The night had not yet passed, though the bright moon in the sky had traversed from one side to the other. Even the chirping of insects hidden in the grass had dwindled, as if they too had succumbed to the loneliness of the night.
After parting ways with the two young women, Bai Yunfei departed Falling Stone City directly.
Before Elder Wu's grave…
"Elder Wu, Yunfei has fulfilled his promise to you. I killed Zhang Yang with my own hands. May you and Xiao Yuer rest peacefully beneath the Nine Springs..."
"Elder Wu, I may not be able to come to visit you anymore. I don't plan to stay in Falling Stone City, or even the entire Azure Cloud Province. I'm leaving this place to seek the path that belongs to me."
"I've decided on my destination. I hope that there, I will find the life I desire..."
"Elder Wu, though we only spent half a day together, you gave me the warmth of a grandfather. And in the end, you died saving me... Both you and Grandfather spoke the same words. Yunfei has engraved them in his heart!"
Bai Yunfei knelt respectfully before Elder Wu's grave and kowtowed three times, each touch of his forehead to the earth resonating with sincerity. When he rose, the sorrow on his face gradually receded, replaced by unwavering resolve!
"Elder Wu, I am leaving. No matter what hardships I encounter in the future, I will live freely and with a clear conscience!"
As Bai Yunfei turned to leave, a subtle transformation occurred within him. His posture, which had always carried a slight, unconscious hunch, now stood ramrod straight. The haze of confusion and grief vanished completely from his eyes, replaced by a piercing clarity – dark pupils radiating confidence and determination.
With Zhang Yang's death and his vengeance accomplished, Bai Yunfei's state of mind underwent another quiet shift. He was no longer the humble, weak rice shop laborer struggling merely to survive. He was now a powerful soul cultivator, capable of fighting for his convictions!
An invisible aura radiated from Bai Yunfei. Within a small radius, the few remaining singing insects abruptly fell silent. Even the moonlight surrounding him seemed to ripple faintly in response to his imposing presence.
"I've broken through… Early-stage Soul Warrior!" Bai Yunfei felt the surging SOUL FORCE within him and froze momentarily. He raised his right hand before his eyes, clenching it tightly, as if confirming the sensation was real. "No matter how much I cultivated these past two days, my SOUL FORCE hadn't increased at all. I suspected it was a sign of an imminent breakthrough to the Soul Warrior realm. I planned to reach Cheng Feng's place first, then use the Strengthening Technique under his protection to break through this final barrier. Yet, unexpectedly... I broke through just like this!"
"It seems that breaking through realms isn't solely about increasing SOUL FORCE; one's state of mind plays a significant role too. Realizing this now is beneficial. It will help me avoid detours in the future..."
Bai Yunfei walked to the top of a small hill. He glanced back at Falling Stone City shrouded in night, then turned and walked in the opposite direction.
"Falling Stone City is about to descend into chaos. I cannot let the Zhang family discover my trail. I'll go bid farewell to Mother and Grandfather… and then I'll leave."
......
The next day, all of Falling Stone City plunged into utter chaos and panic.
Because the night before, nearly every underworld faction within the city had been overturned!
Rumors spoke of a lone woman who had stormed into the lairs of these tyrants – forces that usually commanded fear and respect – one by one. Countless gang members were injured, and several gang leaders were reportedly crippled. Her purpose, it was said, was simply to find a single person: a young girl abducted by one of the city's gangs...
How could one woman accomplish such a thing? Of course she could – because she was a Soul Cultivator! And an incredibly powerful one at that! It was said the leader of the West Street Ax Gang was himself a Soul Disciple. Yet, against this woman, he hadn't even lasted a single move before having his leg shattered!
However, this was not the main reason the city descended into chaos.
The primary source of the upheaval was that on that same night, Young Master Zhang Yang of the Zhang Clan had been murdered!
His body was discovered in the headquarters of one gang. Zhang Yang and his two guards were all dead. Every member of the gang overseeing that territory had vanished without a trace!
When Zhang Yang's mother received the news, she nearly fainted. Upon truly seeing her son's mutilated corpse, she collapsed completely. Only after frantic resuscitation efforts by a swarm of servants did she finally regain consciousness. She threw herself onto Zhang Yang's body, wailing in anguish.
"Notify the Master immediately! Mobilize all our forces! Send everyone out to search!! Find those escaped gang members! Discover who killed my Yang'er! I want his entire family buried with him!!"
And so, Falling Stone City descended into chaos. Nearly every household faced interrogation and searches by Zhang family forces. The gangs affiliated with the Zhang family, nursing their own injuries, scoured the streets searching for the escaped group.
The citizens of Falling Stone City were initially bewildered. Once they grasped what had transpired, panic set in. They submitted with fearful obedience to the Zhang family's domineering interrogations and searches.
Secretly, however, they felt an indescribable joy – Zhang Yang had been killed! Had some deity manifested, answering their prayers?
But no matter how thrilled they were inside, they couldn't show it. Zhang Yang might be dead, but the Zhang family remained a formidable presence. After the investigators left, they merely shut their doors, laughed silently to the heavens, and prayed that the 'great benefactor' who killed Zhang Yang would never be caught.
Falling Stone City boiled like a stirred anthill – the Zhang family agitated and fearful, the common people celebrating in secret. Meanwhile, Bai Yunfei, the architect of it all, was already on the road to Li Chengfeng's home.
After traveling for a day, now far from Falling Stone City, Bai Yunfei approached a farmhouse, hoping to stay the night. The farm family readily agreed and refused the money he offered as payment. They welcomed him with warm hospitality. The simple, humble dinner allowed Bai Yunfei to experience their genuine kindness.
That night, Bai Yunfei sat cross-legged on the kang, a grey scroll held in his hands. He closed his eyes, immersing himself in understanding the method of controlling acupoints within the Soul Warrior realm.
A long time later, he slowly opened his eyes. Yet, they were filled with confusion. He stared blankly at the scroll for a moment before finally storing it away in his spatial ring.
"The final stage of the Three Realms of Body Control is vastly different from controlling skin/flesh and controlling bones/blood... These so-called acupoints... they aren't like skin, flesh, bones, or sinews that can be easily located. Even though I know where they are supposed to be, I simply cannot perceive them."
"And why do I feel an inexplicable familiarity with some of these acupoints? It's as if I knew them before... The 'Mingmu' point by the eye – why do I feel it should also be called the 'Jingming' point? The 'Tanchi' point at the elbow – yet I feel its name should be 'Xiaohai'..."
"I feel like… there are memories not my own hidden deep within my mind. They probably appeared alongside the Equipment Strengthening Technique, yet they remain incredibly vague, concealed deep within my consciousness, impossible to actively explore..."
"Still, it doesn't seem harmful. In fact, that sense of familiarity regarding these acupoints actually helps me better perceive their existence."
"Even so, despite contemplating this several times, I can only barely sense the existence of the 'Mingmu' point near my eye. And merely sensing its presence isn't enough – I still can't control it! Could it be… my talent is insufficient?"
If Han Xiao, the leader of the Blackwood Stronghold whom Bai Yunfei had killed, knew what Bai Yunfei was thinking now, he might be provoked back to life from death, only to spit out three liters of blood and die again. Han Xiao had taken a full month just to perceive the existence of his first acupoint back then. Admittedly, Han Xiao truly lacked talent. However, even individuals with considerable talent, upon reaching the early Soul Warrior stage and beginning to comprehend acupoint control, typically required several days to perceive their first acupoint.
The fact that Bai Yunfei could achieve a preliminary sensing of his first acupoint in less than a single day – what kind of 'talent' was this? Of course, Bai Yunfei was utterly unaware at this moment of how tremendously that vague sense of familiarity with the acupoints within his mind was aiding his cultivation...
"If I can't even perceive the most basic acupoints, how can I possibly cultivate the 'Rippling Steps'?" Bai Yunfei sighed, flicking his wrist. Another scroll, this one white, appeared in his hand – the final soul technique scroll within the spatial ring.
Rippling Steps, Human Tier High-Level Soul Technique. Using several acupoints in the legs as a foundation, combined with unique SOUL FORCE circulation and footwork patterns, it enhances the user's speed and agility. A movement technique, it possesses no direct attack power. Yet, whether in combat, during pursuit, or while escaping, such a soul technique could exert an extraordinarily powerful effect.
(Regarding the various acupoints or cultivation methods, I won't elaborate in detail anymore. I believe you, dear readers, find it rather dull. From now on, I'll merely mention these things in passing. Please grasp the implied meaning. Also, any future mentions of specific functions for specific acupoints are purely fabricated by the author as needed for the plot. Please don't scrutinize it too deeply, fellow book friends.)
Bai Yunfei stared blankly at the soul technique scroll for a long time, fantasizing about what the technique might truly be like. He eventually put the scroll away, patted his forehead, and muttered to himself, "Daydreaming again. If I want to practice this technique sooner, I have no choice but to master the control of these dozens of fundamental acupoints as quickly as possible. At the very least, I need to become proficient enough in acupoint manipulation before I can cultivate this technique..."
In truth, the number of basic acupoints an early-stage Soul Warrior needed to master was only about a dozen. However, what Bai Yunfei was currently studying was the 'textbook' given to him by the old man from the Heaven's Favor Sect. The dozens of acupoints recorded within it included some that were relatively 'rare' or 'precious'. In many ordinary, small soul cultivator sects, even the sect leader might be the only one privy to the cultivation methods for such acupoints.
But Bai Yunfei didn't know this. He simply assumed these were the standard acupoints every Soul Warrior needed to master...