Opening

The bonfire danced, and the monster meat sizzled as it roasted, filling the air with its fragrance.

Everyone sat around the fire, sharing the food as their Blood Qi surged.

The number of prey Tie Niu brought back grew day by day, and the others finally fell silent.

Though Su Yuan had helped him along the way, Tie Niu's own hunting skills had also steadily improved.

Chai Nian, on the other hand, had been coming and going unpredictably these past few days, leaving only his personal guards to keep an eye on everyone.

Seeing Tie Niu's performance, Chai Feng knew how highly Chai Nian regarded him. He smiled and said, "Brother Tie Niu, I have a younger sister. How about I introduce you two?"

"Ah?" Tie Niu looked bewildered.

"The Wolf God Ritual will draw many important figures to watch, and noble ladies from every family will come to choose husbands, too. With your talent, Tie Niu, you'll surely rank near the top. When the time comes, the Lineage will naturally arrange a marriage for you. Your future will be limitless," Chai Feng explained.

Tie Niu scratched his head without answering, looking so awkward that he didn't know what to say.

"Noble ladies choosing husbands?" Su Yuan sneered inwardly.

This was undoubtedly Great Liang's way of winning over martial arts prodigies. The so-called ladies might not be legitimate daughters of the main family; they could just as easily be maids from a collateral branch.

Put plainly, they were probably looking for a live-in son-in-law.

"Brother Feng, let's talk about it when the time comes." Su Yuan turned him down on Tie Niu's behalf.

Chai Feng shot Su Yuan a cold glance.

He thought highly of Tie Niu, but that didn't mean he thought highly of Su Yuan.

Even if Su Yuan had gotten lucky and become a Martial Warrior, his potential had already hit its ceiling.

The gap between superior and inferior bone structure was like the distance between clouds and mud.

"Tie Niu, I'll bring her to meet you after we return to the city." Chai Feng couldn't be bothered to pay Su Yuan any mind.

After more than ten days of participating in the hunting preview, Chai Nian returned, and at last everyone set out for home.

On the way back, the remaining snow on the ground gradually melted. A hint of warmth, so faint it was almost imperceptible, crept into the wind. Spring was coming.

Su Yuan and Tie Niu returned home.

Before they had left, they had asked Master Liu and Master Chai to look after the children.

Their previous visits home had been uneventful.

But when they pushed open the door this time, they both froze.

The house was in disarray, with clear signs of a struggle.

The children were nowhere to be seen, either.

Their hearts jolted. They hurried back to the Martial Academy to ask what had happened.

Chai Lang said, "Some remnants of Xingyun attacked your house. Fortunately, we noticed in time and captured the intruder. The children are safe. Madam Gao took them to the Inner City."

Su Yuan was truly angry now. Hadn't he told them to leave his family alone? They had even gone after the children.

Su Yuan immediately rushed to the Inner City.

Qingya Pavilion was livelier than usual, filled with the sounds of children playing.

Su Yuan found Gao Mian. She still wore a purple dress, her ample bosom straining against it, her waist slender and her figure alluring.

"Sister Mian, I really can't thank you enough. I've put you to trouble again." Su Yuan thanked her.

"Then how are you going to thank me?" In front of several children, Gao Mian pulled Su Yuan into a side room.

"Big Brother and Big Sister..." Shen Qingqing's eyes suddenly lit up, as if she'd uncovered some great secret. She and the other children crept up to the door to listen.

Granny Xu eventually came over and hurriedly led them away.

Gao Mian was already lying down comfortably, enjoying Su Yuan's massage.

While Su Yuan had been away, she had also sought out Martial Warriors skilled in finger techniques, but none of them had achieved the same results as Su Yuan.

She had no idea what made him so special.

Over the past few months, the bottleneck had indeed loosened under Su Yuan's care.

"Yuan'er, what exactly is so special about your massage technique? Over these past few months, my cultivation has actually progressed again, and even my bone structure has improved." Gao Mian simply asked him outright.

Su Yuan hadn't expected Smoothing Edges to work on other people, too.

He was first delighted that he could help Gao Mian, but then a chill of caution crept over him.

This was a heaven-defying ability that could improve bone structure. He couldn't let it get out.

"Sister Mian, I don't know. I'm just massaging you according to the Origin-Returning Finger techniques. Maybe you've been studying and training hard lately, and your bone structure has developed a second time?" Su Yuan answered vaguely.

"Hmph!" Gao Mian gave a soft snort, then pinned Su Yuan down again and examined him carefully.

But she truly couldn't find anything unusual. Su Yuan's bone structure was more or less the same as before.

"Fortunately, my Cloud-Covering Art has reached Great Accomplishment." As for his own bone structure, Su Yuan understood that taking too many Blood Origin Pills would damage his foundation.

The improvement to bone structure granted by his Trait happened to offset that harm.

He was the biggest pill-popper in the Martial Academy. Once the drawbacks of Blood Origin Pills had become apparent, Tie Niu had already switched to other secret medicines provided by the Chai Family.

Gao Mian couldn't figure out the reason, but she knew that as long as she kept Su Yuan by her side, she would be the one to benefit.

She would have to investigate further later.

If it really was because of Su Yuan, then he was more than just a younger brother to her. He was practically a treasure, her hope of returning to the martial path someday.

"Yuan'er, the one who attacked your house was Han Gui. He'd already fallen out of favor with Shan Xiongqing, so he wanted to make an example of you and win back his favor." Gao Mian brought up the children.

Han Gui!

The Shan Family again!

Feeling Su Yuan's anger, Gao Mian took his hand and said gently, "I've come to hate the Shan Family, too. After some time, I'm thinking of leaving Ji City and returning to Great Liang proper. Would you be willing to come with me?"

Su Yuan's eyes brightened at her words. This was a perfect chance to leave this den of trouble, but...

Gao Mian seemed to understand his concerns. She propped her head up with one hand. "Tie Niu can stay with the Chai Family for now. Once I return to the Gao Family, I can arrange to bring him over, too. I can also find a proper home for these children..."

Gao Mian had planned everything so thoroughly that Su Yuan found it hard to refuse.

"Sister Mian, I'll do as you say."

"Mm." Gao Mian's lips curved into a small smile. She lay back down and even shifted slightly, resting her head lightly on Su Yuan's lap. "Then keep going. I've been terribly worn out these past few days."

By the time Su Yuan left the Inner City, it was already late at night. He shook out his sore fingers.

From Shen Qingqing, he learned that a pockmarked man really had tried to abduct them, but another Martial Warrior had arrived in time to save them.

Su Yuan went to the restaurant to make contact as usual.

It was a familiar place, but the person waiting wasn't the same.

It was the scholar-looking man from Xingyun Martial Hall, the first one he had ever met.

"They've changed the contact?" Su Yuan grew wary and sent a message on a flying leaf.

The other man received it and sighed. "Senior Green Ghost, Junior Brother Duan was captured. I'm the only one who can come make contact now."

Su Yuan didn't reveal himself right away. He watched from the shadows for a long while before finally showing himself.

This was Ji Haoyang's first time seeing Green Ghost.

A black robe covered his body, a ghost mask hid his face, and his aura was deep and unfathomable. He was indeed mysterious and terrifying.

Ji Haoyang could barely contain his eagerness.

As the last hope of Xingyun Martial Hall, he had entered the External Force Realm just days ago. He very much wanted to test this senior's strength.

"Greetings, Senior Green Ghost. Please, have some tea." He bowed respectfully and offered a cup.

Su Yuan saw the tea in his hand bubbling and thought, What's so special about this tea? And what a fool this man is. How am I supposed to drink it with a mask on?

"He isn't the least bit afraid? As expected of a Martial Warrior in the External Force Realm," Ji Haoyang speculated to himself.

Su Yuan took the teacup and immediately felt a tingling force pressing through it.

Hm? That's force! I let my guard down. This man is a Martial Warrior in the External Force Realm? Only then did Su Yuan realize the other man had been testing him.

Fortunately, Gao Mian had trained his finger strength. He endured the force and set the teacup down safely.

Seeing this, Ji Haoyang looked even more respectful.

Su Yuan handed over the information he had gathered recently, mostly about the arrangements for the Wolf God Ritual, then asked calmly, "What happened to Hongyan?"

Ji Haoyang took the information and skimmed it. Delighted, he put it away, then turned grief-stricken. "That Su Family is to blame again! He'd only been watching the Su Family as usual when someone tried to sneak in and abduct those children. Hongyan was too soft-hearted. He stepped in to stop them and ended up captured by a Martial Warrior from the Chai Family."

"Why did he have to do that?" The more Ji Haoyang spoke, the angrier he grew. "The entire Su Family is a plague!"

In his eyes, every hardship Xingyun Martial Hall had suffered—

From Yun Xu to Duan Hongyan—

Had been inextricably tied to Su Yuan. He hated Su Yuan to the bone.

Su Yuan fell silent.

He hadn't expected the person who saved Qingqing and the others to be Duan Hongyan. He murmured, "Why did he have to do that?"

He saw Duan Hongyan again in the black dungeon.

Du Hengfeng was methodically tapping the bones in his fingers and knees with a short, copper-plated baton, each dull thud setting one's teeth on edge.

Su Yuan stood to the side, sketching.

"Duan Hongyan, do you regret it? You still ended up in my hands. Back then, you let me go to save your junior sister. This time, you got caught saving a few useless brats. You really are an idiot, aren't you?" Du Hengfeng taunted him. He didn't care that Su Yuan was there.

After all, Su Yuan and Su Tieniu wouldn't be able to strut around for many more days.

Duan Hongyan spat out a mouthful of blood and sent it flying toward the executioner and the record-keeper beside him. "I have no regrets! Everything I've done, I can answer for to my comrades and the people of Great Jing! It's only death. My righteous blood will stain the yellow sands—what is there to fear?

"I've always believed we would drive you barbarians out! And you, Du Hengfeng, along with Su Yuan, traitors willing to serve as running dogs—you'll get what's coming to you sooner or later... You'll be hacked to pieces!"

The blood hit Du Hengfeng. He laughed in a rage. "Hacked to pieces? You think you're worthy? I'll show you right now what it means to beg for life and be denied, to beg for death and be denied!"

Squish!

Su Yuan watched the blood spatter Du Hengfeng's legs. For once, he didn't feel disgusted or try to wipe it away.

He simply stared coldly at Du Hengfeng's twisted, childlike face, warped with excitement, as if looking at a dead man.

The Wolf God Ritual finally began.

Su Yuan didn't go with the Martial Academy. Instead, he accompanied a group of ritual officials as they escorted a sculpture wrapped in golden-yellow silk out of the city.

There was no helping it. His craftsmanship was too good, so he'd once again been summoned as free labor to carve the Wolf God statue.

Su Yuan glanced over the golden words before him.

[Fate: At the Peak, One Step Further]

[Golden Horse-Head Technique: 902/1000 (Second Layer)]

[Origin-Returning Finger: 102/2000 (Perfection)]

[Flying Horse Leg: 12/2000 (Perfection)]

[Cloud-Covering Art: 17/1000 (Minor Accomplishment)]

[Horse Spear Technique: 215/500 (Great Accomplishment)]

[Abyssal Sea Technique: 45/1000 (Second Layer)]

[Literacy: 1971/2000 (Perfection)]

[Hibernation: 1056/2000 (Perfection)]

[Current Traits: Slippery Escape, Engraved in the Bones, Split in Two, Skillful Ease, Ox-Subduing Stability, Smoothing Edges, Ink-Dyed Floating Life, Scent-Based Breath Tracking]

He had nearly brought Literacy to Perfection in his spare time, but Su Yuan still hadn't decided which final character to learn, so he had put it on hold for now.

The chance to acquire a Trait was precious, so he had to consider it carefully.

The Golden Horse-Head Technique was nearing the peak of the Three-Blood Realm, while two of his other martial arts had also reached the Second-Blood Realm.

With the Abyssal Sea Technique and the boosts from his various Traits, Su Yuan felt that his Blood Qi was at least equal to that of two Martial Warriors in the Three-Blood Realm.

This wasn't merely a matter of being able to fight two opponents at once. Against Martial Warriors of the same realm, he could nearly crush them outright.

He raised his eyes and gazed toward the vast mountain forests beyond the city. They would be the hunting grounds for the ritual—and the place where accounts would be settled.