Chapter 34: Disappointment

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Mu Qingnan stood in the training ground, continuously directing the soldiers to bombard one dummy after another.

The dummies swayed slightly beneath the attacks before quickly returning to their original forms.

Mu Wenfeng had spent a fortune commissioning a master smith to forge these dummies specifically for martial training. They were sturdy enough to withstand a full-force strike from someone at Yu Qi’s level. Even so, the soldiers’ attacks had done little more than leave rows of fist marks across them.

At that moment, the light in Mu Qingnan’s eyes grew even brighter, like dancing flames that continually etched themselves into his pupils.

The soldier before him began to change in rhythm with that flickering radiance.

Its scattered, lifeless gaze gradually became firm and resolute. Its body grew increasingly massive, while the wooden armor covering it began to drift away, starting from the legs and moving upward.

After ten breaths, the wooden plates wrapped around its legs vanished completely, replaced by armor made entirely of iron.

“Halfway there…”

Mu Qingnan panted heavily, his brows tightly furrowed. Beads of sweat trickled down his forehead, while the light in his eyes pulsed faster and faster.

The iron armor beneath the soldier’s body slowly spread upward, forcing away the wooden armor that had covered it before.

As time passed, the soldier’s upper body was gradually covered in iron, leaving only its head unfinished.

Mu Qingnan’s face had turned deathly pale. Sweat poured even more heavily from his forehead, and waves of stabbing pain shot through his eyes.

Yet he still refused to give up. He continued directing the iron armor toward the soldier’s head.

The final step was also the most difficult. The soldier’s transformation had to be completed in a single breath; otherwise, all his previous efforts would be wasted.

The radiance in his eyes moved faster and faster. Repeated bursts of agony surged from his eyes, and blood vessels spread like fine red threads beside his pupils.

Mu Qingnan persisted—not only for himself, but for the future of the Mu family.

At last, the soldier’s head was covered in iron armor as well. A far more powerful battle intent suddenly descended upon the training ground. The soldier’s eyes became vicious and sharp, and with its entire body encased in iron, it appeared far more imposing.

If the soldier before had resembled a deserter, then the soldier now was a warrior who had fought and killed his way across countless battlefields.

“I... I finally did it!”

Mu Qingnan collapsed onto the ground, panting heavily, his face filled with excitement. He wanted to look at the soldier a little longer, but the stabbing pain in his eyes forced him to close them.

***

“Hundred-man Commander.”

Mu Wenfeng stood atop a loft not far away, gazing toward the training ground with a gratified smile at the corners of his mouth.

His son had finally stopped wasting away.

Of course, he knew that all of this was thanks to Yu Qi. Without him, Mu Qingnan would never have trained so diligently.

The Hundred-man Commander he referred to was a cultivation level within Drilling Troops on the Battlefield.

The lowest level was that of an ordinary soldier clad in wooden armor. Above it was the Hundred-man Commander, who wore iron armor.

Mu Qingnan had now cultivated to the second level of Drilling Troops on the Battlefield: the Hundred-man Commander.

***

After washing the grime from his body and dressing himself, Yu Qi headed toward the training ground.

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After the meridians in his legs had been replaced by demonic energy, he could feel that his steps had become considerably lighter. With a single movement, he leapt forward.

The instant he entered the training ground, a wave of battle intent swept over him.

Looking ahead, he saw that the soldier summoned by Mu Qingnan had undergone a transformation. He smiled.

“Looks like this kid broke through.”

With a single bound, he crossed dozens of meters and arrived beside Mu Qingnan. He helped the young man, who was slumped on the ground, to his feet.

“Qingnan, how are you? Are you all right?”

“Big Brother, I’m fine. Just a little weak.”

Mu Qingnan shook his head, a faint smile appearing on his pale face.

Yu Qi helped him sit down to one side before walking into the center of the field and beginning to practice the Stepping Swallow Style.

The cultivation method of the Stepping Swallow Style was somewhat similar to that of the Heaven-forging Style.

The Heaven-forging Style drew demonic energy into the three meridians of the torso, circulating it until it entered the demonic seed in the dantian and gave birth to strands of evil energy.

The Stepping Swallow Style worked in much the same way, but rather than passing through the torso, it began directly in the soles of the feet and traveled upward before merging into the demonic seed.

Yu Qi sat quietly, circulating his inner force and guiding it into the meridians formed from demonic energy within his legs.

Once again, evil energy poured out around his body.

As the inner force within his legs gradually approached the soles of his feet, two streams of the evil energy drifting nearby suddenly flowed into his legs. They merged with the inner force at the bottom of the meridians and slowly rose upward, finally entering the demonic seed.

This cycle continued. Only after ten streams of the evil energy floating around him had been absorbed did another, far denser strand of evil energy emerge within the demonic seed.

“This newly formed evil energy is actually stronger than the evil energy produced by the Heaven-forging Style!”

Yu Qi had never expected the Stepping Swallow Style to fuse the evil energy cultivated through the Heaven-forging Style together, producing another strand of energy that was far denser.

He could clearly sense that this single strand was already more powerful than the evil energy he had cultivated before. If the Heaven-forging Style could be cultivated entirely with energy of this quality, his physical strength would increase by at least another hundred percent.

Although he had already cultivated the Heaven-forging Style to perfection and possessed a thousand strands of evil energy throughout his body, the ratio of ten strands for one remained insufficient for consumption.

With that thought, he began circulating the method of the Heaven-forging Style within his body as well.

He cultivated both martial arts at once.

One produced energy, while the other consumed it—or, more precisely, refined it. Ten ordinary strands of evil energy were extracted and condensed into demonic energy possessing a far more violent might.

Time passed slowly. The evil energy produced by the Heaven-forging Style gradually diminished, while the refined energy of the Stepping Swallow Style slowly increased.

A hundred strands of newly condensed energy now floated around him, while the original ordinary evil energy had been entirely exhausted.

Yu Qi’s eyes suddenly snapped open, and his body shot upward.

“Stepping Swallow Style!”

He stamped his right foot through the air. At once, dozens of streams of evil energy drifted together, transforming into a swallow covered entirely in gray and gathering beneath his raised foot.

Though he was suspended in midair, Yu Qi felt as if his right leg had stepped onto solid ground.

Borrowing the force, he pushed off. His body shot forward, while the swallow beneath his foot dispersed and once again transformed into strands of evil energy.

Just as his strength was about to run out, he stepped forward through the air once more. Another swallow gathered beneath his foot.

At that moment, he seemed to be walking through the sky. The swallows formed from evil energy were like a staircase suspended in the air. Whenever he took a step, the energy gathered into a swallow beneath his foot, allowing him to stroll freely through the heavens.

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“This is... walking through the air!”

Watching Yu Qi stride across the sky above the training ground, Mu Qingnan’s eyes revealed unconcealed shock.

There were countless varieties of movement techniques, yet even among the most supreme arts, he had never heard of anything like this.

With his current strength, he could also dash through the air for a time, but he would eventually exhaust himself and fall back to the ground.

Yu Qi would likewise reach his limit, but the swallows condensed from evil energy allowed him to borrow force in midair, enabling him to remain airborne far longer.

Just then, Yu Qi suddenly plummeted from the sky.

Mu Wenfeng’s expression changed. He shot out from the loft and caught Yu Qi before he struck the ground, carrying him safely down.

***

Yu Qi’s brows were drawn tightly together. A terrible pain, powerful enough to stop his heart, repeatedly erupted from his dantian. His hands clenched tightly, his face utterly drained of color, while beads of sweat streamed down his body.

Mu Qingnan hurried over. Seeing the pain in Yu Qi’s expression, he said anxiously, “Father, quickly, take a look at Big Brother.”

Mu Wenfeng gazed at Yu Qi, who was suffering in his arms, then placed him on a stone chair nearby. He circulated a strand of inner force through his hand and sent it into Yu Qi’s body, intending to examine his condition.

He had not expected that the instant his inner force entered Yu Qi’s meridians, a fierce resistance would surge forth. His inner force was actually shaken back out of Yu Qi’s body.

“What kind of domineering martial art is this boy cultivating? Even my inner force cannot enter him.”

Mu Wenfeng stared at Yu Qi’s pale face, at a loss for what to do.

Fortunately, the agony came as quickly as it went.

Yu Qi took several deep breaths and opened his weary eyes to look at the anxious father and son.

“Uncle Mu... Qingnan.”

Seeing that Yu Qi had improved considerably, Mu Wenfeng hurriedly asked, “Yu Qi, are you all right?”

Yu Qi gave him a faint smile.

“Don’t worry, Uncle Mu. I’m fine. I’ll recover in a little while.”

After the pain passed, the pallor slowly faded from his face, and color gradually returned. Only then did Mu Wenfeng and Mu Qingnan finally relax.

The Stepping Swallow Style could condense at most ten swallows in a single day.

Overcome by the excitement of walking through the air, Yu Qi had forgotten that he could not exert his full strength. He had pushed the Stepping Swallow Style to its limit, which was why the unbearable pain had erupted.

“It seems this technique can only be used in special circumstances.”

Yu Qi could not help laughing bitterly inwardly. This was one of the drawbacks born from the fusion of the Seven Clan Demon Seed with the Light Rain Sword.

Seeing that Yu Qi had recovered, Mu Wenfeng said, “Yu Qi, I do not know what kind of domineering martial art you are cultivating, but it actually blocked even my inner force. What of the Light Rain Sword? Have you been cultivating it?”

“I imagine this martial art must be extremely powerful, but it clearly carries certain drawbacks. You should use it less from now on and devote yourself to cultivating the Light Rain Sword. That is the proper path.”

Mu Wenfeng sounded as though he were advising Yu Qi. Clearly, he believed that Yu Qi was consumed by the desire for revenge and had abandoned the Light Rain Sword to cultivate an exceedingly domineering and powerful martial art.

Although the Seven Clan Demon Seed did not appear to belong to the demonic path, Mu Wenfeng had still sensed the surging of demonic energy.

He feared that Yu Qi would be corrupted by that strange martial art and lose his reason. Once controlled by the demon within, he would become nothing more than a fiend who lived only to kill.

Yu Qi naturally understood the meaning behind Mu Wenfeng’s words. After all, when he had killed Shi Mingfeng, a murderous impulse had already risen within him.

But Yu Qi knew his limits. He had not lost consciousness then. It was merely that the act of killing stirred a bloodlust within him—one he could still control.

“Uncle Mu, don’t worry. Although I have begun cultivating another martial art, I will not neglect the Light Rain Sword.”

“Yu Qi, why can’t you understand?” Mu Wenfeng looked at him, disappointment faintly visible in his eyes. “The Yu family is an upright martial clan, and the Light Rain Sword is your ancestral sword art. Yet now you have cast aside the martial art passed down by your ancestors to cultivate another demonic technique. How can you face the forefathers of the Yu family?”