A slum, a small hut.
The air was thick with the smell of blood and herbs.
Under dim light
Lin Yu slumped in the corner on a pile of rags, his face as pale as paper and his lips cracked.
Like a broken puppet, unable to move at all.
Blood was gushing uncontrollably from his seven orifices.
Each breath brought excruciating pain to his chest and abdomen, and his internal organs likely suffered considerable shock.
If it weren't for the extraordinary vitality nourishment from the Primordial Unity Ki Technique and the gentle, latent power within his body constantly repairing him, he probably wouldn't even be able to stay conscious.
Zhao Yan's state looked even more frightening than Lin Yu's, yet it also exuded a strange power.
He sat cross-legged on the bed, covered in blood, almost a blood-soaked figure.
He had countless wounds, large and small, the deepest of which ran diagonally from his left shoulder to his right rib.
You can even see the internal organs wriggling inside.
He was wrapping his wounds with strips of cloth soaked in medicinal powder, but blood was still seeping out.
His face was ashen from blood loss, but his scarlet eyes remained unchanged, as if they knew no fatigue.
"You broke through?" Lin Yu managed to utter.
Wasn't it said that you can't break through if your physical body isn't complete? How come you broke through again?
He could sense the change in Zhao Yan's aura.
It felt like an oppressive force that could cause the surrounding air to tremble slightly.
However, this aura was extremely unstable, sometimes strong and sometimes weak, like the ebb and flow of the tide.
Zhao Yan grinned, revealing bloodstained teeth, his smile sinister, "That's right."
As he spoke, he coughed violently, spitting out several mouthfuls of black blood mixed with fragments of internal organs.
"The price must have been high, right?" Lin Yu looked at the shocking wounds on his body and his extremely unstable aura.
"The price?" Zhao Yan touched the spot on his chest where the Spirit Jade should have been hanging, a hint of pain and resentment flashing in his eyes.
"It's just a piece of Spirit Jade. We can just go to the Golden Bull Martial Arts School and steal it later."
"Wasn't that what you used to break through to Martial Venerable? You can use it to break through to Grandmaster?" Lin Yu didn't expect that he used Spirit Jade to break through.
He spat out a mouthful of blood, his tone turning sinister. "Those old dogs from the Golden Bull Martial Arts School, and that old bastard who's about to die, almost made me lose my life there."
"..." Zhao Yan paused abruptly, his eyes turning to Lin Yu.
"Cough cough, I know what you're talking about. I was summoned by Him." Lin Yu said with difficulty, understanding why.
"That bastard jumped out at the crucial moment, saying he'd exchange Spirit Jade for a breakthrough empowerment to help me break through to the Great Grandmaster in battle... How could I refuse?"
Zhao Yan paused upon hearing this; had he not been seriously injured, he would have already launched into a tirade of curses.
Lin Yu remained silent.
Zhao Yan's cultivation of the "Sunflower Manual" resulted in physical deformities, making it virtually impossible for him to break through to the Great Grandmaster through normal means.
He made a deal with the system using Spirit Jade, which allowed him to forcibly break through to the next realm.
The only problem is that the price is a bit high, Spirit Jade is scarce. If there were more, the Golden Bull Martial Arts School wouldn't have so Great Grandmaster, but rather Martial Venerable.
"But... it was worth it!" A bloodthirsty glint flashed in Zhao Yan's eyes, and his aura suddenly intensified, although the aggravation of his wounds caused him to furrow his brows.
"I'm Great Grandmaster now! Although my cultivation level is unstable, I'm confident I can hold my own against a true Martial Venerable."
He looked at Lin Yu and said hoarsely, "You're not bad either. You blew up their energy station, giving me a way out. This time, I owe you a favor."
Lin Yu forced a smile, too weak to speak.
But in my heart I was thinking, if you hadn't insisted on making such a big deal out of it, would I have almost been blown up?
The two circulated their internal energy to regulate their breathing, and the small house fell silent, with only heavy breathing and occasional suppressed groans of pain.
The Golden Bull Martial Arts School is now a scene of ruins and desolation.
Half of the main building collapsed, billowing black smoke.
Even the energy shield was destroyed, and a large hole could be seen in the sky.
Countless expensive facilities were destroyed, and more importantly, there were casualties.
The master of the hall Jin Potian, was seriously injured; his right arm was severed at the shoulder.
Sun Li, the Eagle King, died on the spot, leaving no trace of his body; Iron Palm Feng Tao suffered severe internal injuries, causing his cultivation level to plummet.
A large number of Grandmaster and core disciples of the Profound Comprehension were killed by Zhao Yan.
In the chaos, part of the warehouse storing valuable supplies was looted by Zhao Yan.
After this night, the Golden Bull Martial Arts School, the local powerhouse that dominated Jiangcheng, suffered Genki and its reputation was ruined.
They could fall from a top-tier power to a second or third-tier one, or even be swallowed up by their former rivals.
The remaining senior members of the martial arts school gathered in a side hall that had not yet completely collapsed.
Seated in the main seat was the patriarch of the Golden Bull Martial Arts School, Martial Venerable Realm.
"Zhao Yan and that unknown brat... this is an irreconcilable feud!" a leader gritted his teeth, but his voice lacked conviction.
"How did you manage to provoke this madman?" Ancestor Jin, the patriarch of the Golden Bull Martial Arts School, asked, his face ashen.
He had only been in seclusion for a short time when his own martial arts school was almost wiped out.
"Ancestor, that Zhao Yan stole the treasure of the museum by some unknown means, which is why I ordered him to be hunted down..." Jin Potian became more and more aggrieved as he spoke.
I was just staying home, and disaster struck. First, the museum's prized possession was lost, then two of its guardians were killed, and now they've come to attack me.
Jin Potian had a bitter pill to swallow.
"The most urgent task is to stabilize the situation and prevent other forces from taking advantage of our misfortune." Ancestor Jin looked at this incompetent master of the hall with an inscrutable expression.
Finally, he sighed deeply and instructed them to deal with the undercurrents to come.
"Furthermore... immediately send a message to the sect! Report the changes here, especially that Zhao Yan may possess a treasure such as Spirit Jade."
"The Upper Sect?" Upon hearing this, a glimmer of hope rekindled in the eyes of several leaders, but more so in their awe and restraint.
"Our martial arts school has suffered such a calamity that we are powerless to deal with the undercurrents to come. We can only implore the envoy from the upper sect to descend, take charge of the situation, capture the culprits, and retrieve the treasures. Perhaps... we can still save our martial arts school from a sliver of hope!" A complex look flashed in Ancestor Jin's eyes.
Everyone fell silent.
While invoking the divine intervention might resolve the crisis, it's easy to invite a deity but difficult to send them away, and who knows what price might be paid in the end.
Soon, a Teleportation Talisman passed through a hidden teleportation array deep within the martial arts hall, transforming into a faint light that shot into the unknown depths of the void.
At the same time, the leaders of several other major forces in Jiangcheng also received detailed intelligence about the devastating attack on the Golden Bull Martial Arts School.
Shock, schadenfreude, restless anticipation... a mix of emotions surged beneath the surface.
"How could such an unknown nobody cause such a commotion?"
"Golden Bull Martial Arts School has really messed up this time."
"Investigate! Find out where Zhao Yan is hiding! And that kid with him!"
"Everyone, do not make any rash moves. Golden Bull Martial Arts School may not let this go."
The underground world of Jiangcheng began to tremble violently because of the blood and fire that night.
A new storm is brewing.
At the heart of the storm were the two culprits licking their wounds in a corner of the slums: one critically injured and on the verge of death, the other just beginning to break through to an unstable realm.
Lin Yu was unaware of this; he was simply focusing all his energy on circulating his cultivation technique, greedily absorbing the sparse energy in the air to repair his damaged body.