Chapter 61: I can seize that and replace him!

The next day, morning.

"Haah~"

Zhang Chengyi yawned as he got out of bed, paying no heed to the rumor that martial arts masters from the three kingdoms were jointly attacking Die Gu Gu (Drum-Clearing Mountain).

Just how formidable could these experts possibly be? If Wu Ya-zi and the others couldn't handle them, they might as well give up on transcending the martial way and find a shady spot to hang themselves.

After a leisurely wash and freshening up, he strolled over to the courtyard in front of the valley.

The Deaf-Mute Valley was no longer the densely overgrown place it used to be. Thanks to the three master craftsmen—Wu Ya-zi, Su Xinghe, and Feng San—it had long since been transformed into a complex of exquisitely structured and magnificent wooden buildings.

Truth be told, top-tier martial arts masters were remarkably efficient at carpentry. Especially after beginning their body-refining regimen, each of them possessed the strength to lift heavy cauldrons, making a single one of them worth a hundred ordinary carpentry disciples.

Rows of captives dressed in martial attire were obediently leaning against the wall. They had no choice; their acupoints had been sealed.

Transcending the martial way always required some expendable materials, body-refining above all. It was much easier to handle when a few experts were brought in, saving Zhang Chengyi the trouble of channeling his own internal energy for use.

Body-refining experiments wouldn't be fatal; at most, one's true qi would dissipate and all martial arts would be lost, but death was completely off the table. Come to think of it, they were actually getting off easy. If a real fight broke out, they were merely cannon fodder to be swatted away with a casual wave of the hand.

The former Beggars' Sect disciples brought by Xiao Feng were going down the line, verifying the identities of these captives one by one.

"Senior Brother~"

"Wretch!"

"Senior Sister..."

Oh my, things were getting quite lively.

Zhang Chengyi looked at the Xiaoyao Sect's three elders, who formed a remarkably stable triangular configuration, and smiled with mischievous intent.

That old codger Wu Ya-zi had been dispirited ever since he returned from Wuliang Mountain. Although he hadn't fallen behind on his work, his daily sighing was enough to drive someone crazy.

Well, now he wouldn't have to worry about him sinking into a prolonged depression.

As for whether he would end up split in two or carried away on a boat while holding the Heavenly Mountain Child Elder's head—that was anyone's guess.

The three of them—the senior sister at ninety-six, the junior brother at ninety-three, and the junior sister at eighty-eight—were pushing three hundred years old combined, yet they were still tangled up in emotional baggage. It was truly a bit much to bear.

"Young friend." Seeing Zhang Chengyi walk over, Wu Ya-zi looked immensely relieved and came forward to greet him.

Li Qiushui, who was still unable to use her internal energy as a captive, let out a delicate huff and stared straight at Zhang Chengyi.

Not far away, the petite and delicate-looking Heavenly Mountain Child Elder fixed a murderous glare upon the despicable wretch opposite her. Having arrived yesterday afternoon and having kept a constant watch on the Central Plains and a certain despicable woman, she had discovered the situation even earlier than the Beggars' Sect, arriving near Drum-Clearing Mountain with her Vulture Palace disciples by yesterday afternoon.

Being protective of her subordinates, she had actually attempted to sneak into Drum-Clearing Mountain alone, only to end up captured just like Li Qiushui.

The two of them were truly birds of a feather; both had their acupoints sealed and their internal energy blocked, and with the Deaf-Mute Sect disciples watching closely, a fight was completely out of the question.

Ignoring the two old hags, Zhang Chengyi walked toward the main hall with a smile. "After I leave, you'd better be careful not to let them devour you."

Whatever grievances and entanglements existed between them had nothing to do with him in the end. As long as Wu Ya-zi could let go, he had no desire to meddle in their romantic affairs.

"Sigh."

Wu Ya-zi let out a long breath and asked, "When will my young friend go into 'seclusion'?" Recently, he had sensed that his benefactor was about to leave.

"The day after tomorrow. Xiao Feng and I are heading to Bianjing to fulfill an appointment, and after that, I plan to find a place for seclusion."

Zhang Chengyi gave his answer cleanly and decisively; he had never intended to return after going to Bianjing.

His practical combat training was practically complete. Even without using internal energy and with his physical stats lowered, he could easily take on five opponents bare-handed in an open environment. With weapons or in more complex terrain, sparring and circling to defeat ten would not be a problem either.

On the other hand, the various martial arts manuals continuously collected by the Eight Freaks of Hangu had brought him quite a few pleasant surprises. Whether it was relatively common martial arts like the Iron Cloth Shirt, Iron Sand Palm, or Iron Crotch Skill, or miraculous arts like the Dragon-Elephant般若 Sutra, the Marrow-Washing Scripture, or the Muscle-Changing Scripture, all of them provided some degree of physical enhancement.

This had been tested by the many masters within the valley. The only regret was that he himself could not practice many of these miraculous arts and could only watch the excitement from the sidelines.

After all, his abilities were acquired through system-like cheating and stat allocation, and his time spent learning martial arts was less than a year. Moreover, this hunter's body was hardly that of a prodigy; his innate aptitude was rather poor, making it impossible for him to learn them.

Techniques that relied purely on a vast reserve of internal energy, such as the One-Yang Finger, the Six Meridians Divine Sword, or the Heaven-Swallowing Great Shift, were conversely of little significance to him. Because they did not involve physical transformation, they were mostly just applications of internal energy.

When he could achieve invincibility simply through basic attacks, what use was learning a bunch of miscellaneous skills? He could worry about that in the future.

Wu Ya-zi remained silent for a good while before asking frankly, "Will my young friend return in the future?"

"Most certainly." Zhang Chengyi stopped and stood firmly.

Deep down, he felt a slight sense of reluctance—perhaps due to discomfort with a completely unfamiliar new world? Transitioning from the known to the unknown always required courage.

Firstly, he was indeed growing somewhat tired of the life of a chivalrous hero and an immortal. Secondly, he had things that he had to do; his true body was still hanging solitarily outside the world, and relying solely on "logging into" games within different worlds gave him far too little agency, accompanied by a vast sensory disconnect.

If he wanted to live a normal human life again and one day return to his homeland, the very first thing he needed to do was find a suitable body to put himself back into.

Remaining in the world of Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils was clearly not an option.

However, coming back to visit occasionally was always possible.

"The martial way shall be left in your hands." Zhang Chengyi looked at Wu Ya-zi's somewhat desolate expression and said earnestly,

"We shall meet again in the future."

---

On the night of a full moon, within the imperial palace of Bianjing, the rear pavilion of the Chongqing Hall was brightly lit.

Grand Empress Dowager Gao sat with proper dignity, quietly accompanied by Emperor Zhao Xu. Outside the hall, armored guards bearing weapons patrolled back and forth, while imperial martial arts experts lurked in various shadows.

"Whoosh!"

As if a gust of cool breeze had swept past, a stalwart man suddenly appeared inside the hall.

"Clatter!" Armed guards rushed in from outside, surrounding the two of them tightly in the blink of an eye, while the imperial experts placed themselves protectively in front of the Grand Empress Dowager and the Emperor.

"Why is Your Majesty so nervous?"

The man's expression remained calm and unruffled. "This Zhang did send a letter of notification beforehand."

"The Knight-Errant of Jinshan, Zhang Chengyi!"

"Take him down!" At the command of the lead guard, every single one of them struck simultaneously.

"Clang!"

Blades crossed, striking empty air. Like a ghost, the man had already reached the vicinity of the Emperor, instantly making the imperial guards hesitant to attack for fear of harming their ruler.

Before any conversation could take place, Zhang Chengyi hoisted Emperor Zhao Xu up. With just a casual wave of his hand, a roaring surge of palm force swept outward, sending the guards crashing through doors and windows to fly outside. He then strolled leisurely toward the exit with his captive.

A single step covered dozens of meters, and in the blink of an eye, he arrived in the courtyard as the imperial guards and palace experts flooded out from the pavilion.

Instead of fleeing afar, Zhang Chengyi leaped onto the rooftop. Setting his captive down, he unclasped the wine gourd from his waist, handed it over, and pointed a single finger at the moon in the sky. "Your Majesty, I invite you to admire the moon and drink wine tonight."

Having nurtured dreams of riding a tall horse to break enemy formations, slaughtering millions, and capturing the capital since his youth, Zhao Xu managed to maintain his footing on the rooftop. Even as a captive, he showed very little panic, keeping his face cold as he stated, "The Son of Heaven does not drink with villains."

"Quickly, save my child!" Grand Empress Dowager Gao was helped out of the building, crying out loudly.

The imperial experts leaped upward like fleas, but Xiao Feng, standing quietly in the shadows, stepped forward and released a burst of true qi, sending the experts clattering down to the ground in a flurry.

"Ha~"

Zhang Chengyi was not angered by Zhao Xu's attitude. He pulled out the stopper, took a leisurely sip of the fruit wine brewed by Wu Ya-zi, and then casually struck with a single palm.

"Boom!"

A deep, massive palm print was blasted into the empty ground not far away. The earth trembled, followed by a succession of panicked screams. Her health already poor, the Grand Empress Dowager turned ashen white, unable to even stand properly, and nearly collapsed directly to the ground.

Resisting his inner terror, Zhao Xu forced himself to maintain a calm facade, though panic and bewilderment inevitably leaked through. In his mind, he was frantically calculating how to excuse the imperial court's campaign against Drum-Clearing Mountain.

To his surprise, Zhang Chengyi paid him no mind whatsoever. Instead, he looked at Xiao Feng and said, "Behold, the Emperor."

"The commander of the imperial guards in this palace is a confidant of the Grand Empress Dowager; the head of the palace eunuchs is her trusted aide, and the civil and military ministers of this court were all appointed by her as well."

"Today, I invited him here, and I could just as easily have gone straight to the rear pavilion of the Chongqing Hall where the Grand Empress Dowager lives."

"If the Grand Empress Dowager is unhappy, this young Emperor can only sit obediently upon his throne like a mud idol."

A look of humiliation flashed across Zhao Xu's eyes. He wanted to scold the man, but not a single word would come out.

The terrifying might of that single palm strike moments ago had utterly shattered his understanding of martial arts and his courage to resist. No matter how much he yearned for the battlefield, he was, after all, merely an 'Emperor' trapped within the confines of the imperial palace.

Xiao Feng remained silent, gazing at Zhao Xu with thoughts churning in his mind: *Unfit to be a ruler.*

"Heh~" Zhang Chengyi continued, "The times have changed, Old Xiao."

"With your martial arts and mine, there is no perilous terrain impassable in this world. Even this imperial palace is a place we enter as we please and leave as we wish."

He spoke in a normal tone, making no effort to lower his voice. The surrounding palace guards and imperial experts heard every word clearly, yet not a single one dared to utter a sound.

"A knight-errant uses martial arts to transgress the prohibitions, but what if martial arts itself becomes the law of this world?"

He clutched his wine gourd, drank to the moon, and laughed aloud. "Fists equal power."

"Old Xiao, you haven't forgotten, have you?"

"Before we part, I have one phrase to gift you." Zhang Chengyi tossed the half-filled wine gourd through the air, pointed at Zhao Xu, and declared:

"That man can be replaced!"

"The path of the jianghu is long and distant, we shall meet again!"

With those words, he lightly tapped the tips of his toes, and his figure suddenly soared into the high sky. Channeling his true qi in an orderly fashion through the meridians and acupoints of his lower limbs, bolstered by the lightness skill researched by Wu Ya-zi and dubbed the "Dancing Sky Technique" by himself, he moved as if riding the clouds. Under the shroud of moonlight and before the eyes of the multitude, he flew right out of the imperial city through the air.

Xiao Feng gazed at the empty space above, his thoughts spinning wildly. For some reason, as he recalled the cowardly appearance of the Emperor just moments before, something seemed to shatter within his mind, while something else began to rise.

*[That man can be replaced...]*