Chapter 54: Farewell to Royal Authority

Dressed in slightly soiled garments, Zhang Ji walked along the path.

His Five-Forms boxing was now completely mastered, and he was capable of executing the true unification of all five forms.

Combined with his mastered "Iron Body Skill", the "True Qi Nurturing Spirit Art", and the "Waterfall Descent" combat technique,

He essentially carried the equivalent of eight elite-grade combat crystals within himself.

Even without executing the unification of the five forms, it was rare for him to encounter any genuine opponents at the Grandmaster stage.

And once he unleashed the unification of the five forms, he could even infinitely approach Grade B.

Of course, it was merely an infinite approach.

Aside from the Primordial Qi wave of the Divine Dragon stance, whose power could rival the strike of a Grade B powerhouse, his other means still fell far short.

Leaving the path and walking along the main road for half a day, Zhang Ji caught sight of the outline of a town.

He did not show himself rashly, choosing instead to observe for a while before tearing off a piece of his garment to use as a scarf to cover his face, then entering the town.

To evade the hunt, he had discarded all electronic devices like his mobile phone and carried no money on him.

At this very moment, he was even more destitute than a beggar.

There was an electronic screen in front of the bus station for checking bus routes, where destinations and maps could be viewed.

Zhang Ji walked forward, and a few people waiting for the bus nearby quickly hurried away, seemingly affected by the odor emanating from him.

Having continuously eaten raw food, coupled with not bathing for so long and engaging in strenuous exercise—and being a martial artist whose metabolism was faster than ordinary people's—the strange smell on him was impossible to mask.

However, Zhang Ji did not care.

After looking at the map, he understood his current location.

If he remembered correctly, Elder Wang Quan and the others were still stationed around Lianshuishui City to receive the remaining disciples.

Over the years, the Five-Forms Sect had cultivated tens of thousands of disciples.

With so many people, it was impossible to evacuate everyone all at once.

Naturally, not everyone wanted to leave either.

Therefore, they would only take those who wished to depart.

Zhang Ji wanted to go there and leave the Eastern Pole Country with them.

Although he felt that his current strength was already very strong, he also understood that even upon stepping into Grade B, it would be extremely unwise to confront the state power of a nation like the Eastern Pole Country head-on.

Not to mention, he was still quite a distance away from Grade B.

Even if he disregarded everything else and somehow gathered those final two elite crystals, under the current circumstances, it would take at least a month.

How was he supposed to manage during this month?

Moreover, even if he reached Grade B,

If the Eastern Pole Country truly resolved to kill him, they possessed numerous methods to directly eliminate him.

As long as his whereabouts were exposed, and as long as they were willing,

At the cost of sacrificing a few civilians, he would be bombed to death along with them.

This was something the Eastern Pole Country had done before.

And today, they were entirely capable of doing it again.

They didn't even need to deploy missiles; there were still various weapons and equipment within the Eastern Pole Country that could take his life.

Sonic weapons, railguns, supersonic drones... or perhaps, some alchemy-derived biochemical viruses.

Zhang Ji was well aware that the Eastern Pole Country definitely possessed all these things.

It was just that dealing with him previously hadn't yet warranted the use of such devices.

But if he truly reached Grade B, the opposing side would undoubtedly assess his threat level within a short period of time.

Then the outcome would be self-evident.

He could not possibly kill all those high-ranking figures, but he would inevitably expose his location the moment he struck.

And the enemy would decisively adopt extreme eradication measures.

"Is it more than five hundred kilometers from here to Lianshuit City?" Zhang Ji muttered inwardly.

Then he glanced at a surveillance camera not far away and hurried away from the spot.

Although he felt that such meager concealment was likely ineffective in an information-driven society, this was all he could manage.

That night.

Zhang Ji had changed into a new set of clothes, taken a bath, had a full meal, and left the small town.

Naturally, he didn't pay for the clothes and the meal, as he had no money.

Instead, he left behind a piece of velvet antler for each, roughly worth around a thousand, which matched the cost of what he had consumed. He had been saving these to use as medicine to nourish his vital energy and blood.

Dressed in slightly soiled garments...

Nor was it a matter of him having an overabundance of morality; rather, when taking from the weak, he preferred to inform the other party face-to-face. Such stealthy actions were merely forced upon him by circumstances.

In other words, Zhang Ji accepted face-to-face robbery, as it aligned with the law of the jungle where the strong prey upon the weak.

However, theft made him feel humiliated.

Especially stealing from the weak.

If he were stealing from someone stronger than himself, he might not have cared as much.

......

Qianshan Sect.

Xiong Mingxu stared at his junior brother's corpse with absolute disbelief on his face.

He had lost!

Even while wearing exoskeleton armor, the opponent had used merely a single move?

This gap in strength was something he found impossible to accept.

After all, in his understanding, Zhang Ji was inferior to Li Long—far inferior!

He only felt a sense of wariness toward Li Long, not fear, let alone Zhang Ji.

Yet now he was being told that Zhang Ji, this up-and-coming talent, was even stronger and might even possess the power to slaughter him within a single move.

There was no time for excessive grief before the Lin family's order was transmitted once again.

"The people of the Five-Forms Sect are currently all in Lianshui City. Furthermore, Zhang Ji, the true successor of the Five-Forms Sect who killed your junior brother, should also be heading in that direction and will arrive within the next two days... We hope the Qianshan Sect will not make the wrong choice."

"I need help! Their strength is formidable!!" Xiong Mingxu spoke into his phone.

The other side pondered for a long time before finally giving an answer.

"Very well!"

......

January 5th.

Zhang Ji walked along the streets of Lianshui City, a thick scarf covering most of his face and a duck-billed cap pulled low over his head.

By now, his hair had grown long enough to cascade over his shoulders, and faint stubble had begun to sprout on his chin.

Come to think of it, this body of his was already seventeen years old, wasn't it?

In that case, growing a beard was normal.

Zhang Ji touched his chin; the feeling of merely two or three beard hairs felt somewhat awkward.

Outside the station, Zhang Ji spotted a very strange crane-shaped graffiti, its beak pointing in a certain direction.

It was an ancient communication method of the Five-Forms Sect, one that had probably not been used for untold years.

Being able to revive it today was quite interesting.

Following the direction of the crane's beak for a short distance, Zhang Ji saw other graffiti. After winding through a few turns, he locked eyes with a noodle vendor.

"Give me a bowl of noodles," Zhang Ji said.

"The five flavors of life are hard," the vendor said to Zhang Ji. "What flavor would you like?"

"What flavors do you have?" Zhang Ji asked.

"Sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, and salty—we have them all," the vendor replied.

The five flavors here corresponded to the disciples of the respective halls.

"Get me a bowl of the salty one to try," Zhang Ji said.

What Zhang Ji said referred to the Dragon Hall.

"You're out of luck, the salty ones are sold out..." the vendor said.

The Dragon Hall had long since ceased to exist and was now a shell of its name; the vendor clearly found it somewhat hard to believe.

"Stop testing, it's me!"

Unable to bear it any longer, Zhang Ji directly pulled down his scarf to reveal his face.

"Uh, I don't recognize you!" the vendor said with a slightly bewildered expression.

Zhang Ji raised an eyebrow, feeling somewhat speechless, and then retrieved a token from the inner pocket of his garment to display it.

It was none other than the true successor token given to him by Li Long back on Shanshan Island.

In the present era, the symbolic meaning of this item far outweighed its practical utility.

After all, everyone's status was now directly recorded in electronic archives.

Zhang Ji never imagined he would actually find a day to make use of this thing.

"A true successor?" The vendor was dumbfounded, pulled out a few photographs to compare, and then said, "True Successor Zhang, why are you here?"

"Something happened, and I couldn't get away. Didn't your side receive the news?" Zhang Ji asked doubtfully.

"No, we didn't receive a shred of news. We thought you had already gone abroad," the vendor said.

"Let's not talk here, take me to see Elder Wang," Zhang Ji said.

"Alright, alright, alright."

The vendor nodded, then quickly packed up his stall and led Zhang Ji away from the area.

Taking a few detours and heading all the way down through an underground passage, they reached an underground shopping mall area.

Entering the mall and stepping into a gym located within, Zhang Ji finally met the current members of the Five-Forms Sect.

Wang Quan and Liu Shan were both there, along with many Five-Forms Sect disciples who were exercising right on the premises.

Seeing this sight, Zhang Ji instantly understood a few things.

The news of Li Long assassinating the council member had surprisingly not been transmitted here yet.

The authorities hadn't even released any news reports.

As a result, Wang Quan and Liu Shan still naive believed that after the Five-Forms Sect surrendered its assets, the authorities were willing to spare their lives, and they were still actively gathering disciples, preparing to take more people abroad for development.

This was obviously fundamentally wrong.

The authorities were likely planning to wipe them all out in one fell swoop!!

Zhang Ji cupped his fists in salute to the vendor who had brought him and thanked him, then quickly strode forward to where Wang Quan was currently instructing a disciple.

"Elder!" Zhang Ji called out.

"Who are you?" Wang Quan looked at Zhang Ji and asked.

Zhang Ji pulled down his scarf and said, "It's me, Elder Wang. I have something to tell you."

"Zhang Ji? How did you..."

Wang Quan's expression turned to one of shock.

In his understanding, Zhang Ji had already gone far away abroad with Li Long and the others, yet here he was, seeing Zhang Ji in this very place.

Then what about Li Long and the rest?

"Go practice on your own for a moment."

Wang Quan greeted that disciple, and then pulled Zhang Ji toward the inner rooms.

Soon, the two reached a private compartment.

Liu Shan was also called inside.

"What's going on? Why didn't you leave?" Liu Shan asked Zhang Ji.

"Here is what happened. That day, the master left..."

Zhang Ji described the beginning and end of the council member assassination incident by Li Long as objectively as possible, along with what happened after he and Zheng Chengze broke through the encirclement.

Upon hearing this, Liu Shan and Wang Quan exchanged glances, both filled with disbelief.

"If you don't believe whether it's true, the two elders only need to ask the disciples still in Beixi City to go and take a look," Zhang Ji said.

"We'll go verify it. At most twenty minutes, wait for us here," Liu Shan said.

With that, the two quickly departed.

Zhang Ji sat inside the private compartment, his gaze deep and lost in thought.

The situation here was completely different from what he had imagined.

He had assumed everyone was struggling to hide from the authorities' pursuit, barely managing to find a place to lay low.

Who would have thought they would be blatantly hiding inside a gym like this?

Once something happened at this location, they would practically have nowhere to run.

In about half an hour, Wang Quan returned.

"Get ready to move. Tonight's ship—we're leaving right now!!"

This brief sentence laid the situation bare.

Wang Quan and Liu Shan had already verified that the information Zhang Ji provided was true.

Thus, they could no longer stay here.

Were they supposed to linger leisurely like before, gathering disciples and waiting for the authorities to make their move and wipe them out in one net?