Chapter 187: Chapter 187: The Might of the Martial Saint

Su Yu opened the deerskin pouch and dumped its contents directly onto the riverbank to inspect them.

One gold ingot, some Broken Silver, various miscellaneous items, and finally, a wooden box with a yellow talisman paper stuck to it.

Su Yu picked up the gold ingot and weighed it in his hand. It was around fifty taels. According to the Great Xia exchange rate, that would convert to at least five hundred taels of Silver. Adding in the Broken Silver, his total haul was about six hundred taels.

’It’s not much, but it’s better than nothing.’

’What’s inside this box?’

Su Yu gathered the silver taels and picked up the wooden box. After a moment of hesitation, he gently pried open the talisman paper with his fingertip and lifted the lid.

A blood-colored stone was revealed inside.

The next instant, Su Yu felt a grand voice resounding in his ears:

"Believe in me! And gain eternal life..."

"The sea of blood is boundless! The Divine Lord protects!"

"Kneel! Sacrifice! Ascend..."

Su Yu’s pupils instantly lost focus.

In a daze, the riverbank before him vanished, replaced by a boundless, scarlet sea of blood.

Crimson waves churned, and countless severed limbs bobbed on the surface. At the far end of the blood sea, a colossal figure whose face was obscured stood silently, towering into the clouds and radiating a suffocating divine might. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Before this divine might, Su Yu felt as insignificant as an ant, and a powerful urge welled up from the depths of his soul.

Kneel! Submit! Become a part of this great existence!

’This isn’t right!’

Just as his knees were about to buckle, his Spiritual Power jolted deep within his mind.

Fortunately, thanks to his Perfection in scholarly studies, his Spiritual Power was much stronger than that of an ordinary person.

Realizing something was wrong, he immediately circulated the Qi and Blood in his body, and consciousness gradually returned.

"Begone!"

Su Yu let out a low roar and slammed the box shut.

Su Yu stared at the unremarkable wooden box, his heart still pounding in fear. ’A single glance was almost enough to make me lose my mind. This world is truly fraught with danger...’

He recalled the brief mentions of ancient gods in the *Compendium of Strange Objects of the Nine Provinces - Taboo Volume*, and a chill rose in his heart.

’It seems there really are gods in this world. The Immortal Buddhas and gods recorded in the Ancient Era were all real.’

’But how did such powerful Immortal Buddhas and gods all disappear, while Martial Arts now flourishes?’

Suppressing the many thoughts in his mind, Su Yu put the box away. ’I should go back and see how Master is doing.’

...

Black Water Stronghold, by the riverbank.

A biting spring wind blew past, sweeping up a few tattered, blood-splattered green blades of grass.

Qin Fangqiong leaned on his long Horse-cutting Saber, his white robes stained with blood. Several wounds deep enough to show bone marred his chest, yet his figure remained as upright as a pine tree, like an insurmountable mountain.

Across from him, Zhou Sinan was a wretched sight. His right arm was severed at the shoulder, and a terrifying saber gash stretched across his chest, almost cleaving him in two.

Blood gushed out like a spring, but he relied on the powerful life force of the Muscle Forging Realm to cling to his last breath.

"Zhou Sinan, it’s time for you to go."

Qin Fangqiong’s voice was calm, his expression indifferent. He dragged his great saber in his hand, walking step by step toward his opponent.

Zhou Sinan knew his chances of survival today were slim to none. There was no regret on his face, only bitter resentment as he said:

"Qin Fangqiong, to think that after all my years of bitterly practicing the Bone-Shattering Fist, I am still no match for an old dog like you! It’s pitiful! It’s hateful! My talent is inferior to yours!"

Qin Fangqiong ignored him. Having already arrived by his side, he raised his Horse-cutting Saber and brought it down in a Demon-slaying Mountain Splitting strike.

A fierce wind howled, whipping Zhou Sinan’s messy, graying hair. He roared and raised his remaining left hand to block!

CRACK!

His once-invincible Bone-Shattering Fist had its Qi and Blood shattered by the single strike.

A furious Hidden Force surged up his arm and ravaged his insides. Zhou Sinan grunted, forcing himself to remain standing as he desperately gripped the blade of the Horse-cutting Saber, refusing to fall.

"Cough, cough... Qin Fangqiong, if I die, will you spare the disciples of my Bone-breaking Martial Arts Hall?"

Qin Fangqiong looked at his old rival, whose life was flickering out like a lamp in the biting spring wind. A memory flashed through his mind of their youth, when the two of them had once traveled the world together.

"With your death today, all debts between us are settled!"

SPLASH!

The surging river waters crashed against the cliff walls.

Su Yu’s figure emerged from the churning waves, and he walked ashore, dripping wet.

An image flashed through his eyes.

The Horse-cutting Saber swung, a head rolled, and a body collapsed onto the cold river sand, splashing a spray of blood.

’A weight lifted from Su Yu’s heart. It seemed his master’s strength was indeed superior. With his power at the Perfection level of the Muscle Forging Realm, he was, after all, a top expert in Black Stone City!’

Su Yu and Lin Wanzhu came before Qin Fangqiong, and the three of them gathered together.

Qin Fangqiong took the healing pill Lin Wanzhu handed him and swallowed it in one gulp. Then he looked at Su Yu. "You didn’t catch him?"

"I caught him. And I killed him."

As soon as he said this, the gazes of both Qin Fangqiong and Lin Wanzhu sharpened.

"Really?"

"Really."

Qin Fangqiong immediately threw his head back and laughed. "HAHAHA! Good! Good kid! You never fail to surprise me! You’re a goddamn monster!"

’He was finding it more and more difficult to see through this disciple of his.’

’Only nineteen years old, and he had been practicing Martial Arts for just over a year, yet he had already broken through to the Flesh Refining Realm!’

’And upon breaking through, he could even kill a mid-stage Flesh Refining Realm expert. Even if the opponent was seriously injured, a starved camel is still bigger than a horse. In the Flesh Refining Realm, the gap between even one minor stage is immense!’

’Was there anyone in Black Stone City who could do that?’

’Cui Wanhe?’

’That kid probably couldn’t pull off something so monstrous.’

’Perhaps the Su Yu of today should already be compared to the top geniuses of Jian’an Prefecture and Qingzhou Prefecture.’

’I’ve really taken on an incredible disciple in this lifetime!’

At this moment, the most emotional person was Lin Wanzhu. She had already been greatly shocked when Su Yu broke through to the Flesh Refining Realm and came to plot with her.

Now, seeing his immense combat strength, she was completely won over.

She then thought of the recent ambiguity between them, and her heart trembled as she looked at Su Yu.

’Such a genius... isn’t he the ideal husband she’s been looking for?’

Su Yu didn’t notice the change in how his master and senior sister were looking at him. He took the wooden box from his robes and handed it to Qin Fangqiong. "Master, I found this on the body of that demonized enemy. There’s a blood-colored stone in this box that can corrupt one’s mind. When I opened it, I saw a vast sea of blood and a powerful deity."

Hearing Su Yu’s words, Qin Fangqiong’s expression instantly turned grim. He took the box and examined the talisman paper on it.

"It’s a Blood God Stone from the Blood God Cult. It must be the Huyan Family, no doubt about it!"

"The Huyan Family?" Su Yu’s gaze sharpened.

’He had suspected it for a while. That person clearly wasn’t from the Bone-breaking Martial Arts Hall or the Iron Armor Martial Arts Hall.’

’Of the forces that held ill will toward him, only the Huyan Family was left.’

"That’s right."

Lin Wanzhu explained from the side, "Legend has it that the ancestor of the Huyan Family came from the Great Snow Mountains of the north. They have divine blood flowing in their veins and can undergo a so-called ’divinization’."

"And the holy sect of the Great Snow Mountains is the Blood God Cult. The core members of their cult are all descendants of gods who possess divine blood."

"Divinization? Divine blood?"

Su Yu grew even more confused. "Senior Sister, this ’divinization’ doesn’t look human at all. How is it different from Martial Arts?"

Lin Wanzhu didn’t seem to know much about it either and looked toward her master.

Qin Fangqiong stroked his beard and began to speak. "It’s a long story, and the implications are vast. A simple explanation will suffice for now. These ’deities’ were powerful beings from the Ancient Era. They fell one after another during a great calamity, but some of their so-called descendants managed to survive."

"They not only cultivate Martial Arts now, but they also possess these so-called divinization techniques. This divinization is similar to atavism, a reversion to their bloodline’s origins. It’s not some incredible technique. You don’t need to pay it too much mind. After all, in Martial Arts cultivation, raising one’s realm is the most fundamental thing."

"Master, it seems Martial Arts doesn’t have these kinds of mystical techniques. So why is Martial Arts so prevalent now?"

Su Yu voiced a doubt he had long held. He had always assumed Martial Arts was prevalent in this world because it was the only power system.

But now that he was encountering more and more mystical abilities, he was discovering that Martial Arts was not the only path.

Seeing that Su Yu seemed to have a skewed understanding of Martial Arts, Qin Fangqiong turned and stared at him.

"A thousand years ago, the so-called Immortal Buddhas revived, demons and devils wrought chaos, and the Nine Provinces were in turmoil. Back then, how arrogant were the divine-blooded families? How domineering were the golden bodies of the Buddhist kingdoms?"

"But what was the result?"

Qin Fangqiong forcefully swung his sleeve. "The Martial Sage of Great Xia appeared out of nowhere! He didn’t revere gods, nor did he pay homage to Buddhas. With nothing but his iron fists, he shattered the skulls of gods and broke the golden bodies of Buddhas! He single-handedly carved out this peaceful world we live in!"

"Su Yu, you must remember this!"

Qin Fangqiong’s voice was like a great bell, deafening and resonant. "If you break through to the Martial Sage realm, then no matter what demons, ghosts, or divine-blooded spirits you face... with a single punch, they will all die!"