The next day, an old man in black robes from the Black Mountain Gang arrived outside the city and headed straight for the cave.
Inside, a thick stench of blood hung in the air, mingled with the scent of medicine. He sniffed. "Bone-Softening Powder..."
He muttered in a hoarse voice, then followed the smell of blood to a patch of freshly turned earth. His hand curled into an eagle's claw, and he plunged it in. His arm sank deep into the soil.
The old man gave a mighty tug, pulling out the entire corpse of a disheveled little old man.
"Worked himself to death. What a miserable end..."
He opened his mouth wide. The little old man's corpse visibly shriveled as wisps of crimson blood energy were sucked into his mouth—a horrific, bloody sight.
That was right. This man was Blood Yin Child.
Blood Yin Child closed his eyes. Memories that weren't his surfaced in his mind, playing out like a slideshow.
"The Black Market, Chen Han, Heroic Assassin..."
They were the little old man's memories from before he died.
Blood Yin Child nodded with interest, a smile appearing at the corner of his mouth. "Chen Han... How interesting..."
······
That same day, inside Black Lion City.
Blood Yin Child had changed his clothes. He wore a patched-up rain cape and a pair of ill-fitting shorts that exposed his ankles. He looked no different from a simple country bumpkin.
He arrived on a street near the Chen Family, a well-known martial arts lineage in the city.
He knew only that the man's surname was Chen, but not whether he belonged to the Chen Family. If he wanted to find him, he would have to start there.
It wasn't that Blood Yin Child was stubbornly fixated on killing Chen Han. It was simply that the boy was extraordinary.
From what he'd learned, Chen Han had been no more than a Dark Force martial artist just a few months ago, yet now he could defeat someone with Transformation Force.
And in the memories he'd read, he'd sensed Chen Han's terrifying punching force. It was clearly something only a peak Transformation Force expert could unleash.
Even if the boy had exceptional talent, he couldn't possibly have improved so much in a mere few months.
Blood Yin Child was therefore certain that Chen Han possessed an earth-shattering secret.
Even if the boy had nothing but excellent bones and martial arts talent, draining him dry with the Blood Yin Technique would surely benefit Blood Yin Child immensely.
He might even have a chance to break through to the Martial Master realm, where one could rule over a region!
Disguised as a farmer, Blood Yin Child sat in a teahouse, gulping down cup after cup of tea as his gaze swept discreetly across the passing crowds.
Before long, he spotted two young women in Chen Family clothing walking by. He hurried over, a simple-minded grin spreading across his face.
"Ladies, please wait."
Shen Yue and Chen Huaiyu turned around and saw a cheerful old man with yellow teeth showing as he smiled.
"Old sir, is something the matter?"
Chen Huaiyu asked.
"I'm an old man looking for a relative. Are you two from the Chen Family?"
"Oh, I see. We're dressed like this, so naturally we're from the Chen Family."
Blood Yin Child grinned even more broadly, his face practically blooming.
"Wonderful, wonderful! Then you're both descendants of the Chen Family. Do you happen to know a young man named Chen Han?"
Shen Yue narrowed her eyes, sensing something was off. Wasn't her brother-in-law a live-in son-in-law? Aside from the Chen Family and their own family, what other relatives could he have?
"Chen Han? Yes, there is someone by that name. But he's not at the Chen Family right now. He should be back tonight. He has a task to take care of. If you're looking for him, you can ask at the Chen Mansion tonight."
Chen Huaiyu hadn't thought too much about it and answered the thin, elderly man truthfully.
"Oh, I see. That's good, then. Thank you, young lady. I'll be off now..."
With that, Blood Yin Child left.
Chen Huaiyu remained seemingly unconcerned, while Shen Yue was left bewildered.
"Maybe I... was overthinking it?"
In the blink of an eye, five days passed.
Over those five days, Blood Yin Child had gone to the Chen Family to look for Chen Han at least six times. The result was always the same: he hadn't even caught a glimpse of him... Chen Han had disappeared without a trace.
"Heh, disappeared? I bet you got what you wanted and are hiding at the Chen Family, too scared to come out. No matter. I have plenty of ways to draw you out..."
At that very moment, Chen Feng, the head of the Chen Family, was also worried sick.
Chen Han hadn't returned for five days, and there wasn't a single word from him.
If it had been anyone else, Chen Feng could only have sighed and announced his death. The outdoors were dangerous at night. Who would stay out there for no reason and invite trouble? There could only be one explanation: the man was dead, his body left in the wilderness.
But Chen Han was a boy with exceptional talent, a rare martial arts prodigy in the Chen Family. It would be a terrible waste if he died. Unless the facts were right in front of him, Chen Feng couldn't accept it.
Just then, a servant came to report.
"Patriarch, that young lady is here again."
"Is it that young lady, Shen Yue?"
"Yes."
Chen Feng clicked his tongue, troubled. "Just tell her I've sent more people to search for her brother-in-law. Tell her not to worry too much."
"It's not about that. She has something to report to you."
"Something to report? Then let her in."
A moment later, Shen Yue entered, looking demure. She came before Chen Feng and bowed deeply, visibly uneasy.
"Patriarch."
"Mm. Say what you came to say."
Shen Yue nodded and told him about the old man who had come looking for Chen Han that day.
Chen Feng gave a quiet "Oh" and asked, "Was that the first day Chen Han was missing?"
"Yes."
Chen Feng's gaze turned grave. It seemed things had gone just as he'd suspected: Chen Han really had met with trouble. But someone was still looking for him, which meant he wasn't dead. Most likely, he'd gotten away.
Where could he have gone, then? Why hadn't he returned to the family? Was he worried about something?
Chen Feng thought for a while but couldn't come up with a single clue. "Mm. This information is very useful. You may go back now. I'll make Chen Han's situation a priority."
"Yes, Patriarch."
After Shen Yue left, Chen Feng summoned his trusted aide.
"Send more men and search everywhere for Chen Han. I want to see him alive or his corpse dead."
"Yes."
Deep in the mountains, inside a secluded cave.
Chen Han was practicing the Taiji Health Cultivation Technique. His movements flowed smoothly, neither hurried nor slow, yet each concealed its own mystery. Sweat covered his well-proportioned body, which glimmered faintly in the weak firelight.
[Name: Chen Han]
[Skills: Taiji Health Cultivation Technique (Proficient) 12/500]
His proficiency had slowly risen during these past few days of intense cultivation. At the same time, Chen Han could vaguely feel his body changing.
He was becoming lighter and stronger.
Yesterday, on a whim, he'd tried lifting a boulder. To his surprise, he'd managed to budge one weighing nearly nine hundred pounds. It was taller than a person and several meters wide.
The greatest change was in his sinews and bones. In the end, an ordinary person's bones were just ordinary bones. Even those who trained in martial arts only made them somewhat harder through acquired tempering.
But Chen Han's bones seemed to be undergoing a fundamental transformation. He didn't know exactly what was changing. If he had to explain it, they felt more like the bones of a beast.
"Could it really be, as the martial arts manual says, that once you master this realm, you'll have steel sinew and iron bones, strong enough to uproot mountains and lift cauldrons?"
"In normal martial arts, you'd probably have to reach the peak of the Martialist realm to attain this. It's absurd."
Besides, everyone else had to temper their bones through countless beatings and countless days of stance training. He only had to practice Taiji.
That clearly wasn't right.
Chen Han had suspected as much before, and now he was even more convinced that this technique wasn't as simple as an ordinary health preservation technique. There was definitely some unknown history behind it.
Before you continue