Ten days passed in a flash.
At sunset, Xiao Li left the dreary martial school and headed straight for the Drunken Immortal Residence, ordering a tableful of wine and dishes before digging in heartily.
At the exact stroke of the Xu hour, the sky had gone completely dark, and the streetlamps cast a dim glow.
With seven or eight parts drunkenness weighing on him, Xiao Li staggered slightly as he stepped over the restaurant threshold.
When the night wind blew, the alcohol surged to his head. He steadied himself against the doorframe, and just as he was about to head toward the martial school, a figure silently blocked his path.
With bleary eyes, Xiao Li frowned at the newcomer.
The man wore ordinary gray cloth, with an unfamiliar face and an average build. Once he blended into a crowd, he would be difficult to distinguish. Only his eyes stood out, calm and utterly without ripples beneath the dim yellow lamplight.
"Xiao Li?" His voice was equally flat, impossible to read.
"That's me." Xiao Li rubbed his temple, struggling to focus his gaze. Impatience colored his drunken voice. "Who are you? You're blocking the way."
"I am..." Before the stranger could finish speaking, his body had already moved!
There was no warning, no killing intent leaking out, not even an obvious starting stance.
He merely stepped forward. His right hand shot out like lightning, five fingers slightly spread as he seemingly casually reached for the wrist of Xiao Li's raised right arm, which had been lifted to block.
Though drunk, Xiao Li's martial instinct remained. Sensing that something was wrong, he sobered up by more than half in an instant!
With a low growl, he channeled force through both arms. His left hand clenched into a fist and slammed toward the other man's ribs, while the muscles in his right arm bulged as he tried to shake off that seemingly weightless grab.
However--
The gap was far too great.
That reaching hand was so fast that it surpassed the reaction of his consciousness, precise as though every one of his movements had been calculated in advance.
The instant the fingertips touched his wrist bone, a strange force—icy, condensed, and overwhelming—erupted abruptly!
It was not a fierce, destructive force, but a penetration and tearing that was supremely yielding yet incomparably sharp!
Crack!
A crisp, teeth-grating sound of breaking bone suddenly rang out in the silent street corner!
It was not limited to one spot. In the same instant, countless fine cracks burst across the bones of his wrist and forearm under that strange force, and then their structure collapsed!
"Ah--!!!" Xiao Li let out a heart-rending howl. His right arm instantly went limp, twisting into a grotesque shape.
The agony made his eyes blaze red. His left hand punched forward again without regard for anything else.
The stranger's figure swayed slightly, as though he had merely shifted to the side at leisure. He raised his hand, and that hand once again clamped onto Xiao Hao's left wrist like a phantom.
Crack! Crack-crack!
More concentrated and more thorough fractures exploded in succession!
This time, even the elbow joint did not escape.
"Gah--!" Xiao Li was in so much pain that he nearly fainted. His entire body went limp, and he slid down the wall to sit on the ground.
He lowered his head and looked at his hands—the most precious weapons of a martial artist. Now, they were like two sections of clay figurines wantonly crushed by a mischievous child, twisted at incomprehensible angles. Terrifying bulges and depressions showed beneath the skin, and even bloodstained, ghastly white bone shards could be seen piercing through the flesh.
Agony, coldness, and the despair of something shattering beyond repair drowned him in an instant.
No medicine could save him...
His martial path... was severed.
Before the stranger completely lost consciousness, he bent down beside his ear and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear, "The school master asked me to say hello."
Then the figure melted into the night and vanished, as though he had never appeared.
The next morning, Cui Hao and Lin Da entered the martial school together as usual.
The moment they stepped through the gate, they noticed something unusual.
The shouts and sounds of fist practice that should have filled the morning were nearly inaudible. In their place were soft whispers, faint as mosquitoes.
"...Have you heard? Senior Brother Xiao... something happened to him!"
"Last night... at the entrance of the Drunken Immortal Residence... both hands... ruined!"
"Really? Senior Brother Xiao had already reached the peak of the Mortal Martial Realm!"
"Absolutely true! When they carried him back... the state he was in... it was too horrible..."
The words drifted into their ears. Cui Hao and Lin Da exchanged a glance, both seeing shock and gravity in the other's eyes.
"What about Junior Brother Xiao? How is he?!" Tu Yan hurriedly jogged in from outside, undisguised panic on her face as her gaze anxiously searched the crowd for the prodigy she had invested a huge sum of money in.
Gao Feng stepped out from the crowd and shook his head heavily. His voice was hoarse. "Junior Sister Tu... Junior Brother Xiao was attacked last night and is seriously injured and unconscious."
After a pause, he added in an even lower voice, "Master invited Doctor Li from Jiren Hall and Doctor Kang from Xuanhu Hall. Both of them are treating him in the inner courtyard... The situation... isn't optimistic."
The moment these words came out, it was as though cold water had been splashed into boiling oil. The courtyard erupted!
Especially the new disciples who had only recently joined—their faces were filled with disbelief.
Who was Xiao Li? He was the undisputed banner of the martial school's younger generation, the direct disciple Xu Dian had painstakingly cultivated, a prodigy who had reached the peak of the Mortal Martial Realm in less than a year after joining!
Yet such a person had been beaten into a cripple at the entrance of a restaurant!
With injuries like these, forget about challenging the distant Dark Force. Whether he could preserve his current cultivation had become an unknown.
Everyone looked at one another, a chill rising from the soles of their feet.
The martial school never lacked practitioners of the Mortal Martial Realm, and it had several masters of Clear Force as well. But what was truly scarce were the "seeds" with the potential and hope to break through the shackles of Clear Force and glimpse the profound gateway of Dark Force!
They were the backbone and hope of the martial school's future.
Now, the largest and most dazzling seed in Hongzhan Martial School had been snuffed out by force!
In contrast to Xiao Li's situation, Cui Hao had unknowingly become the most special person in the courtyard, and everyone's attitude toward him had undergone a subtle yet earth-shaking transformation.
In the first round of the preliminary examination, he had drawn a four-stone bow, the bow curved like a full moon, shocking the entire audience.
In the second round, he had won two matches in a row before finally "narrowly losing" to an expert in the Flying Crane Palm. His performance had been commendable, and securing cultivation resources was now virtually certain.
When Cui Hao entered the courtyard, new disciples and even some fellow disciples of the Mortal Martial Realm would stop what they were doing in unison and respectfully call out, "Senior Brother Cui."
The scene was so familiar—before long, this had been the treatment Xiao Li enjoyed.
None of this made Cui Hao feel lightheaded with pride. Instead, it made the alarm bells in his heart ring even louder, driving him to pour all his energy into near-masochistic bitter training.
Again and again, he hammered out the stance practice of Broken Fist. Sweat soaked through his clothes, while the sounds of his fists and feet striking the wooden post rang from dawn until dusk.
[Realm: Mortal Martial, Greater Accomplishment (521/1000)] [Broken Fist Stance Practice: Greater Accomplishment (521/1000)]
He was still 479 points away from the peak of the Mortal Martial Realm.
As long as his medicinal resources kept up, he would certainly break through within fifty days at most!
Unfortunately, his silver and Qi and Blood Powder had once again been completely depleted. He would need to enter the mountains tomorrow.
"Senior Brother Cui." A slightly respectful voice interrupted Cui Hao's thoughts. It belonged to a young disciple who had only recently entered the Mortal Martial Realm. He approached in quick steps and reported, "Someone outside is looking for you."
After leaving the courtyard, Cui Hao sized up Zhu Gui, whose clothes and bearing spoke of wealth and who wore a member-of-the-gentry hat. He clasped his fists in greeting. "Landlord Zhu, is something the matter?"
"On the day of the preliminary examination, Little Brother Cui cut such an impressive figure. I still can't forget it..." Zhu Gui smiled warmly as he handed over a money pouch. "A mere ten taels—it's nothing worth mentioning. Though the Zhu family can't compare with the three great lineages in Qingyuan City, we do possess some modest assets. If Little Brother Cui doesn't mind, this same amount will be yours every month from now on."
Ten taels every month! Cui Hao's heart shook. This Landlord Zhu was even more lavish than Hu Zhi.
"Landlord Zhu, I'm grateful for your kindness." Cui Hao suppressed the turmoil in his heart, his expression unchanged. "It's just that this is a serious matter. Allow me to consider it carefully."
Hearing the implied refusal, Zhu Gui let out a soft sigh. Some opportunities... simply were not fated to be his.
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