Chapter 73

(Second update, continue to request recommendations and favorites, Ten Steps thanks everyone, welcome reviews.)

"Gu Yue River, Qian Tian Sword, Golden Light Immortal..."

In the Qingyang Palace, Su Qinnian looked up at the rising sun, the snow having stopped, and the blood and qi in his body surged like never before. He had never been so eager for power at any moment.

Huff!

He unfolded the eighth level of the "Turtle Snake Technique," using the remaining power of the Heaven-Opening Pill to advance this level of the technique. The blood and qi permeated his internal organs, forming a cycle of the five elements.

This was an astonishing technique. The eighth level of the "Turtle Snake Technique," refined by the Three Mad Daoists of Wudang over generations, was almost flawless. If there were any flaws, they were not in the technique but in the imperfections of the human heart.

The blood and qi surged like a mighty river, and Su Qinnian's fists moved as if controlling mountains, rivers, sun, moon, and stars. His breath was ethereal, his internal organs tingling as if five furnaces were shaking, the lids trembling, about to be lifted.

The second level of the "Mystical Soul Technique" was also pushed to its peak. At this moment, Su Qinnian had a firm resolve, a desperate desire to become powerful. This intense determination made his mental energy burn, and the many ancient texts and notes he had read in the scripture hall flowed before his eyes, transforming into various insights, deeply imprinted in his heart.

At this moment, the mental exhaustion was immense, but Su Qinnian also felt an unprecedented sense of exhilaration. His fists became more fluid, the wind and snow moving with his steps. His entire body radiated a burning blood and qi, a red glow like a rosy dawn, gradually forming a blood qi field around him.

In this field, his fists were as red as blood jade, as if they could punch through the heavens. In a daze, Su Qinnian felt himself transform into an ancient divine turtle, dormant and evolving for thousands of years, awakening with dragon horns about to grow, swallowing the sun and moon, absorbing the universe, nothing could stop him, nothing could resist him.

His internal organs vibrated, like five furnaces shaking, the lids trembling more violently. However, after half an hour, Su Qinnian felt weak.

The medicinal power was exhausted!

The power of one Heaven-Opening Pill was thus used up by Su Qinnian in his daily practice, advancing the technique, and was completely consumed.

At this moment, if there were any outer court disciples present, they would surely marvel at his extravagance. Each month, only a few Heaven-Opening Pills were supplied to the outer court, and each one was used for the final breakthrough, to leap to the next level and break through the solid barrier between two realms.

Not enough!

Biting his teeth, Su Qinnian took out another Heaven-Opening Pill, broke the wax coating, and swallowed it. Of the six Heaven-Opening Pills, the two that belonged to him were now used up.

This practice continued for most of the day. At the moment the sun reached its zenith, Su Qinnian felt a shock throughout his body, his internal organs roaring as if five divine repositories had opened, releasing a surging power.

Boom!

He shook his fist, the punch like a drumbeat, breaking through the air, accompanied by a fierce wind, sweeping in all directions.

His strength surged several times, far exceeding the power of a precious blood-sweating horse. As this power reached its peak, a slow, agile, heavy, and rhythmic hoof sound came from behind Su Qinnian.

The air distorted like a sea vortex, and a blood-sweating horse with fine red scales, gleaming with a cold metallic light, stepped out. Its eyes were fierce, the pupils bright yellow like two suns, and its fiery mane extended to its tail, the tail burning like a flame, as if it were about to transform and give birth to something new.

A Heavenly Horse!

A different aura from a blood-sweating horse. If a blood-sweating horse was still a precious steed in the human world, then a Heavenly Horse transcended the mundane, a divine steed for the gods in the heavens.

Life seemed more intense than ever at this moment. Su Qinnian took a deep breath, his mental energy sinking into his body. His internal organs were no longer purely blood red but had become crystal clear.

Even in his mental world, what he saw was not just the internal organs but five burning furnaces, the lids half-open, red flames like rosy dawn surging, as if they would engulf the entire universe.

"It seems to still lack some accumulation, it cannot be achieved all at once."

Su Qinnian frowned. For the eighth level of the "Turtle Snake Technique" to be perfected, the five internal organs should all open, the five elements generating each other, the power of the five divine repositories surging, reaching the pinnacle. Now, it was just a bit short, with much potential yet to be tapped.

Hmm?

Suddenly, Su Qinnian raised his eyebrows and saw a servant leading a middle-aged man dressed as a household servant into the Qingyang Palace.

The middle-aged man was injured, his face pale, clearly having experienced great danger. Upon seeing Su Qinnian, he immediately relaxed, took out a letter from his pocket, and handed it to him, then fainted from exhaustion.

"This is a servant from a prominent family in Maojian County, who came to seek an audience at the foot of the mountain. The disciple on duty asked me to guide him." The servant placed the bamboo basket with lunch and turned to leave.

Maojian County!

Su Qinnian's mind raced, and he immediately opened the letter. After a quick scan, he couldn't help but take a deep breath, his brows furrowed. The news in the letter was not good.

The spirit world of Hong Qi, a great hero of the Beggar Gang, had emerged, and Qingyu had been accidentally drawn into it, her fate unknown.

After a moment's thought, Su Qinnian crumpled the letter in his palm, setting it on fire, turning it to ashes. He took a bowl of steaming bear meat soup from the bamboo basket and fed a few sips to the unconscious middle-aged servant. Without hesitation, he moved like a galloping horse, leaping out of the Qingyang Palace, and disappeared into the distance in a few flashes.

…

Maojian County was named for a type of grass that resembled an arrow, which, when over ten years old, was as hard as iron. When harvested and slightly polished, it became an invincible arrow, listed as a prohibited item by the imperial military, and private cultivation or harvesting by non-governmental organizations was strictly forbidden, punishable by the destruction of the entire family.

Hong Qi's spirit world was not in the county town or the surrounding villages but in the outskirts.

Upon arriving in Maojian County, Su Qinnian immediately noticed a large number of martial artists and martial world figures gathering.

A mountain range stretched for countless miles, the Moyun Mountains, starting from the outskirts of Maojian County and extending for thousands of miles, almost spanning the entire Shiyan Prefecture.

According to legend, over two thousand years ago, a demon emperor named Moyun was shot dead by a supreme figure from the Yi family from a distance of a thousand miles, falling here.

The resentment of the demon emperor was so strong that even in death, his demonic aura enveloped the entire mountain range, turning many wild beasts into demon beasts and hiding numerous demon clans, who considered this mountain range a treasure for cultivation and sought the legacy of the demon emperor. Almost every generation of the Han emperors had sent armies to suppress them, but the demonic miasma in the mountains was too thick, making it difficult to achieve complete success.

The Moyun Mountains were vast. Su Qinnian saw the iron cavalry of the local garrison, but it was like a drop in the ocean, unable to effectively block the influx of martial artists and martial world figures.

According to the letter, Qingyu had entered the mountains two days ago to slay demons but had not returned as agreed, and it had been a full day since then.

The coast of the East Sea was too far from Shiyan Prefecture, where Wudang Mountain was located. Su Qinnian was puzzled. If the spirit world had emerged, it should have appeared over the East Sea. Its appearance in the heart of the empire was unusual, and his divine sense in the Ancestral Temple was tingling with a sense of foreboding.

"Such heavy demonic aura!"

Just a mile into the Moyun Mountains, Su Qinnian sensed the demonic aura in the air, far more intense than in ordinary wilderness. This demonic aura stirred the evil, impure, and lustful thoughts in the human heart, but because of education and reason, people could resist being assimilated. However, wild beasts, with their low intelligence, easily fell into corruption, becoming demon beasts.

Even so, such a dense demonic aura, Su Qinnian estimated, could easily overwhelm ordinary martial artists at the first or second level of the Foundation Establishment stage, making them lose their reason and become demonized humans.

After walking another hundred paces, Su Qinnian's eyes turned cold. A foul wind blew, and a demon wolf, about ten feet tall, with blood-red eyes and fierce, blade-like claws, rushed at him like a blood-colored gale, its fangs bared, ready to devour him. (Second update, continue to request recommendations and favorites, Ten Steps thanks everyone, welcome reviews.)