Chapter 167: Slaying Ghosts to Break Barriers

In less than an hour, everyone the Tiger Blade Gang had planted inside the Martial Arts Hall was taken away.

Li Fei, who had spent the entire time tagging along beside Cheng Bi, received a commendation from the Inspectorate that very afternoon:

"Li Fei, a Grade A student of the Martial Arts Hall, assisted the Inspectorate in their operation with merit. This shall count as participation in one end-of-month assessment, recorded as a Grade A+ evaluation, and he shall receive the Grade A+ reward."

This was an assessment in which only Li Fei had participated, and he was the only one to receive a Grade A+.

That afternoon, Hao Yi handed Li Fei a bottle of Bitter Origin Pills and a bottle of Clear Mind Pills, with 50 pills in each!

Under normal circumstances, the top three in the monthly assessment only receive 10 Bitter Origin Pills and 10 Clear Mind Pills. Because Li Fei was the only one receiving a reward this time, all the rewards intended for the monthly assessment were given to him alone!

The Bitter Origin Pills were one thing, but now with 50 Clear Mind Pills in hand, plus the ones he hadn't finished yet, Li Fei could almost raise his aptitude for implant compatibility all the way from Grade B- to Grade B+.

And with the mountain that was the Tiger Blade Gang gone, his securing a spot for the University's Martial Arts Department next year was practically a done deal.

Among the other Grade A students, none could be found who performed better than him or had achieved a Grade A+ evaluation for several consecutive months.

From the very beginning, Li Fei's goal had been to secure a spot in the University's Martial Arts Department, but unfortunately, this goal had seemed unreachable, and the Tiger Blade Gang blocking his path had gradually become his greatest mental barrier.

Now, having killed Zhang Mingze under the identity of the "Green-Faced Ghost," thereby triggering the decline of the Tiger Blade Gang, it could be said that he had personally broken through the barrier before him and achieved his goal!

This morning, he had followed Cheng Bi around to make arrests, witnessing with his own eyes that the era of the Tiger Blade Gang at the Martial Arts Hall had completely passed.

After such an experience, the "barrier" in Li Fei's heart was broken down even further, and his power of intent was significantly enhanced!

After killing Zhang Mingze, Li Fei's power of intent had improved once; subsequently, after consuming a large amount of elixirs and spending a night digesting and absorbing them, his Steel Armor implant had officially broken through to the late stage of Body Breaking.

With this, Li Fei could now use "Tyrant Body" over thirty times in a short period, and his physique had strengthened accordingly; in just one night, his blood soul count had increased by another 2, bringing his total cap to 104.

Now that his power of intent had improved again, Li Fei could clearly feel that the "threshold" in the dark was about to be crossed by him.

This "threshold" was the Qi Transformation stage!

The power of intent, the power of the implant, and the power of the body must fuse together; only then could one stimulate the Innate One Qi.

And the power of intent could influence the growth of the implant, while the growth of the implant could influence the strengthening of one's own physique; therefore, as long as the power of intent was sufficiently strong, breaking through the realm would be a natural progression.

This was the strength of the "Breaking Mental Barriers" method of cultivation.

Now, Li Fei felt that his power of intent was just a tiny bit away from breaking through to the Qi Transformation stage.

"Is it because I haven't truly secured the spot for the University's Martial Arts Department? Or is it because I haven't completely toppled the Tiger Blade Gang?"

Li Fei analyzed his inner self earnestly, wanting to find out where that final missing piece lay.

In reality, he could now easily reach the peak of the Body Breaking stage, and he wouldn't even need to undergo life-and-death tempering anymore, because his power of intent was already strong enough to directly consume breakthrough elixirs to complete the process.

This was the method most martial artists in the world chose when breaking through to the Qi Transformation stage—using the power of elixirs to help themselves take that final, most critical step.

But Li Fei had already come this far, and he was only a tiny bit away from completing the "Breaking of Mental Barriers," so how could he possibly give up?

After finishing his training in the afternoon, Li Fei bid farewell to Hao Yi and returned home.

After dinner, he locked himself in his room and began to think quietly.

From the moment he first entered the Martial Arts Hall until now, Li Fei recalled every little detail that had occurred during this period.

He confirmed, bit by bit, the changes in his state of mind when facing every single event.

Hao Yi had once told Li Fei that the hardest part of "Breaking Mental Barriers" was not just the process of "breaking," but also the difficulty of recognizing oneself.

The human heart is fickle; sometimes, the hardest thing for a person to understand is their own heart.

They might be close friends, yet one harbors hidden jealousy in their heart.

One might think they have let go, but decades later, when they recall it, they still cannot find peace.

Two people who appear to be completely indifferent to each other might erupt with unimaginable emotions at a critical moment.

To truly recognize oneself—how easy is that to say?

And if one cannot recognize oneself, the "barrier" in the heart cannot be completely broken.

Time passed bit by bit; Li Fei remained in his room in deep thought, not leaving until late at night.

He went straight to the Qingyuan Boxing Stronghold.

Now that he had "reconnected" with his martial aunt, Shangguan Xiao, and with Hao Yi's consent, Li Fei could go to the Qingyuan Boxing Stronghold every night to compete in boxing matches and hone himself.

Therefore, he could now go to the Qingyuan Boxing Stronghold openly, without needing to hide his identity.

Upon entering the inner stronghold and seeing Shangguan Xiao, Li Fei asked his martial aunt to do him a favor.

Shangguan Xiao agreed without hesitation.

In the following days, Xingcheng appeared calm on the surface, but underneath, the currents were surging, and the officialdom was experiencing constant earthquakes!

Now that the Tiger Blade Gang had lost its power, the Chief's faction naturally wanted to press their advantage; merely taking down the Martial Arts Hall was not enough to satisfy Gu Zhenhui. Over these past few days, he had frequently ordered the Inspectorate to take away officials of the Tiger Blade Gang's faction for investigation.

Yu Hu, naturally, would not sit and wait for death; he retaliated in kind, having the Supervisory Court constantly arrest officials from the Chief's faction.

The two sides had fought for so many years that they each held a pile of dirt on the other, and the officials under their respective commands were no saints either, so naturally, every arrest hit the mark.

For several consecutive days, the Judicial Academy received several cases related to official corruption every day, and every single one was a major case involving murder for wealth!

Late at night, a middle-aged man with a potbelly walked out of the main gate of the Judicial Academy.

"My lord!"

A subordinate who had been waiting outside the gate immediately rushed up to support him.

"My lord, how was it? Are you alright now?"

The subordinate asked with a look of concern.

The middle-aged man shook his head in low spirits: "I'm fine for now. Let's go, let's head back."

His name was Kong Peiquan, a third-level director of the Ministry of Internal Affairs' Construction Department, a second-rank official, and also an official of the Chief's faction.

Two years ago, because he had accepted bribes, he had irregularly handed the project of building a pavilion by the post road outside the city to someone else. As a result, in order to make more money, the other party cut corners, and the quality of the pavilion built was extremely poor.

Originally, this was a common occurrence, but unexpectedly, a rainstorm led to an accident. At the time, more than twenty passersby were taking shelter from the rain in the pavilion, and then the pavilion suddenly collapsed, ultimately resulting in fifteen deaths and seven serious injuries!

To resolve this matter, Kong Peiquan had used many connections at the time, using both threats and inducements against the victims' families to forcibly suppress the matter and prevent them from reporting it to the authorities.

However, a few of the families were stubborn and refused to accept a private settlement, insisting on reporting it to the authorities, so Kong Peiquan had people kill them all, leaving the families "neat and tidy" in the end.

It was this very incident that the Tiger Blade Gang had set their sights on at the time, obtaining key evidence, and they had waited until now to bring it out for retaliation.

Thus, Kong Peiquan was approached by people from the Supervisory Court, taken away on the grounds of involvement in a murder case, and subsequently sent to the Judicial Academy.

However, after spending two days in the prison of the Judicial Academy, Kong Peiquan was released due to "insufficient evidence."

This was Gu Zhenhui stepping in to protect him, disposing of the incriminating evidence held by the Tiger Blade Gang, making him safe for the time being.

But after such a toss-up, Kong Peiquan knew very well that his official career was basically at an end; it would be very difficult for him to rise any further because he now had a stain on his record, which could forever become a point of attack for the Tiger Blade Gang. Gu Zhenhui would not let such a subordinate reach a high position.

That was why Kong Peiquan was so dispirited, feeling that there was no point to it all.

Soon, supported by his subordinate, he sat in a car and left the Judicial Academy.

The car finally drove into a private residence in the Kaiping District, and the driver got out to open the door for Kong Peiquan.

Kong Peiquan got out looking exhausted, and in a daze, he saw a figure standing in front of him.

He was startled: "Who?!"

His driver, who was also his bodyguard, immediately drew a revolver from his waist upon hearing the sound and aimed it behind him.

*Swish*—

A flash of blade light flickered, and the bodyguard's hand holding the gun was severed at the wrist!

Before he could let out a scream, his head followed, flying into the air.

Kong Peiquan watched this scene with horror, his mind going blank.

It was not until he saw the green evil ghost mask worn by the person who had come that he realized who he had encountered:

"Green... Green-Faced Ghost?"

After the "Market Entrance" incident occurred previously, Kong Peiquan had actually been a bit afraid and worried for a time.

But he felt that the Green-Faced Ghost only killed officials of the Judicial Academy, and since he was from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, he should be relatively safe; he would wait and see after the grand search operation ended.

Later, he learned that the Green-Faced Ghost had single-handedly slaughtered the Tiger Blade Gang's convoy and killed the Tiger Blade Gang's Master Zhang!

Originally, he should have been even more afraid and worried, but since the Great Leader of the Qingyuan Boxing Stronghold had taken action in that battle, Kong Peiquan felt that the Green-Faced Ghost was actually a member of the Qingyuan Boxing Stronghold, and that everything he had done before was just to deal with the Tiger Blade Gang, not truly to act with chivalry and eliminate corrupt officials.

Thinking this, he felt secure again.

As it turned out, the Green-Faced Ghost had suddenly appeared before him.

"Wh-why..."

Kong Peiquan asked, trembling.

*Swish*—

Li Fei did not answer his question, but instead slashed out with his blade, cutting off the man's head.

The blade he held in his hand this time was the very one Shangguan Xiao had given him—Ghost Sever.

A few days ago, the favor he had asked of Shangguan Xiao when he went to the Qingyuan Boxing Stronghold was for her to send people to help him gather intelligence on the officialdom of Xingcheng; he wanted to know which other officials were guilty of crimes deserving death.

After some deep thought, Li Fei clarified the final bit of mental barrier in his heart.

He had initially embarked on the path of "Breaking Mental Barriers" because he killed Feng Zhenshan; that was the first time he had faced the darkness and filth of this feudal era head-on.

At that time, he was very clear that he could not change anything by his own strength alone; his killing a few corrupt officials was not to become a hero whose name would be remembered for ages, but simply so that he could live more freely.

And after he finally broke through the Tiger Blade Gang, the greatest obstacle, he discovered that his mental barriers were not limited to just the Tiger Blade Gang.

The remaining bit of his mental barrier had been branded in his heart from the very beginning. Or rather, it was a mental barrier left over from his past life!

In the past, he was powerless and died of sudden exhaustion. Now, he would live this life with abandon!

Thus, he had found Shangguan Xiao, wanting to obtain accurate intelligence.

Now that the Chief's faction and the Tiger Blade Gang were fighting tooth and nail, stabbing each other in the back, this intelligence didn't need any effort to find; it could be obtained easily.

And at this point, the Chief's faction and the Tiger Blade Gang's faction could no longer join forces, nor would they dare to provoke a third-party force, lest their opponents take advantage of the situation.

This meant that the Green-Faced Ghost could kill even more unscrupulously!

Since the filth before his eyes made him unhappy, and he could sweep it away at will without endangering himself, why not do it?

To use the Ghost Sever blade to slay the ghosts of the human world—only then can it be called truly satisfying!

That night, the Green-Faced Ghost went door-to-door, killing seven subordinate officials and eleven clerks in succession!

In the end, these heads were all placed under the archway at the market entrance, with wooden plaques detailing their crimes stuck beside each head.

After finishing all this, the time was already nearing dawn.

Li Fei turned and left the market entrance.

Just at this moment, a ray of sunlight broke through the darkness and shone down.

Daybreak had arrived.

Li Fei looked back at the light in the distance breaking through the darkness.

Although faint, it was brilliant.

In a trance, he seemed to see his past-life self smiling at him.

Beneath the mask, a smile also appeared on his face.

At this moment, the blockages in his heart vanished completely, and there were no more mental barriers!

The next morning, the second "market entrance" incident shook Xingcheng once again!

Gu Zhenhui and Yu Hu were shocked and furious upon receiving the news, yet they were helpless to do anything about it.

At this time, it was impossible for both sides to join forces to launch a massive search operation to capture the Green-Faced Ghost as they had before; everyone was busy stabbing each other in the back, and any distraction could reveal a flaw.

Moreover, both Gu Zhenhui and Yu Hu were worried that if they targeted the Green-Faced Ghost, the other party would drag the Green Origin Fist Stronghold into it again just like before, which would make things even more troublesome.

Furthermore, to a certain extent, the Green-Faced Ghost could be considered to have helped them eliminate the people they wanted to get rid of, only the Green-Faced Ghost's methods were simpler and more brutal, and were indiscriminate attacks.

In the end, both the Tiger Blade Gang faction and the Chief's faction silently swallowed this bitter pill and chose to continue supporting new officials to take office.

It was just that the officials supported this time had to be strictly selected for their character and strictly restrained; they could be greedy, but they could not engage in suicidal behavior that would draw the Green-Faced Ghost out again.

As for the officials below, seeing that there was no reaction from above, they immediately became restless and unable to eat or sleep.

Some who had previously held onto wishful thinking now dared not have any at all.

Consequently, the Sifa Academy ushered in another "great wave of surrenders," and the number of officials who voluntarily came to surrender this time was several times higher than the previous occasion!

For a time, the Green-Faced Ghost, relying solely on his own strength, forced the officialdom of Xingcheng into a state of integrity unseen in decades.

(End of this chapter)