Chapter 122: 114. Approaching, Part 2

Zhang Rongfang said no more, preparing to move around the person and leave.

Unexpectedly, just as he took a few steps, a long staff suddenly appeared in front of him.

The staff was pitch black, with its top polished into an octagonal shape, sure to break bones and shatter flesh if it hit someone.

The octagonal staff whistled through the air, fiercely striking towards his chest.

Zhang Rongfang leaned back, watching the staff pass just past the tip of his nose.

Suddenly, the staff changed direction mid-air, pressing downward.

Bang!!

The staff struck the ground, splattering mud.

Zhang Rongfang shifted his footing and moved from beneath the strike.

He repeatedly tapped his hands on the ground, using the force to charge forward.

Using the Dao Yan move from the Flame Emperor Talisman, he chopped heavily at the opponent’s right arm with a palm like a blade.

The palm blade swept upward from below at a concealed, tricky angle, executed with the explosive force of the Flame Emperor Talisman.

Zhang Rongfang was convinced that if the opponent was below the sixth grade, no matter how fast they reacted, they couldn’t block it.

In other words, this move was sufficient to instantly kill anyone below the sixth grade.

Bang!!

To his surprise, the palm blade was firmly blocked by the side of the long staff.

Zhang Rongfang’s palm tingled slightly, so he switched to a fist, launching a lightning-fast strong attack using the Flame Emperor Talisman techniques.

Close at hand, the two engaged in a rapid skirmish in the darkness, one wielding a staff, the other unarmed.

With every clash, Zhang Rongfang could clearly feel that his strength was actually inferior to the opponent’s.

However, although his strength was slightly lacking, his speed was a step faster than the opponent’s.

Between the two, fists, palms, and staff shadows intermixed at a speed nearly invisible to ordinary people.

Their techniques were flawless, with only slight differences in strength and speed. For a time, they were evenly matched.

The more they fought, the more familiar Zhang Rongfang felt.

The opponent’s figure slowly revealed itself through the exchange of blows.

A vague suspicion slowly surfaced in his mind.

“You are….!?”

“Let’s end it here for today.” The opponent suddenly split the long staff into two, accelerating in an instant, striking heavily on Zhang Rongfang’s arms.

Bang!!

Both separated, retreating over ten steps before stopping.

“In Tan Yang, there are at least three people stronger than me. Take care.” The figure said, turning to leave quickly.

Zhang Rongfang didn’t pursue, but instead touched the sides of his arms, the places that had just been struck.

Both spots gradually began to throb with a dull pain, clearly where the skin and flesh had been injured.

Just now, when the opponent suddenly split the staff, unleashing their techniques explosively, they likely used a Limit-Breaking Skill.

Caught off guard, he only suffered minor injuries.

But this was also because the opponent had no intent to kill.

When someone harbors killing intent, their attacks are ruthless and decisive, always targeting vital points.

This makes them more easily guarded against.

But this opponent didn’t.

Even after injuring him, they didn’t continue the assault, stopping at just a warning.

Clearly, it was more of a warning.

Zhang Rongfang speculated that the person’s strength had slightly surpassed Anova from the Black Ten Sect earlier.

In a direct confrontation, he couldn’t beat either of them.

More crucially, this person’s body technique was significantly better than Anova’s.

Since when did so many experts appear in Tan Yang?

“Three, huh?” Zhang Rongfang pondered no more, quickly heading back into the city.

He had roughly figured out the identity of the person he just encountered.

Throughout Tan Yang City, at his current level, few could still suppress him.

The fact that the other had come to warn him was actually a veiled reminder.

Returning home.

Zhang Rongfang changed his clothes and fetched water to wash his body.

After submitting the scripture scrolls this time, he planned to retreat completely, ignoring all affairs.

First, focus on improving himself.

Knowing that there were experts above the Ninth Grade and the shock brought by the strange divine statue.

Zhang Rongfang was once satisfied with his strength, but now his mindset had changed.

Beyond the Ninth Grade were the Super Grade, a level only accessible to those with extraordinary talent.

Above Super Grade, there were even Grandmasters….

It seemed his journey was long yet.

Now that the scripture scrolls had been handed over, it was time for him to return to his normal life.

After washing up, Zhang Rongfang sat cross-legged in the center of the room.

He closed his eyes.

The attribute panel reappeared.

Seeing the two attribute points available, he didn’t hesitate to add them all to the Void Observation Skill.

Sss….

He seemed to hear a soft sound of flowing air beside his ears.

A large amount of warm streams, net-like, appeared inside his organs, rapidly permeating them.

At the same time, a vast number of memories and insights about practicing the Void Observation Skill quickly rushed into Zhang Rongfang’s consciousness.

The Grand Circulation accelerated, absorbing all the streams, converting them into tiny, refined substances.

These refined substances accumulated more and more, gradually sinking, condensing and integrating in the Dantian.

As time passed, a special Inner Core the size of a fingernail, formed from a liquid mass, appeared in Zhang Rongfang’s Dantian.

The Inner Core felt both existent and nonexistent.

He opened his eyes, reaching out to press and touch, but found nothing to touch.

However, when he closed his eyes to sense carefully, he could clearly feel the existence of the Inner Core.

With the Inner Core as the core, all the Qi and Blood in his body first congregated in the Dantian before dispersing from there, spreading throughout his body.

It was as if it had become a second heart for his body.

With the successful formation of the Core, Zhang Rongfang clearly felt a special transformation in both his spirit and body.

It’s like having slept a good night’s sleep; waking up in the early morning, stretching lazily and relaxing the body.

At this moment, he felt entirely clear and unblocked, as if there was no obstruction or delay in his body.

Then….

Then nothing more….

He glanced at the attribute panel and saw that his life attributes had undergone new changes.

Both the upper and lower limits had turned into a single number: 30.

’Could it be that thirty is the passing line of the Core Formation Stage?’

“No,” Zhang Rongfang clearly remembered, back in Qinghe Palace, the pure literary cultivator Zhang Chunxi, the old Hall Master, never practiced martial arts, and his life was at most 27.

’It could be that in this realm of literary cultivation, the life attribute increase at each stage is proportionally enhanced.’

Finding that the Core Formation Stage only made him feel mentally better without any other changes, Zhang Rongfang finally abandoned his expectations for cultivating immortality.

Initially, he thought that maybe he could cultivate some special divine abilities through literary cultivation.

But now it seems…

After breaking through the Core Formation Stage, he got up and started practicing the Soul-Stabilizing Talisman again.

This time, it was completely smooth and without any stinging sensation.

“Indeed, a dual cultivation of literature and martial arts is truly the hard truth of breaking through limits. It’s a pity…that ordinary people can’t do what I do.”

Ordinary people spend all their energy and time on cultivating martial arts alone, not to mention literary cultivation.

Many literary cultivations are even slower than martial arts cultivation.

Moreover, many people start practicing after their Qi and Blood decline over thirty, so it’s too late by then.

’What’s more, one needs to practice at least to the Core Formation Stage to break through the first-grade threshold… No, I had also taken the Golden Seal Pill before; both combined enabled me to break through this innate limit.

If it were ordinary people, they would probably have to reach a higher level to break through the limit… By then, pure literary cultivators might already be in their fifties or sixties.’

Practicing the Soul-Stabilizing Talisman several times, there was no longer any stinging sensation.

Zhang Rongfang finally confirmed that he had indeed broken through the innate limit, raising his body’s bottleneck to the Ninth Grade.

He finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Next, he aimed to break through the Soul-Stabilizing Talisman to reach the Ninth Grade!

Additionally, he suddenly recalled the magical symbols on that secret manuscript.

Standing up, he walked to his drawer cabinet, and from the bottom drawer, he took out a small locked box.

Opening the box, he found the white cloth manuscript he had copied down silently lying inside.

Since the manuscript was so important and he had just obtained it when someone found out, there seemed to be some hidden peculiarity.

Therefore, he copied it down immediately and made a backup.

He was ready to abandon and hand over the original manuscript at any time.

Gazing at the manuscript in front of him, Zhang Rongfang recalled those three people from the previous intelligence reports who mastered the lock script.

’It seems I need to find an opportunity to learn this lock script.’

He planned to find and thoroughly master this lock script from one of those three people.

So as to prepare for any necessity.

*

*

*

Deep in the dense forest.

Xiong Wuye stumbled and fled through the forest.

His clothes had turned into rags, torn by passing shrubs and thorns.

He had even rolled down a slope at one point.

His body was bruised and battered.

But even in this state, there were still people chasing him.

“Why….why can they always find me no matter where I hide??!”

His heart was growing increasingly desperate.

Feeling the small deity statue tightly held to his chest, he was completely at a loss.

All the way, he was heading towards Tan Yang City.

He belonged to the Golden Wing Pavilion, and now his only hope was to seek shelter from the Tan Yang Golden Wing Pavilion!

He had heard that the newly appointed Bai Ying in Tan Yang was powerful and formidable, and as long as he handed over the deity statue and explained the situation, he could survive….

He had already sent a bamboo tube message to the contact in Tan Yang and knew that soon someone from that side should be here to respond.

“Just wait…. As long as I can survive, I, Xiong Wuye, swear I will…seek revenge!!”

Recalling his mentor’s cries before death, a new surge of energy overwhelmed Xiong Wuye’s body.

His nearly exhausted strength seemed to be gathered once again.

He quickened his pace, continuing towards the contact point.

Soon, in the forest, he finally saw a tall man wearing a steel gauntlet.

The man wore Golden Wing Pavilion’s iconic black mask, with a white vertical mark on his forehead, indicating he was not an ordinary member.

“They have come! Are you the one sent by Tan Yang to meet me!?” Xiong Wuye’s eyes flashed with intense joy, and he quickened his pace to approach.

“I am.” The man turned around, looking at him, surprise flickering in his masked eyes.

“What happened to you? How did you end up like this?”

“I…am being hunted…quick… take me to see Master Bai Ying! I have important notes to submit!”

Xiong Wuye, a member of the Bai Ying faction, naturally requested to see Bai Ying at this moment.

“Hunted?? Where are the notes?” the man asked, frowning.

“On me! Carried closely!”

As soon as he finished talking, an iron arm suddenly swung out with a faint swishing sound, striking heavily at Xiong Wuye’s chest.

Crack.

The sound of bones breaking spread out.

Xiong Wuye was hit and flew back over a meter before falling to the ground.

His body convulsed, lying on his back, blood gushing from his mouth, his eyes fixed in disbelief on the approaching tall man.

“Sorry, if you want to blame, blame yourself for not listening to your teacher back then….”

The man bent down, searching him and pulling out the deity statue and a small notebook.

“You are… a traitor from the secret sect!!?” Xiong Wuye struggled, his hand desperately groping the ground, his eyes filled with pain and hatred.

“…” The man did not respond.

Crisp beams of light pierced through the forest, illuminating his face.

It was none other than Zhao Tianming, one of the three lieutenants under Zhang Rongfang of the Golden Wing Pavilion!

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep