Chapter 1: Chapter 1

“You promised three years. Then three years turned into another three.”

“And another three after that!”

“It’s been almost ten years, Lord Xiao!”

“Three more years. Once we confirm who in the Canal Gang is colluding with the Red Lotus Sect, you can return to the Embroidered Uniform Guard immediately. A Vice Commander post might be a stretch, but I guarantee you a Centurion position at minimum. Recently, someone at the Nanyang Branch has been secretly helping the Red Lotus Sect transport large quantities of medicinal herbs to Mingzhou Prefecture. The pressure on me is enormous…”

Twenty li outside Nanyang Prefecture.

Inside an abandoned mountain god temple.

A bonfire crackled at the center of the temple, surrounded by gnawed-clean bones from a finished meal.

A handsome young man in his twenties stood behind a dark-skinned, middle-aged man dressed in brocade robes, traces of displeasure etched across his features.

“Lord Xiao, I’ve fed you plenty of useful intelligence over the years.”

“All the credit went to you. In these ten years, you’ve climbed from Squad Leader all the way to Commander, and now you want me to investigate the Red Lotus Sect?”

“You think the Red Lotus Sect is something you can just poke around in? You might as well be sending me to my grave!” Li Suifeng stared at Xiao Qianhe, a bitter laugh escaping his lips.

“I’m begging you, Lord Xiao — for the sake of my father serving alongside you — let me come back!”

His father had also been a covert agent for the Embroidered Uniform Guard, spending his entire life undercover within the Canal Gang.

After his father’s death, Xiao Qianhe had tracked him down and pressured him into taking over the position.

“Three more years.” Xiao Qianhe kept his back to Li Suifeng, his voice flat and indifferent.

“Stay in the Canal Gang for three more years. I’ll help you advance further within their ranks. Once you identify who’s been helping the Red Lotus Sect smuggle goods, you can return to the Guard.”

“If you want me to keep digging, fine.” Li Suifeng chose his next words carefully. “But you’ll need to lend me something, my lord.”

“Hm?”

Xiao Qianhe frowned with displeasure, but considering that his promotions over the years were partly tied to Li Suifeng’s intelligence — and the fact that someone within the Canal Gang was now aiding the Red Lotus Sect, putting him under pressure as well — he held his tongue.

The Canal Gang’s upper echelons were beyond his reach. Right now, Li Suifeng was the only piece on the board he could move.

“What do you want?” Xiao Qianhe’s voice turned cold.

“Don’t push your luck.”

“Your head.” Li Suifeng flashed a grin.

“What?”

Xiao Qianhe couldn’t believe what he’d just heard.

“Your head.”

Li Suifeng repeated himself.

SHING!

The long blade at his waist cleared its sheath.

“Li Suifeng, with that amateur swordsmanship of yours…”

A cold sneer spread across Xiao Qianhe’s face as he circulated his internal energy — but his legs buckled beneath him.

“Tendon-Softening Powder… you dare—”

SQUELCH!

The blade traced a clean arc across Xiao Qianhe’s throat.

His head launched skyward as the headless corpse crumpled to the ground.

【Ding!】

【Congratulations, Host. Prerequisite task complete — killed direct superior Xiao Qianhe. Grand Villain System activated.】

【The Grand Villain System is dedicated to cultivating the Host into the world’s greatest villain.】

【Complete villain tasks to receive martial arts, divine weapons, elixirs, and other rewards. All martial arts provided by the System are instantly mastered to peak level.】

Listening to the rapid-fire mechanical chimes in his ears, Li Suifeng’s expression remained perfectly calm.

Ten years ago, he had transmigrated into this world. The System had been loading ever since — only finishing three months ago. But activating it required a prerequisite task: kill either his Embroidered Uniform Guard handler, Xiao Qianhe, or the Canal Gang’s Nanyang Branch Helmsman, Liu Zhenhe.

Li Suifeng chose Xiao Qianhe.

Over the years, he had risked his neck countless times for this man, yet all he’d received in return were a handful of low-grade martial techniques and a few hundred taels of silver. Xiao Qianhe, meanwhile, had ridden the intelligence Li Suifeng fed him all the way from Centurion to Commander.

And now, still not satisfied, the man wanted him to investigate the Red Lotus Sect? If not him, then who deserved a blade across the throat?

The preparations for tonight had been far from cheap. The Ten-Fragrance Tendon-Softening Powder alone had cost him over a hundred taels — years of savings, gone in a single night. But looking at the result now, every last coin was worth it.

Without that powder, he could never have killed Xiao Qianhe.

THUD!

Li Suifeng kicked the corpse, sending it tumbling three or four meters across the floor.

“Ten years I’ve been stuck in this world, and you squeezed me dry for every single one of them!”

“But now — harvest season has arrived!”

Excitement blazed across Li Suifeng’s face as the mechanical chimes continued:

【Congratulations, Host. Achievement unlocked — Killed Direct Superior. Reward: martial art ‘Iron Shirt.’】

BOOM!

A torrent of heat surged through Li Suifeng’s entire body. His skin toughened to something resembling ox-hide, turning a dark bluish-black as internal energy circulated beneath it. Decades’ worth of Iron Shirt mastery flooded into his mind in a single instant — techniques, insights, and combat instincts — all crystallized at the absolute peak.

“This…”

Li Suifeng’s jaw dropped. “Even Xiao Qianhe at peak seventh-rank probably couldn’t break through my defense now. And my raw strength has multiplied several times over.”

“Then again, a seventh-rank master has already opened six of the eight extraordinary meridians. Their internal energy is staggering. Even if their blade can’t cut me, the force behind it could shatter my heart meridian.”

He shook his head.

【Ding!】

【Starter Gift Pack detected. Use now?】

A starter gift pack?

Now that was something he was intimately familiar with.

“Use it!”

Not a moment’s hesitation.

【Ding!】

【Starter Gift Pack successfully opened. Congratulations, Host — rewards: ‘Quanzhen Internal Art,’ ‘Ruyi Celestial Demon: Eight Successive Slashes,’ ‘Hundred-Forged Blade,’ and ‘Breath Concealment Technique.’ Extract now?】

Quanzhen Internal Art?

Ruyi Celestial Demon: Eight Successive Slashes?

Elation exploded across Li Suifeng’s face.

He’d expected the starter pack to contain techniques on par with Iron Shirt at best. He never imagined it would contain these two.

The Quanzhen Internal Art needed no introduction — the great Hero Guo had built his entire foundation upon it. While its cultivation speed was nothing remarkable, the foundation it laid was rock-solid. And with the System granting instant mastery, cultivation speed was irrelevant.

But what truly set Li Suifeng’s heart racing was the Ruyi Celestial Demon: Eight Successive Slashes.

This was the supreme art of the Demonic Sect in the world of classical jianghu. Each of the eight slashes contained thirty-six moves, and each move held one hundred and eight variations. In Ding Peng’s hands, that labyrinth of complexity had been distilled into a single devastating stroke — the Divine Blade Slash.

Ding Peng had dominated the martial world on the strength of that one slash alone.

When the Demon Blade was drawn, all who stood before it died.

“Extract!”

BOOM!

A colossal tide of internal energy erupted from Li Suifeng’s dantian, surging outward through his limbs and flooding every meridian in his body.

CRACK!

One meridian after another burst open.

In the span of a single breath, all twelve standard meridians were forced through.

But it didn’t stop there. The energy continued its rampage until six of the eight extraordinary meridians had been blasted wide. Only then did the overwhelming tide of power finally settle.

“Hah…”

After a long moment, Li Suifeng opened his eyes and exhaled deeply, disbelief painted across his face. He felt the staggering reservoir of internal energy now coiled within his dantian and meridians, and whispered:

“I’ve already reached peak seventh-rank?”

It felt like a dream.

The Canal Gang was one of the Seven Great Gangs under heaven, teeming with masters. Yet even in the Nanyang Branch, the only sixth-rank expert was Helmsman Liu Zhenhe himself. A seventh-rank martial artist was already qualified to hold an Elder’s seat.

In this world, martial power reigned supreme.

The Daye Dynasty wasn’t exactly in an age of chaos, but ever since the Northern Garrison King’s rebellion fifty years ago, national strength had plummeted. The court’s authority crumbled. Sects and factions multiplied like weeds.

Street brawls between jianghu wanderers were common enough to be unremarkable. Life for ordinary people was far from easy.

The martial rankings of this world ran from first to ninth rank — ninth being the lowest, first the highest.

Above first rank lay the realm of Terrestrial Immortals.

Ninth rank was merely the accumulation of internal energy. Eighth rank meant opening the twelve standard meridians — each one unlocked amplified the practitioner’s internal energy further.

Seventh rank required opening six of the eight extraordinary meridians. Opening the remaining two — the Ren and Du meridians — meant stepping into the sixth rank, where internal energy transformed into true qi, granting the ability to kill from a distance with vastly amplified power.

Li Suifeng had spent ten years in this world since transmigrating and had only managed to claw his way to peak ninth-rank, overseeing a single street under the Canal Gang’s banner.

But now, with the Quanzhen Internal Art cultivated to perfection, he had vaulted straight to peak seventh-rank.

“It’s a shame I can’t openly display seventh-rank cultivation. Otherwise, I could become a Branch Elder in a single leap.”

Li Suifeng sighed.

He activated the Breath Concealment Technique. His aura shifted in an instant, now projecting the cultivation base of a peak ninth-rank martial artist.

“With my true strength, no one in the Nanyang Branch can take me down unless the Helmsman acts personally.”

“No… even if the Helmsman acts personally, he might not be able to take me.”

“I can finally protect myself.”