The Darkness of the World

The headache came suddenly and left just as quickly.

As Yang Ning stopped delving deeper into her thoughts, the sharp pain that felt like a nail driven into her head receded like a tide.

Color returned to Yang Ning’s face.

Not wanting to worry Yang An, she smiled and said, “It’s nothing, probably just from being too tired lately.” Yet, she still didn’t remember to tell Yang An what she truly wanted to.

Yang An breathed a sigh of relief.

He thought that Yang Ning must have been overly anxious these past few days, causing her blood sugar to drop. This afternoon, he planned to visit Old Master Zheng to see if the Five-Day Broken Intestine Gu could be cured, and would bring back some herbs to replenish blood and boost energy for Yang Ning.

“Sis, you should sit down and rest for a bit. I’ll go get you something to eat,” Yang An said.

Yang An had just returned home.

Yang Ning wasn’t about to let him fuss over her. Smiling, she said, “I’m really fine. You go chat with your brother-in-law.” With that, she took Manman’s hand and stepped out of the room.

But as they walked toward the kitchen,

she became distracted, murmuring to herself, “What exactly is it that I need to give to my little brother? It clearly feels important, but why can’t I remember?”

After they left,

only Yang An and Li Yan remained in the living room.

Li Yan hesitated for a moment as he looked at Yang An, then said, “Er Lang, what you just said — it can’t be true, can it?”

“Oh? Why would you say that, brother-in-law?” Yang An smiled.

Yang Ning might have been convincing, but Li Yan saw through every flaw in Yang An’s story. After all, he hadn’t spent so many years as an outlaw for nothing.

He said, “In the Wang family’s money house, there are two ninth-rank masters — Wang Gou’er and Zheng Huaiyi.”

“Ninth-rank masters have already formed divine apparitions and refined true essence.”

“Even if their blood and energy are depleted, it’s still hard to open their divine forms, but they’re definitely not ordinary people who haven’t even started the foundation of flesh and blood. Such people couldn’t be defeated by just anyone.”

Li Yan paused.

Looking at the lively Yang An, he said in disbelief, “What’s even stranger is that after defeating those two, you don’t even have a scratch on you—not even a sesame seed-sized wound. How is that possible?!”

“And the clothes you’re wearing now—”

“Brother-in-law can’t recognize the fabric, but it’s obviously very valuable!”

Having listed all the doubts in one breath,

Li Yan reproached himself, “Er Lang, I know I don’t have much skill, but we’re family. You don’t have to bear everything alone.”

“Brother-in-law, don’t say that. Without you, my sister and I would have starved long ago,” Yang An said, touched.

In truth,

Yang An never thought he could fool Li Yan.

Lowering his voice, he said, “Brother-in-law, I’m going to tell you a secret. But you mustn’t tell my sister.”

Li Yan’s curiosity was piqued. “What secret?”

“Have you heard of gifted warriors?”

“Of course. Gifted warriors often come from noble families. Among ordinary people, maybe one in tens of thousands awakens. As long as they manage to form a decent divine form, their future achievements won’t be lower than fourth rank…”

As Li Yan spoke, his eyes suddenly lit up with excitement.

Looking at Yang An, he almost seemed to shoot sparks from his eyes. “Could it be that Er Lang has awakened a gift?!”

Yang An nodded shyly.

“What kind of gift did you awaken?!” Li Yan eagerly pressed for an answer.

But before Yang An could reply,

He muttered to himself, "Could it be related to killing?! Otherwise, someone like you, who has never trained in martial arts before, could never have killed Wang Gou'er, Zheng Huaiyi, and the others!"

"Brother-in-law, you really are smart."

Yang An spoke half-jokingly, half-seriously, "I awakened a talent that can triple my current strength."

After hearing this, Li Yan was momentarily stunned.

Then he slapped his thigh and laughed heartily, "No wonder you kept it from your sister! She hates you practicing martial arts more than anything. If she found out you awakened such a talent, she’d go crazy for sure!"

Yang An felt troubled as well.

For some unknown reason, ever since he could remember, his sister Yang Ning had been extremely opposed to him learning martial arts.

When he was about ten years old, he once caught a cold.

He stayed bedridden for over a month before recovering.

After he got better, Li Yan saw that his body was too weak, so he taught him some basic boxing techniques just to strengthen his physique. But this only enraged his sister.

At that time, not only did she punish Yang An by making him copy books for three days straight,

she also made Li Yan sleep on the floor for half a month.

From awakening his past life memories until now, barely over two days had passed, yet Yang An had already faced death multiple times.

He deeply felt the cruelty of this world.

He understood that as a frail scholar, he was utterly powerless to protect himself, unable to resist the slaughter that could come from the Cui and Lin families at any moment, and even more powerless against the malicious Princess Anle.

Countless pressures weighed down on him like a massive boulder.

Yang An was not only gasping for breath but felt not a shred of safety anywhere on his body.

He desperately needed power!

He craved strength!

He refused to watch his sister and brother-in-law be bullied, nor to be toyed with by that vile woman without even the ability to resist!

He wanted to survive.

He wanted to survive together with his family!

Yang An looked at Li Yan with unwavering determination and solemnly said, "Brother-in-law, I don’t want to study anymore. Teach me martial arts!"

As a man who stood tall and proud,

Li Yan understood the weight behind Yang An’s words and knew exactly why he wanted to learn martial arts. But he just shook his head and refused, "No."

"Why not, brother-in-law? You’re not afraid of my sister, are you?!"

"Don’t be ridiculous! Who said I’m afraid of your sister?! I’m just respecting her!!!" Li Yan hurriedly retorted, raising his voice several octaves.

"Right, right, you’re not afraid!"

"Then why won’t you teach me martial arts?" Yang An was puzzled.

In his eyes, although Li Yan wasn’t the sharpest, he was quite insightful.

He shouldn’t have refused to teach him martial arts.

Facing Yang An’s confused gaze, Li Yan explained, "It’s not that I don’t want to teach you. You should know, to become a martial artist, one must first temper their blood Qi. Once the blood Qi is fully cultivated and the flesh foundation is solidified, only then can one visualize the divine form and condense the true essence."

Divine form.

Yang An had witnessed it firsthand when fighting Wang Gou'er.

Once activated, Wang Gou'er transformed into a half-human, half-dog monster, his power skyrocketing. If Yang An hadn’t brought along the Black Hawk’s heart and relied on the talent of the Dark Lord Grand Duke to muster a surge of strength,

he probably would have died at Wang Gou'er’s hands.

Yearning intensely for such power, Yang An said eagerly, “Brother-in-law, don’t you practice Divine Physique? You’ve already reached the eighth-rank martial artist level. If you can teach me, that’d be great. If not, I still have some spare money—I can go to the market and find a Divine Physique visualization scroll!”

“Learning martial arts isn’t a trivial matter! It’s not that simple!”

Fearing Yang An would act rashly, Li Yan quickly interrupted his thought.

With a grave warning, he said, “Though Daxia values martial prowess, it strictly forbids lawlessness through force. That’s why control over Divine Physique techniques is extremely tight. Although various Divine Physique visualization charts circulate in the marketplace, most are fakes, and the few genuine ones are often incomplete! Worse, they’re usually low-grade, inferior types. Forcing yourself to condense such an image can at best cause your blood energy to diminish and lifespan to shorten, and at worst, lead to sudden death!”

“It’s not that I’m unwilling to teach you Divine Physique.”

“It’s just that the Heavenly Soldier Physique I cultivate was earned through military merit. The instructor who passed it down placed a restriction on it—it cannot be casually taught to others.”

Yang An frowned in surprise—he hadn’t expected such a rule!

“How then can I find a reliable Divine Physique?” he wondered.

He couldn’t just enlist now, could he?

Join the Yunzhou army? That would be like throwing himself into Lin Yeping’s frying pan. Besides, he was still poisoned.

Every five days, he had to find that scornful woman to detoxify him.

If he joined the army, he wouldn’t be able to leave the camp for ten or fifteen days at a stretch. Before earning enough military merit to exchange for the technique, the poison might kill him!

Could a living person really die from holding in their urine?!

Unwilling to give up, Yang An asked, “Brother-in-law, is there really no other way to learn besides enlisting?”

Martial training isn’t a simple matter.

Seeing that Yang An seemed truly determined to walk the martial path, Li Yan sighed and earnestly advised, “Er Lang, don’t rush to decide. Cultivating martial arts isn’t as easy as you think. Listen to me fully before you decide whether to go down this road.”

“First, there are three key points you must understand.”

“Point one: Divine Physiques have ranks and grades. After three transformations, a Mortal Physique can ascend to a Spiritual Physique. After another three transformations, it can advance to a Dharma Physique. Each transformation corresponds to a rank in the martial path, and ascending these levels is as difficult as climbing to the heavens.”

“Point two: Not all Mortal Physiques can ascend to Spiritual Physiques. Mortal Physiques are classified by the aura behind them into five grades: none, white, yellow, blue, and the legendary purple.”

Fearing Yang An might not grasp this, Li Yan closed his eyes and activated his blood energy and true essence.

As his Divine Physique manifested, Yang An saw that unlike Wang Gou’er, who transformed into a monster when activating his Divine Physique, Li Yan’s back was bathed in a bright yellow light. His true essence and blood energy shimmered into silver armor, enveloping his entire body.

True to the name of his Divine Physique.

The once dark, sallow-faced brother-in-law, who looked like a simple farmer, now appeared like a majestic Heavenly Soldier General!

Activating the Divine Physique consumed a tremendous amount of energy.

Pointing to the bright yellow aura behind him, Li Yan continued the second point he hadn’t finished: “See this light? The yellow aura behind me means the Heavenly Soldier Physique I cultivate is a yellow-grade Physique.”

“Yellow, blue, and purple grades can all ascend to Spiritual Physiques after three transformations.”

“But these three grades are mostly controlled by noble families and powerful clans, making them extremely difficult for ordinary people to obtain.”

“Physiques with no aura or white aura are easier to acquire.”

“Ordinary martial sects and schools teach the basics, but these two grades of physiognomy, because they can't be upgraded, are generally called miscellaneous physiognomies. No matter how talented you are, if you practice these, the highest you can reach in your lifetime is seventh grade. Understand?”

Li Yan explained this very clearly.

How could Yang An not understand?

He reasoned further, “When Wang Gou'er activated his Divine Physiognomy, there was no aura behind him. So the so-called Mad Dog Physiognomy that my brother-in-law cultivates is actually the lowest, ungraded physiognomy — essentially a miscellaneous physiognomy?”

“Exactly.”

Seeing that Yang An understood, Li Yan immediately deactivated the Divine Physiognomy; the armor dissolved into glowing particles and returned to his body.

Having just recovered from a serious illness, he was panting heavily.

Yang An quickly poured him some hot tea. After Li Yan caught his breath, Yang An asked curiously, “Brother-in-law, what about the third point? What is it?”

Li Yan put down his teacup.

Yang An noticed his expression suddenly changed—from serious before, to now extremely grave.

“Er Lang, forget the first two points I just mentioned.”

“But if you truly want to walk the path of martial cultivation, the third point concerns your very life. You must remember it well!”

“Divine physiognomies are formed by Heaven and Earth and are limited in number!”

“And they are unique!”

“Each has its own place, like one hole for one carrot! Unless the person who owns that divine physiognomy dies, no one else can cultivate the same one!”

As soon as these words came out,

Yang An felt a cold wind sweep through the room.

A chill ran down his spine, and cold sweat broke out on his back.

Yang An was no fool; in fact, he was quite sharp. Princess Anle was very fond of this about him. So the moment Li Yan mentioned the third point, he immediately sensed something.

According to Li Yan’s words,

Divine physiognomies are unique and limited in number, which means the number of top-tier powerhouses in the world is also limited.

Then,

What would the earliest group of people who mastered the Divine Physiognomy do after forming their divine physiognomies?

Even a toe could tell Yang An the answer.

Class stratification!

Simply put — monopoly!

To sleep soundly at night and defend their power,

Those first few who obtained the power of divine physiognomy would definitely clutch the promotion sequence of physiognomies tightly in their hands. They would do whatever it takes to kill or control mortal and spiritual physiognomy warriors who tried to form the same sequence as theirs!

They would completely lock down the path to upgrading physiognomies.

A divide between heaven and earth!

Ordinary people and powerful aristocratic clans would be completely separated.

In front of these top-tier powerhouses — who are also rulers —

The common folk would never have a chance to rise.

They would never see any hope of breaking through.

If the common folk wanted power, wanted to stand out,

They could only serve as dogs for them — and even then, only if those rulers permitted it.

A cold and cruel malice surged in Yang An’s heart.

Only at this moment

Did Yang An truly realize how dark and powerless the world he lived in was.

He also roughly understood why Princess Anle could so effortlessly suppress Lin Yeping.

That damned woman was probably among the ruling class,

One of those Heavenly Dragons who held the physiognomy sequences.

The very elite of that small group.

Li Yan said, “Er Lang, you’ve been smart since you were young. Now you should understand how perilous the path of martial cultivation really is. Are you sure you still want to walk this road?”

To walk or not?

Yang An smiled.

At this point, did he even have the right to choose?

Yang An absolutely refused to believe it. That vile woman used threats and temptations, all just to toy with him. So even if he didn’t leave now, in the future she would definitely push him onto the path of martial cultivation.

Besides—

Was he really going to spend his whole life being trampled underfoot?! Crawling like a dog, begging for scraps his entire existence?! Spending his days on the chopping block as helpless fish meat, constantly terrified of when the blade would finally fall?!

Who the hell would want to live a miserable life like that?

No matter what, I can’t stand this damn humiliation!

Yang An clenched his fists tightly.

His eyes blazed sharply, like flames piercing through the darkness. Never before had he been so resolute as he declared, “I’m leaving!”