Breakthrough Once More

Besides Cui Kui, who charged like a tiger descending the mountain, shadowy figures filled the surrounding forest, closing in on Shen Yi from all sides.

Shen Yi turned and ran without hesitation.

He had never practiced qinggong. All he could do was circulate his inner force into his feet and sprint deeper into the mountains.

With every step, Shen Yi's leg muscles swelled in an instant, leaving shallow footprints behind. He shot forward like an arrow loosed from the bow, covering several zhang in a flash.

The pursuing Pacification Office men soon began to fall behind one another. The yamen runners who had not reached the Entry Realm and had never practiced qinggong were the first to be left behind.

After several breaths, even the Black Guards who had reached the Entry Realm but lacked qinggong gradually failed to keep up. They could only watch the figure ahead grow ever more distant.

Clinging close behind Shen Yi were Cui Kui with his broad saber, several Black Guards who had entered the Third-Rate level, and several Entry Realm fighters with decent qinggong.

Of them all, Cui Kui was the fastest.

Though built like a bear, he was remarkably nimble and swift. With a single stride, he could sweep across several zhang without touching down.

He clearly possessed a fairly advanced qinggong movement technique.

Cui Kui, though setting off later, caught up first. In a few more steps, he would be behind Shen Yi, cold light filling his eyes as his broad saber stood ready to claim Shen Yi's head.

The remaining two Third-Rate Black Guards and two qinggong experts were slightly slower than Cui Kui, but they could barely keep pace in case anything unexpected happened.

The sun set beyond the mountains.

The forest darkened.

To keep from slowing down, Shen Yi used his horizontal saber to cut a path, protecting his vital points with inner force as he smashed through layer upon layer of brush, branches, and fallen leaves.

His coarse clothes were shredded to tatters in an instant.

Among those chasing behind him, only Cui Kui had better eyesight and could use his movement technique to evade some of the branches. The others fared no better, howling and yelping as branches lashed them.

Having suffered for it, some lacked Shen Yi's desperate resolve to flee for their lives, and their pursuit slowed even further.

Suddenly, Shen Yi saw flickering firelight ahead and narrowed his eyes slightly.

A stern shout came from the firelight.

"Who goes there at such a speed!"

"The Pacification Office is handling a case here. Halt!"

Shen Yi did not hesitate.

He immediately changed direction and swept northward instead.

Cui Kui, following behind, cursed at the top of his lungs:

"You idiot! Who the hell races through a forest in the dead of night if not a wanted fugitive? Surround him!"

The Captain leading the group suddenly came to his senses.

He immediately shouted for the Captains and yamen runners behind him to follow Cui Kui and chase Shen Yi up the mountain.

Shen Yi counted silently. Since encountering the Pacification Office, he had already run into four groups, Cui Kui's included.

The Pacification Office men sent outside the city to apprehend him must have all gone up the mountain, driving him farther uphill.

The forest behind him rustled.

Cui Kui was already within arm's reach.

It was time.

With a thought, Shen Yi poured the full two years and four months he had gained from killing his enemies into the Fragmentary Array Breaker Art!

In the first year of secluded cultivation, you continued to focus your mind on comprehending and practicing the Fragmentary Array Breaker Art, firmly believing that perseverance would prevail.

In the second year of secluded cultivation, you relentlessly forged ahead. The meridians within your body opened like waterways spreading across a river basin. Your inner force flowed and circulated, forming a greater heavenly circuit. Your Array Breaker Art reached the major accomplishment realm.

After another four months, you thoroughly consolidated the major accomplishment realm of the Fragmentary Array Breaker Art. Your inner force brimmed full, your spirit and vitality were complete, and your cultivation stepped into the Second-Class Realm.

Host: Shen Yi

Cultivation: Second-Class Realm

Martial Arts: Wind Severing Saber Technique (Complete), Bone Dislocation Hand (Beginner), Fragmentary Array Breaker Art (Major Accomplishment)
Special Skill: Listening Wind Slash

Secluded Cultivation: None

Shen Yi's eyes changed in an instant.

The layered shadows of trees before him no longer seemed so dark. His eyesight had clearly improved by a tremendous degree.

When he focused his mind,

he could even see the veins on leaves in the darkness.

The sounds entering his ears also became ever clearer. Beyond the natural melody of the forest came the increasingly urgent howl of wind behind him.

That was Cui Kui, right on his heels.

The other pursuers

had already been left far behind by the two of them.

Ahead,

Shen Yi faintly heard the rushing crash of cascading water. The trees on both sides gradually thinned, and the mountain path widened.

A cliff abruptly appeared before him.

A torrential waterfall plunged from the lofty cliffside into a bottomless abyss. Beneath the moonlight, it hung like a silver jade ribbon.

Before such a magnificent sight, wild laughter rang out behind Shen Yi:

"Shen Yi, you have nowhere left to run!"

"Pay for my Ben'er's life!"

Cui Kui tapped off the ground with his toes, flipped through the air, and swept his broad saber sideways with a roar. It seemed to tear through the air, releasing a piercing shriek.

"Falling Moon over the River!"

The corners of Shen Yi's lips curled slightly. He sprang into the air, his horizontal saber leaving its sheath with a ringing clang. As his body inverted, he swung his blade to meet the attack.

This stroke seemed to stir the moonlight across the heavens, making it shimmer upon the blade. He slashed sideways while hanging upside down, like the river and moon merging into one, a single line cutting across the air.

It was the same move—"Falling Moon over the River!"

Cui Kui's leopard eyes suddenly widened!

How was this possible?

It was the same Wind Severing Blade! Even the exact same saber move!

Yet Shen Yi had struck from such a tricky angle.

And still, his strike left no trace to follow, seamless and natural, with almost no flaw to be found!

Moreover, Shen Yi's horizontal saber, though launched later, arrived first.

His blade struck the weak point in Cui Kui's saber force halfway through its course!

Clang! Cui Kui's broad saber, which looked as though it weighed dozens of jin, was knocked aside by Shen Yi's seemingly weightless stroke.

Cui Kui was forced back half a step, horror written across his face.

"What realm has your saber technique reached?!"

"And your inner art far exceeds what we expected. You must have sneaked into Ben'er's room long ago and secretly practiced the Array Breaker Art!"

His voice brimmed with fury, convinced that he had uncovered the truth.

"Did Ben'er discover your sneaky deeds yesterday, so you murdered him to silence him?!"

Shen Yi tilted his head, his horizontal saber pointing diagonally downward.

"?"

"Niu Ben was cruel and inhuman, murdering the prostitutes of Clearwater Alley. You have not mentioned that even once?"

Shen Yi's expression remained calm as one hand brushed over the gleaming blade.

"I do not have as many twisted thoughts as you people. I killed Niu Ben simply because I did not like the sight of him."

Clang!

The blade pointed straight at Cui Kui.

Cold light filled Shen Yi's eyes.

"I am killing you now for exactly the same reason—I do not like the sight of you either!"

Cui Kui roared:

"Arrogant!"

His broad saber thrust forward.

Holding the saber in both hands, Cui Kui lunged ahead like a bullfighter charging in, like a strongman stirring up towering waves as he swept upward at Shen Yi.

The blade seemed to heave up surging waves, crashing toward Shen Yi. This was no longer the Wind Severing Saber Technique.

It was another art of the Strategists—the Azure Wave Saber Technique.

It emphasized overwhelming one's opponent with sheer momentum, each stroke sweeping out like raging waves without end.

Yet before the wave's force could rise,

a lightning-fast saber flash had already cut diagonally into the tail of the Azure Wave. A rapid burst of clashes rang out, then the blade's momentum withdrew before suddenly slashing diagonally in a drawing-blade motion.

A saber force weighing a thousand jun—Drawing Blade to Sever the Stream!

The wave-like saber shadows Cui Kui had unleashed came to an abrupt halt, his broad saber pinned down by a horizontal saber.

Shen Yi's eyes were like icy blades stabbing into Cui Kui's soul, while the horizontal saber in his hand spun like a rushing wind.

It swept across Cui Kui's throat with almost no pause. Blood mist spread through the air like the night wind whispering low.

"Y-you, your saber technique..."

"Could it have already reached major accomplishment?!"

Cui Kui's face was filled with disbelief.

In the entire Southern District Garrison, including himself, there was no one whose saber technique had reached such a miraculous height...

Of course, except Shen Yi.

Shen Yi flicked his horizontal saber, shaking the blood from its edge.

"No. Complete."

Thud. Cui Kui fell stiffly to the ground, his eyes left open in death.

Shen Yi let out a long breath. At last, his thoughts were fully unblocked.

Killed a Second-Class Realm martial artist. Secluded cultivation time awarded: three years and two months