If he could choose, Su Mu would prefer not to get involved in the conflicts between the Black Mountain Army and the Cyan Cloud Army. Right now, he just wanted to resolve the Gu Poison inside him and grow quietly.
But things never go as one wishes.
Su Mu still couldn't help but kill members of the Black Mountain Army, and someone had witnessed everything with his own eyes. To play it utterly safe, he ought to kill Shi Feng as well, so there would be no risk of information leaking.
Thinking of this, the young man nonetheless shook his head resolutely.
From Shi Feng blocking the four men for him and giving him a chance to escape, it was clear this man wasn't a bad person. Bad men abounded in these troubled times; good men were few. Su Mu wasn't ruthless, and he had his own boundaries. He couldn't bring himself to do it.
So afterwards, Su Mu turned and left without another word, not intending to have any more dealings with Shi Feng.
Yet in the end, he still accepted that token.
"I have to plan ahead."
The matter of the discarded Gu Poison made it clear to Su Mu that he couldn't stay long in Qingshui Town. Sooner or later, he would have to leave town and head to Qingyun County Town to seek medical help. Qingyun County was the territory of the Cyan Cloud Army, so Shi Feng's Cyan Cloud Army token might prove useful sooner or later.
Afterwards, Su Mu took the official road, traveling peacefully all the way to Qingshui Town.
Originally, Su Mu had thought Qingshui Town quite large, but ever since returning from Qingyun County Town, he realized this Qingshui Town was actually very small.
Strolling through the alleys of the little town, Su Mu could find his way even with his eyes closed. A year of living here had made him so familiar—it filled him with peace of mind.
"Hmm, are those Black Tiger Gang guys?"
Su Mu soon noticed a few members of the Black Tiger Gang carrying large bags and parcels, walking out of one shop and into another. Another person was holding a horse cart, following behind. Su Mu casually took a few steps forward, narrowing his eyes.
Their conversation drifted to his ears, carried by the wind.
"Check everything carefully for me—don't miss a single thing."
"Everything needed for the birthday banquet must be readied in advance. There are still plenty of things here on this list to buy, so hurry it up."
Birthday banquet?
So someone in the Black Tiger Gang is throwing a birthday banquet?
After eavesdropping for a while, Su Mu lost interest. Whoever was celebrating with the Black Tiger Gang was none of his concern, so he continued on his way back to Dongbian Village.
Though this trip had its share of accidents, at least there was now a clue about the poison inside him. Su Mu felt a sense of direction, and that in itself was significant.
He took off his raincoat and conical hat, then counted his gains from this outing. He pulled a few items from his collar.
A sheepskin scroll, and a tightly wrapped cloth pouch.
"Could this be a prescription?"
Su Mu's eyes shimmered, but upon unfolding it, he saw it wasn't a prescription at all, but a map. The map had a red cinnabar-marked circle, but no place names, only mountains and rivers.
A treasure map?
Su Mu glanced at it a few times, then folded it up and turned his gaze to the pouch. He'd taken this from the leader of the Black Mountain Army soldiers—it had felt like the shape of a book.
He opened it up.
Sure enough, it was a book. The yellowed, aged cover had three characters: Simurgh Phoenix Painting.
Simurgh Phoenix Painting?
Su Mu's heart thudded a little faster. A manual named after the Simurgh Phoenix was probably something remarkable.
Yet, when Su Mu flipped it open full of hope, he was utterly bewildered.
Page after page of exquisite, lifelike paintings bursting with the energy of spring filled his view.
After leafing through a few pages in silence, Su Mu closed the Simurgh Phoenix Painting with a strange expression. He confirmed that it was definitely not a martial arts secret manual. How should he put it?
"From an artistic perspective, the painting skills in this Simurgh Phoenix Painting are truly extraordinary..."
Steeling himself, Su Mu ate dinner, then trained in fist technique in the courtyard. Experience in life-and-death battle had deepened his understanding of all three Grade-Entering Martial Arts he possessed, especially the Rock Shattering Fist.
Frowning slightly, he gulped down a big bowl of Three-in-One Body-Strengthening Soup. As fine beads of sweat seeped from his skin, soaking his clothes, Su Mu entered a state of cultivation.
The sun slanted west, night descended, and one silhouette remained absorbed in practicing Rock Shattering Fist. With 12 points of comprehension, reaching Jade-Level, a flash of spiritual light suddenly darted through Su Mu's mind.
Su Mu kept punching, finally catching that glimmer of enlightenment—he slipped into a subtle, selfless state.
Everything hit its stride. Gradually, Su Mu noticed many of the acupoints in his body vibrating, as his qi blood boiled and the power running through his limbs and meridians underwent an unprecedented transformation.
It was an abrupt metamorphosis.
Within the intense power, a new force was being born.
"Is this the emergence of Dark Force?!"
Su Mu's eyes gleamed. The sensation was strangely familiar—after a moment's reflection, he realized it bore a resemblance to when his body first gave birth to power.
Bzzzz-----
Soon, all of Su Mu's acupoints hummed in unison, and a thread of gentle force was born. This was a Dark Force Seed, but for now Su Mu couldn't truly call it Secondary Refining Force.
What he needed to do, just as before, was first to nourish the force. Wait for this Dark Force Seed to grow strong, then he could launch an assault on Secondary Refining Force and, by then, truly master Dark Force.
First Refining Force is the first stratum!
"All theory is shallow in the end—the ancients did not deceive me..."
Su Mu exhaled deeply, his face alive with joy. He hadn't expected that, after killing a few Black Mountain Army bandits, he would actually give birth to a Dark Force Seed inside himself.
Last time, Su Mu spent half a year nourishing force. But now, with that experience, and without needing to worry about silver coins, plus his Jade-Level comprehension—
This time, Su Mu was confident he could complete the secondary Nourishing Force in much less time—just half the original, maybe even less!
Beneath the night, Su Mu quietly slipped out of the village and headed into the back mountain.
He casually chose a thick tree, needing a person to encircle it with both arms. Focusing, he mobilized his newly birthed Dark Force and fired a punch at it.
This punch didn't slice the air with a gale as in the past. It looked like a simple, casual blow. The moment fist met trunk, there was just a faint thud, making the trunk quiver lightly.
But Su Mu's eyes lit up at the sight. He peered closely—the bark was completely unscathed.
Only, when Su Mu gripped the spot with five fingers, it was like driving a steel blade in. With a bit of force, he gave a tear.
Rip!
The bark came away, wood chips flying, and within the trunk, at some point a fist-sized cavity had been punched, crushed to powder inside.
"Injure a foe through the body—this is Dark Force!"
The sight filled Su Mu's eyes with excitement. If he'd mastered this Dark Force during the day and struck with Rock Shattering Fist, those Black Mountain Army soldiers—even with Cotton Armor—would have died on the spot, not a chance of survival.
The days that followed felt as if neither the matter of Gu Poison nor the Black Mountain Army had ever happened. Su Mu's life returned to peace and fulfillment.
Clang! Clang! Clang!------
Deafening hammer-blows rang out—a symphony of metal and iron echoing, and Dark Force grew swiftly stronger in the process.
Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.
Su Mu finished over a hundred thousand hammer strikes on the iron billet before him, refining away all its impurities to the extreme.
"Time for the next step."
Five days later, a long saber wreathed in green light was fished out of the water tank. Beads of water rolled swiftly down the mirror-smooth blade, pattering like a light rain.
The chill radiating from the blade made the two forging apprentices beside Su Mu instinctively step back. Their skin prickled sharply, and both swallowed hard, their faces stunned.
Only, in one apprentice's eyes, a barely discernible flash of guilt and unease passed.