Extreme Profound Scripture

"Burp~"

Night fell. When the two of them had eaten and drunk their fill and walked out of Yunxiang Restaurant, they both let out a burp at the same time.

"Brother Shen, when do you think we'll become full-fledged members of the Firewood Gang?"

Luo Tao rubbed his somewhat distended belly and couldn't help sighing.

Wang Jin was only a member of the Firewood Gang, yet he could already enjoy a life of fine food and drink. That showed just how rich the gang was.

Luo Tao couldn't help longing for the same.

"Once you become a Blood Tempering martial artist and join the Firewood Gang, you'll be able to live like Brother Wang."

Shen Mu glanced at Luo Tao and said with a smile.

In the martial artist cultivation system, body tempering was called the Boiling Blood Stage, which was divided into nine stages. Only after reaching the Ninth Stage Boiling Blood could one prepare to enter the ranks.

Once someone entered the Boiling Blood Stage, they had already surpassed the realm of ordinary people. Even ten ordinary people would be no match for them.

Luo Tao's family was a little better off than his, but only a little.

In Cloud Dragon County, those who were truly wealthy usually paid to send the younger generation of their families to martial arts schools if they wanted them to become martial artists.

But studying at a martial arts school was expensive. A year's tuition cost at least several dozen taels of silver.

Luo Tao's father couldn't afford that, so he gritted his teeth and spent ten taels of silver to send Luo Tao to the Firewood Gang, where he became an outer member. Whether he could become a martial artist after that was entirely up to his own fate.

"First Stage Boiling Blood?"

Luo Tao shook his head and sighed. "Brother Shen, reaching the First Stage Boiling Blood isn't that simple..."

The Firewood Gang had more than five hundred outer members, and many of them had been there for years without managing to reach the First Stage Boiling Blood.

Wang Jin had once been an outer member just like them. He had entered the First Stage Boiling Blood five years ago, but even after all this time, he still hadn't reached the Second Stage Boiling Blood...

Shen Mu couldn't help sighing. Of course he understood that reaching the First Stage Boiling Blood was no easy feat.

"All right, we're both exhausted today. Let's head back and get some rest. We'll meet here early tomorrow morning, then go to the gang's headquarters together..."

Shen Mu suggested.

"Okay... Brother Shen, watch out!"

Luo Tao had just nodded when he suddenly let out a loud shout, as if he'd spotted something.

Shen Mu followed Luo Tao's gaze and immediately felt his scalp go numb. Almost by instinct, he darted several steps to the left.

Bang!

A deafening crash rang out. Shen Mu felt every hair on his body stand on end, and a flash of relief at having escaped disaster crossed his eyes.

Where he had been standing just moments before, a long blade glinting with a bone-chilling light had now sunk into the bluestone pavement. Cracks spiderwebbed across the entire slab.

"That was close!"

Shen Mu was still shaken. If Luo Tao hadn't warned him in time, giving him a moment to react, that blade would have sliced him clean in two.

"Brother Shen, are you all right?"

Luo Tao hurried over and asked with concern.

"I-I'm fine."

Shen Mu shook his head, his face deathly pale. "Taozi, if you hadn't warned me just now, I'd probably be dead."

Luo Tao scratched his head and grinned. "Heh, I just happened to see a blade flying toward you..."

At that moment, a commotion finally rose in the distance. Beneath the night sky, two figures were bounding across the rooftops, moving so fast that the naked eye could barely follow them. Every time they clashed, a thunderous explosion rang out.

Clearly, the chilling long blade had belonged to one of them. It must have flown away when its wielder lost control of it during the fight...

"An initiated martial artist?"

Shen Mu and Luo Tao exchanged a glance, both looking horrified. They immediately realized that the two figures were genuine martial artists who had entered the ranks.

Only after passing through the Boiling Blood Stage and successfully reaching the Ninth Grade Tendon-Changing could someone be considered a true martial artist.

The two locked in fierce combat had to have reached that realm already.

"So this is what an initiated martial artist looks like?"

Watching the thunderclaps that accompanied their every move, and seeing the force with which that long blade had pierced the bluestone pavement, Shen Mu couldn't help yearning for the same. A man should be like that.

This was the first time he had ever seen initiated martial artists fight. The commotion they caused had completely overturned his understanding of the world, and made him yearn deeply to become a true martial artist one day.

By then, passersby on the street had also noticed the commotion. They all turned toward the direction the noise had come from.

"This place isn't safe. Let's go!"

Seeing people craning their necks to watch, some even trying to get closer for a better look, Shen Mu immediately pulled Luo Tao away.

"Brother Shen, this is a fight between initiated martial artists! Shouldn't we watch for a while?"

As Shen Mu dragged him along, Luo Tao kept glancing back, clearly unwilling to miss a fight between two initiated martial artists.

"If you don't want to die, don't hang around here."

Shen Mu's expression was grave.

Luo Tao had just saved his life. Naturally, Shen Mu didn't want him to die in the aftershocks of these martial artists' battle just because he wanted to watch.

Only after the two of them had walked a mile, far enough that they could barely hear any noise, did Shen Mu stop.

"Brother Shen, those initiated martial artists are incredible."

Recalling the battle, Luo Tao said wistfully, "By the way, Brother Shen, why did you pull me away?"

"It's rare to see initiated martial artists fight. So many people were watching."

Shen Mu said sternly, "If you lost your life just for the sake of watching, would you still think it was worth it?"

"Of course not. No spectacle is worth more than my life."

Luo Tao immediately shook his head.

"If you hadn't warned me, I'd have died beneath that blade."

Shen Mu sighed. "A battle between initiated martial artists is extremely dangerous for people like us. If we're accidentally caught in the crossfire, we'll be dead for nothing. Martial artists roam the land, and even the authorities have trouble bringing them to justice..."

Losing your life just to watch a spectacle was hardly worth it.

Luo Tao nodded emphatically, his expression grave. "You're right, Brother Shen. I was wrong just now."

Watching more and more people hurry toward the commotion, Shen Mu frowned. "What's going on lately? Why are there so many wandering martial artists in Cloud Dragon County?"

These days, there were battles between wandering martial artists in Cloud Dragon County almost every day. Sometimes, ordinary people even got caught in the crossfire.

From the memories he had inherited from his predecessor, before he had taken up residence in this body, conflicts between wandering martial artists had been rare in Cloud Dragon County.

"Brother Shen, I did hear a rumor, though I don't know if it's true."

Luo Tao seemed to remember something and said, "I heard there's a fellow in the martial world named Gu Yunfan who accidentally obtained a copy of the Extreme Profound Scripture. The news got out somehow, and he ended up being hunted by countless people from the martial world."

"Word is, this Gu Yunfan was badly wounded and fled all the way to our Cloud Province. When the martial artists heard about it, they came chasing after him to get their hands on the Extreme Profound Scripture..."

"The Extreme Profound Scripture?"

Shen Mu was taken aback. "Does that thing really exist?"