Su Yueli nodded, pocketed her wooden token, and the two turned to leave the registration office.
As they made their way out of the crowd, Su Yueli's gaze swept over the Royal Martial Arena once more.
Among the bustling crowd of martial artists, one figure was particularly eye-catching.
It was a young man dressed in a dark gold robe. Within five paces of him, not a single person dared to draw near.
The youth stood with his hands behind his back, exuding a heavy sense of oppression. At a conservative estimate, his foundation was at least at the mid-to-late Fourth Realm.
Behind him followed two grey-robed elders whose auras were as restrained as ordinary mortals.
But since Su Yueli trained in ultimate killing techniques, her instincts were incredibly sharp. Those two old men were extremely dangerous, very likely Dao protectors of the Sixth or even Seventh Realm.
At this thought, Su Yueli couldn't help but chin toward him. “Who is that?”
Lin Ye followed her gaze, sizing the youth up. Stroking his chin, he began to analyze in all seriousness, “Judging by his arrogant demeanor and the powerful experts guarding him, in a place like the imperial city, he's definitely the young master of some top clan. As for which family exactly, I have no idea.”
Su Yueli was momentarily speechless.
Seriously, man, you sound like a plot-driving NPC, she thought.
Anyone with eyes could tell from his guards' caliber and his attire that he was wealthy and noble. Did he really need to state the obvious?
What was the difference between saying this and saying nothing at all...
Seeing her strange expression, Lin Ye asked in confusion, “NPC? What sect is that?”
Su Yueli looked up at the azure sky of the imperial city and sighed. “It means your words are as profound as water is wet. The heavens loading lines into that brain of yours is a complete waste of memory.”
Lin Ye scratched his head, completely bewildered. He had no idea what kind of nonsense she was talking about.
“Alright, let's find a place to stay. The tournament starts in three days.” Su Yueli ignored him and walked straight toward the marketplace.
Meanwhile, in the eastern district of the Great Li Imperial City.
Inside the discussion hall of the Pang family estate, the atmosphere was suffocatingly tense.
Two Fifth Realm martial artists knelt on one knee, not daring to even breathe too loudly.
On the main seat sat a middle-aged man.
The head of the Pang family, an Eighth Realm grandmaster, Pang Jinbiao!
“Patriarch, we have investigated the matter in Lingshui City.”
The martial artist on the left swallowed hard, his voice trembling slightly. “We found all the eyewitnesses from the inn. After some 'communication,' they confessed everything.”
This “communication” was, of course, accompanied by brutal threats of broken limbs.
Following that, the martial artist described Su Yueli and Lin Ye's appearances, weapons, and attire in detail, emphasizing, “According to our investigation, these two came straight for the Great Li Martial Arts Tournament. They must have entered the imperial city by now!”
“Bang!”
The dark iron paperweight in Pang Jinbiao's hand was instantly crushed into a lump of scrap metal.
The blood qi of an Eighth Realm martial artist erupted inside the hall like a tsunami, pinning the two Fifth Realm martial artists flat to the floor. Their bones creaked under the pressure, and blood trickled from the corners of their mouths.
“What absolute audacity!”
Pang Jinbiao's eyes were bloodshot as his voice echoed through the hall. “To kill my, Pang Jinbiao's, son and not flee with their tails between their legs, but instead dare to come to the imperial city to participate in the tournament! Do they think my Pang family is a joke?!”
He stood up abruptly, his murderous intent soaring. “Issue my absolute command! Deploy all of our hidden agents and search every inn on the outskirts of the imperial city! Once you find them, sever their hamstrings and tendons on the spot, then bring them back! I will skin them alive with my own hands as an offering to Hu'er!”
“Yes, sir!” The two martial artists fled the hall as if granted amnesty, scrambling out on all fours.
Inside the hall, a grey-robed elder took a step forward and asked in a low voice, “Patriarch, please appease your anger. Regarding this matter... should we send a message to the Eldest Young Master and have him return to the clan?”
Pang Jinbiao took a few deep breaths to suppress his raging blood qi and waved his hand.
“There is no need to disturb Xuan'er.”
At the mention of his eldest son, Pang Xuan, a flash of pride appeared in the depths of Pang Jinbiao's eyes.
“Xuan'er possesses a High-grade Immortal Bone and is currently cultivating in the inner sect of the Blood Fiend Sect. He is already a great immortal cultivator at the mid-stage of the Second Realm Foundation Establishment! Cultivation is highly sensitive to one's state of mind. Two mere mortal martial artists are not worthy of dirtying Xuan'er's hands!”
Immortals and mortals belonged to different worlds.
Having an eldest son who was an inner disciple of a major sect and an immortal cultivator was the ultimate backing that allowed the Pang family to run rampant in the imperial city.
Pang Jinbiao's face was dark. “The Pang family has been rooted in the imperial city for centuries. If we can't even crush two ants from the countryside, how can we maintain our standing in the imperial city? Go investigate! Within three days, I want to see that little bitch kneeling before me!”
Hearing this, the elder bowed respectfully and withdrew.
Meanwhile, in the outer district of the imperial city.
Su Yueli and Lin Ye found a relatively secluded inn. To avoid unnecessary trouble, Su Yueli spent a large sum of money to book a private courtyard suite.
She pushed open the window, gazing at the night scenery of the imperial city as the lanterns began to light up.
On the wide streets, city guards clad in golden armor were patrolling.
In midair, flying swords or spiritual birds of sect disciples occasionally streaked past, but they all flew in an orderly fashion, not daring to fight or cast spells recklessly in the city.
Su Yueli couldn't help but sigh in her heart. The Great Li Imperial City indeed had a profound foundation.
A place where immortals and mortals intersected was actually able to maintain a strict superficial order; immortals did not dare to slaughter at will, and martial artists did not dare to cause trouble in the streets.
At this thought, Su Yueli relaxed slightly.
Such strict order and the massive scale of the city meant that even if the Pang family was powerful, it would not be easy to fish out two people from a population of millions.
Moreover, they likely wouldn't be able to track them down so quickly.
Closing the window to shut out the hustle and bustle of the outside world, Su Yueli walked over to the bed and sat cross-legged.
The Pang family was like a guillotine hanging over her head, ready to fall at any moment.
She knew very well that once the preliminaries began, she might not be able to hide her tracks anymore.
With her strength at the peak of the Fourth Realm, she wouldn't even have the qualifications to resist in the face of an Eighth Realm colossus.
Her only option was to break through!
With this thought, Su Yueli closed her eyes.
She fully immersed her mind into her body, feeling the blood qi surging through her veins.
The Fifth Realm of the martial path was called Martial Opening.
It required feeding the violent blood qi of the peak Fourth Realm back into the bone marrow, cleansing the marrow and tempering the bones, thoroughly refining the skin, flesh, tendons, and bones into a single solid sheet of iron to achieve the Flawless Realm where the internal and external were completely transparent.
This final step was extremely difficult.
Even Tie Tu of the Iron Bone Dojo, a man who had crawled out of seas of corpses and blood, had been stuck at this hurdle for half his life before barely achieving it.
But Su Yueli's eyes were resolute. Taking a deep breath, she stopped suppressing the blood qi inside her body and activated the breathing rhythm of her fist technique.
Her blood qi surged like a dragon, beginning to crash against the solid barrier of the Fifth Realm.
...
The night passed.
The blood qi inside her body had slammed against the barrier countless times, but she was always just one step away from success.
The obstacle was like a dead wall; no matter how she bombarded it, it only trembled slightly.
Su Yueli opened her eyes and slowly exhaled a breath of turbid, hot air, feeling a bit of a headache.
For a mortal to cross the hurdle of Martial Opening, they truly needed a great stroke of fortune and time to temper themselves.
Turning to look out the window, she realized the sky had brightened without her noticing.
Knock, knock.
There was a knock on the door.
“Come in.”
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