Chapter 260: 『Holding Up Mount Buzhou』

"Stop, stop, those who force their way through die."

The defense line set up in the direction of the city gate was only a thin layer, far less strictly guarded than the path leading to the Inner City.

Several Apprentices from the martial arts school were squinting and dozing off when they suddenly saw a sea of heads gathering from all directions.

They were not only jolted awake but even broke out in a cold sweat, scrambling to block the way in a panic.

After the Apprentices saw the scale of the crowd clearly, their scalps went numb; thousands upon thousands of residents were surging over like a human tide, with walls of people on all sides, enough to crush a person to death or trample them into meat paste.

"Move!"

A hot-headed youngster rolled up his sleeves excitedly, but was stopped by a companion, "Are you crazy? You might be able to beat one or two, but can you beat this many people?"

Anyone with a little experience knows that once you are caught in a sea of people, no matter how high your skills are, you cannot unleash them.

Human strength has its limits; once your power is exhausted, your only fate is to be drowned by the tide, unable to even splash a ripple.

In the blink of an eye, hundreds of residents from the Plague zone rushed to the defense line, "Let us out."

"We can't let you out; if we let people go, the School Master will surely beat us to death."

The major martial arts schools had also signed military orders; letting people go meant bearing the consequences, and ordinary Apprentices did not have the guts to break the prohibition.

Several Apprentices turned pale, knowing that today there was only a dead end.

Once the human tide broke through the defense line, they would be the first to bear the brunt; under the chaotic trampling, they wouldn't even be able to keep their bodies intact.

Even if they sacrificed their lives like this, the School Master would not hold their families accountable for their dereliction of duty.

Suddenly, a voice came, "From Jian Xiong Martial Arts School? Do you recognize me?"

The crowd parted like water, and one person walked out.

Someone heard the familiar voice and blurted out subconsciously, "Senior Brother Zhou."

Immediately realizing that Zhou You had already left the martial arts school and was no longer their Senior Brother, they shut their mouths sullenly, feeling a bit awkward.

Zhou You walked to the front of the defense line and, with one lift of his hand, crushed the iron-clad wooden fence to pieces, "Let them pass."

"Zhou... um... Zhou You, don't mess around. You have parents and family too, don't implicate them."

The leading Apprentice was in his early thirties, a steady and cautious man, and he immediately warned Zhou You not to be impulsive.

Under the Plague, the atmosphere in the city was cruelly tense; if one person made a mistake, the whole family would be implicated.

"Rules are dead, people are alive. These people aren't trying to force their way in, but to leave the city."

Zhou You explained, "If they leave the city like this and take the Plague with them, isn't that a good thing?"

Hearing it this way, it actually made some sense.

The leading Apprentice's expression was somewhat conflicted; he was timid and afraid to take responsibility.

Furthermore, in the martial arts school, Lu Jianqing was now the recognized head of the Disciples, and he had a grudge with Zhou You!

If he listened to Zhou You and let people go today, and it reached Lu Jianqing's ears later, who knows if he would be made a scapegoat!

Seeing his demeanor, Zhou You had already guessed the general situation and sighed; it seemed he still had to use force!

He wasn't worried about the consequences either; Zhuang Tie had already made preparations in Fucheng in advance; at worst, he would take his parents and move to Fucheng to start over.

Even if Gongliang City wasn't destroyed by the Plague, it was mostly ruined, and there was an old man from the Golden Immortal Dao lurking in the shadows; it really wasn't a place to stay for long.

"I'll open the gate!"

Yin Sanfen walked behind Zhou You, "Just now, watching your form and footwork, what you've learned is quite eclectic, possessing both Crane Form and Tiger Steps."

"I didn't expect you to come from a branch of Dayin Mountain."

Judging by his tone, he knew quite a bit about Dayin Mountain.

"I was expelled from the sect long ago, shame, shame."

Yin Sanfen didn't care, "A mere martial arts school, what qualifications does it have to be called a 'sect'?"

"As long as you nod, I'll write a recommendation, and you can go straight into the mountain to become a Core Tiger Disciple."

The Disciples inside Dayin Mountain are also divided into different ranks; the highest rank is Tiger General, and the lowest is Ghost General. The top-tier Leopard General is the most mysterious and is no longer in the category of Disciples.

Tiger Generals are people above others, while Ghost Generals are equivalent to menial servants, having to serve the Tiger Generals in every way and yield three points.

A recommendation from a strong martial artist could undoubtedly allow Zhou You to join Dayin Mountain and become a top-level Tiger General Disciple.

One must know that with Wang Jianxiong's connections, he still hadn't been able to get a qualification for Lu Jianqing to enter the mountain.

Yin Sanfen didn't even have any fear of Dayin Mountain, let alone a branch martial arts school.

"Step back a hundred paces, and try to lie on the ground and don't move around."

Yin Sanfen said to the crowd, then raised his palm, "I permit you to watch."

Zhou You's heart tightened, guessing what was about to happen.

"Now that the food is leaving the city, that's not enough; we must thoroughly cleanse the disease-Qi, only then will we not bring the Plague to other places and harm them."

Yin Sanfen squinted at the end of the horizon, "The wind is about to rise."

As soon as he finished speaking, dark clouds gathered overhead, and strong winds swept from all directions, blowing with a crackling sound.

Sand and dust mixed into the wind, blowing so hard that people couldn't even open their eyes.

The residents in the Plague zone lay on the ground one after another, not daring to lift their heads, for fear of being blown away.

Zhou You breathed.

After a few moments, Qi and blood poured into his legs, his center of gravity sank, offsetting the impact of the gale.

Yin Sanfen's back, amidst the dark clouds and the gale, became increasingly clear and towering, like a mountain slowly rising.

As the gale grew stronger, the disease-Qi permeating the air around them also began to waver.

And this was just the beginning.

Yin Sanfen raised his right palm, and the surrounding residents and the Apprentices of Jian Xiong Martial Arts School only felt their vision go black, as if heaven and earth were covered.

Only Zhou You could see a rough outline; his palm seemed to carry magic, gathering the surrounding light and sight.

The gale roared, and the whistling sound became increasingly piercing after being compressed.

In an instant, the gale extending a thousand meters away was compressed by him into the palm of his hand.

"Palm Supporting Mount Buzhou, this nickname is spot on."

Zhou You sighed inwardly; using human power to harness the forces of the natural world already transcended the simple limits of the physical body.

It is said that the Qiangwu Jiuzhongtian is the excavation of the human body's potential Zang, finally breaking through the bottleneck to ascend to the rank of Grandmaster.

Yin Sanfen stood at the peak of the Nine Heavens, his single palm grasping and caging the gale within a thousand-meter diameter, which was enough to show the power of this level.

It was even possible that this was still far from his limit.

"Heaven and earth have clear winds, cleansing filth and returning the world to clarity."

Yin Sanfen muttered, flipping his palm over to invert the gale in his hand, instantly shrouding this area.

Zhou You's ears buzzed, and the world around him fell into silence; there was no sound at all.

In his perception, the Plague miasma that permeated the air and infiltrated every crack vanished, shattered at the same time.

This area near the city gate had completely become a vacuum for the Plague.

Looking at the defensive line again, the few Apprentices who had originally been guarding it were nowhere to be found.

Zhou You thought of the grand momentum of the gale's raging, compression, and cleansing just now; these fellow disciples had likely already turned into dust.

The majesty of Qiangwu cannot be provoked; with a flick of a finger, a few insignificant pawns were already wiped out.

Awe and wariness arose in his heart; when strength is not on the same level, so-called equal interaction is essentially still a form of charity.

"Zhou You, don't forget the ten-year deadline; promises are void once they expire."

Yin Sanfen helped Zhang Po into the crowd, not forgetting to remind Zhou You before leaving.

(End of chapter)