Mute's Ability to Leave People Speechless Was Unrivaled

"Rishan, what time is it?" Zhang Qishan asked with his eyes closed. He felt that his qi and blood were more abundant than ever before. He had obtained the Longevity Pill.

"Fo Ye, it's already August third. You've been unconscious for twenty days, but thankfully, it's over now." Zhang Rishan's eyes were red as he helped him sit up and lean against the headboard.

"Is everything all right?"

"Fo Ye, everything is normal with the Nine Gates for now, but the Wang Family has been acting more and more brazenly lately. They seem to have heard something, and they've attacked two of our branch halls in succession."

"Pass the word. Tomorrow, I'll host a banquet for everyone in the Nine Gates to celebrate my rebirth!" Zhang Qishan spoke each word deliberately.

"Yes, Fo Ye. I'll make the arrangements right away," Zhang Rishan answered respectfully.

"Oh, and remember to prepare a generous gift for each of the youngsters who brought the pill back for me. Their contribution was indispensable. And I remember Wu Yiqiong's wife is due soon, isn't she? Prepare a generous gift for her as well." Zhang Qishan thought of how his rebirth this time had depended entirely on the second generation of the Nine Gates and continued giving instructions.

Hearing this, Zhang Rishan said, "Yes, Fo Ye. I hear her due date is in the middle of next month." He paused again, as if gathering his words, and only continued when Zhang Qishan looked over at him. "Fo Ye, Qi Yu is dead."

"Qi Yu? Dead?" Zhang Qishan let out a long sigh, seemingly lost in recollection. "Timing and fate. Old Eight said it when he was still around... Sigh, no point bringing it up. Never mind. Hold a proper funeral rite for him."

"Yes, Fo Ye."

"Go make the preparations. Don't worry about me." Zhang Qishan waved him away, then got up to move around. He had been bedridden for four or five months now and truly couldn't stand lying there any longer.

Zhang Rishan hurried out to arrange the next day's banquet. He had been in charge here all this time, but he was utterly devoted, forever loyal to Zhang Dafoye.

"Have you heard? Zhang Dafoye has woken up, and he's hosting a banquet for the Nine Gates tomorrow," said the first shop hand.

"You're really out of the loop, aren't you? You're only finding out now? The news has been flying all over the city already. We don't need you to tell us," said the second shop hand.

"But I heard-heard that Fo Ye got a Longevity Pill and became young again!" said the third shop hand.

"Really? No way! That can't be true, can it?" said the first shop hand.

"I don't know if it's true," said the third shop hand.

"We'll find out when we see him tomorrow, won't we? Why should little shop hands like us worry about it? As long as we earn money and have enough to eat, that's all that matters," said the second shop hand.

"I hear the Wang Family treats its people better. A lot of people have gone to risk their lives working for them," said the fourth shop hand.

"I'm not going. I've never even heard of the Wang Family. In this city, the Nine Gates and Fo Ye are still the ones to look to!" said the first shop hand.

Rumors like these were everywhere in Changsha, and everyone was waiting for tomorrow to find out the truth!

Meanwhile, as Changsha celebrated in a lively fashion, Yu Zhi and Zhang Qiling were fighting desperately inside the Bronze Door.

Last time, they had slaughtered everything on the first level in a day and a night. On the second level, it took them three whole days to kill everything.

"Just as I thought, the monsters get stronger with each level."

"I feel like the monsters this time were much stronger than the ones before. I don't know why."

"Speaking of that, I've been wondering too. That Zhang Qiling in the book was imprisoned for twenty years, so what happened to the Bronze Door? Didn't the monsters escape?" Yu Zhi had turned into a curious child again.

"I don't know. It's not like I've been through it. Go ask the person who wrote the book, or you could crawl into it and ask that Zhang Qiling." By now, Zhang Qiling could hardly stand hearing Yu Zhi talk about what Zhang Qiling in the book was like. He would get jealous. Why pay attention to that fictional person in the book?

"All right, all right, I won't talk about it anymore. Whatever happens in there can happen. I only love you, not him." Yu Zhi had become practiced at soothing him.

He hadn't noticed the first or second time, but later he realized that whenever he brought it up, Zhang Qiling would start acting awkward and stop speaking properly, displaying to the fullest his ability to leave people speechless without a care if they choked to death. Now he understood why Mute got along with that chatterbox Blind Man: Mute's ability to leave people speechless was unmatched.

"We can't kill any more today. I'm going into seclusion to break through to the foundation establishment stage. I can already feel the bottleneck loosening," Yu Zhi continued.

"All right, I'll protect you. When are you starting?" Zhang Qiling asked with concern.

"Now, I think. Let's go up to the surface. The spiritual energy here isn't as dense as it is up there."

"All right, let's go." Zhang Qiling took Yu Zhi's hand and stroked it as they walked. It was a new habit he had recently developed.

Yu Zhi sat cross-legged on the ground while Zhang Qiling stood guard over him from a distance.

Yu Zhi did have experience breaking through to the foundation establishment stage. There was no danger in breaking through from qi refining to foundation establishment. It was simply the process of condensing gaseous spiritual energy into liquid, a process of transformation. Once the first drop appeared, the rest would follow as naturally as water flowing through a channel. What he needed to do now was frantically compress the spiritual energy in his body and produce that first drop of liquid as quickly as possible.

After that, reaching the golden core stage from foundation establishment would not be so easy. He would need to condense liquid spiritual energy into a solid, forming a golden core. Then, to break through to the nascent soul stage, he would have to endure a lightning tribulation and transform the core into a nascent soul. He knew nothing about the stages beyond that, because he had only cultivated as far as the nascent soul before.

Yu Zhi cleared his mind of distractions. He knew Zhang Qiling was beside him, standing guard and certain to protect him well. He immersed all his attention in his meridians and dantian, frantically compressing his spiritual power.

After only about three hours, Yu Zhi heard the sound of the first drop of liquid falling into his dantian. He completed the rest of the transformation in one sustained push. It had gone very smoothly; it seemed his talent really was exceptional.

Looking into his dantian, he found the Nine-Headed Serpent Cypress resting quietly in the liquid spiritual power, with a tiny glowing orb of soul hanging from it. He still had to find a way to get Qi Yu's soul out quickly. Having it stay in his body all the time wasn't right.

Seeing Yu Zhi open his eyes, Zhang Qiling appeared at his side in an instant. "How did it go?"

"Foundation establishment stage. I'm at the foundation establishment stage! Leave these monsters to me from here on out."

"Mm. It looks like I need to work hard at cultivating too."

"There's no rush. It's because of my cultivation method that I can take a shortcut by devouring things in the early stages. The further along I get, the slower it'll be." Yu Zhi noticed Zhang Qiling's eagerness and gently reassured him.

"All right." Zhang Qiling actually wasn't anxious about his strength. He simply wanted to reach the foundation establishment stage as soon as possible so he could fully have A Li. After all, he had to remain a virgin until then.

"Let's go on. It'll be good to wipe them out quickly and get out sooner."

"Let's go."

The two of them arrived at the third level and began the day's frenzied slaughter. The foundation establishment stage really had brought a qualitative change. Monsters that had been somewhat difficult to fight before were now reduced to flying ash with a casual wave of his hand, without any need to draw on the vines' power.

Then he released the Nine-Headed Serpent Cypress to see how it had changed at the foundation establishment stage. The Nine-Headed Serpent Cypress seemed to have shed its mortal nature along with Yu Zhi. It had grown from the size of a fist to the width of a bowl, and its vines and roots had increased more than tenfold as it rampaged in every direction. Before, the process of devouring had still been visible; now, it left a vacuum in its wake.