"Here, you've earned it." Cobra said.

  A faint whoosh sounded as something was tossed into the air.

  Baiyun reached his hand out to catch a vial of black poison, followed by a yellow vial. Quite irresponsible to a blind person...

  "After that display, this is the strongest poison I'm willing to let you handle." Cobra said. "It should incapacitate most lifeforms at Peak Foundational, and kill anything beneath. If you plan to use it, I suggest taking the antidote first. You might be in danger merely from inhaling the fumes."

  Peak Foundational... that was honestly more than Baiyun bargained for. Did that mean Cobra would originally have given him a poison that could work against Core Shapers? Baiyun couldn't not help but feel somewhat regretful. To think he lost out on more than a level of cultivation, just because his body acted up...

  He supposed it was greedy to ask for more in a gift of all things, but he really needed to find a way to resolve the problem with his body somehow.

  "You're not charging me for it?" Baiyun asked.

  "Of course not. As fellow disciples of the Myriad Clan, this is merely a small gesture." Cobra said.

  Something so precious as a small gesture? Hah, Qinghe really needed to learn from her senior disciple then.

  "But..." Cobra suddenly glared at him sternly.

  "Do not be so reckless again! Even if you didn't drink it, I would still have awarded you a poison anyway. It was a test meant to judge your tolerance to poison!" he scolded. "And even after I passed you, you still adamantly refused treatment! I understand that youthful pride of yours, but that will get you killed one day!"

  Baiyun stared blankly as Cobra began to lecture him for the next 10 minutes. Why did he have to get lectured by a kid still in his 40s with such terrible fashion sense?

  In the first place, Cobra was the one who goaded him into drinking poison despite pretending to be mortal! He was being a hypocrite again!

  Baiyun nodded along and pretended to listen, but his divine touch wandered the room, nosily checking nearby objects and the contents of the drawers. One of the perks of being blind: pretending to pay attention just by facing the talker's direction.

  He hoped to find something interesting to observe or copy, but the drawers were just filled with botched tea leaves and other useless junk. It seemed Cobra kept his actual valuables in his storage artefacts like any sane person. Unfortunate.

  To the side, he finally noticed Rabbit had fallen asleep, tucking its legs beneath its body and flattening its ears.

  Hah... after making such a big fuss about wanting to come along, it got bored and fell asleep anyway. It was so quiet he barely noticed it during the whole negotiation.

  Baiyun waited until Cobra was satisfied rambling, then made a few empty promises to be more careful. He quickly grabbed Rabbit and left hastily, before Duren could be tempted to say more. It was certainly less fun to be on the receiving end of lectures.

  After a few quick turns in the hallways, he returned to his shoddy room and removed his armour, hopping onto bed. He laid in silence and stared into empty darkness, wondering what he would do once the alchemy textbooks ran out. They would still last a few months if he read slowly, but his stay at the border was far, far longer.

  Rabbit had been rudely woken when he grabbed it so suddenly, but it had already fallen asleep again. Hah... to think he would feel slight envy about what he always considered a mortal nuisance, nothing but wasted productivity.

  Even asleep, its ears were unaffected and continued to listen attentively. Perhaps it was was a special trait of prey animals, their minds listening attentively for danger around the clock.

  Hm.

  Well, he supposed this was a good opportunity to train with its ears. Back during the wolf attack in Yue's servant garden, Rabbit immediately sensed its approach, but Baiyun couldn't make out the slightest trace of it.

  It was clear he was far less adept at using the rabbit's ears; everything needed practice after all. But if he practised night after night, with his near-perfect memory, would he become more proficient at using its hearing than it was? Hah! That was quite the amusing thought.

  Baiyun borrowed its ears, listening to the night breeze outside. The wind swirled aimlessly across the night sky, carrying with it myriad traces of unintelligible sound, simply far too distant.

  But if Rabbit could make out sounds he failed to notice with its own ears, any sound he could hear must be far more discernible. He continued intently, his mind quieting idle ponder until the only thoughts in his mind were to listen.

  Half an hour passed. Faint at first, but something was sharp.

  Baiyun furrowed his eyebrows when he realised what it was. The abnormal young man practising with a sword.

  Curiosity.

  "Oh?" A distant voice said in amusement.

  Footsteps grew closer as the sword continued to arc, each swing clearer than before. Almost as if it was getting closer...

  Wait-

  Baiyun hurriedly emptied his mind until the sound was no longer coherent. A droplet of cold sweat ran down his temple.

  He cut off the Rabbit's hearing for the next hour, cautious and ready to bolt out at any moment. Was it safer to stay here, or wander out when no inmates were out at this hour? He worried about it long and hard, but nothing came however.

  To think that even listening alone carried danger here... What a horrid place this border was. He was hesitant for a moment and wondered if he should continue, but in the end he still succumbed to his desire to learn.

  Baiyun tuned out the sword from his mind and listened further and further. Slowly but surely, the strange sounds grew in coherence, until they felt on the verge of comprehension.

  Minute by minute, hours passed before he realised it.

  Faint at first, almost pulsing. Baiyun's attention was piqued immediately.

  Coarse stone rubbing and grinding. Something beneath the endless gravel was rumbling, even the very ocean and air restless. That strange sound in the wind... from land to air to sea, it was all connected...

  Baiyun felt almost entranced by the foreboding sound as they called for him to listen, until-

  BANG BANG BANG!

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  Something stuck his mind like rumbling thunder, deafening beyond belief.

  Baiyun jumped out of bed in shock and nearly tumbled to the ground. What was that!? He looked around in confusion and realised it was now early morning, orange light from dawn shining faintly.

  Three gentle knocks suddenly echoed.

  Ah.

  Baiyun finally realised it was just someone at the door. He had been so immersed in listening, even that alone was like a bomb in his ears.

  From the breathing and stature outside, he could hear it was Crow awaiting him today. She stood with crossed arms as he gingerly opened the door.

  "Get up and eat quickly. I convinced 'management' to let me train you and Gale, so you won't have to report for duty today." she said.

  "Understood!" Baiyun mocked enthusiasm.

  A sudden training opportunity? He was surprised but he nodded and followed anyway.

  Crow tossed him a ration of sorts to eat as he walked. It seemed to be some sort of hard biscuit, coarse grains and rice flour compacted into an edible brick. It was heavily salted and somewhat bland.

  "I want some too!" Rabbit yelled as it bound after them.

  Baiyun shook his head inwardly, but broke off a chunk of the biscuit and passed it over. Crow and a few passing inmates stared as the rabbit followed, nibbling the snack in its mouth and leaving crumbs everywhere.

  They soon arrived at the same training room. With borrowed ears, he heard the presence of 2 in the room before he even entered. Stone sat on a bench with a sullen expression, while Gale looked on in concern.

  "You're finally back." Crow said. "You've been hard at work, huh?"

  "Hah... I'm sorry. Even after all that, I still couldn't find him." Stone sighed. "As Cobra said, there really was a huge deposit of Abyss Metal. Well, the keyword being 'was', that is..."

  "It's gone?"

  "Yes. I found signs of recent extraction, the inner rock still untainted by the foul sea. From the sheer depth, I suspect more than 1000 kilograms have been extracted. It can't all have disappeared, so Hermit must still be out there." Stone said.

  "What if it's another abnormality?" Gale said worriedly.

  "We don't know of any that consume such vast quantities of metal." Crow shook her head. "And from the timeline, it only makes sense for Hermit to have been the one extracting it."

  "I don't think we can be certain yet... there's still the question of how he could have harvested so much in the span of a day. There's something wrong for sure." Stone said despondently.

  "Hah. Well, knowing him, it might be possible." Crow shrugged. "He always had more cards up his sleeve than we could ever imagine."

  "You sure are confident in him..."

  Crow laughed.

  Baiyun watched on and mused to himself, thinking it was a strange feeling to hear talk about someone he did not know. It seemed the Stone and Crow had been in contact, perhaps through communication jades.

  This Hermit person... he thought the unknown man was just a convenient handyman, but it sounded like he might have been a powerhouse with all sorts of strange tools. He inwardly noted down the connections between the Crow, Stone and Hermit.

  "So, will you continue the search?" Crow asked.

  "Naturally." Stone nodded. "I fear the worst, but there's a chance he simply fled with the materials. Though, I'm not sure where he would even take refuge."

  "Wait! But who will protect me if you're gone?" Gale pleaded.

  Stone chuckled, placing an oversized hand on his head and ruffling his hair.

  "Hey!" Gale protested, prying the fingers away.

  "Don't worry." Stone said. "I'll be back soon."

  He waved to them before walking to the doorway, ducking his head beneath it and leaving with hasty steps.

  "You're leaving so soon?" Gale cried.

  "He can't afford to wait much if he wants to rescue Hermit. The only reason he even stopped by was because I agreed to delegate a search team to him." Crow said. "Now, we should begin training. Do either of you have experience with martial arts?"

  Both Baiyun and Gale shook their heads.

  "Unfortunate. Well, if you want to survive, do your best to attain the Novice tier as soon as possible." she said. "Unless you have powerful offensive magic, those without Martial Expertise rarely survive long."

  Gale nodded frantically, looking quite worried.

  Baiyun could not help but feel amused. After Ying Shi tried so hard to recruit him, claiming it would be near-impossible to learn Martial Expertise without a backer... Somehow, becoming a criminal led him down the same path.

  "Now, let me demonstrate the effects of martial force." Crow said. "I will use the same amount of strength in every strike. First up is an ordinary punch with no martial force."

  She approached a training dummy, poising herself to strike as Gale watched intently. Her fist shot out and struck it quickly. But the powerful spirit wood didn't even tremble, remaining motionless as if unimpressed.

  "Next up is a Novice's punch."

  Crow repeated her motions and launched an identical punch, a louder thud echoing as it wobbled faintly on its pedestal. An unimpressive strike on the surface despite the improvement.

  But Baiyun who had sensed its impact with divine touch grew serious.

  That strike was absolutely not weak; it was the sheer durability of the wood that made it feel pathetic. The violent force that raged through it would easily punch through his Black Earth body like tofu, splattering him into multiple pieces violently if it struck him!

  Ridiculous.

  Just the lowest tier of Martial Expertise multiplied a simple punch to that extent? It was no wonder Ying Shi and his guards were so monstrous. If he understood her implication correctly, it was possible nearly every inmate wielded this power, as absurd as it was.

  Living in the same quarters as such dangerous prisoners... it was not exactly reassuring.

  "Next up is a Practitioner's punch."

  She swung again. A deafening bang and the loud crackle of splintering wood echoed, violent forces stirring the still air of the room into raging wind! The spirit dummy that felt almost invincible rattled so quickly it had become a blur, bending backwards as if pleading for mercy.

  A firm imprint of her fist could be seen on its chest, faint cracks spreading through its entirety from a single point of impact.

  "Whoa!!" Gale jumped in excitement.

  Crow did not give Baiyun time to process his thoughts and proceeded.

  "And finally, I shall demonstrate the punch of an Advanced practitioner." Crow said. "Etch the sight into your very being. It will help your path ahead."

  The air around her grew tense as she winded her fist again, almost as if an invisible aura surrounded her. Baiyun and Gale grew quiet, sensing she was finally serious.

  Crow struck the dummy in a flash.

  Silence. There was no loud sound, seemingly nothing as if her fist had only touched the dummy harmlessly.

  A crackle. Violent force rippled through the dummy, trembling as the impact surged through its entirety.

  Wood almost seemed to disintegrate as it spilled to the ground as a rain of sawdust. A massive head-sized hole revealed itself on the chest of the dummy, piercing all the way through.

  The dummy still stood as if defiant.

  A moment passed.

  Then it crumbled, falling to the ground in several broken pieces.

  Baiyun watched stunned. He observed the whole process with divine touch, but even he had no idea what just happened. A blatant defiance of physics, opposing the physical laws he was so familiar with.

  If he previously only suspected Martial Expertise as a form of Dao Aberration, it was all but confirmed now. But no one beneath the Dao Seeking stage could draw upon the power of daos. This shouldn't be possible!

  Even stranger was how daos were all based on the cultivator's individuality, each person with their own unique aberration. Divine Touch for example stemmed from Aoyang's exclusive dao. How could so many people wield the same dao?

  Was this power drawn from some sort of abnormality?

  "This is the power of an Advanced practitioner." Crow said firmly, though proud beneath. "Their attacks ignore all defences and pierce straight through, rendering most forms of armour useless."

  ...Ironic that the inmates were the ones wearing armour rather than the beasts.

  "So powerful! I want to learn that too!" Gale jumped in excitement.

  Even Rabbit was caught in the frenzy, standing on its hind legs and trying to punch the air with its front paws. Crow and Gale stared at it in puzzlement, and Baiyun patted it on the head to lower it back to the ground, slightly embarrassed for some reason.

  "Is there anything beyond Advanced?" Gale asked.

  Right... Baiyun remembered Ying Shi mentioning there were still two stages above. Master, and Perfected. He shuddered to think this power was still far from the apex.

  "There's still a tier above, but I haven't reached that level yet. I think I'm close though." Crow said.

  She didn't mention the final tier? He supposed Ying Shi said it was only a myth, so perhaps some disregarded it.

  "Aw... Does that mean you can't show it?" Gale deflated.

  "Heh. Well, if you give me a moment, I'll try my best." Crow laughed.

  She grabbed a different dummy and shoved it in front of her previous victim, this one even stronger than the one before.

  Rabbit and Gale watched with bated breath as she went silent, shutting her eyes in focus.

  A minute passed, the two of them beginning to grow antsy. But Baiyun could feel the focus gradually building in the air, accumulating to absurd amounts.

  Finally, Crow raised a single finger.

  Frail in appearance, merely a single digit. But a terrifying pressure suddenly choked the room as her finger descended.

  Like a guillotine through tofu, her finger slashed downwards towards its head, bisecting it without the slightest resistance. The dummy fell backwards onto the ground in halves, both disintegrating into fine dust from the impact of the fall. It was smoother than the finest sand, each grain far more refined than the sawdust before.

  Crow panted heavily, lowering herself in exhaustion as sweat trickled down her face.

  "Hah... I actually did it..." she could not help but grin. "A Master's finger. Even the simplest flick of a finger will be imbued with the full force of their strength, piercing all defences evenly!"