First Kill

Chen Jue took the Little Five-Element Art and borrowed a quiet room, memorizing it as he cultivated.

In the past, the five internal cultivation arts totaled nearly ten thousand words. If he wanted to memorize them completely without a single error, it would take him at least three to five days.

But ever since awakening the Diligence Reward Talent, whatever Chen Jue learned came with the BUFF: "Effort always brings reward."

It was not photographic memory, nor was it astonishing comprehension.

It was simply that because he had "spent" time and energy memorizing the five cultivation arts, he naturally "received" their contents in return.

With this talent, Chen Jue quickly attained entry-level mastery of the Little Five-Element Art.

From then on, the acupoints throughout his body closed, leaving only five meridians through which his internal cultivation circulated and communicated with the spiritual energy of the outside world.

Chen Jue cultivated each of the five internal arts for an hour, using his qi and blood as a river cart to carry the Five-Element spiritual energy along specific meridians and into the furnace of his dantian.

Refinement, fusion.

Through Chen Jue's unrelenting efforts, the first wisp of Five-Element true qi in his life finally came into being within his dantian.

"First level of true qi—done!"

Feeling that wisp of "plump and sturdy" true qi within his meridians, Chen Jue could not hide his delight.

Three years of bitter work had finally borne fruit!

He was now an official martial artist of the True Qi Realm!

Chen Jue rose and stretched his limbs. He felt an extraordinary force welling up through his entire body, down to every bone and joint.

Of course, he knew where that force came from.

Ever since he had "laid the foundation of martial arts" and forged his dantian into a furnace, his physique and qi-blood had no longer been bound or constrained.

When his flesh could no longer contain the surplus qi-blood, he transported it into the furnace of his dantian.

That not only resolved the hidden danger of excessive qi-blood potentially bursting his meridians, but also increased the pressure and heat of his dantian furnace, accelerating its refinement of spiritual power into true qi.

Chen Jue returned the card to the young administrator, registered the cultivation arts he had chosen, and signed a standard confidentiality agreement, pledging never to pass the arts on to others.

By the time he left the City Patrol Office, it was already afternoon.

Chen Jue went to the famous Palace Cake Shop in the inner city and bought the peach pastries his mother loved, then headed over to pick He Tang up from school.

Outside Riverside Martial High School, the crowd of people picking up students remained as thick as ever.

Chen Jue had arrived a little late. He Tang and her best friend, Pei Qingying, were already walking down the road with their arms slung around each other's shoulders.

He had just been about to greet them when he spotted three furtive youths trailing behind the two girls.

Chen Jue frowned slightly. Without drawing attention to himself, he quietly followed.

The two young girls, He and Pei, had little experience of the world and were far from alert. Three little tails followed them for three whole streets, yet they remained completely unaware.

And those three little tails were hardly any more vigilant.

Pretending to look down at his phone, Chen Jue drifted closer and farther away with more than a dozen waves of pedestrians, vaguely catching snippets of their conversation.

"Two more main streets and we'll reach the border between the inner and outer cities... The surveillance cameras in the alley He Tang likes to take have already been disabled by our fellow believers. We'll make our move there..."

"But Third Miss Pei is with her. What if...?"

"What are you afraid of? Third Miss Pei's standing in the Pei Clan is lower than that of even distant branch relatives."

"A legitimate daughter with no talent for martial arts, unloved by her father and ignored by her mother. Even if she died outside, no one would care..."

After entering the True Qi Realm, Chen Jue's hearing had soared. From ten steps away, he could clearly hear the three whispering among themselves.

Chen Jue kept his head lowered and passed by the three of them.

"Feng Li, check the mechanism in your sleeve again."

"That bitch He Tang is at the second level of qi-blood. If we don't use Tendon-Softening Powder to drug her, the three of us might not be able to take her down together."

"Tang Bi, you're too nervous. Even if Feng Li fails, don't I still have my sleeve arrows?"

"Protector King only said he wanted the blood of a 'Boarfire Maiden.' He never said we had to capture her alive..."

"Tu Ji? Are you serious?"

"He Tang only rejected your confession in public. Do you have to hate her so much? We're classmates, at least. Don't start talking about taking someone's life the moment you open your mouth..."

"Heh! Tang Bi, quit playing the hypocrite here. I don't believe you've been in the cult this long and are still this naïve!"

"Do you think she'll have a good ending if we capture He Tang alive and take her back?"

"Have you forgotten how many beautiful women, already out of their minds, are locked beneath the church?"

"Besides, rather than letting those old bastards enjoy her, once we knock her out, why not let me first..."

Crack!

The sound of a phone screen shattering abruptly rang out beside the three, startling them.

Instinctively, they wanted to attack the tall man beside them, who stood over six feet.

But then they heard him mutter softly, "Just as expected. Cheap goods are never good," before brushing past them and disappearing around the corner ahead.

"That was close. I thought someone had overheard us!"

"Tu Ji, restrain yourself in the middle of the street!"

After crossing the last street of the inner city, He Tang and Pei Qingying entered, as usual, a small alley leading toward the border between the inner and outer cities.

The three followers all brightened and hurried after them.

The alley was dim, but not narrow. It was wide enough for a sedan and an electric bike to pass side by side.

"He..."

Feng Li, with his pointed monkey face, reached forward.

But before the word "He" could leave his mouth, a savage wind whistled in from his rear flank.

Smack!

A scabbard carrying immense force smashed into his left cheek. Half his pockmarked face instantly caved in, his neck snapped to the right, and his teeth, mixed with red and white matter, sprayed over Tang Bi beside him.

"You..."

Tang Bi's face was smeared with a foul, bloody mess. Terror flooded his heart. Just as he tried to speak, a large hand like iron pincers clamped around his throat, leaving him able to make only a string of chicken-like clucking noises.

Bang!

Tu Ji, who had tried to flee, was struck squarely in the chest and lungs by Chen Jue's brutal front kick. He plastered against the wall like a hanging painting, his breastbone shattered. Chunks of organs kept spilling from his mouth, and he was clearly not long for this world.

"Speak! Who sent you to follow Third Miss Pei?!"

Chen Jue's face was covered by a layer of black cloth, leaving only a pair of fierce, star-like eyes blazing with endless killing intent.

Not even when the Rat Gang had taken potshots at him, nor when Zhang Wei had extorted and humiliated him, had he been this furious.

But these pampered young masters had actually dared lay hands on his cousin. How could he possibly endure that?!

When he thought of the care his uncle and aunt had always shown him, he wanted nothing more than to slice the three men before him into a thousand pieces and tear their corpses to shreds!

How had they dared?!

"Spare me, sir! We weren't following Third Miss Pei! I was following the commoner girl beside her!"

Tang Bi was scared out of his wits.

Chen Jue had struck viciously, killing two of his companions in an instant.

Though he was a scion of a noble clan and held patrol inspectors in contempt, he could only beg pathetically for mercy.

"Don't kill me! I'm from the seventh-rank Tang Clan! Let me go, and I'll pay you a ransom of one million!"

Chen Jue's gaze was icy, his voice stern. "What the hell is a seventh-rank Tang Clan? Since you dared provoke someone from the Pei Clan, you should have known the consequences!"

"Tell me everything you know truthfully. If you hide even the slightest thing, I will uproot your Tang Clan entirely!"

Tang Bi's pupils suddenly constricted, horror surging through him.

Hadn't they said Third Miss Pei was not valued by her family?

Why was the intelligence so different from reality?!

They had merely implicated Third Miss Pei while carrying out their business, yet their entire clan was in danger of annihilation?

"Sir! This is a misunderstanding! We only targeted that commoner girl!"

"The three of us joined the Room Fire Cult under our clans' orders, to uncover the cult's secrets."

"The Pei Clan should have people involved in this matter as well. If you don't believe me, you may call the clans and ask."

Chen Jue's eyes remained cold.

"Then tell me: why does the Room Fire Cult want to abduct that commoner girl? If you explain the cause and effect clearly, I'll spare your life!"

At those words, hope flared in Tang Bi's eyes. Like pouring beans from a bamboo tube, he spilled everything he knew without holding anything back.

"The god worshipped by the Room Fire Cult is a star demon with a pig's face and tusks."

"There are already one hundred thousand believers in the outer city. They need only sacrifice another ninety-nine 'Boarfire Maidens'—women born in the Year of the Pig whose innate constitution is primarily fire—to the 'Room-Fire Star Demon.' Then they can refine the souls, bones, and flesh of those hundred thousand believers into Barrier-Breaking Pills that will allow Inner Landscape experts to break through and become Martial Kings!"

"Many clans in the inner city are plotting this matter now..."

Chen Jue interrupted, "Other than you three, how many people know that He Tang is a 'Boarfire Maiden'?"

"Martial high school records are open to noble clans..."

Halfway through his sentence, Tang Bi abruptly realized that he had never once mentioned He Tang's name. His expression changed drastically.

"You!"

Before he could say anything else, Chen Jue crushed his throat with force. He collapsed to the ground, twitching unwillingly.

How did this man dare?!

How did he dare kill a noble clan's descendant over a mere friend or relative?!

Tang Bi had already realized Chen Jue was not from the Pei Clan, but it no longer meant anything, because he was about to die.

Die at the hands of a commoner, lowly from birth!

"You'll die a horrible death!"

Tang Bi conveyed his curse to Chen Jue through a vicious stare.

Chen Jue's expression did not change. Before leaving, he stomped on Tang Bi's two wide-open eyeballs as though crushing light bulbs.

He crouched and searched the bodies, dividing the valuables he found into several portions and tossing them into secluded corners nearby.

Noble clans had long legacies and countless methods.

Chen Jue feared that these spoils might carry tracking methods, so he intended to observe for a while first.

This was his first time killing someone. Lacking experience, he could not help being a little cautious.

As for the discomfort after his first kill, it was wholly drowned beneath the anger and lingering fear in Chen Jue's heart.

He was absolutely not a bloodthirsty murderer, but some people had sought their own deaths, and he had no choice but to kill them!

"How innocent am I, Chen? It's all this filthy world's fault!"