Sanyuan City was far from peaceful tonight.
Especially around Huang Manor, teams carrying torches poured out in force, as if fiery dragons were racing toward every direction.
Wind seemed to spring beneath Fang Xi's feet as he shot forward at tremendous speed, yet someone was still hot on his heels—none other than Huang Yuanwu!
Originally, if he went all out, he could have shaken off his pursuer, then concealed himself with the Camouflage Cloak and vanished without a trace.
With a cultivator's methods, even a Nine-Life Mastiff would have been unable to find him.
That was what gave him the nerve to wreak havoc in Sanyuan City!
However, Huang Yuanwu was his target this time, so naturally, he had no intention of fleeing.
One chased while the other fled, and in the blink of an eye, they arrived at the rear garden of a deserted residence.
The garden was littered with artificial rockeries, its weeds yellow and withered. A pond that had once held water had long since lost its source, and it reeked of foulness.
Under the moonlight, Fang Xi turned around and gazed calmly at Huang Yuanwu. "You actually dared to follow me. You've got quite a lot of nerve!"
"Heh... A little brat who has only just stepped into the Martial Master realm dares to boast so shamelessly!"
Huang Yuanwu had long, ape-like arms and a wasp-like waist. At this moment, he stood motionless, exuding the imposing presence of an abyssal pool and towering mountain.
Beside him, the pitch-black Nine-Life Mastiff, which resembled a lion, growled and snarled under its breath.
"With Nine-Life here, I can confirm there are no ambushes nearby... And you!" Huang Yuanwu's gaze grew solemn. "Our earlier clash confirmed that you haven't condensed Fist Intent yet, yet your strength is comparable to that of a Two-Step Martial Master. You're a genius! But after offending my Huang Household, even a genius from the greatest faction will have to die!"
It seemed he had mistaken Fang Xi's identity.
But that made sense. Though Fang Xi had only just broken through to the Martial Master realm, his strength was comparable to that of a Two-Step Martial Master. He looked exactly like a naturally gifted genius from a major faction who had been taught by a renowned master!
If he knew that Fang Xi was merely a penniless martial artist, and that he had attacked this time because poverty had driven him mad enough to snatch the Huang Household's secret manuals, who knew how speechless he would have been?
"Enough nonsense... It'll take your men another quarter of an hour to arrive."
As Fang Xi chatted and laughed, Primordial Chaos Energy circulated through his entire body, and his figure abruptly rose.
The next moment, the earth seemed to tremble. A terrifying force formed beneath his feet, passed through his waist, spine, and arms... and finally connected into a single line, transforming into a punch that would kill!
"Today, I'll show you that a genius who hasn't grown up yet doesn't count as a genius at all!"
Huang Yuanwu roared as he thrust both hands forward, as though he were pushing against a mountain.
Crash!
Fang Xi's fist slammed into his palms. It was like raging waves crashing against a reef. No matter how violently Primordial Chaos Energy surged, it was ultimately shattered, breaking into splashes that scattered through the air.
Huang Yuanwu was a Three-Step Martial Master, one of the top experts in Sanyuan City. Naturally, his strength surpassed Fang Xi's!
He let out a feral grin, and his terrifying True Energy was just about to counterattack.
The next moment, however, he suddenly sensed that something was wrong!
A terrifying penetrating force, like a sharp needle, stabbed into his hand, piercing through his skin and flesh and even injuring his bones!
It turned out that just now, Fang Xi's fist had opened, and a tiny black needle inside had suddenly erupted.
A one-use magic tool—Bone Piercing Nail!
"You... despicable!"
Huang Yuanwu retreated three steps and stared at his palm, only to see a black blood-hole already there.
"Damn, body cultivators are such a pain!"
What he did not know was that Fang Xi was complaining inwardly as well.
If a cultivator had been struck by such a move, the Bone Piercing Nail would have long since pierced through their palm and continued on to puncture their heart.
Unfortunately, the physique of a Three-Step Martial Master was truly astonishing. Even though the Bone Piercing Nail's power approached the limit of a Low-grade Magic Tool, it had still been caught by those iron bones.
"You actually used such vile methods! Despicable!"
Huang Yuanwu frowned and tried to force True Energy into the wound, only to discover that he could not stop the bleeding at all.
His entire arm even began to ache fiercely, and he could not help cursing furiously.
"Heh heh... There's no need to talk about martial honor with scum like you."
Fang Xi turned and struck out with a palm, landing squarely on the head of the Nine-Life Mastiff.
It turned out that while he and Huang Yuanwu had been exchanging punches, this half-demon had already snuck behind him, intending to launch a surprise attack.
But now, Fang Xi furiously rubbed its head like a dog!
Terrifying True Energy erupted, blasting the Nine-Life Mastiff away. It landed in the pond, sending up a great splash.
Huang Yuanwu's expression did not change in the slightest. He suddenly turned and ran!
One of his arms already hung limply at his side, clearly unusable for the time being.
Even as a Three-Step Martial Master, fighting another Martial Master with one hand tied behind his back was still a huge disadvantage.
However, before Huang Yuanwu could leap onto the wall, a violent gust suddenly came rushing toward his face.
Pfft!
A streak of black light shot toward him and transformed into a great ghost-headed saber, which hacked viciously into his body.
"Ah!"
Huang Yuanwu screamed and fell back into the courtyard. A deep, bone-revealing saber wound had appeared across his chest!
"You... who exactly are you?"
His eyes were filled with despair, yet no matter how he racked his brains, he could not recall when the Huang Household had offended someone with such heaven-defying methods!
"The man who's going to take your life!"
Fang Xi pulled out several more talismans and smiled.
At the same time, he made a comparison in his heart:
'Although Martial Masters are equivalent to Body Tempering Second-Realm cultivators, they're far easier to deal with than cultivators...'
'If this had been a body cultivator, he absolutely wouldn't have left such a huge opening. Martial Masters simply have no experience dealing with cultivators...'
'At the same time, body cultivators would also use various talismans and even magic-tool armor to strengthen themselves...'
'The Martial Masters of Daliang are still far too simple-minded...'
The next moment, Fang Xi did not hesitate. He tore apart a Golden Light Shield talisman, charged forward, and traded wounds with Huang Yuanwu...
Before long, he sauntered away from the deserted residence, carrying Huang Yuanwu, whose four limbs had been broken.
It was only afterward that the Huang Household's experts and guards arrived, panting for breath. Looking at the scene of utter devastation, they stared at one another in bewilderment...
The next day.
Monster Hunter Association.
"Have you heard? The Huang Household has suffered a great disaster?"
Some martial artists spoke in hushed voices, their faces alight with excitement and no shortage of schadenfreude.
After all, the Huang Household had long been notorious for its arrogance and tyranny.
"Just yesterday, Second Miss Huang offended someone she shouldn't have and was killed on the spot... The Huang Household had only just issued a ruthless threat when, guess what? That very night, Second Master Huang disappeared..."
"That was a Commandant! What kind of person would dare slap the imperial court and the Dingzhou Army in the face?"
"What kind of person? Naturally, an unparalleled fiend... He's probably in his twenties, looks like a scholar, and the martial world has given him the nickname Ghost's Bane!"
A martial artist wore a smug expression. Clearly, he was well-informed, and he began to embellish the story.
"Oh? Why is he called Ghost's Bane?"
The other martial artists hurriedly pressed him for an explanation.
"Naturally, it's because this Ghost's Bane has no background, yet possesses unbelievably powerful Martial Arts. He also runs wild without restraint, treating the laws of the government like child's play... Worse still, his temperament is extraordinarily... foul! Do you know under what pretext he attacked Huang Manor last night? I heard... it was simply because the people of Huang Manor stepped out with their left foot first, thereby violating his taboo..."
The surrounding martial artists were rendered speechless.
Another person cut in. "Why did I hear... that it was because they stepped out with their right foot first?"
Even so, everyone still felt their scalps prickle. They instinctively glanced at their own legs, unwilling to provoke such an inexplicably vengeful enemy.
"Heh heh... Do you think Second Master Huang's disappearance last night was the end of it?"
The martial artist who had spoken first chuckled. "That Ghost's Bane was truly bold beyond the heavens. After abducting Second Master, he quietly returned to Huang Manor. Word is, he went on a killing spree and killed quite a number of people... Even Patriarch Huang, Huang Yuanding, was beaten into critical condition. If the government and Dingzhou Army hadn't arrived with reinforcements at the crucial moment, he might well have been beaten to death!"
"Even if he didn't die, after this battle, the Huang Household will probably decline. Not only are they declining—they don't even know who their enemy is. Tell me... wouldn't that be infuriating?"
An old man set down his teacup and let out a long, gloomy sigh. "The Huang Household committed every manner of injustice. This is the retribution they deserve!"
"Haha, well said. Drink your tea, drink your tea..."
Fang Xi knew nothing of the commotion happening in the Outer World, nor did he want to know.
At this moment, he was in a room, carefully studying a secret manual in his hands.
He had taken Huang Yuanwu away last night, then used the Soul Bewitching Technique to obtain a great deal of information.
He had immediately doubled back, turning Huang Manor upside down—in reality, he had been searching for the secret manual and Divine Intent Diagram. Beating up the Huang Household's patriarch and the like had merely been incidental...
"The Huang Household once had an ancestor who studied at Yuan He Mountain and reached the realm of a Four-Step Martial Master, just a hair's breadth away from the Grandmaster realm... Afterward, he came down the mountain, and the family heirloom he passed down was this Heavenly Wind Secret Scroll!"
Fang Xi carefully leafed through the ancient book. This was the original, complete with the Divine Intent Diagram.
Now that he had taken it, the Huang Household's inheritance of the Divine Intent Diagram would probably be severed...
"The cultivation of Martial Masters proceeds in four steps. A One-Step Martial Master condenses Fist Intent; a Two-Step Martial Master breaks through the Mud Pill Palace; a Three-Step Martial Master tempers steel sinews and iron bones; a Four-Step Martial Master unites spirit and energy... After that comes the Grandmaster who fuses spirit with heaven and earth and achieves Unity of Heaven and Man!"
Fang Xi had dug out the first two steps of the Martial Master path from Linghu Yang's memories.
Linghu Yang had only heard his master speak of them and did not know the actual cultivation methods!
But the Heavenly Wind Secret Scroll contained them!
Fang Xi knew his own circumstances well. He had only just broken through to the Martial Master realm and indeed was not even a One-Step Martial Master yet.
Unfortunately, his accumulated reserves were too profound. His blood and qi had broken through the limits of the human body, he was naturally gifted, and he had fused several major cultivation techniques together to create the Primordial Chaos True Skill. Thus, his strength was astonishing, allowing him to battle Two-Step Martial Masters!
With a few minor methods belonging to a cultivator added in, even Three-Step and Four-Step Martial Masters would fall into his trap.
But as for Grandmasters who had stepped into the fifth stage—True Gang Martial Saints—that was difficult to say.
"Martial Master cultivation only has four steps. Once one takes the fifth step, one becomes a Grandmaster Martial Saint! Thank goodness, thank goodness... I thought there would at least be nine steps, further divided into the half-step, half-step peak, and half-step great completion realms!"
Fang Xi had no plans to fight a True Gang Martial Saint right now either.
His principle had always been to overwhelm others with force. Being able to fight an enemy while one minor realm higher was good; being able to crush an enemy while one major realm higher was even better.
The best was to defeat the enemy without fighting!
Immortal cultivation prized life. What was the point of all this fighting and killing?
Not to mention, a True Gang Martial Saint was equivalent to a Late Qi Refining cultivator at the Third Body Tempering Realm. Asking him to cross a minor realm and challenge someone above his level? He'd better forget it...
Although the Martial Saints of this world would most likely die when facing Third Body Tempering cultivators from the Cultivation World, he still could not look down on them.
'Third Body Tempering cultivators win through the foundations of the Cultivation World and can make use of external objects... As for temperament and willpower, they might not truly surpass the Grandmasters of this world...'
Before you continue