One Palm (Please Vote)

In a dense wilderness forest.

A group of martial artists, swords and sabers strapped to their backs, moved forward cautiously.

Their target was the Zhang Family atop Shaoyan Mountain.

In recent years, Lin Commandery—even the entire Xia Clan—had been beset by endless turmoil. All manner of absurdly melodramatic incidents kept occurring, friction between the various forces of the martial world grew increasingly severe, and the number of missing persons steadily climbed.

Some elders had sensed that something was wrong. They suspected that some strange faction or foreign race was stirring up trouble from the shadows, so the commanderies had formed joint investigative organizations and begun looking into the matter.

They were one of the teams from Lin Commandery responsible for this matter.

"Brother Murong, is the information reliable? The heroic fighters who have gone missing from our Lin Commandery's martial world lately, along with those bizarre killings—were they really the Zhang Family's doing? Don't get this wrong!"

As they traveled, a burly man spoke in a low voice.

Beside him stood a lean middle-aged man with two thin mustache strokes, shaped like the character eight. He was Murong Bo, one of the clan elders of the Murong Family, a major family in Lin Commandery.

After the War to Topple Lin had destroyed the top major powers that once dominated Lin Commandery, vast stretches of unclaimed territory had been left behind.

Over the past few years, disputes over territory had caused many clashes between the Murong Family and their neighboring Zhang Family. The two families were bitterly hostile, like fire and water that could never coexist.

This time, it was the Murong Family who had discovered that something was amiss with the Zhang Family. Without conclusive evidence, people could not help suspecting that they might be borrowing a knife to kill someone. After all, several such incidents had already occurred within the Xia Clan recently.

"Of course it's certain! Would I lie?"

Murong Bo clearly understood what the other man was thinking, and his tone was unpleasant.

Then, to make his words more convincing, he snorted coldly and continued.

"Brother Lin, I know that several unpleasant incidents have happened one after another within our Xia Clan, so it's perfectly normal for you to have doubts. But you should also understand that precisely because of those incidents, Half-step King Old Ancestors have spoken. Who would still dare deliberately frame others and cause trouble under such circumstances? Depending on the severity, at best everyone involved will be executed; at worst, the entire clan will be relocated to one of the three great borderlands!"

"Do you think I'd dare speak carelessly in such a situation?"

Murong Bo's expression turned solemn.

"That's true!"

The burly man nodded.

During this period, rumors had filled the skies. Some families, not knowing whether to live or die and with their brains short-circuiting, had taken the chance to stir up trouble and make the situation even more chaotic. Only after Half-step King Old Ancestors could no longer bear to watch and spoke out had things improved slightly.

But everything had its pros and cons!

The Half-step King Old Ancestors had spoken and set punishments, which meant that even if someone truly suspected a certain faction, they would not dare report it without irrefutable evidence or absolute certainty.

Yet under such circumstances, the Murong Family had dared to publicly report the matter under their real name. They must be confident!

Suddenly, a blurry figure that could not be looked at directly appeared, blocking their path.

"Who goes there?!"

"What the hell is that?"

"Fuck!"

The group of martial artists jumped in fright.

They hurriedly drew their swords and sabers, assuming guarded stances.

In this desolate wilderness, a blurry human figure had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. It was far too terrifying!

Wait!

A blurry figure?

When they recovered a little from their shock, their expressions all turned horrified. The person blocking their path was clearly right before their eyes, so why could they not see him clearly?

It was as though their eyes had been dazzled by gold, leaving everything a blur.

They were martial artists, and the weakest among them were Innate Grandmasters.

Keen senses and eyes like hawks were basic skills.

There was absolutely no such thing as failing eyesight.

Even if sand were flung into their eyes, it could not blunt the sharpness of their gaze.

One glare from them could frighten an ordinary person to death with its piercing light.

But.

Now.

A living person stood before them, yet they simply could not see him clearly.

They tried looking elsewhere. Everything was normal, no problem at all. But the moment they looked directly at the figure before them, their vision blurred.

They had seen a ghost in broad daylight!

Faced with such a bizarre situation, the Grandmaster martial artists did not dare make any rash moves.

Usually hot-tempered, they had been stopped in the road this time, yet remarkably, no one took the lead in losing their temper.

That blurry figure was naturally Chu He.

He had traveled thousands of miles, crossed several cities, and followed the direction indicated by the secret treasure all the way here.

The moment he stopped, he spotted something interesting from the sky and immediately flashed down.

"You know what lies ahead, don't you?"

No one could see whom Chu He was speaking to, but an inexplicable pull drew all their gazes toward Murong Bo.

They naturally understood as well that this question had been directed at Murong Bo.

"What do you mean?"

"How would I know what's ahead?"

"Who are you?"

Murong Bo's face darkened as he fired off three questions in succession.

Chu He's form was blurry, and he clearly did not seem simple or easy to provoke.

With such bearing, he was most likely an expert.

Being targeted by such an existence made Murong Bo's expression ugly.

"Still talking tough!"

Chu He shook his head. He had no interest in wasting words with the man.

He suddenly extended one hand and struck forward with his palm.

A gigantic golden palm appeared, then vanished in a flash.

A small hill ahead was forcibly pressed flat.

Boom!

Only then did the thunderous sound arrive.

No dust scattered. No boulders flew.

There was only a deafening boom.

Then everything returned to calm.

If they had not seen it with their own eyes, who could have believed that a hill spanning one or two mu, right before their very eyes, had been casually flattened with a single gentle palm strike?

That was not the most terrifying part. The most terrifying part was that aside from one thunderous boom, such a terrifying palm strike had caused no other great disturbance.

There were no flying boulders, no billowing smoke, no shaking earth.

There was only one boom.

Then a small hill several meters high had been pressed into flat ground.

That could only be achieved through absolute precision in controlling the force of the palm strike!

This meant that the person who had struck was very likely not even using his full strength.

Perhaps this had merely been a casual palm strike.

Terrifying!

The others merely underwent a drastic change in expression.

But Murong Bo was nearly scared into pissing himself!

The others might not know what was hidden within that small hill and were only shocked by the power of the palm strike.

But Murong Bo, who knew the truth, felt as if his heart and gall were about to burst from terror!

Why that hill?

Why did it have to be that hill?

Was it a coincidence?

Murong Bo could not even deceive himself into believing that possibility.

Combined with what Chu He had said to him.

The answer was already clear!

This existence whose form could not be seen clearly had absolutely seen through everything.

He had been exposed!

Though he did not know where he had revealed a flaw.

The truth had already unfolded before his eyes.

Murong Bo's gaze flickered several times. He forcibly steadied himself, stopped his calves from trembling, then turned and activated his movement technique, swiftly drifting away.

The True Qi in his body was pushed to its limit.

He even used the strength he had used to suck milk.

P.S. The PK starts today, big shots! Please vote and send me up there!

P.S. Thanks to the big shot Wandering Between Light and Darkness for the five-hundred reward!

Thanks to the big shot Ten Realms of Great Desolation for another one-hundred reward.

Thanks to the big shot You Are the Starry Sky I Have Never Seen for the two-hundred reward.

Thanks to the big shot DK98 for the five-hundred reward.