“You’re asking for this!”

　　Apoplectic, the youths of the Wang family charged at him in unison. Before they managed to even reach him, Shi Mu’s eyes flashed brightly in gold as an oppressive, devastating mien burst out of his body like a deluge broken through a levee.

　　The very same youths who had been screaming their battle cries a second earlier instantly fell to their knees, the hairs on their skin raising on end, their bones refusing to support their bodies as streams of sweat dripped down their foreheads. They were completely petrified.

　　It was inevitable—even the most powerful among them had only reached Late Hou Tian stage. All Shi Mu did was exude a little of his power aura and their knees would buckle. Their “challenge to a duel”, “the best of Feng City” and whatnot was already forgotten. At this very moment, the only thing they could think of was how to escape the scene, right here, right now… Not that their bodies could even budge an inch. It was like they were being squashed by a million tons of boulders.

　　Wang Tianhao’s mouth was agape as if he was letting out the explosion of shock within his mind. “E-E-Earth-rank!”

　　He was the only one in the entire area who could slightly compose himself from shriveling before Shi Mu’s aura, though the strain was palpable as drops of sweats ran down his head.

　　Earth-rank.

　　The word echoed in everyone’s head, blanking out their minds.

　　Xu Shu’s jaw dropped, blatantly stupefied. As martial artists, they knew all too well the gravity of the word “Earth-rank”.

　　Apart from a few cackles of firecrackers before the Jin family’s gate, there was no other sound in range, as if the whole world had slumped into silence.

　　The powerful aura had only lasted a few seconds yet everyone present felt like the air had coagulated into a thick, invisible fluid crushing onto them, barring them from flexing any part of their muscles nor even allowing them to breathe normally. It was as if years had passed in this excruciating torment.

　　A few of the weakest youths even gave in to the force, their eyes rolling back into their heads as they crashed to the ground with a heavy thud.

　　The eldest master of Jin family himself had to squeeze every ounce of his life-force to resist Shi Mu’s powerful aura, though his eyes belied his fear. If Shi Mu had truly attained Earth-rank power, then he could very easily kill him instantly with just one finger!

　　Shi Mu smirked, letting out a soft chuckle, before retracting the aura back into himself.

　　Both the youths of the Jin and Wang families were busy panting and taking in breaths as soon as they felt the pressure receding. No one dared to test Wang Tianhao’s claim that Shi Mu was now an Earth-rank fighter. They did not even have the guts to taunt him.

　　Wang Tianhao himself exhaled a breath of relief as he relaxed his body, but the gaze he had cast on Shi Mu was no longer just shock, but also a very faint trace of despondency.

　　After all, wasn’t he a holder of a rare, one-in-a-million bloodline who managed to enter the ranks of Xian Tian level at this age, to the awe of his peers? Yet, standing before Shi Mu and his Earth-rank powers, how could he still flaunt his Xian Tian prowess?

　　An Earth-rank powerhouse could do absolutely anything they want not just in the Daqi Kingdom, but the entire Dongzhou Continent. In fact, it was said that the greatest elders of the seven largest sects on the Three Kingdoms were all Earth-rank powerhouses.

　　At that moment, Wang Tianhao could feel his mind being washed over by a profound sense of dispiritedness.

　　“Well, it looks like that’s the end of our ‘duel’ for today,” Shi Mu scanned the looks of the people around him as he said dully.

　　Everyone was too frightened to answer him.

　　“But there is still something I wanted to say. You see, both Aunt Zhen and Yuhuan are my family—Aunt Zhen is my stepmother, and the other is my sister. If there’s anyone who dares to cross them, they will have to answer to me… and I won’t be kind,” Shi Mu added steelily.

　　He may not have spoken loudly, but his words stabbed every bystander’s heart like icicles, sending chills down their spines.

　　A few moments later, a single manservant finally summoned enough guts to walk out of the door before whispering into the ears of a stupefied butler. The words seemed to have shaken the latter out his trance as he yelled, a bit tiredly, “The fortunate time has arrived!”

　　Inside the house, when both Yuhuan and Aunt Zhen heard about Shi Mu, they were shocked. Aunt Zhen was the most stunned by the news!

　　She never expected the day when the son of her husband’s former wife—from whom she had admittedly not been expecting anything too grand or great—to have reappeared in their lives in such beaming state, boasting a power level far exceeding the wildest imaginations of both the Wang and Jin families. Just thinking about it plunged her heart into a swirling mix of sentimentality.

　　Shi Yuhuan, meanwhile, aside from her own shock of Shi Mu’s progress, felt surges of warmth from his action as well. She never knew that, at the most critical moment, it was the brother who wasn’t even connected by blood who would come and rescue them.

　　As the helper lady took Shi Yuhuan—who now had the red nuptial shroud draped over her face—by the hand and took her out of the Jin family’s house, Aunt Zhen went out of the house as well, her eyes slightly reddened. She nodded very subtly at Shi Mu to show her gratitude.

　　“Aunt Zhen, this is my gift for my little sister’s marriage. Sorry that I was a bit too busy to prepare anything better,” Shi Mu approached her and took a bow before Aunt Zhen, stuffing an antique ring into the woman’s hand.

　　“Little Mu, you…” Aunt Zhen was too moved to speak.

　　She may have been confined in Feng City for most of her life, but she still knew much about the world outside. She knew, for example, from the glyphs carved onto the ring that this was the very treasured, very precious storage ring. What she didn’t know was that stored inside the ring were a few spirit tools and a sizeable amount of spirit stones.

　　“Brother Wang, I trust you to take care of my sister’s welfare, alright? If you fail that—even if just by a modicum—I’ll be asking questions, got it?” Shi Mu said solemnly to the bridegroom.

　　Before Wang Tianhao could answer him, Shi Mu once again scanned the surroundings with his steely eyes, causing the attendees to quake a little.

　　“Aunt Zhen, Little Sister Yuhuan… this is it for now. Please take care of yourselves, so that when I have the chance, I may return to visit all of you again,” Shi Mu said finally as he cupped his hands in salutation.

　　Then, much to everyone’s shock, Shi Mu summoned the Green-winged Flying Carriage, stood on it, and became a flitting arc of green light tearing through the sky.

　　Honestly, Shi Mu had wanted to stay for a little while longer for a celebratory drink, but after exposing his true strength in such a fashion, he was pretty sure no one would be able to relax while he was still around.

　　Shi Yuhuan held the storage ring given to her by Aunt Zhen. She stared at the horizon where Shi Mu had vanished, muttering, “You too, Big Brother.”

　　…

　　The sun was setting on a fishing village, shrouding the entire village with a handsome blanket of golden yellow sunlight. On the sea, fleets of fishing boats were slowly making their way back to the docks—a busy day at work was finally coming to an end.

　　On the beach, a swarm of children scurried towards the shore as they cried in awe and curiosity, wondering out loud about the kind of rare fish being caught today.

　　A few moments later, the sun finally set, and the fishing village was illuminated with quiet sparks of light from the windows of the huts and houses as puffs of smoke rose from their chimneys.

　　The entire village was a portrait of dream-like serenity.

　　It was then when a young man wearing a bamboo hat appeared at the gate of the village. It was none other than Shi Mu.

　　Returning to his village after so many years really put the changes of time into perspective. However, being back home also calmed his mind from his chaotic thoughts.

　　Shi Mu strutted quietly through the village. It looked basically unchanged from yesteryears, with much of its original appearance retained.

　　His footsteps stopped abruptly before a corner of the village where a shabby wooden hut stood. Its doors and windows had long fallen onto the floor as the wood rotted away. Half of the hut had crumbled completely. Around the hut, tall shrubs of grass could be found. It was apparent that nobody had been here for a long time.

　　A pensive look crossed Shi Mu’s visage. This was his home back then… and now here it was, battered by time.

　　He did not come here to repair the house, of course. He stood there silently for a while before he was gone in a flash.

　　A few miles away from the fishing village was a small, unnamed hill, illuminated by the silver crescent hanging in the sky. On its peak, a single mound could be found among the tall grasses reaching up to an adult’s kneecaps. The gravestone in front of the mound had gotten quite blurry, but if one narrowed their eyes and read closely they could make out the word “Shi, née Wang”.

　　Shi Mu stood before the grave with a nostalgic expression. His mother’s face had started to blur in his memory, but memories of her had not.

　　Shi Mu uprooted the grass from the grave, repairing it as he did before lining up candlesticks, wine and food offerings.

　　Then he knelt before the grave, knocking his head onto the earth nine times as he muttered, “Hello, Mother. Your son has come to see you.”

　　“Mother, I once promised you that I’ll be the greatest warrior in the world. Now, I may not be the number one fighter of the Cerulean Ocean Star yet, but I still manage to achieve something worthwhile. Worthy enough to make you proud…”

　　“I met the girl of my dreams while I was out there over these years, but I still haven’t managed to bring her to see you now. One day, though, you’ll get to meet her…”

　　After kowtowing before her grave, he started to recount his past adventures in summary. Little did he know that once he started, he was almost reluctant to stop.

　　Shi Mu spent most of his time alone, with almost no one who understood the pain in his life nor had he ever talked about it with anyone else. At this moment, he was suddenly overwhelmed by an urge to spill his guts out, and so he did precisely that.

　　He finally stopped when the moon had climbed to the highest point in the sky. Realizing that he had been talking to himself for so long, Shi Mu laughed a little.

　　He felt his tension finally unwinding after his monologue, however, as if he had finally moved a boulder crushing his heart.

　　He raised his head and caught the glints of moonlight above him. He sat cross-legged right beside his mother’s grave, setting up a forbidden barrier formation around him before assuming the Moon-Swallowing stance.

　　As he trained, drops of moonlight slowly fell onto him before seeping into his body. As time went by, a silver full moon started appearing behind Shi Mu’s head.

　　The night passed, and morning sun slowly rose from the sky into a brilliant white.

　　Shi Mu opened his eyes slowly.

　　A single night of training had not added much to his general power, yet he felt an almost overwhelming sense of serenity and equanimity he had never experienced before. In fact, he seemed to have obtained some sort of epiphany over a few of his previous conundrums in cultivation.

　　A red light flashed from his body, and in a second, they formed the apparition of the Crimson Ape Energy Construct.

　　“Eh?” Shi Mu was quite surprised that the speed of his Real Qi cycle had become much faster.

　　He turned to his left hand, and in a whoosh, it turned scorched black as crimson glyphs crawled all over its surface before bursting into white flames.

　　Shi Mu raised his eyebrows. Activating the powers of the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art was never this effortless before, yet he managed to do it now.

　　The searing white flames suddenly flow out of his left arm and into his body.

　　Shi Mu was initially quite alarmed by it, yet he quickly discovered that the power of the flames in his left arm had not caused any pain in his body. Unlike previous experience, it gently streamed in his veins, merging with the Real Qi honed by the Book of the Flaming Red Ape in perfect harmony.

　　The Flaming Crimson Ape Energy Construct behind him shimmered, and a soft glow of white started to shine from its crimson colors.

　　A few moments later, the Energy Construct suddenly turned into a split of white and red, though their combined power pulses were far greater than it ever was before.

　　“Roar!”

　　The Energy Construct beat its own chest as it bellowed in rage.

　　The air was rattled by a ripple-like effect spreading toward all sides, causing a violent riff through the air that was only stopped by the barrier that Shi Mu had set up before.

　　“Gahhh!!!” Cai let out a piercing shriek—it had just returned to Shi Mu and was already dragged into the streams.

　　Shi Mu raised his eyebrow, waving his hand with a red light before dragging Cai back in.

　　“That scared the bile out of me! What the hell happened?! Wait, what happened to your Martial Energy Construct?” Cai rambled endlessly, but when it looked at his Crimson Ape Energy Construct, it let out a brief exclamation.