Elderly Martial Saint: Sixty Times the Cultivation Speed ​​at the Start

As night fell, the rocky slope fell silent once more.

Yi Yang squatted by the edge of the pit, and after finishing everything, he did not leave immediately.

He used his powerful mental energy to scan his surroundings and make sure that there was no one else besides himself.

Apart from a few insects crawling in the grass and the sound of an unknown withered branch being broken by the night wind, there was nothing else to be heard on this hillside.

Yi Yang stood up, patted the dirt off his knees, and rubbed the tiger's roar on the grass. The bloodstains weren't completely wiped off, but he decided to wrap it up first.

When he returned from Luanshi Gully, he deliberately slowed his pace. The outer garment on his right shoulder was torn by the qi, revealing his black iron soft armor through the gap. Combined with the dust covering his body, he looked as if he had really encountered a tough battle.

He mentally reviewed his thoughts, confirming his current state:

His cultivation level in the True Qi Realm has been concealed; to outsiders, he now appears to be at the peak of the third level of Inner Qi.

As for the book "The Art of Mountain Climbing," he kept it close to his chest; it wasn't very thick, about the width of two fingers.

As Yi Yang walked along, he suddenly found it a little funny.

Before coming, Xue Muci had spent several years gathering information, scouting locations, and waiting for the right opportunity. In the end, this person went to great lengths and gave him a genuine skill manual, three thousand taels of silver, and two bottles of pills.

It's like a money-giving boy.

However, it was only because of his own strength that he was able to survive; otherwise, an ordinary Inner Qi Realm expert would have been killed by his opponent long ago.

The lights of Changliu Inn appeared ahead, and Yi Yang sensed the situation from afar.

The front yard, back yard, and the area surrounding the inn were all filled with the movement of Qi from the Blood Qi Realm and the Inner Qi Realm.

Xu Min did not chase after them, but he sealed off the entire inn completely, carrying out Yi Yang's orders perfectly.

Yi Yang walked around to the outside of the backyard wall, and as soon as he landed, someone inside sensed the movement.

The two guards jumped over the wall almost simultaneously, their swords already drawn.

Recognizing Yi Yang from a distance of about ten feet, the two simultaneously sheathed their swords, flipped back into the courtyard, and one of them whispered, "Lord Yi is back!"

When Yi Yang climbed over the back wall, Xu Min was walking out of the side room.

He saw Yi Yang across half the courtyard, quickened his pace, glanced at him, and after a couple of moments, his gaze lingered on the tear in the shoulder of Yi Yang's robe before he asked:

"Sir, are you injured?"

"fine."

"Where is the assassin?"

Yi Yang slung Hu Xiao over his shoulder and, without beating around the bush, said directly, "He's dead."

"..."

Xu Min remained silent for a moment, without immediately responding.

"The body was buried in a rocky gully several miles away."

Yi Yang added, walking towards the duty room, "That guy came for the money, thinking I was some big shot, and wanted to kidnap me for ransom. Turns out he messed with the wrong person."

He said this without any expression on his face.

Xu Min followed behind him, going over the explanation in his mind.

blackmail.

Row.

An assassin who could sneak in right under the noses of the Zhenfu Guard and kill with three stabs was there to kidnap someone.

Xu Min remained silent.

He had met many people while running errands for the Hall of Judgment, and he could tell that the explanation given by the official in front of him was just that—an explanation. The truth behind it was not something he should ask.

He only needed to confirm one thing: the person had returned alive.

The rest were not his duties.

Inside the lobby, the situation was much the same as before Yi Yang left.

The innkeeper huddled behind the counter, two waiters stood side by side against the wall, and a dozen guests were either sitting or standing.

Some of them crossed their arms, others held onto the back of chairs, their faces all saying the same thing: "Don't lay a hand on me, this has nothing to do with me."

of course there are exceptions.

At the table in the corner, there was that guy with the thick beard.

He was leaning back in his chair drinking, his mouth dripping with oil from gnawing on a chicken leg, and his voice was loud enough to shake the roof off.

The chair is still there, but the bearded man's upper body is bent at a 30-degree angle, with both hands on the table, as if he wants to disappear into the crack of the table.

The young man next to him who had previously tried to challenge him was now studying the toes of his shoes, motionless.

Yi Yang entered, his gaze sweeping across the lobby. He didn't linger at this table, then turned to Xu Min and said, "Have someone register their identity and destination. If there are no problems, let them go."

"Yes." Xu Min, having received the order, turned to make the arrangements.

The atmosphere in the lobby relaxed.

The shopkeeper then emerged from behind the counter, his smile genuinely forced. He rubbed his hands together and said:

"Gentlemen... um... Lord Yi, regarding the window and the table, our shop dares not presume to offer an explanation, but..."

Yi Yang took out a few loose silver coins from his pocket and placed them on the counter without asking the shopkeeper to count them.

That's enough.

The shopkeeper glanced down, his lips moved slightly, and finally put the money away, bowed, and retreated behind the counter.

At the innermost table in the corner, there was a gray-robed martial artist who had barely moved since being taken into custody by the Zhenfu Guard.

His name was Qian Wu, and he made a living by stealing horses. He had been on this official road for three years, targeting wealthy customers, drugging their horse feed, and then running away with the horses at dawn.

Tonight, he has his sights set on those twelve strange, jet-black horses.

He could easily sell any one of those horses and live off them for three years in Yunlin County.

The medicine packet was still tucked into my sleeve, and the sweat on my palms soaked through the fabric.

He watched the group of men in black armor enter and recognized the insignia of the Zhenfu Guard. His mind went blank for a moment.

Zhenfu Guard.

Even if he knew nothing about the prefectural city, he knew what those three words meant.

Those were the most elite swords of the Sky Patrol Division; few who had dealt with this group had survived.

He tucked the cuffs of the medicine bag in, praying that no one would notice him.

Later, the assassination attempt occurred, and there was a great commotion outside. He sat motionless, pretending to be dead.

Later, the Zhenfu Guard returned and said that Yiyang had caught up with the assassin and killed him.

A person.

Chase them out, then come back to kill them.

Qian Wu sat in the corner, clenching the medicine packet in his hand again and again.

He had worked on this official road for three years and had met several formidable people, none of whom were like this.

The Zhenfu Guards rushed out to seal off the inn, but the official went out to chase after the person, resolved the situation on his own, and then returned.

Qian Wu slowly took the medicine packet out of his sleeve, crushed it, and pressed the powder into the seam of his sleeve.

When the Zhenfuwei guards started registering identities, he gave a fake name, fake address, and fake itinerary. He handed it over with his head down, walked into the courtyard, shook his sleeves clean three times, and only then did he feel a little more at ease.

After the caravan left, he stood at the entrance of the inn for a while, then turned and walked to his room, locking the door from the inside.

I'm not doing this job anymore.

Before dawn, Yi Yang sent someone to urge him on.

The twelve garrison guards assembled at the same pace they usually walked—neat, orderly, and without unnecessary words.

The shopkeeper saw him off at the door, clutching the loose silver coins left by Yi Yang in his hand, his palms sweaty.

Before dawn, a thin mist hung over the official road.

Xu Min rearranged the formation, with four riders in front, six riders protecting the middle, and two riders bringing up the rear, thus surrounding Yiyang in the very center.

The formation was tighter than when they started.

Yi Yang didn't say anything and told them to line up.

The horses' hooves pounded on the rammed earth road, and the thirteen riders galloped off in unison.

For the next two days, Yi Yang spent most of his time practicing the "Four Symbols and Six Harmonies Blade," hoping to master the technique as quickly as possible.

The seven points after the sixty-fifth node of the Azure Dragon Blade Technique were forcibly connected using mental energy before; now, the flow of true energy needs to be gradually smoothed out.

Since it wasn't suitable to actually practice his internal energy during the day, he repeatedly went through the trajectory of the nodes in his mind, more than a dozen times, to find the places where he got stuck, and then simulated them in his mind first.

The golden ape followed him in the mental platform to deduce the path. The monkey seemed quite interested, scratching at the phantom with its two paws and occasionally poking at the parts of the path that had gone astray with its tail.

When they rested in the evening, Yi Yang took out the "Heroic Mountain Journey" and flipped through it.

Xue Mu had been studying for twenty years and was very familiar with this true skill. The pages of the book were full of annotations, densely packed, and even the blank spaces next to them were filled with small characters.

Yi Yang pulled out the Fierce Mountain Body Refining Method separately and compared it with his own "Horizontal Refining Martial Extreme Body".

The two techniques have different focuses. "Horizontal Martial Arts Body Training" trains the skin, flesh, tendons and bones, treating the body like steel. "Mountain and Fierce Mountain Technique" trains the skin, flesh and fascia in coordination, emphasizing the transmission of force through movement.

The conflict arises on the third level, as the two have opposing requirements for bone load. If one forces the cultivation of both, it is easy to cause internal energy depletion, which may slow down progress or even cause meridian disorders.

As for the "Five Internal Organs Refining Strength" method, it doesn't directly contradict this "Fierce Mountain Body Refining Method." The five internal organs are internal, while the fierce mountain is external. They can't complement each other, but they also don't counteract each other.

Yi Yang closed the book and put it back in his pocket.

Take your time.

Once we return to the prefectural city and settle down, we can then use the Mandate of Heaven to enter the gates, taking it one step at a time.

Things picked up on the road are not necessarily better if they are eaten as quickly as possible.

On the third day at dusk, the city wall of Suining Prefecture appeared at the end of the official road.

Yi Yang pulled on the reins, slowing the horse down, and the twelve riders behind him adjusted their pace accordingly.

The city wall was nearly ten feet higher than that of Baiyu City. The flags on the city wall fluttered in the twilight. Outside the city gate, a caravan of seven or eight carriages was waiting, with goods piled higher than the carriages.

Yi Yang paused outside the city wall.

Several months ago, he came here for the first time, carrying a letter of recommendation in dark gold. He sat in the carriage, pondering the words "the city is a deep place" all the way.

He was nowhere to be found in any of the four departments. After waiting for seven or eight days, he finally managed to reach the entrance of Youquan Department thanks to a message relayed by Song Tiecheng.

Now he returned, wearing a bronze badge indicating he was a candidate for chief inspector, followed by twelve garrison guards.

Yi Yang glanced down at the bronze plaque, flipped it over, and held the official design up to the afterglow of the setting sun.

The lines are clear and the carving is clean.

He fastened the bronze medal back to his waist, pressed it down with his thumb, and squeezed the horse's belly.

The strange beast horse stepped onto the stone road in front of the city gate, its hooves landing with a dull thud on the surface.