Yan Hongde endured excruciating pain as he pleaded, "Young Master He, I'll talk, but please spare them!"

If Yan Hongde had known you were such a fierce person, he would never have dared to offend you earlier.

"Ah!"

You directly hacked to death one of the Taoyuan Village members.

"You think this is a vegetable market where you can bargain with me?"

You had originally thought Yan Hongde was an honest man, but it turned out he had eight hundred schemes up his sleeve.

Seeing your ruthless cruelty, Yan Hongde could only intermittently reveal the whole truth.

Many years ago, the Jin Yue Nation wanted to open a secret troop transport route through the Black Serpent Woods leading directly to Great Qian.

But the Black Serpent Woods had a harsh environment and vast territory, causing the Jin Yue people to get lost inside.

Later, they accidentally discovered Taoyuan Village.

Taoyuan Village had already been established for over a hundred years, and its people had perfectly adapted to the Black Serpent Woods' natural environment.

The Jin Yue Nation had the Taoyuan villagers help open the troop transport route, using the village as an important supply point.

In return, Taoyuan Village received money, supplies, and some martial techniques from Jin Yue.

The two sides cooperated for many years until recently when the troop route was exposed, drawing the encirclement and suppression of Great Qian's army.

That's how today's events unfolded.

"Elder Yan, I thought you were an honest elder, but turns out you've got connections in the Black Serpent Woods - you're practically the mafia here!"

As for why you hadn't detected the Taoyuan martial artists, it was because Jin Yue had given them a technique to conceal their cultivation aura.

You found this technique on Yan Hongde - a top-tier martial skill called the Art of Hidden Breath.

The Art of Hidden Breath allows practitioners to only display the cultivation level they wish to show, effectively hiding their true strength.

"At least I got some loot out of this," you muttered while flipping through the Art of Hidden Breath.

Yan Hongde and the last dozen or so Taoyuan villagers were also dealt with by you.

You thoroughly searched Taoyuan Village, but unfortunately only found third-rate techniques - too rough even to use as toilet paper.

Moreover, there wasn't much money either - Jin Yue had actually provided very few resources to Taoyuan Village.

It was more accurate to say Jin Yue had been exploiting Taoyuan Village.

However, you did find over a hundred Internal Spirit Pills and several first-rate techniques on Sui Yangzhi - your biggest haul.

Internal Spirit Pills are cultivation-assisting pills used at Marrow Washing level and above.

Though you were only at Bone Tempering stage, you could still use them, and their effects were better than Blood Qi Pills.

After thoroughly looting the place, you prepared to leave.

You skillfully burned the bodies, demolished the houses, and methodically destroyed the crime scene.

After covering all your tracks, you headed east.

You were returning to Great Qian.

With Taoyuan Village exposed, it would inevitably attract more troops from both Great Qian and Jin Yue.

Staying in the Black Serpent Woods was no longer safe.

You walked east for two months, occasionally encountering Great Qian's troops along the way.

You never revealed yourself, always choosing to detour far around them.

Thus your journey took longer than when you had entered the Black Serpent Woods.

But you didn't idle during this time - you had practiced the Art of Hidden Breath to beginner level.

You could now conceal your cultivation from martial artists of the same level.

You traveled for four more months.

You noticed that the closer you got to the Black Serpent Woods' periphery, the stricter Great Qian's military inspections became.

You knew this was because of the exposed secret troop route.

You still chose to stealthily circumvent the checkpoints.

The Black Serpent Woods was vast, and Great Qian couldn't possibly blockade all exits.

You deliberately took paths where there were no roads.

You crossed mountains and valleys, taking a much longer route.

Fortunately, you weren't discovered the entire way.

By the sixtieth day, you'd been traversing the Black Serpent Woods for over a year.

Your initial entry had taken less than half a year, but now this detour had taken over a year just to nearly exit the woods.

With the help of Internal Spirit Pills, you touched upon the bottleneck of mid-stage Bone Tempering.

You knew you could break through to late-stage Bone Tempering within a year.

Your Art of Hidden Breath had reached Initial Achievement.

You could now hide your cultivation from martial artists one realm higher than you, allowing you to lay low more securely.

You completed your fifth True Qi condensation.

The power of your True Qi externalization had increased significantly.

Your externalized True Qi could now not only harm ordinary people.

Even early-stage Skin Refining martial artists would be pierced through if they didn't defend against it.

You flicked your hand, sending out a burst of True Qi.

A tree as thick as a bowl was cleanly severed at the waist.

Nodding in satisfaction, you continued onward.

Three days later, you finally safely exited the Black Serpent Woods.

You found an inn to rest.

As you quietly ate and drank alone, your sharp ears picked up all the conversations in the inn.

During your nearly twenty years of seclusion in the Black Serpent Woods, many major events had occurred in the martial world.

You learned about the death of the Extermination Sect's leader.

You recalled he was that Dragon Sect leader who had people collect five keys to fulfill wishes.

"This Dragon Sect leader wasn't much - promising to fulfill others' wishes but couldn't even keep himself alive."

You also learned that the Joyful Zen Sect, one of the three great demonic sects, had secretly abducted a princess from the Li imperial clan to use as a cultivation furnace.

After being exposed, the Li imperial family sent eighteen Ultimate Grandmasters to attack them, nearly wiping out the Joyful Zen Sect.

In the end, the Vajra Temple - one of the five great sects - intervened to preserve the Joyful Zen Sect's lineage.

The Joyful Zen Sect never recovered, falling from one of the three great demonic sects to a third-rate faction.

"These dual cultivation practitioners really let their little heads control their big heads. Abducting a princess to play with? They really screwed up this time."

Taking another bite of food, you continued eavesdropping.

Then a discussion from a nearby table reached your ears.

"Are you going to watch the Sword Establishment Pavilion's leader Lin Jingzhi fight the Blood Demon Sect's leader Zhou Qiyun in three days?"

"Of course! This is a life-and-death battle between Ultimate Grandmasters!"

"What life-and-death battle? Zhou Qiyun stands no chance against Leader Lin."

"Can't call him Leader Lin anymore - Hero Lin has announced he's stepping down as Sword Establishment Pavilion's leader. He's going to the Blood Demon Sect in a personal capacity."

"Ah, three years have passed, but Hero Lin still can't let go."

"Who could? A prodigy disciple like Miao Gift - with such heaven-defying talent - was brutally murdered by the Blood Demon Sect!"

Hearing Miao Gift's name mentioned, your expression darkened as you approached them.

"You said Miao Gift is dead?!"

The group looked at you strangely. "You didn't know? This spread throughout the martial world three years ago."

Composing yourself, you sat down directly.

You tossed out five hundred taels of silver. "Tell me everything in detail!"

The nearest person snatched up the silver note with a grin. "No problem, young master! My neighbor's third brother once spent time with the Sword Establishment Pavilion's cleaning lady - I know this story better than anyone!"

"Cut the nonsense. Get to the point."

"Alright, alright. Here's what happened..."

Three years ago, the forty-one-year-old Miao Gift had reached the peak of Grandmaster realm.

As the youngest Grandmaster in history, he could already fight Ultimate Grandmasters beyond his level without losing.

Crossing realms below Ultimate Grandmaster wasn't particularly shocking.

But between Grandmaster and Ultimate Grandmaster lay an insurmountable chasm.

Just in terms of lifespan - Grandmasters lived about a hundred years, while Ultimate Grandmasters could reach two hundred.

This lifespan-breaking limit completely defied common understanding.

This showed how vast the gap was between Grandmaster and Ultimate Grandmaster.

Yet despite this objective disparity, Miao Gift could battle Ultimate Grandmasters.

This had never occurred in history.

Miao Gift's talent and combat power were monstrous.

Had he achieved Ultimate Grandmaster status, he would undoubtedly have become the number one martial artist.

That same year, the Blood Demon Sect recognized Miao Gift's immense threat.

So they launched a siege to kill him.