After leaving the Pure Heart Pavilion, Yi Yang did not return to his quarters.
He took a turn along the secluded path behind the gates of the Heaven Patrol Office's Judgment Hall, passed through two deserted narrow alleys, and headed toward the Prefectural City's eastern gate.
He intended to leave the city and visit the Beast Ridge Mountains, where he had carried out his first mission.
The woodland on the outskirts of the Beast Ridge Mountains was not far from the Prefectural City. At Yi Yang's speed, he reached it in half an hour.
After climbing the mountain, Yi Yang chose a hollow well away from the hunters' trails.
Dense forest surrounded it on all sides, old trees sheltered it overhead, and rocks of various sizes littered the ground.
Standing at the hollow's entrance, he swept the surroundings with his senses. There was no human presence within a hundred zhang, and the only animals were two squirrels gnawing pine nuts in the treetops.
It was secluded and quiet enough.
He released the Concealed Breath Formless Art.
The suppressed true astral force within him surged out of his qi sea. Blue-green Yi Wood True Qi poured into his meridians and flowed through his fascia.
Yi Yang could feel that this astral energy was completely different from before. As the true qi circulated through his flesh, layer pressed upon layer, its strength continuing in an unbroken tide.
Yi Yang raised his right fist and glanced at the waist-high granite boulder he had moved in front of him.
He wasted no words.
He punched.
Boom!
The instant Yi Yang's fist struck, spiderweb cracks spread across the rock's surface. Chips flew, and large slabs tumbled off to either side.
The force of his punch penetrated three inches into the stone. The entire granite boulder