The Dao Heart Above All Else!

"Liang, are you all right? It's me."

A somewhat weak male voice came through the crack in the door.

The original owner of this body, Mu Liang, had friends too... even if there was only one.

After his earlier meditation, Wang Jixuan's remnant soul had recovered a little of its sensory ability. At this moment, he could clearly sense that only one person stood outside the door.

—Once his cultivation surpassed the Qi Refining Realm and entered the Spirit Gathering Realm, he could condense his spiritual awareness again. With spiritual awareness, he would be able to vaguely observe things through walls.

Wang Jixuan waited a moment, set the crude spiked club he had modified back behind the door, undid the inner lock, and opened the door a crack.

A thin, small-framed young man appeared before him.

This fellow was named Lou Zhuang. People usually called him "Monkey." Like Mu Liang, he was a pitiable soul who had to spend two Food Quotas every day to buy a serving of emergency food and hand it over to the local thugs.

Those thugs would take the emergency food down to the Lower City and sell it as merchandise, obtaining all sorts of rare goods in return.

Incidentally, even those thugs had to work jobs in the Middle City.

Thus, most of the time, victims of bullying like Mu Liang and Lou Zhuang had to contribute their Food Quotas while also doing extra labor outside their assigned work.

They are all wretched souls. This Daoist will naturally find a way to avenge Mu Liang later.

Wang Jixuan sighed inwardly, then smiled faintly and pulled the door wider.

"Come in."

"Liang... are you really okay?"

Lou Zhuang carefully stared at Wang Jixuan's neck, where bruises still lingered.

"I heard them say you went to the infirmary. The emergency responders even carried you there."

Wang Jixuan quickly reviewed the details of how Mu Liang and Lou Zhuang usually interacted. He shrugged and spoke in a helpless, dispirited tone. "I tried it before, but I couldn't do it... At the last moment, I still boiled the bedsheet."

"That's difficult. It's good that you're okay. I mean... um... do you want something to eat? Breakfast is almost here. If you're all right, how about we go eat together?"

Lou Zhuang's smile was somewhat unnatural.

With both hands tucked into the pockets of his washed-out jeans, his gaze darted away as he continued.

"I'm not very good at comforting people. How about I treat you to a Starch Bar?"

What a bother.

Wang Jixuan smiled amiably. "Then I'll take half a Food Quota from you."

"No big deal. I don't eat much anyway."

When Lou Zhuang turned around, he spotted the cardboard box by the single bed, the clothes inside it, and the silver-white ring-shaped Holographic Music Player.

"Liang, why are you packing your things?"

Wang Jixuan gave a simple explanation. "I want to move the bed."

"I thought you were moving away. Changing districts would be a good way to avoid them... How about we go eat in another district..."

Lou Zhuang hesitated.

Wang Jixuan watched him with a smile. Lou Zhuang pressed his lips together, swallowed, and gave a somewhat strained smile.

"Hm?"

"What I mean is... your Music Player is really great. Could you lend it to me for a day later?"

"Sure, but that'll cost you three Starch Bars."

"You really have the potential to become a bloodsucking capitalist!"

Lou Zhuang complained with feigned frustration, then lowered his head and quickly slipped out through the alloy door.

Wang Jixuan's gaze flickered slightly. Before leaving, he casually took both the old and new Room Cards, then slipped a thin metal tube that Mu Liang had repeatedly polished into his coat sleeve.

Monkey was acting very strangely today.

In the district divisions of Fortress 76's Middle City, each level housed anywhere from six thousand to twenty thousand people, depending on the amount of industrial and agricultural land.

Thirteen thousand people lived on the thirteenth level, which had a relatively large residential area.

Although the fortress had been operating beyond capacity for over a hundred and twenty years and facilities everywhere had become outdated, only a small number of standard installations along every "capillary" street—such as [Cubicle Infirmaries] and [Emergency Food Vending Machines]—maintained a high operating rate. Most equipment had been patched and repaired until it was barely usable.

For example, surveillance cameras that should have been spread throughout every corner of the Middle City now had only one-third still functioning properly.

Areas with dense surveillance coverage were naturally peaceful.

The darkness and ugliness of the Middle City dotted the gaps between those peaceful areas.

Comparing the route with the memories in his mind, Wang Jixuan found that they were indeed heading toward the district cafeteria.

Lou Zhuang made conversation. "Liang, I remember you'll be eligible for Genetic Matching next year, right?"

Genetic Matching was a process in which third-, fourth-, and fifth-class fortress citizens received genetic pairing recommendations from the fortress's intelligent control center upon turning twenty-five. At that time, a Reproductive Officer would visit their home and deliver a confidential letter containing the opposite-sex partner officially recommended by the fortress as having "the highest probability of producing superior offspring."

The Reproductive Officer would provide relationship counseling, conduct lectures on sexual positions, explain reproductive hygiene, and teach a few dating tips.

Young couples who successfully married through Genetic Matching could receive certain benefits, such as each of their three categories of quotas being increased by one, partial citizen upgrade points, and so on.

This was an important measure to prevent marriages between close relatives, and it was the marriage method accepted by more than seventy percent of fortress citizens.

—Though according to one survey, fifty-five percent of the fortress's young unmarried citizens were labeled sexually liberal.

"Mm." Wang Jixuan nodded. "What about you?"

"I still have two years," Lou Zhuang said with a curl of his lip. "I really hope I can get through it sooner. After getting married, I can apply for a sixteen-square-meter double room. Most double rooms are in areas with good security too."

Wang Jixuan nodded, then suddenly asked, "Did Rotten Fish and his people approach you?"

Lou Zhuang immediately looked aside. "No. They didn't approach me."

"You don't need to be so afraid," Wang Jixuan reassured him. "I... almost bled there. As they say, evil cannot triumph over righteousness. If we find more people they've bullied and join forces, we can settle old scores with them."

Lou Zhuang looked at Wang Jixuan strangely.

He asked softly, "Didn't you say before that, according to the psychology books you read, once someone suffering bullying chose to retreat even once, they would never have another chance to resist..."

"People's views can change."

Wang Jixuan narrowed his eyes with a smile, his gaze sweeping over the entrance to a "capillary" street they had just passed.

Two young men appeared behind them. Both wore tight leather pants and leather jackets covered in studs, and each hairstyle was more outrageous than the last.

Wang Jixuan suddenly stopped walking.

The two young men behind him strode right up. One of them raised a hand and pressed it toward the back of Wang Jixuan's head.

"Keep fucking walking! There are cameras here!"

Wang Jixuan merely tilted his head and shifted sideways. His movement was casual and fluid, yet the other man's forceful shove hit nothing but air.

Bang!

The dull sound of an elbow strike shook Lou Zhuang's eardrums.

The young thug's face turned red. He glared with all his strength, his breath catching from the suffocating pain as the agony in his ribs made veins bulge on his forehead.

Lou Zhuang and the other thug were clearly stunned.

What... had just happened...

Daoist Wang's elbow hurt badly too.

But Wang Jixuan gave his opponent no chance to strike back. He twisted around and chopped down with his hand, a hand strike landing squarely on the other thug's face. The man stumbled back two steps with a dumbfounded look, then two seconds later clutched his nose and began screaming.

"Fuck! Ah! My nose! My nose! I'll fucking kill you!"

Wang Jixuan smiled at Lou Zhuang and kicked him.

Lou Zhuang had no time to dodge. His thin body staggered backward and arched back, his spine slamming heavily into the rusty pipes lining the corridor. His face twisted in pain, divided into light and shadow beneath the dim lamps.

"Liang, don't hit me! They forced me... They said they wanted to talk to you..."

"You and I are even from this day on."

Wang Jixuan spoke coldly, yet felt unexpectedly relieved inside.

So-called mortal friendship truly was too fragile.

He turned to leave, but a harsh scraping sound rang out beside his ears as metal pipes dragged across the concrete floor.

Shadowy figures appeared in the passage ahead—at least sixteen or seventeen people.

There were many abandoned water pipes and lines throughout the fortress. Alloy pipes dismantled before the authorities could collect them had become the most common weapons everywhere.

Wang Jixuan inwardly cursed his bad luck.

His current strength was only slightly greater than that of an ordinary mortal. Even if he used the Strength Incantation to swiftly knock down a few people, he would fall unconscious after consuming too much Power of Soul.

However, he was not the sort to beg for mercy whenever he encountered someone stronger.

The pursuit of the Dao required an unblemished Dao Heart and a clear, unhindered mind. If he knelt and begged in a situation like this, he would likely leave behind an Inner Demon that would obstruct his future cultivation.

That would be even more unbearable than killing him outright!

He rapidly considered countermeasures, several incantations already waiting on his lips.

The two thugs he had beaten also regained their courage, cursing as they clenched their fists and prepared to attack.

The leading young man rested a baseball bat on his shoulder, looping both hands behind him to grip either side of it. He looked utterly carefree as he called out.

"Mu Liang? What the fuck did you do? A big shot from the Black Fire Gang personally passed word that I should cripple you and take you down there.

"You've got some guts. How come I never noticed before?

"Tell us, you sack of pus. How did you get on their bad side?"

A hint of amusement suddenly appeared in Wang Jixuan's eyes.

It was not because he remembered that this leader was named Rotten Fish. It was simply that the man's posture was... far too convenient for a takedown.

"I didn't do anything."

Wang Jixuan made his thighs tremble, instinctively appearing ready to retreat.

Relying on their numbers, along with the cowardly impression Mu Liang had always left on them, none of the thugs paid attention to the two men who had just been beaten.

The group slowly pressed forward.

Wang Jixuan suddenly said, "Maybe it's because I know a Security Captain. His name seems to be Zhou Zhengde."

The leading thug froze, then frowned. "What? Who?"

"I said, Zhou..."

Whoosh!

"Supreme Mystery within the Five Mountains and Eight Seas! Let me roam free, my Dao naturally accomplished!"

Wang Jixuan spun around and shot out like a hunting leopard, rapidly chanting under his breath!

In an instant, his Power of Soul directly reinforced his body. In the blink of an eye, he became a streak of lightning, shooting seven or eight meters forward before sprinting desperately back the way he had come!

At that moment, he even surpassed the explosive speed limits of human athletes from before the Cataclysm!

All the thugs were dumbfounded.

Hadn't this guy just been standing right in front of them...

The leader, Rotten Fish, had his lips tremble a few times before he exploded in curses. "Chase him! What are you standing around for? Fucking kill him!"