"Old Seven, you've met A'yu, you've met Sun Tiecheng, and you know where the City of Fools is. Can you help me out just this once? Give me a chance to clear things up with Sun Tiecheng," Old Train pleaded earnestly.
Li Banfeng felt thoroughly conflicted. "Brother, I really don't think this can be cleared up. To this day, I still don't even know which of you was in the wrong."
Old Train pondered for a long time. "When you really look at it, we were both at fault."
"Right, both at fault. But where exactly did you go wrong? How could you ever explain it clearly? And even if you did, would it do any good?" Li Banfeng still couldn't see an answer.
Grandpa Train let out a long sigh. "Forget it. Just pretend I never said anything."
The room fell silent for a long time before Li Banfeng stood up. "I'll make a trip to the City of Fools and tell Castellan Sun about this. Whether he's willing to see you or not is entirely up to him."
That very day, Li Banfeng went to the City of Fools.
Sun Tiecheng and Ah Gui were at home stewing meat. The moment Sun Tiecheng saw Li Banfeng, his face lit up. "You little brat, you actually remembered to come back? Caught the scent of meat, did you? Come on, let's share a few drinks!"
Li Banfeng hadn't come empty-handed. He had brought two roast chickens and two jars of fine wine from Zhengjing Village. As the three of them ate and drank, Sun Tiecheng asked, "Old Seven, I heard there was fighting over at Santoucha."
"Senior Brother, news travels fast to you," Li Banfeng said, filling Sun Tiecheng's cup. "We won a sweeping victory in that battle."
Sun Tiecheng nodded. "Ah Gui gathered some intelligence. Heard even Old Xu took the field. I really didn't expect that old fellow could accomplish anything once he stepped away from his little plot of land. Leading a few of his disciples, I hear they wiped out the Dangkou Battalion."
The Dangkou Battalion was a sore wound in Sun Tiecheng's heart, so speaking of it required measured tact. Li Banfeng said, "This Dangkou Battalion was different from the one back then. Its fighting strength was far inferior."
Sun Tiecheng chuckled. "You don't need to sugarcoat it. I heard Eighteen Wheels went too. What kind of caliber the Dangkou Battalion had—he'd know better than anyone. What did he tell you?"
"He said—" Li Banfeng raised his wine cup and smiled. "Senior Brother, you set that ramp up a little too hastily."
"Was it too hasty?" Sun Tiecheng laughed as well. "You've made something of yourself, kid. Coaxing words out of you isn't easy anymore. Well, I won't beat around the bush either. Tell him to come find me directly."
Li Banfeng set down his wine bowl. "Senior Brother, you guessed it?"
Sun Tiecheng grinned. "What's there not to guess? Isn't it just about what happened back then? Ah Gui, what do you say?"
The Smiling Ghost King, Gui Jianchou, picked up a large bowl. "I'll go ladle some more meat for you two."
Sun Tiecheng looked back at Gui Jianchou. "What are you scared of? Haven't you been stiffening your neck and refusing to admit fault all along? How come you're scared now?"
Gui Jianchou brought over the bowl of soup, kept his head down, and drank his wine, not daring to utter a word.
Sun Tiecheng picked up a piece of meat—thirty percent lean, seventy percent fat—and popped it into his mouth, rich broth, grease, and all. After a couple of chews, he washed it down with a swig of wine. "Old Seven, once we've had our fill, I'll write a letter for you to deliver to Eighteen Wheels. But you must promise me you won't peek. If you look at it, I'll know for sure, and whatever is arranged in the letter won't count."
Li Banfeng nodded. "I won't look. I'll just ask you directly: what did you write in the letter?"
Sun Tiecheng chuckled. "You cheeky brat, not even bothering to set up a ramp, just asking straight out? The letter states the time and place of our meeting. This is between him and me, Old Seven. You can't tag along, and you must never show your face. If you do, it'll make things awkward for both of us. You absolutely have to promise me this."
Li Banfeng said, "I can promise you, but I need some word on how it turns out."
Sun Tiecheng raised his wine bowl. "You'll have your answer the very next day. If he doesn't return to you, you come looking for me."
Li Banfeng delivered the letter back. After opening and reading it, Old Train's fingertips trembled, and he burned the letter to ashes. "I've memorized the location."
"And the time?"
Old Train paused, thought for a moment, then hurriedly gathered the ashes and rubbed them between his hands, restoring them into a sheet of paper. He read it once more from top to bottom, committing the time to memory as well.
Li Banfeng asked, "Are you really going tomorrow?"
Old Train nodded. "Make sure you don't follow me. I won't let you follow me either. Brother, I'm tired. I want to rest for a bit before meeting Sun Tiecheng tomorrow."
Li Banfeng walked to the door and looked back. "Sun Tiecheng might not want to hear your apology."
"I know." Old Train lay down on the bed to sleep.
Li Banfeng took two steps, then turned back again. "And you might not be going there to apologize either."
Old Train began to snore.
Early the next morning, Old Train sprinted off toward the newland.
The agreed meeting place with Sun Tiecheng was near Zhengjing Village. Logically speaking, Old Train had no need to leave so early. Yet following a Travel Cultivator's instinct for Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Calamity, Old Train felt that arriving early was better than arriving late.
By the time he reached Zhengjing Village, it was still well before the appointed hour, yet Old Train felt the situation growing increasingly perilous.
Was it because he hadn't come early enough?
Could Sun Tiecheng have arrived the night before to make preparations?
Why was this danger drawing closer and closer?
Sun Tiecheng had chosen the spot; he ought to have laid an ambush where he was. Why would he be coming out actively to meet him?
While Old Train was assessing the situation, he suddenly saw several people carrying a bridal sedan chair, playing flutes and beating drums as they marched over.
Who would hold a wedding in the newland?
As the bridal sedan drew closer, Old Train realized he had better stay clear, when suddenly A'yi pulled aside the curtain and shouted, "Quick, welcome the groom!"
The moment he saw A'yi, Old Train's face twisted.
Why was A'yi here?
Was this Sun Tiecheng's doing?
It shouldn't be. Faced with an opponent like Old Train, Sun Tiecheng certainly wouldn't push his daughter to the front. Even if he wanted to, he couldn't; A'yi wouldn't listen to him.
Then who had summoned A'yi here?
The sedan bearers sprinted toward Old Train with blinding speed. A'yi leaped atop the sedan roof, holding a steel pitchfork in her left hand and a fishing net in her right, laughing heartily at Old Train.
"Hurry, bring your gear! Take him alive! Don't let him get away!"
Old Train spun around and bolted. But after just two steps, his feet found no purchase—he seemed to have stepped into a trap.
A trap was no problem; Old Train could fly!
Leaping over eight feet into the air, Old Train suddenly felt his body grow unimaginably heavy, plummeting downward rapidly.
From below, Qiu Luoye grabbed Old Train by both legs and used Elephant Crushes a Thousand Jun to drag him down.
Looking down, Old Train gritted his teeth. "Qiu Daxiang, I didn't treat you badly in the past!"
Qiu Luoye said, "Brother Wheels, don't hold a grudge against me! As long as you go to Hulu Village, I can finally go home!"
The moment the words left his mouth, A'yi arrived before him, brandishing the fishing net.
Thirty li south of Zhengjing Village, at a corner beside the road, stood a tea pavilion. Sun Tiecheng had bought out the tea stall and sent the vendor away.
Having prepared the stove fire and tea, Sun Tiecheng tucked his hands into his sleeves and squatted on the ground like an honest farmer, waiting for Old Train to arrive.
At a quarter to ten, someone approached.
Sun Tiecheng rose, poured a cup of tea, and said, "You're quite early. Have a cup of tea."
"Drink tea?" A man turned the corner of the intersection and walked toward the tea stall. He looked younger than Old Train, around fifty years old, and was leaner than Old Train, looking frail enough to be blown over by the wind.
The newcomer wasn't Old Train. But Sun Tiecheng recognized him as well—it was Shan Chengjun.
Hearing Sun Tiecheng's voice, Shan Chengjun was thoroughly surprised.
Seeing Shan Chengjun's appearance, Sun Tiecheng was equally surprised.
Shan Chengjun had only heard that there was an entrance to the City of Fools near Zhengjing Village, and he had come to try his luck. He hadn't expected to bump into him just like that.
Sun Tiecheng had opened the tea stall for Old Train and had never anticipated that his first customer would turn out to be Shan Chengjun.
Still, it didn't matter if Shan Chengjun was here. When one opened shop for business, a customer was a customer.
Both men remained calm and collected.
Shan Chengjun sat down at the tea stall and said with a smile, "Old Sun, when did you switch to this line of work?"
Sun Tiecheng served the tea to Shan Chengjun. "Just took over the stall today. My craft isn't quite there yet, so make do with a taste."
Shan Chengjun took the tea, took a sip, and asked, "Is it poisoned?"
Sun Tiecheng smiled. "Now that's a dull question. When you come, could I possibly not poison it?"
Shan Chengjun savored the flavor. The poison was fierce. He set down the teabowl and spat. "You're even duller. Do we really hold such a deep grudge? Enough for you to harbor resentment all the way to this day?"
Sun Tiecheng tucked his hands into his sleeves and thought for a moment. "Is our grudge not deep?"
Shan Chengjun shook his head. "If you ask me, it really isn't. Back then, the Sage wiped out my entire family, yet didn't I still help the peddler fight the war? Did I hold a grudge?"
Sun Tiecheng sorted through the logic. "That's not right. You did hold a grudge; that grudge was between you and the Sage. Once you helped destroy the Sage, didn't that mean you avenged yourself?"
Shan Chengjun said, "You only know half the story. Nowadays, I'm still doing work for the Sage. That's called letting bygones be bygones."
Sun Tiecheng gave a thumbs-up. "For that, I admire you. How you treat your enemies is none of my business, but shouldn't the grudge between us be settled?"
Shan Chengjun chuckled. "Don't be in such a rush. Let's make it clear first—what grudge is there between us?"
Sun Tiecheng fanned the stove fire, diligently boiling the tea. "You destroyed the City of Fools. Is that not a grudge?"
Shan Chengjun helped Sun Tiecheng add some charcoal. "And how many fine young men under my command did you kill? Which of them didn't have wives, children, and parents? How should that grudge be calculated?"
Sun Tiecheng checked the heat. "Back then, each of us was serving his own master. Can that even count as a grudge?"
Shan Chengjun helped Sun Tiecheng add some water. "The peddler beat you into submission, you surrendered, and that grudge was just wiped clean?"
Sun Tiecheng nodded. "The peddler said it was in the past, so it was in the past!"
Shan Chengjun said, "Then what if I surrender to you today? Would the grudge between the two of us be in the past as well?"
Sun Tiecheng put down his fan. "Are you here to talk nonsense with me?"
Shan Chengjun shook his head. "No nonsense. I'm here to reason with you. Back then, I wanted to reason with the peddler too, but he wouldn't listen!"
"Do you call that reasoning?"
"Let's debate it properly. Tell me, how is that not reasoning?"
Sun Tiecheng wasn't angry in the slightest. He pulled up a bench, sat down in front of Shan Chengjun, and calmly reasoned with him. "When eyes turn red with slaughter on the battlefield, there are some things you simply cannot let go of. I understand that."
Shan Chengjun nodded. "You understand!"
Sun Tiecheng continued, "Men die for wealth just as birds die for food; everyone wants to take advantage when there's profit to be had. I understand that too."
Shan Chengjun agreed wholeheartedly. "Since you understand all that, you shouldn't hate me!"
Sun Tiecheng shook his head. "That's not why I hate you. Greed isn't a crime, but you have to know the limits of your own abilities. When the peddler handed the army over to you back then, how dared you accept it?"
Shan Chengjun was taken aback. "Did such a thing happen? When did he ever hand the army over to me?"
Sun Tiecheng went on, "Do you know who was in that army? Men like Shan Chengjun and Shu Wanjuan—could you keep them in line?"
Shan Chengjun still didn't understand. "Who are you talking to?"
"Without a diamond drill, you insisted on taking on fine porcelain work! Within two days, you went mad, and Shan Chengjun rebelled! Tell me, can I not hate you?"
Shan Chengjun frowned. "Did you mistake me for Eighteen Wheels? Open your eyes and take a good look at who I really am!"
"You're not Eighteen Wheels?" Sun Tiecheng looked astonished as well. "I invited Eighteen Wheels here. Why did you come? I thought Eighteen Wheels intentionally made himself look like this to trick me."
"You invited Eighteen Wheels?" Shan Chengjun grew slightly tense, then chuckled. "If you really invited him, you wouldn't say it out loud. Using such rhetorical tricks on me is truly underestimating me."
Sun Tiecheng waved his hand. "I didn't underestimate you. Let me guess—if you're not Eighteen Wheels, then you're the peddler."
Shan Chengjun started. "He's coming too?"
"No, no!" Sun Tiecheng shook his head. "If I'd really invited him, I certainly wouldn't say. Are you the peddler or not?"
Shan Chengjun smoothed his hair and wiped his face. "Look closely. I'm not the peddler."
"Then you are Eighteen Wheels! You bastard, you're truly disgraceful. You lost your mind and dragged down the City of Fools along with you."
Shan Chengjun said, "Did I go mad, or did you go mad?"
"Does that even need asking? It was definitely you who went mad! Eighteen Wheels went mad—the whole world knows it! The peddler is useless too. He promised to ensure the safety of the City of Fools, yet he entrusted the task to a lunatic! Eighteen Wheels couldn't protect the City of Fools at all. In the end, it was you who ruined the City of Fools!"
Shan Chengjun rose from the bench. "I don't know whether you're playing crazy or playing dumb. I came here today for the matter of the red lotus."
Sun Tiecheng nodded. "You've come to the right place. The red lotus is in my hands. Let's see if you have what it takes to take it!"
Shan Chengjun rolled up his sleeves. "Finally, a sensible word. I want to borrow the red lotus for a few days. It truly is a borrow, not a robbery. I'll leave you an IOU, and when I return it, I'll gift you some pills as interest. I certainly won't let you come out at a loss."
Sun Tiecheng shook his head. "I don't believe your words. Back then, you promised to help me guard the City of Fools, and you failed to deliver!"
"I never agreed to such a thing! Whoever promised you, go find them!" Shan Chengjun prepared to strike.
Sun Tiecheng grinned. "Don't want to reason anymore? Then we do this the hard way?"
"We should have done this the hard way long ago!" Shan Chengjun gave his hand a flick, revealing the peddler's cart wheel.
This was intended as an intimidation and a warning to Sun Tiecheng.
Sun Tiecheng indeed knew his goods. "Is that the peddler's cart wheel?"
Shan Chengjun spun the wheel. "Do you still want to fight me?"
Sun Tiecheng asked, "Where's your cart?"
"I don't have a cart!"
"Why do you have a wheel if you don't have a cart?" Sun Tiecheng casually flung the teapot right at Shan Chengjun's head.
Shan Chengjun didn't dodge, and scalding water steamed from his hair.
It wasn't because Sun Tiecheng was exceptionally fast, but because Shan Chengjun was pondering a question: why would there be a wheel without a cart?
A Fool cultivation technique!
Shan Chengjun realized it quickly.
Though he had only pondered for less than a second, he had been so deeply engrossed during that second that he hadn't dodged even as boiling water poured over his head.
Truth be told, the burn stung quite a bit. Shan Chengjun asked, "What kind of water did you boil?"
Sun Tiecheng answered honestly, "Molten iron!"
Shan Chengjun looked at his teabowl. "Then that bowl of tea I drank earlier was...?"
"That was molten iron with tea leaves added!"
Shan Chengjun snatched up the teabowl and hurled it at Sun Tiecheng. Sun Tiecheng ducked to evade, but the bowl curved around in pursuit. Shan Chengjun seized the opening to attack, pincering Sun Tiecheng between himself and the bowl, on the verge of landing a hit.
Suddenly, Sun Tiecheng swapped places with the teabowl. Unable to dodge in time, Shan Chengjun took the oncoming bowl square in the face.
It stung a bit, but hardly counted as an injury. What Shan Chengjun couldn't understand was why Sun Tiecheng's position had shifted. Had he used a Fool cultivation technique, or an illusory trick?
A Fool cultivation technique seemed more likely—it felt like Seeming and Unseeming.
Shan Chengjun charged forward with the cart wheel, uttering not a word and focusing solely on the fight. He was doing his best to avoid speaking with Sun Tiecheng now.
"This cart wheel is formidable!" Sun Tiecheng drew a short blade. It was a fine weapon forged from the red lotus, but after two clashes, it was sheared in two by the wheel's spokes.
The edge of the cart wheel was lined with sharp blades, allowing it to serve as a saber or a shield, and when spun, it could fire hidden projectiles. With such a handy weapon combined with Shan Chengjun's skill, Sun Tiecheng was driven back step after step.
Yet despite holding the complete upper hand, every strike fell just a hair short. The wheel grazed Sun Tiecheng's face, shaving off fine hairs, yet failing to cut into his flesh.
Was this Hundred Steps Traverse?
When had Sun Tiecheng learned a Travel Cultivation technique?
*Pfft!*
Sun Tiecheng slipped past the wheel and stabbed Shan Chengjun with his blade, laughing. "You stand there like a wooden stump—how do you expect to fight me? A Travel Cultivator has to run! Only by running can you generate power!"
Taking a stab didn't do Shan Chengjun much harm, but he couldn't figure out: hadn't Sun Tiecheng's blade snapped?
When it stabbed forward just now, why was it completely intact?
Could it not be the same blade?
Sun Tiecheng began to run, and Shan Chengjun ran after him. Once he was running, his strikes indeed flowed much more smoothly.
A sweeping strike of the wheel caught Sun Tiecheng across the back, drawing blood.
A hit!
You really did have to run while fighting!
Sprinting at full speed, Shan Chengjun swung the wheel down in a vertical cleave, slashing across Sun Tiecheng's chest and tearing open a wound over half a foot long.
Sun Tiecheng was right—a Travel Cultivator had to run while fighting; only by running did attacks have power.
Pressed flat against the ground, Banfeng Zi watched with utmost attention.
Was this the true essence of Inviting a Strike, Calling the Challenge?
Shan Chengjun pursued Sun Tiecheng, fighting faster and wilder with every passing second.
Sun Tiecheng suffered numerous wounds, soaked in blood and grime.
Seizing the moment when Sun Tiecheng lost his footing, Shan Chengjun stomped down hard, unleashing the move Treading Ten Thousand Rivers to end the fight.
The stomp carried immense force. Shan Chengjun possessed great strength and speed, carving out a crater and kicking up a thick cloud of dust.
Sun Tiecheng charged out of the dust and drove a blade straight into Shan Chengjun's chest.
As the icy blade twisted back and forth within his chest cavity, Shan Chengjun finally snapped back to reality.
He wasn't a Travel Cultivator.
Nor was that move just now Treading Ten Thousand Rivers.
It hadn't been any technique at all—he had fallen prey to Sun Tiecheng's methods.
With the blade stirring inside his midriff, Shan Chengjun felt the strength drain from his entire body. He asked Sun Tiecheng, "Why didn't you cut my neck? One slash and my head would've come off."
Sun Tiecheng smiled. "Your neck isn't that easy to cut, and your head wouldn't come off so easily. But taking this blade, you're definitely a dead man."
With bloody foam in his mouth, Shan Chengjun felt countless blades mincing and dicing inside his body.
He asked Sun Tiecheng, "What technique is this again? Could you teach me a trick or two? Fool cultivation techniques are too useful."
"You want to learn? First listen to the essentials of the technique. Using this move is called Seeing Through Life and Death. Calm your mind; don't dodge, don't evade, and don't resist. Just let the blades hack away. There's no hope of living, and in death, you are wholly willing. Once you see through this step, you've mastered the technique."
"And that's mastering it?" Shan Chengjun gave a faint smile, his eyes rolling back. "Dying wholly willing... then I've definitely mastered it."
Sun Tiecheng twisted the hilt of his blade, hastily increasing his force.
Shan Chengjun felt thousands of blades slicing him to pieces within. This was no illusion. This weapon, specially forged from the red lotus, was imbued with the technique Seeming and Unseeming. It appeared to be a single blade, but in truth, it was composed of over a hundred small daggers. When it had been sheared by the wheel earlier, it had actually just been broken apart; with a little technique from Sun Tiecheng, the blades could swiftly reform.
Now inside Shan Chengjun's body, the daggers dispersed once more, mincing his internal organs to shreds. Sun Tiecheng was certain this would take Shan Chengjun's life.
Shan Chengjun's consciousness gradually dimmed, devoid of any thought of resistance.
Yet Sun Tiecheng was certain Shan Chengjun wasn't dead.
Not only was he not dead, but changes were taking place within him—inside his body, something was slaughtering.
After a long stalemate, small daggers were pushed out of Shan Chengjun's body one by one, coated in blood and flesh. Rolling across the ground for a few moments, they gradually lost their spiritual vitality.
Were these daggers injured by Shan Chengjun?
They weren't injured by Shan Chengjun; Sun Tiecheng could sense that Shan Chengjun had no conscious intent to fight.
These daggers were injured by Shan Chengjun's internal organs.
Sun Tiecheng's judgment was correct: right now, one had to distinguish between Shan Chengjun and Shan Chengjun's internal organs.
How could his internal organs possibly injure daggers?
Sun Tiecheng sensed some of the mechanisms: bones were hammering, sinews and muscles were twisting and constricting. How could this actually destroy weapons forged from the red lotus?
Could Shan Chengjun's internal organs be his weapons as well?
Sun Tiecheng continuously channeled more power into the blade, wanting nothing more than to kill Shan Chengjun as swiftly as possible, but Shan Chengjun's right hand suddenly shoved Sun Tiecheng away.
It was Shan Chengjun's right hand, not Shan Chengjun himself—this, too, had to be distinguished.
Sun Tiecheng could sense that Shan Chengjun was still under the control of the Fool cultivation technique, yet every part of his body could act autonomously.
When Sun Tiecheng closed in again, Shan Chengjun expelled every dagger remaining inside his body, striking Sun Tiecheng with unerring precision.
These daggers were Sun Tiecheng's weapons, yet Shan Chengjun wielded them with utter naturalness.
Sun Tiecheng used his technique to make the small daggers drill out from his own body, gathering them back into a single blade. Pointing at Shan Chengjun, he said, "You're already dead. You can't even speak anymore. Your eyes have rolled back, and you've been dead for ages. What business does a walking corpse have fighting me?"
The technique was deployed, and it took effect.
Like a true walking corpse, Shan Chengjun walked up to Sun Tiecheng with stiff legs and a swaying torso.
Yet he simply would not die!
Sun Tiecheng pulled a cotton-fluffing bow from his sleeve. For such a massive object, no one knew how it had been stuffed into his sleeve in the first place.
This bow was terrifying—a top-tier magical artifact. Sun Tiecheng didn't even need to manipulate it himself; the bow charged at Shan Chengjun on its own, plucking its string and twanging toward him.
A single twang from this bow would tear skin and rupture flesh; two twangs would strip flesh from bone; three twangs, and a person would fall completely apart.
Sun Tiecheng and the bow besieged Shan Chengjun together, yet neither Sun Tiecheng nor the bow could land a single blow.
Shan Chengjun hadn't used any special methods; he merely dodged. Yet every dodge was impeccably precise, avoiding injury from the bow while offering Sun Tiecheng no opening whatsoever.
"What are you standing there for, you dead man? Just lie down already!" Sun Tiecheng felt something was wrong. He unleashed his technique, and once again it took effect, yet Shan Chengjun still refused to lie down.
Sun Tiecheng flicked his sleeves, revealing over a dozen weapons.
Doing this was extremely risky; in combat against Shan Chengjun, many weapons would simply become Shan Chengjun's own.
Yet Sun Tiecheng felt dragging this out was even riskier. This state Shan Chengjun was in was something he had never witnessed in any other Martial Cultivator.
Over a dozen weapons assisted Sun Tiecheng in the onslaught, yet under the combined siege, Shan Chengjun remained unscathed.
Suddenly, Shan Chengjun seized the cotton-fluffing bow and twanged it three times at Sun Tiecheng! Unable to dodge in time, Sun Tiecheng collapsed to the ground, heavily injured and unable to get back up.
Sun Tiecheng wasn't a living person, but the flesh and bones of his body were real. He felt his flesh slipping across his bones, and the bones themselves slowly separating from one another.
Lifting the cart wheel, Shan Chengjun shattered the other weapons, drew the bowstring, and prepared to twang Sun Tiecheng once more.
As the bowstring hummed, Sun Tiecheng could not dodge. If he forced himself to move, his skeletal frame would fall apart on the spot.
Yet this strike failed to land. Old Train scooped up Sun Tiecheng and leaped aside with a powerful spring.
Normally, seeing Old Train and Sun Tiecheng standing together, Shan Chengjun would have felt at least some trepidation.
Yet Shan Chengjun showed no reaction whatsoever. Holding the bow in his left hand and the cart wheel in his right, he continued to pursue and strike at Sun Tiecheng.
Sun Tiecheng said to Old Train, "Shan Chengjun's skill has improved. I gave him all the good things I saved for you, and in the end, I still couldn't beat him."
Old Train looked at Shan Chengjun's demeanor. "It's only natural you couldn't beat him. Your pathway has lost its edge."
Sun Tiecheng stood up. "Nonsense! The greatest pathway under the heavens has lost its edge?"
Old Train shook his head. "It's hard to say who's greatest under heaven now. When I met Old Xu earlier, he told me that Martial Cultivators had developed techniques. I never believed it."
Sun Tiecheng asked in bewilderment, "You're saying this is a technique?"
Old Train nodded. "This is a technique created by Shan Chengjun himself—Dead Heart, Severed Thoughts."
Chapter 747