Becoming a god starts with one certificate becoming eternal.

Chapter 101 It's just right to send him to his death.

Half a month later, on the other side of the city wall, outside the North Gate, the wind was even stronger.

As dawn broke, before the shadows of the city walls had completely faded, the narrow passage that was inescapable on the way back to the city was already gripped by a chill.

The reeds lay low, the rocky slopes gleamed coldly, and people hid in the ditches, as if they were breathing the same air as the stones.

They weren't eyeing the city gate, but rather the narrow passage that was the only way back to the city. Whether along the riverbank or around the barren slope, they would eventually leave their footprints and cart tracks here.

Gray Sleeve of Black Feather Hall huddled beside the reed roots, his eyelids half-closed, as if asleep. But even if a pebble rolled by, he could tell whether it was the wind, a beast, or a person.

That's the kind of work he does at Black Feather Hall.

Aspiring martial artists are not afraid of a bit of cold; what they fear is being unable to move.

Any movement would reveal their condition, and revealing their condition would ruin everything. So they suppressed their breathing to a minimum, confining their blood pressure under their skin, letting the damp cold seep in through their clothes, hardening their fascia and stagnating their blood circulation. It wasn't just physically harmful, it was excruciating.

I can tolerate it for a short time, but after half a month it's like grinding my bones with a dull knife.

The Blackwater Gang members couldn't hold back any longer. Their legs were going numb from squatting, but they still managed to mutter a curse in a low voice: "When is Ye Xiao coming back? If we keep lying down like this, my legs will be ruined."

Hui Xiu didn't look up, only turned his head: "The intersection is here, he'll have to walk this route sooner or later. If you can bear it, then bear it; if you can't, then go back."

The Blackwater Gang member scoffed, still wanting to argue.

Behind the nearby rocks, a shadowy figure raised a hand.

Hold high.

He leaned against the stone, a small pinch of tobacco between his fingers. He didn't light it, but just crushed it with his fingertips. The bits of tobacco fell to the ground and were immediately swept away by the wind.

He didn't look at anyone, but his voice was as hard as a nail: "Shut up."

The moment those two words were spoken, the ditch fell silent. The Blackwater Gang member swallowed his anger, his Adam's apple throbbing with pain.

The silence dragged on for a while.

The wind swept across the tips of the reeds, bringing a damp, fishy smell, like grass roots soaked in frozen water, or like rust in the mud. The longer you smelled it, the more irritating it became.

The Blackwater Gang member couldn't help but ask in a low voice, "Vice Leader, are we really going to wait like this? If he doesn't return for a year, are we going to be stuck here for a year too?"

Gao Qing finally raised his eyes and looked at the narrow opening, his gaze as cold as iron at the bottom of the water: "He will return."

"If he doesn't go back, the job at the docks will be the first thing to fall apart. He finally became a leader; is he really willing to give it all up?"

He paused, then added, as if to reassure everyone: "Be patient. Killing a leader of the Green Owl Gang is no easy task."

No one dared to utter another word.

But the quiet couldn't suppress the restlessness; it only suppressed the restlessness into a whisper.

The Blackwater Gang member couldn't hold back any longer and muttered sarcastically, "It's been half a month—if he really doesn't go back to the city, are we really going to lie low until the New Year?"

Hei Lingtang Hui Xiu finally lifted his eyelids, his voice colder than the wind: "If you're afraid of waiting, then don't come."

"Don't forget how the Scorpion Gang's yard disappeared half a month ago."

The Blackwater Gang member's face darkened, but he remained defiant: "The Scorpion Gang is trash; they're no match for us. Are we even on the same level as them?"

"Does Ye Xiao think he can wipe out our Blackwater Gang?"

"That's right." Another Blackwater Gang member sneered, "If he weren't the leader of the Green Owl Gang, we wouldn't have needed to travel so far to ambush him. We could have just gone to his door and killed him."

Hui Xiu scoffed, not bothering to argue with them, but simply stating his position: "You have a grudge against Ye Xiao."

"As long as he lives, you will never have a moment's peace."

"You'd better not underestimate him. I saw with my own eyes how he killed Xu Chongshan—that wasn't luck, it was ruthlessness, it was skill."

The man choked for a moment, then instinctively looked for Gao Qing.

Gao Qing didn't rush to speak, but instead crushed the sliver of tobacco between his fingers into even smaller pieces.

After a long pause, he finally spoke, his voice cold and hard: "He can't turn the tide."

"The aftereffects of the Blood Burning Technique haven't been resolved. He's at most a quasi-martial artist now, and he can't withstand a second Blood Burning Technique."

"Golden Bones are strong, but he'd still die against us unless he becomes a martial artist—but with his qi and blood in such a chaotic state, if he really wanted to break through to the third realm of Blood Refining, it wouldn't be breaking through, it would be courting death!"

These words gave the Blackwater Gang a way out, and several people immediately seized the opportunity, laughing menacingly in hushed tones: "That's right! He was able to kill people back then by burning his blood to keep himself alive."

"His fighting strength is at most half of what it used to be; you're overestimating him."

"Well said! Forget about wiping out our Blackwater Gang, if he even dares to show his face in front of us, he won't be able to return to the city!"

Gray Sleeves didn't reply, but her eyes grew even more somber.

He wasn't afraid of Ye Xiao; he had just witnessed Ye Xiao's battles firsthand and knew he was not someone to be trifled with.

Gao Qing, however, seemed not to notice his gaze and directly revealed his trump card, making it even more blatant: "My brother Gao Yue has already become a martial artist."

"Even if we don't do anything to him now, if he dares to mess with the Blackwater Gang when he returns to the city—we'll just send him to his death."

"At that time, even the higher-ups of the Green Owl Gang will have nothing to say."

As soon as those words were spoken, the restlessness in the ditch seemed to be suppressed.

In the lower city, the word "martial artist" is synonymous with heaven.

In their eyes, no matter how ruthless or strong Ye Xiao is, he is still under the heavens.

Further north in the mining gullies, the sky over the cold pools is almost indistinguishable between day and night.

The wind at the mouth of the gully was still thin, so thin it sounded like hissing, and it blew in along the rock wall.

-

But Ye Xiao was no longer standing at the half-zhang line that he had been standing at half a month ago.

He took a step forward.

Not much, just one kick.

The gravel made a soft sound under the boot, then was swallowed by the chill in the next instant.

The chill still seeped into my bones.

But his qi and blood tightened, and his stance took shape, like an invisible beam across his body; the chill struck him, but was first blocked by half a beat before slowly squeezing in through the cracks.

That half-beat difference is the gap.

He stopped.

The rock wall behind him was bluish-green, and the surface of the pool was dark and murky. Ye Xiao didn't look at the water; he only focused on the spot where his feet landed and his own breath.

After taking one step, Han stopped delaying and instead bit down.

It bites with extreme precision: first it gnaws at the thinnest part of the fascia, then it gnaws at the hardest bone edge in the joint space, as if it is deliberately targeting the place that people can't stand the most.

For most people, this wouldn't be an advance; they would be forced back on the spot, perhaps even kneeling and trembling.

Ye Xiao pressed his body down even harder.

As he settled into the stance, his entire body was like a wedge, slowly being driven into the ground. The "locks" of his ankles, knees, and hips closed one by one, his spine aligned, his shoulders and back lowered, and the rise and fall of his chest was minimized, with only a thin breath guiding his blood and qi along the path of the stance.

He didn't try to block the chill as it crept in.

Let it in, let it bite, let it crack where it needs to crack.

The moment it split open, the pain didn't come from the skin, but exploded from the bone. It was like an ice pick chiseling into the finger bone, chiseling one after another until the teeth ached, until the darkness before my eyes became clear.

Ye Xiao's eyes did not move.

He held the slightly metallic taste that rose in his throat and swallowed it back down.

Standing meditation must not stop, and the strength of the stance must not dissipate.

After half a month of grinding, he realized that only by making sure the broken pieces were clean enough could the broken parts be repaired to a harder state.

He contained the "shattering" within the stake: letting the cold only crack what should crack, not tear indiscriminately; letting the blood only replenish what should replenish, not surge indiscriminately.

The word "light" flashed across my eyes.

【Crimson Blood Stake - Perfection】

【Dingyue Pillar - Complete】

[Breaking Through the Heavens - Perfection]

【Dragon-Locking Weight-Bearing Stakes - Complete】

【Collapse Mountain Fist - Perfection】

[Vajra Stance - Minor Success: 16/600]

Ye Xiao didn't look at the words, and his stance sank even further.