Here is the full English translation of Chapter 4. This chapter is heavy on world-building and sets up a high-stakes conflict, which is exactly what readers on platforms like Royal Road look for.
Chapter 4: The Art of Shadow
Dawn over the Burning Plum Sect broke slowly, as if reluctantly piercing through the thick, milky-white veil of morning mist. The Outer Peak, usually buzzing with life like a disturbed anthill, was still asleep at this hour. Only the rare cries of messenger birds broke the ringing silence.
Xuan Li emerged from the forest thicket like a ghost. His steps were absolutely silent, despite his boots being soaked through with icy dew and mud. His left arm, tightly bound with a blood-stained scrap of his robe, throbbed with a dull, exhausting pain that radiated all the way to his collarbone.
Less than a hundred meters remained until the sect's Southern Gates.
[Analyzing host condition: Qi level stable (6th stage of Body Tempering). Physical exhaustion: 42%. Wound infection: 14% (presence of necrotic bacteria from Broken Fang Ridge detected). Recommendation: Avoid open conflict until regeneration is complete.]
Li mentally dismissed the notification. He already knew it wasn't the time for a fight. His primary objective was to slip into the Sect's territory unnoticed before the morning patrol changed shifts.
At the massive wooden gates, reinforced with blackened iron, two guards stood idly. They were Outer Peak disciples unlucky enough to draw the night shift. Wrapped in warm cloaks, they talked irritably, warming their hands over a small brazier.
Xuan Li slowed his pace, allowing the System to scan their auras.
[Target 1: 4th stage of Body Tempering. Alertness level: Low. Focus directed at the brazier.]
[Target 2: 5th stage of Body Tempering. Alertness level: Medium. Slight alcohol intoxication detected.]
Perfect, Li thought.
He intentionally slouched, put on an expression of extreme fatigue, and made his steps slightly heavier, allowing his soles to crunch against the gravel.
"Hey, halt!" the second guard snapped, his face slightly flushed from cheap wine. He drew a short sword and blocked Li's path. "Who goes there? Where are you skulking off to before the morning gong?"
Xuan Li raised his head, letting the torchlight fall on his pale face, smeared with dirt and dried blood.
"Is that... wait, it's that trash Li!" the first guard barked with a laugh, stepping closer. "The one who put on a circus act at the Power Measurement Stone yesterday! I thought you'd already died in a ditch. Where did you get so battered, 'former genius'? Decide to hunt rabbits in the woods and stumble into a thorn bush?"
They blocked the passage, clearly intending to amuse themselves before their shift ended. Li's gaze turned cold as a glacier for a split second, but he immediately lowered his eyes, playing the role of a broken, exhausted loser. It was currently disadvantageous to show his true strength, let alone reveal his breakthrough to the sixth stage.
"Senior Brothers," Li's voice was raspy and tired, like a man who had been running from death all night. "I only tried to find a few medicinal herbs on the outskirts of the forest, but I ran into a pack of wild dogs. I barely escaped with my life. Please, let me pass. I need to dress this wound before infection sets in."
The guard with the sword grimaced in disgust, looking at the youth's blood-soaked sleeve, which was already beginning to omit a faint, sickly sweet scent of rot.
"Pass? Just like that?" he smirked, toyed with his blade. "The Outer Gates aren't there for any trash to wander in and out for free. Hand over your spatial bag. We're conducting an 'inspection.' Who knows, maybe you stole something from the sect and hid it in the woods?"
The System interface before Li's eyes flashed crimson.
[Direct threat of expropriation of valuable resources detected (2nd-rank Core, 30 spirit stones, mercenary token). Recommendation: Immediate elimination.]
Cancel, Li coldly commanded the interface. Too much noise.
He understood perfectly that if he killed the guards right at the gates, the Elders would turn the entire Outer Peak upside down. He had to play this more subtly.
Li reached his healthy right hand into his robe and slowly, with feigned reluctance, pulled out three low-grade spirit stones—a small fraction of what he had taken from Scar's corpse. The stones glowed dimly in the twilight, but for guards at the fourth and fifth stages, this was a month's salary.
"This is all I could find," Li said quietly, holding the stones in his open palm. "Take them, Senior Brothers. For drinks... to keep warm. As for a bag, I have nothing, and I never did."
Greed instantly overpowered disgust. The guard quickly snatched the stones, pocketing them while glancing around to make sure his partner didn't see.
"Fine, get out of here before I change my mind," he grunted, stepping aside and kicking open the small wicket gate. "And don't let me see you like this again, freak. The sect isn't a dumpster."
Xuan Li bowed silently, hiding an icy, calculating smirk behind the gesture, and slipped into the Order's territory. Three measly stones were a small price to pay for the safety of a 2nd-rank beast core worth thousands of such stones. These idiots had just sold their lives for pennies, never realizing they were a millimeter away from having their throats slit.
Reaching his dilapidated hut on the edge of the cliff, Li closed the door tightly and slid the heavy wooden bolt. Only once he was in relative safety did he allow himself to collapse onto his rough mat.
His body, which had been running on pure adrenaline, began to give out. The wound on his arm burned like hellfire, and his head throbbed with exhaustion.
"System, full medical analysis," he exhaled, tearing off the bloodied bandage.
The wound looked nasty. Scar's curved dagger had left a deep, jagged furrow, the edges of which were already starting to take on an unhealthy violet hue.
[Analysis launched...]
[Injury: Rupture of the deltoid muscle and lateral saphenous vein. Depth: 2.4 cm.]
[Threat: High concentration of necrotic poison ("Corpse Drape"). Origin: Target 1's weapon (Scar).]
[Prognosis: Without intervention, total paralysis of the left limb in 14 hours. Tissue necrosis in 48 hours.]
Xuan Li gritted his teeth. So that bastard Scar had coated not just his marksman's bolts with poison, but his own blades as well. Ordinary ointment from a herb shop wouldn't help here. He needed alchemy. Pure, aggressive alchemy capable of burning the contagion out of his blood.
[Searching for solution... Alternative method found.]
[The host possesses a Twin-Tailed Shadow Panther Core (2nd rank). The core contains Dark element properties capable of absorbing low-order toxins. Do you wish to use 5% of the Core's reserve for localized blood purification?]
Now that is interesting, Li's eyes flashed. The System wasn't just healing him; it was using available resources with mathematical efficiency.
"Confirmed. Begin."
He pulled the pulsing violet core from his pocket and pressed it directly against the open wound.
In the next moment, Xuan Li nearly lost consciousness from the pain. It felt as if molten lead was being poured into his arm. The black ring on his finger flared brightly, acting as a conductor. The System began to surgically, cell by cell, pull the poison from his bloodstream, using the wild energy of the core like a sponge.
A thick, black smoke began to hiss out of the wound, smelling of rotten eggs and iron. The process took about ten minutes, but for Li, they felt like an eternity. When the pain finally receded, leaving only a dull throb, he looked at his arm. The violet tint was gone. The edges of the wound had cleared and were beginning to be covered by a thin, translucent film of coagulated blood.
[Purification complete. Toxin fully neutralized. Natural regeneration process initiated.]
[Core energy consumed: 5%. Remaining Core potential: 95%.]
Li exhaled in relief and leaned back, staring at the leaky ceiling. The first crisis had passed. Now he had time to think and plan his next steps.
The fight with the scavengers had exposed his most vulnerable point—a critical lack of combat arts. The System could calculate the enemy's attack trajectory to the millimeter; it could point out a fatal gap in an opponent's defense; but if Li's legs weren't fast enough to move his body to the required position, all those calculations were utterly useless. He needed a movement technique. Fast, unpredictable, and not requiring massive amounts of Qi.
In the Burning Plum Sect, Outer Peak disciples were only given the most basic, clunky styles: "Heavy Bull Step" or "Falling Stone Fist." This was trash, designed to raise obedient infantry, not masters. Real techniques were kept in the Inner Court's Hall of Martial Arts, which was off-limits to him.
That meant only one option remained—the Outer Peak Shadow Market. A place where disciples, failed alchemists, and traveling merchants traded questionable artifacts, stolen scrolls, and fragments of ancient knowledge.
Xuan Li changed into a clean, though equally worn, gray robe, safely hid the panther core and Scar's token under the floorboard, and took only his remaining spirit stones. Waiting until the sun rose higher and the sect filled with the hum of waking disciples, he stepped out of his hut.
The Outer Peak Trading Square was a chaotic jumble of tents, wooden stalls, and carpets spread directly on the ground. The air was thick with the smell of roasted meat, cheap incense, sweat, and pungent alchemical mixtures. Hundreds of disciples scurried back and forth, haggling until they were hoarse.
No one paid any attention to Xuan Li. After yesterday's scandal at the Power Measurement Stone, many were whispering about his unexpected recovery to the fifth stage, but in the eyes of the crowd, he remained a marginal figure who posed no threat. He was perfectly fine with that.
He walked leisurely along the rows of stalls, letting the System scan everything around him. To an ordinary person, this was just a flea market. For Li, the world had turned into a digital auction where labels with characteristics hung over every item.
[Object: Cold Steel Sword. Quality: Low. Micro-crack detected at the base of the hilt. Price marked up by 400%.]
[Object: Lesser Restoration Pill. Quality: Trash. Contains 80% lead impurities. Toxic.]
Xuan Li only curled his lips in contempt. Ninety-nine percent of the goods here were outright junk, good only for deceiving naive newcomers.
After an hour of fruitless searching, he stopped at the furthest and least impressive tent. Behind the counter, piled with dusty scrolls, fragments of rusted weapons, and chunks of mysterious ore, an old man was sleeping. He smelled of booze, and his clothes were covered in food stains.
Li glanced over the goods, about to leave, when suddenly the interface before his eyes flashed with a golden light.
[Warning: Hidden data structure detected. Type: Martial Art (Category: Movement).]
Li's gaze instantly focused on the source. It was an old, half-rotted bamboo scroll, carelessly tossed to prop up the leg of the wobbly table.
"System, deep analysis," the youth mentally commanded, stepping closer.
[Scanning... Analyzing bamboo structure and residual Qi...]
[Name: "Seven Steps of the Phantom Willow."]
[Rank: Evaluation impossible (fragmented).]
[Condition: Critically damaged. 60% of the Qi circulation algorithm is missing. Attempting to use in its current form carries a 99.9% probability of rupturing leg meridians.]
Li frowned. Trash? But why had the System highlighted it in gold instead of gray?
[Additional analysis... Warning. Hidden subtext detected. The remaining 40% of the algorithm contains traces of high-order spatial Qi. The core architecture of the technique exceeds Burning Plum Sect standards by 4 generations.]
[System Question: Do you wish to launch the Defragmentation and Code Restoration protocol? Cost: 10 hours of processing time and deep meditation of the host. Success rate for full algorithm restoration: 87%.]
Xuan Li's heart skipped a beat with joy. This wasn't just a technique. It was a broken masterpiece of antiquity that looked like a lethally dangerous piece of junk to the local underachievers, crippling anyone who dared practice it. But the System acted as the perfect restorer, capable of filling in the missing lines of "code" based on the surviving framework.
Xuan Li put on an expression of bored laziness and tapped his knuckles on the counter. The old man jerked, snored, and stared at the visitor with bleary eyes.
"Whaddya want?" he croaked, wiping drool from his chin. "If you're just here to gawk—beat it. Respected Master Wang only sells the finest artifacts!"
Li chuckled, looking at this "finest" junk. He pointed to a fragment of an old spear, then to a murky alchemical flask, and then, as if by accident, pulled the bamboo scroll from under the table leg, blowing the centuries-old dust off it.
"This trash," Li twirled the scroll slightly in his hands. "I'm looking for an old story to start my stove with. How much for this rot?"
The old man squinted, trying to see the scroll. When he realized what Li was holding, his face twisted in contempt.
"Ah, the 'Phantom Willow'..." he waved a hand. "Three years ago, some idiot from the Outer Peak bought a copy of that crap from me. Tried to study it. On the third step, his meridians burst, and he was crippled for life. Half the text is missing. If you want to die or break your legs—take it for five spirit stones. But don't say I didn't warn you!"
Five stones for a technique containing spatial Qi. This wasn't even a steal. It was daylight robbery.
With a feigned sigh, Xuan Li pulled five dull spirit stones from his pocket and tossed them onto the counter.
"I'll take it. I was just looking for a bit of a thrill," he said, tucking the scroll into his robe.
The old man just shrugged, scooping up the stones. He didn't care what happened to another overconfident fool.
Li turned to leave, feeling the fire of anticipation rising within him. With this technique restored by the System, his movement speed would go beyond mortal comprehension. But his triumph was interrupted by a loud, authoritative voice booming over the square.
"Make way! Make way for the Hall of Punishment!"
The crowd of disciples in the market immediately fled to the sides in a panic, pressing against the stalls. Xuan Li also retreated into the shadow of the nearest tent, pulling up the hood of his robe.
Marching down the central alley were seven cultivators in strict black-and-red Inner Court robes. Embroidered on their chests were crossed swords—the symbol of the Hall of Punishment, the most ruthless structure within the Sect. Leading the squad was a man with an icy gaze and an aura that made the legs of many outer disciples buckle.
[Analysis... Target: Elder Zhao Wuji. Level: Early stage of Golden Core Formation. Threat level: Lethal.]
Xuan Li narrowed his eyes. Zhao Wuji. The uncle of that same Zhao Ming he had cold-bloodedly incinerated in the forest yesterday, feeding his body to the System.
"Attention, all Outer Peak disciples!" the Elder's voice, amplified by dense Qi, rolled over the square like thunder. "Yesterday evening, in Broken Fang Ridge, my nephew, Zhao Ming, and his group disappeared without a trace. We have found signs of battle and a powerful surge of alchemical fire."
The crowd gasped in fear. The disappearance of a member of a noble family was an event of incredible magnitude.
"I am announcing a reward of one thousand spirit stones and a Breakthrough Pill to anyone who provides information on who Zhao Ming went into the forest with, or who saw him last!" the Elder continued, scanning the crowd with a piercing gaze. "And if I find that any of you are involved... the Hall of Punishment will cut your lineage down to the third generation!"
Xuan Li stood in the shadows, unmoving. His face remained a mask of perfect calm, but his mind was working at overdrive.
A thousand stones. A Breakthrough Pill. Such a reward would make outer disciples dig through the dirt with their noses. No one had seen him near Zhao Ming yesterday, but someone might have noticed Li returning from the forest this morning. The guards at the gate. They had seen him bloodied.
The greed he had bought for three measly stones could turn against him at any moment.
System, Li addressed mentally, feeling the ring on his finger warm up slightly. It seems we have a problem. Begin defragmenting the "Phantom Willow" immediately. Not ten hours. Squeeze every reserve from my meridians, but give me this skill by evening. It's going to be a long night.
[Command accepted. Launching forced restoration protocol of the algorithm. Warning: Severe neural pain in the brain synapses is expected.]
Xuan Li only smirked slightly. Pain no longer frightened him. Only weakness did. Turning, he vanished into the crowd, heading back to his hut. The storm was coming, and he intended to meet it fully armed.