A Fright but No Harm, Qi and Blood at the Limit

"I really can't rest easy."

"I'm afraid someone might try to open the coffin again, just like last time."

Lately, Aiden had been thoroughly enjoying his life in the modern world.

What's more, he had finally found an heir.

He had already taught that person the basics of fighting spirit.

The Southern Continent was now being managed in an orderly fashion, thanks to the joint efforts of Yang Honghui and Grandpa Jin.

There was no need for him, the former ruler of the Southern Continent, to worry about it anymore.

Aiden had no desire to see his wonderful life come to an abrupt end.

So he willingly came forward to personally take charge at the Kunlun Mountains.

He wanted to prevent anyone with ill intentions from reopening the Ghost Tomb again.

With Aiden's involvement,

the area each of the thirteen Martial Saints had to guard was greatly reduced.

Soon, the day of July 15th arrived.

While Chen Feng was busy in a meeting,

the system's notification chimed in, just as expected.

[Congratulations on achieving the Mentor Achievement.]

[Your sixth apprentice has won first place nationwide in the World Martial Arts Tournament.]

[Reward: 1,000 Qi-Blood points for the master.]

This was entirely within Chen Feng's expectations.

Among the Martial Venerables of Great Xia, no one could rival Zhao Bing.

As for the upcoming world championships,

Zhao Bing was sure to take first place.

Of all his apprentices,

Chen Feng admired Zhao Bing's comprehension the most.

That nearly freakish ability to grasp concepts,

had allowed him to transform the already formidable Thirteen Swords of Certain Death into the Sixteen Swords of Certain Death.

As for Chen Feng himself? He knew he could never achieve that in his lifetime.

...

At the Kunlun Mountains.

The sun was setting in the west.

From the moment night fell,

everyone's heart was in their throats.

Su Yan, who was in the Western Continent, and Feng Tengyun, who was locked in prison,

were both waiting for news from the Kunlun Mountains.

When the clock struck eleven at night,

tension gripped everyone.

Not long after,

Chen Feng received a report.

A Ghost Tomb had appeared somewhere.

He rushed over immediately.

This time,

he truly saw a Ghost Tomb in its proper form.

It was a huge stone coffin suspended above the ground.

It looked exactly like the one that had been dug up when Aiden was resurrected.

But the feeling it gave off was completely different.

On the head of the coffin were three words written in dripping, blood-red characters:

Gen Wei Shan (The Mountain of Gen).

The blood-red characters were vivid and bright, an almost blinding red.

Everyone watched from a distance, no one daring to approach.

At that moment,

anyone who dared to take a single step forward would be met with a united assault from all the powerful figures present.

Before long,

reports of other Ghost Tombs came in one after another.

But in theory, there were supposed to be sixty-three Ghost Tomb stone coffins in total.

So far, only eight had been discovered.

Chen Feng no longer bothered to run over and inspect each one as he had with the first coffin.

Now, he simply listened to the reports.

He was especially looking for reports of two specific coffin hexagrams: Di Huo Ming Yi (Earth Fire Brightness) and Xun Wei Feng (Wind of Xun).

These were the two that the Heaven-Swallowing Sect was after.

Though he couldn't be sure if it wasn't a diversion by the Heaven-Swallowing Sect,

he had to remain vigilant.

Upon hearing this,

Aiden was deeply shocked.

He couldn't understand how that so-called Heaven-Swallowing Sect

knew about Su Yuanshan's Ghost Tomb hexagram.

Logically,

he was the only person who knew about it.

After thinking it over,

he concluded that the staff member from the Martial Arts Association, after delivering the information back,

must have let the secret slip due to the Association's poor management.

At no point did he ever suspect Su Yan,

nor did it cross his mind that he had been tricked.

In the Western Continent,

Su Yan watched the constant stream of messages on her phone

and gave a helpless smile.

As time passed,

only fifteen Ghost Tomb stone coffins had been discovered in total.

But none of them matched the hexagrams Xun Wei Feng or Di Huo Ming Yi.

Unlike the Martial Arts Association, which was on edge,

Su Yan was just testing the waters.

She had never expected to succeed easily in one go.

This attempt had taught her

more about the characteristics of the Ghost Tomb stone coffins.

First: they appeared at random.

Second: the Ghost Tomb stone coffins didn't simply appear for a fixed two-hour window.

The duration was completely inconsistent.

Some stone coffins lasted for dozens of minutes,

while others vanished in a flash.

There was no pattern to it at all.

...

Amid the tension of all the different factions,

the hour of Zi (11 PM - 1 AM) finally came to an end.

After the Zi hour was over,

Chen Feng no longer received any news about the Ghost Tombs.

He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

He had originally prepared himself for a possible battle,

even wondering if the Heaven-Swallowing Sect might launch a large-scale attack.

But nothing happened.

Still, he understood.

It was likely because the two Ghost Tomb stone coffins Su Yan wanted hadn't appeared.

That was why everything had remained calm.

Aiden also breathed a sigh of relief and immediately returned to the Southern Continent to continue enjoying his life.

Thus, the crisis passed safely, though not without its scares.

Only one person remained completely on edge:

Feng Tengyun.

He knew well that Su Yan would never give up.

...

Life seemed to return to normal.

Chen Feng spent time with his daughter and apprentices, preparing for the upcoming world championships.

Chen Shuangshuang, for once, had found the drive to shine brightly in the world tournament.

She practiced the Floating Step with her father every day.

It had to be said.

As expected of the 100% compatibility the system had matched.

Shuangshuang managed to achieve the fourth realm of martial arts — Mastery — in the Floating Step just before the tournament began.

She was only ten years old.

Before the Kunlun Mountains were permanently opened,

a child her age couldn't even have their bone structure examined,

much less cultivate Qi-Blood.

Chen Feng now understood

that all of this was because humanity's martial arts fortune had been suppressed.

But even so,

Shuangshuang was undeniably a genius in today's world.

At this age, to master a martial arts technique to such a level,

there wasn't a second person like her anywhere in the world.

Moreover, she was the youngest contestant in the Apprentice-level world championship.

Add to that the halo of being the daughter of a Great Xia hero,

and every single match of hers became a focus of the news media.

Su Yan also watched her daughter's matches live on TV,

a smile spreading across her face.

"Before long, you'll get to meet your grandparents."

She turned to the elderly man beside her and asked,

"Elder Tang, how are your preparations going?"

Tang Geng, the Governor of the Western Continent, replied respectfully,

"After the night of July 15th passed, the Great Xia Martial Arts Association completely let its guard down."

"I've already arranged for people to set things up according to the plan. One of them is a Martial Saint."

"We should start to see the first results next year."

"If the plan succeeds, resurrecting Mr. Su will only be a matter of time."

...

The National Martial Arts Tournament ended perfectly.

The entire world witnessed the might of Great Xia's martial arts.

Across all levels of the tournament, eight out of ten of the top-ranked competitors were from Great Xia.

As for the champions:

aside from the Grandmaster-level championship, which was won by a black man named Kane,

all other champions were native Great Xia locals.

Jin Youxi and Chen Shuangshuang each earned Chen Feng another 1,000 Qi-Blood points.

The World Martial Arts Tournament also wrapped up soon after.

Zhao Bing won, as expected,

adding another 5,000 Qi-Blood points to Chen Feng's total.

But when Zhao Bing went up to receive his award,

he directly broke through to the Martial Saint level,

giving Chen Feng an additional 1,000 Qi-Blood points.

By then,

Chen Feng had reached the peak of the Martial Saint realm,

with a total of 51,559 Qi-Blood points.

This too was the limit of human blood and qi.

But Chen Feng did not know whether this was also the limit of the system.