"Lunatic!" a squad leader of the Blood Tiger Gang sneered coldly.
Over a dozen gang members brandishing weapons surged forward like mobsters.
"You're the lunatic!" Qi Yuan retorted, holding the hoe handle as he blocked the middle of the road, looking every bit like an imposing, fierce bandit.
In the neighboring courtyard, Wu Xiang looked anxious. "What should I do?"
Things were getting bizarre.
With the Blood Tiger Gang fighters currently held up, this was the perfect opportunity to flee.
Yet that ran counter to his indecisive nature.
Once he got bogged down in hesitation, it could last for half a day.
While he was agonizing, Qi Yuan charged into the crowd with the hoe handle.
"Anyone who stops me from transforming into a mortal is my enemy!"
For the sake of this mortal transformation, after arriving in the Kuijin Realm, Qi Yuan had deliberately told Chen Kangbao and Shen Lingxuan to keep their distance and refrain from contacting him for the time being.
After all, this mortal transformation concerned breaking through to the Ancestral God realm.
In equivalent terms, that was the Yang God realm.
Qi Yuan had no idea how many Yin Gods he would have to kill to reach Yang God.
According to the law of conservation of energy, it was likely an astronomical figure.
Now, succeeding in transforming into a mortal meant advancing immediately, which was practically ascending to the heavens in a single bound—a massive bargain.
"Take that for getting in the way of my mortal transformation!"
"A mere wooden stick dares to clash head-on with our blades?!" Although the Blood Tiger Gang leader took Qi Yuan seriously in his heart, his words remained contemptuous.
In gang warfare, momentum and swagger were the one thing you could never lose.
"All things are equal! Why can't a wooden stick clash head-on with swords and sabers?!"
"Smash!"
At this moment, Qi Yuan demonstrated what it meant that enough brute force could make even a brick fly.
Without the slightest technique, he brought it down with a vicious, tremendous swing.
Perhaps because the force of this swing was so immense, the wind of the stick arrived before the wood itself.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
In an instant, seven inner hall disciples were blasted back over a dozen meters. By the time their bodies crashed to the ground, not a breath of life remained.
Their internal organs were shattered to pieces.
The score was 7 to 0.
"With strength like this, you dare obstruct my mortal transformation? Are they paying you a fortune? Why risk your lives fighting me for a measly three thousand a month?!"
Like a ferocious brigand, Qi Yuan plunged into the crowd once more, giving the remaining Blood Tiger Gang thugs no time to react.
Sweeping the wooden stick across, not a single one could withstand a single blow from him.
He was like a god of madness.
Within a few breaths, every last Blood Tiger Gang member present had been battered to death.
Looking at the corpses on the ground, Qi Yuan fumed, "The Blood Tiger Gang is thoroughly evil. My role-play progress is still zero percent!"
Qi Yuan felt that if the Blood Tiger Gang hadn't made a move, perhaps his role-play progress might have increased a little.
"Senior... is mighty!" At that moment, the previously hesitant Wu Xiang finally showed himself, looking at Qi Yuan with deep reverence. He asked, "Senior, you must be a Mystic-rank weapon wielder, right?"
To display such power, he had to be at least a Mystic-rank weapon wielder.
"Don't talk nonsense. I'm a mortal." Qi Yuan shot Wu Xiang a glance.
Wu Xiang was dumbfounded.
What kind of mortal sends seven Blood Tiger Gang members flying with a single stick?
What kind of mortal produces wind blades from a wooden stick?
Seeing that Wu Xiang didn't believe him, Qi Yuan added, "I'm just a bit stronger than average."
To transform into a mortal, he naturally had to make people realize he was transforming into a mortal.
"If you don't believe me, we can arm-wrestle. You can even use your leg," Qi Yuan said casually.
This completely stumped Wu Xiang.
What was he doing here again?
How did this turn into arm-wrestling?
"Senior, you killed Blood Tiger Gang members. It won't be long before the gang comes hunting for revenge. Staying in Yunxue City will be exceedingly perilous for you. Why not come with me into the wilderness?" Wu Xiang offered an invitation.
The Blood Tiger Gang itself was actually mediocre, but the Blood Tiger behind them, as well as Thorn Blood, were the real trouble.
Qi Yuan rolled his eyes at Wu Xiang. "I have no desire to join your rebels. I just want to live a peaceful, quiet life in the city."
His eyes being able to see hidden information was his superpower, an innate gift. Using it shouldn't count as utilizing supernatural power, right?
Wu Xiang froze, not expecting Qi Yuan to see right through his background.
"Enough chitchat. I've got pressing matters to attend to—I need to go wipe out the Blood Tiger Gang. Bye-bye."
Having said that, Qi Yuan strode away.
This Blood Tiger Gang was simply too overbearing, committing every evil imaginable. Qi Yuan could tolerate them no longer.
"Senior?" Wu Xiang called out, anxious inside.
He had never imagined Qi Yuan would be this ferocious.
Going to take on the Blood Tiger Gang armed with just a broken hoe handle?!
***
On the other side, Qi Yuan took out a specially crafted communication artifact.
This communication artifact had been given to him by Xianling Yingjun before parting ways.
As long as Xianling Yingjun remained in the same domain, he could maintain contact with Qi Yuan.
Now that Qi Yuan had run into a snag, he naturally consulted this exposition NPC.
"Sigh, I've run into a tough problem."
"What problem?"
The exposition NPC was truly professional—always online whenever needed.
"I'm preparing to transform into a mortal to break through to the Ancestral God realm."
"Hold on... Ancestral God?!" Xianling Yingjun couldn't keep his composure.
Weren't you just a Venerable moments ago?
We haven't seen each other for just a few days, and you're already an Ancestral God?!
If he became an Ancestral God, wouldn't that make him a magnificent existence on par with his own ancestor?!
In the Zhou Universe, an Ancestral God was a Yang God, capable of ruling an entire domain.
A single domain spanned three thousand worlds.
At this moment, he began to doubt himself and doubt reality itself.
If he didn't know Qi Yuan, he would have suspected the man was pulling his leg.
But wasn't this ridiculously fast?
Have I forgotten how to read?
Is Ancestral God a Mythological rank?
Thinking of this, he hastily searched through records, and the information confirmed that an Ancestral God was indeed a Yang God.
He fell completely silent.
Just what kind of monster was this Qi Yuan?!
"Sigh, I managed to hold back for a whole night without killing anyone, and my mortal transformation progress is still zero," Qi Yuan voiced his worries.
He had worked hard for a whole night—well, that was an exaggeration, it hadn't actually been a full night.
After going so long without killing anyone and without even dueling a mosquito, by all rights, the role-play progress bar should have grown a little.
Yet it was still zero.
"Speaking of transforming into a mortal, I recall a secret," Xianling Yingjun said.
"What secret?"
"My ancestor once said that when cultivating out in the world, one should be kind to others and value harmony above all else. I've always followed those guidelines.
Do you know why?"
"Isn't that just common decency?"
"...In our Zhou Universe, powerful clans are frequently wiped out for inexplicable reasons. And the reason most of these powerful clans were destroyed was because they inadvertently slew a mortal."
"Transforming into a mortal?" Qi Yuan's heart stirred.
"Correct," Xianling Yingjun sighed emotionally. "Realm Lords are divided into the Rule, Myriad Things, and Heaven-Opening Realms.
To reach the Heaven-Opening Realm, one must know myriad things and fuse rules.
Yet how difficult is it to know myriad things and fuse rules?
According to my ancestor, Realm Lords of the Myriad Things Realm rarely show themselves because... they manifest ten thousand incarnations and descend into the mortal dust... experiencing tumultuous reincarnations to know myriad things and fuse rules."
Xianling Yingjun spoke the truth.
After reaching the Myriad Things Realm, taking another step forward was extraordinarily difficult.
Many Myriad Things Realm Lords would use a thread of their true spirit as an anchor, transforming into mortals and going through reincarnation after reincarnation.
As countless mortals going through endless reincarnations, they could truly comprehend every blade of grass, every tree, birth, old age, sickness, death, joy, anger, sorrow, and delight of this world and universe.
This spanned an exceedingly vast stretch of time; even across an entire epoch, one might fail to truly know myriad things and fuse rules.
An epoch was the time from a universe's birth to its destruction.
Generally speaking, without external forces or special factors, an epoch lasted 490 billion years.
Over such an immense expanse of time, Myriad Things Realm Lords manifested countless incarnations, their threads of true spirit continually reincarnating and transmigrating to seek knowledge of myriad things and fusion with rules.
During this span, some Myriad Things Realm Lords would have their true spirit dim during this mortal transformation process, sinking forever into oblivion and ultimately returning to dust.
Thus, in the Zhou Universe, there was a rumor that Myriad Things Realm Lords rarely died in battle; virtually all of them perished from failing their mortal transformations.
In the Zhou Universe, the fastest person to progress from the Myriad Things Realm to the Heaven-Opening Realm was the paramount powerhouse of the Zhou Universe, the creator of Void Paradise—the Void Realm Lord.
From the Myriad Things Realm to the Heaven-Opening Realm, he took only half an epoch.
Mentioning this, Xianling Yingjun felt his own insignificance all the more.
He was merely a Yin God Venerable, far from a Yang God, to say nothing of Realm Lords at the Myriad Things Realm.
As for the magnificent beings above the Myriad Things Realm, they were beyond imagination.
Qi Yuan froze.
Why did this mortal transformation of Myriad Things Realm Lords sound so much like his role-playing method?
Qi Yuan's path as a Yin God had long been planned out: to become a True God capable of opening heavens and earth.
To open heavens and earth and create myriad things, the prerequisite was knowing myriad things and mastering rules.
The roles Qi Yuan played were actually manifestations of his own blood essence.
Aside from living figures, the roles he played included kitchen knives, stones, and even divine artifacts.
The Myriad Things Realm Lords were plagiarizing him!
Qi Yuan was utterly certain!
Because according to Xianling Yingjun, when Myriad Things Realm Lords manifested countless incarnations, they mostly turned into humans, animals, plants, and various living beings capable of perceiving heaven and earth.
Qi Yuan was different—he even played lifeless things like stones and kitchen knives!
Therefore, the Myriad Things Realm Lords had definitely plagiarized him!
Except their skills were subpar—they had only copied half of it!
"Damn it, I'm too weak right now! Once I become a Yin God, I'm definitely going to collect patent fees from them!" Qi Yuan thought to himself.
Suddenly, he realized he was like a fallen tycoon.
Across the myriad heavens and realms, in countless universes, all these Realm Lords owed him patent royalties!
Yet he also understood that great gratitude breeds resentment; if he voiced this out loud, it might provoke Realm Lords to hunt him down.
With that in mind, he could only grind his teeth and swallow the grievance down.
"Of course, the mortal transformation of those supreme beings is naturally different from yours, but you can still draw some inspiration from it.
Although you cannot enter reincarnation like a Realm Lord, you could seal your memories and restart your life," Xianling Yingjun replied earnestly.
"Thanks," Qi Yuan thanked him earnestly.
In his heart, he didn't agree at all with Xianling Yingjun's suggestion to seal his memories.
The Realm Lords' mortal transformations were copied from him, so they were bound to be full of flaws.
His mortal transformation was the genuine original!
Xianling Yingjun telling him all this was somewhat like back on Blue Star, where domestic news got reposted onto foreign sites, only for domestic sites to repost it back and call it foreign news.
"Which means my train of thought is spot on."
"The reason my mortal transformation hasn't succeeded is that too many people are obstructing it. As long as I kill them all, won't I be able to transform into a mortal in peace?"
Qi Yuan felt this was completely logical and well-grounded.
His line of thinking wasn't the problem—there were simply too many villains in this world.
"Keep killing the Blood Tiger Gang?"
"Forget it, the Blood Tiger Gang is too weak. I might as well wipe out Thorn Blood directly!"
Having beaten the young ones, Qi Yuan took an unconventional path—instead of fighting the old ones, he'd go straight to killing their Grand Supreme Elder!
***
Meanwhile, within the Blood Tiger Gang.
Upon receiving the news, the gang leader's eyes gleamed with thick killing intent.
"Back from the dead... Good, very good! A mere cultivator! If you had stayed quietly coiled up, I wouldn't have bothered you. But you actually dared to kill inner hall disciples of my Blood Tiger Gang—audacious!"
The leader of the Blood Tiger Gang was burly, with arms as thick as an ordinary person's thighs.
He possessed natural superhuman strength, and coupled with his cultivation, he was comparable to the lowest tier of Earth-rank weapon wielders.
Just then, a gang member walked in and handed a letter to the leader.
Taking the letter, he squinted as he read, a sneer appearing in his eyes.
"Has Old Man Wang lost his mind?"
He tossed the letter casually onto the floor and crossed his legs.
The strategist hadn't read the letter, but he had a rough idea of its contents.
This Old Man Wang was a wealthy man in the city.
Back when the Blood Tiger Gang leader was weak and powerless, Old Man Wang had saved his life.
Later on, Old Man Wang became an intermediary, often bringing money to ransom rebel members from the gang leader.
Rebels might be rebelling, but business was still business.
The gang leader had engaged in such transactions several times.
Now, in the letter, Old Man Wang mentioned that if they spared Qi Yuan's life this time, someone was willing to pay ten thousand taels of silver to ransom him.
"Hmph! Over a dozen of my brothers are only worth ten thousand taels? They'll have to pay more!"
The gang leader scoffed, holding up three fingers to his subordinate. "Thirty thousand taels."
Catching his drift, the subordinate immediately understood.
At this point, the Blood Tiger Gang strategist spoke up: "Chief, this time... that cultivator has an extraordinary background. If we make this deal, I'm afraid it might incur displeasure from above."
"Hmph! Of course I know that. At worst, we take the money and don't release the person."
Business required integrity, after all.
However, after completing this deal, the silver the Blood Tiger Gang leader had amassed would be enough to secure an audience with Lord Blood Tiger and have him transformed into a half-human, half-specter noble.
Once he became a noble, who would still want to be a lackey or high-level thug like the leader of the Blood Tiger Gang?
"Chief is mighty!" the strategist praised.
"Come, follow me. Let's see where that damn cultivator is right now!"
The leader strode out of the hall.
Outside the hall, over a hundred gang members in matching uniforms were gathered on the plaza, brandishing broadswords, dripping with murderous intent.
Looking at these gang members, a smug expression appeared on the leader's face.
Right then, another gang member hurried over from a distance.
"Chief, that guy is heading toward the inner city!"
Yunxue City was ruled by Thorn Blood. For better administration, there were numerous artifacts known as Sky-Surveillance Eyes.
These artifacts were akin to flying surveillance cameras.
The Blood Tiger Gang had possession of a few.
After Qi Yuan slew the Blood Tiger Gang's inner hall members, a Sky-Surveillance Eye flew out to search for Qi Yuan's traces and monitor him.
"What is he going to the inner city for?" The gang leader was somewhat surprised.
Aside from nobles, Thorn Blood members, and servants, ordinary people had no right to enter the inner city.
"Bring over the Sky-Surveillance Eye feed, let me see!" the gang leader ordered.
The strategist said ingratiatingly, "Perhaps seeing that he can't get out of the city, he went to the inner city to see if he could catch the eye of some grand figure and be taken in as a slave!"
The gang leader's expression shifted several times. If the man truly was taken as a slave by someone else, things would become tricky, and he might have to ask Lord Blood Tiger to intervene.
Chapter 546