Twenty li outside the city, Little River Village.
The once-bustling village had been reduced to broken walls and charred roof beams.
In the village clearing, more than three hundred bandits sat around fires, gnawing on dry rations.
A cloaked shadow emerged from the dense woods and rushed straight in.
"General! I've found everything out! Everything!"
The scout pulled the cloak off his head and braced his hands on his knees, gasping for breath.
Beside a fire, a burly man with a vicious face glanced over.
It was Cao Hu, the Heaven-Pacifying Army's vanguard general who had escaped.
Cao Hu strode over with his broad axe.
"Speak! Which son of a bitch killed Song Mo?"
Song Mo had not only been the bandits' inside man in the city, but had also been responsible for supervising and protecting the Zhao Clan.
If things had not gone wrong on his end and hampered the assault, that bastard Zhao Wuya would never have slipped away!
One bad move had cost him the whole board.
Cao Hu now hated the person who had ruined his plans to the marrow of his bones.
The scout swallowed and hurried to answer.
"The one who killed Master Song and the entire Zhao Clan was a brat named Lin Yuan!"
"He's the owner of the Lin Clan Cloth Shop and a newly promoted Dragon Guard commandant in Ping'an County!"
"Good. Very good! He dared climb to power over the corpses of my army!"
Cao Hu flew into a towering rage.
Suddenly, he seemed to notice a detail, and his face twitched violently.
"A brat? How young?"
"About seventeen or eighteen!"
The scout held up his fingers to indicate it.
Clang!
The broad axe in Cao Hu's hand struck the ground, sending sparks flying.
He stepped forward, seized the scout by the collar, and hauled him up.
"Are you fucking making a fool of me?"
"That young? And he could kill Song Mo, who was at the Second Rank late stage?"
The scout's neck turned red under the pressure, and he shouted at the top of his lungs.
"General! I haven't finished!"
"They say there was also a woman there at the time. The two of them joined forces to kill Master Song!"
"I just saw that brat with my own eyes. Judging by his blood and Qi fluctuations, he's at peak First Rank at most!"
Cao Hu loosened his grip. The scout fell to the ground, clutching his neck and coughing desperately.
"Peak First Rank, is it?"
Cao Hu rubbed the scar on his face and paced back and forth twice.
That woman must have been Shen Qing. She had Second Rank strength; no wonder they had managed to kill Song Mo.
Fortunately, she had already been transferred to Qingshan Commandery and was nothing to fear.
Cao Hu grinned, exposing a mouthful of yellow teeth.
"In that case, we'll kill this brat Lin Yuan first and vent the hatred in my heart!"
The scout seemed to remember something and hurriedly spoke.
"General, that brat splashed out six hundred thousand taels at the Treasure Pavilion today to win a fragment of an Earth-Rank lightness technique!"
"Six hundred thousand taels? An Earth-Rank lightness technique?"
At that, Cao Hu's breathing quickened, and his eyes shone frighteningly bright.
His several hundred brothers could not even get a hot meal now, yet this little beast had so much silver on hand.
And an Earth-Rank martial art!
This brat had already found his path to death!
"General, shall we sneak into the city at midnight?"
A trusted subordinate came closer and drew a hand across his throat.
Cao Hu thought it over, then waved his hand.
"No. These are all the men we have left. We can't afford any losses."
He still had to preserve his strength. Otherwise, once he reached Yun Prefecture, he would be reduced to a stray by the roadside.
He frowned in thought for a while, then his eyes suddenly lit up.
Lure the snake out of its hole!
He had so many men, and he himself was an expert at peak Second Rank!
Once he lured the brat out of the city, he could kill him however he pleased!
"Go. Bring over a few villagers who aren't quite dead yet."
Cao Hu carried his axe back to the fire and sat down, his face twisted into a savage grin.
At the residence in the north of the city.
Lin Yuan sat cross-legged on his bed, with the Swimming Dragon Steps manual and the tattered sheepskin scroll laid out before him.
He picked up Swimming Dragon Steps first and read through it page by page.
Half an hour later, Lin Yuan closed the booklet, and a red light flashed before his eyes.
[Martial art: Swimming Dragon Steps (Beginner 1/300) (Earth Rank) (First part)]
Just then, the faint sound of a watchman's clapper came from outside.
The hour of midnight had arrived.
Today's epiphany opportunity had refreshed!
Lin Yuan took a deep breath and slowly closed his eyes.
Hum!
His consciousness sank into the Epiphany Space.
With a thought, over a hundred phantoms appeared before him.
Some walked over plum-blossom stakes, while others sprinted on tiptoe.
Suddenly, a cyan phantom darted out, stepping its left foot onto its right, moving so fast it left afterimages. It was none other than Flowing Cloud Steps at major accomplishment.
Finally, a dark-gold phantom appeared in the very center. It took a stride and glided several zhang through the air like a swimming dragon.
Lin Yuan steadied his mind and began the fusion.
Over a hundred phantoms exploded at once, turning into countless motes of light that all hurtled toward the cyan phantom.
The cyan phantom began to swell. Before it could fully stabilize, Lin Yuan sent it crashing into the dark-gold phantom in the center!
Boom!
The two phantoms collided, and the space trembled violently.
Countless insights into movement techniques surfaced in Lin Yuan's mind.
An unknown amount of time passed.
The two phantoms gradually overlapped, becoming a slender phantom in cyan robes.
The phantom suddenly raised its right foot and stepped forward, sending rings of air bursting outward.
Then came a second step, and a third.
Invisible stairs seemed to rise beneath the phantom's feet as it walked into the sky, step by step.
Crack!
In the bedroom, Lin Yuan's eyes snapped open.
[Martial art: Immortal Ascension Steps (Earth Rank)]
It worked!
A complete Earth-Rank lightness technique!
And there was no proficiency bar.
It seemed that, aside from internal cultivation methods tied to his cultivation realm, all the martial arts he created were in their most perfect state.
Unable to suppress the heat in his heart, Lin Yuan pushed open the door and went into the courtyard.
The night was cool as water, its chill piercing to the bone.
He took a deep breath, sending the power of his blood and Qi into the Yongquan acupoints in his soles.
He raised his right foot and stepped forward into empty air.
Pop!
The air seemed to be instantly sucked dry and compressed, producing an explosive crack.
Lin Yuan raised his eyebrows and immediately stepped upward with his left foot.
Two steps, three steps, four!
His body rose through empty air, clearing the roof in the blink of an eye.
Lin Yuan stopped and looked down.
There was nothing beneath his feet. Only the night wind stirred his robes, yet he stood perfectly steady, without even a wobble!
Before, when using Flowing Cloud Steps, he had needed to step his left foot onto his right, like a monkey shooting into the sky.
With Immortal Ascension Steps, as long as the power of his blood and Qi could keep up, he could keep walking through the air!
"Now that's more like it."
Lin Yuan grinned and strolled around in midair twice before drifting lightly back into the courtyard.
He briefly examined his condition, and his brows gradually furrowed.
In just ten or so breaths, he had consumed more than half the power of his blood and Qi!
It seemed he could not use it carelessly unless it was a critical moment.
He returned to the bedroom and turned his gaze toward the tattered sheepskin scroll.
Lin Yuan picked it up and held it beneath the oil lamp for a careful look.
Complicated lines covered it, resembling human meridians, yet also the courses of rivers.
He stared at it for a full cup of tea's worth of time, until his eyes ached, but still could not make anything of it.
"Looks like I'll still need an epiphany."
With some regret, Lin Yuan put away the sheepskin scroll. He could only wait until tomorrow to try again.
The night passed without incident.
At first light, urgent pounding sounded at the courtyard gate.
In the main hall, Lin Yuan had just lifted his bowl of congee. He frowned and set down his chopsticks.
Within a few seconds.
Lin Jiu hurried inside with a constable dressed in black.
"C-Commandant Lin!"
The constable dropped to his knees with a thud and held up a bloodstained letter in his trembling hands.
"What's this?"
Lin Yuan had a bad feeling.
"My lord, the soldiers guarding the city found several villagers' corpses at the foot of the wall this morning. They had this letter on them!"
"It says, 'To be opened personally by the Dragon Guard.' It might be confidential intelligence."
"The county deputy didn't dare delay and immediately sent me to deliver it to you!"
Concerned that it might be poisoned, Lin Yuan had the constable open it before accepting it with peace of mind.
The handwriting on the paper was crooked, the characters as large as baskets.
"Lin X, you brat."
"Your hereby ordered to come alone to Little River Village, twenty li outside the sity, before noon today and meat your death!"
"If you bring troops, or don't come, I'll butcher a whole village-Cao Hu of the Heaven-Pacifying Army!"
Lin Yuan stumbled through the letter, and his expression abruptly turned cold.
The bandits who had escaped had set their sights on him!
The courtyard suddenly fell terrifyingly silent.