Shi Wanshan's Discovery

Gu Changge pointed to the misty valley ahead.

"Do you know why I haven't let you break through for so long?"

Xiao Ruobai shook his head, his eyes full of confusion.

"Your God of War Physique seems domineering, but its foundation is unstable. You must understand the word 'war'."

Gu Changge turned around, his gaze falling on him with a bit of solemnity.

"Although you have reached the peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm, your cultivation time is short. The war qi in your body is like un-forged pig iron, seemingly hard, but actually hiding brittleness."

The young man's heart trembled—he had thought his master didn't let him break through because his qi and blood were insufficient, but he didn't expect it to be this reason.

"Then... what should I do?"

Gu Changge raised his hand and pointed to the depths of the valley, where there was a faint aura of powerful demonic beasts.

"Go in and kill demonic beasts. Above the Core Formation Realm, kill five hundred before you come back."

Xiao Ruobai's pupils shrank suddenly: "F-five hundred?"

"Scared?" Gu Changge raised an eyebrow.

"Not scared!" Xiao Ruobai clenched his fists abruptly, his eyes burning with fighting spirit.

"For this battle, I'll add some difficulty. You are not allowed to use the Nine Heavens Dragon Soul Halberd, only your physical body and mortal-grade weapons."

"Disciple understands!"

He bowed deeply to Gu Changge.

"If I don't kill five hundred, I will absolutely not come back to see Master!"

Gu Changge looked at the back of the young man turning and rushing into the valley, his eyes complex.

He raised his hand and waved, and an invisible barrier covered the periphery of the valley.

"Let these Hundred Thousand Mountains teach you what a real God of War is."

In the depths of the valley, the roar of demonic beasts and the crisp sound of weapons clashing soon came.

Gu Changge stood still and listened for a moment, confirming that Xiao Ruobai had already engaged in a fierce battle with a late-stage Core Formation Ironclad Bear.

"Five hundred Core Formation Realm is just the beginning."

He whispered to himself, a trace of imperceptible sharpness flashing in his eyes.

"The tempering of the God of War Physique is never watered in a greenhouse."

After taking just two steps, he saw the little black bird flapping its wings and catching up, circling above his head, still holding half an unfinished Enlightenment Tea leaf in its beak.

"Are you really letting him go alone?"

Gu Changge glanced at it and flicked its head with his finger: "Don't worry, he won't die."

He had long set up three backup plans—that invisible barrier could not only isolate external interference, but also automatically trigger protection when Xiao Ruobai encountered fatal danger.

The seemingly chaotic distribution of demonic beasts in the valley was actually arranged in order from weak to strong.

Even if there were really high-level demonic beasts in it, when Xiao Ruobai was defeated and about to die, the restriction left in his body would protect him.

The little black bird tilted its head and suddenly chirped twice towards the valley, its voice carrying a bit of schadenfreude.

Gu Changge ignored it and went straight back to Purple Bamboo Peak.

Just arriving at the door of the bamboo house, he saw Li Xuanfeng sitting cross-legged on a bluestone, the spiritual energy around him swirling like a vortex, and the aura of the middle stage of the Violet Palace Realm had stabilized.

Shen Jinghong was standing in front of an old bamboo, a faint ray of sword qi condensing on her fingertips, repeatedly cutting on the bamboo body.

The sword qi seemed gentle, but it could accurately avoid the bamboo joints and carve dense sword marks on the smooth bamboo surface—obviously using sword practice to polish her state of mind and stabilize her newly broken-through Innate Sword Physique.

At this moment, in the depths of the Hundred Thousand Mountains, Xiao Ruobai was holding an ordinary iron knife, fighting with that late-stage Core Formation Ironclad Bear.

The Ironclad Bear's paw slapped the ground, shaking the dirt and a fishy wind blowing in his face.

Xiao Ruobai used the agility of the Shadow Step to shuttle through the gaps of the bear's claws, fine sweat already seeping out on his forehead.

The Ironclad Bear's physical body was already tyrannical, plus it was a full major realm higher than Xiao Ruobai.

Not being able to use the Nine Heavens Dragon Soul Halberd and only relying on physical strength to fight against such a demonic beast was much harder than he imagined.

"Roar!"

The Ironclad Bear was enraged and stood up suddenly, its huge body pressing down like a small mountain.

Xiao Ruobai's eyes condensed, and he suddenly stopped dodging, pouring all the war qi in his body into his right arm.

The iron knife buzzed in his hand, faintly emitting a pale golden luster.

"War!"

He shouted in a low voice and slashed towards the bear's claws.

The moment the blade and the bear's paw collided, a harsh sound of clashing metal rang out.

Xiao Ruobai only felt a numbness in his arm, but he used the force of the rebound to leap up, and the iron knife smoothly crossed the Ironclad Bear's neck—that was where its defense was weakest.

"Pfft!"

Blood spurted out, the Ironclad Bear let out a shrill wail, and its massive body crashed to the ground.

Xiao Ruobai leaned on his knife and panted, looking at the demonic beast corpse at his feet, and suddenly grinned.

In that instant just now, he clearly felt that the war qi in his body seemed to have become more condensed.

"The first one."

He wiped the blood from his face, his eyes increasingly determined, and turned to walk towards the deeper valley.

Sunlight spilled down through the gaps in the miasma, illuminating the young man's straight back, and also illuminating the path of tempering paved with the bones of demonic beasts under his feet.

Li Xuanfeng and Shen Jinghong were immersed in cultivation.

Unknowingly, it was already night.

The halo deep in the bamboo forest gradually faded, Li Xuanfeng and Shen Jinghong withdrew their stances at the same time, and the spiritual energy lingering around them receded like a tide.

The sky was already dotted with stars, the evening wind swept past with the scent of bamboo, the two looked at each other, and both saw reluctance in the other's eyes.

The spiritual energy of Purple Bamboo Peak was as thick as un-meltable honey, and staying for another quarter of an hour was cultivation.

"Martial Uncle Gu."

Li Xuanfeng was the first to get up and cupped his hands to Gu Changge.

"Today I only cared about consolidating my cultivation and actually forgot to accompany Junior Brother Ruobai to communicate. It's really rude."

He sneaked a glance at Gu Changge's expression, and seeing that the other party wasn't angry, he pushed his luck.

"To express my apologies, how about Junior Sister and I come back tomorrow? We can bring some newly picked spirit fruits from the main peak to nourish Junior Brother Ruobai."

Shen Jinghong also nodded, her cold face rarely showing a bit of earnestness.

"It's my negligence. Tomorrow I will definitely come earlier to spar with Junior Brother Ruobai in footwork."

Gu Changge's hand holding the teacup paused, and a trace of mockery appeared in his eyes.

These two kids were carved from the same mold as Xuanyangzi, coming up with excuses one after another.

"Get lost. Come back in half a month, and next time come after dawn, don't disturb my sleep."

"Yes! Thank you, Martial Uncle!"

The two were like receiving a grand pardon, their actions when bowing showing joy, and their footsteps when turning around were as light as stepping on the wind.

Just stepping out of the barrier of Purple Bamboo Peak, Li Xuanfeng suddenly pressed Shen Jinghong's shoulder, and the two stopped at the same time.

In the next second, Li Xuanfeng's majestic aura of the middle stage of the Violet Palace Realm retracted into his body with a "swish".

The spiritual light on his fingertips suddenly extinguished, firmly suppressed back to the middle stage of the Core Formation Realm, and even the amplitude of his clothes fluttering deliberately slowed down, looking like a punctured balloon.

Shen Jinghong was even more absolute, the dazzling sword qi around her instantly retracted into her meridians, the spiritual power of the peak Foundation Establishment Realm scattered like an ebbing tide, turning back into the green appearance of the ninth level of the Body Refining Realm.

It's just that the clear radiance of the sword physique awakening in those eyes reflecting the starlight couldn't be hidden no matter what, like holding a little star.

"Walk faster."

Li Xuanfeng dragged her and walked quickly towards Green Cloud Peak, his voice as low as a mosquito humming.

"Don't let people from other peaks see, otherwise they'll all be drilling into Purple Bamboo Peak."

The two shrank their necks and slipped along the base of the wall, exactly like two weasels that had stolen chickens.

At the doorway of the bamboo hut, Gu Changge watched this scene and could not help but chuckle softly, the tea almost spilling over the rim of his cup.

"These two brats have learned all of Xuanyangzi's crooked ways to absolute perfection."

Just as he was about to turn around, out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of a dog hole on the western side of the mountain peak. Squatting at the entrance of the hole was a gray-robed old man—none other than Shi Wanshan, the Peak Master of Qingyue Peak.

Shi Wanshan narrowed his eyes, his fingers tightly pulling at the vines. As he watched the sneaky silhouettes of Li Xuanfeng and Shen Jinghong, and then glanced toward the direction of Zizhu Peak, his cloudy eyes suddenly lit up like searchlights.

He stroked his chin and muttered to himself.

"Something is not right... Just a few days ago, these two kids were only at the late stage of Core Condensation and the ninth level of Body Refining. How is it that after just one day of not seeing them, their auras have grown so much stronger?"