"Brother Yuan, you’re back."

Xiao Qiaoniang watched Bai Yuan climb over the wall, already long used to it.

Bai Yuan often went out at night. To keep his movements secret, Xiao Qiaoniang always helped cover for him. Everyone at the Huwei Arts Hall thought Bai Yuan was still there.

"Sister Qiao, did anyone come by?"

"Senior Brother Ma came by once. I told him you were taking a medicinal bath, and he left."

The eastern room was brightly lit. Through the window, the silhouette of a man could be seen soaking in a large wooden tub, which was why Ma Dingjun had no suspicions.

This was all Xiao Qiaoniang’s idea; the male figure was actually just a paper-mâché dummy. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Sister Qiao had once seen Old Song, the paperman from Baisha Town, make them. She had a good memory and deft hands, so she made one modeled after Bai Yuan’s figure.

Bai Yuan smiled faintly.

"Sister Qiao, with you here at home, I can rest easy."

A smug smile touched the corners of Xiao Qiaoniang’s lips.

The reason Bai Yuan was so cautious about hiding his movements was, of course, due to the Divine Mansion Sect’s recent activities. Not everyone in the Huwei Arts Hall was an ally, so he naturally had to be extra vigilant.

Back in his room, he finally looked at his panel.

This time, he had gained a total of 389 Enhancement Points!

Adding the Soul-Reaving Step technique to his gains, he had truly made a killing.

’Allocate points!’

[In your first year of cultivating the Soul-Reaving Step, your body grows lighter, and you begin to grasp the basics.]

...

[In your tenth year of cultivating the Soul-Reaving Step, you are as light as a swallow. You can leap two meters in a single bound, and your speed has more than doubled.]

...

[In your twentieth year of cultivating the Soul-Reaving Step, you finally achieve great proficiency, enough to scale walls and leap across rooftops.]

[Name: Bai Yuan]

[Profession: Demon Hunter, Swordsman, Boxer, Cook]

[Skills: Cooking (Master), Demon Tracking (Proficient), Demon Control (Proficient), Tiger-Crane Form (Expert), Blood Tiger Saber (Expert), Soul-Reaving Step (Proficient)...]

[Enhancement Points: 143]

The Soul-Reaving Step was now at the Proficient level, and the remaining 143 Enhancement Points weren’t enough to upgrade it to the Expert level.

So, Bai Yuan decided to put all the remaining points into his Tiger-Crane Form instead.

[In your 101st year of cultivating the Tiger-Crane Form, you can hold a single breath for the time it takes an incense stick to burn, and you begin to show signs of extraordinary development.]

...

[In your 120th year of cultivating the Tiger-Crane Form, your vital breath becomes far deeper and more powerful than an ordinary person’s.]

...

[In your 140th year of cultivating the Tiger-Crane Form, your power undergoes a metamorphosis.]

Bai Yuan stared at his own body in amazement.

His old wounds had vanished completely, and his body even seemed to possess a hint of the legendary Flawless Physique. Beyond that, his strength had also increased by a huge margin.

Every Cultivation Technique becomes incredibly powerful at the Master level.

If the Tiger-Crane Form was this powerful at the Expert level, the Master level was simply unimaginable.

However, the number of Enhancement Points required to raise the Tiger-Crane Form to the Master level was also immense.

If it weren’t for his cheat system, with his body’s original aptitude, he would have trained himself to death long before a hundred years passed, even if he had the Tiger-Crane Form Cultivation Technique. Reaching the Master level would have been utterly impossible; he couldn’t have even reached the Expert level.

With this great improvement in his martial arts, Bai Yuan’s mood improved considerably.

Currently, all the factions in Qinghe County had been dragged by the Divine Mansion Sect into the campaign to annihilate the Soul-Chasing Tower. With Han Tie now dead, no one was likely to come looking for trouble with him for a while.

As for the Liu Family...

Bai Yuan’s experience was far beyond that of the young hunter he used to be. He had naturally recognized that the elusive silver needle was a technique of the Soul-Chasing Tower.

Considering that Liu Hanshan had hunted down the Iron Saber Gang’s Vice Gang Leader, Han Tie, it wasn’t hard to guess that the Liu Family had secretly allied themselves with the Soul-Chasing Tower.

After thinking it over, he decided to inform Old Xue about it. At the very least, they could be prepared.

...

「The next morning.」

Bai Yuan arrived at Old Xue’s small courtyard early in the morning.

As soon as he stepped into the courtyard, he saw Elder Xue, the white-bearded old man from the Celestial One Pavilion, and several True Disciples, including Ma Dingjun, all standing there with sorrowful expressions.

Bai Yuan frowned slightly.

His gaze passed through the crowd to a man covered in wounds lying on a stretcher. It was the Martial Arts Hall’s Senior Brother, Chu Yuan!

"Senior Brother Ma, what happened?"

Bai Yuan looked toward Ma Dingjun.

Ma Dingjun took a deep breath. "Last night, Senior Brother Chu went outside the city with experts from Flying Eagle Castle to eliminate the Soul-Chasing Tower assassins. They were ambushed. Fortunately, Junior Brother Liu fought desperately to rescue him."

Bai Yuan sighed internally.

Chu Yuan had treated him well; he never thought he would end up in such a state.

He turned to look at Liu Jiuyan, who stood to the side, his face etched with sorrow.

This was Liu Jiuyan, one of Old Xue’s five True Disciples. Bai Yuan rarely saw him, as he was often away on missions. He had heard Liu Jiuyan had only just returned to the Martial Arts Hall a few days ago.

Old Xue stood in the courtyard, his face grim.

Chu Yuan had suffered a severe head injury, and his heart meridians were destroyed. He had already summoned the most famous doctors in the city, but they all concluded there was no chance he would ever wake up.

A prodigy of his generation had fallen just like that.

Chu Yuan had always been one of Old Xue’s most prized disciples. Now that this had happened, he was naturally filled with rage.

"Tell me what happened last night again."

Old Xue took a deep breath, looking at Liu Jiuyan.

Liu Jiuyan wore a tragic expression. "Last night, Senior Brother Chu, I, and a few of our martial brothers were with men from Flying Eagle Castle, searching for assassins from the Soul-Chasing Tower. Unexpectedly, they dispatched dozens of powerhouses at once, including an assassin who has passed the Yijin Pass. We were outnumbered. Senior Brother Chu had to trade blow for blow, getting injured himself, just to help me break through the encirclement."

Ma Dingjun and Cheng Li’s faces grew even paler. They couldn’t help but imagine the scene from the previous night.

To injure an Yijin Powerhouse like Chu Yuan so grievously... one could only imagine how brutal the battle must have been.

The two of them had spent the most time with Chu Yuan. Although he was their senior brother, he had often taught them in place of their master. They had always looked up to him as a teacher. Now that Chu Yuan was likely to remain unconscious for the rest of his life, they couldn’t hold back their grief.

Old Xue’s expression remained largely unchanged as he listened quietly. Only the bulging veins on his forehead betrayed the storm raging within him.

Ma Dingjun, being the most hot-tempered, said viciously, "Master, the Soul-Chasing Tower did this to Senior Brother Chu! We must get revenge!"

Old Xue shot Ma Dingjun an icy glare. "Revenge? And how do you propose we get it?"

Ma Dingjun felt as if a bucket of ice water had been dumped over his head.

’He’s right. How could we get revenge?’

Even the Huwei Arts Hall at its full strength was no match for the Soul-Chasing Tower, let alone now, when they were down one Yijin Martial Master.

Old Xue sighed deeply. "All of you, leave us for now."

He felt utterly exhausted. What happened today had been unavoidable. If the Huwei Arts Hall had dared to disobey the Divine Mansion Sect’s command, the outcome would have been even worse.

Last night, it wasn’t just the Huwei Arts Hall. The Iron Saber Gang, the Liu Family, and Flying Eagle Castle had all been attacked by experts from the Soul-Chasing Tower, suffering heavy losses.

Ma Dingjun looked like he wanted to say more, but Cheng Li forcefully pulled him out of the courtyard.

The white-bearded old man and Liu Jiuyan also departed quietly.

In the end, only Bai Yuan and Old Xue remained in the small courtyard.

Old Xue looked at his youngest True Disciple, who still hadn’t left, and frowned slightly. "Bai Yuan, do you have something else to say?"

"I do, actually."