Surviving in the chaos of war begins in the wilderness.

Chapter 128 Battle with Hidden Force

Seeing those dozen or so baskets of copper coins, and the warehouse piled high with other goods, I realized these were likely collateral used for usury. They might have originally been valuable, but now they were worth little.

In addition, there were several thousand weapons collected from the thugs, two horses in the stable, and other valuables in the mansion.

Zhou Ye suddenly realized that this mansion was actually quite close to his home at the dock. And with the chaotic situation tonight, even if the entire mansion were cleared away, outsiders would have no chance of finding it.

Although he's not short of money, he still has those girls and disciples to support. He can't keep living off his savings forever, can he?

In fact, the initial stage of entering the realm of internal strength, which is to break through all the acupoints of the dragon bone, generally doesn't take very long. For those with better talent and aptitude, like Wenxiu and Li Wenwen, it would take at most two or three months, right? Even for those who are slightly less talented, it would take at most half a year.

Once they break through to the mid-stage of the Qi Refining Realm, each person will need to exchange their earnings for one low-grade Qi and Blood Pill per month. And we can't let these people work for free; we should at least give them a few taels of silver as a token payment—right?

Since that's the case, I might as well embrace my hamster instincts and save every penny. After all, I still have Sweet Joy General Store. It's just a matter of selling the produce slowly in the store, right?

Thinking of this, Zhou Ye immediately went to the stable, led out the two horses, and tied some things to their backs.

To be honest, using ordinary packhorses for transport is less efficient than carrying it by hand. My strength and agility are far superior. In the chaotic darkness of the night, I'm much more at ease.

And so, Zhou Ye quickly threw himself into the massive move, preparing to empty the entire mansion—

Several hours later, looking at the empty mansion, Zhou Ye felt a sense of satisfaction, like someone who had double-crossed another. Indeed, murder and arson bring wealth and power! You have no idea the joy of killing and robbing!

What's left are mostly bulky items like furniture. After two or three more trips, it should be all there—hmm?

Zhou Ye whirled around and saw four more people suddenly in the courtyard. The middle-aged man in the lead already had a frosty expression: "Friend, you dare to cause trouble here with our Woodcutter's Gang? You've gone too far!"

Before he could finish speaking, the middle-aged man had already closed in, his sword flashing like a whirlwind, instantly enveloping Zhou Ye's entire body.

"Clang clang clang————"

With his external vision anticipating the attack, Zhou Ye effortlessly parried the onslaught, his left arm's fish-scale shield protecting his entire body.

Based on his extensive combat experience, Zhou Ye quickly assessed the middle-aged man's strength: he was slightly stronger than him, but slightly less agile. Taking all factors into account, he was probably about the same strength as Mimi.

Since that was the case, Zhou Ye had no intention of continuing the fight. Anyway, there wasn't much of value left here.

On the other hand, being able to escape unscathed from the clutches of that big, clumsy cat and force this middle-aged man to retreat would be a piece of cake, wouldn't it?

"Whoosh—!" A battle blade emerged from behind the fish-scale shield, slashing cunningly towards the middle-aged man's right shoulder. If Zhou Ye could force the middle-aged man back a few steps, he could use his high agility to quickly escape.

Seeing the middle-aged man raise his sword to block, Zhou Ye once again anticipated the attack and immediately made a clever change of move, turning the real attack into a feint, with the blade stabbing towards the middle-aged man's chest.

"Huh?" The middle-aged man's expression changed, and he quickly changed his move, also switching from defense to offense and thrusting at Zhou Ye's abdomen—

In the blink of an eye, the two had exchanged several feints and real blows. Finally, when their swords clashed violently, Zhou Ye prepared to use the force of the impact to fly backward a dozen steps, completely widening the distance between them.

Suddenly, Zhou Ye felt a strange force emerge from the clash of swords, and this force spread rapidly along his sword, instantly penetrating his body.

With a loud "bang," the battle blade shattered instantly from the force of the impact. The middle-aged man's sword was already close to his throat.

Despite the sudden change, Zhou Ye remained steadfast in the face of danger. He once again activated his external vision and anticipation to the fullest extent, narrowly blocking most of the fatal blow with his fish-scale shield. The remaining small portion, also possessing that strange force, struck his left shoulder heavily, blasting a large hole in his crocodile-skin armor.

Under the continuous blows, Zhou Ye was knocked away and rolled several times on the ground.

Interestingly, although he suffered a humiliating defeat, Zhou Ye had actually achieved his goal, and the two had indeed widened the gap between them.

Seeing that the middle-aged man still wanted to launch an attack, Zhou Ye had already produced several bullets in his hand and threw them at the middle-aged man.

Then, several "pop, pop, pop" sounds were heard as the tear gas canisters exploded one after another, releasing a foul, spicy, and colorful stench—

The middle-aged man, startled, quickly retreated, and along with his men, hid far away outside the clusters of colorful mist. Only when the mist dissipated slightly could they see that Zhou Ye's figure had long since become a small black dot in the distance.

One of his men asked anxiously, "Elder Li, should we chase after that thief?"

Elder Li's expression shifted between light and dark: "Impossible! He's just at the Ming Jin level, how could he possibly have reached the Ruwei level?"

"Elder, what did you say?"

"Oh, no need," Elder Li quickly recovered. "According to the rules of the martial arts world: seniors at the Transformation Realm generally don't make a move. We at the Dark Realm try to avoid fighting each other. Those at the Bright Realm also try not to kill each other. Unless it's a mortal enemy, there's no need to offend each other to the death; we usually leave room for maneuver. Practicing martial arts is hard; don't think about licking blood from the blade every day. Isn't it better to have beautiful women and fine wine by your side?"

"But—but that thief is Ming Jin?"

"Can you guarantee that kid doesn't have connections? Just the idea that he could escape from me? That's beyond the capabilities of an ordinary martial arts expert. What if he has powerful relatives or connections?"

"Oh, so... then Master Jiao Xiang died in vain?"

"Bullshit! Have you forgotten why we came here tonight? We wanted to take advantage of the chaos to get rid of Jiao Defu. Now that someone has killed them all, it saves us a lot of trouble. That's called 'evil deeds will inevitably lead to one's downfall,' what does it have to do with me!"

"oh oh!"

"Let's hurry up! Let's wrap up work, go home, and have a drink with me!"

"Yes, Elder Li!"

'

'

As he left, Elder Li let out a long sigh of relief. At that moment, he was recalling a painful memory—he and his companions had been besieging an enemy at the early stage of Inner Strength. However, despite being surrounded by several Inner Strength masters, this enemy had actually reached a profound level of understanding. He unleashed his power, not only fighting beyond his level but also nearly annihilating Elder Li and his group. Had Elder Li not escaped quickly, he too would have been killed long ago.

After inquiring afterward, Elder Li learned that a martial artist's strength did indeed depend on their cultivation level. However, there were also two passive talents: Subtlety and Intent. Once mastered, battles between people of the same level were like slicing through melons and vegetables. Anyway, when encountering such a freak, it's best to find a way to escape first!

Furthermore, a Grandmaster of the Innate Realm will inevitably master one of these: either the subtlety of the details or the essence of the art. There are even Super Grandmasters who can master both.

Conversely, many people, upon reaching the later stages of the Transformation Realm, find themselves struggling to attain subtlety and profound understanding, unable to break through this barrier. They remain stuck at this hurdle for a long time. Therefore, there are only a handful of true Innate Grandmasters in the world.

This shows how rare it is to achieve subtlety and artistic conception.

Could it be that I've gotten incredibly lucky to run into someone like this today? And what's more, he's a super freak who can comprehend subtle comprehension even at the Ming Jin stage?

Of course, the unspoken rules of the martial arts world mentioned earlier are also a reason.

Imagine that Fufeng County only has one or two thousand Ming Jin masters, and only about a hundred An Jin masters.

It's like a school with thousands of students. You might not know everyone, but you can always find out about them indirectly, right? So in this situation, experts will develop a tacit understanding—to avoid going too far and leave each other some leeway. They generally won't engage in a death match.

Otherwise, what's the point of going through all that hardship to become a master only to die in an instant? Wouldn't that be insane? Would you really leave your wife, children, and all your assets to someone else? What would happen to your family and friends then?

Interestingly, this man, Zhou Ye, was also a self-taught martial arts master. No one knew of his existence. And Zhou Ye, in turn, was unaware of these unspoken rules.

However, at this moment, Zhou Ye had already retreated back to his home at the dock. Seeing the wounds on his body and recalling the battle just now, he was still shaken.

Holy crap! That's some kind of hidden power! Who would have thought that the middle-aged man was actually a master of hidden power?

Fortunately, my injuries weren't serious. I did have several hidden wounds on my hands and shoulders, but the rest were just superficial. I should recover after a few days of rest. The fish scale shield proved invaluable once again.

However, precisely because the fish-scale shield could withstand the hidden force, Zhou Ye became careless in the battle. When the swords clashed, he was caught off guard by the strange, hidden force. His battle sword and crocodile-skin armor were subsequently destroyed.

Holy crap! This is unbearable! My newly purchased battle sword and crocodile skin armor were completely destroyed in a single battle?! The battle cost alone was over 1000 taels of silver!

Let's not worry about that for now.

After calming down, Zhou Ye made a decision. Before the chaotic night was over, he should hurry back to his home on the city wall!

We can ignore everything else for now; we definitely need to bring those two horses back. Otherwise, if things get chaotic again for another ten days or two weeks like last time, won't both horses starve to death?

You know what, the house by the city wall is indeed quite remote. Although the entire county town is already in chaos, this remote corner is surprisingly peaceful.

However, after leading the horses home, they found that beneath the tranquility, everyone's emotions had become restless. Seeing Zhou Ye, their pillar of support, finally arrive home, the others breathed a sigh of relief.

"Young Master, where have you been? We were so worried!" A group of girls kept chattering.

"It's nothing, it's nothing! What could possibly be wrong with me?"

Zhou Ye looked around and found that Manager Li and Accountant Yu were both there, and even their whole family was hiding here.

It must be said that ordinary people have their own wisdom for survival. After all, this place is relatively remote and safe. Plus, there's the martial arts master himself, and more than a dozen advanced martial artists.

Manager Li's real name was Li Gui, and he seemed a little embarrassed: "Boss—"

Zhou Ye nodded understandingly and smiled, "It's good that you're here. It'll be more reassuring for everyone to be together. Old man, take good care of these two horses. We found them on the road; we'll sell them at the mule and horse market in a few days."

"Yes, young master."

No one else cared at all how Zhou Ye ended up finding two horses on the road. Even if they were stolen or robbed, they wouldn't care.

Learning that these people had endured almost the entire night of torment, Zhou Ye made arrangements for them to take turns resting. He himself went to the warehouse, took out most of the cartload of arrows, and began to inspect the hard bows and iron-barreled arrows.

To be honest, although there are 12 martial artists who have reached the Energizing Realm here, these disciples have only just begun learning martial arts and are actually no different from ordinary people. As for true strength, it still depends on themselves.

However, at that moment, Li Gui hesitantly approached Zhou Ye. His expression seemed somewhat uneasy: "Uh—Master, I have a few words to say, I don't know if they will offend you?"

"Okay, go ahead."

"Oh! This is my daughter, Wenwen. She's always had feelings for you. If you don't mind, please take her as your wife!"

"Um?"

"Master, I understand that Wenwen's status is not worthy of you. After all, you are a promising martial arts master. So I only ask for the title of concubine. And please don't mistreat her."

Zhou Ye smiled slightly, not taking these words to heart. It was nothing more than a young girl experiencing her first stirrings of love. Even the Li Gui family probably had their own ulterior motives, wanting to find a martial arts master to protect them: "Old Li, wouldn't that be unfair to Wenwen?"

Actually, Wenwen has good talent. She has a good chance of breaking through to the Ming Jin level.

"Sigh!" Li Gui shook his head with a wry smile. "I'm not afraid of offending you, but Wenwen has already told us. You were with her—? She's an innocent girl, how can she marry someone else in the future? Besides, Wenwen already said that she was born a member of your Tian family, and she'll die a member of your Tian family. Sigh—!"

"???"

Zhou Ye's expression was strange. He hadn't expected it to be his own doing. How pleasurable it had been back then, and now he was getting a boomerang?

To be honest, being surrounded by a group of beautifully dressed girls every day, a young cadre like myself is indeed starting to succumb to the temptations of these vixens. Accepting a few girls wouldn't be a big deal.

However, after the battle just now, Zhou Ye once again felt a strong sense of crisis.

During the battle, it was discovered that internal force wasn't actually that terrifying. Compared to external force, the basic stats of internal force weren't that much higher. They were probably similar to my own and Mimi's.

Of course, Zhou Ye didn't know at this time that both he and Mimi, the great demon tiger, were beings beyond the scope of the standard.

However, it's that kind of strange, hidden force? It can ignore a portion of the defense and attack directly on the user?

Therefore, we still need to strengthen our strength, at least to break through to the late stage of Ming Jin, in order to be able to contend with one or two of them, right?