The proof of Emperor Wu began with daily rewards for diligence.

Snapped!

The ground was stomped on, and a ring of spiderweb-like cracks appeared.

"Whoosh!" Chen Jue took the lead, slashing out with a powerful and fierce blade.

Wu Nanyuan followed closely behind, her right hand holding the sword like a serpent emerging from its hole, stabbing at the attacker's left heart from the side.

Liang Ben felt a pang of despair. He drew his sword again, held it upright, and clashed head-on with Chen Jue's horizontal slash.

when!

The longsword and the long saber clashed together, producing a metallic clang.

"Wow, that's some serious strength!"

As his longsword clashed with his saber, Liang Ben felt as if a mountain was pressing down on him. The immense force transmitted back from the sword made his hands go numb, and his body involuntarily shot backward. The soles of his shoes heated up as they rubbed against the ground until he crashed into the wall behind him, finally coming to a stop.

Chen Jue's side didn't gain anything either.

The moment the swords clashed, the tip of the longsword suddenly broke off, transforming into a sharp beam of light that shot towards his face.

Chen Jue had never seen such a sinister move before. His pupils shrank instantly. He could no longer hide his strength and directly used the perfected "Dragon Soaring Body Technique". His figure seemed to teleport in place, instantly avoiding the sword light that was within reach.

Bang!

The sword light swirled once more before slashing towards Wu Nanyuan, who was wielding a sword to attack from the left, forcing her to stop and parry the approaching sword light.

"Be careful!"

Wu Nanyuan watched the sword light turn back and fly back into Liang Ben's hand. With a solemn expression, she said to Chen Jue, "This person has mastered the superior martial art of the Southwest Sword Sect, 'Hundred-Step Flying Sword.' Within a hundred steps, the speed of the sword pellet is comparable to that of a flintlock musket. Its attack intensity is extremely high, making it very difficult to deal with."

Chen Jue held his blade horizontally, preparing to unleash "Reverse Blood Sunset," while casually asking, "Is there a way to counter it?"

"Yes, although the Hundred-Step Flying Sword is powerful in attack, it is not suitable for martial artists at the True Qi Realm..."

"Because the sword pellet consumes a great deal of true energy when it leaves the body, even if a martial artist at the True Qi Realm forces themselves to bear it, they will still deplete their true energy, which is extremely detrimental to their cultivation progress..."

Wu Nanyuan pointed out the only flaw in "Hundred Steps Flying Sword".

This is not a martial art that a True Qi Realm martial artist should be able to master. It's fine to use it as a trump card, but using it in actual combat would be a losing proposition.

"You mean we can use our movement skills to wear him down here?" Chen Jue asked, turning to the side.

"Hey! Little girl, how old are you? How can you be so malicious!" Liang Ben held the sword pellet disguised as a sword tip above his fingertip and angrily accused her.

Meanwhile, his eyes darted around, actively searching for an escape route.

He learned his lesson this time.

He shouldn't have been so eager to make friends with heroes when he jumped off the roof.

Little did anyone know, these two were not heroes at all, but rather ruthless devils who would kill anyone they saw.

"You go ahead, I won't go."

As Wu Nanyuan spoke, she took a few steps back and said, "He didn't go all out just now. My lightness skill is not as good as yours, so I'm not confident that I can dodge his full-force Hundred-Step Flying Sword."

The girl's eyes were incredibly perceptive: "I'm afraid he'll drag me down with him before he dies."

"If that's the case, then we won't fight."

Chen Jue sheathed his sword and turned to the young man he had cornered against the wall, saying, "Brother, may I have a word with you in private?"

"..." Wu Nanyuan frowned. Chen Jue clearly did not trust her, and this feeling was not good.

However, even she herself hadn't expected that after only half a day of working together, it would be strange if Chen Jue were to truly open his heart and trust her.

Liang Ben had thought that he would have to fight a bloody battle to escape unscathed.

The situation took an unexpected turn after the girl said she "gave in."

He suddenly realized that the young man in front of him, who was the same age as him but exuded a murderous aura, was not going to fight him to the death, but was just testing each other.

The two leaped to the roof of the third floor, leaving Wu Nanyuan alone at the alley entrance to keep watch.

"Brother, you may call me Chen Ying. What happened just now was merely a test; I hope you won't take it to heart..."

Chen Jue's expression was sincere, displaying the demeanor of a gentleman.

Liang Ben rolled his eyes inwardly upon hearing this.

Although it was his first time meeting the young man, he could tell from the way the young man dealt with gang members that he was definitely a ruthless person.

He was only able to get away with it because of his skill level; otherwise, he would have been stabbed in the ground with a knife and subjected to brutal torture.

"It's alright, we became friends after a fight."

"My name is Liang Ben, Liang from Liangzhou, and Ben from the tiger-like warrior."

Liang Ben feigned magnanimity and said, "Since we are both investigating the Fire Sect, then we can be considered temporary allies."

"So that Brother Liang may know, I have a relative who, due to his special constitution, has been targeted by the Fire Sect."

"Now the Fire Cult is rampaging through the outer city, and various forces are involved."

"Although I have found some clues, I am outnumbered and lack resources, making it difficult to see the whole picture of the incident, so I dare not trust others."

"Brother Liang, since you come from a righteous organization like the 'Divine Understanding Organization,' why don't you tell me what exactly is going on with the Shi Huo Cult's rampage in Linjiang?"

Chen Jue took the initiative, explaining the situation and reasoning with Liang Ben, firmly placing him on the moral high ground.

"..." Liang Ben was impressed. Since he had ventured into the martial world alone, he had never seen such a shameless peer.

But Chen Jue spoke with such sincerity that he couldn't very well hide it.

"It's a long story..."

"Since the eighth year of his regency, when Emperor Chong of the Ming Dynasty failed to 'attain the Yang Spirit' and retreated to the inner palace, he no longer concerned himself with state affairs."

"Nine emperors held court in the imperial court, while local laws and regulations fell into disarray."

"The belief in star gods, which was once considered taboo, has been revived for various reasons."

"Among them, the Medicine King Cult in Henan Province was the worst, almost corrupting the entire province, leaving countless dead and turning it into a den of monsters."

"The Shihuo sect in Linjiang originally preached in Lingnan Province. After being wiped out by the Xu family of Lingnan, its followers scattered. One group traveled tens of thousands of miles and came to Linjiang in the southern province..."

"Not a buddy? Your build-up is way too long!" Chen Jue said speechlessly, "I just want to ask, what exactly is the Fire Sect and the various forces trying to do by getting entangled in the outer city...?"

Liang Ben was speaking with great enthusiasm when he was interrupted, and he became very angry, saying, "How can you have no patience at all? Just tell me if you're going to listen or not? If not, I'm leaving."

"..." Chen Jue.

"Alright, alright, I was wrong. Go ahead and talk about everything from the creation of the world by Pangu to the restoration of the empire by Emperor Wu..."

Chen Jue was convinced; the young man in front of him, who was the same age as him, was probably a chatterbox.

"In fact, the star god corresponding to the Fire Sect is not powerful."

"Even the four first-rank aristocratic families of Linjiang, or the Linjiang Wanhu Mansion, don't need to take action. As long as a portion of the second- or third-rank aristocratic families intervene, the Shihuo Sect can be wiped out in no time."

"However, as you just said, some powerful clans in Linjiang not only failed to stop the spread of the Shi Huo Sect in the outer city, but even secretly fueled it, which is incomprehensible..."

"Later, after our team leader's in-depth investigation, we discovered that the inner city's powerful clans actually wanted to help the Fire God of the Chamber complete the 'Ten Thousand Sacrifice,' which was to sacrifice ten thousand living people to the Fire God of the Chamber in order to summon a wisp of the soul of the three thousand true demons of the Fire God of the Chamber to descend..."

"No, no." Chen Jue shook his head and said, "The information I found out is that the inner city intends to use the power of the Fire God to refine the souls, bones, and flesh of 100,000 Fire God believers into breakthrough pills for 'Inner Realm Experts' to break through to 'Martial Kings'."

Upon hearing this, Liang Ben's expression froze, and he scoffed, "That so-called Barrier-Breaking Pill, is it some kind of very valuable thing?"

"Are the powerful clans of Linjiang willing to risk getting burned by playing with fire, even going so far as to use the hands of the God of Fire to forge their own destiny?"

"And even if we take a step back and assume that the God of Fire really used the lives of 100,000 people to refine a few dozen Breakthrough Pills, would the powerful families really dare to eat them?"

"Most of the information you've received is just rhetoric from upper-level powerful families to get lower-level families to do dirty work..."

"Because only lower-level clans would desperately desire a Martial King-level expert to emerge from their clan."

"And the upper-class clans can refine barrier-breaking pills themselves."