"Cutting bone and flaying skin with the Miro Divine Skill... Must I truly take the final step before I can dissolve the boundary of the Grandmaster realm?"
The bean-sized candle flames flickered. More than a dozen lamps shone brightly, illuminating the vast, dark hall as though it were broad daylight.
The furnishings within were simple, the overall palette dominated by cold blacks and grays. Dozens of sabers of varying shapes and sizes, all sheathed, hung upon the walls.
Beneath the lamplight, before the long sabers, a somewhat lean figure stood with his hands behind his back, staring blankly at a broad-backed saber, lost in thought.
His silkworm brows, faintly flushed face, cold, stern nose, and sharp lips made him seem like a blade himself. Even a single glance at him carried a faint sting.
Recently, Ma Ruzhen had sensed signs of collapse and disorder among the Moon Guards of Liang Prefecture. Even though he spared no expense in using Ma Family Manor's wealth to subsidize them, before the enormous Moon Guard system, it was still a cup of water against a cartload of firewood, impossible to sustain.
It could be said that even if he drained all the potential of Ma Family Manor dry, he still could not maintain the Moon Guards. Thus, Ma Ruzhen set his mind on another matter.
Since benefits could not bind them, then he would suppress them with strength.
As long as he achieved Grandmaster martial arts, using force to intimidate and intervene, he should still be able to barely keep the vast Moon Guards together—unless someone else within the Moon Guards could also cultivate Grandmaster martial arts. But that possibility was infinitesimal.
Even now, Grandmasters remained top experts on the Divine Continent, appearing as rarely as a divine dragon showing itself once. Without techniques,