Longevity by Grinding Skills

A hoarse voice came from behind him. Xu Yunfan turned to see a hunched-backed old man leaning on an Iron Staff, slowly approaching.

The old man wore simple clothes, his exposed chest revealing exceptionally firm muscles. His face was a web of deep wrinkles, but his eyes alone still shone with a sharp light.

He had the look of someone who had achieved Great Mastery of Tendons and Skin—a Second Level Martial Artist.

Xu Yunfan cupped his fist slightly. "My name is Xu Yunfan. I was just passing by and was struck by the extraordinary presence of Divine Weapon Ridge, so I came to take a look."

Upon hearing this, a complex look flashed in the old man’s eyes, quickly followed by a bitter smile.

"Extraordinary presence? Heh... The Divine Weapon Ridge of today is nothing like it once was. That sword strike from thirty years ago didn’t just cleave the mountain; it broke our spine."

After a moment’s hesitation, Xu Yunfan finally pulled the Divine Soldier Token from his robes.

"I know a senior from Divine Weapon Ridge. He asked me to stop by and check on things if I was in the area."

Hearing this, the old man hurried forward to take the token. A look of realization dawned on his face. "So it was from Lv the Kid. To think he’s still alive... Incredible, truly incredible..."

Before he finished speaking, he sized Xu Yunfan up and down, then sighed. "If only you’d come two years earlier, Divine Weapon Ridge might have had a chance to survive. But now..."

He naturally understood Lv Yi’s intention in giving him this Token. But alas, the sect’s lineage was severed. Even he, an old timer from Divine Weapon Ridge, had only ever been an Outer Disciple. He handed the Token back to Xu Yunfan.

"’When a tree falls, the monkeys scatter.’ Our roots are all gone now. Coming here will only be a waste of your time."

Xu Yunfan fell silent for a moment, then asked, "Senior, that Supreme Grandmaster who wielded a Divine Weapon all those years ago... who was he?"

The old man shook his head.

"His origins are a mystery. We only know that he wielded a Divine Weapon called ’Celestial Punishment.’ One strike to cleave the mountain, another to slaughter our masters."

"After those two strikes, the legacy of Divine Weapon Ridge was severed. All the masters of the sect perished, leaving only the old and weak like us to watch over these few broken-down blast furnaces and barely eke out a living."

Although that was the old man’s story, Xu Yunfan sensed there were hidden details. He didn’t press the issue. Prying into the affairs of a Qi Cultivation Grandmaster would only bring disaster upon himself.

Xu Yunfan glanced up at the smoking blast furnaces dotting the mountainside, from which he could faintly hear the CLANG CLANG of hammers on anvils.

An idea struck him. "Senior," he asked, "can Divine Weapon Ridge still forge weapons?"

The old man replied, "Forge weapons? Heh. Nowadays, Divine Weapon Ridge can only churn out common swords and blades to make ends meet. As for true Divine Weapons... they were all turned to dust by that single strike."

He glanced at the Jar Gold Hammer on Xu Yunfan’s back. The hammer, a Gua Hammer forged from Refined Steel, showed significant wear. It was covered in clearly visible sword and blade marks, a mix of old and new.

’That was enough to show his journey hadn’t been a peaceful one.’

The old man seemed to want to say more, but in the end, he just waved a hand dismissively. "Divine Weapon Ridge is now Divine Weapon Valley. We take on odd blacksmithing jobs, just clinging to life."

Xu Yunfan said nothing. After they spoke for a little while longer, he took his leave and departed.

The closer he got to Wuzhou, the more desolate the main road grew. He saw an increasing number of refugees in tattered clothes, and many of the villages he passed were now just crumbling ruins. Occasionally, he would spot rebel soldiers lurking in the shadows, eyeing him like a predator.

By the time the fifth scorched village came into view, Xu Yunfan finally pulled his horse to a stop.

The bodies of women and children lay curled beneath a broken wall. A child’s hand still clutched half a millet cake.

Thirty paces away, on a crooked boundary stele, the two vermilion words "Wuzhou Realm" were stained with blood and grime. Swarms of blowflies buzzed as they rose and fell.

SWOOSH!

The sound of something slicing through the air came from his left.

Without turning his head, Xu Yunfan reached back and snatched the arrow out of the air.

The shaft was coated in a rancid corpse oil, and the iron tip was covered in red patches of rust. It was a poison arrow. If an ordinary person were so much as grazed by it, the wound would fester, and without an antidote, they could only wait for their skin to rot away as they died.

"A fat sheep!"

Five figures burst out from the dead woods.

The leader, a scar-faced man, waved a notched woodcutter’s knife. The other four carried sharpened wooden spears. The sunken-eyed refugees shoved a pregnant woman in front of them as a human shield.

The woman’s belly was swollen like a drum, and a hemp rope was tied around her neck, yanking her stumbling forward.

The bandits’ eyes were bloodshot, filled with greed as they stared at Xu Yunfan’s large horse and the saddlebags. They paid no mind to the Jar Gold Hammer that was already in his hand.

These bandits could no longer be called human. They knew only how to rob and kill, like the walking dead.

Xu Yunfan’s eyes became bloodshot.

’Red eyes and gapped teeth.’

The Jar Gold Hammer crashed to the ground. BOOM! The shockwave sent fallen leaves swirling for dozens of feet around.

’The mark of a cannibal.’

The scar-faced leader suddenly froze.

He saw the muscles on the black-clad Martial Artist’s body begin to bulge and ripple. A scorching aura blasted toward him, finally dispelling the greed from his eyes. Only then did he truly see the long-handled Heavy Hammer that Xu Yunfan held as lightly as a feather.

’He’s a Martial Artist!’

But as he tried to retreat, Xu Yunfan was already upon him, his horse charging forward.

The first swing of the hammer sent a shower of blood and shattered bone into the air.

Xu Yunfan used his hammer like a painter’s brush. Each strike landed like a crack of thunder. The tip of its handle flicked out like a calligrapher’s stroke, tearing through tendon and sinew. He spun, sweeping through his enemies as if they were a thousand soldiers, yet none could withstand a single exchange.

When he finished, five headless bodies were left kneeling on the ground as if in repentance. The hemp rope around the pregnant woman’s neck had been reduced to dust.

"Go north for thirty li. In Li City, in Qingzhou, there are relief shelters."

He pressed a waterskin and dry rations into her hands. A shred of brain matter clung to his vambrace.

"If you can make it there, you’ll survive."

By the time the numb-faced woman looked up, the lone rider and his horse were already far away, quickly disappearing from view.

As night fell, Xu Yunfan caught sight of the walls of Dingbei City on the Wuzhou border.

The Moat was long dry, its bed piled high with the bones of people and livestock. The city’s name plaque had fallen from the wall and lay shattered in two.

The watchtowers on the walls had mostly collapsed, the breaches crudely blocked with wooden stakes. Beneath the guards’ regulation leather armor, patched homespun clothes were visible; they were clearly commoners posing as soldiers.

"Buns! Hot meat buns!"

A hoarse vendor’s cry echoed from the base of the wall, and Xu Yunfan turned his head to look.

A one-eyed old crone guarded a steaming basket, but there were no buns on her bamboo tray.

Three starving men, their eyes gleaming with a feral green light, hovered near the stall. Suddenly, all three lunged for the steamer basket.

A cold light flashed from the crone’s sleeve, and a boning knife was already buried in the lead man’s throat.

CRUNCH!

Xu Yunfan’s knuckles popped as he clenched his fists.

He could now see clearly: curled inside the steamer basket was the corpse of a young child. It was missing a left leg, and the wound had been sprinkled with coarse salt. This was the ’source of the meat.’

The crone licked the blood from her blade, her one good eye dancing with maniacal glee. "How many baskets would you like, sir? The meat of a month-old brat is the most tender..."

Xu Yunfan took a deep breath and dismounted. The moment he thrust his Jar Gold Hammer forward, the entire section of the city wall shuddered.

When the first rays of dawn pierced the dark clouds, a nine-foot-tall tower of corpses stood before the gates of Dingbei City.

Carrying his blood-drenched Jar Gold Hammer, Xu Yunfan strode through the filth and gore toward the half-destroyed city gate.

From the shadows of the barbican, dozens of greedy gazes swept over him, yet not one person dared to cross the line.

Most of these people were survivors from the fall of Dingbei City. Now, in their struggle to stay alive, their actions bordered on those of Demon Fiends.

Everywhere he looked, there was nothing but devastation.