Challenging Wei Wuji

Xia Qi'an held the assassin token in his hand, playing with it as though it were a priceless treasure.

This token represented Yuan Fengtai's identity as an assassin of the Blood Robe Tower.

Naturally, Xia Qi'an knew of the Blood Robe Tower as well.

When the assassins of the Blood Robe Tower accepted missions, they did not need to reveal their true faces.

These people had all kinds of real identities. As long as one's strength was sufficient, one could take missions from the Blood Robe Tower and earn silver.

Even people from the Wei Dao Si would become assassins for the sake of money.

At the Blood Robe Tower, as long as one could afford the silver to post a bounty, an assassin with sufficient strength would naturally accept the mission.

Xia Qi'an guessed that it was highly likely someone from one of the great clans had posted a bounty for Xia Qi'an at the Blood Robe Tower.

Yuan Fengtai had then accepted the bounty and ambushed Xia Qi'an halfway.

As for the Wei... Wang he had mentioned...

They naturally referred to the Wei and Wang families of Jinling Commandery.

Xia Qi'an knew people from both families.

They were Wei Wuji and Wang Xie, whom he had met at the training camp.

Since becoming a Hound Guard, Xia Qi'an had not seen Wang Xie again.

Wang Xie had deliberately been avoiding him. He clearly knew something. But the fact that Wang Xie had not personally schemed against Xia Qi'an as Su Changqing had done already counted as exceptionally loyal.

On one hand, the former Hound Guard commander, Wang Yangshuo, had been transferred away, and the Wang family wanted Wang Xie to take the position of Hound Guard steward.

On the other hand, Wang Xie and Xia Qi'an were fairly good friends in private.

Caught between the two sides, Wang Xie simply chose to stay far away.

He neither took part in the struggle for the position of Hound Guard steward nor continued associating with Xia Qi'an.

It could be considered helping neither side!

As for Wei Wuji, Xia Qi'an had little friendship with him. They could even be called rivals.

The Wei family wanted to push Wei Wuji into the position of Hound Guard steward, but Xia Qi'an was determined not to let them have their way.

Jinling City.

After returning to Jinling, Xia Qi'an immediately arranged to meet Liu Qing.

"The intelligence on the Wei and Wang families is all here. Handle it as you see fit!" Liu Qing took out a secret letter and placed it on the stone table before Xia Qi'an.

"Thank you..."

"I also need to ask the Snake Guard to help me with one more thing... Help me deliver a challenge letter to Wei Wuji..."

"Set it for the night before the Steward Examination. The location will be the City God Temple south of Jinling City!"

After hearing this, Liu Qing immediately asked with great interest, "Are you planning to take revenge on the Wei family? Do you want to strike at Wei Wuji and stop him from taking part in the examination?"

Xia Qi'an nodded. "That's right... The Wei family has attacked me several times. If I don't strike back, they'll truly think I have no temper."

"But... your intentions are too obvious. Will Wei Wuji come to accept the challenge?" Liu Qing questioned.

"He'll definitely come..."

"Either way, whoever loses between us won't be able to take part in the examination the next day."

"A fair fight... He'll surely come..."

After Liu Qing left, Xia Qi'an went to the Si Nan Manor to report as usual.

Upon entering the Si Nan Manor,

he happened to run into Jiang Feng and Lin Beihai, whom he had not seen for a long time.

The two were speaking with Si Nanyue.

Jiang Feng and Lin Beihai had been investigating the whereabouts of the Demonic Ancient Path.

They had suddenly returned to Jinling this time, so the mission had probably reached a temporary stopping point and they had come back to report.

After finishing their report, the three of them walked out of the Si Nan Manor together.

"I didn't expect you to reach the Bone Forging Realm so quickly... I really didn't misjudge you..." Jiang Feng patted Xia Qi'an on the shoulder and praised him.

"Weren't you interested in the Demonic Ancient Path before? How about it? Want to investigate the Demonic Ancient Path with me?" Lin Beihai added.

Jiang Feng had taught him martial arts, while Lin Beihai had helped him choose a cultivation method.

Thus, Xia Qi'an respected the two men deeply.

"Of course! Investigating the evildoers of the Demonic Ancient Path is our Wei Dao Si's duty in the first place! Naturally, I want to do my part..." Xia Qi'an declared righteously.

"Didn't you ask me earlier why Su Mu turned into a Blood Corpse? I can tell you now..."

"There is a Corpse-Manipulating Fiend in the Demonic Ancient Path... He specializes in robbing and excavating tombs, searching for places with extremely dense yin energy to raise Blood Corpses."

"Su Mu died at the hands of a Blood Corpse raised by that fiend..."

"Corpse poison contaminated his body, which caused him to undergo corpse transformation and rise from the dead!"

"I imagine that Corpse-Manipulating Fiend heard a Corpse Demon had appeared in the Burial Ridge Mountains, so he came to the territory of Jinling Commandery..."

Hearing this, Xia Qi'an nodded. "So that's how it was...!"

Lin Beihai immediately urged him, "You'd better prepare yourself mentally. The Demonic Ancient Path is even more terrifying than you imagine..."

"Our current task is merely to track their movements."

"If you encounter an expert from the Demonic Ancient Path in the future, you only need to report it to the Wei Dao Si. Headquarters will naturally dispatch experts to deal with it!"

"This junior understands." Xia Qi'an replied solemnly.

It was clear from their words that Lin Beihai and Jiang Feng were deeply wary of the Demonic Ancient Path.

Ever since the Five Turbidities Era descended, the organization known as the Demonic Ancient Path had quietly appeared in the world.

No one knew who had founded this organization.

It contained demons, monsters, human martial artists, and even cultivators—chaotic and complicated.

Every member of the Demonic Ancient Path possessed formidable strength, enough to overturn the world.

No one knew why these people had come together. Even an organization of martial artists like the Wei Dao Si had failed to destroy them completely after weathering several hundred years of trials and tribulations.

Unorthodox practitioners like the Corpse-Manipulating Fiend, who were not tolerated by the Orthodox Dao Bureau, would choose to join the Demonic Ancient Path in search of protection.

This was the fundamental reason the Demonic Ancient Path brought calamity to the world.

Like the Wei Dao Si, the Demonic Ancient Path was also teeming with experts. Its strength was no weaker than that of the Wei Dao Si—in fact, it was stronger.

After all, the Demonic Ancient Path hid in the shadows, while the Wei Dao Si stood in the light.

After bidding farewell to Jiang Feng and Lin Beihai, Xia Qi'an returned home to cultivate.

Xing Yi Quan absolutely deserved to be called a profound style of boxing. It belonged to the Internal martial arts of Earth-grade martial arts.

The strength of martial arts techniques and cultivation methods mainly depended on the depth of a martial artist's qi and blood.

Even when cultivating the same technique, two martial artists could still differ in strength.

A martial artist's realm, physical talent, strength and qi-blood, combat talent, and other factors determined their power. It could not be judged solely by the grade of their cultivation method.

But this only applied to cultivation methods of the Human grade, Earth grade, and below.

If it was a Heaven-grade cultivation method, however, the situation was different. Heaven-grade martial arts were called Divine Skills, and they truly could crush Earth-grade and Human-grade methods. Fighting above one's level was naturally nothing difficult.

Xia Manor.

In the rear courtyard, Xia Qi'an sat with his eyes tightly closed, pondering the essence of Xing Yi Quan. In his mind, the unbroken mountain forms of the Burial Ridge Mountains appeared and vanished indistinctly.

Different people cultivated Xing Yi Quan differently. Because the scenery they envisioned in their hearts varied, they would develop different fist intents.

The Burial Ridge Mountains were the most majestic and extraordinary mountains Xia Qi'an had ever seen, so he tried to imitate their mountain forms and imposing momentum, cultivating a Mountain Embracing Seal that belonged solely to him.

Time passed in the blink of an eye. More than ten days had passed while Xia Qi'an remained at home cultivating Xing Yi Quan.

Tonight was the night of his agreed duel with Wei Wuji.

He arrived before the City God Temple at the appointed time. The temple towered majestically, solemn and dignified. Moonlight flowed like water over its roof, lending the entire scene a trace of mystery.

However, when he stepped into the City God Temple, he discovered that Wei Wuji had arrived long ago and was standing there quietly, waiting for him.

Wei Wuji was tall and straight, with a cold and stern bearing. His eyes revealed a kind of resolve and decisiveness.

He wore a black martial outfit and a red belt around his waist, making his entire person appear especially vigorous.

Xia Qi'an realized that Wei Wuji had grown stronger as well.

But he had no intention of retreating.

On the contrary, his fighting spirit was stirred, and he decided to face the challenge with all his strength.