Daqian Martial Saint

The next day, Wu Tianqi, Steward of the Wu Family Trading Team, was hung from the city wall. Beside the wall, an official listed his crimes as a warning to others.

"Who is that! Why is he strung up here?"

A pugilist from the Jianghu who had just entered the city asked curiously.

"He’s the Steward of the Wu Family’s Commercial City!"

"The Wu Family Trading Team? You mean *the* Wu Family!?"

"That’s right! The Wu Family from Earth Fire City!"

"Gasp..."

"What happened? How did he end up hanging there!?"

"Didn’t you hear the constable? He said the man caused a disturbance in the city and violently resisted arrest!"

"That ruthless!"

"I know, right? To dare resist arrest!"

"No, I mean the men from the Garrison Commandant’s Office are that ruthless! They even dared to make a move on someone from the Wu Family!"

"Of course! Didn’t you hear the constable? ’Upon entering Five Peaks Mountain City, anyone who violates its strict laws will be treated as an equal. No matter their identity, all will be punished severely according to the law!’"

"Who is this Five Peaks Mountain City Commander-in-Chief? He’s got some nerve. Isn’t he afraid of biting off more than he can chew?"

"The prodigy from the Rising Star Chart, Mang Blade Mang Vajra, Chen Ping’an!"

"..."

A man in a bamboo hat, a Horizontal Blade at his hip, listened to the buzzing discussions at the city gate as he stepped into Five Peaks Mountain City.

’Upon entering Five Peaks Mountain City, anyone who violates its strict laws will be treated as an equal. No matter their identity, all will be punished severely according to the law?’

Beneath the bamboo hat, a sneer touched the man’s lips.

’A mere Inner Qi Realm cultivator. You? You think you’re worthy?’

As a veteran Profound Light Realm cultivator, he naturally looked down on what he saw as Chen Ping’an’s pathetic attempts at grandstanding.

’If a Profound Light Realm expert were to commit a crime, what right would Chen Ping’an have to punish them? With his empty boasts?’

With this mindset, the man in the bamboo hat began to wander through Five Peaks Mountain City.

He had traveled the world for many years, so a small city like this one held little to attract him. After only a short walk, he had already lost interest.

In fact, if it weren’t for the Beicang Auction, he would never have come to such a small city.

’I’ll find a place to rest. First thing tomorrow morning, I’ll leave this place and head for Beicang Town! That place, I imagine, will be far more interesting than Five Peaks Mountain City.’

With that thought, the man in the bamboo hat found a relatively high-end inn and went inside.

Though it was called high-end, by his standards, it was merely passable.

The inn was quite lively. The man in the bamboo hat glanced around and figured since he had nothing better to do, he might as well enjoy a meal before resting. He went up to the second floor, ordered some dishes, and began to wait quietly.

"Have you heard?" In a corner of the second floor, several men in rather ornate attire were chatting amongst themselves.

"Heard what?"

"About the big news lately!"

"Oh? What news?"

Just those few words were enough to catch the man’s attention. He focused his senses slightly and listened in on their conversation.

He was just listening to pass the time, not particularly interested. But their next words left him slightly stunned.

"The Outer Trade Road Patrol Envoy and Commander-in-Chief of Five Peaks Mountain City, Chen Ping’an, has displayed supreme might! He’s suspected to possess the combat strength of the Profound Light Middle Realm!"

At first, the man in the bamboo hat dismissed it as a joke. ’A mere Inner Qi Realm cultivation base,’ he thought. ’No matter how heaven-defying one’s talent is, it’s absolutely impossible to possess the combat strength of the Profound Light Middle Realm.’

He scoffed at their words.

’The world is full of fools, to believe something so preposterous.’

But as he continued to listen, the man’s expression grew solemn.

"He killed Wu Lin, the Wu Family’s Tributor who was at the Inner Qi Three Gates, with a single slash!"

"The veteran Profound Light Realm expert, Eagle Claw Meng Yude, personally paid a visit to plead for Wu Tianqi, the steward of the Wu Family Trading Team, but he returned empty-handed! Afterwards, he remained completely silent about what happened inside the Garrison Commandant’s Office. It’s suspected he suffered a setback at Chen Ping’an’s hands."

"According to reliable sources, after the Garrison Commandant’s Office announced the formation of city patrol teams, the Wei Family ancestor, Wei Zhixing, personally came to ’experience’ Chen Ping’an’s skills. Afterward, the Wei Family provided both money and manpower, actively cooperating with all of the Garrison Commandant’s Office’s initiatives. It’s suspected the Wei Family ancestor was soundly defeated by Chen Ping’an!"

"..."

The stories were told one after another, each in convincing detail. As the man in the bamboo hat listened, his expression grew increasingly grave.

’Two Profound Light experts rebuffed in a row... Suspected Profound Light Middle Realm combat strength? But the most critical part is...’

’He’s only twenty-one! A twenty-one-year-old with Profound Light Middle Realm strength... this...’

Just as the man was lost in thought, a servant from the inn arrived with his food, interrupting his musings.

"Sir, your dishes have arrived!"

The servant’s arrival broke the man’s train of thought.

He hastily finished his meal, abandoning his original plan to simply rest for the night. He left the inn and began to make inquiries around Five Peaks Mountain City.

After mingling in several places and making extensive inquiries, he learned an astonishing fact.

The prodigy from the Rising Star Chart, Mang Blade Mang Vajra, Outer Trade Road Patrol Envoy and Commander-in-Chief of Five Peaks Mountain City, Chen Ping’an... his Divine Intent has merged as one with Profound Light. He has achieved Spiritual Clarity’s First Illumination and stepped into the Profound Light Realm!

The stories about Wu Lin, the Wu Family’s Tributor; Eagle Claw Meng Yude; and Wei Zhixing, the Wei Family ancestor, were not baseless rumors. They were all verifiable.

The man in the bamboo hat was visibly shaken, his eyes wide with astonishment.

...

Wu Tianqi, Steward of the Wu Family Trading Team, remained hanging from the city wall. Several days later, he died. When the news broke, the entire city was stunned.

The determination and boldness that Commander-in-Chief Chen Ping’an had shown in changing the public order of Five Peaks Mountain City was startling. To achieve his goal, he had not even hesitated to offend the Wu Family, a Noble Family from Earth Fire County.

After this incident, the city’s various crooks and criminals reined in their usual ways. At the same time, the new patrol teams, formed with the participation of various factions, were established. The order within Five Peaks Mountain City began to improve rapidly.

Meanwhile, tales of Chen Ping’an killing the Wu Family’s Tributor Wu Lin in a single blow, of Eagle Claw Meng Yude being rebuffed at the Garrison Commandant’s Office, and of the Wei Family ancestor Wei Zhixing’s crushing defeat began to spread from Five Peaks Mountain City to the surrounding regions, fanned by interested parties.

At first, some people were skeptical. Although Chen Ping’an was a prodigy on the Rising Star Chart, he was, after all, still young. How could he be capable of such feats?

But even after the rumors had circulated for quite some time, neither Eagle Claw Meng Yude nor Wei Zhixing, the Wei Family ancestor, ever came forward to refute them. Generally, when one’s reputation was at stake, if the stories were false, the people involved would certainly step forward to clarify the situation. But... that never happened.

Clearly, the widely circulating news was not a rumor, but the truth.

In truth, Wei Zhixing had a tacit understanding with Chen Ping’an regarding these widespread rumors. As for Eagle Claw Meng Yude, he was more than happy to let them spread.

The more convincing the circulating stories were, the more it proved that he, Meng Yude, had done his utmost. When the Wu Family inevitably came looking to assign blame, he could avoid being punished.

Driven by such motives from Meng Yude and the tacit understanding with Wei Zhixing, Chen Ping’an’s reputation grew ever more illustrious, bolstered by their own fame.

The name Chen Ping’an carried immense weight, intimidating all the shady characters in the city into hiding.

In little more than ten days, public order in Five Peaks Mountain City improved dramatically. At the same time, two letters, handwritten by Chen Ping’an, were sent from the city to the Weishui Garrison.

In the first letter, Chen Ping’an adopted a completely official, business-to-business tone, reporting on the recent events within Five Peaks Mountain City. He briefly mentioned the city’s turmoil and his actions to suppress Wu Tianqi of the Wu Family Trading Team.

The second letter was a personal one addressed to Liu Yuanhua. In it, Chen Ping’an explained that with the help of the Xuan Can, he had successfully broken through the bottleneck of the Inner Qi Realm. His Divine Intent had merged with Profound Light, achieving Spiritual Clarity’s First Illumination and allowing him to reach the Profound Light Realm! He expressed his gratitude for the three-hundred-year-old Xuan Can that Liu Yuanhua had gifted him. He thanked Lord Liu for his guidance, stating that he would never forget this kindness.

’I wonder what Liu Yuanhua’s reaction will be when he gets this letter,’ Chen Ping’an mused. ’Will he be completely floored? What will he even think?!’

After sending the letters, Chen Ping’an found himself with some free time. The situation in Five Peaks Mountain City had stabilized for the moment, so all he had to do was wait for the Beicang Auction to begin. By his calculations, there were less than twenty days until the auction’s official opening.

Two more days passed, and the fourth finale item for the Beicang Auction was announced.

The Profound Ice Silk Armor!

A piece of defensive Treasure Armor that had been in preparation for months, forged from numerous rare materials through the painstaking efforts of a Forging Grandmaster!

Its quality surpassed that of any Fine Treasure Artifact. It could be called the most top-level of Treasure Artifacts, or perhaps even...

A Quasi-Divine Weapon!

A Quasi-Divine Weapon. It might seem to be only one step above a Fine Treasure Artifact, but the actual gap between them was not so easily bridged.

A so-called Divine Weapon possesses one fundamental characteristic: the ability to change its size to a certain degree!

The Profound Ice Silk Armor could be called a Quasi-Divine Weapon precisely because it possessed this size-changing property. While not to an exaggerated degree, it could perfectly conform to the physique of any Martial Dao Cultivator.

For any Martial Dao Cultivator, this temptation was undoubtedly lethal! This was especially true for those Absolute Masters who specialized in offense but lacked strong personal defenses. To them, the Profound Ice Silk Armor was a priceless treasure.

With the help of the Profound Ice Silk Armor, they would be free from defensive worries, and their overall combat power would increase by several notches!

Generally speaking, aside from a few very special exceptions, only a Grandmaster was qualified to wield a Quasi-Divine Weapon.

Take Xue Kunsheng, the Vice Garrison Commander of Beicang Town and a master on the Dragon and Tiger Chart. His famous weapon, the Gold and Silver Dual Chains, could provide Vajra Protection and also vanquish demons. It was a matched set with combined effects. Its value far surpassed that of Fine Treasure Artifacts, but even together, they fell short of the value of a Quasi-Divine Weapon.

It could be said that, apart from the peerless prodigies of true Noble Families, only the top masters on the Dragon and Tiger Chart and Grandmasters were qualified to own a Quasi-Divine Weapon!

A Quasi-Divine Weapon was a match for someone at the Grandmaster Level. Such a finale item would tempt even a Grandmaster!

This meant that Grandmaster Level experts might be participating in the Beicang Auction!

The reveal of the fourth finale item, the Profound Ice Silk Armor, elevated the prestige of the Beicang Auction to an entirely new level.

And most importantly, the Profound Ice Silk Armor was not the *final* finale item!

’A Quasi-Divine Weapon, the Profound Ice Silk Armor!’

Inside the Five Peaks Mountain Town Pacification Bureau, a strange light glinted in Chen Ping’an’s eyes as he heard the news.

’I wonder,’ he thought, ’if my Vajra Unbreakable Divine Skill at the Perfection Level, when fully activated to the state of Golden Body Unbreakable, would have toughness comparable to a Quasi-Divine Weapon?’

Chen Ping’an’s gaze flickered. In the empty space before him, a Golden Finger Panel materialized.

Name: Chen Ping’an

Realm: Profound Light - Profound Light Penetrating Objects

Martial Arts: Vajra Unbreakable Divine Skill Great Success (1552/1600), Three-Point Human Tribulation Finger Great Success (397/1600), Great Vajra Palm Perfection...