Apotheosis Begins with Tai Chi

Outside the residence, Chen Cheng hid in the shadows, his ears catching the distinct sound of the side hall door opening and closing.

Once he confirmed there was no further movement within the courtyard, he lowered his stance. With a light tap of his toe at the base of the wall, he vaulted over the high wall like a weightless shadow.

The instant he landed, his toe, the ball of his foot, and his heel touched the ground in succession. The Harmonious Step Technique, unique to Health Tai Chi, flowed naturally, neutralizing the force of his descent layer by layer. He landed as silently as a feather drifting into a dark pool, not disturbing even the most sensitive insect’s chirp.

He suppressed his breath and focused his mind, moving slowly to the window of the side hall.

His steps were weightless, as if he were treading on air, making not the slightest sound.

His breathing, his heartbeat, his scent, and even the fluctuations of his Blood Qi were completely hidden by his Endless Moon Breath.

In that moment, he seemed to have shed all signs of life, blending perfectly with the corner’s shadows, the flowing night wind, and the very silence of the courtyard itself.

Inside the side hall, the lamps were still lit.

Zou Kui, the strongest and most intuitive of the group, unconsciously furrowed his brow for a moment before it relaxed. He dismissed it as just the night wind blowing through the courtyard.

Ding Sanshui, who specialized in perception and stealth, had no reaction whatsoever. He was still rambling on about his earlier attempt to tail Chen Cheng.

Zhao Hai, even less perceptive than Ding Sanshui, was completely oblivious, his mind wholly consumed by the recent turn of events.

”That kid... is fucking unnatural!”

Ding Sanshui took a long swig of cold wine, trying to suppress the chill that had settled in his heart.

”I was right on his tail, but in the blink of an eye, he just vanished into thin air... He didn’t leave a single trace...”

Zhao Hai’s expression was thunderous, his knuckles white from clenching his fists. He knew what Ding Sanshui was capable of, which made the story all the more frightening.

”Vanished? Hah...”

Zou Kui scoffed, openly picking at his teeth.

”You’re just weak. Train harder.”

”You...”

Ding Sanshui’s face flushed crimson. If it had been anyone else, he would have flipped the table by now.

But at that moment, any retort he might have had was caught in his throat. He had survived for over a decade by roaming the lands, and he had done so by knowing how to read people.

The murderous aura emanating from Zou Kui, along with that hideous scar on his face, made one thing perfectly clear.

This seemingly slovenly, grimy man was someone he, Ding Sanshui, absolutely could not afford to provoke.

No matter how humiliated and frustrated he felt, he could only grit his teeth and bear it.

”Alright, alright, we’re all friends here... It’s no big deal...”

Seeing this, Zhao Hai quickly raised his cup to defuse the tension.

”Come on, drink up! No one’s going home sober tonight! Cheers!”

”Cheers!”

Ding Sanshui readily seized the opportunity to back down.

Zou Kui couldn’t be bothered to say anything more. He just grabbed a wine jug, tilted his head back, and chugged it down.

「The night grew deeper.」

Round after round of wine was poured. Wax dripped and pooled from the candles, and the table gradually became a mess of cups and plates.

”I... I gotta go take a leak.”

Ding Sanshui was the lightest drinker of the three. His head was already spinning, and he had to brace himself against the table to lurch to his feet, his speech slurred.

Zhao Hai and Zou Kui were deep in a story about their younger days and just waved him off dismissively.

Ding Sanshui swayed as he pushed open the side door, pulling his clothes tight as he stumbled out into the cold, pitch-black courtyard.

He stumbled dazedly to the chamber pot in the corner. Just as he undid his belt, a gust of icy night wind swept past, making him shiver.

At that exact moment, mere inches behind him, a figure seemed to coalesce directly from the corner’s shadows, closing in silently.

There was no sound, not even a hint of killing intent.

Only a terrifyingly steady hand reached out from behind him, its fingertips suddenly pressing down on Ding Sanshui’s Adam’s apple.

The force, focused on a single point, instantly pierced skin and muscle.

Ding Sanshui’s body went rigid. He couldn’t even manage a gurgle. His eyes bulged, the drunken haze on his face instantly replaced by a frozen mask of boundless terror and confusion. Then, his body went limp and collapsed.

His life was extinguished in less than an instant.

”Something’s wrong!”

Almost at the exact moment Ding Sanshui’s body hit the ground, Zou Kui, who was still raising his cup in the side hall, felt his ears twitch. His expression changed drastically.

SWOOSH—

Zou Kui shot forward, his movement like a thunderclap. In an instant, he was in the courtyard.

Zhao Hai, a half-beat slower, rushed out right behind him.

There, they saw a figure slowly rising from beside Ding Sanshui’s corpse. The figure was wearing one of Zhao Hai’s own robes, his head and face wrapped tightly in cloth, revealing only a pair of icy eyes.

”Who are you?!”

Zhao Hai recognized at a glance that the robe and cloth the man was wearing were his own.

This meant the intruder had just been in his bedroom, had rummaged through his things to find a disguise, and yet the three of them had been utterly oblivious.

That’s right. The man was Chen Cheng.

Before the words were even out of Zhao Hai’s mouth, Chen Cheng exploded forward. He moved with ghostly speed, closing the ten-foot gap between them in an instant. Just as Zou Kui started to move, Chen Cheng had already broken through Zhao Hai’s guard.

’Always pick the softest target first!’

Chen Cheng clenched his right hand into a fist. His arm, like a drawn bow, snapped forward, driving straight for Zhao Hai’s throat. The force of the punch whistled through the air, sharp and bone-chilling.

Zhao Hai’s pupils contracted, the drunken haze instantly evaporating in a shock of adrenaline.

He was a Martial Artist, after all. With a panicked roar, he thrust out both palms, one overlapping the other, using the Mountain-Pushing Palm he had spent half a lifetime cultivating. He intended to meet the blow head-on with his immense Palm Force.

However, the two of them were on completely different levels of power.

For this punch, Chen Cheng used no special technique. He didn’t use Hidden Strength, nor did he use the ’Tai Chi Force’ he had created after analyzing the attack patterns of the Cloth Puppet.

It was just a simple Beng Fist, yet with overwhelming force, it easily shattered the barrier of Zhao Hai’s Palm Force. Though knocked slightly off course, the punch still slammed heavily into his left shoulder.

CRACK!

The sound of splintering bone was sickeningly clear.

The blow lifted Zhao Hai clean off his feet, sending him flying backward to slam violently into the side hall’s doorframe. Wood splintered everywhere.

His left arm hung limply at his side. Blood trickled from his nose and mouth, his eyes wide with utter horror.

”Fuck!”

Zou Kui’s roar was simultaneous with his attack.

He hadn’t tried to intercept Chen Cheng a moment ago. Instead, he had waited for the precise instant Chen Cheng’s Power was fully spent—the slight pause in his movement after the strike—to launch his own attack.

He lunged like a hyena, staying low to the ground. His left knuckles jutted out to form a beak, striking viciously toward the kidney area on Chen Cheng’s right side.

At the same time, his right hand concealed a nearly invisible glint of dark light.

It was a poisoned Water-Splitting Needle. Using the attack from his left hand as a feint, he silently stabbed at the artery on the outside of Chen Cheng’s thigh.

’Cunningly venomous! Viciously ruthless! He disregarded all rules and honor, using everything at his disposal—including Zhao Hai!’

This was the fighting style of the Green Forest Bandits.

In that instant, Chen Cheng’s actions—and even his thoughts—faltered for a fraction of a second.

’This is a fighting style I’ve never seen before.’

’To be precise, my previous fights have almost always been premeditated ambushes, quick victories born from surprise attacks. I have almost no real experience in a direct confrontation.’

’Facing a battle-hardened desperado like Zou Kui—a man who lives by the blade—this lack of experience is an absolutely fatal weakness.’