Shattering Space

Zhang You waited a while longer. After confirming there was no further movement, he changed routes and left the area.

Though curious, he would not court death by investigating the situation inside the grand estate.

Besides, since Shopkeeper Li and Pang Biao had entered the estate, perhaps they were discussing how to carve him up.

In his heart, he quietly marked down the Tang Household as well!

The Tang Household was one of Xiaolin City's great families. Its business interests were widespread, and it had risen to prominence through trade.

Its head, Tang Julou, was even known as a great philanthropist. It was said that he often aided displaced people and donated money to the government to build bridges and repair roads.

Throughout the surrounding villages, the family's reputation was excellent.

Zhang You had been in this world for over half a year. His knowledge of the Tang Household had only come from hearsay; he had never dealt with them personally.

"Eh? Why am I still in the alley?"

Zhang You stopped letting his thoughts run wild and finally noticed something was wrong.

He was already in Ping'an Alley, yet after walking for so long, he had somehow failed to leave it.

He took a deep breath and followed the road ahead once more. After walking for ages, he was still inside the alley.

Mist had already begun to spread through the surroundings.

"Ghost Wall?"

As he stood still, a tongue stretched out from behind him. It shot forward with astonishing speed, seeking to coil around his neck.

"Hmph! Playing tricks and pretending to be a ghost!"

He spun around and seized the long tongue. A surge of blood energy extended along it.

With a casual tug—

"Ah!"

A miserable cry rang out. The other party did not reveal itself, but Zhang You had already torn off a long tongue.

The tongue was sticky and slimy, covered in pustules that leaked an unknown fluid.

Suddenly, those pustules swelled, on the verge of bursting.

Zhang You hurriedly flung it away and retreated at high speed.

Bang!

The unknown fluid splattered in all directions, and the dense mist around him grew even thicker!

Sizzle!

Zhang You was alarmed. He hurriedly raised his blood energy, forcing back the dense mist around him.

This mist actually possessed corrosive properties.

At that moment, Zhang You's shortcomings became apparent. He had too few methods—he possessed nothing but brute strength. He could fight others head-on at close quarters, but in a long-range fight, he was rather stretched thin.

This mist was difficult to deal with. Once his vital energy and blood ran dry, things would become troublesome.

He ran forward for a while, only to discover that he was still in the alley.

After pondering for a moment, he poured blood energy into his right fist and smashed it viciously into the ground.

Whoosh!

A fierce gale spread outward from him in all directions.

The fog rolled away, and before long, the surroundings became clear.

Not far in front of him, a floating black shadow appeared.

It was the Long-Tongued Ghost that had followed him all the way from Mass Grave Hill!

Naturally, Zhang You did not know that.

The black shadow's face was obscured by black hair, but a long tongue hung before it, nearly touching the ground.

Clearly, the shadow had not expected this turn of events and stood frozen in place.

Naturally, Zhang You would not let such an opportunity slip by. He mobilized the blood energy throughout his body, stomped down hard, and shot toward the Long-Tongued Ghost like an arrow.

Before it could react, he clamped a hand around its throat.

It struggled with all its strength, but to no avail.

Raising both hands, it jabbed and clawed at Zhang You.

Zhang You swung his other hand forward in a chopping strike, directly shattering the Long-Tongued Ghost's arms.

"Ah..."

As blood energy poured into it, the Long-Tongued Ghost soon turned to ash and vanished.

A wisp of blue-white energy was absorbed by Zhang You.

By then, the mist around him had already vanished, and Zhang You was standing at the mouth of the alley.

After battle upon battle, he was already feeling somewhat drained.

Without considering where the Long-Tongued Ghost had come from, he staggered home.

He ate some dry rations and rested for a while before finally recovering his strength.

"There isn't much time. Time to visualize!"

He took out those cultivation manuals and opened Four Forms Tyrant Body once again.

After reading through it several times and confirming that there were no mistakes in his memory, he sat cross-legged and entered meditation.

Very soon, the White Tiger phantom he had already constructed appeared in his mind. He then circulated the chant from the cultivation method.

Suddenly, the scene flickered, and he seemed to enter an ancient battlefield.

Looking down at himself, he found that he was actually in a spirit-body state!

Before he could react—

A White Tiger appeared on the battlefield, surrounded on all sides by densely packed colossal beasts.

Those enormous beasts would have been world-destroying existences even in the present day. With every gesture, they shattered star rivers and made stars shift, terrifying beyond measure.

The White Tiger, meanwhile, crackled with lightning from head to toe. Fearlessly eyeing the enemies around it, it vanished from where it stood in an instant.

Afterward, a bolt of lightning raced across the battlefield. Every flicker brought down another colossal beast.

Yet Zhang You could see the White Tiger's movements. Its massive claws were like scythes harvesting lives, and every thunderous roar from its mouth was accompanied by heaven and earth being remade. Wherever it passed, not a blade of grass remained.

Even space itself was blasted full of holes!

Zhang You himself also felt a world-destroying force rushing toward him, so real it was terrifying.

Even his spirit body showed signs of beginning to dissipate.

"Hm?"

Zhang You had no idea what was happening.

Suddenly, lightning erupted from the White Tiger's entire body, drawing upon heaven and earth and turning the entire battlefield into a prison of thunder!

Zhang You only had time to glance at it before he was directly scattered apart.

At that moment, he jolted awake, drenched in sweat, as though everything before had truly happened.

His expression was shaken, and his heart could not settle for a long time.

When he circulated the cultivation method again, however, he could no longer enter that battlefield.

Zhang You frowned. After many attempts, he finally confirmed that he could enter that scene only the first time.

After calming himself, he came to terms with it and continued visualizing the White Tiger phantom in his mind.

As he watched the White Tiger phantom, he recalled what he had seen on that battlefield.

Before long, he was deeply immersed in it, and arcs of electricity soon began coursing over his entire body.

Some of the scattered electric arcs were absorbed by the book How the Great Muscle Man Was Forged.

At a certain moment, a wisp of electric arc dormant in his dantian suddenly surged. The White Tiger phantom in his mind seemed to come alive, vanishing in an instant. When it reappeared, it had entered his dantian.

The White Tiger opened its mouth and swallowed that wisp of electric arc, then fell dormant within his dantian.

Zhang You had already sensed the tremendous change in himself. Looking inward, he saw the White Tiger in his dantian.

With but a thought, he could connect with it and summon it to fight his enemies.

When Zhang You first came to this world, he had immediately been struck by lightning. A wisp of electric arc had been left behind in his dantian afterward, remaining dormant ever since.

After his eyesight recovered, he had also gained the ability to look inward, so he knew of his own condition.

He had originally thought it would remain that way forever, but who could have expected that merely cultivating a single technique would lead to so many developments?

No matter what, he now had one more method to use against enemies.

His cultivation just now had brought other gains as well.

He had comprehended a move—"Shattering Space"!

Once mastered to great completion, it could even shatter space itself, powerful beyond measure!

He raised his hand. With a thought, blood energy wrapped around it, carrying even greater might than before.

When he connected with the White Tiger in his dantian again, the blood energy around his hand vanished, replaced by arcs of electricity!

He looked inward once more and fell into deep thought as he gazed at the four unidentified energies inside his body.

One was black, two were red, and one was green.

Combining them with his experiences over the past few days, he quickly realized that someone had marked him!

He had been unable to see them before, but now he could.

Bang!

Just as Zhang You was deep in thought, the book How the Great Muscle Man Was Forged on the table suddenly caught fire.

"Fuck!"