Chapter 59: The Legend of the Martial World
Once she understood, Wen Xiang shook her head. “I don’t know either.” No sooner had she spoken than she caught sight of his tightly clenched fist, the faint aura of killing intent swirling around him. Realizing he was not joking, she hurriedly added, “I don’t think they’ll be your enemy again.”
Only then did Su Yi let his tense face relax, secretly grumbling: Beautiful lady, could you please finish your sentences instead of saying half at a time? I almost decided to send you to an early grave.
“That’s more like it.” Su Yi patted her shoulder. “To let go of petty feuds and start afresh—there’s hope for you yet. I believe in you.”
He patted her with such force that Wen Xiang’s shoulder ached, then tossed another remark her way. “I hear you’re thirty-seven or thirty-eight now. At your age, finding a place to settle down isn’t a bad idea. It beats drifting around. You’re quite attractive; finding a wealthy household shouldn’t be an issue. If you lack connections, I can help ask around.”
He completely ignored her look of embarrassed annoyance.
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After resupplying at Jingchun, the fleet continued south. Just a day later, they reached Dang’an—the furthest point the ships could go. The rest of the journey would have to be overland.
Once ashore, Su Yi instructed Pang to send half the ship’s soldiers with them. After the battle on the lake, Commander Pang was entirely obedient to Su Yi and complied without hesitation.
The mountain roads were rugged, yet the journey proved uneventful. Su Yi felt a pang of disappointment.
Upon reaching the innate realm, the primordial energy returned to its source—manifesting the body’s own vital force. Trying to use “Whale Swallowing Qi” to absorb others’ internal power now did little for his cultivation; only absorbing from other innate level experts yielded some effect, but refining their energy took just as long as his own training.
Moreover, in this world, innate experts were rarer than pandas on Blue Star.
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Though absorbing true energy no longer advanced his cultivation, it still served for healing. Su Yi mused that if any fool dared provoke him, he wouldn’t mind dispensing justice. Yet not even a single bandit appeared along the way.
Thus, two days later, the group arrived safely at Guangyang.
Chi Lingxiao’s ancestral home lay in a village surrounded by mountains on three sides, in the Guangyang district. The family estate was at the eastern end, and Chi Lingxiao had sent people to renovate it in his lifetime, adding several courtyards. Though the furnishings were modest, the place never seemed shabby.
In the Daxing dynasty, apart from founding ministers, few were ever granted titles. Chi Lingxiao, though not ennobled before being dismissed, had a substantial salary but cared little for personal comfort, spending most of his wealth on supporting the families of fallen soldiers.
Even so, Chi Lingxiao purchased a thousand acres of rice fields in his hometown, donating half as clan land to help impoverished kin study and pursue official careers.
Which meant, if young Chi Pengjin had no great ambitions in life, he could rely on those five hundred acres and live as a carefree landowner.
When Chi Pengjin’s party set out from Luodu, they’d already sent people ahead to tidy up the ancestral home, so there was little to do upon arrival. That night, they settled in.
Late that night, Su Yi returned to the room next to Chi Pengjin’s, sat on his bed, and was greeted by the long-absent voice of the system in his mind.
“Notification: Host has completed the mission in this world and may return at any time.”
“Rewards for this world have been calculated. Host may view them at any time.”
Su Yi paused, then remembered the system’s earlier warning: in the second world, he could stay for up to a month.
By his calculations, he’d only been here ten days or so. If he didn’t want to return yet, he could remain a while longer.
He reflected that there was nothing pressing in the real world. Before entering this world, he’d explained everything to friends and family who might contact him; no one would disturb him. Since that was so, he might as well wait until his time was up.
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Here, the mountains and waters were pristine, a landscape untouched by civilization—perfect for recuperation. He could teach young Chi Pengjin, discuss martial arts with Guan Shan, and occasionally tease Wen Xiang. Such carefree days seemed idyllic.
A sudden idea struck him, so he asked the system, “System, can I choose how I return?”
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A few days later, news of the battle at Suiyang Lake began to spread. Captured pirates and martial artists, firsthand witnesses, told their stories, which the arriving government troops corroborated. Su Yi’s legendary exploits—the stuff of martial myths—echoed across the land.
In countless teahouses and taverns, martial men argued heatedly over the name they’d never heard before, faces flushed with excitement, voices raised in dispute. The tales were simply too fantastic.
Who was Zuo Qingzong? A giant of the demonic path, Lord of the Daylight Palace, a contender for the number one spot under heaven—how could he fall to an unknown? More incredible still, this nameless hero wiped out nearly all of the Daylight Palace’s senior members. And the rumor, apparently endorsed by the authorities, claimed he commanded the very elements to overturn dozens of ships.
The martial world was full of braggarts, but even the wildest tales usually contained some logic. These rumors, however, defied all reason, baffling even those ignorant of martial cultivation.
Some well-informed sect elders stepped forward, digging through old records and oral histories. Even three hundred years ago, the demon Lu Sheng—suspected by many to have reached the legendary, ethereal Tianyuan realm—never displayed such power. So, the folk legends, they concluded, were mere ignorance and exaggeration.
Yet before the uproar could settle, an even more unbelievable rumor swept the land.
The name that had thundered through the martial world—Su Yi, said to have single-handedly defeated the greatest sect of the demonic path—was now rumored to have reached the pinnacle of martial attainment, the unmatched celestial realm. In ten days, he would break through to the void and ascend to the heavens in Guangyang, inviting all martial peers to witness the event.