The long night stretched endlessly, the great street desolate and empty.

Moonlight bathed the massive bluestone pavement, making it gleam with a water-like white glow. The rhythmic clatter of hoofbeats approached rapidly, like drumbeats keeping time.

The rider was none other than Ye Hai, who worked at the yamen. He’d just finished a banquet and tried his luck at a gambling house. He was in quite a good mood today. After all, eliminating a legitimate Ye family descendant was both nerve-wracking and exciting for him.

That kid should be long dead and disposed of by now, right? Ye Hai thought to himself. He hadn’t dared contact the Dragon-Snake Gang. If Ye Haoran investigated later, he could distance himself from the affair.

Besides, the boy was just an idiot. Even if he wasn’t stupid anymore, he had no real connection to Ye Haoran, who probably wouldn’t bother investigating anyway. Ye Hai comforted himself with these thoughts, feeling rather smug.

“Kid, who told you to dare hit my mother! If I’d put in a good word for you back then, you could have escaped disaster. Alas, people bring calamity upon themselves!” Ye Hai sighed aloud.

“Indeed, people bring calamity upon themselves.” A voice of moderate volume suddenly came from ahead.

“Who’s there!” Ye Hai jerked the reins. His fine horse whinnied loudly, rearing up on its hind legs before crashing back down onto the bluestone pavement with a clatter, raising faint clouds of dust.

“It’s you!” Ye Hai opened his drunken eyes wide. In the middle of the road stood a youth in blue robes.

The enormous moon hung like a basin in the sky, making the stone road bright as a water’s surface. Ye Kong stood unauthorized copycalmly, the night breeze gently stirring the hem of his robe.

“Surprised to see me?” Ye Kong’s indifferent tone drifted over with the night wind.

“You’ve been waiting for me?” Ye Hai slowly moved his hand toward the long blade at his waist, then continued, “Since you escaped disaster once, you should know to treasure your life. Must you insist on dying by my hand?”

Ye Hai didn’t know how this kid had escaped, but clearly the boy already knew he was the one behind it all. So he couldn’t let Ye Kong live. He’d already formed murderous intent.

“If I’m standing here alone waiting for you, how could I be here to die?” Ye Kong had rushed from Treasure Spring Pavilion precisely to eliminate Ye Hai. Otherwise, his lies to Fan Jiushe would soon be exposed.

“Haha.” Ye Hai laughed loudly. “Don’t think killing a few petty thugs gives you the capital to act arrogant before me. If you’re seeking death, don’t blame me for being merciless!”

“Experience my blade technique!” After speaking, Ye Hai brandished his blade and spurred his horse forward, preparing to cut down this reckless fool.

Ye Kong stood motionless. As Ye Hai approached, his pupils suddenly contracted and the Shadow Jade martial arts appeared again in his mind.

Ye Kong roared and leaped up using the Shadow Jade techniques, gracefully spinning several times in mid-air like a top suspended above water, easily evading the blade’s momentum.

“Fancy moves, but against me there’s only one outcome: death!” Ye Hai wasn’t all talk. He violently reined in his horse, forcing it to stop right before Ye Kong. His great blade traced a flourish before descending like a mountain upon Ye Kong.

Ye Kong forcibly suppressed the urge to throw the handful of talismans in his hand at Ye Hai’s face. ​visit our site​He continued meeting the attack using the Shadow Jade techniques from his mind.

He shot skyward toward the blade light. His keen eyes allowed him to distinguish clearly which was light and which was blade. Then: head thrown back, spinning, kick! The elegant blue-robed figure under the moonlight displayed peerless grace.

“Bang!” Ye Kong’s foot struck Ye Hai’s arm squarely. The long blade flew far away, clanging to the ground. Even Ye Hai was kicked from his horse by that strike.

Ye Kong walked over and looked at Ye Hai trying to stand up. His heart was full of amazement. What kind of martial arts were contained in that Shadow Jade? So formidable! He’d only watched it once and learned those few moves, yet even an expert like Ye Hai was no match for him.

“You’ve seen my blade technique. Now let me show you my talisman arts!”

Ye Hai died. His cold corpse lay in the middle of the main street all night. What puzzled the authorities was that he had only a small wound, yet all his blood had flowed out.

No one in the Ye Manor suspected Ye Kong. Nobody could imagine this bad-tempered, unaccomplished fellow could eliminate the martially skilled Ye Hai. Even Granny Hu couldn’t guess, though from then on she became much more restrained.

Ye Kong had no interest in quarreling with an old servant woman anymore. He had no time. The next day, he went early to find the Lu brothers and took them to receive the Northern District territory.

The underworld of Cangnan Continent was still in its primitive stage. The so-called territories were basically just groups of pickpockets and beggar organizations. The only stable source of income was the four fighting arenas located in the Northern District.

Ye Kong hadn’t realized that these street-corner arenas were all controlled by gangs. Not only did they provide steady income, they were also excellent places to recruit talent.

The Lu brothers were natives of the Northern District and knew the area inside ​noodles​and out. They knew all the skilled and unskilled fighters in these establishments, so they quickly absorbed quite a few members.

While Ye Kong was busy with this, Fan Jiulong and Fan Jiushe were also busy. Though no one in the Ye Manor connected Ye Hai’s murder to Ye Kong, Fan Jiushe immediately guessed the truth.

“Elder brother, I have good news for you. Ye Hai has been killed!” Fan Jiushe was extremely excited.

Fan Jiulong wasn’t stupid either. He immediately understood. “He did it?”

“Of course. Ye Hai died so mysteriously. Who else could it be? This is silencing witnesses!”

Fan Jiulong laughed. “That just proves his guilty conscience even more. Looks like the whole Wanxuan True Man’s disciple story was fake.”

He suddenly remembered last night’s conversation and quickly asked, “Brother, why did you say yesterday not to let me absorb his cultivation?”

“It’s like this. Don’t rush, let me explain slowly.”

The full story began with the barbarian tribe cultivation manual that Fan Jiushe had accidentally obtained. This cultivation method was actually something between immortal cultivation and demonic cultivation.

Generally speaking, immortal cultivators absorbed the Five Elements spiritual energy from heaven and earth, while demonic cultivators preferred to cultivate demonic qi or death qi. The barbarian method lay in between. This technique still absorbed spiritual energy, but not from heaven and earth. Instead, it absorbed the spiritual energy from inside other cultivators’ bodies.

This cultivation method had one advantage: spiritual roots didn’t [noodles]matter, as long as you absorbed enough from other cultivators.

The absorption method was extremely cruel. It was called “Seizing the Core and Destroying the Cauldron.” Simply put, you first tortured the victim until they were in unbearable agony and lost the will to live. When the connection between their spiritual consciousness and Qi Sea was at its weakest, you used your hand like a blade to pierce into their Qi Sea and absorb the spiritual energy from their body.

After obtaining this technique, Fan Jiushe was overjoyed. But he soon discovered cultivation wasn’t that easy. He himself was the lowest level cultivator. Where could he catch cultivators weaker than himself?

Near a small cultivation family, he killed several children who had only recently begun cultivating. Fan Jiushe barely reached Qi Refinement Layer 3. Just as he prepared to continue capturing victims, the cultivation family discovered him.

After being pursued and blockaded from all sides, he narrowly escaped with his life, returning to Southern Capital City severely injured. From then on, he dared not capture anyone else to cultivate. His elder brother Fan Jiulong also wanted to cultivate the barbarian technique, but lacked low-level cultivators to absorb.

Ye Kong’s appearance gave them hope. Fan Jiulong wanted to capture Ye Kong and absorb his internal spiritual energy so he too could step through the immortal cultivation gate.

However, Fan Jiushe had different thoughts. He said, “Elder brother, even if you absorb Ye Kong’s spiritual energy, at most you’ll be at Qi Refinement Layer 1. Add me at Qi Refinement Layer 3, and we still won’t be able to capture cultivators in the future. We still won’t be able to advance.”

Fan Jiulong nodded and asked, “Brother, have you thought of something? Speak freely.”

Fan Jiushe pulled out a palm-sized small sword from his pouch. The blade’s color was grayish and dim. Though very light, it was incomparably sharp. Its material was unknown.

“Elder brother, I obtained this magical artifact from the bones of a barbarian cultivator twenty years ago, but I’ve never been able to use it. That’s because only mid-Qi Refinement cultivators can use magical artifacts… My meaning is, let me absorb Ye Kong’s spiritual energy. That way I might be able to break through to Qi Refinement Layer 4. Then I can refine this small sword artifact, and my power will definitely increase greatly. At that time, I can go out and hunt down low-level cultivators from those small families and sects. We brothers won’t need to worry about finding cauldrons anymore.”

After listening, Fan Jiulong nodded repeatedly. “My brother’s method is more stable. Elder brother has waited over ten years. I don’t mind waiting noodlesa bit longer. Let you absorb Ye Kong instead.”

Fan Jiushe put away the artifact, then frowned. “Breaking through from Qi Refinement Layer 3 to Layer 4 requires an extraordinary amount of spiritual energy. That Ye family kid has only cultivated for a year or so. I’m afraid absorbing him won’t be enough.”

Fan Jiulong laughed. “What’s difficult about that? We wait. He’s at Qi Refinement Layer 1 now. We wait until he reaches Qi Refinement Layer 2 before making our move. As long as he doesn’t exceed Qi Refinement Layer 3, brother doesn’t need to fear him.”

Fan Jiushe touched the small sword artifact through his pouch and said helplessly, “Looks like you’ll have to lie in my pouch for another year or so, little brother.”

Fan Jiulong worried, “Brother, that kid is extremely shrewd and slippery. Won’t delays lead to complications?”

“Don’t worry, elder brother. I have another treasure. A lower mid-grade spirit talisman: Fire Bird Technique! Forget Qi Refinement Layer 1. Even if he reaches Qi Refinement Layer 3, he won’t be able to dodge it!”

“Haha, excellent!”

Actually, Ye Kong knew that just killing Ye Hai wasn’t enough. On the day Wanxuan True Man didn’t accept him, all the Ye family descendants and servants had learned about it. He couldn’t very well kill them all.

Fan Jiushe would discover the deception sooner or later. Ye Kong didn’t dare delay. After helping Lu Jun and Lu Yi receive the territory, he bought more talisman paper and cinnabar. He returned to create many Invisibility Talismans, Swift Movement Talismans, and other life-saving paper talismans.

However, Ye Kong still wasn’t reassured. These paper talismans were formidable against ordinary people, but practically useless against Fan Jiushe. So he thought of the Shadow Jade again.

The martial arts in the Shadow Jade were truly miraculous. If [stolen content]he could practice them thoroughly, combined with his Five Elements Ascension Scripture and endless supply of paper talismans, he should have hope of escaping with his life from Fan Jiushe.

Ye Kong hadn’t forgotten the Shadow Jade martial arts, and little Lu Qin hadn’t forgotten either. She felt that Ye Kong had comprehended the martial arts in her family’s precious jade, which was quite a loss for them. So she begged Ye Kong to teach her the techniques he’d learned.

Ye Kong didn’t refuse. Men and women training together made practice less tiring. Though Lu Qin didn’t have the large breasts and thick thighs of the women at Treasure Spring Pavilion, she was still a pretty little girl. She had a different kind of beauty.

Time flowed like water. Several more months passed in the blink of an eye, and Ye Kong finally entered his fourteenth year.