Turning Point

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The youth blocking his path was called Zhou Kan. He was the same age as Zhou Heng, seventeen. But his cultivation was far higher than Zhou Heng's; he had already reached the Sixth Layer of Body Refining, only one step away from entering the Bone Refining Realm!

Zhou Kan's father was Zhou Jianming, whose talent had also been quite good. Unfortunately, he had been born into the same generation as a genius like Zhou Dinghai! Beneath Zhou Dinghai's halo, Zhou Jianming had naturally been overshadowed, forever the tragic figure used as a green leaf to highlight another.

Because of this, Zhou Jianming hated Zhou Dinghai to the bone. Sadly, no matter how hard he tried, he could never catch up with Zhou Dinghai's footsteps—even though Zhou Dinghai spent most of his time searching for spiritual medicines for Zhou Heng.

What comforted him was that his son had inherited his talent and reached the Sixth Layer of Body Refining at an early age, a height Zhou Heng could not even glimpse by looking up.

Under Zhou Jianming's secret prompting, Zhou Kan had always made trouble for Zhou Heng. No one knew how many times situations like this had happened before.

"Big trash, what's wrong? Gone deaf?" Zhou Kan said with a giggle. In the past, he had done it at his father's command, but now it had become a habit. It seemed that if he did not bully Zhou Heng once a day, his whole body would feel uncomfortable.

Zhou Heng looked coldly at him. This fellow dared to be so arrogant because his grandfather was also a Lineage elder!

According to the Zhou Family's clan rules, anyone who reached the Blood Refining Realm could become an elder, regardless of age or seniority. Once one became an elder, one entered the Zhou Family's center of power, wielding far more authority than the merely symbolic family head!

Zhou Kan's grandfather, Zhou Xianming, was at the Twelfth Layer of Body Refining. He was the Zhou Family's foremost expert and the highest-ranking elder, holding a lofty position and great power! Moreover, Zhou Dinghai spent all year away searching for spiritual medicines to "treat" Zhou Heng, which was why Zhou Jianming dared to instruct his son to humiliate him.

"Get lost!" Zhou Heng said flatly, moving to go around him.

—The other party could only throw his weight around with his mouth. He did not dare truly make a move, after all; Zhou Heng was not some pitiful child without a father!

"Big trash, your good days are about to end!" Zhou Kan shifted his feet and blocked Zhou Heng again. "In a little over three months, it'll be the Year-End Ceremony. The Lineage rules state that anyone who reaches eighteen without entering the Flesh Refining Realm will be struck from the family register. They may no longer cultivate and must instead go into business to earn profits for the Lineage!"

"When you see me in the future, remember to call me sir!"

"And as for this crotch, you'll have to crawl through it whether you want to or not! Hahaha, hahahaha!"

Zhou Kan laughed loudly, full of smug delight.

Zhou Heng frowned. It was true—the Lineage did have such a rule.

Although the Zhou Family was Raw Stone Town's only martial lineage, ruling over more than two thousand townspeople, its income was high and so were its expenses, especially the cost of supporting martial artists' cultivation!

Martial artists cultivated by drawing energy from food and converting it into their own True Essence Power. Thus, martial artists had enormous appetites. Eating five or six meals a day was ordinary; even ** meals a day was not unusual. And the amount eaten at every meal could match a normal family of three's food for an entire day!

That alone was enough to eat a moderately well-off household into poverty!

The entire Zhou Family had nearly four hundred members. If everyone cultivated, even the Zhou Family's wealth could not bear the burden. Therefore, the Lineage had established this rule, sending those clansmen with poor aptitude who were unsuited to martial cultivation into business, where they could in turn support the Lineage's martial artists.

Such sacrifice was necessary!

Without powerful martial strength, how could the Zhou Family protect its estate? Pursuing equal distribution would bring only one result: the Zhou Family's decline!

Though doing business also contributed to the Lineage, this world revered strength and honored power. Once one fell into becoming a merchant, one would not even be qualified to remain in the family register, only slightly better off than a servant.

Zhou Heng was only at the Body Refining First Layer, and still in its early stage. Breaking through to the Flesh Refining Realm in a little over three months? That was nothing but a fool's dream!

No wonder Zhou Kan was so pleased with himself. If Zhou Heng went into business, where would Zhou Dinghai's face be?

Seeing that petty, villainous expression, Zhou Heng could not help clenching his fists tightly, wishing he could throw a punch at him!

But he held back.

The gap between them was too great. He could not hit the other man at all, and would instead give Zhou Kan an excuse to attack. When the time came, even if he got beaten, it would still be his fault—the Great Elder grandfather behind Zhou Kan was no ornament.

Endure!

One day, he would return every humiliation he had suffered twofold!

Zhou Heng went around Zhou Kan again. This time, the other man did not block him, merely letting out a string of cold sneers.

Returning to his residence, Zhou Heng sat down and smashed his fist onto the table, his face filled with fury.

He was, after all, only a seventeen-year-old youth, at the age of hottest blood and greatest impulsiveness. Yet he had to forcibly endure others' mockery and sarcasm day after day. How could he possibly have no anger in his heart?

"Black Sword, Black Sword, you've harmed me for so many years. I'm not asking you to compensate me for anything. I only ask that you, old master, hurry up and be satisfied. Stop tormenting me!" Zhou Heng said inwardly. This was the tiger blocking his path of cultivation; unless he crossed it, nothing else could even be discussed.

"Keep cultivating!"

"Although the Blazing Sun Art is less effective at night than in the daytime, I cannot waste a single moment!"

Zhou Heng went into the courtyard, sat cross-legged, and circulated the Blazing Sun Art to refine the dinner he had just eaten. Only when his spirit could no longer hold out did he crawl into the house and sleep.

He had no servants. His father was always traveling outside, searching for spiritual medicines to "cure" him, while his mother had passed away early. He had long grown accustomed to living alone.

After one night passed, Zhou Heng began another ordinary, tedious day, enduring the blazing sun as he used the True Essence Power he had painstakingly cultivated to fill the seemingly bottomless stomach of the Black Broken Sword.

On the morning of the fourth day, Zhou Heng did not go to the square again.

Although sitting on that great stone allowed him to absorb the most heat and was most beneficial to cultivating the Blazing Sun Art, Zhou Heng had a feeling that the Black Broken Sword's change was close at hand!

He did not know whether some strange scene would occur. Perhaps the broken sword would emerge from his body and tear through the air, or perhaps it would erupt with blinding light. In any case, he did not want to take such a risk.

Cultivating in his own courtyard would be somewhat less effective, but it was not as if missing this tiny bit today would make much difference.

Zhou Heng suppressed the excitement in his heart, sat cross-legged on the ground, and began cultivating beneath the scorching sun.

Half an hour, one hour... Time trickled away bit by bit, and before long, four hours had passed.

Buzz!

The Black Broken Sword in Zhou Heng's Dantian gave off a faint tremor, forming ripples that spread through his Dantian. The trembling grew stronger and stronger until it finally became like mountains collapsing and seas roaring, surging without end.

Every muscle in Zhou Heng's body began trembling along with it, as though he were about to be torn apart alive, leaving him in such pain that he wished he were dead!

"Damn it! I've raised you and endured you for so many years, yet you don't know what's good for you! You still dare torment me!" Zhou Heng raged inwardly. He had never complained to anyone about the bitterness and hatred of these ten years, but this damned Black Sword was actually still tormenting him. His fury immediately soared beyond control!

"Suppress!"

Zhou Heng did not know what he should do. He merely held a bellyful of resentment and used his will to suppress the Black Sword.

The Black Sword's trembling weakened somewhat. Though it was not very obvious, it had indeed weakened!

Zhou Heng had pride in his heart, but because he had never been able to cultivate like ordinary people, he had always been forced to endure. Some people might have their sharpness worn away by such silence, but Zhou Heng had instead become even prouder and more solitary, waiting only for the day he would transform into a dragon in the nine heavens and erupt with radiance stretching ten thousand zhang!

Now was a contest of will, unrelated to strength, and at last all his pride had been completely ignited!

"This is my body. Since you are inside my body, you must obey me!"

Zhou Heng roared wildly in his heart. His will became ever more tough and unyielding as he fiercely suppressed the Black Sword.

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!

The Black Broken Sword seemed unwilling to be suppressed by Zhou Heng and began trembling violently again. Wave after wave of ripples spread out, shaking Zhou Heng's entire body until it seemed ready to burst apart!

Zhou Heng snorted coldly in his heart and launched a counterattack without yielding an inch, determined to suppress the Black Broken Sword.

One man and one sword remained locked in stalemate, beginning a protracted tug-of-war. The Black Broken Sword felt neither pain nor sensation, but Zhou Heng was flesh and blood. Sweat poured from him like rain, soaking his clothes completely in no time, while every muscle in his body groaned in agony.

But for a youth who had carried ten years of resentment, this Black Broken Sword was the chief culprit behind it all. How could he be willing to admit defeat before it?

He had endured for ten years. Today, he would endure no longer!

After cultivating the Blazing Sun Art for ten years, Zhou Heng's will had also been greatly tempered, giving him the ability to withstand such a confrontation. Otherwise, he would have fainted dead away in less than a minute.

Ten minutes, thirty minutes, one hour!

Zhou Heng's body trembled, on the verge of collapsing. At this moment, if anyone merely gave him a push, he would certainly fall headfirst to the ground and faint immediately. Yet one taut string within him never snapped. He stubbornly held on, and after being honed in such a manner, his will had become hard as steel.

What he fought for was a single breath of spirit!

Though the Black Broken Sword was only an inanimate object, Zhou Heng simply could not swallow this defeat. He could lose to anyone, but he could not lose to the thing that had harmed him for ten years!

Two hours, three hours!

Zhou Heng had long since reached his limit. He could no longer feel the pain in his body. It was not that the pain had vanished, but that he had gone numb. Even if his arms and legs broke at this moment, he would feel nothing.

Yet his will grew ever stronger, suppressing the Black Broken Sword without mercy. There was not the slightest compromise, not a shred of retreat!

The Black Broken Sword's trembling became weaker and weaker until, at last, it stopped completely.

The instant it came to a complete stop, a pitch-black shadow of light burst fiercely from the sword's body, more dazzling than starlight and more eye-catching than the blazing sun!

Boom!

Nine images immediately appeared in Zhou Heng's mind, carving themselves deeply into his memory. Every image changed constantly. It was a sword, endlessly sweeping and chopping, slanting upward and piercing forward, displaying the utmost profundity!

This was... the Nine Sword Styles!

This mysterious Black Broken Sword had actually passed the Nine Sword Styles on to him!

Zhou Heng could not help staring dumbfoundedly, finding it unbelievable beyond measure! But this broken sword had dwelled in his Dantian for ten years—perhaps it had existed there even earlier, and he had simply never noticed it. Since something so strange and bizarre had already happened, what was so strange about it teaching him the Nine Sword Styles?

After only an instant, all the images shattered, transforming into countless specks of black light that scattered through his mind and merged into his blood, flesh, and bones.