared before the old ape today. Besides his own clothes, he had put on a loose, old garment belonging to the tall youth Liu Xianyang. Between the two layers of clothing, there was another secret. The boy had made himself a "wood-porcelain armor." Six long, seasoned wooden planks were drilled with holes and strung together with silk rope, three in the front and three in the back. Most importantly, this extremely crude wooden armor was inlaid with countless small, broken porcelain shards.

The old ape felt terrible at this moment, like a dignitary who had accidentally stepped in dog excrement and couldn't shake it off easily.

The old ape clenched his fists, held his breath, and stood still, forcefully suppressing the surging and powerful qi within him. The purplish-blue ripples on his face turned to a purplish-gold hue, flashing and disappearing.

The old ape was furious. At this very moment, a stone shot out from the woods.

The old ape reached out and caught the exceptionally hard stone, about the size of a fingernail.

Then, a rustling sound indicated the boy was fleeing deeper into the woods.

The old ape's expression turned extremely grim.

He glanced back at the town's night sky.

He feared this might be the boy's true diversionary tactic.

However, his intuition told him it was best to quickly kill the straw-sandaled youth in the mountains.

The Prosperity Locust Tree on Fulu Street had recently been climbed by the young assassin. The highest branch that could bear a person's weight, positioned far above the rooftops, was now occupied by an uninvited guest. Below him, another person stood.

The sudden appearance of these two individuals forced the anxious Li Family residence to feign ignorance. This was because the white-robed man seated there was none other than the Supervising Official. He had brought Song Jixin to the Prosperity Locust Tree, saying he wanted to show him a good show. However, it was already the end of twilight, and Song Jixin's eyesight was poor. He could only listen as Song Changjing recounted the ridiculous chase that had begun on the rooftops of Mud Bottle Alley.

The man rested one hand on his knee and the other on his chin, gazing into the distance. Between narrating the chase, he would occasionally intersperse little-known secrets of the town or some casual reflections on cultivation.

"If we disregard opportunities and only talk about tangible artifacts and magic treasures, that long-rumored famous Sword Scripture would currently rank in the top three in this town. If we extend the timeline and consider the town's three-thousand-year history, it might barely make the top ten, but it would definitely be in the top twenty. Don't think this ranking is low; it's actually very high."

"Coupled with that 'wart armor,' if the young fellow surnamed Liu can digest all of this, in my opinion, his opportunities are no less than any of you five."

Song Jixin didn't look up, because a guy had dangled his feet directly above the young man's head. The young man asked curiously, "Then why was he still punched to death by the old ape of Zhengyang Mountain?"

Song Changjing chuckled indifferently, "He had too much luck, was envied, and had no backing. Is that hard to understand?"

Song Jixin, with a face full of confusion, asked, "Then why didn't you try to win him over more thoroughly when you were in Mud Bottle Alley back then?"

The Great Li Prince above the young man's head roared with laughter, utterly delighted. After laughing for a long time, he said, "This king, regarding those cultivation geniuses from above the mountains... In short, after you get out, you'll understand the reason when you hear one of this king's nicknames."

Song Changjing suddenly stood up, looked into the distance, his expression changing slightly. He gently stroked the jade belt at his waist, his eyes burning with intensity.

In the eyes of this Grandmaster of Martial Arts, who had reached the pinnacle of martial prowess, the westernmost part of the town, with the Mountain-Moving Ape breaking the rules, erupted in a surge of energy that agitated incessantly. The aura in that area became chaotic, like shattered porcelain shards exploding and scattering.

Song Changjing slowly said, "You might find it strange, why do those outsiders look at others as if they were ants? Do you really think it's just their inherent arrogance? That their eyes are in the sky? Personality is only a small part of it; it's more about the prevailing trend. You haven't left this small town, so you don't understand the transcendent status these Immortal Masters hold in the world outside."

Song Jixin replied, "I don't find it strange at all."

"It's such a hassle talking to someone who's read books."

Song Changjing wasn't surprised and continued on his own, "Because there's a line drawn between you and them. This line, it's not big. For some people, it's less than a small ditch; as long as they encounter it, they can cross it. Like you and Liu Xianyang before, and that scholarly prodigy Zhao Yao who was favored by a Grandmaster of the Daoist school from another continent, all fall into this category. But it's not small either. The vast majority of people in this small town, looking at that line, it's like looking at a chasm; they can't even muster the desire to cross it."

"The gap between the two groups of people separated by that line is so vast, it's like... between humans and plants, no different from the separation of yin and yang, perhaps even greater."

As he said this, the Great Li Prince suddenly let out a sound of surprise, then said with schadenfreude, "That old beast is having a bit of bad luck this time, picking a fight with such a little prickly pear. He's hiding his strength well. Song Jixin, this king now understands you a little. Anyone would have a hard time with an opponent like that. Besides killing him cleanly with one punch, it's truly a disgusting and troublesome matter."

Song Jixin's expression turned displeased.

In the nearby Li Family mansion, shouts of alarm erupted, and even hidden pillars of the sea angrily intervened.

That straw-sandaled youth indeed had backup responding.

And they weren't ordinary people.

Song Changjing smiled. Even as an assassin's figure flashed past from beneath the Prosperity Locust Tree, the Prince showed no intention of stopping him.

In his field of vision, the burly figure of the old ape strode back from the west, constantly "rising and falling" within the small town. Whether he would crush houses or ruin courtyards when he landed was of no concern to him.

That old ape from Zhengyang Mountain seemed to have found a punching bag.

Song Changjing suddenly frowned, then relaxed, followed by an instant surge of fighting spirit.

Song Changjing, a martial man of Great Li, had three lifelong pleasures: building pyramids of skulls, killing geniuses, and fighting Immortals.

The next moment, Song Jixin's eyes widened. The man who had been above his head, who knew when, had landed on Fulu Street and, with the burly old man rushing from afar, simply and almost brutally collided.

The Great Li Prince, the Mountain-Moving Old Ape.

One punch exchanged between them, hitting each other's chests.

Song Changjing advanced instead of retreating, taking a step forward, while the old ape took a step back.

Another punch was exchanged, this time hitting each other's foreheads.

Song Changjing strode forward. This time, only he threw a punch.

He took a heavy step forward, crouching slightly, his left hand extended forward, his right hand clenched and withdrawn.

The man wore a snow-white robe, his wide sleeves fluttering, and the ground beneath his feet was covered in shattered bluestone slabs.

His punch went straight forward.

The old ape had no choice but to extend a palm to block Song Changjing's fist.

Between heaven and earth, two cracking sounds seemed to echo faintly.

The old ape slid back more than ten zhang, leaving a shocking gash in the bluestone ground.

Song Changjing lightly waved his sleeve, one hand behind his back, the other holding his white jade belt, and said with a smile, "Qi Jingchun, aren't you going to come out and stop this? Are you really going to let it all fall apart? Come on, just hold on a little longer."

The old ape exhaled a breath of turbid air.

Song Changjing raised a palm, shook it, and chuckled, "We'll fight after I get out. Let's mind our own business for now."

The old ape grinned, "Song Changjing, you'd better be able to beat me then, or the southern border army of Great Li will have a hard time."

Song Changjing smiled, "As you wish."

The old ape snorted coldly and entered the Li Family mansion alone. The young lady was unharmed, not even truly frightened. After understanding the detailed situation, the old ape found it to be a clumsy trick. After a moment of thought, he grinned and rushed towards the western part of the town.

Hunting in the mountains.