"Just you wait, Taoist. We’ll see if your Taoist Sect disciples survive the day."
He abruptly withdrew the jet-black long spear in his hand, the piercing shriek of its tip slicing through the air still echoing in the ears of those present.
His figure retreated several yards like a phantom. As his black robes billowed, he vanished into the shadows of an alley. All that remained was his chilling killing intent, like a viper flicking its tongue, locked onto Xu Yunfan, who was still being infused with and cleansed by the Profound Yellow Qi.
The Destiny of the nation was the fuel, and at this moment, it was being rendered into Xu Yunfan’s very bones and sinews as if by the Taoist Sect’s raging fire.
They were seizing the Destiny of the Great Zhou to strengthen one of their own. He was loyal to the Great Zhou—how could the sight not make his eyes burn red, the killing intent in his chest roiling like thunder?
But what was done, was done. Anything more would be pointless.
Chen Wei left a chilling voice transmission hanging in the air, "Bi Sheng, we’ll stop here for today. But within Jade Capital City, not every disciple of the Taoist Sect has your kind of skill..."
Bi Sheng watched the man depart and slowly sheathed his Rusted Sword. In the glow of the Profound Yellow Qi, the mottled patterns on the blade seemed to take on a bloody sheen.
He frowned slightly, knowing the man’s words were no empty threat.
The Empress wouldn’t dare make a blatant move against Xu Yunfan. After all, the Profound Yellow Qi Pillar was now tied to the Destiny of the great civil examination; a forced assassination would certainly trigger a backlash from the Dragon Vein.
But the Taoist Sect disciples scattered across Jade Capital had now become the most vulnerable of targets.
Xu Yunfan slowly opened his eyes. The Profound Yellow Qi Pillar swirled around him, and a faint golden light flickered in the depths of his pupils.
The exchange between Bi Sheng and the master from the Imperial City Department reached his ears with perfect clarity. His throat tightened, and his voice was a low rumble like distant thunder. "Martial Uncle... I’m afraid our fellow Sect members in Jade Capital City... they won’t escape this disaster."
Bi Sheng glanced to the side. In the light of the Profound Yellow Qi, the rust on his mottled Iron Sword took on a bloody sheen.
An almost imperceptible flicker of emotion crossed his eyes, instantly replaced by an icy resolve. "It is of no concern."
A chill ran through Xu Yunfan’s heart.
Bi Sheng’s voice was low. "Their lives are the price for the Taoist Sect’s thousand-year plan, for the supreme path to heaven your master has forged for you. You carry so much on your shoulders. I hope you will not disappoint us."
Xu Yunfan fell silent and said no more.
Inside his body, his Ten Extremes True Qi was still strengthening at an incredible rate. The once-ethereal True Qi flowing through his flesh and bones now appeared as a dense mist.
Bi Sheng’s fingertips tapped lightly on his sword hilt. His gaze swept over the churning sea of Profound Yellow clouds above the Seventy-Two Districts. Then, he took a signal flare from his waist, lit it, and sent it bursting into the sky, a command for all Taoist Sect disciples to gather here at once.
At this moment, Xu Yunfan was at the height of his power, like the sun at its zenith. If the Empress moved against him directly, it would be tantamount to destroying her own nation’s Destiny. But if she allowed the Taoist Sect disciples to continue their secret machinations in Jade Capital, she feared Xu Yunfan would use the momentum to devour the Dragon Qi completely.
Directly declaring war on the Taoist Sect? In the Great Zhou’s current state, the Empress’s word was absolute within the Jade Capital Dao. But beyond its borders, her authority was no more than a piece of waste paper.
Shouting such a declaration would only make them a laughingstock, damage the prestige of the Great Zhou, and in turn, cause even more Dragon Qi to dissipate.
Faced with this dilemma, the Empress had no choice but to resort to the most insidious of methods: to root out the Taoist Sect disciples one by one, all under the guise of "purging traitors"!
Bi Sheng sighed softly. He was the only Ninth Realm master in the Jade Capital Dao this time, which made the situation untenable. The most he could do was protect a few of the disciples; that was his limit.
It wasn’t just the Ninth Realm masters of the Great Zhou within Jade Capital City; other Sects also had their own crouching tigers and hidden dragons.
There was no telling when another Ninth Realm master might emerge to challenge him.
Meanwhile, the Taoist Sect’s Luotian Grand Sacrifice ceremony could not be interrupted, so they simply couldn’t spare anyone to send over.
And with the examinations in progress, it was even more imperative that Xu Yunfan not make any sudden moves.
"Ah, Senior Brother, this task is not an easy one. It truly bears the signs of great misfortune!"
Bi Sheng couldn’t help but mutter.
「At that very moment, in a teahouse in the Yujing West Market.」
Three Taoist Sect disciples were huddled together, whispering, when they suddenly heard the sharp TWANG of taut mechanisms from outside the window.
Before they could react, a volley of crossbow arrows gleaming with a faint blue poison light poured in like a torrential downpour. The Refined Iron arrowheads easily pierced the carved window lattice, peppering the sandalwood tea table and sending splinters flying.
The disciple in the lead had only managed to draw his longsword three inches from its sheath when a Profound Steel Crossbow Arrow pierced his throat. Poisonous blood sprayed across the wall in a gruesome, fan-like arc.
Meanwhile, Xu Yunfan, sitting cross-legged within the Profound Yellow Qi Pillar, snapped his eyes open.
His Yijing Marrow Cleansing Skill was surging toward Great Perfection, and the resulting rapid enhancement of his five senses allowed him to clearly pick up on the agonized screams rising and falling miles away.
The shattering of roof tiles on a Vermilion Bird Avenue tavern, the clash of swords in a Yujing West Market pawnshop, even the faint hiss of a blade slicing through a windpipe in a dark alley—all of it pierced his eardrums like sharp spikes.
Farther still, he could hear the hooves of the Imperial City Department’s cavalry clattering over the bluestone slabs. A spray of blood mist erupted everywhere they passed.
He stood at the center of the Profound Yellow Qi Pillar, his Ten Extremes True Qi surging like a great river. Nourished by the Dragon Vein, every inch of his bones and sinews was undergoing a transformation, emitting a resonant chiming, like gold striking jade.
On his Attribute Panel, the progress bar for the *Yijing Marrow Cleansing Skill* was rising at a shocking speed. Streaks of golden luster appeared on the surface of his bones, once as smooth as jade, and began spreading over his entire skeleton at a visible rate. From deep within his marrow, a brilliant light erupted.
What shook his Heart and Spirit even more was that the Mixed Element True Seed, situated where his flesh and blood energy converged, was now voraciously devouring the Dragon Vein’s Spiritual Qi like a Taotie.
The seed, originally no bigger than a grain of rice, had now become the core of a True Qi vortex, frantically refining the Profound Yellow Qi that poured into his body.
With every cycle of absorption and release, his Martial Arts improved by leaps and bounds.
After nearly a full Hour, the gushing of Profound Yellow Qi finally ceased. Xu Yunfan simply stretched, and a three-foot-long aura flared from every pore on his body. Beneath his skin, crimson-gold channels were faintly visible.
He casually clenched his fist, and the very air cracked with a deafening POP. His pure physical strength now far surpassed that of an ordinary Martial Artist; even a Nine Realms Qi Cultivation expert specializing in Horizontal Training would be forced to look up to him in awe.
The Qi of the Five Elements cycled automatically through his organs. His heart beat like a thundering war drum, and his every breath seemed to draw in wind and lightning.
The stagnation of the Kidney Water element that had previously hindered his cultivation of the *Ten Extremes Martial Arts* was now completely cleared, the breakthrough occurring as naturally as a river finding its course.
Under the influence of the Profound Yellow Qi, the "great dragon" of his spine was opened, section by section, as the twenty-four profound acupoints along his vertebrae were blasted open.
The "Marrow Sea Tidal Surge" bottleneck, a barrier that would have normally required three years of bitter cultivation to overcome, was shattered in an instant by the scouring force of the Dragon Vein.
When the very last wisp of Profound Yellow Qi was devoured, Xu Yunfan’s eyes snapped open. A crimson-gold light swirled within his pupils, and his very breath caused the airflow in a thirty-foot radius to churn and reverse.
Only then did he have a moment to look at the Attribute Panel in his vision.
*Your Skill Level in the Yijing Marrow Cleansing Skill has increased massively.*
*Your Yijing Marrow Cleansing Skill has reached Perfection.*
*You have achieved the Buddhist Golden Body.*
*Your Empty Clarity Sword Washing Technique has reached Minor Achievement... Great Success... Perfection.*
*Your Mixed Element True Seed has transformed into a True Qi Seed.*
*You have entered the Nine Realms Qi Cultivation.*
*...*
The Skill Level notifications were flooding his vision. While absorbing the Profound Yellow Qi, one or more messages had been appearing every single second.
In just under an hour, he had broken through two major realms to enter the Ninth Realm. Moreover, considering the True Qi that had accumulated inside him to an almost mist-like density, he was now far beyond what any ordinary Nine Realms Qi Cultivation Supreme Grandmaster could compare to.
(There’s more to come.)