Chapter 47: Chapter 47 Grandmaster in Five Steps (Please Collect)_1 Chapter 47: Chapter 47 Grandmaster in Five Steps (Please Collect)_1 The Tri-element City was anything but peaceful tonight.
Especially near the Huang Family, troops bearing torches poured out like fiery dragons spreading in all directions.
Fang Xi moved swiftly as if carried by the wind, his speed incredibly fast, yet closely pursued by someone – it was Huang Yuanwu!
Normally, with his full effort, he could have easily shaken off his pursuer and used his camouflaging clothes to vanish without a trace.
With the methods of an Immortal Cultivator, even a Nine Lives Mastiff wouldn’t be able to find him.
This was the confidence that emboldened him to cause such chaos in Tri-element City!
However, Huang Yuanwu was precisely his target this time, so naturally, he would not flee.
The two of them, one chasing and one fleeing, soon arrived at the back garden of a deserted residence.
The garden was full of artificial hills, the grass withered yellow, and a pond that had once been vibrant now reeked with foul stench.
Under the moonlight, Fang Xi turned around and looked indifferently at Huang Yuanwu, “You actually dared to follow me, quite bold of you!”
“Ha… A brat who just stepped into being a Martial Teacher dares to boast so arrogantly!”
Huang Yuanwu, with arms long like an ape’s and a waist slim like a bee’s, stood motionless, exuding a sense of profound stability and unbreakable solidity.
And beside him, the Nine Lives Mastiff, dark as a lion, was growling and roaring softly.
“With Nine Lives here, I can confirm that there is no ambush around… and you!” Huang Yuanwu said with a grave look in his eye, “Our previous encounter made me realize that you’ve yet to condense the intent of your fist, yet your strength is comparable to that of a Second-Step Martial Teacher. You are a genius! But having offended my Huang Family, even a genius protected by powerful forces must die!”
It seemed he had mistaken Fang Xi’s identity.
However, it was understandable, since Fang Xi, having just made a breakthrough as a Martial Teacher, possessed strength comparable to that of a Second-Step Martial Teacher, truly appeared like a once-in-a-generation talent, schooled by a grandmaster from a powerful faction!
If he knew that Fang Xi was just a pauper in the world of Martial Arts and was making a desperate attempt to steal the secret texts of the Huang Family out of sheer poverty, he would be speechless.
“Enough talk… It will take a quarter of an hour for your men to arrive.”
Amidst the banter, Fang Xi’s Mixed Origin Strength circulated through his body, and his figure suddenly shot up.
The next moment, the ground seemed to tremble slightly as a terrifying force originated from his feet, traveling through his waist, spine, and arms… finally converging into a line to become a deadly punch!
“Today I will let you know that a genius who has not grown up is no genius at all!”
Huang Yuanwu bellowed as he pushed his hands forward as if he was moving mountains.
Splash!
Fang Xi’s fist met his palm, like a tidal wave crashing against a rock, no matter how violent the Mixed Origin Strength was, it shattered and dispersed into splashes.
Huang Yuanwu was a Three-step Martial Teacher, a top expert in Tri-element City, and his strength naturally surpassed Fang Xi’s!
With a ferocious laugh, he was about to counterattack with his terrifying True Strength.
The next moment, however, he suddenly felt that something was amiss!
A dreadful penetrating power, like a sharp needle, pricked his hand, piercing through his skin and flesh, even wounding his bone!
It turned out that just at that moment, as Fang Xi’s fist dispersed, a black needle burst out fiercely from within.
A one-time use magical weapon – Bone-piercing Nail!
“You… despicable!”
Huang Yuanwu staggered back three steps, looking at his palm to see a blackened bloody hole.
“Damn it, body cultivators are such a hassle!”
Little did he know that Fang Xi was also complaining at this moment.
If it were an Immortal Cultivator on the receiving end of such a move, the Bone-piercing Nail would have already penetrated the opponent’s palm and next stabbed through the heart.
But the physique of a Three-step Martial Teacher was indeed astonishing, and even though the Bone-piercing Nail was close to the limit of a lower-grade magical weapon’s power, it was stopped by his iron-like bones.
“To resort to such despicable methods, how low!”
Huang Yuanwu frowned, his True Strength about to compress the wound, but found that he couldn’t stop the bleeding at all.
In fact, his entire arm started to throb with pain, inciting him to curse in anger.
“Heh… There is no need to talk about the justice of the Martial World with a scum like you.”
Fang Xi turned back and slapped the dog’s head of the Nine Lives Mastiff.
It turned out that the half-demon beast, taking advantage of the exchange of blows between him and Huang Yuanwu, had stealthily approached from behind, attempting a sneak attack.
But at this moment, Fang Xi crushed the mastiff’s head in fury!
The explosive gang strength sent the Nine Lives Mastiff flying into the pond, splashing water everywhere.
Huang Yuanwu’s expression did not change as he suddenly turned to flee!
One of his arms was already hanging limply, evidently unusable for the time being.
And even as a Three-step Martial Teacher, engaging in a fight with another Martial Teacher with one hand tied would definitely be disadvantageous.
However, before Huang Yuanwu could leap over the wall, he suddenly felt an evil wind approaching head-on.
Thud!
A dark light rushed at him, transforming into a large ghost-headed saber that chopped fiercely into his body.
“Ah!”
Huang Yuanwu screamed in agony, falling back into the courtyard with a deep, bone-revealing gash on his chest!
“Who… exactly are you?”
Despair filled his eyes as he couldn’t recall when the Huang Family had ever offended someone with such a heaven-reaching means!
“Someone who has come to take your life!”
Fang Xi pulled out several more talismans, chuckling.
Meanwhile, in his heart, he made a comparison:
‘Though a Martial Teacher equals a second-level body cultivator, they’re much easier to deal with…’
‘If it were a body cultivator, he would never expose such a huge flaw because Martial Teachers simply lack experience dealing with cultivators…’
‘And at the same time, body cultivators would also use all sorts of talismans and even magical items and armors to enhance themselves…’
‘The Martial Teachers of Great Liang are still too naive…’
The next moment, without hesitation, Fang Xi tore a ‘Gold Light Shield’ talisman and charged forward, exchanging injury for injury with Huang Yuanwu…
Before long, he was walking away from the deserted mansion, carrying Huang Yuanwu, whose limbs had been broken.
Not long after, the experts and guardians of the Huang Family arrived breathlessly to a scene in total disarray, looking at each other in dismay…
…
The next day.
Demon Hunting Society.
“Did you hear? The Huang Family has suffered a great disaster?”
Some martial artists whispered amongst themselves, their conversations animated with a hint of schadenfreude.
After all, the Huang Family had been famously overbearing in the past.
“Just yesterday, the second daughter of the Huang Family offended someone she shouldn’t have, and was killed on the spot… Just after the Huang Family had issued their threats, guess what? The second master disappeared that very night…”
“That was a commissioned officer, who dared to slap the face of the court and Ding State Army?”
“Who? Of course, it’s a peerless villain… This person is probably around twenty years old, looks like a scholar, and the people in the Martial World call him ‘Sorrowful To A Ghost’!”
A martial artist spoke with pride, evidently well-informed, as he started to boast.
“Oh? Why do they call him Sorrowful To A Ghost?”
Another martial artist eagerly inquired.
“That’s because this Sorrowful To A Ghost has no known origins, yet his martial skills are incredibly high; moreover, he acts with total disregard for the law… What’s more terrifying is that his temperament is… quite awful. Do you know the pretext under which he attacked the Huang residence yesterday night? It’s said… it’s because someone from the Huang residence stepped out the door with the left foot first, which offended his taboo…”
Upon hearing this, the gathered martial artists were left speechless.
Another person interjected: “How did I hear… it was because they stepped out with the right foot first?”
Even so, everyone felt their scalps tingle and subconsciously glanced at their own feet, not wanting to provoke such an unreasonably vexing enemy.
“Heh heh… Do you think that the disappearance of the Huang second master was the end?”
The first martial artist who spoke chuckled, “That Sorrowful To A Ghost is truly audacious. After abducting the second master, he sneaked back to the Huang residence and, it is said, went on a killing spree, slaughtering many… Even the Huang family head, Huang Yuanding, was severely injured. Had it not been for the critical moment when the official forces and the Ding State Army arrived for support, he might have been beaten to death!”
“Even if he didn’t die, after this incident, the Huang Family will probably start to decline… Not only decline, but they also don’t even know who their enemy is. Tell me… isn’t that frustrating?”
An elderly man set down his teacup, only to sigh deeply: “The Huang Family committed many injustices; they deserved their fate!”
“Haha, that’s true, enjoy the tea, enjoy the tea…”
…
As for the turmoil happening in the outside world, Fang Xi was oblivious and had no interest in knowing.
At this moment, he was in a room, meticulously studying a secret volume.
Last night, he had taken Huang Yuanwu away and then used bewitching skills to gather a lot of information.
He then immediately turned around and stirred up the Huang residence, causing heaven and earth turning upside down— in reality, he was searching for ancient books and the Divine Intent Diagram. Injuring the head of the Huang family and the likes was merely incidental…
“The Huang Family once had an ancestor who learned arts at Yuanhe Mountain, reaching the realm of a Fourth-Step Martial Teacher, just a step away from the Grandmaster… The legacy transmitted in the family was the ‘Heavenly Wind Secret Volume’!”
Fang Xi carefully perused the ancient book, which was an original, including the Divine Intent Diagram.
After taking it himself, the Divine Intent Diagram lineage of the Huang Family would probably be severed…
“Martial Teacher cultivation has only four steps: the first is to refine one’s punch, the second is to break through the Niwan Palace, the third is to strengthen muscles and bones to iron, the fourth is the fusion of God and Strength… and then the Grandmaster achieves God Merging with Nature, the union of heaven and man!”
The first two steps of Martial Teacher cultivation were found by Fang Xi from Linghu Yang’s memories.
And Linghu Yang had only heard about them from his teacher, without any specific methods!
But the ‘Heavenly Wind Secret Volume’ had them!
Fang Xi knew his own circumstances well, having just made a breakthrough to become a Martial Teacher, he didn’t even qualify as a first-step Martial Teacher.
Yet, given his profound inner strength, breaking through the human limits with his blood and qi, and his exceptional talent, as well as mixing several cultivation methods to create his own Mixed Origin True Skill, his power was astonishing, capable of battling a second-step Martial Teacher!
If he added a little trick from the Immortal Cultivator, even a third or fourth-step Martial Teacher might fall for it.
But when it came to a Grandmaster, a Real Gang Martial Saint who had taken the fifth step, that was another matter.
“There are only four steps in Martial Teacher cultivation, and once you take the fifth step, you become a Grandmaster, a Martial Saint! Luckily, luckily… I initially thought there’d be at least nine steps… and smaller divisions like half-step, half-step peak, half-step great perfection!”
Right now, Fang Xi had no intention of fighting a Real Gang Martial Saint.
His philosophy had always been to crush others with power, being one small realm higher when fighting an enemy was good, being one major realm higher and then crushing the enemy was very good.
Avoiding battle and bending the enemy to your will was the best!
After all, the Immortal Path cherishes life, what dignity is there in constant fighting and killing?
Not to mention, Real Gang Martial Saints equate to late-stage Qi Refining cultivators with third level body refining in the Cultivation World, should he try to break through a minor realm to challenge them? Better not…
Although in this world, Martial Saints are likely to die against third-level body cultivators from the Cultivation World, we still shouldn’t underestimate them.
‘Third-level body cultivators have the backing of the Cultivation World, which allows the use of external items… In terms of temperament and will, they’re not necessarily inferior to the Grandmasters of this world…’