The next day, just before dawn,
Qin Meng was already weaving and turning through the courtyard, a ring-pommel saber whistling in his hand.
Every movement of the Eight Blade Breaking Techniques engaged the muscles throughout his body, sending his blood surging. The low hum of the blade cleaving the air rang out again and again, especially clear in the still morning courtyard.
When Shen Qiu opened the door, she saw the man flashing back and forth across the courtyard, moving as fast as the wind. The saber light wove into a dense, impenetrable net.
She knew nothing of the Martial Path, yet she could feel the fierce aura rising with each swing of his saber.
It was as if the one before her wasn't a man practicing his saber, but a battle-hardened soldier about to charge into the fray.
Qin Meng was completely immersed in his saber technique.
The memories of this body were awakening, and his muscles' instinctive responses were growing faster and faster.
The killing techniques he had honed in a sea of corpses in his previous life were gradually fusing with this body.
Each strike grew more vicious; each step, more steady.
"Cleave!"
His final strike came down, then stopped abruptly three inches above the ground. The fierce gust kicked up dust and plowed a shallow furrow through the earth.
He lowered his saber and stood still, his chest heaving as sweat rolled down his temples. On the panel, his Eight Blade Breaking Techniques proficiency had reached [Proficient (465/500)].
After breakfast, Qin Meng continued practicing.
The sunlight grew harsher, and sweat soaked through his coarse cloth shirt.
He barely noticed. When he got hungry, he drank a bowl of Snake Meat Soup kept warm on the stove. The scalding broth filled his belly, then spread through his limbs as a wave of heat, quickly restoring his strength.
The saber light grew faster and faster.
At first, the changes in his movements were still visible. Later, all that could be seen was a ball of silver light rolling through the courtyard, the sound of the blade cleaving the air merging into a continuous roar.
Inside, Shen Qiu mended clothes, occasionally glancing out the window. Her eyes held both worry and pride.
The moment [Eight Blade Breaking Techniques—Proficient (500/500)] reached its maximum—
Qin Meng's whole body shuddered. Before his eyes, several lines of small text appeared:
[Eight Blade Breaking Techniques—Minor Mastery (1/1000)] [Effect: Physique Enhancement (Major)] Physique Enhancement: Greatly enhances physical attributes.
A surging wave of heat burst from his Dantian, washing through his bones and muscles like a flood breaking its banks. The muscles in his arms and legs swelled, burning hot, while his bones gave off faint crackling sounds.
Vigorous strength roared through him, and the speed of his blood flow suddenly increased.
"Hoo—"
Qin Meng let out a long breath of stale air. It shot three feet from his mouth like an arrow.
He clenched his fist, and his knuckles cracked. Feeling his enhanced physique, he sensed the surging power within him—his strength had nearly doubled, and his speed and stamina had all soared. A single flex of his arm might now carry two thousand jin of force.
He had already surpassed martial artists in the Boiling Blood Realm.
Against a martial artist in the Blood Changing Realm, even if he couldn't win, escaping would be no trouble.
The motley bunch under Qin Lai were, at most, at the Blood Changing stage.
Feeling his strength increase and his senses sharpen, Qin Meng thought of the ever-present tail dogging him. A cold glint flickered in his eyes.
At noon, after eating, he packed some dry rations and bid farewell to his wife.
This time, he headed up the mountain again with only an oiled-paper bag, leaving his back basket behind.
West of the fort, inside an unremarkable earthen house,
five men sat around a rickety wooden table. Cheap liquor and half a roast chicken sat on it, while the room reeked of sweat and menace.
"Damn it, what time is it?" Their leader was a man as thin as a bamboo pole, with sunken eye sockets, nicknamed "Skinny Monkey" Song Zhong.
He gulped down some liquor and slammed his bowl onto the table. "Did that sickly Qin Meng die in his own home today?"
A burly man with a face full of jowls spat. "Brother Monkey, if you ask me, we should just barge into his house and kill him. He's a sickly weakling. Why bother following him up the mountain?"
"You don't know shit!" Song Zhong glared at him. "If we make a move in the fort and the militia catches us, will you take the blame? Brother Lai said it has to look like an 'accident' on the mountain."
The man beside him, with triangular eyes, gave a lewd chuckle. "Speaking of which, Qin Meng's wife is a real stunner. A couple days ago, I was hanging around near his house and happened to see her washing clothes in the courtyard. That waist, those hips..."
The men burst into laughter, lecherous, vicious light in their eyes.
"Once we take Qin Meng out, that little widow will be ours to do with as we please, right?"
Song Zhong gave a sinister smile. "Brother Lai said the house is his once the job's done. As for the woman... we brothers can have her for a few days first."
Just then, hurried footsteps sounded outside.
A skinny young man rushed in. "Brother Monkey, he's here! That kid's left home with his bow and saber, heading toward Luming Mountain!"
Song Zhong shot to his feet, a vicious gleam in his eyes. "Come on. Let's send that short-lived bastard on his way!"
In Luming Fort, farmers who had risen early to work and women heading to market hurried past.
As Qin Meng walked by with his bow and saber on his back, several familiar neighbors cast him surprised glances. Only a few days ago, the sick man had been bedridden. Now he walked steadily, his eyes bright and sharp.
As he turned the street corner, that familiar feeling of being watched surfaced again.
Qin Meng's expression didn't change, but he sneered inwardly. His saber skills had improved today, and his body had grown stronger. His senses were several times sharper than yesterday. He could even vaguely tell that the hidden watchers were following him from five directions, forming a half-circle around him.
"Five men... Qin Lai's willing to spend a pretty penny."
He deliberately slowed his pace, circled halfway around the fort, and stopped to chat with someone. The pursuers were clearly growing impatient; their watchful gazes grew more and more restless.
Only after dawdling for a while did Qin Meng finally stroll out of the fort gate, heading toward Luming Mountain.
But at the fork at the foot of the mountain, he changed direction and took the rougher trail to the west.
"Huh? That kid's not going to Luming Mountain. What's he poking around Dawang Mountain for?" the triangular-eyed man whispered from behind a distant tree.
Song Zhong narrowed his eyes as he watched Qin Meng's retreating figure. He sneered. "All the better if he's looking for death. In a place like Dawang Mountain, they might not even find his corpse. Stay close. Once we're deep in the mountains, we'll make our move!"
The five men trailed after him in silence, like wolves stalking a lone prey.
Dawang Mountain was steep, with dense forests and thick undergrowth. It connected to Luming Mountain and stretched thousands of li northward. They said bandits were holed up there, and ordinary hunters dared not go near.
Qin Meng crossed into Dawang Mountain shortly after noon.
It was completely different from Luming Mountain. The trees were ancient, each one several people wide, and their canopies blocked out the sky and sun, leaving the forest dim. Vines coiled around the trunks like giant pythons, while thick layers of rotting leaves blanketed the ground, soft and silent underfoot.
He deliberately acted like an inexperienced hunter. Several times, he drew his bow and shot at pheasants and rabbits in the grass, and each arrow "just happened" to miss by a few inches.
A hundred zhang behind him, the pursuers watched from behind a pile of rocks.
"That's his archery? He must've gotten lucky as hell the other day," the burly man scoffed.
"Enough talk. Keep following," Song Zhong murmured. "Go three more li, to the cliff at Ghost-Fear Cliff. Then we'll make our move."
Qin Meng appeared completely unaware, but in truth, all his senses were alert.
Insects crawling thirty zhang away, leaves falling fifty zhang away, the five men's suppressed breathing more than a hundred zhang behind him—all of it reached his ears.
The physique he had gained from breaking through in saber skill had enhanced him in every way. Now, his arms held several thousand jin of force, enough to tear a tiger or leopard apart with his bare hands. His speed, strength, stamina, and reflexes all far surpassed what they had been before.
"About time..."
He calculated in his mind and suddenly quickened his pace, deliberately choosing the steepest, most difficult terrain.
The pursuers behind him had no choice but to hurry. As they pushed through the dense forest, they inevitably made some noise.
Qin Meng heard them clearly, the corner of his mouth curling into a cruel smile.
After another quarter of an hour, the surrounding forest had become truly wild. Ancient trees soared skyward, their tops visible only when he craned his neck. Roots twisted across the ground among jagged rocks, and several crevices in the stone plunged into darkness.
"Now this is a fine graveyard." Qin Meng surveyed the area, then slipped quietly into a patch of ferns and activated his Concealment talent to deal with the tail behind him—
He drove his Environmental Integration talent to its limit.
The blood in Qin Meng's body began to flow at a strange rhythm. His heartbeat gradually slowed, his breathing dwindled until it was barely audible, and his skin slowly turned green, blending with his surroundings as if he had merged into the forest.
Song Zhong and his men had followed Qin Meng all the way. But just after they rounded the valley, the figure searching for prey ahead vanished into thin air like a ghost.
"Where'd he go?" Skinny Monkey Song Zhong stopped and warily scanned the area.
Aside from the wind whispering through the treetops and the occasional birdsong, the forest was eerily silent.
Dense ancient trees, tangled vines, waist-high ferns, and jagged rocks formed a complicated landscape that severely obstructed their view.
"Spread out and search!"
Song Zhong's face darkened, and unease stirred in his heart. But when he remembered that Qin Meng was nothing more than a sick man who had only just gotten out of bed, he steadied himself.
"That kid's definitely hiding somewhere. Don't go too far apart. Call out if you find him!"
Before you continue