Audience with the Ancestor and a Test of Intent

Early Morning the next day.

The atmosphere within the Zhao Family Shelter was even more oppressive than yesterday. The number of Guards had doubled, and patrols had become more frequent. Every face bore the grave look of a mountain storm about to break.

"Yan Zhuangshi, the Ancestor wishes to see you."

Zhao Rong personally came to the Stone House. The smile on his face was several degrees more sincere than it had been last night. After all, the "Pledge of Allegiance" Yan Kui had offered had earned him praise from the Ancestor.

Yan Kui nodded without wasting words and followed behind Zhao Rong.

After passing through several heavily guarded checkpoints, they entered the core area of the Zhao Family's inner courtyard.

There was none of the noise and bloodshed from outside here. Instead, birds sang amid fragrant flowers, while pavilions and towers stood in pleasing disarray. Yet to Yan Kui's keen senses, beneath this seemingly heavenly place surged towering resentment and Corpse Qi.

"We're here."

Zhao Rong stopped before an artificial rockery.

He reached out and pressed a protruding stone on the rockery.

"Rumble..."

The rockery slowly shifted aside, revealing a deep underground entrance. An icy wind rushed into their faces, carrying a rich stench of blood.

"The Ancestor is below. Yan Zhuangshi, please." Zhao Rong stepped aside and motioned for Yan Kui to go first.

Yan Kui did not stand on ceremony and strode inside.

Eternal lamps burning a ghastly green lined both sides of the passage, stretching his shadow long behind him as though a ghost were dancing.

After walking roughly a hundred steps, the path suddenly opened up.

This was an enormous underground cavern.

At the center of the cavern, the Blood Pool was like a cauldron of boiling foul blood, endlessly bubbling with stinking bubbles. Above it, Zhao Wuji floated cross-legged in the air. Beneath him was a White Bone Lotus Throne piled from countless human skulls, its dead white gleam painfully glaring.

"Qi Refining Layer Nine... no, Half-Step Foundation Establishment."

Yan Kui saw through Zhao Wuji's realm at a glance.

Though this old monster's skin was cracked like dead tree bark, and his body radiated a nauseating aura of decay as if he were a dried corpse that had just crawled out of a coffin, the heavy, viscous Mana fluctuations within him, like lead and mercury, made even the surrounding air congeal. They gave Yan Kui the sense of facing an abyss.

It was suppression at the level of Life Level.

"You are Yan Kui?"

Zhao Wuji slowly opened his eyes. His pitch-black pupils were like two black holes, staring fixedly at Yan Kui.

An invisible spiritual pressure instantly descended upon him.

If it had been an ordinary Mortal Warrior, he would likely have fallen to his knees and begged for mercy beneath that pressure.

Yet Yan Kui merely frowned slightly. The Mysterious Iron Body over his surface gave a faint tremor, shedding the pressure away.

"That would be me."

He clasped his fists and offered a respectful yet neither servile nor overbearing salute.

"Hm?"

A flicker of surprise crossed Zhao Wuji's eyes.

For this boy to withstand the pressure of his Spiritual Sense, the strength of his physical body truly was rare.

"Not bad. A fine seedling."

Zhao Wuji's voice was hoarse. "Zhao Rong tells me you wish to join my Zhao Family? And that you have something even more important to offer this old man?"

"That's right."

Yan Kui met Zhao Wuji's gaze directly. "I want to survive in these troubled times, and live better while doing so. The Zhao Family has that strength."

"As for what I wish to offer..."

Yan Kui took out the Body Nourishing Technique manual he had obtained from the Old Lin Family Manor.

"This is a Cultivation Technique I found at the Old Lin Family Manor. Though it is only a basic body-nourishing art, I discovered that it seems to conceal a trace of the mystery behind the circulation of 'vital energy.' Perhaps it may benefit the Ancestor's injuries."

He lied.

The Body Nourishing Technique did indeed possess an unceasing vitality, but his purpose in offering it was to test him.

He wanted to see just how desperately Zhao Wuji craved "vital energy."

Sure enough.

The moment Zhao Wuji heard the words "vital energy," greedy light burst from his deathly still eyes.

"Bring it here for me to see!"

He made a grasping motion through the air.

A force of suction appeared from nowhere and drew the manual from Yan Kui's hand.

Zhao Wuji rapidly flipped through several pages, and the indifferent expression on his face turned to delight.

"Good! Good! It truly is an orthodox Daoist art of nourishing Qi! Though shallow, it wins through its purity!"

His body had long since become riddled with holes after prolonged exposure to Corpse Qi and Death Qi. Though this Body Nourishing Technique could not let him break through, it could slightly ease the erosion of Death Qi in his body and let him live a few more days!

"You have put thought into this."

Zhao Wuji closed the manual, and the way he looked at Yan Kui became far more favorable.

"Since you are so loyal, this old man will take you in. Tonight, on the Full Moon Night, this old man will activate the Blood Sacrifice Grand Array and attempt to break through to Foundation Establishment. When the time comes, you will stand at the Kun Position of the formation and protect this old man."

"Once it is done, this old man will ensure that you step onto the immortal path!"

"Thank you, Ancestor!"

Yan Kui immediately put on a look of overwhelming gratitude.

"Leave now. Have Zhao Rong take you to the Treasure Vault to collect a suit of armor and a weapon. Do not disgrace my Zhao Family."

Zhao Wuji waved a hand.

"Yes."

Yan Kui bowed and withdrew.

The instant he turned around, killing intent flashed through his eyes and vanished.

Protect him?

More like serve as cannon fodder.

Once the Blood Sacrifice Grand Array was activated, aside from the person at its core, every living thing nearby would likely have its vital essence drained dry.

Zhao Wuji intended to use him as the final "reserve blood meal."

But as long as he could get close to the formation's core, he would have a chance...

After leaving the underground chamber.

Zhao Rong's attitude toward Yan Kui became even more respectful.

"Protector Yan, the Ancestor truly favors you. He has even opened the Treasure Vault for you."

"Lead the way."

Yan Kui said blandly.

The Zhao Family Treasure Vault was located in a stone tower within the inner courtyard and was heavily guarded.

But with Zhao Rong leading the way, Yan Kui passed through without obstruction.

Inside the Treasure Vault, treasures filled the eye.

Weapons, pills, Gold and Silver, antiques... everything one could want was present.

Yan Kui did not look at the ordinary Gold and Silver. His gaze swept across the weapon racks.

At last, he selected a black warhammer.

The hammer was pitch-black from end to end, with a head as large as a watermelon, covered in intricate patterns.

"Sharp eye! This is the Bone Shattering Hammer, forged from Deep Sea Profound Iron. It weighs eight hundred jin, and none but those with Innate Divine Strength can wield it." Zhao Rong introduced it.

Yan Kui lifted the heavy hammer one-handed and casually swung it twice.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The heavy sound of the wind made one's heart pound with fear.

"This one."

Combined with his monstrous strength, this thing was simply a great weapon of slaughter. Even a Corpse Fiend's hardened body would suffer broken bones and snapped tendons from a single blow.

After choosing his weapon, Yan Kui did not leave at once.

His gaze landed on a pile of miscellaneous junk in a corner of the Treasure Vault.

All sorts of useless-looking rubbish were piled there: broken Magic Tools, unknown ores, and some bones that emitted faint energy fluctuations.

"That is..."

Yan Kui walked over to the pile, his eyes locking onto a dull gray stone.

[High-energy item discovered: Corpse Origin Stone (slightly damaged).]

[Consume? Origin Power obtainable: 3.0]

The system notification rang out like heavenly music.

A Corpse Origin Stone!

This was an essence mineral that could only condense where Corpse Fiends were born, containing extremely pure Corpse Qi energy.

"Steward Zhao, I would like this stone as well."

Yan Kui pointed to the stone.

"This?" Zhao Rong glanced at it. It was merely a discarded ore. Apart from being a little cold and eerie, there was nothing remarkable about it.

"Since Protector Yan likes it, take it."

He naturally would not refuse such a small request from Yan Kui, the current favorite.

"Thank you."

Without changing expression, Yan Kui tucked the Corpse Origin Stone into his robe.

Besides the Corpse Origin Stone, he searched through the pile of junk again and unexpectedly found two withered stalks of Yin Soul Grass.

[Yin Soul Grass discovered (air-dried), can be consumed. Origin Power +0.5]

[Yin Soul Grass discovered (air-dried), can be consumed. Origin Power +0.5]

After this round of scavenging.

Yan Kui left the Treasure Vault.

Back at the Stone House.

He could not wait to take out the Corpse Origin Stone and Yin Soul Grass.

"Consume!"

[Origin Power: +3.0]

[Origin Power: +0.5]

[Origin Power: +0.5]

Added to the 1.2 Origin Power he had left before.

Current Origin Power: 5.2

"5.2 Origin Power..."

Yan Kui took a deep breath, his heart pounding wildly.

This was another huge sum capable of changing the entire battle!

He looked toward the panel again.

Iron Cloth Shirt had already broken through its limit and reached mastery.

To continue improving it, or to fuse a higher-level Cultivation Technique, he would need more Origin Power.

But now, he had another choice.

That was—improving Raging Bull Fist.

Though Raging Bull Fist was merely a basic fist technique, if it could break through its limit and produce an "Extreme Dao Effect," then combined with his Mysterious Iron Body, its destructive power would grow by geometric multiples.

"System, break the limit! Raging Bull Fist!"

[5.0 Origin Power consumed. Raging Bull Fist has reached mastery. Beginning limit break.]

An incomparably violent torrent of heat poured into his arms like magma, washing through every inch of muscle and bone.

Yan Kui felt the muscles in his arms writhing madly, tearing apart, and reforming. It was as though countless tiny steel cables were being woven into his Muscle Fibers.

His bones emitted a dense series of explosive cracks. His originally milky-white skeleton rapidly became dense and heavy, taking on a faint metallic sheen, as if it had turned into the bones of some ancient ferocious beast. He could even vaguely hear the low bellow of an ancient savage bull reverberating through his bloodline.

When the transformation was complete.

[Raging Bull Fist: Mastery (limit broken)]

[Trait: Brute Bull Strength (Strength increased by 50%, with a shockwave effect)]

[Trait: Savage Charge (The entire body becomes a weapon. Charging force increased by 100%)]

His strength surged once more!

Strength: 4.0 -> 5.5

5.5 Strength!

What did that mean?

It meant that he could now lift nearly two thousand jin with one hand!

Combined with the eight-hundred-jin Bone Shattering Hammer, and then the fifty percent boost from "Brute Bull Strength"...

With that one hammer blow, even the Zhao Family Ancestor's turtle shell could be smashed apart!

"Tonight..."

Yan Kui clenched the Bone Shattering Hammer in his hand, red light flickering in his eyes.

"I will unleash a massacre."