Chapter Fifty-Seven: Break, Break, Break

Inside the small building in the courtyard, Fan Caobao and his group were drinking heavily, while outside, Chen Hongxu stood gazing at the sky, his expression seemingly vacant.

His internal energy resonated faintly with the spiritual essence of the heavens and earth. Chen Hongxu knew that a breakthrough was imminent, yet this profound sensation had occurred frequently of late, and he always felt as though something was missing to reach the Fourth Grade. He slowly withdrew his energy from the surrounding spiritual aura. At that moment, he felt like a vessel filled to the brim with water; the accumulation was sufficient, but the spark of release remained elusive.

The luster gradually returned to his eyes. Just as he exhaled a breath of stale air, the corners of his mouth curled upward involuntarily. Turning around, he saw Xue Xi, that girl, leaning against a tree with one hand, staring at him from a short distance away, her face flushed with a crimson hue.

Chen Hongxu let out an amused chuckle, a reaction that seemed to provoke Xue Xi even further. Her delicate, porcelain-like face reddened even more, resembling a ripened peach. The hand she used to lean against the tree curled into a fist and struck the trunk. With a twitch of her brow and a fierce glare at Chen Hongxu, she seemed to have made a momentous decision, her blush deepening as she strode toward him.

As Xue Xi drew closer with every step, Chen Hongxu sensed a slight disturbance in the surrounding spiritual energy. He frowned, just about to speak, when the once-peaceful energy suddenly turned turbulent, becoming as thick and viscous as paste. Chen Hongxu lowered his head and moved his arms slightly, discovering that it required ten times the usual effort to exert force, and this viscosity was intensifying by the second.

He looked up, about to ask what on earth Xue Xi was doing, but was struck dumb.

Xue Xi’s eyes were filled with seduction, and with every step she took, she discarded a piece of her clothing. If Chen Hongxu didn't understand what this meant now, he would be a man in name only.

Moments later, Xue Xi reached his side. She looked down at the man, whose body was clearly reacting, and felt a surge of secret joy. Suppressing her shyness, she slowly raised her head, only to find that Chen Hongxu’s mouth was smeared with nosebleed.

Startled, Xue Xi reached out to wipe it away, only to find the blood flowing even more profusely from his nostrils.

In Chen Hongxu’s mind and eyes, there was nothing left but this snowy-white, delicate body. A decade of waiting seemed to have burst forth like a dam at this very moment. Although he had slept with Xue Xi before, he had always treated their intimacy with extreme caution, never daring to overstep by even half a step.

His state of mind now, however, was somewhat different. After having nearly been separated by life and death once before, his cherishing and possessiveness toward Xue Xi were no less than her own. It was simply that he had been bogged down by many matters recently, and given his temperament, he would never have been the one to initiate such a request.

Xue Xi wiped the blood away for a while, only to see that Chen Hongxu’s gaze remained fixed. A mix of shyness and secret delight swirled in her heart. Knowing she had to strike while the iron was hot, she wiped the remaining blood onto Chen Hongxu’s clothes and clumsily began to undress him as well...

A moment of intimacy is worth a thousand pieces of gold...

At the first light of dawn, Chen Hongxu returned to the small building with Xue Xi, whose hands were tucked into his pockets. Fan Caobao’s group had clearly been up all night, still drinking.

Seeing the two enter, Fan Caobao glanced up, then recoiled in shock. He trotted over to Chen Hongxu, looked him up and down, and asked, "Brother Chen, what happened? Why is there a scab of blood on your face?"

"I was swatting mosquitoes," Chen Hongxu stammered. Xue Xi hung her head, her neck flushed red. The group were all sharp-witted individuals; how could they not understand what had happened? Yet, they wondered how such a thing could result in a face covered in blood. Brother Chen was truly unique—and quite ferocious.

Glaring at the group, who were wearing strange expressions, Chen Hongxu dragged Xue Xi back to their room. He told her to get some rest; although their physiques made sleep largely unnecessary, a girl still needed to rest—this had less to do with constitution and more to do with anatomy.

After settling Xue Xi, Chen Hongxu splashed some water on his face and returned to the hall. Seeing everyone gathered, he announced clearly, "The trip to Mount Kongtong, originally planned for half a month from now, will be moved up. I made my breakthrough early this morning."

"You broke through?" The group exchanged bewildered glances. Could they have been wrong just now?

Chen Hongxu smiled without answering. How could he possibly admit that he had broken through because of the blood Xue Xi had shed? Generally, a person’s heart-blood is the most precious thing, but for a woman, her virginity is the most precious treasure of her life. After all, heart-blood can be replenished, but one only has their maidenhead once.

The group was stunned for a moment before the realization hit them. They were going to Mount Kongtong? They were as excited as if they had been injected with adrenaline. Though this place wasn't exactly desolate, it had become unbearably dull.

...

Today, nations across the world had formed a coalition to contend with the Alliance of Practitioners. Tensions were constantly escalating; although there were no major conflicts, minor frictions were constant.

After the Kunlun sect opened its gates, the Kongtong sect had retreated to the second seat of the Alliance of Practitioners. However, because the Kunlun sect was distant and ethereal, not to mention their exceptionally harsh apprenticeship requirements, they were difficult to reach. In contrast, the Kongtong sect was located atop Mount Kongtong in China, making it easy to find, and their requirements for disciples were relatively relaxed. It was said that anyone capable of climbing to the summit on their own could receive instruction from the Immortal Masters.

Furthermore, although Kunlun held the first seat in the Alliance, perhaps due to arrogance or some other reason, they only sent young, inexperienced disciples to manage Alliance affairs—at most, those with Eighth Grade strength—far less impressive than Daoist Wukong of Mount Kongtong.

The weather was slightly chilly. The sun had just torn a seam in the darkness and had not yet had time to warm the ground, but the foot of Mount Kongtong was already crowded with people waiting to ascend.

The crowd consisted of men, women, the old, and the young, appearing as if they had been waiting for a long time. From the nearby town, more people were constantly arriving—some driving, some walking—as numerous as the hairs on an ox. These people came alone, in small groups, or even with their entire families.

After resting in the town and gathering information throughout the night, Chen Hongxu’s group was clearly taken aback by the spectacle at Mount Kongtong. Fan Caobao stopped a youth of seventeen or eighteen to inquire and learned that while the apprenticeship requirements were relaxed, it wasn't as simple as just climbing the mountain to be accepted. The Kongtong sect held irregular recruitment drives, and there were quotas for how many people they would accept in each batch.

Thanking the youth, who had been staring blankly at Xue Xi, Fan Caobao suppressed the urge to beat him up—one couldn't just use someone and then resort to violence—and returned to Chen Hongxu to report the situation.

Chen Hongxu nodded and smiled, "Let’s go. Time to stir things up."

The group marched toward Mount Kongtong in high spirits. Mixed in with the crowd of pedestrians, they did not appear particularly conspicuous. Only the youth whom Fan Caobao had questioned remained on the open ground.

In the youth's eyes were resolve and envy, but mostly a longing for the future. The world of practitioners had undoubtedly injected a new form of vitality into an era where society was already well-established and no longer in need of rough-and-tumble heroes.

Everyone could rise to prominence; everyone could fly through the sky and burrow into the earth. That was the grand promise the Alliance of Practitioners had painted for the world...