Wang Ren rubbed his chin in confusion. He'd managed to not only pass through the walls around the Spring and Autumn Palace, but head into the inner sanctum after dozens of trials, battles with rival cultivators, and odd puzzles.

He had watched as people activated those carvings of trees and vanished into thin air, but he felt that method was too… simple. It didn't resonate with him.

In the end he'd simply unleashed his full-force glaive strike against the wall. As he was thrown back by the backlash, he found himself falling through a spatial tear. When he emerged from the chaotic space, he was inside a perfectly preserved courtyard.

The courtyard was on the edge of the Spring and Autumn Palace, with two different paths leading out of it. In the end Wang Ren decided to simply follow the left path until he reached a dead end, then repeat the process.

A simple strategy, but one perfectly suited to him.

The trials he'd encountered were varied and numerous, but none of them had stood up to his glaive and his wit. The same went for the numerous cultivators he'd met along the way.

Not all had animosity towards him. Those who had genuine intentions ended up cooperating on some of the trials and puzzles, while all who attempted to claim his life ended up victims of his glaive.

It was the path of a heaven-destroying conqueror. His path. His dao.

The Dao of the Unstoppable Glaive.

That was another new discovery which had happened during his journey to the inner sanctum of the Spring and Autumn Palace. He had managed to form a dao fragment as he truly understood his path.

He felt it inside his dantian, empowering his every technique and action. It was still a tiny fragment, far from the all-encompassing daos that the lofty sages wielded, but every legend had to begin somewhere.

His cultivation had also grown from seven-star Qi Gathering to nine-star, approaching the peak. He was outmatched by many cultivators in this place, but luckily he hadn't encountered any middle or late stage Foundation Building experts.

That might be a challenging battle.

"Oh, Wang Ren, you're here!" a familiar voice came from behind him. "I never expected to see a filthy traitor in this miraculous palace. You don't deserve to claim the treasures within, so I'll do everyone a favour and cleanse your stink from the world."

Wang Ren couldn't quite place the voice, but he knew it from somewhere. When he turned around he came face to face with a group of four sneering cultivators wearing robes that brought nostalgia to his heart.

Yet at the same time it cut open the wounds left by his master's death. No, murder. To add insult to injury, these bastards were calling him a traitor?

Despite the fury welling up within him, Wang Ren knew losing his temper now would be fatal. His strength was prodigious, but against four opponents even he would struggle.

"Gu Bin, it seems that not even time can change your ugly personality," Wang Ren said, meeting the ugly stares of the four Cloudy Falls Sect disciples. "I am surprised you made it this far into the palace, given how poor your talent always was."

Gu Bin, the leader of the four, snarled at that remark. "A traitorous trash dares!?" he roared. Then his expression calmed as one of his lackeys placed a hand on his arm. "Hmph. It makes sense that two commoner traitors would stick together. Like master, like student. I will take great pleasure in wiping you from this world and returning victorious to the sect," he declared, an ornate sword appearing in his hands.

Wang Ren had been able to keep his temper in check under the onslaught of insults. That is, until the snivelling bastard dared to impugn his master's name. His face twisted into that of a raging asura as his glaive appeared in his hands.

"GU BIN! Let us see if your sword is as sharp as your tongue," Wang Ren yelled while rushing at the four cultivators.

The three lackeys reacted slower than their leader. Even so, they were able to leap out of the way of Wang Ren's opening slash. They formed a square trapping Wang Ren. However, leaving Gu Bin to take the strike alone was their first devastating error.

The inner disciple's face was stretched into a satisfied smirk as he raised his sword. The handle was encrusted with spirit stones to focus his qi, while the blade was forged with mist-steel from the sect's surroundings, empowering its signature techniques.

Even as Wang Ren planted his foot and let out an earthshaking roar of battle and fury, Gu Bin didn't falter. His qi flowed through the spirit stones and out of the blade, forming an ethereal sword of qi that imitated sword intent.

"Hmph! So arrogant with such a poorly made weapon. It seems your master was not just crazy, but also stingy," Gu Bin sneered as he unleashed his strike.

With that remark Gu Bin sealed his fate. Against most cultivators, causing their anger to flare might unsettle their qi control and give him an advantage. Against Wang Ren all it did was add fuel to the fire.

He had previously formed a strand of glaive intent, back in Three River City. Since then his training had focused on honing that while working to comprehend it further.

Instead of responding to the insult, he only burst into laughter. His arms swelled as the glaive descended. The ornate sword struck out, a blade of qi extending from the tip and striking at Wang Ren's throat.

As he was the main focus of Wang Ren's fury, as well as focusing on his own strike, Gu Bin couldn't feel what the other three disciples could. They had wanted to strike Wang Ren's back while he was distracted, but found themselves frozen in place. A primal fear had taken hold, as though they were bunnies facing a hungry wolf.

A giant taking the rough appearance of Wang Ren appeared behind him, towering over the battle at eighteen feet tall. In its hands it wielded a glaive that mirrored Ren's own. The giant swung in unison with the warrior, their intent clear for all to see.

"Yes, my master was a crazy old bastard!" Wang Ren roared as his glaive struck the outstretched blade of qi. "But he was the strongest warrior I knew!"

The shimmering blade of qi held for a moment. Gu Bin's face twisted into a derisive smirk. "You bark like a dog, Ren!" he jeered. Then, it shattered.

The expression of shock and horror that appeared was short lived. After breaking the technique the glaive still had plenty of momentum left. The chitinous blade struck the sword's tip.

A crack appeared on Wang Ren's makeshift weapon, but a reddish glow burst from within and its strength wasn't diminished one bit. The sword started to vibrate, the noise intensifying with every moment.

The spirit stones embedded in the handle began to slowly fade, then one by one they shattered. The shards pierced Gu Bin's face and arms, a dozen tiny cuts opening across them.

He barely had a moment to register the pain before the sword's blade followed suit. "How!?" he exclaimed, his pathetic last words.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

The glaive continued its downward descent. "Your pathetic imitation is no match for a true warrior's might! For his intent!" Wang Ren roared. The blade slammed into the top of Gu Bin's head, but it found little resistance. It cleaved through the man from head to toe, the two halves of his body falling apart an instant later.

Even then the strike was far from done. Killing one man wasn't a challenge to Wang Ren. "First movement, earth eradicating descent," he whispered to himself.

The three enemy cultivators were still struggling to deal with his overwhelming killing intent. Only the strongest of the three had managed to regain his mobility.

He withdrew three talismans and a dagger, attaching the talismans to the handle and tossing it at Wang Ren's back. It never reached him.

The glaive smashed into the ground of the palace, unleashing every drop of qi and physical might it contained into the earth. For a single breath, the world froze. It was as though the ground had swallowed the remains of the technique.

Then it began to rumble and shake. Three huge cracks shot through the stone, each aimed at one of the three cultivators. The strongest of them was able to move himself a little out of the way, but the weaker two weren't so fortunate.

The ground beneath their feet exploded. A dozen rocks and boulders smashed into their bodies, leaving them battered and broken. On the verge of death, they tumbled into the rifts, two brief bursts of qi signaling their deaths.

The leader had escaped with his life, but the damage was still severe. He sported bleeding cuts and nasty bruises all over his body. The ethereal warrior faded, leaving Wang Ren standing tall with his glaive touching the ground.

What came next was something he didn't want to do. However, he had the sect to think about. He couldn't act on his own desire to crush the bastard for daring to insult his master and seek Ren's death.

Clenching his glaive firmly, he turned and approached the final living cultivator. A small crowd had gathered to watch the battle, though what they wanted from it differed greatly. Some wanted to simply observe new techniques and broaden their horizons, while others hoped to take on the weakened victor and claim their treasures.

Despite the overpowered technique Wang Ren had displayed, he stood tall and firm. It was as though unleashing that level of devastation had barely taken any effort on his part. That was a facade he was happy to maintain until he was in a safer location.

The remaining cultivator stumbled backwards, eyes wide and face drained of blood as he gazed fearfully at Wang Ren. The muscular cultivator dwarfed him in stature and strength. He regretted ever trusting Gu Bin and taking on this mission.

"Brother Wang, I-" he flinched as Wang Ren's face twitched.

"Don't you dare call me brother. Not after what you attempted here. I'm only going to spare your life because you have information I need. If you tell me what I want to know I'll let you live. If not…" he let the implication hang in the air while grabbing the man by the arm.

The spectators watched as the tall, unusually muscular cultivator dragged the poor loser into a secluded section of the palace. A few screams could occasionally be heard. After the time it took to burn a stick of incense, there was silence.

Three new arrivals joined the group, wondering what was causing such a large group to gather together. They were Shuanghu the white tiger, Longma the antlered horse, and the perpetually angry badgerhog.

"What's going on? Is it some sort of trial?" Shuanghu asked one of the stronger cultivators in the group.

"No, not really. Four cultivators just ambushed a lone cultivator, but he obliterated them in a single strike. Now he's interrogating the only survivor," the wiry man in a black robe replied, pointing at the building where Wang Ren had taken his prisoner.

Shuanghu turned to look at Longma, surprise written across both their faces as they listened to the explanation. However, there was no guarantee it was Wang Ren or Zhao Dan involved. Cultivators ambushed one another all the time, for treasure, glory, or simply to settle old grudges.

However, as she listened in to the background conversations, her lips peeled back into a grin, revealing two rows of razor sharp, gleaming white fangs. A few of the human cultivators stepped back nervously, mistaking the tiger's satisfaction for hunger.

"Did you see the size of his apparition!? Just how potent is his glaive intent?" one cultivator exclaimed to another.

"I know, I'm truly envious of that ape. Beasts really do have natural advantages when it comes to martial cultivation," his companion replied with a wistful sigh.

Shuanghu snorted at the second remark. She had to admit that with his enormous frame and rough features, Wang Ren could be mistaken for an ape beast.

Her suspicions were finally confirmed when the man himself strode out of the palace. Everyone present couldn't help noticing he was alone, a few of those who'd hoped to ambush the winner for their treasures gulped, glad they hadn't done so.

"Brother Wang!" Longma called out, taking Wang Ren by surprise.

He only faltered in his tracks for a moment before a smile appeared on his face. He waved at the three beasts before making his way towards them. "I'm glad to see you all made it, hopefully you encountered less trouble than I."

"Yes, we heard all about your little… scuffle. To tell the truth, we actually overheard a group of cultivators discussing an ambush on you and Zhao Dan and raced here to warn you. It seems that wasn't necessary. You have advanced yet again and not just in your glaive technique." The white tiger smirked as she finished her sentence, Wang Ren's face twisting in confusion instead.

"What do you mean? I did manage to further refine my glaive intent, but that was all. If anything, the information I obtained along with the satisfaction were the true gains from this ambush," he replied.

"You didn't realise!?" Shuanghu exclaimed. She raised a claw and poked his navel. Take a look at your own condition, you muscle-brained buffoon. Maybe he does have some ape ancestry after all, she half-joked to herself.

Wang Ren frowned, but took her advice to heart. He took a moment to inspect the condition of his body. At first he thought she was referring to the thin coating of impurities across his skin. The stench almost put him off a deeper look, even though the refinement of his physical body was a potent improvement.

As he inspected his dantian and spirit veins, he almost collapsed in shock. Prior to the ambush he had been approaching nine-star Qi Gathering, but the bottleneck still loomed large.

However, he realised he had somehow broken through and reached peak Qi Gathering during the battle. And contrary to all common understanding of cultivation, he hadn't stopped there.

The qi within his dantian was far more compressed. Not only that, but it had taken on a faint red hue. He glanced to the crack in his glaive, remembering the light that had burst from it during his slash. The colour was almost identical.

Fire affinity qi? No, that isn't right. It feels nothing like it, he pondered to himself. More shocking than that was the fact he'd skipped right past the bottleneck of the Qi Gathering Realm, now sitting firmly at one-star Foundation Building.

"How is this possible?" he eventually muttered. "Two small realms during an epiphany isn't unheard of, but the gap between the Qi Gathering Realm and the Foundation Building Realm is much wider. I'm not the Sect Leader…"

Shuanghu burst into laughter when she heard his response. Longma was shocked but kept his expression much better restrained. The badgerhog instead was observing Wang Ren's muscular physique, nodding in approval.

"Ho? Our little terror seems to have taken a liking to you, Brother Wang. I've never seen her this infatuated before," Shuanghu chuckled, causing the badgerhog to glare at her, before glancing at Wang Ren and looking… embarrassed?

"Her!?" Wang Ren exclaimed, before clamping a hand over his own mouth. To think that spined terror was a female beast… Well, why shouldn't she be? Talent didn't discriminate and a warrior was a warrior, no matter their appearance or temperament.

"Actually, if it was going to happen at any stage, it makes most sense for you now," Longma interjected, changing the topic to avoid further embarrassment for all involved parties. "The gap between Qi Gathering and Foundation Building is wide, but compared to the vast gulfs between other major realms, it is the least challenging. Mostly because it isn't a question of comprehension or understanding a new form of insight, but simply a question of qi density and quantity."

"That makes sense. Whatever the case, congratulations Wang Ren. Your gains here are so great and we have yet to loot the inner palace. I'm sure Zhao Dan will be pleased when he sees your improvements," Shuanghu said.

"Thank you, all of you. Even though I ended up solving the issue alone, I appreciate that you intended to help. You didn't have to do that. If you ever need help, I will be there to lend my strength," Wang Ren replied.

"I will remember that. Besides, we're practically kin, what with your ape ancestry and all," Shuanghu replied with a smirk.

"What ape-" Wang Ren began, before scowling. "Tch. Damn trickster. Let's go find some treasures," he muttered, striding off towards the inner palace.

The three beasts followed after him, still laughing at his reaction to the joke. The gathered crowd watched them go, feeling a mix of emotions.

Near the back, a cultivator who'd kept her presence hidden had an excited expression on her face. If Wang Ren were to see her, he would immediately recognise the robes she wore, denoting her as a core disciple of the Cloudy Falls Sect.

"So, that little monster has grown even further since leaving the sect. I knew there was something odd about the circumstances of Elder Bang's supposed betrayal. Master was right, those devious bastards are gearing up for something big. I must warn her when I get out of the Blossoming Heavens," the female core disciple muttered before rushing into the palace herself.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.