First Clash

Chen Fan's laughter was crude and wild.

He had inherited Black Wind Baleful Intent's traits.

He grasped Cuiqiao's smooth chin and leaned in with Black Wind Baleful Intent's face.

"Afraid? That word has never been in my dictionary!"

With Death-Substitution Rebirth as his golden finger, even death no longer frightened him.

He tossed Cuiqiao onto the bed. She cried out in surprise, her clothes falling into even greater disarray.

The temperature in the stone chamber kept rising.

Outside the door, slaughter was on its way; inside, a different kind of battle was underway.

That night, Chen Fan experienced the life of a mountain bandit chief to the fullest.

Cuiqiao truly lived up to her title as the chief's wife. Seductiveness ran in her bones.

She was incredibly skilled in all manner of positions, and knew plenty of unusual ways to play.

Chen Fan had thoroughly enjoyed himself.

The next day, just as dawn was breaking.

Chen Fan woke from the soft bedding.

Beside him, Hong'e and Cuiqiao were still fast asleep, their faces showing the weariness that followed satisfaction.

He sat up and stretched his limbs.

There was no hangover headache, nor any emptiness from overindulgence.

His entire body was filled with inexhaustible strength.

Even the faint wisp of internal force in his Dantian seemed to have grown a little stronger.

This was a martial artist's body.

Wonderful.

Just then, Iron-Armed Monkey's urgent shout came from outside the stone door.

"Big brother! Big brother! The government troops have started attacking the mountain!"

Chen Fan dressed and pushed open the stone door.

Iron-Armed Monkey stood outside, not a trace of nervousness on his face. Instead, he was brimming with excitement.

"Perfect timing."

Chen Fan yawned, looking as though he had not quite woken up.

"Proceed according to plan."

"Tell the brothers not to let the government troops' screams disturb the ladies' sleep."

Iron-Armed Monkey grinned, baring a mouthful of yellow teeth.

"You got it! Just watch, big brother!"

With that, he turned and ran toward the bandit stronghold's front line.

Chen Fan did not follow.

He went to a raised platform outside the rear hall. The view was wide open, giving him a clear sight of the entire battle at One-Line Sky.

The mountain path was packed with a dark mass of county soldiers sent by Zhao De.

Holding shields and long spears, they advanced cautiously toward the entrance to One-Line Sky in a reasonably orderly formation.

They looked rather imposing.

Unfortunately, they were facing a gang of desperadoes.

When the vanguard stepped onto that narrow stretch of mountain path, the bandits lying in ambush on the cliffs to either side made their move.

"Drop them!"

With a furious roar, millstone-sized boulders and massive logs as thick as a man's embrace plunged from the sky with crushing force.

Boom!

Screams and the cracking of bones erupted all at once.

Before that overwhelming force, the county soldiers' shield formation was as fragile as paper.

After one volley of boulders, corpses and scraps of flesh clogged the narrow mountain path.

The county soldiers at the rear could not get through.

Those at the front could not retreat.

A rain of arrows came flying down immediately afterward.

The bandits were poor archers, but in such conditions, they did not need to aim.

Every arrow could take a life.

From the very beginning, the battle was a one-sided slaughter.

Chen Fan stood on the platform, calmly watching it all.

He felt neither excitement nor pity.

This was war.

Bloody and cruel, with human lives worth no more than grass.

About the time it took an incense stick to burn later, a gong sounded the retreat from below the mountain.

The remaining county soldiers abandoned their helmets and armor and scrambled down the mountain, leaving over a hundred corpses behind.

Just like that, the first wave of the assault on Black Wind Mountain had been effortlessly broken.

Earth-shaking cheers erupted throughout the stronghold.

Chen Fan turned and walked back to the stone chamber.

He did not like such scenes.

Dozens of people had died in a single clash between the two sides, and their bodies still lay on the mountain. It was a desolate sight.

He sat cross-legged on the stone bed, closed his eyes, and began to calm his mind and examine his new body carefully.

Black Wind Baleful Intent's memories were vast and chaotic.

He needed to sort through them bit by bit and make the useful things his own.

First came the Martial Dao.

Following the breathing method that accompanied the Gale Saber Technique, he guided the wisp of internal force in his Dantian slowly through his meridians.

A warm current rose from his Dantian and began to travel along a particular route.

This current was internal force.

Although it was only a faint wisp, wherever it passed, a pleasant sensation spread through all his limbs and bones.

It was more than a hundred times better than Zhao Long's broken-down body, which could not even hold a steady horse stance.

After his internal force completed one circulation, Chen Fan opened his eyes.

He had a rough understanding of what this body was capable of.

Its meridians were open, so it could cultivate the Martial Dao.

Its aptitude, however, could only be considered ordinary.

The meridians were as wide as country dirt roads, a far cry from broad official roads. Internal force flowed through them somewhat sluggishly.

Black Wind Baleful Intent had obtained this rudimentary cultivation method from the army and trained diligently for over ten years, yet had only barely entered the Eighth-Grade Inner Breath Realm.

Clearly, that was the extent of this body's Root Bone.

Average aptitude.

It could not compare with a martial genius like Zhang Shan, the kind who appeared once in a century.

Chen Fan rose, walked to the wall, and lifted the heavy ghost-head saber.

As soon as he took the blade in hand, a bloody Sha Qi assailed him.

He held the saber across his body, and the moves of the Gale Saber Technique in Black Wind Baleful Intent's memories naturally surfaced in his mind.

This saber technique did not involve much finesse.

Its movements were sweeping and forceful, all about delivering heavy blows and overpowering opponents with sheer strength.

It was perfectly suited to someone born with divine strength, like Black Wind Baleful Intent.

Chen Fan drew a deep breath and poured internal force into both arms.

Gripping the saber with both hands, he slashed fiercely forward!

Whoosh!

The heavy blade cut through the air with a piercing whistle!

A powerful gust from the saber set the tables and chairs in the stone chamber swaying.

Such tremendous strength!

Chen Fan felt the recoil through his arms, his heart surging.

This was the power of an eighth-grade martial artist!

The might of a single slash could reach such heights!

He was about to try another slash when the stone door was abruptly shoved open.

Smiling Tiger, the third chief, came stumbling in, his plump face full of panic.

"Chief! Something terrible has happened!"

Chen Fan frowned, somewhat displeased.

"What are you panicking for? Have the government troops attacked again?"

"No... no!" Smiling Tiger panted, pointing down the mountain.

"They... they haven't retreated!"

"Those government troops have set up camp at the foot of the mountain!"

A hint of mockery entered Smiling Tiger's voice.

"By the looks of it, they don't intend to leave until they've razed our Black Wind Mountain to the ground!"