“It's Done! It's Done! My Martial Path is About to Reach Great Accomplishment!”

“It's done! It's done! Your granddaddy's martial path is about to reach Great Accomplishment!”

“I've felt the opportunity! This is the legendary ancient method of epiphany, sensing opportunity from the unseen! Oh, how glorious! My Dao is about to be realized!”

“You...”

Jia Pingxiu's mouth fell wide open, his eyes staring round.

A perfectly normal person had turned so bizarre in the blink of an eye, causing cold sweat to break out across his back and trickle down his spine.

Beside him, the two women attending to Gao Fu were even more terrified by his appearance. They huddled trembling in a corner of the soft couch, not even daring to breathe loudly.

“The Huajin rank is within my grasp, and the Gangjin rank is also in sight! Hahaha!”

Seeing Gao Fu lose his mind more and more, Jia Pingxiu's face twitched. He suddenly grabbed Gao Fu's shoulders, shoving him back onto the soft couch, and growled through gritted teeth:

“What kind of madness has possessed you!”

“An epiphany? Are you even worthy? Wake the hell up!”

This shove acted like a bucket of cold water, actually bringing a sliver of clarity back into Gao Fu's eyes. He froze slightly, showing signs of coming to his senses.

But in the very next breath...

On the surface of the water, upon a reef.

The cross-legged blue figure pulled out a pill, threw his head back to swallow it, and surged his qi force once more.

An invisible ripple penetrated the night, enveloping the area in complete silence.

In an instant, the sliver of clarity in Gao Fu's eyes shattered, swallowed up once more by greed and fanaticism.

He glared at Jia Pingxiu, a fierce light flashing in his eyes. He suddenly pulled back his right knee and thrust it out like a wild dragon surging from the sea!

【Twenty-Four Paths Mountain-Collapsing Kick: Spear-Thrust Kick】!

Caught completely off guard, Jia Pingxiu took the kick square in the chest and abdomen. His round, fat body felt as if it had been struck by a heavy sledgehammer. He instantly sprayed a mist of blood, flying backward through the air.

He smashed onto the table opposite him, sending wine jars, food platters, and cups flying in all directions, spilling juices all over the floor.

Several dancers who couldn't dodge in time screamed as they tumbled to the ground, their skirts disheveled and hairpins askew.

Such a massive commotion instantly plunged the rowdy banquet into a dead silence.

The dozens of people present stared blankly at the scene.

The newly arrived fifth chief had just kicked the Fourth Chief flying?

Before they could even snap out of it, Gao Fu scrambled up from the soft couch, glaring furiously at Jia Pingxiu, who was being helped up by others:

“I call you Fourth Brother, yet you try to block my path to the Dao! Fine then! From this day forth, you and I are severed. We shall go our separate ways!”

Before his voice even faded, a fanatical expression surged onto Gao Fu's face. He leapt into the air, laughing wildly as he bolted out the door.

“Hahaha!”

“It's done! It's done! Your granddaddy's martial path is about to reach Great Accomplishment!”

“What Zheng Dadao! What Duan Xiao! Once I achieve my Dao, I will slaughter them all!”

“I'm off!”

His laughter drifted further and further away, quickly vanishing outside.

Everyone in the hall stared blankly at this bizarre turn of events, looking at each other as if they had seen a ghost in broad daylight.

Jia Pingxiu clutched his chest, a trace of blood overflowing from the corner of his mouth. His eyes were filled with terror as he trembled:

“Quick... Quick, go report to the First Chief... Gao Fu has been possessed! He's gone mad!”

...

Upon the reef.

Shen Xiuhan's tightly closed eyes suddenly snapped open, his gaze sharp as lightning.

“He's here!”

Zuo Muxian's gaze shifted, his eyes narrowing as he looked into the distance.

From the distant shore, a burly figure suddenly leaped out, reaching them in just a few bounds.

“Closer! Closer!”

Gao Fu's face was distorted, his eyes filled with fanaticism.

Seeing the two figures on the water ahead, he shouted without hesitation, “Get out of the way! Don't you dare block your grandpa's path to the Dao!”

Zuo Muxian smiled.

With a shift of his feet, he glided across the water. His moon-white robes fluttered in the night wind, his posture ethereal like an immortal. In a mere flash, he appeared right in front of Gao Fu.

He then looked Gao Fu up and down, his gaze icy.

“Gao Fu?” he asked.

Gao Fu furrowed his brows and barked, “Who are you!”

“Me?”

The corners of Zuo Muxian's lips curved slightly into a faint, knowing smile as he said softly:

“My surname is Zuo, and my given name is Muxian. I am from Shitan County of Guangwu Prefecture.”

Behind him, on the reef.

The deep blue light gradually retracted, receding like the tide.

Shen Xiuhan rose without hesitation and dived into the water, simultaneously pouring his force into the Overturning Sea Bead.

A deep blue barrier of light emerged.

It enveloped him completely, and he sank silently into the depths like a fish in water.

On the water's surface.

The flush on Gao Fu's face faded at a visible rate, the fanaticism in his eyes vanishing entirely as clarity returned to his mind.

Staring at the exceptionally handsome and ethereal face before him, Gao Fu's lips trembled as if he had suddenly recalled something.

“Zuo... You... Zuo Muxian!”

In the next instant!

Gao Fu's expression warped in sheer terror, his soul nearly leaving his body. Disregarding everything else, he tapped his toes frantically against the water, retreating backward like an arrow shot from a bow.

Unfortunately, he was too late.

A fair, slender hand shot out like lightning, grabbing his neck as if he were a mere chick!

Then, the fingers tightened, and force surged into his body. Gao Fu's entire frame stiffened, rendering him completely unable to move.

A single punch!

It slammed heavily into Gao Fu's vertebrae.

The punch force penetrated straight into his bones!

In an instant, cracks spread across the three acupoints Gao Fu had painstakingly cultivated for many years!

A breath later...

All three acupoints shattered completely!

His force spiraled out of control, rampaging through his body like a wild horse off its leash, instantly shredding his meridians and inflicting severe injuries.

“Pfft!”

Gao Fu spat out a massive mouthful of blood. His eyes were bloodshot as he let out a despairing shriek:

“No!”

Over thirty years of grueling training through the freezing winters and scorching summers, a cultivation built upon countless days and nights, had vanished like smoke in a single instant!

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Zuo Muxian's face was as cold as water. Pressing his index and middle fingers together into a sword-finger, he tapped nine times in rapid succession across Gao Fu's body.

As the wind of his fingers passed, acupoints were sealed and his blood qi stagnated.

Gao Fu's body stiffened, seemingly frozen in place by an unseen force, unable to move a single muscle.

Zuo Muxian raised his right hand, and Gao Fu, seemingly weightless, was thrown onto the reef behind him.

He was wide-eyed with rage, yet his body remained entirely immobile, and despair began to wash over his heart.

Paying no heed to Gao Fu's reaction, Zuo Muxian dusted off his sleeves and placed one hand behind his back. He calmly raised his eyes and looked into the distance.

At the end of the lake.

A middle-aged man wearing luxurious brocade robes with shoulder-length black hair and a domineering aura was walking slowly across the water.

His steps were leisurely. With each step he took, the water beneath his feet remained completely undisturbed. The moon-white light fell upon him, casting him in the likeness of a monarch.

Duan Xiao.

“Sir, you have come uninvited, crippled my brother, and ruined my face...”

Duan Xiao's voice was not loud, yet it resonated like a great bronze bell, every word carrying an invisible pressure.

“Don't you think you are being a bit too presumptuous?”

Underwater.

The deep blue barrier of light transformed into a crystal-clear bubble, enveloping Shen Xiuhan within as he swam forward silently.

After about half a cup of tea's time.

A massive explosion suddenly erupted from above and behind him!

Even through the layers of lake water, Shen Xiuhan felt his eardrums buzz. He instinctively turned his head to look back.

On the water, a white figure and a yellow figure were already locked in combat.

Moon-white and brocade-yellow clashed repeatedly. Every collision unleashed dazzling ripples of force, tearing the surrounding water for dozens of yards into absolute tatters.

Waves surged into the sky before crashing down like a torrential downpour.

*...What terrifying power. I need to speed up.