Beheading

Zhou Jin's beautiful eyes widened, her face full of disbelief.

The badly wounded Pan Hu and Chen Nanxing likewise stared wide-eyed. Their disbelieving gazes shifted from the dead Xiahou Cheng back to Zhao Zhi.

Both of them had been injured by Xiahou Cheng and knew how strong he was.

Yet a man like Xiahou Cheng had been killed by Zhao Zhi in two moves, without the slightest ability to resist.

This Profound Nether Guard was incredibly powerful.

As expected of a martial artist from the Profound Nether Platform.

Zhao Zhi rolled his wrist, his expression calm, as though he had merely done something trivial.

To him,

it truly was something trivial.

Blackwind Stronghold's chief, Xiahou Cheng, was not weak. He was slightly stronger than Xianyu Tu without the Little Netherworld Sword.

A Xiahou Cheng of this level had not been a match for the Zhao Zhi of the past, much less the Zhao Zhi of today.

Primordial Unity True Art: Foundation Establishment Perfection had forged Zhao Zhi an immense and flawless foundation, one that had long surpassed ordinary Innate Perfection martial artists.

Even against peerless prodigies from aristocratic lineages and martial sects, he would not fall behind.

Such strength was enough to rival a Meridian Opening Realm martial artist. Dealing with an Innate Perfection Xiahou Cheng was as easy as turning over his hand.

Zhao Zhi shifted his gaze toward Blackwind Stronghold's second chief, Gao Sheng, and third chief, Lü Yang.

"Young hero, spare us! Young hero, spare us!"

Gao Sheng and Lü Yang dropped to their knees on the spot, their bodies trembling uncontrollably as they begged for mercy.

Even their chief was dead. There was no chance they could be Zhao Zhi's opponents.

Zhao Zhi raised his eyelids and formed sword fingers. Two dark, condensed streams of Sword Qi shot forth, swiftly and precisely piercing through the two men's brows.

Gao Sheng and Lü Yang's eyes widened as their bodies collapsed limply to the ground.

[You fulfilled a pair of good brothers' vow to live and die together. Merit +28.]

[You fulfilled a pair of good brothers' vow to live and die together. Merit +25.]

"Meridian Opening?"

Pan Hu's pale face tightened as his pupils shrank. He stared fixedly at Zhao Zhi.

Zhao Zhi paid no attention to Pan Hu's doubts.

The Little Netherworld Sword was an exceptionally special and powerful martial art. In Zhao Zhi's view, it was an Astral Condensation Realm martial art, perhaps even a still more powerful Mountain-Shaking Realm martial art.

Accomplishing what other Innate martial arts could not—releasing inner qi beyond the body—was not much of a problem.

One merely needed sufficiently immense inner qi and sufficiently powerful meridians.

Zhao Zhi turned and walked to the entrance of the building. His gaze slowly swept across the Blackwind Stronghold bandits as his booming voice rang clearly through the entire stronghold. "Xiahou Cheng, Gao Sheng, and Lü Yang are dead. From this moment onward, Blackwind Stronghold is disbanded."

The Blackwind Stronghold bandits looked at one another.

Quite a few looked at Zhao Zhi with fear in their eyes.

The Blackwind Stronghold hall had no doors. The fighting inside had long been witnessed by bandits standing nearby. They had seen Zhao Zhi's terrifying strength, and not a shred of resistance remained in their hearts.

If Zhao Zhi had gone through untold hardships to kill their chiefs, these bandits might have chosen to swarm him and bury Zhao Zhi beneath sheer numbers.

But Zhao Zhi had not.

He had crushed and killed the three chiefs as easily as grinding ants beneath his heel. The terror of his strength was simply beyond the comprehension of bandits like them.

One of the bolder bandits asked, "Young hero, then what should we do?"

"What should you do?"

Back at Flying Cloud Stronghold, there had been Qingfeng County's punitive army and the Profound Nether Guards of the Profound Nether Platform, enough to handle the several hundred Flying Cloud Stronghold bandits.

Here at Blackwind Stronghold, there were only Zhao Zhi and He Peng, two Profound Nether Guards, along with three young masters and misses.

As his thoughts turned, Zhao Zhi came up with an idea.

He glanced back at Pan Hu, who had risen to his feet. "Didn't you three want to roam the martial world and uphold justice by punishing the wicked and aiding the weak? Now is a fine opportunity. Leave two people at Blackwind Stronghold and send one person to the nearest county town to have the county magistrate arrange for people to deal with these Blackwind Stronghold bandits.

"Remember, the Profound Nether Platform has already taken Blackwind Stronghold. Their fate must be decided according to the severity of their crimes.

"Entrusting such a small matter to you should not be a problem, should it?"

"Why should we—"

Chen Nanxing wanted to object, but Pan Hu cut him off. "Fine. We'll handle it."

Zhao Zhi glanced at Pan Hu, then returned to the hall and walked before Xiahou Cheng's corpse. He slowly drew out the long saber. Then the blade flashed, and Xiahou Cheng's head was severed.

The Profound Nether Platform had its own methods for verifying mission completion, but those methods required a certain amount of time.

If Xiahou Cheng's head was brought back, the mission could be directly confirmed as complete, greatly reducing the time needed to establish its completion.

Zhao Zhi had already reached Foundation Establishment Perfection. If he wanted to step into the Meridian Opening Realm, he needed a Meridian Opening Realm martial art.

Within the Profound Nether Platform, only by becoming a Formal Profound Nether Guard could one obtain a Meridian Opening Realm martial art.

"Roaming the martial world is no child's play. It isn't easy."

After taking the head, Zhao Zhi passed Pan Hu and left those words behind. He departed Blackwind Stronghold together with He Peng.

Outside Blackwind Stronghold,

He Peng turned his head toward Zhao Zhi. "Zhao Zhi, will the three of them really be all right? There are more than three hundred Blackwind Stronghold bandits."

Zhao Zhi smiled faintly. "Don't worry. The forces behind them won't let anything happen to them."

He Peng immediately understood and relaxed.

A great lineage was still a great lineage. Even if they were not direct descendants, the resources they received were beyond anything common folk could compare to.

Three days later,

Zhao Zhi and He Peng returned to the Profound Nether Platform and submitted the mission scroll along with Xiahou Cheng's head.

The Mission Hall's verification was swift.

Zhao Zhi and He Peng had completed the D-grade Mission.

He Peng recorded another D-grade Mission merit, while Zhao Zhi not only recorded a D-grade Mission merit but also became a Formal Profound Nether Guard.

In a sense, the Profound Nether Platform's formal assessment for its Profound Nether Guards had a tremendous flaw.

For a Trainee Profound Nether Guard to become a Formal Profound Nether Guard, they needed to carry out a D-grade Mission.

Yet that D-grade Mission did not necessarily need to be completed by the Trainee Profound Nether Guard alone.

He could choose to complete the D-grade Mission together with others, then share the D-grade Mission's merit and officially become a Profound Nether Guard.

This point,

Zhao Zhi understood.

Naturally, the upper ranks of the Profound Nether Platform understood it as well.

However, the casualty rate among Profound Nether Guards was too high. At least half of them died during missions each year. Therefore, the Profound Nether Platform allowed this problem to persist.

After becoming a Formal Profound Nether Guard and receiving a Profound Nether Guard Token, Zhao Zhi immediately headed to the Scripture Pavilion.

Every Formal Profound Nether Guard could obtain one Meridian Opening Realm martial art from the Scripture Pavilion free of charge.

After that, obtaining Meridian Opening Realm martial arts, or even Astral Condensation Realm martial arts, required exchanging merit for them.

After a simple look through the selection, Zhao Zhi chose the Innate Qi Transformation Technique, the Meridian Opening Realm martial art that followed the Innate Unity Qi Technique.

Inside the small courtyard room,

Zhao Zhi looked at the Merit Panel.

[Martial Arts: Innate Qi Transformation Technique (Not Initiated), Primordial Unity True Art: Foundation Establishment (Perfection), Giant Gate Palm (Perfection), Wild Wind Saber Technique (Perfection), Moon-Treading Step (Perfection)...]

[Merit: 3135]

He had enough Merit in reserve.

A faint smile rose at the corner of Zhao Zhi's lips. Taking Primordial Unity True Art: Foundation Establishment as his foundation and drawing upon the Innate Qi Transformation Technique, he would create a Meridian Opening Realm martial art that belonged to him alone.