Chapter 31: Breakthrough

Chu Yang was quick to act, intercepting Shi Qianshan with a palm strike to his chest. With a crack, Shi Qianshan's chest bones shattered, his body jolted, his eyes bulged, and blood bubbles gushed from his mouth and nose. He fell backward, lifeless. Dead.

"Hmm?" Meng Chaoran glanced at him, immediately understanding his intention, and sighed.

"Master, it's better if I take care of it. He has oppressed us for a long time, and today is a good day to settle the score," Chu Yang said calmly.

Meng Chaoran looked deeply into his eyes, patted his shoulder, and hesitated, ultimately saying nothing and walking out.

Killing a disciple he had nurtured for eight years, with Meng Chaoran's character, he would likely be haunted by guilt. But if Chu Yang did it, it would be different. Although the death would still be in front of him, it wouldn't be his own hands, and the feeling would be much lighter.

How could Meng Chaoran not understand Chu Yang's intentions?

Chu Yang also sighed, looking at Shi Qianshan's corpse on the bed, and couldn't help but say resentfully, "Dying so easily, you really got off easy." This wasn't wrong. If Meng Chaoran hadn't suddenly appeared, with Chu Yang's methods and the accumulated resentment from two lifetimes, he would have made Shi Qianshan suffer endlessly.

Chu Yang finally understood why Meng Chaoran had named him Chu Yang. One reason was the "Chu" character on the jade pendant, and the other was the "Chu" character in Ye Chuchen's name. Chu Yang, phonetically, isn't it just the morning sun?

And "Chu" in Ye Chuchen's name, isn't it similar to the meaning of his own name?

And the "Tan" in Tan Tan's name, isn't it "fleeting as a night-blooming cereus"? Was Meng Chaoran lamenting the brevity of his love?

Chu Yang suddenly understood how bitter his master's heart was. The most painful thing in life is "parting and death." Among these four words, "parting" comes first, indicating that "parting" is more painful than "death."

"Death" is painful for a moment, but "parting" is painful for a lifetime. As long as one is alive, this pain and torment never cease!

"Ye Chuchen..." Chu Yang silently repeated, focusing on the direction Meng Chaoran had walked, and said in his heart, "Master, I remember this name."

Turning to look at Shi Qianshan's corpse with wide-open eyes, Chu Yang was silent for a while, a complex emotion rising in his heart. He finally felt concretely: he had truly changed the course of some lives!

In his previous life, Shi Qianshan was supposed to live for four more years, but within a month of his rebirth, Shi Qianshan died at his hands...

Chu Yang was silent for a moment, wrapped the body in a blanket, and slowly walked out. When he returned, he unexpectedly found that Tan Tan had prepared another meal, steaming hot on the table.

More surprisingly, Meng Chaoran hadn't disappeared but was sitting quietly at the head of the table, as if waiting for him. Everything was just as it had always been.

Seeing Chu Yang enter, Tan Tan's eyebrows twitched, and he rubbed his hands, asking hesitantly, "That... Eldest Brother... Shi Qianshan?"

"Dead. I killed him," Chu Yang said calmly, then sat down. Tan Tan hummed, lowered his head, and suddenly lost his appetite. He had also heard Shi Qianshan's words and felt that he deserved to die, but for some reason, he still felt a faint sadness. After all, they had been together for so many years, and Tan Tan hadn't discovered Shi Qianshan's true nature until now.

Meng Chaoran was silent for a moment, picked up his chopsticks, and said, "Let's eat." His expression was calm, as if nothing had happened, and Shi Qianshan had never existed in the Purple Bamboo Garden.

The three of them ate in silence, the atmosphere at the table heavy.

Chu Yang didn't speak; at this moment, Master Meng Chaoran didn't need any comfort. Even if he felt some pain and found it unjust, he would adjust in a few days. But the last outburst of Shi Qianshan had triggered Meng Chaoran's emotional wounds, and this inner turmoil would last for a long time...

After finishing his meal, Meng Chaoran saw that Chu Yang had also eaten voraciously and raised an eyebrow, saying, "Chu Yang, this is your first time killing, right? I remember you've never even killed a chicken before."

Chu Yang was taken aback and said, "Yes." He then realized that he had been too calm after killing. To someone like Meng Chaoran, a seasoned veteran, this was undoubtedly surprising.

Although he was a martial artist, no matter how evil a villain, the first time they killed, they would always show some abnormality. But Chu Yang, on his first kill, had killed his eldest brother who had been with him for eight years, and it didn't even affect his appetite!

How could this not be strange?

"Your mental fortitude is like that of a natural killer," Meng Chaoran said with a faint smile. This reminded him of Wu Yunliang's suggestion, and for the first time, he considered the possibility of Chu Yang taking on that dangerous mission.

Such calm and almost cold composure would ensure that he wouldn't make any mistakes in that task. But Meng Chaoran was still somewhat uneasy, his feelings conflicted.

It was an opportunity, but also a path with a high risk of death!

"A natural killer..." Chu Yang smiled bitterly in his heart, thinking, "Although this is my first time killing in this life, in my previous life, I had already sent tens of thousands of souls to the afterlife. How could I not be calm? I'm already numb! Killing a person actually has less impact on me than killing a chicken..."

"Shi Qianshan deserved to die. Killing him was just and right, and I felt no pressure, only satisfaction," Chu Yang said seriously.

Meng Chaoran looked at him and suddenly smiled slightly, saying, "Very good!" and said no more.

Three days passed quickly. That night, Chu Yang sat alone deep in the Purple Bamboo Forest, sensing the energy of heaven and earth. He had a premonition that today, he should be able to break through to the Martial Artist realm!

Since killing Shi Qianshan, the anger in his heart had been triggered, and Chu Yang felt a strong fluctuation in his dantian. It seemed that a bloodthirsty emotion was awakening, struggling, and roaring.

This was the brutality left in his soul from practicing the无情剑道 (无情剑道, Wuqing Jian Dao, the无情 Sword Path) in his previous life. Chu Yang worked hard to suppress this emotion and continued to practice calmly. From that moment on, the true qi and yuan force in his body suddenly surged, as if trying to break through some constraint!

Chu Yang narrowed his eyes, carefully controlling the qi vortex in his dantian, nurturing and circling it. The small Nine Tribulations Sword seemed to become a core, and the qi vortex circled the Nine Tribulations Sword nine times in the dantian, then shot out like a bolt of lightning, rushing into the meridians, piercing through them with a sharp force!

Gradually ascending, after circling the meridians nine times, a powerful current had formed. Chu Yang focused his mind, and the current broke free from the Martial Disciple cycle, forcefully continuing to ascend, breaking through the bottleneck to the Martial Artist realm!

Boom!

Chu Yang felt a thunderous explosion inside his body, his body jolted, and he spat out a mouthful of blood, with two streams of blood from his nostrils. His face turned a deep red.

But the powerful current had already broken through the bottleneck, advancing bit by bit in the newly opened meridian channels. Chu Yang carefully controlled it, and after breaking through, the first circulation of power in the new meridians must be done cautiously. Otherwise, there could be damage. This damage, though invisible, could limit one's future achievements!

Like crossing a narrow bridge, guiding the current to circulate once, Chu Yang was already drenched in sweat. But he didn't relax and continued to circulate.

One, two... nine times!

After the cycle was complete, Chu Yang exhaled sharply, feeling completely drained of strength, yet his body felt as comfortable as if immersed in warm water.

The breath he exhaled, even in the dark of night, appeared black and shiny, flashing in front of him before dissipating into the air.

In a secluded spot in the Purple Bamboo Forest, Meng Chaoran stood motionless, covered in frost, fully focused on protecting his disciple.

At the moment Chu Yang broke through, Meng Chaoran also breathed a long sigh of relief, finally achieving it! Chu Yang's path of cultivation had taken another step forward.

"Refining the meridians!?" Meng Chaoran was stunned, his eyes widening as he saw the strange, black, shiny gas Chu Yang exhaled. He exclaimed in shock, "This is meridian impurities!"

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