Martial Dao: Peace by Force

Chapter 100: Chapter 87: Raiding the Treasure Vault! Let’s Go! I’ll Take You Home

RUMBLE!!!

The earthen ground beneath his feet buckled and collapsed without warning.

A deafening, splintering roar pressed in from all sides. It wasn’t a sound, but a tremor that shook his very soul.

Wan Ze felt the ground give way beneath him. He was thrown from the world itself, plummeting straight into an abyss.

It was total weightlessness, a primal terror so profound it felt as if his very consciousness would shatter upon impact.

”HAAH!!”

Wan Ze’s eyes snapped open. His chest heaved violently as he sucked in huge gulps of air, like a drowning man finally breaking the surface.

His back was soaked in cold sweat, his heart pounded, and every hair on his body stood on end—his body’s most primal crisis alarm.

”Ah Ze, you’re awake?” Zhai Jia, who had been laughing suggestively with the driver about some interesting topic, immediately turned around from the front seat when he noticed Wan Ze stir.

”Where are we?” Wan Ze asked, his throat feeling dry.

The sensation of falling still lingered.

”Just past the halfway mark. I figure we’ll get there right at seven tonight,” Zhai Jia estimated, glancing at his communicator.

Only then did Wan Ze notice that the bright afternoon sun outside the window was long gone, replaced by a sky that had deepened to indigo.

Only a final, fading smear of fiery clouds remained on the horizon.

He was momentarily dazed.

’Something’s wrong!’

’I felt like I’d only entered a state of Deep Meditation for a moment. How could so much time have passed since I closed my eyes?’

Zhai Jia turned his head and whispered something to the driver again. Wan Ze vaguely caught words like ”club” and ”tea.”

Wan Ze paid him no mind. The first thing he did was look at his data panel.

...

[Illustrated Guide: Mystic Round Innate Qi Cultivation Technique] (High Level, Mastered)

[New Effect: All Attributes +0.05; Additional Intelligence +0.02, Additional Coordination +0.02]

[Skill Special Level Requirement: Deep Meditate for three hours] (Progress: 0%)

...

’It actually worked?’

Wan Ze was delighted.

’The Effect of Stubborn Stone really can extend the duration of Deep Meditation!’

He then saw that the Stubborn Stone’s Stealing Celestial Secret Effect had been depleted, which was a pity.

’If I can keep accumulating the Stubborn Stone’s Effect, I could probably complete the Special Level mission in no time.’

He could clearly feel the surge in his All Attributes throughout his body, and the fatigue from the long journey was swept away.

He then glanced at his personal Attributes.

[Physical Strength: 1.18]

[Intelligence: 1.11]

[Agility: 1.07]

[Endurance: 1.14]

[Power: 1.2]

[Coordination: 1.11]

...

Behind those numbers was real, tangible improvement.

His muscle fibers felt denser, and even his mind was sharper, as if a thin fog had been lifted.

’So this is the joy of seeing your strength increase so tangibly, huh?’

Wan Ze let out a long, mental sigh of relief. Feeling pleased, he adjusted his posture and soon joined the conversation.

The scenery on both sides of the road flashed by the car window.

The last trace of twilight was devoured by the night, and as the car sped on, the two rows of streetlights blurred into near-solid lines.

Just as Zhai Jia had predicted, they were safely delivered to Holy City at seven o’clock that evening.

Before they parted ways, however, Zhai Jia pleaded with Wan Ze, all but getting on his knees to beg him not to tell anyone what had happened in Yu Yang.

”Don’t worry, Senior Brother. My lips are sealed,” Wan Ze said with a smile. He waved, then headed into his residential complex, laden with bags.

Zhai Jia watched him go before finally letting out a long sigh of relief. He went to rub his face to clear his head, but his hand brushed the wound on his cheekbone, making him grimace in pain.

As luck would have it, Zhai Yu chose that exact moment to call.

Zhai Jia’s scalp tingled. He hesitated for two seconds before answering, forcing a relaxed tone. ”Hey, Bro?”

”Where the hell have you been? Why weren’t you answering your phone?! What time was your ride? I was going to pick you guys up!” Zhai Yu snapped.

”We’re already back. I just dropped our junior brother home,” Zhai Jia said evasively, unwilling to elaborate.

”He’s home already? Where are you now? If you’ve got nothing better to do, get over here... We got Jie Zhengyang’s approval. The handover starts next week, next Friday at the latest. There’s a ton of prep work, so hurry up and come lend a hand,” Zhai Yu said from the other end of the line.

How could Zhai Jia dare go with his face all bruised up? It would be like walking right into a trap. He immediately started whining, ”What could I even do there, Bro? I just got back. I’ve been in a car all day, my bones feel like jelly. Just let me rest for a couple of days. Just two.”

”Rest? Are you kidding me? I’ve pulled several all-nighters for this, you know that? I’ve barely slept an hour! You get to go gallivanting around, and now you come back expecting to just sit on your ass?” Zhai Yu roared.

Zhai Jia held the phone away from his ear, waiting for the yelling to subside. Then he shamelessly said, ”Good night, love you, Bro. Hanging up now.”

And with that, he hung up.

The world was blessedly quiet again.

He stood on the side of the road, gazing at the familiar city. Under the night sky, the neon lights finally seemed to hold a bit of warmth.

He had survived a disaster and come back with a sudden fortune, yet upon returning to this mundane, routine life, a powerful emotion welled up inside him.

Zhai Jia raised a hand to rub his stinging nose and cursed under his breath, though at who, he didn’t know. ”Fuck... dammit! Why the hell do I feel like crying?”

...

”Bro, you’re back!!!!”

The moment Xiaoyu heard the door open, she came flying over, and for one reason only.

Wan Ze was carrying a lot of bags.

Hearing the commotion, Father Wan and Mrs. Wan also put down their bowls and chopsticks and rose to greet him.

”These are all local specialties from Yu Yang. I bought some on my way back, and the rest is a gift from a senior I met there...” Wan Ze explained with a smile.

The family was full of warmth and laughter. No one could have guessed what Wan Ze had experienced in the past two days.

He had stared death in the face.

And yet, it now seemed so far away.

...

「Meanwhile, in Yu Yang.」

Cordon lines were visible everywhere in the brightly lit city.

Who could have imagined so much could happen in just two short days!

Of course, the outside world didn’t know the truth, but Yu Yang’s intelligence agencies knew everything perfectly well.

”I heard a master from the Refining Viscera Realm was taken down... Was it Liu Zhengming’s doing?”

”Is that guy insane? Is he trying to start a war with the Saiya Sect?”

”You can’t really blame him. I heard he was traveling with his family, and they were almost... Who could stand for that?”

”True... But is Liu Zhengming really that powerful? I heard the Saiya Sect lost two Refining Viscera masters this time.”

”Liu Zhengming... Damn, his career is about to take off!”

”But there was also a huge fire at Wave Bay tonight. No idea who was behind it...”

”This whole damn situation is rotten. Yu Yang is completely rotten!”

”I’ve got a bad feeling... It feels like a storm is brewing.”

”Could it... be related to Liu Zhengming?”

”You’re joking, right? Does he have a death wish? Would you dare? That’s Li Xun’s territory!”

”Fair point...”

...

Wan Ze was unaware of these events unfolding in Yu Yang.

He treated the trip as simply a visit to relatives on Laojun Mountain. As for what actually happened, he kept his mouth shut.

「Three days passed just like that.」

A strong wind gusted through the classroom, which was already in an uproar with students roughhousing. Zhou Xianchuan, sitting next to Wan Ze, was laughing about something when a thought suddenly struck him. ”Oh right, Ah Ze, you missed a great show at the dojo this weekend!”

”What show?” Wan Ze asked.

”Someone came to challenge the dojo! You remember Senior Brother Chen Rong, right? You should have seen it... He was incredible, so powerful! He beat the guy so bad his own mother wouldn’t have recognized him... When do you think we’ll ever be that strong?”

Zhou Xianchuan’s face was filled with awe.

Wan Ze smiled and patted his shoulder. ”We’ll get there one day.”

”Wan Ze, someone’s here for you!” Just then, a voice called out from the doorway.