Two Different Matters

"Can't escape now."

Gu Xingzhou sighed. His Secret Realm teleportation device had already been lost in the earlier shift of the earth's veins.

Even if the device were still here, with the mountain peak's space being controlled by these demons through some method, Gu Xingzhou couldn't leave.

The Blood Qi Star was an ability of the third Martial Realm, the Star Vortex Realm.

It could develop the human body's acupoints, further excavating its treasures.

If the martial arts novels Ji Ruo had read in his past life stored a martial artist's true qi in the dantian, then the Star Vortex Realm's Blood Qi Stars were each a dantian of their own.

After all, a dantian, in a sense, was just another acupoint.

These acupoint Star Vortexes could store vast amounts of Blood Qi Power. Each one opened, nurtured to completion, and filled would give a martial artist a tremendous leap in strength.

When necessary, they could also be used as a last resort.

A martial artist's Blood Qi Power could effectively suppress demonic strength. In a way, the damage from a self-detonating Blood Qi Star Vortex to a demon was even greater than that of a nuclear weapon!

Such was the power of attribute countering.

"Damn human, how dare you blow me up!"

The Moon-Swallowing Toad's face twisted in agony. "Kill him!"

"What a pity."

Gu Xingzhou sighed. "Children, I'm sorry. I can't save you."

Facing the snarling Great Demons, Gu Xingzhou suddenly laughed.

"Eat me? You're not worthy!"

He laughed heartily, then suddenly struck down with a palm. The remaining sixty-nine Blood Qi Stars linked together, the five Qi Vessels in his body activated, and his entire form turned a blazing red-gold, radiating an exceptionally dazzling light.

The Star Vortexes merged with the Qi Vessels, and a powerful martial will condensed behind him into a massive Martial Golden Body, like an enraged Vajra.

"Kneel before me!"

Gu Xingzhou roared.

The Martial Golden Body moved in unison with Gu Xingzhou, its palm slamming down with boundless might onto the Moon-Swallowing Toad's head.

The demons were shocked and furious.

But Gu Xingzhou's Martial Golden Body was rapidly solidifying, as if turning into a giant red-gold statue, emitting its final radiance.

Gu Xingzhou's body also froze in that red-gold hue, his expression locked in a moment of blazing anger.

The Moon-Swallowing Toad was pinned in place, struggling endlessly and roaring furiously, yet utterly unable to break free.

"Damn it! Damn it!" it bellowed. "His power is draining; he won't last long! We must eat him!"

Gu Xingzhou's consciousness remained clear. He knew exactly what he was doing.

Barring any accidents, he would remain in this state, suppressing the Moon-Swallowing Toad until the end of his life, exhausting everything, his body eventually solidifying into a true martial statue.

If luck was on his side, future human descendants who found this statue might observe it and glean some of the martial techniques he had mastered from his Martial Golden Body.

But that was only if nothing went wrong.

Right now, having self-detonated three Blood Qi Stars, his Golden Body was flawed. As time passed, his power would only weaken further.

The Golden Body would collapse before long.

He would leave nothing behind.

"In the end, I still accomplished nothing."

Gu Xingzhou sighed.

Still, there was some comfort: the Martial Exam was nearly over. In the remaining time, these Great Demons, focused on breaking his Martial Golden Body, likely wouldn't bother hunting down other compatriots.

"Chirp~ (That's the situation.)"

Wind God Falcon Aunt briefly explained the circumstances, then lowered her head to play with her young.

"Chirp~ (The Moon-Swallowing Toad and that Cyclops each used the treasure you humans gave them to refine the moon and sun of Ten Thousand Beast Mountain. They're now bound by the Secret Realm's rules and can't leave the mountain, but their strength has skyrocketed. I only just learned how much that treasure boosted them.

That human is badly injured; his suppression won't last much longer.

The Moon-Swallowing Toad has been pinned for nearly two days and is going mad. It wants me to join in devouring that martial artist, then swallow all the humans in Ten Thousand Beast Mountain to drag me into their camp. If I refuse, they'll kill me first, carve up my power, and prepare for possible human retaliation.)"

Wind God Falcon Aunt examined her children's bloodlines and was astonished to find that the two newborns' bloodlines were evolving at a visible rate!

As a mother, she knew this couldn't happen under normal circumstances.

The Wind God Falcon bloodline was extremely powerful, and power, in a sense, meant stability.

Normally, such a clear evolution of the Wind God Falcon bloodline was impossible.

That left only one possibility—human martial arts!

Though she hadn't studied with Ji Ruo, Wind God Falcon Aunt was well-traveled and immediately saw the difference between her children and herself lay in their breathing patterns.

That unique breathing method seemed to further unlock the power hidden in the bloodline.

Wind God Falcon Aunt tried to learn it herself, but found she couldn't no matter what—not that she couldn't learn it at all, but she couldn't grasp its essence, and it had no effect whatsoever.

"Ji Ruo, what did Auntie say to you?"

Seeing Ji Ruo's expression turn grave after his conversation with Wind God Falcon Aunt, Liang Shixian couldn't help asking out of curiosity.

Ji Ruo thought for a moment, then relayed the content of his talk with Wind God Falcon Aunt to Liang Shixian.

After hearing it, Liang Shixian immediately grew anxious: "Then what do we do? Ji Ruo, we're still in the middle of the Martial Exam—that should be a Patrol Examiner, right?"

Auntie said that Patrol Examiner suddenly appeared on the mountaintop, probably because of that inexplicable teleportation earlier, right?

A martial artist who can suppress a Great Demon on the mountaintop must be incredibly strong. Ji Ruo, we have to find a way to save him!"

Ji Ruo shot Liang Shixian a surprised glance.

He wasn't sure if Liang Shixian realized it, but when he said that, he was already subconsciously weighing 'value.'

"How do we save him?" Ji Ruo spread his hands. "One of us just entered the Qi Vessel stage, the other's a ninth-level Martial Apprentice. Go to the mountaintop and feed ourselves to the enemy?"

"But, but..." Liang Shixian stammered, opening and closing his mouth. "We can't just not save him, can we? A martial artist that strong is way more useful than the two of us combined. Now that we know, we can't just do nothing, right?"

Ji Ruo asked the same question again: "How do we save him?"

"I, I..."

Liang Shixian faltered for a moment, then suddenly said: "Ji Ruo, can you ask Wind God Falcon Aunt for help? Get her to—"

Ji Ruo said: "Auntie said she can't beat them."

"Chirp~ (It's because there are too many of them!)"

Liang Shixian sat dumbly on the ground, then murmured: "Ji Ruo, I've watched some documentaries about humans fighting demons. You can't find them through normal channels—they're really bloody, and really real.

Powerful martial artists always fight on the front lines. Even today, Great Xia's borders are constantly harassed by demons.

Our crops are destroyed, our land is plundered, our people are slaughtered.

The demon race is thick-skinned and tough; conventional firearms can't do effective damage. But in those documentaries, even ordinary people who can't practice martial arts pick up weapons, crying as they shoot at those demons to protect their homes.

They can't open their Qi Vessels, can't use Blood Qi Power, and can't deal effective damage to demons.

They're scared, they cry, but not a single one backs down.

I've never seen a scene like that with my own eyes, but just the images on TV shake me to the core and move me every time."

Liang Shixian looked at Ji Ruo seriously and said: "Ji Ruo, we can't do much, but we have to do something. Not being able to do it, and not doing anything at all—those are two different things."

Ji Ruo was silent.

He didn't know what to say.

A moment later, Liang Shixian suddenly started chirping at Wind God Falcon Aunt.

His stubborn expression seemed to show he was trying hard to say something to her in the falcon's language.

Wind God Falcon gave Liang Shixian a surprised look, then turned to Ji Ruo and asked in confusion: "Chirp~ (What's he saying? Is his brain broken?)"

Ji Ruo didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Liang Shixian kept telling Ji Ruo not to be so childish, but right now, Liang Shixian was hardly any better than Ji Ruo.

Wasn't Liang Shixian being childish right now?

But just because it was childish, did that mean he shouldn't do it?

At this moment, Liang Shixian stubbornly imitated the falcon's calls. Although Wind God Falcon Aunt couldn't understand him, Ji Ruo, who possessed the [Common Tongue], could bypass the language barrier and directly grasp the meaning in Liang Shixian's voice.

He was pleading with Wind God Falcon over and over, making pale, powerless promises—all things within his ability.

Things like cooking for Wind God Falcon Aunt, or babysitting her children, or tidying her nest, cleaning up... None of these were Wind God Falcon Aunt's urgent needs, but they were the biggest promises Liang Shixian could make. He had no experience trading with demons.

Ji Ruo looked at Liang Shixian with complicated eyes.

Maybe Liang Shixian was right. They couldn't do much, but they had to do something.

Wind God Falcon suddenly said: "Chirp~ (Baby, can you teach your martial arts to Mama? Mama wants to learn too.)"

She'd tried teaching herself for half the day and learned nothing, only making her body uncomfortable with the strange breathing rhythm.

Dabao: "Chirp~ (No can do, Master taught us that. Without Master's permission, we can't just pass it on.)"

Erbao: "Chirp~ (That's right, that's right!)"

Because of the Master-Servant Contract they'd signed, the two little ones felt unusually close to Ji Ruo psychologically.

If the levels of closeness were simply ranked, Ji Ruo's status in their hearts was actually equal to Wind God Falcon Aunt's, or even higher.

Wind God Falcon was stunned.

She looked at Ji Ruo: "Chirp~ (You... took my children as disciples?)"

She'd thought Ji Ruo was just casually teaching them; she didn't expect he'd accepted them as formal disciples.

Ji Ruo gave an awkward smile.

Wind God Falcon added: "Chirp~ (By the way, I was going to ask earlier—why have you been holding that feather I shed all this time?)"

"This..."