Qi Gathering

After crossing the ridge, the path became even harder to traverse.

Zhou Yan carried Sun Wenyao as he slowly made his way down. Gravel crumbled beneath his feet with every step.

There was a stretch of loose stone on the gentle slope. A section near the mountain wall had collapsed, revealing a cave.

The entrance was only half a person's height and concealed by vines.

After pushing aside the vines and looking inside, Zhou Yan saw that the ground was fairly dry. Water seeped from the stone wall at the very back, pooling in a small puddle in the corner.

"Let's go in."

Sun Wenyao supported herself against the mountain wall and bent down to crawl into the cave, with Zhou Yan following behind her.

She sat against the wall, stretched out her leg, and hissed.

Zhou Yan lowered his head and saw that a large patch of skin had been scraped off the outer side of her calf. Blood had dried, sticking her skirt to the wound.

He crouched down, tore a strip of cloth from his hem, soaked it in the pooled water, and wrung it until it was half-dry.

"Bear with it."

Sun Wenyao bit her lip when the cloth touched the wound, but she did not make a sound.

After wiping away the bits of gravel, he tore another strip of dry cloth, wrapped it around her leg twice, and tied a knot.

"Thank you," Sun Wenyao said, biting her lip.

"It's nothing. I'm still waiting for you to collect the reward money you promised to lead me to." Zhou Yan smiled and sat down against the wall opposite her.

The pursuers' whistles could no longer be heard.

Since last night, they had crossed an entire mountain and shaken off at least three groups of pursuers.

But the Scarlet Blood Lingzhi was still tucked inside his clothes. Those people would not give up so easily.

Zhou Yan leaned against the wall and closed his eyes to rest for a while.

These past few days of fighting and pursuit had pushed his Mountain-Settling Stance closer to its threshold every time he exerted himself.

He opened his eyes and stood.

Sun Wenyao huddled in the corner, staring blankly at him.

He walked to the middle of the cave, spread his feet shoulder-width apart, bent his knees slightly, and let his arms hang naturally at his sides.

Mountain-Settling Stance opening form!

To outsiders, stance training looked like nothing more than standing still. But anyone who had practiced it knew that every muscle in the body was straining against the others.

From his toes gripping the ground to his straightened spine, one mistake anywhere would throw everything apart.

After holding the stance for the time it took to burn an incense stick, sweat began to form on his body.

The progress was still rising!

[Mountain-Settling Stance: Mastery 299/300]

Then, the progress bar filled immediately after!

At that instant, Zhou Yan's mind went still.

It was completely blank. Even his breathing stopped for half a beat.

Two words appeared in his vision.

Perfection!

[Mountain-Settling Stance: Perfection 1/500]

Something was wrong!

Instructor Ding and the head master had both said before that Perfection was the highest level a stance technique could reach.

Yet the system panel was now telling him that there was still a path beyond Perfection!

An icy voice rang out in his mind!

"Martial Dao Limitbreaker. Transcend Perfection. Reforge your foundation."

The instant the voice faded, Zhou Yan's joints began crackling violently.

From his toes to his cervical vertebrae, dozens of joints exploded at once. Then, a surge of power poured outward from the depths of his bone marrow.

Sun Wenyao poked her head out from the corner, her eyes widening.

Zhou Yan had no time to care about her. His dantian suddenly began to burn.

Within a few breaths, it felt as if something had forced it open.

Qi Gathering!

Reaching Perfection in his stance technique had loosened that threshold. The qi and blood within him seemed to have found an outlet and rushed into his dantian all at once.

Because of the system, there was no bottleneck in his breakthrough.

Everything happened naturally!

Zhou Yan braced his waist and guided the force of the Mountain-Settling Stance into his dantian.

His tendons and veins began to swell. Blue veins rose one after another beneath his skin.

His skin began to redden, and heat streamed from his entire body.

His dantian suddenly shook, and a strand of qi formed within it.

His first strand of inner qi.

That strand of inner qi flowed from his dantian through his meridians and into every limb and bone.

Wherever it flowed, the muscles, tendons, and bones there seemed to be reforged.

The density of his bones changed. The toughness of his tendons changed. It was as though he had shed a layer of old skin and taken on a new skeleton.

Qi-Gathering Realm!

Zhou Yan opened his eyes and felt the power within him.

This was the realm beyond that of an ordinary martial artist!

Sun Wenyao looked at him with no particular expression on her face, but her hands were still trembling faintly.

"You..." She opened her mouth but did not finish.

A dog suddenly barked outside, a low growl rolling from a hunting hound's throat.

"Over here! There's a scent!"

Zhou Yan seized Sun Wenyao by the shoulder and pushed her toward the deepest part of the cave.

"Don't make a sound. Don't come out."

Sun Wenyao retreated several steps and curled up in the innermost corner, covering her mouth with both hands.

Zhou Yan turned around, pushed aside the vines at the cave entrance, and bent down to crawl out.

It was already broad daylight outside. A group of people stood on the patch of loose stone.

At the front were two Qi-Gathering Realm martial artists.

The one on the left was in his early forties, with a long, thin face and a curved saber hanging at his waist.

The one on the right was sturdier, barehanded, with thick calluses covering his fists.

Behind them stood seven or eight Body-Tempering Realm martial artists.

At the very front, a short, sturdy man held the leash of a black-backed hunting hound, which was barking furiously toward the cave.

They were Black Tiger Hall men as well.

It seemed the grudge between Black Tiger Hall and the Sun family was truly deep. They had actually sent so many people.

Zhou Yan swept his gaze over them.

Two Qi Gathering, eight Body Tempering, and one dog. The most troublesome were the two Qi Gathering martial artists.

"Kid, stop running." The thin-faced man spoke in a hoarse voice. "Hand over the item and Miss Sun, and we'll spare your life."

Zhou Yan pushed off with his feet. Gravel exploded beneath him as he shot forward.

The back of his fist slammed into the face of the short, sturdy man holding the dog. The sound of his nasal bone shattering was both dull and crisp. His head snapped backward, and he and the dog went flying together.

The hound's leash slipped from his hand. Before the beast could react, Zhou Yan swept out with his left leg and kicked it in the waist.

The hunting hound howled and flew sideways more than thirty feet, smashing into the mountain wall before bouncing back to the ground without moving.

Mountain-Suppressing Fist, Mountain Sinking!

The saber wielder beside him had only raised his blade halfway when Zhou Yan's fist drove upward from below and struck his abdomen.

His fist sank two inches into the man's stomach. The saber wielder's eyes bulged as if they might fall out, blood foam spilling from his mouth as he doubled over and collapsed.

The third and fourth men charged at the same time. One swept an iron staff horizontally from the left, while the other thrust a short blade straight from the right.

Zhou Yan advanced instead of retreating.

He raised his right arm and took the iron staff head-on. With a clang, the staff smashed against his forearm, jolting the staff wielder so hard that the web between his thumb and forefinger split open.

At the same time, Zhou Yan sent out his left palm and struck the wrist of the man holding the blade, knocking the weapon from his hand.

His fist followed immediately!

The staff wielder was still stunned when Zhou Yan's fist arrived.

The fist struck him squarely in the throat. He did not even manage a groan before dropping to his knees, his head lolling to one side.

The blade wielder turned to run.

Zhou Yan took one step after him and swept out with his leg. The man flew sideways into a boulder and did not move again.

From the first punch to the fourth man falling, only a few breaths had passed.

The remaining four Body-Tempering Realm martial artists staggered several steps back in fright, their weapons trembling in their hands.

The expressions of the two Qi-Gathering Realm martial artists changed.

The thin-faced man drew his curved saber, its blade flashing beneath the sunlight.

The sturdy man clenched his fists.

"Qi Gathering." The sturdy man stared at Zhou Yan. "This kid is Qi Gathering."

"No shit." The thin-faced man stepped forward with his curved saber. "Even if he's Qi Gathering, there's only one of him. There are two of us."

As soon as the words fell, both men moved at once.

The thin-faced man brought his curved saber down in a vicious overhead slash, the blade carrying the inner force unique to the Qi-Gathering Realm.

The sturdy man circled around from the side and threw both fists forward. One struck at Zhou Yan's ribs, while the other blocked his retreat.

Zhou Yan twisted aside to avoid the first slash of the curved saber and retreated two steps with the motion.

The two Qi-Gathering Realm martial artists worked together with decent coordination.

The thin-faced man's curved saber slashed again and again, its flashes dancing up and down, while the sturdy man's punches were heavy, each one carrying inner force.

Zhou Yan dealt with them using the Mountain-Suppressing Fist, exchanging seven or eight moves.

He had already figured out the foundations of the two Qi-Gathering Realm martial artists. The thin-faced man's saber was fast, but his lower stance was unstable.

The sturdy man's punches were heavy, but he was slow to change techniques.

In a one-on-one fight, Zhou Yan could defeat either of them. The problem was that they had attacked together, and he could not let either one escape.

The remaining four Body-Tempering Realm martial artists were still standing in the distance. Though they did not dare approach, their eyes remained fixed on the fight.

Zhou Yan made his calculations.

He deliberately exposed an opening. After blocking the sturdy man's punch, he pretended to lose his balance and let his body sway.

The thin-faced man seized the opportunity as expected, bringing his curved saber down in a diagonal slash from above.

This was exactly the strike Zhou Yan had been waiting for.

He ducked low, and the curved saber grazed past his scalp.

At the same time, his right leg swept out fiercely and struck the thin-faced man's calf.

The thin-faced man's footing had already been unsteady. That kick threw him completely off balance, sending him toppling to the side.

Zhou Yan gave him no chance to recover.

The instant his body tilted, Zhou Yan changed his move with his right fist. He withdrew the stance of the Mountain-Suppressing Fist and switched to an entirely different opening form.

Mountain-Breaking Fist!

An entirely different fist technique, and one that was also close to Perfection!

His fist turned out from his waist. Driven by a strand of inner qi from his dantian, it exploded straight from his knuckles.

That punch struck the thin-faced man's ribs.

The instant the Mountain-Breaking Fist connected, its inner force penetrated flesh and bone before exploding within his chest cavity.

Seven or eight ribs shattered at once with a dull crack.

The thin-faced man did not even have time to scream. He opened his mouth, blood surged from his throat, and he crumpled to the ground.

The sturdy man's face went deathly pale. He had not expected this young Qi-Gathering martial artist to have mastered a fist technique to Mastery!

Nor had he expected him to kill someone of the same realm with a single punch!

"Spare me!"

Before he could finish, Zhou Yan had already turned around. The second punch of the Mountain-Breaking Fist surged toward him.

The sturdy man crossed his arms before his chest, pouring all of his Qi-Gathering Realm inner force into them.

Bang!

Crack!

The Mountain-Breaking Fist struck his forearms. His crossed arms snapped like two bamboo chopsticks.

The punch did not slow, striking him squarely in the chest.

The sturdy man sprayed a mist of blood from his mouth. The inner force that passed through him blew open the clothing on his back, revealing a deep purple fist mark.

His body flew backward two steps before he fell flat onto the loose stone.

The remaining four Body-Tempering Realm martial artists had already run.

Zhou Yan glanced at the gravel on the ground and bent down to grab a handful.

Four stones, four directions.

Qi-Gathering Realm inner qi flowed into his fingers, and the stones flew faster than crossbow bolts.

Thud, thud...

Along with four sounds of bodies hitting the ground, bloody holes appeared in their throats.

Ten corpses and one dead dog lay scattered across the patch of loose stone.

Zhou Yan stood where he was and swept his gaze around, making sure no survivors remained.

He crouched down and searched the bodies.

When he searched the burly man first, he found a wooden token at his waist. It was indeed from the Black Tiger Hall, marked with a tiger-head design.

There were also a few taels of loose silver and a packet of dried provisions in his clothes.

When he searched the long-faced man, he found an additional bronze token in his robes, square and neat. The front bore the two words "Qinghe," while the back was engraved with a city gate.

They were from Qinghe City. Sure enough, they had joined forces!

Zhou Yan rose to his feet and put away the loose silver and provisions.

He bent down, dragged the corpses up one by one, and hauled them deeper into the forest.

After dragging away the last body, he shoveled several handfuls of gravel over the patch of bloodstains on the ground.

By the time he finished, it was already past noon.

Zhou Yan returned to the cave entrance, pushed aside the vines, and slipped inside.

Sun Wenyao was still huddled in the corner.

When she saw him enter, her gaze first fell on his clothes. He was covered in blood from head to toe.

"You... were you hurt?"

"No. It's someone else's blood."

Sun Wenyao fell silent for several breaths before softly saying, "If we really can't escape, then hand me and the precious medicine over to them!"

Zhou Yan glanced at her, shook his head, then sat down against the cave wall and closed his eyes.

In his vision, the system panel unfolded on its own.

The simple progress interface from before had vanished.

In its place was a much larger light screen.

At the very top was a line of large text:

[Martial Dao Limit-Breaking System]

Below it were several sections, with the cultivation techniques section lit up.

[Mountain-Settling Stance: Perfection 10/500]

[Mountain-Suppressing Fist: Minor Mastery 189/200]

[Mountain-Breaking Fist: Major Mastery 276/300]

The realm section had changed as well.

[Realm: Qi-Gathering Realm]

Beginner, Minor Mastery, Major Mastery, Perfection—this was the path ordinary people followed in martial arts.

But within this system, there was still limit-breaking beyond Perfection.

Perhaps this was the system's true purpose.

To break through the limits and reach the pinnacle of martial arts!

Zhou Yan suddenly opened his eyes.

Sun Wenyao leaned against the opposite cave wall, her watery eyes secretly watching him.

Their gazes met for an instant. As though she had been caught red-handed, she quickly looked away.

Faint whistle blasts sounded outside the cave again, denser than before.

Zhou Yan stood up, packed up the waterskin and bag of provisions, then tightened the blue cloth bundle against his chest.

"Let's go."