A Hundred Thousand Jin of Force

Inside the hall.

"Innocent, and even deserving merit?" Liu Ye said, looking thoughtful.

"Yuanhu Mountain Villa was merely a force Old Man Yuanhu established while the Chu Jiang Empire was collapsing. It has unified Yuanhu Prefecture for barely a dozen years, and its foundations are weak. It's nowhere near a match for our Hengyun Sect," General Xu said.

As a high-ranking official and a former core disciple of the sect, he might not understand the full state of affairs across the Central Land, but he knew the situation among the various powers in Jiang Province very well.

"Although Old Man Yuanhu has recruited some experts over the years..."

"there aren't many of them, and it's hard for him to earn their trust. The ones he values and trusts most are still his five personal disciples," General Xu said quietly.

"From our interrogation of the Fierce Tiger Gang's remaining members..."

"the martial expert who last fought that mysterious spearman wore animal hide and wielded a pair of hammers. He must have been Old Man Yuanhu's youngest personal disciple—Beast Mountain Hammer Ming Lie!" General Xu said with considerable certainty.

"First-class Expert Ming Lie? I heard he's not yet thirty and is recognized as Yuanhu Mountain Villa's greatest genius!" Liu Ye exclaimed. "He came here?"

First-class Experts were rare. Li City had no one who could truly be called one.

But across an entire prefecture, there were quite a few First-class Experts.

Beast Mountain Hammer Ming Lie was undoubtedly a well-known First-class Expert in Jiang Province. There was one reason for it—his youth!

Youth meant boundless possibilities.

"There's a ninety percent chance it was him," General Xu said.

"Beast Mountain Hammer's sudden arrival must have a very unusual reason," General Xu said quietly. "Investigate!"

"Use every resource at our disposal and find out."

"From the time Jiang Dongque and the others organized their joint petition to the time the news reached the sect and a team was sent to investigate, at least a month will have passed."

"Five days."

"If you still can't find anything, compile all the leads and traces and report them to the sect. That will count as a merit as well," General Xu said.

"Yes," Liu Ye replied.

He had followed Xu Shouyi since childhood. He was utterly loyal and had earned Xu Shouyi's deepest trust.

Jiang Province lay where a hundred rivers converged. It spanned more than ten thousand li and had a population of hundreds of millions. Though unrest had persisted for a thousand years, the region had largely maintained its structure of "sixteen prefectures."

Yuanhu Prefecture was the southernmost prefecture in Jiang Province, situated where three provinces met. It bordered "East Province" and Chu Province.

After the fall of the Chu Jiang Empire, the land remained in turmoil for over a decade. Only when Old Man Yuanhu established Yuanhu Mountain Villa more than ten years ago did it finally stabilize.

The headquarters of Yuanhu Mountain Villa stood beside the six-hundred-li Yuanhu Lake, built against Yuanhu Mountain. Pavilions and towers rose in tiers beneath towering ancient trees, and the grounds sprawled far and wide. Disciples practiced and trained in one martial arts ground after another, giving the place the imposing air of a great martial sect.

Today.

The grand hall at the highest point of the villa was imposing and spacious, its decorations simple and elegant. No disciples stood guard there.

Inside the hall, a frail man with one arm missing knelt with his head bowed to the floor.

An invisible aura enveloped the entire hall.

"The Chu Jiang Token—you lost it just like that?" A cold voice echoed through the hall. "Ming Lie, you've truly disappointed me."

At the far end of the hall stood a black-haired old man dressed in a red robe!

His loose red robe draped over a lean frame. His face was thin, his skin dark, and his eyes narrow, giving him a sinister air.

Most striking of all, his left eye was clouded. He was clearly blind.

He was the master of Yuanhu Mountain Villa, "Old Man Yuanhu," and the ruler of tens of millions of people throughout Yuanhu Prefecture!

"Please punish me, Master!" Ming Lie, the one-armed man, bowed his head. Sweat trickled down his face.

"Did you recognize the expert who fought you?" Old Man Yuanhu asked coldly.

"This disciple was incompetent." Ming Lie kept his head bowed. "He used a spear first, then a saber, and wore a bronze mask. His techniques were unfamiliar, so I truly couldn't identify him."

"However!"

"I can confirm that his physical strength shouldn't have been great—only at a Fifth-Rank level. But his combat skills were terrifying. He used 'Force Extreme' again and again, as if he had no limit. He must have reached the realm of 'Hard and Soft,'" Ming Lie said solemnly.

"Hard and Soft?" A glint of cold light flashed in Old Man Yuanhu's eyes, though he had been calm until then.

"Fifth-Rank physical strength, yet he reached the realm of Hard and Soft?"

"Ming Lie!" Old Man Yuanhu's gaze turned icy, and an unseen chill enveloped the hall. "I've taught you for twenty years. When did I ever teach you to deceive your master?"

Ming Lie felt a chill run through him and couldn't help shivering.

"Master, I also find it strange, but every word I said is true. I wouldn't dare deceive you." Ming Lie gritted his teeth and kept his head bowed.

Old Man Yuanhu looked down at Ming Lie.

His fingers stroked a string of prayer beads as he seemed to sink into thought!

The hall fell into a strange silence, and Ming Lie felt the pressure mounting by the moment.

Just as he was about to buckle under it—

"Ming Lie, I'll believe you this time." Old Man Yuanhu finally spoke, his voice a little warmer.

"Thank you, Master." Ming Lie was granted a reprieve. He repeatedly knocked his head against the floor.

"Write down everything you told me today, from beginning to end, then submit it to me," Old Man Yuanhu said evenly.

"Yes, I understand." Ming Lie nodded quickly.

This was customary at Yuanhu Mountain Villa.

"The loss of the Chu Jiang Token is a small matter. What disappoints me most is that you lost an arm." Old Man Yuanhu's gaze fell on Ming Lie's severed arm.

"I've disappointed you, Master." Ming Lie lowered his head, his eyes full of hatred and resentment.

In martial cultivation—

Losing an arm would severely affect the bones and muscles in the rest of the body. Forget advancing to a higher realm; even maintaining one's current strength would be extremely difficult!

It would even shorten his life.

And in a fight to the death, it would leave him with more fatal weak points!

"Fortune and misfortune go hand in hand in martial cultivation," Old Man Yuanhu said slowly. "Three hundred years ago, the Earth Ranking Grandmaster Song Bo lost an arm in battle. He trained bitterly for thirty years and created the 'One-Arm Immortal Blade.' He then became a Heaven Ranking Expert in a single leap, his name shaking the world!"

"Losing an arm is a misfortune, but you're still young—not yet thirty."

"If you devote yourself to martial cultivation, you may yet reach my level one day." Old Man Yuanhu spoke earnestly. "You mustn't become despondent and let yourself sink. Do you understand?"

"This disciple will remember. I won't disappoint you, Master," Ming Lie said.

"Good. You may leave," Old Man Yuanhu said.

Ming Lie's injuries had yet to heal, and blood still stained the stump of his arm. He struggled to his feet, bowed, and slowly withdrew from the hall.

Not long after—

Two more figures entered the hall, one tall and one short. The tall one wore white robes and looked rather scholarly.

The short one wore iron armor, his bulging muscles making him look like a giant iron ball!

"Master," they said together, bowing.

"Your junior brother found the Chu Jiang Token in Li City Prefecture, Nanmeng Prefecture, but someone took it from him, and he lost an arm," Old Man Yuanhu said, his gaze icy.

"The Chu Jiang Token?" The scholarly man in white was startled.

"Our junior brother lost an arm?" The short, stout man was equally shocked.

They were concerned about different things.

"In a moment, your junior brother will write down the whole story in detail. Read it yourselves," Old Man Yuanhu said.

"Yes," the two disciples replied together.

"Tang Ru, take some of your best men to Li City and search discreetly. If you find any trace of the Chu Jiang Token, you must retrieve it." Old Man Yuanhu looked at the scholarly man in white.

"This disciple understands," the scholarly man replied.

"Zhu Shan, take your best men and search a radius of five hundred li around Li City. See if you can find any trace of the Chu Jiang Token," Old Man Yuanhu said.

"Yes." The short, stout man cupped his hands.

"Remember." Old Man Yuanhu's gaze swept across his two disciples. "This matter is of great importance. The Hengyun Sect may discover the trail and send experts as well. Avoid conflict with the Hengyun Sect unless absolutely necessary. Act discreetly."

"But—"

"If you can confirm where the Chu Jiang Token is, then retrieve it at any cost," Old Man Yuanhu said. "Afterward, I'll explain things to the Hengyun Sect myself."

"Yes." The two men felt reassured.

With their master backing them, most of their misgivings faded away.

In the small courtyard in southern Li City.

Six days passed.

Aside from returning home twice to let his family know he was safe, Wu Yuan had spent the rest of his time hiding in the courtyard, devoting himself entirely to practicing the Tiger Leopard Bone Refining Technique.

The mysterious liquid in the jade bottle kept dwindling, while Wu Yuan's physical strength transformed at an equally astonishing pace.

"Whoosh!"

Wu Yuan's body glistened with sweat as he balanced on his arms, faint steam rising from him.

With a slight push, he landed soundlessly, as nimbly as a cat.

The countless tiny pores in his skin tightened. He took off his drenched shirt, wiped himself clean with a towel nearby, and revealed muscles sculpted as if by knife and axe!

His muscles weren't exaggerated. His physique was perfectly balanced to the eye.

There was a sense of perfection to it.

"Everything in the world, if it gives people a sense of 'beauty' and 'harmony,' is usually on the right track." Wu Yuan understood this.

Training a particular muscle, tendon, or bone until it became too strong or too large wasn't necessarily a good thing. It could instead throw off the whole body.

"Just six days."

"My physical strength has increased by more than fifty percent. I've basically reached my current limit. If I keep strengthening myself, I'll only be pulling up seedlings to help them grow." Wu Yuan could clearly feel how much his muscles and bones had transformed.

Unlike the training of adults—

Martial training in childhood and adolescence had to proceed gradually, with nourishment as its foundation. Stimulating growth was the key.

Chasing strength at all costs was actually inferior.

"Some martial artists start squeezing their bodies dry at seven or eight, but it affects their later growth. They never grow tall!" Wu Yuan walked over to one side of the courtyard.

Training in martial arts didn't make you short.

Only training the wrong way did.

"This body is only fourteen. Over the past few days, the spirit liquid in the jade bottle has done more than strengthen it. It has also made up for past deficiencies and nourished the body." Wu Yuan mused. "It's laid a foundation for the next few years of growth. Cultivation has to proceed one step at a time."

"The golden years of physical growth will last another four years!"

"By following the natural laws of heaven and earth, as my body continues to develop and reaches its limit at each stage, my physical strength will naturally keep increasing until it reaches a level I once never dared imagine."

"At the very least, I've already surpassed my past self!" Wu Yuan clenched his fist and threw a punch. Strength surged through all four limbs, and a casual blow made the air explode with a roar.

Strength! Speed!

He possessed both.

The strength of Wu Yuan's single arm had already surpassed thirty thousand jin! In the Human Federation of his previous life, that would make him the foremost Grandmaster!

What if he unleashed three layers of Force Extreme?

"Then it'd be a hundred thousand jin of force." Wu Yuan grinned. "If I ran into that mysterious expert from Nine Cloud Mountain again?"

"I could kill him in three strikes!"