Solution

“Damned kid!”

The two men in black bellowed.

Then they raised their arms as they each brandished their knives toward Chu He, flanking him on either side.

“Really!”

“You had the opportunity to take the easy way out, and you threw it away!”

Chu He shook his head in exasperation.

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He did not want to get into trouble, but that did not mean that he did not have a temper.

Anyone who dared to lay a hand on him had a death wish.

Chu He extended an arm and gave it a casual wave. The glint of the men’s knives disappeared bit by bit, and then the dadao in their hands shattered into tiny pieces before falling to the ground like glass.

“How—”

“How can it be!”

The expression on the two men’s faces changed drastically as they stared at the shattered handles of their knives and their bleeding palms.

The power of that one casual strike.

It was even more powerful than the masters who had mastered the Precelestial Ninth Erudition that they had fought against before.

With that sort of power, was he basically a demi-king?

To heck with pretending to be a tiger, he was a bonafide tiger!

Fear washed over them when they thought of that.

This time, the two men did not converse using their eyes. Instead, they bounded to their feet at the same time and turned to run in two different directions.

They wanted to escape.

“I gave you a chance to make a choice just now, but I’m very unhappy with the decision you made.”

Chu He shook his head, his left hand still placed behind his back as he curled his right hand into a fist.

Poof! Poof!

Two punches burst through the air.

The fierce punches rended the air and plunged the men’s minds into an abyss of despair.

It felt as if even the most powerful beings would be shattered by these two fists.

“No!”

“Please spare our lives, senior!”

The two men dressed in black let out terrified screams.

They could feel death looming upon them.

However, their prayers went unanswered.

The punches landed on their backs and traveled right through their bodies.

A powerful and tyrannical force exploded inside them.

Their bodies blew up into the air and blood was sent flying everywhere as if two gory fireworks had just been set off.

The two men dressed in black were filled with nothing but remorse during the last moments of their lives.

The boy had asked them to leave. If only they had listened to him and left obediently.

Why had they provoked him when they had no business in doing so?

They could not regret it enough.

Chu He dusted his sleeves before strolling back into the book depository with a complacent expression on his face.

Time to continue practicing.

…

In a high-rise tea house two streets away from the Lin Mansion.

It was already late night, but the room at the top of the tea house was still brightly lit.

Two figures dressed in long brocade robes were staring in the direction of the Lin Mansion.

“Something’s gone wrong! Hu and Sha have sent a distress signal.”

Suddenly, one of the figures spoke in a startled voice.

“Come on! Let’s go check it out.”

The two jumped out of the tea house and reached the periphery of the Lin Mansion in a few leaps.

They did not dare enter directly and instead climbed a tall tree so they could observe secretly from above.

“What’s going on? Hu and Sha have already sent the distress signal. That means they’ve been exposed and must now be fighting against the masters of the Lin Mansion. Why is there no movement at all?”

“Could Hu and Sha have sent the signal by mistake? Or have they already been defeated by the Lin family?”

One of them voiced his thoughts.

“That’s impossible. The Lin family is at its weakest now. A portion of their masters are buried in Annan, and several others are stationed elsewhere. Currently, besides the half-dead old man, the strongest person at the Lin family has only just mastered the Precelestial Eighth Erudition. Hu and Sha are both strong fighters and masters of the Seventh Erudition. They should be able to hold their ground against a master of the Eighth Erudition with their combined powers. How can they possibly be defeated so quickly?”

The other man dressed in a brocade robe shook his head while he replied.

“Then that means Hu and Sha set off the signal by accident, but that shouldn’t be the case. Hu and Sha aren’t that stupid. It’s either that or there are other masters hiding in the Lin family.

The first man spoke again.

“The Lin family is a large family that’s been around for hundreds of years. They may have hidden reserves. What’s important now is that we don’t know what kind of technique their hidden master practices to be able to get rid of Hu and Sha without causing a commotion. There must be more than one person who has already attained the ninth level. Or perhaps they have someone who is a demi-king? Or maybe, the withered old man is not as hurt as the rumors made him out to be?”

“For real!” The expression on the second man had turned ugly.

“So what should we do now?” he asked his companion.

“Wait!”

“We’ll wait for tomorrow when we can be sure about what happened. Then, we can report both what happened tonight as well as our assumptions and let the Leader make a decision.”

…

Lin Mansion book depository.

Chu He was aware that experts from the Lin family were on their way to get rid of the mangled corpses and the blood spatters. Then, the masters would begin their secret inspections.

Now was not a suitable time for practicing.

There was a chance he could be interrupted any time.

He returned to his room and lay on his bed.

Nevertheless, the difference between him sleeping or not sleeping was no longer significant at his current level.

However, it was still a nice feeling to lie on his bed for an entire night every once in a while.

Besides, he would not be wasting time even if he slept.

Before Chu He shut his eyes, he retrieved a handful of tablets and stuffed them into his mouth, chewing on them like sweets before swallowing.

Then, he shut his eyes.

In an instant, his body turned burning hot, as if he had been placed on a stove.

Through his clouding consciousness, he could feel the Golden Nine Turns operating on their own accord. A stream of power was liquified and then began transforming and enhancing every organ and every muscle and bone on his body.

His strength was increasing slowly but surely.

“Mmm! That’s comfortable.”

Chu He smacked his lips and spoke sleepily as he shut his eyes and drifted off to sleep.