Returning Home and Ambush

[Blessed Land Dao Lord (Gray)—Stage Entry, First Step: Hong Yuan (18)]

[Root Bone: 5/100]

[Comprehension: 6/100]

[Talents: Qi Through All Bones, Clear Eyes Through the Nether]

Hong Yuan's brow lifted. He immediately noticed the change in the information panel, but his attention first fell on [Qi Through All Bones].

"One of [Qi Through All Bones]'s effects is to speed up the recovery of bodily injuries. Even if I try minute-level force and accidentally damage my insides, I can rely on this talent to recover."

Together with his own powerful root bone, benefiting all four limbs and hundred bones, the five viscera and six bowels, there was no reason not to conduct a few experiments.

Hong Yuan was not planning to be so reckless as to reach it in one step. He could map it out slowly and try it little by little.

At the very beginning, even if there was some backlash, never mind whether it could injure him—if it did, he still had [Qi Through All Bones] as a fallback.

It did not matter if he had no secret art.

All minute-level force transformations were merely derivations of hardness and softness.

Hard and soft force were the embryonic form.

Martial arts had not existed from the very start either. There had always been predecessors who waded out the path ahead.

If others could do it, so could he.

It was not that Hong Yuan was blindly confident.

At any rate, he was a proper college beast. Even if his comprehension was not first-rate, it could at least count as above average.

On top of that foundation, six strands of comprehension had been added. He only felt his mind becoming increasingly clear and limpid, especially in martial arts, as though a spiritual aperture had opened.

Combining that with the handwritten notes True Person Li had left behind, all sorts of fantastic ideas about the use of force came swarming up.

He even thought of the vortex currents he had endured underwater earlier, and faintly gained some direction for developing Spiral Force.

There was no hurry for now.

Hong Yuan pressed down the thought and, with a movement of his mind—

Swish!

His consciousness instantly entered that gray-white space.

The vast white plaza was surrounded on all sides by white, boundless mist, as though layer upon layer of shackles had sealed off this stretch of heaven and earth.

Directly ahead, the gray-white stone gate stood towering and unmoving.

Nine steps extended downward.

The reason Hong Yuan had entered this space again was because he had discovered that [Blessed Land Dao Lord]'s original suffix, "Outside the Threshold," had now become "Stage Entry, First Step."

Without thinking too much, Hong Yuan strode toward the steps.

Each step was as tall as a person. Hong Yuan tapped his toes and lightly leapt up, already standing on the first step.

He checked the changes in his information.

There were no changes at all.

Hong Yuan had originally been hoping that perhaps there would be some reward after ascending the stage. It seemed he had overthought things.

He reached out and touched the second step. Faintly, he sensed some resistance. Thinking of how he had been sent flying the first time—and in any case, it did not hurt—he immediately charged straight up.

Bang!

Beside the great river, Hong Yuan murmured to himself, "Sure enough, forcing it won't work. I still have to use heart, power, and martial force, and reach the summit in both."

Turning around, force erupted beneath Hong Yuan's feet. His whole body was like a sharp arrow shot from the bow, sweeping several zhang away in the blink of an eye as he once more rushed toward Qingxu County.

Back when the imperial court abolished the imperial examinations, Hong Yuan had lost his backing as a student of Qingxu Academy. The yamen bailiffs and the local ruffians and thugs had all come knocking to coerce him.

Leaving aside the yamen bailiffs for now, Hong Yuan knew those ruffians and thugs had been instigated by several wealthy households, who had set their eyes on the fields and residence under his name.

They might even have included Hong Yuan himself.

Afterward, it had still been his second uncle who secretly stepped in. Though Hong Yuan handed over all his family assets, he had still kept two tiled houses in Flagstone Alley to shelter himself.

Hong Yuan did not have the time to seek out these people one by one and settle accounts. There were rather too many of them, and finding them all would also take quite some time.

Therefore, the second demand he had made of County Magistrate Zhang was for him to deal with these people on his behalf.

Hong Yuan's father had only been a xiucai. His abundant family wealth was only abundant compared to ordinary people. Those so-called "wealthy households" who could set their eyes on that bit of family property were, in County Magistrate Zhang's eyes, merely ants he could press to death at any time.

Before resolving the threat that was Hong Yuan, he believed the man would not mind using those people to vent some anger.

As for Hong Yuan's true identity, this time he had not even concealed his face in the slightest. How could County Magistrate Zhang fail to find out?

However, there was nothing much to fear. The more Hong Yuan understood the ramshackle troupe that was Great Yin, the more speechless he became, and his actions also seemed a little more unrestrained.

In less than half a quarter of an hour, Hong Yuan once again avoided the main gate and, without alarming the soldiers guarding the city wall, flipped himself inside.

Over at Guiling Manor, perhaps County Magistrate Zhang was still cleaning up the loose ends and suppressing the guests, so the shocking change at the Huang Family had not yet spread.

It was almost noon, and the county city was still very lively.

Hong Yuan headed all the way toward Flagstone Alley.

The reason he returned "home" was entirely because he had been missing for half a month. If his second uncle had come back during that time, perhaps he would have left him some message.

That second uncle of his was rather mysterious, and had not purchased a house in Qingxu County.

However, his second uncle had already taken a wife, and even had a son and daughter, both a few years younger than Hong Yuan.

Several years ago, when Hong Yuan's father was still alive, his second uncle had once brought those younger siblings back home. He had only met them that one time, and even the memories had grown hazy.

Compared with Rongqing Alley, where the gentry and great households clustered together, the road in Flagstone Alley was muddy, a rotten stench hung in the air, and the dark corners were filled with the reek of piss and shit.

Low, shabby houses pressed close against one another, yet no few people lived there.

Hong Yuan's arrival drew quite a few gazes.

The original owner had been handsome and refined, and had once been a promising scholar of Qingxu Academy. Because his second uncle had backed him up, he had also beaten many ruffians and hoodlums to death or crippled them.

Thus, in Flagstone Alley, his name was known to all.

Only, in a short half month, he had now been reborn and remolded. He had shed the frail air of a scholar from before; his muscles and bones were strong, and as he walked, he moved with the stride of a dragon and the pace of a tiger, his sharpness pressing on others.

Even if some people found him familiar, they cowered and did not dare look straight at him.

It was not until he reached the door of his home at the end of Flagstone Alley—two tiled rooms beneath an old elm tree—that some people stared at his back in uncertainty and alarm.

But no one came forward to speak. For one thing, Hong Yuan had been through repeated bouts of killing in recent days. He himself could not feel it, but these bottom-dwelling common folk lived cautiously every day, trembling at the slightest rustle of wind or stir of grass, and instead vaguely sensed a thread of terror.

For another—

When Hong Yuan walked beneath the old elm tree, his steps paused slightly, and his brows faintly furrowed.

Immediately after, a series of "creak" sounds rang out. From Hong Yuan's two tiled rooms and several houses to either side, more than twenty fierce-looking men quickly poured out, swiftly spreading apart to block Hong Yuan's retreat in every direction.

Every one of these men was sturdy and strong, dressed in gray-black shirts, each holding weapons such as clubs, staves, and blades. With savage grins, they closed in around him.

As they appeared, Flagstone Alley also filled with a flurry of chaotic footsteps. The residents all hid inside their homes, shutting doors and windows, not daring to breathe too loudly.

"Is this the kid?" The leading man, whose face was scarred by a knife cut, stared at Hong Yuan and asked doubtfully, "Didn't they say he was a scholar?"

"It's him!" Another man with triangular eyes answered, "He's a scholar, but he's also a trained hand. Otherwise how could he have injured the mistress's people and still escaped? Be careful. Don't let him get away again, or it won't be easy to answer to the mistress."

Hearing this, the scar-faced man tightened his grip on the steel saber in his hand, looked at Hong Yuan, and said viciously, "Kid, are you going to surrender quietly, or do we knock you out and carry you away? I advise you not to ask for suffering!"

From just these few sentences, Hong Yuan already knew the background of these people. Naturally, they were men sent by Wei Zhenzhu.

Only Wei Zhenzhu could have arranged manpower in advance and set an ambush at the entrance of his "home."

That was also why Hong Yuan had not sensed danger. Otherwise, he would not have stepped right into it.

Without answering, Hong Yuan swept a glance over the burly men and strode forward.

The scar-faced man waved a hand. "Seize him!"

Hong Yuan's figure swayed, and in a blink he was in front of the scar-faced man. He suddenly kicked out, and with a crisp crack, the scar-faced man's left leg snapped instantly, sending him tumbling to the ground.

He let out a miserable "Ah!" As he fell, the long saber in his hand flew out, only to be deftly caught by Hong Yuan. Hong Yuan reversed his grip and swept it upward, cutting open the throats of two burly men who had rushed forward swinging clubs!

Hong Yuan could tell that the scar-faced man was the leader, so he did not kill him for the moment. Saber in hand, his body moved like the wind as he plunged into the burly men charging in to kill him. Saber light whirled and flew, strands of cold gleam darting about.

All that could be heard were endless cries of "Aiyo, aiyo!" One burly man after another dropped to the ground with thuds. In only a dozen breaths or so, they had all been knocked down.

The scar-faced man was still screaming when one foot stepped onto the back of his head.

"Where is that dead fat pig?"