These soldiers were at least Third-rate Martial Artists. In Qing Kingdom, they could already be called elite troops, yet before you, they were no harder to kill than the bound civilians beside them.
In mere moments, thirty-seven had already died by your hand. At this instant, you were like a God of Slaughter in the eyes of these soldiers. They cried out in panic and began fleeing in all directions, making it far more difficult for you to pursue and kill them.
Ten minutes later, you severed the head of the sixty-seventh soldier. Seeing that the nearest soldiers in the other directions were already nearly a thousand meters away, you sighed and stopped the pursuit.
Because you had very little Force Qi left, only around five percent.
The journey at the start, the all-out output you had used to maintain an overwhelming fighting stance, using Lightness Skill to travel and repeatedly race back and forth to hunt down soldiers... The fact that you had endured this long already meant your total Force Qi was among the very best of those at your level.
(If the soldiers hadn't started running later on, you could have wiped them all out before exhausting your Force Qi if you conserved it a little.)
You returned to Little Lotus City. Some quick-witted villagers had worked together earlier to loosen their bindings, then helped one another one by one. All hundred-plus people had regained their freedom, looking at you with equal parts fear and gratitude.
An old man stepped out from among the villagers and asked what they should do. You fell silent for a moment before telling them they had two paths to choose from.
The first path was to pretend they had not heard the officer say, "By order of Qing Kingdom, slaughter the village." They could treat it as a genuine Wu Kingdom invasion, claim that a passing hero had saved them, and then have the whole village seek refuge with a nearby City Lord.
The second path was that this shithole Qing Kingdom was no place to stay. They might as well go to Wu Kingdom. It was close anyway; a few dozen li of walking would get them there.
The villagers had differing opinions. Some believed they should forgive Qing Kingdom and let bygones be bygones. Surely they would not slaughter them a second time, would they? But amid the cries of several children shouting, "Our homes were burned down," those people silently changed their minds. In the end, they unanimously decided to defect to Wu Kingdom.
When you left Little Lotus Village and let them pack their belongings, unwilling to involve yourself any further, your expression suddenly changed. In another direction over twenty li away, smoke and flames rose again.
Just as you recalled that Sweet Potato Village lay in that direction, thick smoke also rose from where Slope Earth Village stood!
"I was so stupid, truly. I only knew the soldiers were here to slaughter villages, so I ran to Little Lotus Village, where the soldiers had appeared. I never knew other villages would have them too..."
You knew you could not stop the outbreak of war. Your Internal Energy was nearly depleted now, and with your physical body alone, you could not even defeat the officer from before—at most, you could fight those Martial Artists who had barely reached First-Rate by meeting the Talent Aptitude threshold.
The civilians in those two villages might still be alive, but their lives were already destined to end this day. You wanted to change history, but the power of a First-Rate Martial Artist was still far too weak...
You chose to leave.
That same year, not only did war break out, you also discovered that Qing Kingdom had issued an official wanted order for you!
The reason given was: representing Wu Kingdom, you had coerced Qing Kingdom border villages into defecting to Wu Kingdom and killed dozens of soldiers who came to stop you. At the same time, Wu Kingdom's army had cruelly and retaliatorily massacred the other two villages that refused to defect...
The wanted order painted you as heinously evil, a carefully disguised infiltrator. Though it contained many loopholes and suspicious points, few people truly went looking for the truth!
Just like the war Qing Kingdom had deliberately started—who cared which side had slaughtered the villages? There was only one real truth: Qing Kingdom wanted war, so it started one!
After the first round of clashes between the two nations' armies, tempers flared. No one cared about the cause of the war anymore; all they cared about was the war itself!
In Qing Kingdom, your reputation plummeted into the abyss. Once you discovered that you were wanted, you immediately set out for Wu Kingdom.
Along the way, Gold Medal Top Constables crossed an entire province to hunt you down, while young heroes brimming with righteousness challenged you to battle. You showed none of them any courtesy.
You knew they did not understand the truth, so you did not kill them—but you were no sage. Since those top constables lacked the discernment to see the truth, and since those young heroes acted against good people without distinguishing black from white, they had no need to walk the jianghu any longer.
You did not kill them, but you crippled them. You destroyed certain bodily tissues and meridians, ensuring that while they could still live like ordinary people, they would forever lose their Internal Force or Force Qi, with no possibility of recovery or further progress.
As for whether they would suffer retaliation from enemies after losing their cultivation... Had they considered what would happen to you if you were captured? It was merely paying them back in kind, perfectly fair.
You had your own ruler in your heart. Call it double standards or hypocrisy if you wished; you only acted according to your own will.
At the end of the year, you evaded the pursuit of a Martial Master and stepped into Wu Kingdom. You had not yet visited this place in this life!
In Da Qing 286—too lazy to switch calendars—you settled down in Wu Kingdom. Separated by one nation, your reputation underwent a complete reversal. Qing Kingdom's people did not believe Wu Kingdom's "truth," while Wu Kingdom had the people of Little Lotus Village whom you had saved. They knew you were a righteous hero.
You settled in Taiguang City. After some time, you discovered that Wu Kingdom truly lived up to its name. Its martial culture was exceptionally strong, martial arts academies were everywhere, and arena matches or all manner of martial arts tournaments were held regularly.
In Da Qing 287, you heard that the Grandmaster Assembly would soon be held. Organized by the Daoist Sect, it broadly invited Grandmasters from every nation to gather at Dao Mountain in Qing Kingdom, where they would discuss the martial path, exchange knowledge, and spar with one another to determine superiority.
Though Wu Kingdom and Qing Kingdom were currently at war, the Jianghu and war remained separate. If a Martial Artist enlisted and earned achievements, he would shed the identity of "hero" and become a military general instead.
The Grandmasters traveling from Wu Kingdom were clearly going as martial arts exchange participants. Even warring nations did not execute envoys, so they had no concern whatsoever for their safety.
You hesitated for a moment, then decided against warning them. After living here for a year, you knew that with the pride in Wu Kingdom people's hearts, even if you told them there might be an ambush, they would think you were being petty and looking down on Qing Kingdom's Daoist Sect.
Use Qing Kingdom slaughtering its own people to start a war as an example, then tell them the Grandmaster Assembly would be the same?
Don't be ridiculous! The Daoist Sect was made up of Martial Artists. How could they possibly be the same as those despicable officials?
Thinking of how, after this trip, Wu Kingdom's Grandmasters would be lured into a trap and slaughtered, causing one Great Grandmaster to emerge in fury, after which Wu Kingdom—previously only fighting Qing Kingdom soldiers—would begin massacring cities, you felt a wave of helplessness.
Alas! Qing Kingdom!
With this swarm of vermin, there was no way to unite and fight the Alien Demons that would descend more than ten years later—even though united, they still could not defeat them.
You were weary at heart.
In Da Qing 288, all those events still happened as scheduled. You had already found the feeling needed to construct Vital Energy Circulation, and you would surely enter the Martial Master realm within two years.
In Wu Kingdom, you devoted yourself wholeheartedly to martial arts. First-Rate Martial Artists were still too weak; they had no power to stop a war, not even enough to snuff out the fuse that lit one.
In Da Qing 289, Sunday Resolution reached Major Accomplishment. Your strength was already comparable to certain Martial Masters. In truth, the opponents you had challenged these past years had all been Martial Masters. At first, you suffered far more defeats than victories, but now your win rate was steadily rising.
In Da Qing 290, you were thirty-five years old, with Foundation Amplification at 266%. This year, you finally completed Vital Energy Circulation and entered the Martial Master realm!
A Martial Master, fighting with all their strength, could stand against a thousand troops. Force Qi formed a circulating flow within the body. Not only did it recover several times faster than that of a First-Rate Martial Artist, it could also be called upon at any moment and burst forth instantly from any part of the body!
A First-Rate Martial Artist's Force Qi still flowed through the body as a stream or a mass. Guided by intent, it could move swiftly within the body before being released from the hands or feet, whereas a Martial Master had no need for this "movement" process at all!
That day, the City Lord of Taiguang City held a Martial Celebration Banquet for you. Guests came from all directions, and during the feast, no fewer than three Martial Masters challenged you. They did not mean to maliciously spoil the occasion; they simply wanted to test the caliber of a newly advanced Martial Master like you.
Of the three, two could only be considered ordinary Martial Masters. But as one of them stretched his body, bursts of popping sounds like exploding beans came from him. He had already reached the stage of Muscles and Bones Ringing in Harmony, and was well along it!
Then, you won all three battles, and your name resounded throughout the surrounding sixteen cities!
Unranked: Healthy body + knowing a few obscure Combat Techniques Third-Rate: → Muscles → Qi and Blood → Skin and Membranes Second-Rate: → Internal Force Amplification → Unity of Qi and Strength → Blood Replacement and Muscle Condensation First-Rate: → Force Qi Externalization → Extreme Viscera Enhancement → Bone-Reinforcing Vital Energy Martial Master: → Vital Energy Circulation → Muscles and Bones Ringing in Harmony → Martial Will (Essence, Qi, and Spirit as One ↓) First Step of Martial Arts: Grandmaster: → Qi Flowing Through the Body → Bone Marrow Forging with Vital Energy → Perfect Unity → Manifestation of Spirit and Will Great Grandmaster: → Impenetrable Golden Body → Solidifying True Energy into Substance → Qi and Blood Furnace → Heaven-Man Resonance (??? ↓) Second Step of Martial Arts: Heavenly Man?: ?