Restoration

"Innate Divine Strength..."

Song Yun opened his mouth, just about to speak, when a sharp pain struck his chest. His vision suddenly went black, and he crumpled to the ground.

He had already been gravely wounded, and after secretly gathering his Qi just now, he was now on the verge of burning out his last drop of oil.

Chu Zheng took two deep breaths. The stench of blood lingered around his nose, and his fingertips trembled faintly. The exhilaration of striking with all his strength had yet to fade.

After calming himself for a moment, he quickly stepped to Song Yun's side and checked his pulse.

The moment he sensed the pulse, Chu Zheng's expression changed slightly. The pulse beneath his fingers was chaotic, like rain dripping through a leaking roof while wind blew in from every direction. His spirit and vitality had scattered; it was almost no different from a Deathly pulse.

Before he could think further, a message suddenly surfaced from the Panel in his mind.

Song Yun (Zero Order): Has a fatal arrow wound in his chest. Residual poison remains in his body. After forcibly circulating Qi, he is on the verge of death. Can be restored (0/10)

This...

The information that had surfaced in his mind left Chu Zheng dazed for a moment. Even people could be restored?

Without stopping to think, Chu Zheng tentatively used two of today's refreshed restoration attempts.

Whoosh—

The effects of the two restorations were immediate. Song Yun's threadlike breathing instantly grew stronger, and his pulse gradually steadied. Though he remained severely injured, his life was no longer in danger.

"Lucky bastard."

Muttering under his breath, Chu Zheng hauled Song Yun up, dragged him into the room, and carefully shoved him beneath the bed to hide him.

He had no idea what was happening outside now. He could not drag Song Yun around with him.

Chu Zheng saved the remaining three attempts. Better safe than sorry. There were still eleven hours until the next refresh, so he had to leave himself some room to respond to unforeseen changes.

Before leaving, Chu Zheng turned the room upside down, then left the door unlocked and wide open as he strode away.

The pitch-black moonlit night had been dyed red by the blaze. Ancient pavilions that had stood for centuries were being swallowed by roaring flames, and the sight made Chu Zheng's heart twist like a knife.

As a former Antiquities Restorer, he could not bear to see such a scene.

Corpses lay strewn across the ground—escort guards, servants and maids of Song Manor, as well as masked figures clad in nightwear. Blood spattered the courtyard walls.

"Kill!"

After crossing two courtyards, Chu Zheng heard cries of battle, accompanied by the clear clangor of clashing weapons, growing louder and louder.

Chu Zheng tightened his grip on the Iron Mace and strode toward the sound. The moment he rounded a corner, he ran headlong into two men in black.

Both sides were startled. Chu Zheng was tall and powerfully built, with an Iron Mace in hand. Merely looking at him gave off seven parts ferocity, and with his robes stained in blood, he looked especially chilling beneath the moonlight.

The two men in black were equally burly, each holding a saber. Thick calluses covered their palms and fingers, and killing intent filled their eyes. One glance was enough to tell they were no easy opponents.

After several breaths of sizing each other up, both sides relaxed.

Though Chu Zheng could not yet clearly distinguish the strength of those who practiced the Martial Dao, he already had one foot through the gate of Qi refinement and could see Qi.

The density of Primordial Qi within these two men was not even comparable to that Martial Master whose head he had just smashed apart.

The two men in black raised their sabers in unison, vicious light flashing through their eyes. In their view, Chu Zheng's steps were heavy and loud, making it obvious that he possessed little skill:

"Just a brat who hasn't even condensed Qi. Cut off his head and hang it from the city walls tomorrow!"

"Hmph. He does have a decent face. Once Grandpa peels it off and makes it into a mask, at least that handsome mug of yours won't go to waste!"

Chu Zheng said nothing. The adrenaline surging madly through his body had already forced him to react first.

He suddenly stepped forward and swung the Iron Mace. His Tendons and Bones stretched taut, erupting in a string of crackling explosions like the roar of tigers and dragons. Wisps of hot vapor burst from his pores, as though a torch had been lit in a winter night, sending billowing white steam into the air!

"An External martial arts expert!"

As the Iron Mace descended with a shrill howl like exploding thunder, the two men in black instantly understood. Their faces changed drastically as they instinctively tried to pull back.

But it was already too late. In the blink of an eye, the two Iron Maces had crashed down upon their heads.

They reacted just as the man in black at the Storehouse had before: raising their sabers to block, sinking into a horse stance, and bracing the backs of their blades with their shoulders.

Clang!

Yet the immense force behind the Iron Maces far exceeded their expectations. The sabers forged from refined steel shattered in an instant, and broken fragments of blade sank deeply into bone and flesh.

Crack—

The remaining force that had yet to dissipate crushed the two men against the broad bluestone slabs. Half the bones in their bodies shattered, leaving them unable to rise again.

Chu Zheng pulled back the Iron Mace and swung it again without the slightest hesitation, smashing both their heads apart.

In an instant, life and death had been decided.

"If you wanted to kill, then kill. Why set fires?"

Chu Zheng muttered, shaking his hand to fling the blood clinging to the Iron Mace away. His teeth nearly ground together as he said:

"If later generations want to restore this, do you know how much painstaking effort it will take?"

They truly deserved to die!

History bore so many gaps precisely because of merciless fires like this. Who knew how many earth-shattering secrets had been buried within these blazing flames.

This was a man-made disaster.

Chu Zheng quickened his pace and soon reached the Front Courtyard.

The Front Courtyard had already become a Sea of Fire. Aside from shouts of battle, all he could hear was the crackling roar of houses and pavilions burning.

Chu Zheng raced through the Sea of Fire. Whenever he saw someone wearing night clothes, he raised his hand and smashed them with the Iron Mace. None could withstand even a single exchange.

Before long, he arrived at the Training Ground nearby.

The Training Ground had become a chaotic battlefield. People fought everywhere, and at a glance, there were no fewer than several dozen combatants.

The most conspicuous among them was Song Tonghai. Three people surrounded him, yet every gesture he made brimmed with piercing sharpness. His blood and Qi burned like a blazing furnace, and his exhalations boomed like thunder. He was undoubtedly a Grandmaster.

Not far from him, Song Lingxue in her blue robes was equally eye-catching. She too was under siege, surrounded by no fewer than six men in black.

Song Tonghai fought one against three without showing any sign of defeat, but Song Lingxue in the distance was already in grave peril.

After one fierce battle after another, the hair she had originally tied up had begun to come loose and danced in the wind. Her clothes were stained with blood, and through the slit in her torn garment, the silver Inner Armor beneath could faintly be seen.

Suddenly, the battle changed. Song Tonghai took a palm strike from one Grandmaster head-on, then turned and slashed out a streak of azure Sword Qi.

The Sword Qi howled through the air and, from several yards away, severed a man in black's head. Blood erupted like a surging spring, spraying several yards high and making Chu Zheng's heart tighten.

Grandmasters truly differed from ordinary martial artists. They already possessed astonishing methods.

He did not know whether he could withstand that strike himself.

With one enemy gone, the pressure on Song Lingxue sharply diminished, giving her a brief chance to catch her breath. Song Tonghai, however, was gradually falling into a disadvantage.

Chu Zheng did not rashly intervene. The battle was dangerous now, but it could still barely maintain its balance. If he barged in recklessly, he might instead turn something clever into something clumsy.

Chu Zheng scanned the Training Ground, and a plan soon formed in his mind. He silently moved into a corner.

Not far away stood straw targets, with longbows and sharp arrows hanging from racks. This was a small target range for practicing archery.

Crack—

Chu Zheng picked up a bucket of fletched arrows and snapped off their heads one by one, turning them into palm-length Throwing Darts.

He knew nothing of archery, but in his Previous Life, he had been quite skilled with Throwing Darts. He had even won awards in professional competitions.