Dark clouds hung low over Blackwater County, pressing down like a vast black pot turned upside down, sealing the entire county town beneath its lid.
The rain still refused to fall. A damp, stifling heat filled the air, weighing on people's chests until even breathing felt like hard work.
It was just like the saying: when a storm was brewing in the mountains, the wind already filled the tower.
In the courtyard of the Five Animals Martial Hall, Yuan Long sent all the disciples away, including those at the Manifest Energy stage.
Some knew that something major was about to happen. They said nothing, quietly returned their martial hall uniforms, clasped their fists, and took their leave.
Others had red-rimmed eyes and insisted they would face hardship alongside the martial hall, that they would rather die than leave.
Yuan Long drove them all away.
Not a single one remained.
Blackwater County had seven great martial halls: Five Animals, Kaishan, Thunderbolt, Through-Back, White Cloud, Coiling Dragon, and Clear Wind. Together, the seven martial halls had eleven Transformation Energy martial artists.
Among them, Five Animals, White Cloud, and Clear Wind each had one Transformation Energy martial artist, while the other four had two apiece.
It was a force that could not be underestimated.
No wonder Zhang Wei, the battalion's Thousand-Household Official, was so eager to bring Blackwater County under his control.
Jiang Tian had spent the entire day practicing his fists without pause.
He tossed Blood Vitality Pills into his mouth one after another like candy beans, swallowing them whole without even chewing. He let the warmth burst open in his stomach, turning into surging blood vitality that flowed into every limb and bone.
[Drip! You possess the Martial Dao Sacred Body and Heaven-Defying Comprehension! Five Animals Creation Play +33!] [Drip! You possess the Martial Dao Sacred Body and Heaven-Defying Comprehension! Five Animals Creation Play +33!] [Drip! You possess the Martial Dao Sacred Body and Heaven-Defying Comprehension! Five Animals Creation Play +33!]
His fists howled through the air, and sweat poured like rain.
The bluestone slabs beneath his feet had been pressed into a shallow ring of dents, marks left by repeatedly applying force and grinding them underfoot.
Tomorrow was the day Zhang Wei would host his banquet.
Today, the county magistrate and the other six martial hall masters had gathered at the Five Animals Martial Hall to discuss what would happen tomorrow.
County Magistrate Fang Ping had three Transformation Energy martial artists under him. Counting himself, though his injuries had yet to heal, they could just about make four.
The seven martial halls had eleven Transformation Energy martial artists, bringing the total to fifteen.
Zhang Wei and the Three Great Families, meanwhile, had thirteen in all.
At least on the surface, their side had the advantage.
No wonder Yuan Long was so confident.
The group had shut themselves inside a room to discuss matters in secret, with the doors and windows closed and their voices kept low.
Jiang Tian had not joined them. His mind was free of distractions, fixed on nothing but his fists.
Almost there.
Only the final step remained before Transformation Energy.
[Drip! You possess the Martial Dao Sacred Body and Heaven-Defying Comprehension! Five Animals Creation Play +33!] [Drip! You possess the Martial Dao Sacred Body and Heaven-Defying Comprehension! Five Animals Creation Play +33!] [Martial Art: Five Animals Creation Play (Perfected) (1967+/2000)] [Drip! You possess the Martial Dao Sacred Body and Heaven-Defying Comprehension! Five Animals Creation Play +33!]
"Vmmmm—"
The instant the progress bar filled, the energy inside Jiang Tian seemed like a barrel of gunpowder with its fuse lit. A deep hum rumbled through him, spreading outward from deep within his dantian in rippling waves.
He could feel the energy in his body undergoing a qualitative transformation.
It coursed through him, passing along every meridian, vibrating every acupoint, and washing through his five viscera and six bowels.
His sinews and bones rang together with a low tremor, as if a slumbering giant beast inside him had slowly opened its eyes.
"Crack, crack, crack—"
His bones creaked, his blood boiled, and a faint golden sheen appeared on the surface of his skin, vanishing in an instant.
After an unknown amount of time, the trembling finally subsided.
Jiang Tian slowly raised his clenched fist, opened his palm, and focused his mind.
A surge of invisible energy instantly burst from his palm, its lines sharply defined.
Though invisible, the energy made a faint ripple in the air, like heat haze rising from an asphalt road at noon in summer, warping the light.
The greatest difference between Transformation Energy and Manifest Energy lay in the ability to give energy form.
The energy in his palm first condensed into a tiger the size of his hand, baring its claws and teeth, vivid as life. Then it became a bumbling brown bear, round as a ball, yet radiating a heavy, oppressive force.
His five senses had grown sharper, too.
After acquiring the Innate Martial Bone, he had already gained senses no less acute than those of a Transformation Energy martial artist. Now that he had broken through to Transformation Energy, he had also mastered all five of the Five Animals Creation Play's forms. Bird in the Rain was specifically meant to enhance the five senses.
[Innate Martial Bone] + [Bird in the Rain] + the five senses of a Transformation Energy martial artist.
With the three powers stacked together, his five senses had reached an astonishing level.
He even felt that with a mere shift of his thoughts, he could clearly sense every stir within fifty meters: the antennae of ants colliding underground, the angle at which each leaf swayed in the wind, even the sound of the barbs on a stray cat's tongue scraping against its fur as it licked its paw in the neighboring alley...
Nothing escaped him, down to the tiniest detail.
Naturally, every word of the discussion inside the room reached his ears.
And now, they were coming out.
The first to emerge was Fang Ping, the county magistrate of Blackwater County.
He wore no official robes, only a plain white outfit with a dark sash around his waist.
His face was stern without anger, and the authority of someone long accustomed to high office showed between his brows. Yet his lips were still pale, and his vigor was clearly lacking, giving him the air of someone who had only just recovered from a serious illness.
Jiang Tian had just broken through to Transformation Energy, and his aura was not yet under perfect control. He was like a newly unsheathed sword, its sharpness exposed for all to see.
Fang Ping's gaze had barely swept over him before it suddenly stopped.
His eyes widened, his pupils contracted, and his voice trembled with barely restrained shock. "Transformation Energy?!"
His startled cry made everyone following behind him freeze in confusion.
Once they had all stepped into the courtyard and sensed Jiang Tian's aura, every face bore the same expression.
Shock.
Wasn't this kid still at Manifest Energy when they'd gone inside just now?
They had only been in the room talking for a little while, and he had already reached Transformation Energy?
There was nothing especially rare about someone of his age reaching Manifest Energy. They were a dime a dozen. But Transformation Energy was another matter. Across all of Blackwater County, the number of people who had reached it before the age of thirty could be counted on one hand.
And... why did the way this kid was looking at them feel so strange?
In Jiang Tian's eyes, these people had turned into walking "experience packs."
Purple, blue, and green traits hung over their heads in a riot of colors, like trees laden with fruit.
The most outrageous was County Magistrate Fang Ping. Three purple traits were hanging clearly above his head!
Jiang Tian's mouth twitched slightly.
Over the next while, a string of pleasant notification chimes kept ringing in his mind.
[Extraction successful! Obtained 3,000 trait points!] [Extraction successful! Obtained 1,500 trait points!] [Extraction successful! Obtained 800 trait points!]
Those trait points still left him a long way from upgrading a red trait. A hundred-thousand-point threshold was not something a few meals could fill. But when a whole flock of sheep walked right up to you, how could you not shear them?
Fang Ping sighed at length, his expression complicated. "The younger generation is truly formidable!"
"Tsk, tsk, tsk!" The master of the White Cloud Martial Hall sidled over, looking Jiang Tian up and down before turning to Yuan Long. "Yuan Long, with such a fine disciple, why have we never heard a thing? You've kept him hidden awfully well!"
"You sly old fox, Yuan Long! How did I never realize you were so good at hiding things?"
The other martial hall masters joined in, their laughter rising and falling.
Yuan Long wore a complicated expression as well. Standing among the crowd, he twitched the corners of his mouth, at a loss for words.
He had thought Jiang Tian would need more time before reaching Transformation Energy.
But he... had still underestimated the boy's rate of progress.
"Good, good, good!" one of the masters clapped his hands, beaming. "With another Transformation Energy martial artist on our side, even if Zhang Wei flips the table, we'll have a little more confidence!"
As soon as he finished speaking, someone scoffed, his tone dismissive. "Zhou Ming, you're giving this kid too much credit. He's only just reached Transformation Energy."
It was Liu Tian, master of the Kaishan Martial Hall, who had spoken.
He had the build of a tiger and a bear, with a square face and thick, heavy eyebrows. Standing there, he looked like a wall.
Zhou Ming frowned and retorted unhappily, "Liu Tian, reaching Transformation Energy at his age is certainly worth celebrating. Why are you making such sour remarks? How old were you when you reached Transformation Energy? Don't you know?"
"Hmph!" Liu Tian grunted, his face showing a trace of disdain. "Old Zhou, I'm only telling it like it is. You know Transformation Energy is all about controlling your energy. This kid has just broken through. He might not even be able to shape his energy properly yet. In a real fight, he might not be much stronger than someone at Manifest Energy."
As soon as he finished speaking, Jiang Tian spoke from the middle of the courtyard.
"Hall Master Liu."
Jiang Tian stood tall and unbowed, straight as a pine. His voice was not loud, yet it carried clearly to every person present.
"Since you say that, why don't you come test me?"
The instant he said this, the air fell silent.
The courtyard was so quiet they could hear the wind whispering through the leaves.
What had they just heard?
This kid, who had only just reached Transformation Energy, was challenging the long-established master of the Kaishan Martial Hall?
"What a fearless young calf!"
Liu Tian immediately stepped forward. Energy surged around him, and the air itself warped faintly, as if an invisible flame were burning across his body.
He turned to Yuan Long and grinned, revealing two rows of gleaming white teeth. "Yuan Long, since your disciple put it that way, I'm going to test him. You don't mind, do you?"
Everyone's eyes turned toward Yuan Long in unison.
County Magistrate Fang Ping frowned and urged him, "Yuan Long, talk some sense into your disciple. Old Liu is the master of a martial hall, after all. If he injures your gifted disciple, won't that sour relations between us?"
"Exactly, exactly," the others chimed in.
Yuan Long glanced at Jiang Tian, standing in the middle of the courtyard not far away, his expression a little odd.
There was no telling who would win.
But judging by the power of Jiang Tian's last punch, Liu Tian might not be able to hurt him.
That was what he thought, but he said, "This is just the chance to take my disciple down a peg. A young man can stand to lose a little."
Since even Yuan Long had said so, Liu Tian burst out laughing.
"Good! In that case, I'll take your disciple down a peg!"
With that, he turned toward Jiang Tian, lifting his chin slightly as he looked down on him. "Come on, boy."
Unexpectedly, Jiang Tian did not move.
Instead, he held out his palm, spread his fingers, and beckoned to Liu Tian.
"How arrogant!"
Liu Tian's brows jumped, and a nameless fire surged up from his chest.
He lunged forward with a punch, his body like a cannonball just fired from its barrel, and closed the distance to Jiang Tian in an instant.
The moment his fist shot out, a peal like thunder seemed to explode through the air, making everyone's eardrums buzz.
"He's already using his Momentum?" Zhou Ming frowned. "Old Liu's temper is as fierce as ever!"
"Keep an eye on Old Liu. Stop him if you have to," Fang Ping ordered the person beside him in a low voice. "This boy has a bright future. Don't let him get hurt over something so trivial."
However.
The next moment nearly made everyone's eyes pop out of their heads.
Jiang Tian shifted aside, his body as light as a fawn in the woods. He seemed to move slowly, with the unhurried ease of someone strolling through a garden, yet in that single sidestep, he effortlessly dodged Liu Tian's earth-shattering punch.
The punch's wind brushed past his robes and smashed into the empty space behind him. With a boom, the bluestone slabs shattered, sending fragments flying everywhere.
Jiang Tian's robes fluttered, but he was completely unharmed.
He stood three paces from Liu Tian, his expression calm, even wearing a faint smile.
A deathly silence fell over the courtyard.
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