The Hunt

Zhou Heng unfolded the Flying Cloud Steps, his speed like lightning, and he quickly vanished several li into the distance.

He found a clean, hidden tree hollow to conceal himself, continuing to recover his True Essence Power. After most of a day, he reopened his eyes, a cold gleam flashing through them like a streak of lightning.

Not only had his cultivation fully recovered, but it had also made subtle progress, leaping straight to the peak of the sixth layer of Body Refining!

He could now attempt to break through to the Bone Refining Realm!

Zhou Heng's heart burned with a bellyful of rage. Shi Gang and his three companions were utterly ungrateful, showing not a shred of gratitude but instead harboring greed and murderous intent toward him. People like that no longer deserved to live in this world!

Once he broke through to the seventh layer of Body Refining, the first thing he would do was kill those four ungrateful beasts!

Zhou Heng calmed his mind, cast aside all distracting thoughts, and entered a state of utter stillness. He circulated his True Essence Power and began to assault the barrier of the Bone Refining Realm!

The Skin Refining Realm was the easiest—as long as one wasn't as dumb as a pig, they could enter it within ten days and take the first step on the martial path. The Flesh Refining Realm was far harder to break through; at most, only half of ten martial artists could manage it.

But the Bone Refining Realm was a true watershed, enough to weed out ninety percent of martial artists!

The Zhou Family had three hundred and twenty-seven members in the Flesh Refining Realm, but only a mere seventy-four had reached the Bone Refining Realm. Those in the Blood Refining Realm were even fewer—just six!

Clearly, the further one walked the martial path, the more arduous it became!

From this, one could also see how crucial comprehension was. The higher the realm, the more prominently comprehension mattered.

Zhou Heng was neither impatient nor reckless. He merged his body with the heavens and connected his heart to nature. The Heaven-Soaring Nine Styles Manual turned over in his mind, and nine black broken swords danced amid a brilliant river of stars, as if they could suppress the ages and eternity.

He began to assault the barrier of the Bone Refining Realm.

The twelve layers of Body Refining involved storing True Essence Power step by step into the skin, flesh, bones, and blood, illuminating the entire human body. At the peak of Flesh Refining, the muscle layer was incredibly dense, making it extremely difficult to break through this obstacle.

The Heaven-Soaring Nine Styles swirled and danced within his body, and his True Essence Power transformed into countless black swords, launching a fierce assault on the muscle layer. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—like ten thousand arrows shooting in unison, the muscles on his left hand were the first to be pierced through by True Essence Power, advancing toward the bones.

Then came his right hand, lower abdomen, left shoulder, right leg, spreading throughout his entire body.

Boom!

His body trembled, and his eyes snapped open. In each pupil appeared a black sword darker than the deepest night, which gradually faded away.

Bone Refining Realm!

Zhou Heng looked up at the starry sky. The moon had not yet reached its zenith; breaking through to the Bone Refining Realm had taken him at most three hours.

Back then, his father Zhou Dinghai had taken nearly a month!

Zhou Heng did not grow complacent. His journey outside had greatly broadened his horizons. In Raw Stone Town, his cultivation speed could be called monstrous, but out in the wider world, while still astonishing, there might well be those who could surpass him.

He quietly waited for midnight to arrive.

Hum. The black broken sword in his Dantian vibrated, releasing a large amount of free energy at the appointed time, surging through his blood and coursing through his body. Zhou Heng looked inward and could immediately tell that the amount released had increased again.

He activated the Moon Shadow Heart Art, absorbing all this free energy. His skin and flesh layers were already saturated with True Essence Power, while the bone layer, now opened up, greedily sucked in the energy like a starving infant.

This process of absorption was also a process of tempering his physique.

Half an hour later, Zhou Heng stopped. The free energy in his body had been fully absorbed. He roughly estimated that it would take about a month to reach the peak of the seventh layer of Body Refining!

Zhou Heng stood up, stretching his limbs. Feeling the surging power within him after breaking through his limits, it seemed even a towering mountain before him could be shattered to pieces!

Bang! He threw a punch, and the tree in front of him, as thick as a bowl, immediately snapped and fell, kicking up a cloud of dust.

"At the peak of Flesh Refining, I had about three thousand jin of strength. Now, though I've just broken through, my power has already reached four thousand jin!" Zhou Heng showed a satisfied smile. The fastest increase in strength came right after a breakthrough, then it would gradually slow until he hit the next realm's barrier, unable to advance further.

Normally, this increase of a thousand jin would take at least a month or more, but the Black Sword was a supreme treasure, directly gifting Zhou Heng a vast amount of pure free energy, shortening the process to a mere forty minutes.

He leaned against the tree trunk and slept for the night. At dawn, he set out immediately and returned to the place where he had encountered the four from the Shi Family. On the ground, he saw a large patch of scorch marks.

It seemed that after the four Shi men had taken everything valuable from the Golden-Crowned Snake, they had set fire to the remaining corpse, determined to leave him nothing.

Zhou Heng carefully examined the surrounding traces, then leaped forward, dashing off toward the southeast.

—The four Shi men couldn't have gone far!

He ran continuously, stopping from time to time to check his bearings and make sure he hadn't strayed. After entering the Bone Refining Realm, his speed had greatly improved. About three hours later, he arrived at a stretch of muddy ground, where four distinct footprints stretched straight ahead.

Activating the Flying Cloud Steps, he moved as lightly as a feather, skimming over the wet ground. Each step left only a shallow imprint, quickly erased by the mud's natural elasticity.

Another seven or eight hours passed, and the sky grew dim. Tracking became difficult. Just then, Zhou Heng spotted a faint flicker of firelight in the distance.

Found them!

He leaped into the air, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—after a dozen bounds, the firelight ahead grew brighter. Shi Gang and his three companions were sitting around a campfire, roasting chunks of meat. The fragrant smell reached him even from here.

That was Golden-Crowned Snake meat!

A surge of anger welled up in Zhou Heng's heart. Back in the Zhou Family, he had endured the contempt of his clansmen, but he had never seen such shameless, ungrateful scum as these four from the Shi Family. It made his killing intent boil over!

He jumped down from a tree and strode toward the fire, calling out, "You four beasts in human skin, mind if I borrow some fire?"

"What!" Shi Gang and the others all sprang to their feet, staring at Zhou Heng in disbelief, as if they had seen a ghost!

This kid actually dared to come back on his own?

And he dared to call them beasts?

"Oh, calling you beasts is an insult to those four-legged creatures. You... are worse than beasts!" Zhou Heng said with a faint smile, but a chilling murderous aura rose on his face. "You're just wasting food by living!"

"Looking for death!" The four Shi men roared in unison. Clang, clang, clang—their weapons were drawn, all pointing at Zhou Heng.

Shi Gang's gaze was cold and calculating. His mind was far deeper. Since Zhou Heng dared to pursue them, he must have some backing. No one was stupid enough to come and die on their own!

Could it be that the great killer weapon he used to obliterate the Golden-Crowned Snake was usable again?

Was that even possible? Only a little over a day had passed!

No, this kid's aura... Bone Refining Realm!

The other three from the Shi Family also sensed the drastic change in Zhou Heng's aura, and each of them showed expressions of great shock!

It wasn't that the Bone Refining Realm was anything special, but Zhou Heng had clearly been at Body Refining sixth layer just yesterday! To go from Body Refining sixth layer to seventh layer was a major realm breakthrough—how could it be completed in a single night!

What kind of freak was this!

Absolutely impossible! There was no such monster in the world. This kid must have used some special method to conceal his aura yesterday! Yes, that would also explain how he managed to kill the Golden-Crowned Snake!

Having "figured out" this point, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

"Who are you?" Shi Gang walked toward Zhou Heng, his Green Blade drawn, gleaming with a cold, sharp light.

"One who slaughters chickens and dogs!" Zhou Heng said flatly, showing no sign of yielding.

"All bark and no bite!" Shi Gang shot a glance, and the other three spread out, encircling Zhou Heng. Once they were all in position, he revealed a cruel grin. "Kill!"

The four lunged at once, their blades cutting through the night air, aimed at Zhou Heng's head, neck, shoulders, and chest.

Zhou Heng let out a long howl, activated Flying Cloud Steps, and closed in on one of them in an instant. He thrust his longsword straight at the man's chest.

The Shi Family man's face twisted in terror, for this sword strike completely bypassed his defense, as if the weapon in his hand was nothing but a decoration, utterly useless.

"Save—" He opened his mouth to call for help, but only got out a single word before it was cut short. His vision went dark, and he never opened his eyes again!

Zhou Heng pulled his sword back, and a gush of blood sprayed from the man's chest. The man was only at Body Refining sixth layer. Zhou Heng didn't even need to use the sword intent of the Heaven-Soaring Nine Styles; he could see through the flaws in his opponent's moves at a glance and kill with a single strike!

"You little bastard!"

"How dare you!"

Shi Gang and the other two were both furious and shocked. They hadn't expected Zhou Heng's combat power to be so terrifying. While it was true that a Body Refining sixth layer was no match for a Bone Refining Realm martial artist, dying in a single blow was still too exaggerated!

"Wind Sweeping Clouds!" Shi Gang roared in anger, swinging his saber to unleash a fierce gale of force, as if even the air itself was about to be torn apart.

He was a genius of the Shi Family. For Zhou Heng to kill someone right in front of him was like slapping him in the face!

"Die!" He had to kill this brat, or else who in the family would still follow him? He couldn't even protect his own men!

He was called one of the two geniuses of the Shi Family for a reason. This single saber strike filled the air with a storm of sharp saber qi!

This guy was strong!

Zhou Heng's eyes narrowed, but his mind instantly entered a state of absolute calm, like an ancient, still well. He swung his sword, executing the Flying Waterfall Sword Technique.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

A series of sparks flew, and Zhou Heng retreated five meters, his expression turning serious.

Shi Gang's face was even uglier. Though he hadn't taken a single step back, a wound had appeared on his left arm, cut by Zhou Heng's sword. If he hadn't reacted in time, it wouldn't have been just a wound—his entire hand might have been severed!

This kid's strength wasn't as great as his, but his ability to exploit openings was terrifying!

Wind Sweeping Clouds was one of the three most powerful moves in the Shi Family's two great techniques, the Wind-Cloud Saber Technique. Yet, not only had this move failed to take off Zhou Heng's head, it had left him with a minor injury!

And... he raised his saber, only to see a small notch had appeared on the blade!