Chapter Sixty-Nine: Enlightenment

Mountain Opening Sect, Outer Gate

“So that’s it, we’re just leaving?” Gou Haitian kept glancing back as he walked.

Chi Xiangdong grumbled, “You’re the one who said we should leave!”

Gou Haitian retorted, dissatisfied, “Couldn’t you have persuaded me to wait just a bit longer?”

The two stood outside the sect gate, bantering back and forth, lively as ever. It was clear that after a year together, they were deeply familiar with each other—like brothers, and like mentors. Arm in arm, they slowly walked down the mountain, a scene full of warmth.

Suddenly, chaos erupted.

Three shadows shot up from the foot of the mountain, swift as arrows.

Dwarf cultivators!

Despite fear flickering in Gou Haitian’s eyes, he stepped forward resolutely, shielding Chi Xiangdong behind him.

Chi Xiangdong was infuriated. Even a little brat wants to protect me?

In a flash, he darted ahead, facing the shadows head-on, and threw a punch.

The attackers moved so fast their faces were invisible, just blurry smears of darkness.

A deafening crash echoed; Chi Xiangdong spat blood and was hurled backward.

Early stage of the Sixth Realm, yet he couldn’t even withstand a single blow!

Gou Haitian sidestepped Chi Xiangdong’s tumbling body and stood before him, bellowing, “Come on! If you’re not afraid of death, face me!”

“Who dares to make trouble at the gate of Mountain Opening Sect?” a voice shouted from within the sect.

From the sky, an answer rang out: “This is already outside Mountain Opening Sect. If you don’t want disaster, you’d best stay out of this!”

“How bold!” The sect cultivator, clearly provoked, instantly made a move.

The air seemed to tear open, and a fist emerged, striking toward the origin of the voice.

The Void Realm!

Once again, the Void Realm revealed itself.

The fist arrived, ripping through the air, and a silver-lit fist suddenly appeared.

A thunderous collision—the two fists slammed together, ripples spreading in all directions. At the same time, a middle-aged cultivator in black Daoist robes materialized.

“If Mountain Opening Sect wishes to be destroyed, I’ll oblige!” the cultivator shouted toward the sect.

Below, Gou Haitian stood his ground calmly. The three shadows didn’t surround him; instead, they rushed at Chi Xiangdong.

Gou Haitian, anxious and angry, yelled, “If you have guts, come hurt me!”

Chi Xiangdong’s right arm trembled, his fist unable to clench. Seeing the three shadows encircle him, he panicked, thinking, My life is over!

Suddenly, a figure appeared before him.

A straight, unyielding back shielded him.

That back was as steady as a mountain, but in the blink of an eye, it shuddered, splitting into three phantom images that met the three shadows head-on.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

The three shadows were thrown back at even greater speed.

“Ah! Ah! Ah!”

Blood spurted from all three. The shadows tumbled from the air, revealing their forms.

“Su—Su, Fellow Daoist Su!” Chi Xiangdong stared at the familiar yet unfamiliar back. “This—how can this be?”

The cultivator turned around, lips curled in a smile. “What’s impossible about it?”

It was Su Yizhao, fresh from the cultivation cave.

Two days earlier, he had purchased Qin Dahai’s Sixth Realm body-refining technique. Using the “Creation Technique,” he advanced in a single night to the Sixth Realm and had already reached the mid-stage.

He had also bought Mountain Opening Sect’s sixth-tier fist technique, “Mountain Opening Fist,” which he had now mastered to perfection.

“Big Brother Su!” Gou Haitian cried out excitedly.

The three dwarf cultivators were sprawled on the ground, unsteady, retreating several yards.

Same height, same aged faces, even the same posture and expression.

Right hands clasped behind their backs, faces flushed.

Su Yizhao pushed off with his right foot, lunging toward them.

Before his body finished moving, his right fist was already swinging forth.

The dwarves exchanged glances, about to flee.

But Su Yizhao’s right fist suddenly split, transforming into three, and struck their chests in an instant.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The sound of chest bones shattering mingled with the blows. The three dwarves were thrown backward, lifted, then slammed brutally to the ground—never to move again.

From Su Yizhao’s arrival to the three being beaten to death, only four or five breaths had passed.

Overhead, the sound of thunderous impacts rolled through the air.

Su Yizhao looked up. Two figures seemed to weave through the void, dodging left and right, fists colliding.

Ripples radiated everywhere in the air.

He scrutinized the fists appearing from nowhere, and suddenly, something stirred within him. He stood motionless.

Gou Haitian was about to step forward, but Chi Xiangdong grabbed him.

“Shh—this monster, he’s having an epiphany even in this chaos!”

Respect shone in Gou Haitian’s eyes.

At that moment, a burly figure stormed out from the sect gate, booming, “Who dares cause trouble before our sect?”

It was Qin Dahai.

Chi Xiangdong shot him a glare, pointed at the three corpses on the ground, then gestured upward.

Qin Dahai’s eyes, round as bronze bells, widened even further. He lowered his voice, “The ones above aren’t mine to deal with, but in just four or five breaths, these three were killed?”

The other two nodded.

“Never mind the Brothel Swordsman, but the ‘Mountain Opening Fist’ has reached perfection too?”

Su Yizhao closed his eyes, images of the air-shattering fists appearing in his mind.

Every punch detached from the body, the mystery of shattering the void—so close, yet so far.

With “Mountain Opening Fist” perfected, his punches could barely detach, but shattering the void was still out of reach.

The moment of enlightenment passed.

He suddenly clenched his right fist and struck toward the sky.

“No!” Qin Dahai saw clearly and cried out in alarm.

But this was a punch delivered unconsciously, a stroke of inspiration Su Yizhao could not control.

His fist stirred ripples in the air as it passed.

His arm stretched straight, fist detached.

As if his strength was drained in an instant, he collapsed to the ground.

The fist condensed from air burst through the void, shooting toward the cultivator overhead.

That cultivator seemed to sense it already, emitting a mocking laugh without even looking, and casually waved his palm downward.

Sky and earth were a hundred yards apart.

But as Su Yizhao saw that palm, his heart trembled—he felt as if it struck his own chest, making it hard to breathe.

The palm pressed down on the fist.

The fist shattered instantly.

After crushing the fist, the palm print plummeted from the sky, aiming for Su Yizhao.

Suddenly, the palm transformed into a claw.

A fierce wind swept over him, and he felt crushed beneath a mountain, unable to move.

It seemed slow, but was over in a breath.

The hundred yards between them felt as close as a fingertip; the palm print arrived in an instant.

Abruptly, a fist appeared above his head, intercepting the palm print with a powerful blow.

“Fellow Daoist, if you won’t retreat, do you truly wish to die?”

A thunderous crash—the palm print and fist vanished instantly.

Both forces were perfectly matched, not a fraction wasted.

This—was instinct?

How much vital energy, soul power, and physical strength to use had become pure instinct.

This was the Void Realm!

With the palm print gone, Su Yizhao felt his body lighten and stood up at once.

“Hmph! If Mountain Opening Sect insists on meddling, prepare for death and destruction!” The cultivator high above left these words before vanishing into the void.

The entire sect fell silent.

“Death and destruction, death and destruction…” The words echoed around Mountain Opening Sect’s gates.

“Big Brother Su, look at their bodies!” Gou Haitian’s shout shattered the lingering echoes.

Su Yizhao looked down and was shocked.

On the ground, the three corpses, already lifeless, began to writhe and squirm, as if they were about to come back to life…