If he could help it, Su Mu wanted no part in the struggle between the Black Mountain Army and the Qingyun Army, the two great powers. All he wanted now was to deal with the Gu Poison in his body and keep a low profile while he grew stronger.
But things didn't go as he wished.
Su Mu still couldn't resist killing the Black Mountain Army men, and one person had witnessed the whole thing. The surest course would have been to kill Shi Feng, too; that way, there would be no risk of news leaking out.
At the thought, the young man shook his head firmly.
From the way Shi Feng had stayed behind to hold off the four men and let him escape, it was clear he wasn't a bad person. There were plenty of bad people in these troubled times, but few good ones. Su Mu wasn't a ruthless man. He had his own principles, and he couldn't bring himself to do it.
So afterward, Su Mu simply turned and left, intending to have no further dealings with Shi Feng.
But in the end, he still accepted the token.
I have to plan ahead.
The matter of the Abandoned Child Gu Poison had made Su Mu realize he wouldn't be staying in Qingshui Town for long. Sooner or later, he would have to leave the town and seek treatment in Qingyun County. Since Qingyun County was Qingyun Army territory, the token Shi Feng had given him might come in handy someday.
He followed the official road from there and arrived safely in Qingshui Town.
Su Mu had once thought Qingshui Town was quite large. But now, returning from Qingyun County, he saw just how small it really was.
As he walked through the town's streets and alleys, he could find his way even with his eyes closed. The familiarity of having lived there for over a year put him at ease.
"Hmm, are those people from the Black Tiger Gang?"
Su Mu soon spotted several Black Tiger Gang members carrying bundles in and out of different shops. Another man followed behind them, leading a horse-drawn carriage. Su Mu casually took a few steps closer and focused his attention.
Their conversation drifted to him on the breeze.
"Make sure you count everything. Not a single thing can be missing."
"We have to get everything for the birthday banquet ready early. There's still plenty to buy on this list, so hurry up."
A birthday banquet?
From the looks of it, someone in the Black Tiger Gang was throwing one?
After hearing a few words, Su Mu lost interest. Whose birthday it was had nothing to do with him. He continued on his way and returned to Dongbian Village.
Although a little unexpected trouble had cropped up on this trip, at least he now had a lead on the poison in his body. He also had a general idea of what to do next, which was significant in itself.
After taking off his rain cape and bamboo hat, Su Mu counted up what he had gained this time and pulled a few things from inside his robe.
A Parchment Scroll and a tightly wrapped cloth bundle.
"Could it be a prescription?"
Su Mu's eyes flickered. But when he spread it out, he saw that it wasn't a prescription at all, but a map. A red circle had been marked on it with cinnabar, but there were no place names, only mountains and rivers.
A treasure map?
Su Mu looked it over a few times, then folded it and turned his attention to the bundle. He had found it on the leading Black Mountain Army soldier; when he had felt it through the wrapping, it had seemed to have the shape of a book.
He opened it.
Sure enough, it was a book. The yellowed, worn cover bore the words Phoenix Dance Scroll.
Phoenix Dance Scroll?
Su Mu's heart began to beat a little faster. A manual with "Phoenix" in its name had to be something extraordinary.
But when he eagerly opened it, he was left dumbfounded.
Page after page of lifelike, exquisitely detailed paintings, brimming with erotic passion, met his eyes.
After quietly turning through several pages, Su Mu closed the Phoenix Dance Scroll with an odd expression. He was sure it wasn't a martial arts manual. How should he put it?
"From an artistic standpoint, the painting in this Phoenix Dance Scroll really is extraordinary..."
Putting it out of his mind, Su Mu ate and then practiced his boxing in the courtyard. After fighting for his life, he had gained a deeper understanding of all three of his Grade-Entry martial arts, especially Rock Shattering Fist.
He frowned slightly and downed a large bowl of Three-Complete Body Strengthening Soup. As fine beads of sweat welled on his skin and soaked his clothes, Su Mu entered a state of training.
The sun sank in the west, and night fell. One figure remained absorbed in practicing Rock Shattering Fist over and over. With his Insight at 12, enough to qualify as Excellent Talent, Raw Jade, a flash of inspiration suddenly lit up Su Mu's mind.
Su Mu kept throwing punches, and at last he caught hold of that flash. He entered a subtle state of complete self-forgetfulness.
Everything gradually fell into place. Little by little, Su Mu sensed the many acupoints in his body trembling. As his blood and qi surged, the force coursing through his limbs and meridians underwent a change unlike anything he had felt before.
The change came without warning.
Within the fierce force, a new kind of force was taking shape.
"Is Hidden Force about to be born?!"
Su Mu's eyes lit up. The sensation felt oddly familiar. After only a moment's thought, he realized it was somewhat like when force had first emerged in his body.
Hummm—
Before long, all the acupoints throughout Su Mu's body rang in unison, and a thread of gentle force came into being. It was a seed of Hidden Force. At this point, Su Mu couldn't yet be considered to have truly completed his second round of Refining Strength.
What he needed to do was nurture the force, just as he had before. Once this seed of Hidden Force had grown strong enough, he could make a push for the second round of Refining Strength. Only then could he be said to have truly mastered Hidden Force.
Each round of Refining Strength was a whole new realm!
"Reading about it on paper never quite measures up to seeing it in practice. The ancients truly didn't deceive me..."
Su Mu let out a long breath, his face alight with joy. He hadn't expected that killing those Black Mountain Army scoundrels would cause a seed of Hidden Force to emerge inside him.
The first time he nurtured force, it had taken Su Mu half a year. With that experience behind him, and with no need to worry about money now, he also had the insight of Excellent Talent, Raw Jade.
This time, Su Mu was confident he could complete his second round of nurturing force in less time—half as long as before, perhaps even less!
Under cover of night, Su Mu quietly left the village and made his way to the back mountain.
He found a sturdy tree thick enough for one person to wrap their arms around. With a thought, he summoned the newly born Hidden Force in his body and drove it into a strike.
This punch didn't cut through the air with a rush of wind as his punches usually did. It looked like nothing more than a casual swing. The instant his fist met the trunk, it made only a faint thud, and the tree shivered slightly.
Su Mu's eyes lit up at the sight. He stared at the trunk. Its bark was completely unmarked.
But when Su Mu shaped his hand into a claw and set it against the point where his fist had struck, his fingers tightened slightly and sank in like a steel knife. He tore hard.
Rip.
As the bark came away, wood chips flew. At some point, a fist-sized hollow had appeared inside the trunk, its wood smashed to powder.
"Striking through the body to injure the inside—that's Hidden Force!"
Su Mu's eyes shone as he watched. If he had possessed this Hidden Force during the day and channeled it into Rock Shattering Fist, those Black Mountain Army soldiers would have died on the spot, even with their padded armor. There would have been no chance of survival.
In the days that followed, it was as if the Gu Poison and the Black Mountain Army had never happened. Su Mu's life returned to its peaceful routine and grew busy once more.
Clang, clang, clang—
The deafening clash of metal rang out again and again as Hidden Force grew rapidly stronger.
Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.
Su Mu had hammered the iron billet in front of him hundreds of thousands of times. Every impurity had been beaten out, and the billet had reached its limit.
"It's time for the next step."
Five days later, a long saber wreathed in a blue sheen was lifted from the water tank. Droplets slid rapidly from its mirror-smooth blade, pattering down like a sudden shower.
The chill radiating from the blade made the two apprentices beside Su Mu instinctively step back. A prickling sensation swept over their skin. Both apprentices swallowed hard, shock written across their faces.
Yet in one of their eyes, an unmistakable flash of guilt and unease slipped past.
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