I Can Strengthen Infinitely

Borrowing the daylight, Shi Lang had just passed the street corner when he saw two figures ahead leaning against the wall, motionless, in an extremely intimate posture, resembling a couple hugging and embracing.

"Shameless, disgraceful," Shi Lang thought to himself, and continued to drag the cart forward.

Even if the people of Chang’an were open-minded, they wouldn’t engage in such acts on the street. It was the first time Shi Lang, having worked as a Gold Transport Official for so long, had seen this, piquing his curiosity. As he passed, he couldn’t resist glancing sideways.

This glance proved consequential, nearly scaring Shi Lang’s soul out.

What met his eyes was a man and a wooden figure.

The wooden figure’s arms were wrapped around the man’s waist, while the man rested his head on the wooden figure’s shoulder, his face displaying an odd smile with lifeless eyes, appearing extremely uncanny.

"Are, are you alright?" Shi Lang snapped back to reality, feeling slightly angry, and couldn’t help but ask aloud.

But the pair remained motionless, showing no intention of responding.

Unable to do anything, Shi Lang spat and turned his head, dragging the cart forward. At that moment, the wooden figure and the man mysteriously collapsed to the ground, conveniently hitting a wooden barrel on the cart.

Crash!

The barrel overturned on the ground, spilling its contents everywhere in a chaotic mess.

Upon smelling the stench, Shi Lang nearly retched, knowing well that those in his line of work wisely skip breakfast in the morning, a piece of conventional wisdom that fortunately prevented him from throwing up anything.

He quickly turned around and cursed loudly: "Damn it, are you sick? Even hit the barrel of filth?"

Little did he expect, the man lay motionless in the filth, seemingly practicing breath-holding, while the adjacent wooden figure, after being exposed to the filth for a short while, began to tremble of its own accord, without anyone controlling it, then propped itself up and climbed out of the filth.

The sight made Shi Lang’s hair stand on end instantly – how could a wooden figure move on its own!

He had run into a monster!

Without waiting to flee in fear, the wooden figure began to shake violently uncontrollably, emitting wisps of black air from within it, as if a gas leak.

Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!

A cloud of black air spread in all directions, and quite a bit drifted towards Shi Lang.

"Ghost, ghost!" Without thinking twice, he immediately turned and fled, quickly abandoning the cart, leaving the black air lingering in the original place.

...

Chang’an haunted, the wooden figure claiming lives.

This incident soon stirred panic across Chang’an, prompting numerous people to report to the authorities, only for Great Tang’s constables to discover that the wooden figure had caused sixteen deaths.

Though each of the sixteen died differently, all perished with a wooden figure nearby, such a bizarre occurrence naturally made people uneasy, even casting a pall over the vibrant night market.

Despite many constables being involved to investigate, nothing useful was found, and innocent people kept dying at a rate of one or two every day.

Faced with this, Chang’an’s greatest constable organization, ’Divine Capture Hall,’ couldn’t remain idle. Seeing more and more corpses being sent to Divine Capture Hall without yielding any useful clues, Hall Master Tie Feiying broke out in a cold sweat.

Having served as Chief Constable for many years, he had never encountered such a strange case.

Luckily, Tie Feiying had a cousin, a former official at the disbanded Seven-Star Agency, which he knew was responsible for matters tied to the supernatural, prompting Tie Feiying to visit his cousin with files in hand.

After Seven-Star Agency was dissolved by orders from the Ten Attendants, its members either took vacations at home or were sent to assist various rebel armies.

Tie Feiying’s cousin, Tie Bao, belonged to the former group and, upon Tie Feiying’s visit, was found leisurely watering flower beds in his courtyard.

"Cousin, you must help me," Tie Feiying approached, saying.

"Feiying? What brings you, the busy one, over here?" Tie Bao put down the watering can.

"Cousin, it’s hard to say, look at this." Tie Feiying handed over his prepared files.

Tie Bao, understanding his cousin’s character, knew that Feiying wouldn’t seek him out if it weren’t for a truly helpless situation.

As Tie Bao read through the files, his expression gradually grew serious: "Without a doubt, there’s something supernatural causing chaos in Chang’an. It’s ironic, Chang’an being Seven-Star Agency’s headquarters, yet something wicked dares to show up here."

"Cousin, this cannot continue, or I’ll lose my official position. You must help me."

Tie Bao nodded: "Leave it to me. Follow me; we need to find someone. This issue feels far from simple, and we need an expert’s help."

Tie Feiying curiously asked: "Who’s this expert?"

"Copper Toad official from Seven-Star Agency, my superior Zuo Zonghao."

...

When one stands too high, they often miss what’s at the bottom, unable to touch.

Qin Yuesheng stayed in the palace for days, investing all his energy into the Nine Yin and Nine Yang Nine Lives Scripture and Martial God Atlas, training so intensely he lost track of time.

When Qin Yuesheng looked at the sky, he saw a faint ominous cloud hovering above Chang’an, almost imperceptible to the naked eye, if not for his acute vision.

"This ominous cloud has been around for days, its cause unknown," Qin Yuesheng mused to himself.

Initially suspecting a skilled infiltrator in Chang’an, Qin Yuesheng closely monitored the Emperor for days to prevent Grandmasters from attempting assassination, causing chaos in Great Tang.

Yet, days of stakeouts led nowhere, forcing Qin Yuesheng to cease his watch.

As time went on, the ominous cloud seemed increasingly pronounced, evoking unease even within Qin Yuesheng. Despite achieving Grandmaster status, encountering the unknown still invokes apprehension, a human instinct.

"Tonight, I should search the entire city to uncover this cloud’s origin, which leaves me uneasy," Qin Yuesheng took out his most powerful weapon, the Zongsheng Butu from his Sumeru bag, intending to craft unique martial arts for it.

A parasol such as this belongs to rare weaponry across Jianghu, with few martial arts supporting its use. Qin Yuesheng possessed the Martial God Atlas, not yet complete, but having absorbed numerous martial arts, elevating his martial knowledge to great heights.

In martial arts, few can rival Qin Yuesheng.

As such, creating martial arts for a Divine Weapon doesn’t seem excessively challenging.

"Though not yet perfected, I’ve devised a few styles, which may display its power if needed." Qin Yuesheng secured Zongsheng Butu behind him, immediately vanishing on the spot.

Chang’an, night.

A semicircular moon hangs high in the sky; days are few till Mid-Autumn, causing the moon to grow larger each day, heightening the looming fear among those watching it, of its possibly crashing down.

Red lanterns adorn both sides of the main street, lighting up Chang’an brightly at night, truly making it a city that never sleeps.

Numerous glances hide in dark corners of the street, carefully watching their surroundings.

Tie Feiying leans against the wall, whispering to a constable following him: "Are the brothers stationed out?"

The man nods: "Everyone’s ready."

"Stand guard till dawn tonight; watch every street and alley in Chang’an. Inspect every passer-by carefully; no mistakes can be made."

"Understood."