Chapter Sixty-Five: A Night Visit to Blackwood Cliff

Chapter Sixty-Five: Night Visit to Blackwood Cliff

Wu Hong was startled, snapping out of that peculiar state. Although he felt a pang of regret, he knew that some things could not be forced. Hearing Yang Zhen’s angry words, he immediately called out in a loud voice, “Brother Yang, forgive my earlier rudeness. I was not entirely serious at first, but now I am. Please be on your guard!”

Yang Zhen was nearly beside himself with rage at Wu Hong’s words. So, he hadn’t even been serious before? A wave of bitter defeat surged up in his heart, leaving him deeply unwilling to accept it.

Yang Zhen landed nimbly, channeling all his strength into his hands. One hand thrust forward, the other dropped behind, his body half-crouched, poised like a tiger. His true energy surged, shaping itself into the form of a tiger. With a thunderous roar, his bellow split the night, as if a real tiger had leapt out in fury.

Yet at this moment, Yang Zhen was fiercer than any real beast. His strange posture was shrouded in a blaze of energy like living fire, flames billowing sky-high.

To the onlookers, it seemed that a giant tiger, dozens of meters tall, had roared and pounced toward Wu Hong.

Seeing Yang Zhen unleash such ferocity, Wu Hong’s expression shifted dramatically.

“This Yang Zhen is truly extraordinary! He has shaped his true energy into a tiger—almost a real beast. The reach of this attack is immense; no matter how Wu Hong dodges, it’s useless!”

Among the crowd, a few knowledgeable experts quietly explained.

Wu Hong frowned slightly, gathering all his strength into his right hand. A golden hand swelled in the wind, in the blink of an eye growing to a hundred meters across, almost solid—testament to the terrifying concentration of his true energy.

Those who had never seen Wu Hong’s feats in the Tianshu microcosm were dumbfounded by the spectacle.

Yang Zhen’s eyes narrowed as he saw Wu Hong’s hand suddenly enlarge, the true energy almost materializing, gleaming gold. Fear flickered through his heart, but gritting his teeth, he charged at Wu Hong like a tiger.

The powerful true energy enveloped Yang Zhen as he lunged, the pressure so intense that Wu Hong’s face seemed to ripple in the onslaught.

With a mighty shout, Wu Hong lifted his huge palm and brought it crashing down on Yang Zhen. “Heaven-Shrouding Palm!”

Yang Zhen’s airborne form suddenly faltered, as if the weight of the world was pressing down from above, irresistible and overwhelming.

The thick aura of true energy surrounding Yang Zhen collapsed in an instant. His expression changed drastically as he raised both hands to try to shatter Wu Hong’s massive palm of energy.

A sizzling sound rang out as Yang Zhen’s hands met the colossal palm. A strange energy of cold and fire surged into him, causing intense discomfort, while white smoke rose from his hands where they contacted the golden palm, a scorched stench filling the air.

Yang Zhen felt his hands burned by the opponent’s energy, the crushing force making his legs tremble until he dropped to his knees.

He spat out a mouthful of blood.

“Don’t hurt my brother!” Manman, who had been watching anxiously, suddenly leapt above Wu Hong’s head, her massive wolf-tooth club swinging down like Mount Tai itself.

Startled, Wu Hong quickly channeled energy into his left hand, which instantly grew hundreds of meters wide. With a soft smack, he caught Manman in midair. She struggled fiercely, but to no avail—the great hand of true energy held her suspended.

With a flick, Wu Hong sent Manman’s body flying far off, crashing through a massive boulder with a thunderous boom.

Yang Zhen, still straining under Wu Hong’s true energy palm, suddenly felt the force above him vanish, his energy now with nowhere to go. He spat up another mouthful of blood.

Wu Hong clasped his hands in salute. “Brother Yang, are you all right? Please forgive my earlier rudeness. Your martial prowess is truly admirable!”

To Yang Zhen, Wu Hong’s words were as grating as they were courteous. Yet, thinking it over, he realized Wu Hong had indeed shown restraint. If such techniques had been used at the start, he would likely have lost in a single move.

After several changes of expression, Yang Zhen burst into hearty laughter. “Brother Hong, your skills are indeed unrivaled! I am convinced. It seems I have truly underestimated the heroes of the world. I have been a frog at the bottom of a well!”

But as he spoke, a deep sense of defeat welled up within him. He had forsaken his noble status to train in the mountains for decades, only to suffer defeat after defeat. The magnitude of the disappointment was hard for a proud man like him to bear.

“Brother Yang, don’t lose heart. The path of cultivation does not end here. The sky is vast—why be discouraged?”

Yang Zhen was taken aback, realizing Wu Hong was referring to the legendary Innate Realm. He had heard his master speak of it in the past, dismissing it as myth. Yet now, with the rumors of the Tianshu microcosm, perhaps the Innate Realm truly did exist.

He laughed again. “Brother Hong, I was being stubborn! Someday, I shall seek your instruction again.”

A clamor arose as Manman, furious, burst from the pile of boulders, shouting, “Wu Hong, I’ll fight you to the death!”

“Manman, don’t be rude. Brother Hong has already shown mercy!” Yang Zhen quickly restrained her.

Wu Hong smiled. “It’s nothing. Your younger brother’s nature is straightforward. His courage in coming to your aid just now proves his heroic spirit.”

“Come! Brother, let’s go drink. I may have lost in martial skill, but I won’t lose to you in drinking!” Being a magnanimous man, Yang Zhen quickly let go of his frustrations. In his heart he mused, “When I left the mountains, I was arrogant, thinking the world’s heroes were nothing. These setbacks are perhaps Heaven’s test for me!”

With this realization, Yang Zhen’s spirits soared as he welcomed Wu Hong as a true friend, leading him back to the VIP chamber for a night of heavy drinking.

The onlookers stared at each other in astonishment. No one could believe the martial art Wu Hong had just displayed—was it a legendary Innate technique?

Of late, countless young experts had emerged, and in the last two years of the Great Qian Dynasty, with the appearance of the Tianshu Cavern, martial society was entering a new, higher era.

Wu Hong and Yang Zhen drank dozens of jars of fiery liquor, leaving the crowd dumbfounded. Were these men even human?

Yang Zhen gradually felt his tongue grow numb, his capacity finally reached, his speech slurring. Manman, on the other hand, proved to be a prodigious drinker, challenging Wu Hong to another round out of spite.

Night fell. Manman and Yang Zhen were both tipsy, Wu Hong feigning drunkenness as well. Eventually, they all retired to their own quarters.

The night was dark and the wind high. Blackwood Cliff lay silent beneath the full moon, which hung over the mountaintop, casting an ethereal glow.

A masked figure in black appeared at the foot of Blackwood Cliff—it was Wu Hong. He had come to investigate the cliff by night, hoping to locate Li Ruolan. If he could rescue her, he would no longer be subject to the villains’ control and could attend the “Conference to Hunt the Demon Wu” and clear his name to the world—prove that the evil deeds attributed to Wu Hong were not his own.

Though Wu Hong knew no lightness skills, his monstrous strength made up for it. At the Bone Refining stage, his control was exquisite; with a single leap, he could cover more than a dozen meters.

Blackwood Cliff was so named for the peculiar trees that grew there year-round, their trunks and even their leaves as black as ink.

These strange trees covered more than eighty percent of the plant life on the cliff.

Over ten thousand imperial soldiers patrolled Blackwood Cliff at night, and thousands of demonic sect experts as well. Even at night, the mountains swarmed with sentries—clear evidence of how seriously they took the campaign against the “Demon Wu Hong.”

Yet, even in daylight, Blackwood Cliff was shrouded in darkness. At night, despite the full moon, if Wu Hong hid among the trees, even the greatest experts would find it nearly impossible to detect him.

The sect that occupied Blackwood Cliff was once a notorious demonic cult in the martial world, the residence of the Unrivaled East and their followers. But after the Unrivaled East vanished in the Tianshu Cavern, the sect was claimed by a rising star known as Little East.

Upon the cliff stood a magnificent grand hall, a thousand meters high and several hundred meters across. This was once the seat of the Unrivaled East and their followers.

Wu Hong leapt onto the grand hall’s roof in a single bound.

His movement was so subtle, with no fluctuations of true energy, that even the keenest experts could not detect anything amiss on the roof.

Wu Hong heard voices speaking inside the hall and cautiously removed a roof tile.

Inside, hundreds of experts were gathered. The hall spanned nearly ten thousand square meters, and at the top sat thousands of stone benches. Seated at the highest point was a strange yet delicate-looking young woman who seemed oddly familiar, though Wu Hong could not recall where he had seen her before.

Below her, two rows of exquisite blackwood chairs held martial artists in various attire—some of whom Wu Hong recognized.