At the edge of the cliff.
A group of seven people was gazing down at the bottom of the cliff. Among them, a muscular man with resolute features said in a deep voice, “I happened to pass by this place last time and discovered that the worldly energy fluctuations below were abnormally intense. A conservative estimate would be that at least one spirit herb has matured!”
“The energy fluctuations are indeed intense,” said an old man with a head full of white hair. “It would be best if a spirit herb had matured. I’m just afraid it might have been caused by something else.”
“That’s simple; we’ll find out when we get down there.”
A man with a thin and long face interjected excitedly. “Whatever it is, it’s most likely something good. Brother Xiong, if you are scared, I’ll go down on your behalf?”
“Are you courting death?” said the muscular man irritably. “There must be something wrong given the way the worldly energy fluctuations are surging so violently down here. Even if there really are mature spirit herbs, do you really think there aren’t any Mutated Beast guarding the area?”
“Yeah, it looks pretty dangerous down here. I think we should send a drone to investigate first,” a young man added in agreement.
“Drone?” asked the white-haired old man, raising his eyebrows. “Is that thing reliable?”
“It’s reliable, of course it’s reliable,” said the young man, gesturing with his hands. “Elder Yu, technology nowadays is progressing swiftly. There are changes every day. For example, in the latest generation of drones, ignoring the ones for military use, even the civilian version allows users to go deep into perilous and death zones to check out the situation…”
“Haha, Little Lu, keep bragging. Keep bragging,” interrupted the thin and long-faced man with a snicker. “Going deep into perilous and death zones? Little Lu, do you know what those are?”
“Aren’t they just areas filled with restrictions and pervasive evil?” the young man, Little Lu, argued defiantly.
“Hahaha…” The man burst out laughing.” I knew you would answer that way. Take the boring information exposed on the Internet to be real! ”
The young man’s face became flushed and he questioned in spite, “Am I wrong?”
“Of course…”
“Enough.” The muscular man stopped them in a deep voice. “Go back and argue if you want to. Are you trying to lure the Mutated Beasts to us by making a din here?”
Only then did the young man and the long-faced man shut up.
“Little Lu, we can try using your drone first,” said the muscular man solemnly. “We don’t know the situation down there. It’s very dangerous to send people down there directly. Let’s check the area with the drone first.”
“Sure.”
The young man was overjoyed. As he turned around, he raised his eyebrows smugly at the long-faced man. Then, before the man got angry with embarrassment, he ran to where their bags were placed nearby, picked up his own and took out a drone.
Using both hands, he controlled the drone to rise into the air and slowly explore the depths of the cliff.
During the entire process, the muscular man, the white-haired old man, the long-faced man, and the others were all gathered before a laptop, watching the live feed transmitted by the drone.
The drone buzzed as it got closer and closer to the bottom of the cliff——
Bam!
With a dull thud, the image on the laptop disappeared and was replaced by darkness.
“What’s going on?” asked the white-haired old man, frowning.
“Haha, didn’t I tell you the drone won’t work?” said the long-faced man, laughing in schadenfreude. “The worldly energy fluctuations at the bottom of the cliff are so intense that it’s difficult for the drone to even get close, let alone probe around! See now? It broke before it even got there!”
“That’s impossible,” said the young man, his face flushed as he quickly pushed the controls. “That can’t be. There’s nothing wrong with the program and the machine. How could…”
Bam!
There was another dull thud, but this time, what broke was the laptop.
In front of the white-haired old man, the muscular man, and the others, the laptop suddenly shattered into pieces.
“Who’s there?!”
The white-haired old man’s expression changed drastically. As he took a few steps back, he scanned his surroundings with fearful eyes.
“There’s someone nearby!”
The muscular man bellowed and gestured with his hands, signaling the long-faced man and the others to gather with their backs together and be wary of the surroundings.
The terrified young man, Little Lu, was dumbfounded. He only snapped back to his senses when he dragged into the center by the rest. He shouted in fright and fear,
“The drone was attacked! The drone was…”
“Shut up!” bellowed the muscular man. He tugged at the long-faced man, and the group moved to the side.
“I’m Yu Qi from Green Cloud Court. I am not sure who you are. If I have offended you, please let me know.”
The white-haired old man scanned his surroundings with burning eyes. “If you are doing this because the bottom of the cliff…”
Hu!
Bam!
The dull thud came again.
Amidst the sound of breaking wind, the words of the white-haired old man, Yu Qi, were cut off.
Still on guard, he was sent flying into a small forest at the top of the cliff by a translucent palm imprint.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
He crashed and broke several large trees, only stopping as he fell into a bush.
“Elder Yu!”
“Let’s leave quickly!”
The muscular man, the long-faced man, and the others were terrified by the sight. As they shouted, they no longer dared to linger on the top of the cliff. Instead, they broke into a run and fled for their lives.
Without bothering to grab their bags, the group charged into the small forest, dragging along Yu Qi, who was spurting blood. They sprinted across the uneven mountain path.
There was clearly no movement behind them, but the group was escaping at top speed.
Along the way, they were whipped by vines, scratched by thorns, and cut by grass, but they couldn’t care less about any of that.
In one breath, the seven of them made their way past two mountains before stopping at a flat area.
They were either lying on the ground, slumped over, or leaning against a rock, gasping for air.
The long-faced man calmed his breathing. A while later, he broke the silence while still feeling the lingering fear, “Just now… the attacker was a… th-third-grade martial artist?”
There was silence.
Everyone stopped breathing.
Immediately, everyone turned to look at the pale white-haired old man. He was one of the three elders of Green Cloud Court, a fourth-grade expert, Yu Qi!
“Yes, third-grade.”
Leaning against a large rock, Yu Qi gazed at the sky and said softly, “At the bottom of that cliff…”
“How is this possible?!”
“For real?”
“Are you sure, Brother?”
The others’ exclamations broke Yu Qi’s narration in mid-sentence.
Shock, astonishment, disbelief, and indescribable joy filled their faces.
“Are you sure he’s a third-grade martial artist, Elder Yu?” The young man, Little Lu, was most agitated. He jumped up and down on the spot with his hands clasped together.
“That’s right, Brother. You can’t be mistaken about this,” pressed an old man with a face full of stubble, his face full of nervousness and excitement.
“Take it easy, everyone. Give him some time to compose myself.” The muscular man calmed the crowd. “I trust that Brother can make his own judgment about whether that was a third-grade martial artist or not.”
“He really was a third-grade.”
Yu Qi smiled. He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and sat up straight. “The other party meant no harm, he only beat me back and forced us to leave. He did not release any terrifying pressure or manifest his Martial Art True Intent either. But the might of true energy cannot lie!”
“Might of true energy?” asked the long-faced man, catching the most important point.
“That’s right. The power of the true energy of a martial artist in the top ranks differs from that of a martial artist in the middle ranks.”
Yu Qi explained, “The true energy that appears when martial artists in the top ranks release the true essence they cultivate is several times stronger than that of martial artists in the middle ranks. The two are essentially of the same nature, but the power unleashed is completely different.”
“The exact difference isn’t something that people who haven’t experienced it before can figure out by imagination.”
“I’m honored that I’ve received a palm strike from a third-grade powerhouse and personally experienced that kind of incomparably powerful strength. If it wasn’t for the fact that the other party didn’t intend to kill me, I would have been long dead. Even so, I had to get two years of treatment for internal injuries afterward.”
“I didn’t expect my luck to be so good this time. I received a palm strike from another third-grade expert!”
Yu Qi grinned. “I didn’t die this time either; I was only sent flying. Moreover, my injuries are even lighter than last time. I should be able to fully recover from my internal injuries in half a month.”
The six other men were speechless.
A chill ran down their spines.
That was indeed a third-grade martial artist!
The expert who told them to scram was actually a third-grade martial artist.
They were so bold as to search for treasures that had caught the eye of a third-grade expert.
That was clearly courting death!
Fortunately, the other party had no intention of taking their lives.
Otherwise, all seven of them would have to stay at the top of the cliff.
“…”
“What do you guys think is at the bottom of that cliff?”
In the silence, the long-faced man said, “Something that caught the eye of a third-grade big shot should be extraordinary, right?”
“Why? You want to go take a look?” the muscular man snapped.
“No, no, no,” said the long-faced man, waving his hands and shaking his head. He said with an awkward smile, “That’s not what I meant. I was just curious. Can’t I be curious?”
“You can’t even be curious!”
Yu Qi said in a deep voice, “The reason why a third-grade martial artist is willing to give you a chance is because they are magnanimous and don’t want to start a massacre. However, if you try to take advantage of that and try to test their limits, heh, you’d better find a knife and slit your own throat.”
“Yeah, you can slit your own throat!”
“Old Du likes to stir up trouble. But before that, don’t drag us into this.”
“…”
The others jeered.
The long-faced man’s face flushed red with laughter. Embarrassed and frustrated, he began a verbal sparring match.
“Scram! You are the ones who will slit your own throats!”
“Especially you, Little Lu. You were the one who suggested using the drone to check things out. If a third-grade big shot wants to settle scores, you’ll be the first person they would look for!”
“…”
…
In the woods 200 meters away.
Su Jingxing had a strange look on his face as he listened to their conversation.
True energy of martial artists in the top ranks?
After advancing from fourth-grade to third-grade, true energy would be completely converted into true essence.
However, when executing martial arts, true essence would indeed be released in the form of true energy.
The Ethereal Sword Immortal had mentioned this before.
The power of the true energy released by martial artists in the top ranks was even stronger than that from those in the middle ranks.
What Su Jingxing didn’t know was how big the gap between the two was.
Now he did!
The old man’s words enlightened Su Jingxing.
The might of his true energy was already equivalent to that of top-ranked martial artists.
Together with his 500 years of true energy cultivation, the pressure he exuded was nothing short of terrifying.
Excluding his Martial Art True Intent, Su Jingxing could already create a new alias as a “third-grade” big shot!
“Martial Art True Intent…”
Shaking his head, Su Jingxing suppressed his impatience.
Currently, he was still a distance away from condensing Martial Art True Intent.
Apart from not having any true essence, Su Jingxing had yet to figure out what kind of Martial Art True Intent he wanted.
In fact, it had never crossed his mind.
Martial Art True Intent was the materialization of one’s will, mind, and spirit.
The fusion of true essence and the power of the universe gave rise to a powerful force.
Before condensing Martial Art True Intent, the kind of Martial Art True Intent one wanted was the most important, and also a prerequisite to meet.
For example, the Ethereal Sword Immortal’s Martial Art True Intent was a sword.
She was a martial artist of the way of the sword who specialized in sword techniques. She was a swordsman.
Shi Zhinie’s blood-colored wyrm came from his cultivation of the Blood Drop Heretic Art. It manifested his inner desires through his will.
Therefore, Martial Art True Intent differed for every person.
The prerequisites of its birth varied as well.
Some relied on martial arts, some on self-prominence, and some because they pursued it from the bottom of their hearts…
What did Su Jingxing yearn for the most?
Or rather, what did he want the most?
Su Jingxing thought for a moment.
Apart from advancing to the first-grade and heading to the perilous land left behind by the Wei Family’s ancestors to find the secrets there, there was nothing else.
Visualizing the Heaven Trampling Elephant and entering the Mausoleum of Prince Qin weren’t exactly his goals.
Condensing Martial Art True Intent through the Nine Steps Trampling Heaven?
Sure, but that wasn’t what Su Jingxing wanted.
The theory behind the Nine Steps Trampling Heaven was that its power was limitless.
Putting this goal aside, and not talking about whether it would could be achieved,
If he really managed to condense Martial Art True Intent through it, the final form he manifested would most likely be a foot or a hand.
Why?
It was simple; the Nine Steps Trampling Heaven pursued unlimited power, and one had to exert it with their hands and feet.
This was the norm for most who rely on ultimate arts to condense Martial Art True Intent.
It would either be a hand, a foot, or a head.
A full body was rare!
That was what the Ethereal Sword Immortal told Su Jingxing.
When condensing Martial Art True Intent, one had to be cautious and cautious. Before starting, one had to think things through.
What exactly did he want?
If he had a choice, Su Jingxing would naturally choose a sword or saber.
Su Jingxing had seen a manifestation of the Ethereal Sword Immortal’s Martial Art True Intent before. He found it incredibly handsome.
The same applied to sabers; they were domineering and ferocious.
At worst, spears, staffs, axes, and other weapons would suffice as well.
Unfortunately, Su Jingxing wasn’t quite interested in any of those.
Even with the Thunderbolt, he did not look forward to the path of the sword.
Su Jingxing hadn’t figured out what exactly he wanted yet.
“I’ll leave it for now, let’s stop thinking about it.”
Shaking his head, he turned around and left.
The sudden conversation between Yu Qi and the others drifted in his ears and he couldn’t help but stop.
“Brother, do you think we can get the third-grade big shot at the bottom of the cliff to help us?” asked the muscular man.
“You mean, we’ll ask him to break the seal?” Yu Qi’s voice sounded.
“Yeah. If he’s a third-grade martial artist, he should be able to break the seal, right?”
“It’s not just the seal. There’s also the array formation. The most important is the array formation!”
“But if we break the seal, how are we going to split the items inside?”
“You sure are far-sighted, aren’t you? You’re already thinking about how to divide the loot.”
“Sigh, I’m just concerned. He’s a third-grade martial artist. What if wants to take all the treasures for himself after breaking the seal and silences us, wouldn’t we be inviting trouble?”
“That’s right. It’s best not to get anyone else involved in this. It wasn’t easy for the Green Cloud Court to find a treasure location; how could we share it with another person so easily?
“Right, right, we can’t…”
“Shut up!”
The muscular man’s voice grew louder as he said irritably, “Who told you that place was a treasure location?”
Hmm???
