Chapter 13: The Grand Martial Master

“Bang! Bang!”

The fierce sounds of impact echoed incessantly. Ma Buti’s heart leapt in alarm, and he was just about to rush to his elder brother’s aid.

Suddenly, a small jade-green serpent shot from Wan Guxiao’s body like a bolt of lightning, darting toward him. Startled, Ma Buti could only raise his hand to fend it off, his movements pausing for a heartbeat.

“A Grand Master! You’ve become a Grand Master!”

On the other side, Ma Buting cried out in astonishment.

Years ago, after suffering grave wounds in the Divine Ruins, Ma Buting’s strength had never fully recovered. Even the mutated Longsang fruit from Dragon Mulberry Island, which had greatly aided his recuperation, allowed him after several years only to barely wield the power of a Grand Master.

Such power might suffice against an ordinary Grand Master. But facing an elite like Wan Guxiao, who had once ranked among the outstanding talents, his injuries became an immediate liability. Even though Wan Guxiao was newly advanced, Ma Buting was already inferior to him!

Thus, after only a few exchanges, Ma Buting’s blockade was broken by Wan Guxiao. The encirclement of the Ma brothers collapsed in an instant.

———

“‘The Twin Ma of the Northwest, Unstoppable as the Wind’—so that’s all you amount to!”

“I hear you even dared to rob a ranking expert. Where did you get such nerve?”

Breaking free from their encirclement, Wan Guxiao glanced at the little serpent now caught by Ma Buti, recalled his life-bound Gu, and sneered.

Snatching something from a ranking master was the greatest boast of the Ma brothers, Ma Buting and Ma Buti. The Earth Ranking listed only a hundred martial artists below the Martial Lord realm; those who made it onto this list were mostly Grand Masters who had lingered at the peak of their class for many years.

Rumors had it that Earth Ranking experts could even escape pursuit by Martial Lords. Throughout the land, these were all renowned, formidable figures.

The Ma brothers had never entered the Earth Ranking, nor the Talents List. If not for their joint effort years ago in robbing an Earth Ranking expert, their fame would have remained confined to the northwest.

Though he knew Ma Buting’s strength had plummeted after his grievous injury, and their combined attacks were now a shadow of their former power, Wan Guxiao, recalling how Ma Buti had wounded him previously, could not help but mock them.

He casually crushed the little jade-green snake in his hand. Ma Buti’s face darkened, but his tone was somber as he spoke:

“A Grand Master! So you really have become a Grand Master! It seems your last injury turned out to be a blessing in disguise.”

To advance from Master to Grand Master required, at minimum, pushing a dantian to its limit and opening at least three of the nine divine apertures, so that spiritual force, nurtured by profound energy, could be merged into it.

Wan Guxiao had been a Master for years, with the throat, nose, and two shadow apertures opened; his spiritual force was well cultivated. With the resources of the Primordial Gu sect of the Myriad Poisons Clan, the profound energy in his dantian had long since reached its peak.

Yet, lacking a vision of the divine, his spirit and energy had never fully fused, leaving him stuck at the pinnacle of Master.

Now, after his last injury, he had evidently once more brushed against the opportunity to merge spirit and energy, and so advanced to Grand Master.

“Yes! And I have you to thank for it.”

With a note of mockery in his voice, Wan Guxiao continued:

“If your pursuit hadn’t pushed me to my limits, how would the spirit in my shadow apertures have so easily blended with my profound energy?”

“This breakthrough is truly thanks to you!”

Just over a month ago, while searching for secrets in the Lu family, he had suddenly been pursued by Ma Buti. Driven to desperation, he had burst forth with unprecedented speed, barely escaping with his life.

Perhaps because speed was linked to the shadow apertures, this outburst allowed Wan Guxiao to sense a trace of fusion between spirit and energy, and he smoothly advanced to Grand Master. Otherwise, he might have had to wait much longer for his opportunity.

———

“A Grand Master!”

Confirming Wan Guxiao’s cultivation, Ma Buting and Ma Buti exchanged glances, both feeling the situation had become thorny.

The cultivation of Masters and Grand Masters involved tempering the five viscera and six bowels, accumulating profound energy, fusing spirit and energy, and ultimately opening the divine sea to achieve Martial Lord status. The difference between Master and Grand Master was mainly in the quantity of profound energy and spiritual force, not quality.

Yet, the Grand Master realm was set apart not only by the ability to project profound energy outward, but by the commencement of tempering the last of the five viscera—the heart.

The heart has nine apertures, corresponding to the body’s nine divine apertures. After opening at least three divine apertures and merging spirit with energy, the Grand Master could begin tempering the heart, entering the blood-refining stage of cultivation.

When all nine divine apertures were opened and the heart’s nine apertures were fully tempered, the blood-refining stage was complete.

Blood governs essence and energy; after this refinement, the Grand Master’s strength and speed would increase markedly, as would endurance and recovery. Where a Master could sustain full power for a quarter of an hour, a Grand Master could last at least an hour.

Moreover, unless wounded in a vital spot like the heart, a Grand Master could recover rapidly from injuries. Thus, no matter the disparity in strength, it was exceedingly difficult for even a peak Grand Master to slay a newly advanced one—hence, they were classed together.

Now that Wan Guxiao had broken through, the Ma brothers still held the upper hand, but they could no longer dominate him as before. At the very least, if Wan Guxiao wished to flee, they could not stop him.

———

“Well? Do you still wish to continue?”

Seeing the shifting expressions of the Ma brothers, Wan Guxiao spoke with smug confidence.

Having become a Grand Master, he was no longer at their mercy. Even facing both brothers, he had ample confidence—let alone with countless snakes and insects in the Serpent Pit at his disposal.

Though their clash was brief, Ma Buting had already discerned that Wan Guxiao’s power now surpassed his own. After years of adapting to his diminished skills, he had no qualms about conveying his impressions of the fight to his younger brother through a secret transmission of profound energy.

“He’s even stronger than you are now!”

His face growing gloomier, Ma Buti conferred with his brother, and at last declared:

“Wan Guxiao, Lu Hai of Blackstone Island is now my in-law. You murdered him without cause; surely you owe us an accounting!”

Since seizing Longsang Island, Ma Buti had taken several concubines. Among them was Sang Si-niang, the younger sister of Lu Hai’s wife, Sang Er-niang, whom he had forcibly claimed.

Now, facing Wan Guxiao, he seized on this connection to press the matter.

“In-law?”

Feigning great surprise, Wan Guxiao laughed and said,

“An eye for an eye. You wounded me, I killed your in-law. What, do you mean to seek vengeance for him?”

But in his heart he was wondering, “Could it be these two didn’t know of Blackstone Island’s secret before? Are they only now, because of my actions, sensing there’s more to the Lu family?”

Thinking thus, Wan Guxiao silently rued his miscalculation—had he been more discreet when killing Lu Hai!

Ma Buti, unwilling to banter, said curtly,

“Enough with the nonsense! That boy from the Lu family is in your hands, isn’t he? Hand him over!”

“His fourth aunt has come crying to me more than once!”

Perhaps just seeking a pretext, Ma Buti tacked on this feeble justification.

“The Lu boy? Lu Sheng? Isn’t he in Blackstone Fortress?”

Wan Guxiao feigned astonishment. He, too, wanted to confirm from Ma Buti whether Lu Sheng had escaped the Serpent Pit.

“In Blackstone Fortress? Wan Guxiao, are you toying with us?”

“How could the Lu family’s secret passage still lead to Blackstone Fortress?”

Growing more impatient, Ma Buti snapped.

After Wan Guxiao killed Lu Hai, he had thoroughly investigated the Lu family’s secret tunnel, discovering it led straight to the Serpent Pit. It was then he realized this seemingly ordinary healer’s family concealed some secret, prompting him to keep watch here.

Connecting this to Wan Guxiao’s month-long stay in the Serpent Pit, the brothers naturally assumed the fleeing Lu Sheng had already fallen into his hands.

“So? The boy still hasn’t left the Serpent Pit?”

As he pondered Ma Buti’s words, Wan Guxiao suddenly sensed movement among the snakes and insects he had stationed at one of the exits. Focusing his senses, his expression shifted abruptly as he hastily said,

“Then please, continue your search. I won’t be joining you!”

With a flicker, he sped toward one of the exits.

The Ma brothers, though unsure what had just transpired, also set off in pursuit of Wan Guxiao—

Though they did not yet know what secrets the Lu family hid, so long as they followed this man, there was sure to be a reward in the end.