A Man's Ultimate Romance

Li Xiong's death caused no small stir in Boundless City. With his death, the Black Tiger Gang's territory was carved up between the Ghost Alliance, the Broadsword Gang, and other gangs.

Half a month passed, and the slaughter between the major gangs never ceased.

Zhang Yu secretly kept his guard up while restraining Wen Hua and the others. No one was allowed to leave; everyone remained in the courtyard, cultivating in seclusion.

Chaos reigned outside, but the lingering might of Zhang Yu killing Dark Force expert Qian Yong with a single punch remained. No one dared come looking for trouble with him.

The Black Tiger Gang did not come knocking either.

Half a month flashed by. Zhang Yu looked at the system panel, a faint smile appearing on his face.

With an ample supply of demonic beast meat and medicinal baths, Niu Mancang could add 6 proficiency points to Iron Shirt every day.

Wen Hua cultivated the Clear Wind Stance during the day and practiced Iron Shirt at night. Every day, he could add 3 proficiency points to Zhang Yu's Iron Shirt, while the Clear Wind Stance gained as many as 12 points.

His dual-excellent aptitude had indeed not disappointed Zhang Yu.

After Li Yue switched to cultivating the Clear Wind Stance, she also made progress. Zhang Yu discovered something: when Li Yue had first begun cultivating the Clear Wind Stance, she could only bring him one proficiency point a day. But as time went on, her understanding of the technique grew ever more thorough. Her fate of being forged through a thousand trials came into play, and after half a month, she could already provide Zhang Yu with 3 proficiency points a day.

That was terrifying. Wen Hua, with his dual-excellent aptitude, could provide 12 proficiency points a day from the start, while Li Yue had only given 1 point. But Li Yue could grow.

She had risen to 3 points in half a month—what about half a year later?

Zhang Yu was looking forward to it!

[Iron Shirt, Lesser Mastery (151/500)]

[Clear Wind Stance, Lesser Mastery (36/500)]

With the Clear Wind Stance reaching Lesser Mastery, his strength increased once again.

"It's time to go to Spirit Hidden City." Zhang Yu closed the panel, rose to his feet, and walked out of the room.

That very day, he took Niu Mancang and Chu Qingwen aboard a Chu Family carriage and quietly left Boundless City.

Zhang Yu entrusted Li Yue and the others to Wen Hua's care, telling them not to leave the courtyard and to wait for his return.

Being able to spend time alone with Zhang Yu filled Chu Qingwen with excitement. As for the simple, dull-witted Niu Mancang, she had automatically screened him out.

Along the way, she attended to Zhang Yu with great care, while harboring a woman's little schemes.

For example, when pouring tea for Zhang Yu, she would seemingly accidentally brush the back of his hand. That gentle stroke was more like a tease.

Whenever the carriage jolted, she would deliberately let her body fall toward Zhang Yu's arms.

In her heart, she had never regarded herself as Zhang Yu's nominal disciple. She wanted to become his master's wife instead.

Zhang Yu had initially enjoyed that ambiguity, but gradually lost the mood for it. Along the way, he saw many commoners at the bottom of society, their cheekbones protruding, their eye sockets sunken, their bodies little more than skin stretched over bone. Every child had a thin neck supporting an oversized head.

Their eyes were numb and lifeless as they toiled in the fields.

Meanwhile, the powerful and wealthy wore fine clothes and feasted on rich food, never treating the common folk as human at all.

A young master from a powerful family in the city brought hunting dogs outside the city for an outing. One of the dogs bit straight through a child's neck, while he threw back his head and laughed heartily beside it.

The child's parents wailed miserably and tried to step forward to reason with him, only for the guards to draw their blades and kill them outright.

Zhang Yu frowned, a trace of anger on his face.

"Master, the Western Desolate Continent is a world ruled by martial artists. Forget farming peasants like them—even the Chu Family could be swallowed whole at any moment. When that time comes, my fate would not be much better than that child's just now," Chu Qingwen said.

"You can manage things for a moment, but not for a lifetime, much less the entire Western Wilderness. You would only bring all manner of trouble and danger upon yourself. The rulers of the Western Wilderness are the thousand-year aristocratic families and the three great sects. They have completely cut off the path for ordinary people to advance into the Middle Three Realms as martial artists."

"If you want to advance, you must become their dog."

"After several generations of effort, the Chu Family spent countless treasures of gold and silver to obtain only a second-rate cultivation technique. First-rate techniques would never be spread outside, because first-rate techniques could break through into the True Qi Realm of the Middle Three Realms."

Chu Qingwen told Zhang Yu many things, allowing him to gain a deeper understanding of the Western Desolate Continent.

Hoo...

Zhang Yu exhaled the foul breath in his chest. Thinking of those arrogant nobles and the common people laboring in the fields, a goal suddenly rose in his heart.

A man's ultimate romance had never been women, but holding the world in his heart, sealing the wolf at Mount Xu and sacrificing at Juxu, saving the myriad people from fire and water, and thus attaining the rank of a sage.

Hidden Cloud City, Chu Family Estate.

Chu Chengye was receiving Zhang Yu and the others, who had just arrived.

He placed a jade box before Zhang Yu. "Young Master Zhang, the Chu Family has not failed its mission. We secured this Fire Spirit Crystal at auction."

This Fire Spirit Crystal had consumed eighty percent of the assets of their main branch.

Zhang Yu accepted the jade box and opened it. Inside lay a fist-sized crimson sphere, with a tiny flame at its center. It was most extraordinary.

"Many thanks!"

He would remember this favor from the Chu Family.

"If Young Master Zhang is ever able to set foot in the Middle Three Realms in the future, I hope you will look after the Chu Family to some extent," Chu Chengye said with a bow.

He deeply trusted his daughter Chu Qingwen's sixth sense, which was why he had gambled the future of their main branch.

"Naturally!" Zhang Yu clasped his hands.

Three days later, a massive cauldron stood in the rear courtyard of the Chu Family Estate. Firewood burned beneath it, while black liquid within bubbled and churned.

The medicine for activating the Feral Ox Physique was inside the cauldron, having been boiled for three days and three nights.

The heat was about right. Zhang Yu turned and looked solemnly at Niu Mancang. "Mancang, have you thought this through? If you succeed, some kind of physique within your body will be awakened. If you fail, the flesh and blood of your entire body will be burned into dregs."

"I've thought it through. I want revenge, and I can give everything for it. Master, please grant my wish." Niu Mancang dropped to his knees with a thud. His gaze was incomparably resolute, without the slightest trace of fear.

"Take off your clothes and get in."

"Yes!"

Niu Mancang stripped and sat inside the cauldron. Zhang Yu had the Chu Family servants keep the fire burning without interruption.

Very soon, screams came from within the cauldron. It was the sound of pain that pierced deep into the marrow and bones.

Aah! Aah!

Zhang Yu did not linger. He turned and left. From the moment Niu Mancang entered the cauldron, there was no turning back.

I hope you can endure it, Zhang Yu thought.

Niu Mancang's screams continued for three hours, then suddenly fell silent, making Zhang Yu extremely worried.

Amid unease and concern, time flowed away second by second.

Inside the great cauldron, Niu Mancang discovered that he had somehow returned to a year ago. His family of six was working in the fields.

"Father, Mother, Big Dog, Second Dog..." Niu Mancang shouted, tears streaming down his face.

He missed them every moment of every day.

The scene continued onward. Hu the Landlord took a liking to his wife, followed by the scene of his father and mother being murdered.

"No... no..." Niu Mancang roared from within the cauldron.

Gurgle, gurgle.

The black liquid began seeping into his body. His flesh, blood, tendons, bones, and muscles continuously shattered, only to be repaired again and again.

Nine days and nine nights later.

The great fire went out.

"Open the cauldron!" Zhang Yu's voice trembled faintly.

This was the method given by the system. Though he believed in it, Niu Mancang had been boiled for nine days. By ordinary logic, a person should have been cooked to mush long ago.

"There are martial artists here who can fly through the heavens and burrow into the earth. I can't think with Earth's mindset," Zhang Yu muttered.