Enlightenment: Beginning as a Disposable Warrior

The voice thundered like a sudden clap of lightning.

On the right chief seat, Gongyang Jue finally could no longer sit still; he abruptly rose to his feet!

His two Vice Hall Masters, Zhao Ku and Wang Zhong, who had been loyal to him, had died miserably in the Inner Hall one after another—he could no longer wait, even if taking action now would cement the fact that those three today had been acting under his covert orders.

But if he continued to sit back and do nothing, it would undoubtedly chill the hearts of those who followed him, and might even cause them to directly throw in with the Gang Leader’s faction.

Therefore he had to make a move, and his stance had to be firm and unyielding!

Gongyang Jue stepped forward once; above his head, two of the Three Flowers condensed, lacking only the last one. A surging, terrifying aura burst out from his entire body, instantly flooding the venue.

In that instant, the Inner Hall seemed to transform into a boundless ocean, with Gongyang Jue as the vortex at its heart.

Yet Su Mu paid Gongyang Jue no heed at all. He walked straight toward the still-living Gongsun He on the field—one step, two steps. Gongsun He’s expression was filled with terror; he had just watched, with eyes wide open, as Zhao Ku and Wang Zhong, both no weaker than himself, died miserably in succession at the hands of "Baili Feng." His heart had already turned to ice, and he could no longer raise the courage to fight Su Mu to the death.

If one said Zhao Ku had been completely unprepared, beheaded by Su Mu in a single blow caught off guard,

then Wang Zhong’s end was sheer, naked crushing. Though both were Fourth-Grade Martial Artists, in the eyes of Gongsun He and everyone present, the "Young Master Baili Feng" had not even roused his Martial Dao Three Flowers, yet easily blasted him to death within just a few moves.

Within the middle Third Grades of the Martial Dao, the Sixth Grade is the Five Extremes Realm. A Martial Artist must use Qi Blood to temper the Five Viscera and achieve Blood Exchange, and must gain the ability to communicate with Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi to transform it into Attribute Power.

Upon reaching this step, a Martial Artist can already project Qi Blood outside the body and possesses methods to counter long-range attacks.

The Fifth Grade is the Six Bowels Realm, also called the Yin-Yang Realm. This realm is a further progression from the Five Extremes Realm; a Martial Artist must use Yin Evil Power and Yang Evil Power respectively to temper the Six Bowels while simultaneously tempering their Martial Arts Power.

Sixth Grade and Fifth Grade can both be considered transitional stages on the way to the Fourth Grade.

If Sixth Grade emphasizes tempering Qi Blood,

then Fifth Grade delves deeper and focuses more on tempering Power. After the Power has been tempered by Yin-Yang Power, the Martial Artist then begins preparing to condense the embryonic Pill of Gang Force for the Fourth Grade.

Thus the Power cultivated by a Fifth-Grade Martial Artist, having undergone tempering by Yin-Yang Power, is not only stronger and more solid, but also more lethal. For example, when a Water Attribute Skill is cultivated in concert with Yin Evil Power, it can unleash even more terrifying destructive force; conversely, when domineering Cultivation Techniques such as Fire Attribute ones are cultivated in concert with Yang Evil Power, they become all the more fierce and unstoppable.

And when Su Mu used the Yin-Yang Breathing Technique and Gang Force to activate the killing move of Flood Dragon Shocking Skill, everyone naturally believed that only Power forged from fused Yin-Yang Power could possess such killing force.

No one would think, nor would anyone dare imagine, that the one performing it had not even reached the Fifth Grade Realm, and was merely a Sixth-Grade Martial Artist using such a move.

Above Sixth and Fifth Grade is the Fourth Grade, the final realm of the middle Third Grades—the Three Flowers Gathering at the Top Realm. Sixth Grade lays the groundwork for condensing the Flower of Qi Blood; Fifth Grade lays the groundwork for the Flower of Spirit by fusing Spiritual Power and Power into Gang Force.

The "Spirit" among Essence, Qi, and Spirit can be called Martial Dao Will—only by comprehending one’s own heart can one enter the entry-level threshold.

The final of the Three Flowers corresponds precisely to the Martial Artist’s own will—Martial Momentum. To assault the Upper Three Grades, Martial Momentum is an insurmountable chasm; thus the saying that Martial Momentum is the key that opens the path to the Grandmaster’s road is widely spread.

Fourth-Grade Martial Artists are mostly not divided into early, middle, late, or peak; they are usually directly distinguished by one flower, two flowers, or three flowers.

Once, in the Three Flowers Realm, the Three Flowers begin to initially unify and one takes the first step toward fusion, the world often addresses such a person with the honorific Half-Step Great Cultivator or Half-Step Grandmaster. Li Heng of the Li Family is exactly such a Half-Step Great Cultivator.

The Gongyang Jue before their eyes was precisely a powerhouse at the Two-Flower stage of the Fourth Grade; yet if one observed closely, one would see that his Flower of Martial Momentum had already condensed by a small half, indicating that Gongyang Jue had already entered the entry-level of Martial Momentum, and was not far from Three Flowers Gathering at the Top.

However, Su Mu still paid no attention to Gongyang Jue, which caused Gongyang Jue’s gaze to turn icy cold. If not for his lingering misgivings over Baili Hong, who was still in seclusion with his situation unknown, how could he have endured this long? Yet this brat before him actually dared to treat him as if he didn’t exist!

"Young Master, I’ve heard quite enough!"

In Gongyang Jue’s palm, Power nearly congealed into substance erupted forth. He had already achieved an initial fusion of all his Power and Spiritual Power, which could be called the embryonic form of Gang Force. His figure merely gave a slight sway in place, then moved with a speed that surpassed the naked eye of many in the Inner Hall, trailing a string of afterimages.

One must know that anyone qualified to enter the Inner Hall and participate in this grand assembly was no ordinary person!

His figure stretched between the two like a heavenly ravine, his right palm seemingly casually slapped out, yet as though it had kneaded this slice of heaven and earth into his palm, carrying a formidable pressure that felt capable of crushing mountains and rivers.

"Gongyang Jue... is very strong. The pressure he exerts surpasses even that of Tao Family’s Law Enforcement Hall Master Tao Jidong!"

In terms of Realm, the two were actually similar, but the Dharma Gates they cultivated were different. Tao Jidong was a Daoist Cultivator, while Gongyang Jue was a Martial Artist. The saying that Martial Artists excel at close-range slaughter is one of the Five Great Dharma Gates’ publicly acknowledged truths throughout the entire Cultivation Realm.

In close-quarters combat, it is naturally the Martial Artist who exerts greater pressure. Moreover, during the previous grand competition, Tao Jidong had been far too careless, and as a Daoist Cultivator his physical body was too fragile; Gongyang Jue now, eager to declare his stance, could not be compared with that situation at all.

Flood Dragon Shocking Skill · Shocking Flood Dragon!

Su Mu fully activated the Shocking Flood Dragon state. In an instant, the Qi Blood and Gang Force within his body blazed like dry tinder meeting raging fire. The White Dragon Power and White Dragon Might in his Sea of Consciousness resonated in response, causing pale jiao-scale patterns to faintly emerge along the sides of Su Mu’s cheeks.

"Huff—huff—!"