On the Path to the Great Dao

Six burly men surged forward from behind the innkeeper. One tried to lock Chen Shi's throat from behind, two went for his arms, another two stood in front and kicked toward his abdomen, and the last drew a short sword, aiming to sever the tendons in Chen Shi's left hand.

He had seen plenty of Divine Embryo cultivators like this.

They were nothing more than bookworms who had studied for a few years, received a bestowed Divine Embryo, and learned a handful of hand seals and spells. They thought themselves impressive, but once closed in on, they were no different from weak scholars without the strength to truss a chicken, helpless against real fighters.

What was more, these men were also Divine Embryo cultivators.

As they closed in, Chen Shi snatched the chopstick holder from the table. Before the feet of the men in front could land on his abdomen, their legs were already bristling with chopsticks.

Chopsticks lined up in neat rows, piercing from the men's calves all the way to their thighs.

The chopstick holder was now empty.

In that brief instant, Chen Shi had struck more than forty times, pulling over forty chopsticks from the holder and jamming them into the men's legs!

The two howled in bone-deep agony.

Chen Shi pinched a chopstick from the leg of the man on his left with two fingers, yanked it from the wound, and thrust it backward, stabbing into the hollow of the shoulder of the man choking him from behind, avoiding his heart. The chopstick pierced straight through from the front of his chest, even punching through the scapula bone in his back.

Chen Shi yanked out two more chopsticks, flicking them left and right with a shake. The chopsticks whistled sharply through the air. The two men lunging for his arms felt an immense force hit them as the chopsticks pierced their palms through the centers. Their bodies flew back, slamming into the walls left and right with two thuds. They clutched their hands, screaming nonstop.

The remaining man's short sword thrust toward Chen Shi's left wrist. His vision blurred in a flurry, and before he could react, the other five had already been wounded one after another. For a moment, he wasn't sure whether to drive his sword home.

Especially the two burly men in front of Chen Shi—their legs were impaled with chopsticks, nearly the entire holder's worth crammed into their flesh. They trembled and wailed in pain.

Chen Shi glanced at the quivering sword tip before him and crooked a finger.

The burly man holding the short sword trembled as he handed it over. Chen Shi examined the blade. It was about nine inches long overall, with a four-inch handle and five-inch blade, forged from fine iron. The handle was engraved with a blood charm using cinnabar and black dog blood—once it struck, the wound would bleed endlessly.

Both sides of the blade also bore incantation scripts, diamond wards to reinforce the edge and make it indestructible.

Chen Shi lifted his hand to flick the sword, then slipped the short sword into the burly man's right hand.

The tendons in his left hand had already been severed, leaving it a bloody mess.

The burly man gripped the sword, his body shaking. He hadn't even seen how Chen Shi had cut his tendons—it had been too fast.

He gritted his teeth fiercely, and a divine shrine emerged behind him with a Divine Embryo seated within, about to unleash a spell.

"

Didn't expect you to be a scholar too."

Chen Shi said in surprise.

"You were about to sever the tendons in my left hand, so I severed yours in return—one good turn deserves another. If you try to use magic to kill me, then I'll have no choice but to send you on to your next life."

The burly man clutched his left wrist with his right hand gripping the short sword, his face twisted savagely. He wanted to act but didn't dare.

Chen Shi remained seated at the table without rising. Instead, he turned his head toward the innkeeper, thinking to himself: *The Master said a man stands tall at thirty. I'm not yet thirty, so no need to stand.*

The innkeeper's expression flickered uncertainly before he suddenly shouted. A divine shrine appeared behind him with a Divine Embryo seated inside. He opened his mouth and spat out a black core.

The core's aura spread, pitch black and radiating an eerie vibe.

A black core, fourth revolution... Soul-Shocking Thirteen Needles!

Chen Shi sensed the danger and paled slightly. He lifted his hand and hurled the nearby round table with a whoosh!

It sliced toward the innkeeper but midway was riddled by countless hair-thin sword qi, spinning it to shreds!

The tables and chairs in the inn shuddered suddenly. Teapots and bowls clinked, and countless tiny holes appeared in the furniture, as if bored by insects.

The teapots and bowls were similarly pocked with holes, tea spilling out in all directions.

That was the result of the sword qi emanating from the black core!

The sword qi was as fine as a hair, incredibly slender—not quite the Soul-Shocking Thirteen Needles, but similar in method. Both used ultra-thin silver needles or sword qi to shatter protective auras, bodies, magic barriers, and other physical defenses.

It was even more dangerous than the Soul-Shocking Thirteen Needles, finer, more powerful, and impossible to guard against!

As Chen Shi threw the table, his body was already flipping backward out of his seat. In that flipping instant, his Submeridian Evil-Slaying Sword shot forth along with a left-hand sword art!

The formless sword qi invaded the innkeeper's core aura, only to be instantly riddled with holes by the countless ultrafine sword qi.

Even riddled with holes, though, the Evil-Slaying Sword qi pierced through the core aura and flashed past.

The innkeeper clutched his neck with his hand, eyes bulging as he stared at Chen Shi.

Chen Shi's body had already flipped out of the inn, landing on the street outside. He thought to himself with some chagrin: *I still can't stand tall at thirty. I'm far from the Master's realm.*

The innkeeper's hand clutched at the spot, blood pouring out nonstop as his head began sliding to one side.

The innkeeper braced his head with both hands and yelled, his face terrified as he bolted upstairs. "Bone-Connecting Ointment! Fetch the bone-connecting ointment!"

His mind was in chaos—he knew Chen Shi's sword qi had severed his neck. He needed to smear his precious bone-connecting ointment on the wound and let the medicine seep in. Maybe it could still save his life.

Ignoring Chen Shi, he shouted while rushing upstairs. But as his foot hit the stairs, they snapped with a crack.

The innkeeper staggered, tumbling down. His hands failed to hold his head, and it separated from his neck, blood gushing wildly.

*Disaster!*

His head rolled over ten feet away into a wall corner, still thinking: *When I activated my core earlier, the sword qi from it hit the stairs too, riddling them until they crumbled.*

His headless body stood up, arms outstretched, groping blindly around.

Blood still sprayed from his neck, but his core flew over, suppressing the surging gore and slowing the flow.

The innkeeper's wife and several clerks heard the shouts and rushed down with the bone-connecting ointment. But their feet hit empty air too—the stairs collapsed, sending them tumbling to the floor, the ointment spilling everywhere.

The innkeeper's wife hurriedly scooped up the ointment from the ground with her hands when suddenly the headless body could no longer hold out and toppled with a thud.

The innkeeper's wife froze, horror dawning on her face. Ignoring her husband's fate, she bolted outside as if fleeing something utterly terrifying!

Freed from the innkeeper's control, the core's pent-up power suddenly erupted!

*嗡—*

Countless black, hair-thin sword qi expanded outward, engulfing the inn's first floor in an instant.

The innkeeper's wife and clerks became bloody sieves in the blink of an eye, pierced through by the needle-like sword qi—flesh, bones, organs, all shredded!

Even the burly men who had attacked Chen Shi earlier, and the innkeeper himself, were pulverized in the core's explosive outburst!

All around, snapping and cracking filled the air as the inn's first-floor pillars, walls, tables, chairs, and everything else burst apart under the sword qi!

Chen Shi stood on the street, watching the inn collapse before him. The first floor turned to rubble in the sword qi, and as the second floor fell, it disintegrated in midair too!

Countless wood fragments rained down, piling up amid billowing dust.

The fragments turned to splinters, the splinters to powder.

Once the core's power fully dissipated, a massive round crater scarred the ground, as if a massive iron ball had smashed it.

Cold sweat beaded densely on Chen Shi's forehead.

If he had tangled with that innkeeper's spell head-on, which perfectly countered him, he'd have been shattered beyond recognition within the core aura.

Scholar Zhu said to read ten thousand scrolls and travel ten thousand li.

I've learned so much from the Master—I must put it into practice.

The Master at sixty flowed with the years; even surrounded by sixty foes, he could beat them begging for mercy in the sweetest tones. That is true manhood.

Chen Shi thought.

Blackie Pot and the wooden cart were right outside the inn, untouched by the blast. That tall lanky fellow from earlier was there too, pinned under the cart, with Blackie Pot stepping on his head—dead or alive, who could say.

Likely, after selling Chen Shi, the man had come to claim the cart and even lead Blackie Pot away to sell, only to get thrashed by the cart and dog teaming up.

To survive a beating from Blackie Pot and the wooden cart together—this guy had to have lost half his life if not all.

Chen Shi walked over, about to check if anything was missing from the cart, when a fragrant breeze wafted over. A soft hand hooked his arm, followed by a plump body pressing against him. Laughter rang in his ears.

"Big Brother Chen, you've killed people and you're still hanging around on the street! Aren't you afraid of dying?"

The one on his arm was no stranger—it was Hu Feifei, his classmate from the Wenhua Academy. She tugged him along, whispering, "You just arrived in the provincial capital and you're already stirring up trouble. The whole inn died because of you—don't you want to get caught by the authorities?"

Chen Shi hurriedly pulled out the compass and tossed it to Blackie Pot, whispering, "Blackie Pot, drive and follow!"

Blackie Pot caught it nimbly, reared up on hind legs, gripped the compass with its front paws, and steered the wooden cart after Chen Shi and Hu Feifei.

The core explosion and inn collapse made quite a racket, drawing street crowds rushing over.

Blackie Pot maneuvered the cart, squeezing through the throng. The people of the provincial capital were worldly and unfazed.

The cart gradually picked up speed, tailing Chen Shi and Hu Feifei through the wide streets into narrow, dim alleys.

One man, one fox, one dog, and one cart sped through the alleys. Oncoming pedestrians hugged the walls to let them pass.

The cart was a bit wide, though. When folks couldn't squeeze by, it sprouted six or seven thick arms, each a yard long. They hoisted the pedestrians high, passing them along to the next pair of arms in relay until depositing them on the other side.

After two or three li, Hu Feifei slowed, laughing, "Big Brother Chen, were you sold? So silly!"

She panted with laughter, fanning herself with a hand at her collar. A breeze lifted her garment, flashing glimpses of pale springtime curves.

Chen Shi asked curiously, "How did you know I was sold?"

Hu Feifei's eyes crinkled in mirth, her voice coy. "Because I've sold off seven or eight human traffickers myself."

She grinned proudly. "They saw I was alone and tried to sell me to a brothel. So I played along and sold them to a farm outside the city for hard labor instead."

Chen Shi was dumbfounded.

*Some racial talent, though—not something to envy.*

Hu Feifei beamed even wider at his expression and tugged his arm toward the main street. "I saw you standing outside the inn after killing everyone inside. I knew right away Big Brother Chen had been sold."

Chen Shi flushed beet red. "Sister Feifei, we don't need to bring that up again.

"And I didn't kill everyone—just the innkeeper. His core went out of control and took out his own people."

Hu Feifei laughed. "Fine, fine, won't mention it.

"You're a Divine Embryo cultivator here for the exams—how could you get sold? Didn't you know you have to report to the Provincial Education Commissioner first?"

Chen Shi shook his head. "What's a Provincial Education Commissioner?"

Hu Feifei blinked in confusion. "Your tutor never taught you? Oh, right—your tutor was Master Fu, and he went to Bridge Bay Town. You probably didn't go find him, which explains why you got sold."

Chen Shi protested, "You said you wouldn't mention it—and you've brought it up three times in moments!"

Hu Feifei grinned ear to ear. "Won't mention, won't mention.

"What's a Provincial Education Commissioner?" Chen Shi asked.

Hu Feifei explained, "The Provincial Education Commissioner is a court appointee overseeing the spring provincial exams in each province. They also select Divine Embryo cultivators—good conduct gets you an official post, bad conduct gets your Divine Embryo student status revoked.

"All us Divine Embryo folks coming to the capital for exams have to report to the Commissioner first.

"They arrange relay inns or such for lodging, so we don't wander and get sold off."

"You mentioned it again!"

Chen Shi's belly swelled with frustration.

Hu Feifei stifled a laugh. "Won't mention, won't mention.

"I've been busy selling traffickers for profit these past days and haven't gone to pay respects yet. Let's head there together.

"Stay indoors the next few days. That innkeeper you killed was likely tied to bigwigs in the provincial capital—otherwise, who dares traffic people in an inn?"

Chen Shi followed her, asking, "Is human trafficking common in the capital? Why don't the authorities care?"

Hu Feifei laughed. "You think ordinary folks run that trade in the capital? How could officials interfere with other officials? Even if not official business, they stuff sacks of silver into the bigwigs' pockets every year—tight connections."

Chen Shi fell silent, saddened. "How can it be like this? What's the point of studying then?"

"Of course there's a point.

"Studying lets you pass the exams, join their ranks."

Hu Feifei said, "It also lets the pure stay pure, tending only to their own body.

"Worst case, like me—marry some flowery scholar and become a magistrate's wife or governor's lady!"

Chen Shi murmured, "Join their ranks? Stay pure? I want neither.

"Can we change them?"

"Change the world?"

Hu Feifei burst out laughing, hugging his arm tight. "Big Brother Chen, sometimes you're so mature, other times so naive! Countless folks through history tried changing the world and got crushed by it instead—couldn't even scrape a meal! The Education Commissioner's office is here!"