Chapter 12

In the thick night, a crimson dragon stretched its body, coiling through the void and lowing, its fiery glow streaming across the sky, illuminating the darkness; in Yicheng, the Emperor's trusted ministers stared into the night, their faces pale beneath the flames.

They stood motionless, like lifeless puppets.

Crimson scales spread open, like maple leaves drifting down beneath an autumn sunset, flowing fire across the heavens.

General Yue Qianfeng patted Li Guanyi's head and laughed loudly:

"There, that's called erasing all traces."

"It's General Zhuge Ying's favorite move—kill, loot, erase all traces, leave nothing behind. He's best at stacking Tartar skulls into a burial pit with a spade. Too many martial sects use fake-death pills and techniques; even a pierced heart can be revived. Burning is more reliable."

"By the way, here's your share."

General Yue Qianfeng pulled off a pouch and tossed it to Li Guanyi.

Li Guanyi opened the pouch and found round balls of gold and silver.

General Yue Qianfeng grinned: "Night Riders don't carry gold or silver on missions, but to handle special cases, we hollow out the hilt and stash a tael or two of gold inside, and the silver ornaments on the scabbard are pure silver."

"This is your share, accomplice."

Li Guanyi said: "But I didn't do anything."

General Yue Qianfeng looked at him, grinned, and replied:

"It's not about what you did. To me, 'accomplice' means we shared the same risk. If so, we share the gains. You can't shoulder the risk together and take all the gold for yourself—that's not an accomplice, that's a thief, hahaha."

"But these gold pieces are mixed with Crimson Essence—they're worth more; the silver's purity is too high, and without proper status, spending it could cause trouble. Tonight's Night Riders are dead—you'd better dig a hole somewhere and bury it. Dig it up in a few years; it'll be enough for you."

"This bracer can only fire once—throw it away, or it'll bring trouble."

"All residual traces here have been wiped clean. I'll lure those spies elsewhere. You leave quickly."

General Yue Qianfeng turned, waved his hand, and strode off.

His words faded, and Li Guanyi saw no trace of General Yue Qianfeng before him.

Just moments ago, the scene had been noisy and alive—now it fell utterly silent.

Li Guanyi lowered his gaze, studying the gold in the pouch.

Five taels of gold, transformed by General Yue Qianfeng's inner power into a single pearl. Five taels of gold—exchange rates fluctuate daily; at its lowest, one tael gold equals eight taels silver; at its peak, twenty taels silver. Usually, it hovers between ten and thirteen taels silver.

Besides the gold, there were over thirty taels of silver, heavy in his hands.

Roughly sixty to seventy strings of cash—Li Guanyi would need to work six years without eating or resting to save that much.

The boy's eyes burned with heat, then ached with sudden pain.

Six years' wages, deposited overnight! "Suddenly rich—but can't spend it."

Li Guanyi rolled the pearl in mud and water, coating it in dirt, then tossed it straight into the dry well beside the Mountain God shrine—filled with broken stones, the pearl was utterly unremarkable. Li Guanyi remembered General Yue Qianfeng saying the traces here had been erased; this was the safest place.

If he took it home and the whole city searched, wouldn't he be caught?

Wait until the heat dies down, then come back and dig it up! He could rent a better house—swap one meat meal per ten days for three.

The rain had stopped. A silver moon hung overhead, casting the earth in stark white. Looking up, he saw wisps of cloud drifting past the moon, dark clouds surging like colossal beasts. Li Guanyi lowered his gaze, stepped forward, kicked off his muddy, rain-soaked shoes, held a branch in hand, and walked backward, sweeping his footprints flat as he went, making them indistinguishable from the surrounding earth.

After painstakingly erasing all traces, he finally relaxed once he reached the main road.

He hurried through narrow alleyways at night, turned several corners, and far ahead spotted a dim yellow light—the small rented courtyard still glowed. The wooden gate hung half-open. Somehow, the tension that had gripped Li Guanyi all night dissolved the moment he saw that light in the darkness.

Li Guanyi pushed the door open carefully. His aunt's room still had a lamp lit. He didn't wake her, but made his footsteps slightly louder—just enough to let her know he'd returned.

He went to his own small room and saw a small black iron pot on the table, steaming with ginger soup. On the bed lay a clean set of clothes, neatly folded.

Li Guanyi grinned, swiftly stripped off his soaked, bloody, muddy clothes, washed himself with water from the basin nearby, put on the clean garments, then picked up the iron pot and drained the hot ginger tea in one gulp.

A hot stream surged through his body. Li Guanyi shivered.

The tension of killing in the rain, training, then sneaking back home—vanished.

Bliss!

He balled up the clothes and threw them into the stove. Watching them consumed by flame, turning into warmth, Li Guanyi exhaled. He lay on the bed, grateful: thank heaven he'd worn his oldest, most tattered clothes today.

Burned it—didn't hurt.

We're rich now!

Doesn't hurt, doesn't hurt! Just a few hundred cash!

Lately, to win General Yue Qianfeng's favor, he'd spent most of the money he saved working as an apprentice at Huichun Hall. Now he had only a few hundred cash left—barely enough to scrape by for half a month. Though this burned shirt had frayed edges, at least it could be sold for some cash.

He touched the bronze tripod on his chest, saw crimson light swirling across its surface, as if something was beginning to form—but he didn't activate it yet. He moved his hand away, closed his eyes, and replayed today's events: Break Army Eight Cuts, Break Formation Melody.

He had killed two Night Riders with his own hands.

The bronze tripod…

Everything felt like a dream.

He clenched his fist, closed his eyes again, and sat in meditation. He felt the warm flow circulating within him. Slowly, the boy's spirit calmed. After about an incense stick's time, he completed two and a half circuits—then he clearly felt a slight stagnation. His Qi flow slowed further, until it nearly ceased.

This meant even if he trained nonstop all day, his progress would be negligible.

Li Guanyi opened his eyes.

He was certain: his innate constitution was abysmally poor.

General Yue Qianfeng was coarse and ruthless, clearly terrible at comforting others—his face and words just now were no different from a teacher telling a child, "Keep trying, you might still pass." But over the years, Li Guanyi had read countless medical texts and knew his own condition.

Aristocratic youths are nurtured from birth with medicinal tonics and superior nutrition, just like post-2000s kids in his past life who grew up strong and healthy. But he'd been plagued since childhood by deadly poison, flaring up unpredictably—worse than an average person by three or four tenths, let alone compared to martial clans.

But…

There's still this.

Li Guanyi's gaze lowered, fixed on the bronze tripod over his heart. He gently stroked it. His consciousness settled upon it. In the past, no matter how many times he tried, he'd felt only a faint chill. But this time, the tripod responded differently.

The bronze tripod seemed to tip.

Crimson jade nectar poured out from within, flooding directly into Li Guanyi's body.

BOOM!!! Intense as fire, agonizing pain! As if he'd been dropped into lava—boundless heat threatened to drown him. But ten years of repeated poison outbreaks had hardened his tolerance. He clung to his sanity. A soothing warmth entered his vision—eyes closed, yet he perceived a brilliant crimson glow.

Li Guanyi instinctively opened his eyes slowly—and the sight before him froze his mind for an instant.

Crimson Dragon!

A crimson celestial dragon was inside this small, dilapidated room.

Its scales were like jade, its horns extended outward, its claws trod empty air, and its tail spread like a river, flowing all the way onto the jade liquid pouring from the overturned bronze cauldron. Inside the room, a young boy dressed in plain brown robes sat on a stone bed, one leg bent, the other lowered; his chest robes slowly burned, the crimson dragon nearly bursting through the walls, coiled and gazing down, the air thick with radiant crimson qi.

"This… this is…"

"The dragon behind General Yue Qianfeng?"

Li Guanyi murmured, then suddenly recalled the activation requirement of the bronze cauldron—his mind lit up with understanding. The next moment, the crimson dragon let out a silent, resonant roar, shook its head, and charged straight at Li Guanyi. Li Guanyi's pupils shrank.

The crimson dragon surged into his body. Li Guanyi was flung backward as if struck, tumbling into Wang Yang.

In an instant, torrents of fierce heat flooded into Li Guanyi's body.

Before his eyes appeared a series of scenes.

Vast battlefields, countless clashes, men risking their lives to charge into combat, killing or being killed—then came a long, resonant cry of the celestial dragon. A mighty general clad in Ink-Black Weight armor gripped a steed as coiled as a dragon with one hand, and in the other held a long-handled battle blade, sweeping it horizontally with brutal force.

His sleeves flared like tidal waves; several severed heads shot skyward.

The general charged left and right, his long-handled blade cleaving and hacking—clearly, the Eight Blades of Breaking Army.

In his daze, Li Guanyi almost felt he was that invincible general on the battlefield, wielding the Eight Blades of Breaking Army, while the heat within his body surged wildly, immensely complex—but all he could recognize was the pattern of the Break Through the Realm Melody.

It was him. It was me.

At this moment, Li Guanyi's intuition struck—he held fast to the clarity of his spiritual altar.

His body settled into a meditative cross-legged posture, following the memories carried by the crimson dragon to circulate the cultivation art.

Previously, Li Guanyi needed a full incense-burning to complete three circuits; now, he moved like a blazing meteor, completing hundreds of circuits in a single breath—the first layer of the Break Through the Realm Melody shattered instantly!

Second layer of the Break Through the Realm Melody—broken through! Third layer of the Break Through the Realm Melody—broken through! Fourth layer of the Break Through the Realm Melody…

The jade liquid within the cauldron ran dry, just as that dreamlike battle faded—the crimson divine dragon slowly vanished. When Li Guanyi opened his eyes, dawn's first light glimmered on the horizon; the qi within him now flowed strong and profound.

Break Through the Realm Melody, twelfth layer.

Supreme martial art of the Military School.

Those of exceptional talent may master it in three years; those of decent constitution may gain it in eight.

Li Guanyi.

One night—perfect mastery!

(End of Chapter)