Under the moonlight obscured by the clouds, Yoe Choin stood, breathing heavily, but his eyes radiated a terrifying sharpness. His body trembled from the unstable energy overload.
"Gwi-Hyuk,"
Choon's voice was hoarse, but his authority was undeniable.
"Take this game meat to the kitchen. Have them cook it immediately for the students' nutrition tomorrow. Bring these herbs to my room... and after that, stay in my shadow. We will slaughter the rats who dare steal materials from my warehouse."
Gwi-Hyuk simply nodded curtly, his eyes flashing with deep loyalty before disappearing with the speed of a shadow.
Choon strode toward his room with the last of his strength. Each step felt like he was pulling a ton of steel. However, beneath his robes, he clutched the wooden box containing the Eternal Night Essence Pill.
Inside his cold room, Choin sat cross-legged. Without hesitation, he swallowed the pill.
Instantly, he felt as if a nuclear reactor had exploded in his stomach. The heat surpassed any previous flushing technique. In his mind's eye, the lines of his meridian blueprint glowed red, indicating pressure exceeding safe limits.
"Foreman! The pressure is too high! Our meridians are going to explode!"
roared the real Moen Kang Yo in his conscious space.
"Shut up, Boss! Let me compress it!"
Choin retorted through gritted teeth.
"We're not just repairing a pipe, we're installing a high-pressure storage tank!"
With the logic of a construction foreman, Choin forced the wild Qi to circulate and condense in his dantian. He used Kang Yo's anger as fuel and his technical discipline as a binding vessel.
The process took quite a while, considering that Yoe Choin's stamina was depleted by the overload.
In Moen Kang Yo's subconscious, two people were busy helping each other. Yoe Choin focused on compressing his Qi and trying his best to absorb all the Qi generated from the pill.
Meanwhile, Moen Kang Yo was trying to expel as much qi as possible from his body and consume all the energy from the pill.
UAAAAHHHHHHH!!
Kang Yo roared in his subconscious...
After several minutes, the energy density continued to increase beyond the initial estimate. Moen Kang Yo's internal structure underwent a complete transformation, hardening stronger than the highest-grade concrete.
Structure Status: Dantian Completely Reinforced.
Energy Level: Internal Finishing (Refining Stage) – Level 3.
A burst of dense yet calm black aura erupted from his body, extinguishing the candles in the room and leaving an eerie silence.
The Black Iron storage warehouse was bustling with suspicious silence. Dozens of horsemen sent by Elder Gong were busy moving precious iron ingots onto carts.
"Quick! Make sure this warehouse is empty before dawn!"
ordered one of the messengers in a sly whisper.
However, the darkness outside the warehouse door suddenly grew denser. The sound of heavy metal scraping against the ground broke through their silence. Srett... srett...
Choin emerged from the darkness. There was no dialogue. No warning. His glowing blue eyes, like Blueprint, saw them only as "structural obstacles" that must be destroyed immediately.
"Earth-Splitting Demon Strike!"
The Black Iron Heavy Sword struck the ground with the power of a Level 3 Internal Finish. The shockwaves knocked the balance of all the horses and men present. Choin sprang forward like an unstoppable demolition machine.
Each swing no longer merely broke bones, but shattered the opponent's entire body structure into shreds of flesh and metal. Choin moved with terrifying efficiency, combining Kang Yo's bloody sword skills with his own force vector calculations.
Blood began to soak the warehouse floor, flowing between the iron bars. The only sounds audible were short screams, immediately silenced by the sheer mass of the black sword.
An hour later, the warehouse was silent again. However, the atmosphere was now very different. Dozens of corpses lay in orderly rows, each with a "yes" mark
scratched into their skin, signaling the completion of the foreman's inspection. Yoe Choin stood amidst a pool of thick blood. His once-dark robes were now soaked and dark red. Blood dripped from the tip of his broadsword and from his fingers. He controlled his steady breathing; the exhaustion from the afternoon's overload had been replaced by the dense, pure power of his 3rd-level Internal Finishing.
He approached the body of the envoy leader. With a cold hand, he reached into the corpse's pocket and found a small, black leather-bound book hidden inside: the "Shadow Ledger."
"Foreman... that's the original Black Iron shipment record,"
the real Moen Kang Yo whispered vengefully.
"The book Han So-Wol has been looking for."
"I know, Boss. This is illegal,"
Choi replied coldly.
"This is proof that Elder Gong not only cut the budget, but also sold the sect's assets to outsiders to pay off his personal debts."
Choin glanced toward the training field in the distance. The midnight bell was about to ring. The second day of training for Class 2 was about to begin.
Still covered in blood and emanating a strong aura of death, Choin strode toward the training field. He didn't bother to clean himself; he wanted the students to see for themselves the consequences of a "failure of integrity" in this major project.
However, on the way, he encountered Han So-Wol, who was hurriedly walking with a pile of documents. Seeing Moen Kang-Yo, who looked like a demon fresh from a hell of blood, So-Wol froze, the abacus in her hand nearly falling.
"Young Master... what are you doing?"
So-Wol asked, her voice trembling with fear.
Choi didn't answer directly. He threw the blood-stained phantom ledger at So-Wol's feet.
"Calculate the losses down to the last penny, So-Wol,"
Choi said flatly, his voice colder than the night breeze.
"I've cleared the clogged 'pipe.' Now, your job is to ensure that not a single silver coin leaks out from this moment on."
Choin continued walking past the still-stunned So-Wol, toward the field where the Class 2 students were already trembling. In his eyes, tonight was no longer just physical training, but preparation for a much larger and bloodier 'Clearing of the Land.'
Unbeknownst to Choin, from behind the window of the Main Pavilion, Elder Gong was observing the scene with a face as pale as a corpse. He had just realized that the
"Bastard Child"
he had considered trash had now transformed into a predator holding his financial neck.