Qian Wu nodded. Without another word, he took the letter and headed down the stairs.

After Qian Wu left, the Yin General Department gazed at the starry sky outside. He slowly paced over to the balcony, raised his Wine Flask, and took another drink.

’For the Great Zhou Country to produce a talent like this... I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing.’

The Yin General Department rested his hands on the balcony railing. Leaning forward, he gazed at the stunning scenery below, lost in thought.

...

Time slowly passed, and several days went by in the blink of an eye.

Shen Bai had been enjoying his vacation immensely, spending every day obsessively grinding his Skill Level.

His Skill Level in the Vajra Dharma Form Fist was increasing at a visible rate.

Fenglin State was peaceful. The people lived and worked in peace, and their lives grew more prosperous by the day.

Ever since Shen Bai had eradicated the Demonic Forces in Fenglin State, the Observatory had become exceedingly quiet, aside from dealing with the occasional strange incident.

It reached the point where the Observatory’s members felt they had far too much time on their hands.

Recently, however, the Observatory members had started to get busy again.

The reason was simple: Lord Liu Wufeng of Fenglin State was soon to hold his wedding banquet, and his bride was none other than the Valley Master of the Hundred Medicines Valley.

The news was like a boulder dropped into a calm lake, instantly sending massive waves across the region.

It wasn’t just the Fenglin State Observatory and the Government Office; the entire Jianghu of Fenglin State was instantly in an uproar.

And who was Liu Wufeng? He was the head of the Fenglin State Observatory, one of the most powerful and influential figures in the entire state.

For him to suddenly hold a wedding banquet was shocking enough, but his bride was from the Hundred Medicines Valley, Fenglin State’s renowned medical faction.

The news was a bombshell. Many Jianghu People immediately sprang into action, trying to find out the personal preferences of Liu Wufeng and Valley Master Lin. They planned to present a grand gift at the wedding banquet, hoping to use the occasion to secure a meteoric rise in status.

And the person most exasperated by all of this was, naturally, Lin Yun of the Hundred Medicines Valley.

He was currently thinking, ’Do I really need to change my surname?’

After all, he was the chief disciple of the Hundred Medicines Valley, and now he had the added status of being Liu Wufeng’s son. It was a change he was having trouble getting used to.

Fortunately, people in the Jianghu weren’t overly concerned with such formalities. After a few days of feeling down, Lin Yun perked back up.

These events were all amusing Jianghu anecdotes. But as significant as they were, all eyes were on someone else.

Fenglin State’s man of the hour, the most powerful person in the entire state, the Eight Extremes Young Master Shen Bai, hadn’t been seen for many days.

The news of the internal assessment had caused a huge stir, but ever since Shen Bai returned to Fenglin State, he had remained in seclusion.

If not for his stellar reputation, the Jianghu might have forgotten such a person even existed.

Those familiar with Shen Bai’s ways were all wondering, ’Is he preparing some kind of trump card?’

Meanwhile, those unfamiliar with him were wondering if they could use Liu Wufeng’s wedding banquet as an opportunity to get close to Shen Bai and make themselves known to him.

Of course, the man in question, Shen Bai, had no idea what a stir his reclusive behavior was causing in the Jianghu.

At this moment, he was rubbing his hands together in excitement.

The reason was simple: after several days of intense grinding, Shen Bai had finally raised his Vajra Dharma Form Fist Skill Level to Level 6.

A wisp of smoke appeared before his eyes, coalescing into text that hovered in mid-air.

[Vajra Dharma Form Fist Level 6 (Fist Technique +32, Buddha’s Light +32, Power Dao +32, Fist Gang +32, Dharma Aspect +32, Fist Intent +32): 0/20000]

The moment the text appeared, it shattered violently, transforming into streams of Information that poured into Shen Bai’s mind.

In the next instant, Shen Bai felt his vision shift, blurring completely before slowly coming back into focus.

When the scene sharpened, he was no longer in his room but found himself inside a temple.

An illusory figure was seated cross-legged on a meditation cushion. Before it stood a giant, golden Buddha statue.

The giant statue was gilded, and the golden Buddha’s Light shimmering from it looked incredibly sacred.

Beneath the giant Buddha lay heaps of terrifying skeletal remains, seemingly suppressed by its immense power.

The illusory figure sat there on the cushion, its palms pressed together. In front of it lay an open Scripture.

A gentle breeze swept through, and the pages of the Scripture began to flip rapidly, moving at a speed visible to the naked eye.

As the pages turned, lines of text began to blossom from the Scripture.

The blossoming verses spiraled into the air, swirling around the illusory figure. It gave the figure the appearance of a Buddha descended to the mortal world, exuding an aura of solemn dignity.

Just then, something went wrong.

Wisps of cold, sinister Qi began to rise from the skeletal remains suppressed by the giant Buddha.

Then, this sinister Qi enveloped the golden Buddha statue.

The once-sacred statue became utterly malevolent, filled with a terrifying and bizarre aura.

The statue moved. It raised a giant palm, now wreathed in the sinister aura, and brought it crashing down on the illusory figure.

The illusory figure lowered its head, chanting from the Buddhist Scripture. The verses floating around it streamed into its palms one after another.

With each verse that flowed into them, the golden Buddha’s Light in the illusory figure’s hands grew fiercer.

And with each infusion, the illusory figure’s Buddha’s Light seemed to gain a sky-shattering momentum.

The illusory figure raised its right hand, clenched it into a fist, and threw a straight punch at the corrupted giant Buddha.

As the straight punch shot forward, a thunderous CRACK erupted from the giant Buddha as the fist drew near.