Enlightenment: Beginning as a Disposable Warrior

"Whew!"

With a punch, the air compressed layer by layer, then collapsed and shattered, leaving a twisted invisible fist mark in the sky.

Crack.

A crisp sound came from the trunk of an old locust tree half a yard away, and the crack expanded instantly. The old locust tree ultimately couldn’t bear the burden and collapsed with a roar.

"So strong, the explosive power of Jiao Tendons has doubled compared to Elephant Tendons. If combined with the full output of Pill Force, a Wraith General at the Thousand Souls Banner level wouldn’t last ten rounds before me... No, probably five rounds would be enough to crush it."

Previously, against Gongsun Xin, Su Mu fought for more than thirty rounds before defeating him, but now Su Mu is confident he could defeat him in ten rounds, or even five.

This improvement isn’t solely attributed to the abilities of the Jiao Tendons, but also because Su Mu’s Power and Bone Tempering Level previously exceeded the Yijin, causing his strength to be in a state of imbalance, thus limiting his power.

Now that the weakness of the tendons has been temporarily supplemented, it naturally leads to a small qualitative change.

The reason it’s temporary is that Su Mu has already realized the path to the Fifth Refining Force and can launch an attack on Gang Force at any time, at which point the balance of the three forces will again be disrupted.

"The next step is to challenge Gang Force, the Little Vajra Secret Realm, and the Sixth Grade."

Su Mu is quite eager for any of the three; Gang Force is a profound realm that even the Zen Heart of Vajra Temple, passed down in Qingzhou, has not entered, only seen in ancient texts.

The Little Vajra is the legendary Martial Artist Secret Realm.

And the Sixth Grade is vastly different from the Middle Third Grade, being only one grade apart.

Su Mu pondered for a moment, his eyes flashing as he gazed into the pitch-black night sky, ready to move his muscles and bones.

It is a dark and windy night, perfect for killing.

"Let’s first take a trip to Black Stone Forest."

...

The night was as calm as water.

"Heh, brothers, you patrol first, I’ll be right back."

"Hmm, truly a lazy person with too much waste."

A thin Black Mountain Army soldier laughed slyly, falling back a few steps to relieve himself in a bush.

"Whoosh whoosh-----"

Just then, the bushes nearby swayed abruptly. The thin soldier’s eyes sharpened as he drew his blade three inches, revealing a hidden gleam.

"Who’s there?"

A shadow suddenly leaped out of the swaying bushes; upon closer inspection, it was just a gray-furred wild rabbit.

"Bah, damn animal, gave your Grandpa Liu a scare."

The soldier who called himself Grandpa Liu spat, cursing the gray-furred animal. If not for his patrol duty, he would have had an extra meal tonight.

Hiss!

Immediately, the soldier returned his three-foot blade, the sword scraping the sheath with a fine rasping sound.

"Hurry up, Liu San, you dare to slack off, keep up!"

The shout of the patrolling soldiers came not far away. Just as Liu San was about to speak, his pupils suddenly shrank, and his body softened instantly, falling backward.

In the moment before his death, Liu San’s pupils reflected an image; that figure transformed into his likeness right before him.

"Cough cough cough... I’m coming."

Liu San was lifted by a hand, his eyes wide open in disbelief as he looked at the imposter ’Liu San,’ who coughed lightly and then spoke in a voice eerily similar to his own, his head slumping in death.

Su Mu’s flesh and blood wriggled quickly, his form changing to become identical to Liu San. After confirming it was correct, Su Mu swapped clothes with Liu San.

Swiftly, a flash of Spiritual Light in his hand, and Liu San’s corpse was stored in the Sumeru Ring.

After completing all this, Su Mu holstered the Long Saber at his waist, walked out of the bushes, and the lead Black Mountain Army Martial Artist glanced at Su Mu, only to impatiently call.

"What are you lingering for, keep up!"

Su Mu had observed this squad from the shadows for a long time, looking at each move including their expressions, and immediately mimicked Liu San’s sly laugh and quickly joined the squad without any suspicion.

Thus, Su Mu thoroughly infiltrated the squad, marching with the five-member patrol team around the camp, encountering other patrol squads and hidden guards along the way.

During this process, Su Mu studied the camp’s terrain and mentally mapped the camp based on the map provided by the Demon Slayer Bureau.

"The Demon Slayer Bureau’s intelligence is wrong. The patrol in this camp consists entirely of Martial Artists, with numerous guards and hidden sentries. The hidden guards contain two long breaths, likely Seventh-Grade Muscle-Enhancing Martial Artists."

Additionally, with Su Mu’s acute hearing, he could hear the sounds of iron forging coming from the camp, varying in proximity, indicating two locations.

All these gave Su Mu more confidence; the three masters were most likely in this camp.

Before long, the five-man squad completed their patrol and met another squad coming from within the camp for a token exchange, then headed into the camp.

Traversing through the stone forest into the camp, before them the lights in the camp stretched endlessly like a dragon; looking out, the camp’s soldiers likely exceeded a thousand, far beyond Li Zhihe’s claim of not being suitable to station too many.

Especially the three-tiered watchtower at the mountain camp gate was equipped with four Crossbow Carriages, with Black Mountain Army soldiers all wearing Iron Armor, wielding sharp elite warriors.

"This camp is not simple!"

Su Mu’s heart shivered; if the plan tonight was merely to kill, he could storm in, slaughter his fill, then use Fire Sparrow Transformation to leave.

However, tonight’s main goal was not just to kill, but to safely rescue the three masters.

Killing is easy, but rescuing is not.

Su Mu noticed that the tents in the camp were all shared among several people, and he speculated that their accommodation might be the same location as the four-person squad he was following.

Arriving at a certain spot, the squad parted ways toward different tents. Su Mu adapted on the spot.

"Heh heh, brothers sleep well."

The squad leader flashed a hint of suspicion in his eyes. He felt Liu San was acting strange today, but couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong. Finally, he snorted and headed to his tent.

Seeing he had passed undetected, Su Mu hunched his way deeper into the camp; just then, the squad leader suddenly turned and called Su Mu.

"Hold on, you, stop there."

Amidst the flickering campfire, Su Mu’s eyes gleamed with killing intent; surrounding Black Mountain Army soldiers turned their gaze toward the sound.

"If exposed, tonight I’d have to kill to escape, can’t alert them to my rescue intent."

As Su Mu sighed inwardly, ready to fight his way out, the squad leader spoke.

"You, go deliver this token back to Centurion Li."

Su Mu’s eyes withdrew their killing intent, turning around, he forced a flattering smile on his face.

"Alright."

But as he accepted the token and took a few steps, his eyes suddenly flickered, ears slightly moving as he caught an abnormal noise from deeper in the camp.

"Ah-----!"

A Black Mountain Army soldier in the depths of the camp suddenly let out a miserable scream before dying.

"What’s going on?"

"Enemy attack, we’re under attack!"

Someone shouted from deep within the camp, and instantly the entire mountain stronghold was in disarray, torches igniting, flames raging as soldiers surged toward the camp’s interior.

Su Mu looked surprised; someone else chose to attack the Black Mountain camp at night. He was worried about finding a chance to venture further into the camp, and now he was pleased, mingling with the chaos, moving toward the camp’s depths.

"Quick, over there!"

Black Mountain Army soldiers roared out, the nearest dozen soldiers drawing their blades to encircle the masked black-clothed man.

That masked intruder was burly, powerful, a Seventh-Grade Muscle-Enhancing Martial Artist. He killed a Black Mountain Army soldier with one palm strike, took his blade, and with a fierce momentum, the long saber in his hand shining coldly, he slaughtered several nearby Black Mountain soldiers.

In the chaos, none noticed a figure silently sneaking deeper into the camp.

"Hm? This figure and aura seem so familiar... Is that Uncle Wu?!"

But soon, Su Mu, lurking in the shadows, found that the black-clothed man’s figure seemed very familiar, his pupils contracted slightly, showing surprise.

The figure in darkness had to halt, showing a touch of helplessness.

"Looks like staying low-key tonight is out of the question."

...