Only at the instant the assassin reached the great tree did he seem to twist his body slightly and glance back. But no one clearly saw it, because every eye had already been drawn to Jun Moxie.

Before the crowd could even summon feelings of sorrow, before Old Master Jun Zhantian could even manage a loud shout of "Moxie," his cry caught in his throat after only uttering the first syllable: "Mo." If one hadn't listened closely, it might have sounded like the old man was calling out "Ma" to the vast sky.

Because the individual whom everyone assumed had been pierced through the chest—the one who should have been spraying blood and utterly destroyed—was, in fact, sitting perfectly upright on his horse, completely unscathed, not a single drop of blood staining his person.

The crowd instantly froze in perfect unison. What was happening? They had clearly witnessed a sword pierce a chest, yet here he was...

The moment Jun Moxie stepped into that particular range, a warning flared instantly in his heart. His nerves, honed over a lifetime of countless, exquisite assassin experiences, had been sharpened to an almost supernatural acuity, that instinct for danger informing him immediately of the killing intent lurking on that stretch of road!

Though Jun Moxie’s expression remained unmoved, he was already prepared internally!

Yet, even so, the speed of this assassin’s action exceeded his expectations!

Truly astonishing speed!

In the instant he registered the warning, the figure had already materialized before his chest. Jun Moxie could even feel the intensely cold, chilling temperature radiating from the assassin's long sword!

All Jun Moxie could see was a pair of eyes utterly devoid of warmth, seemingly filled with deathly stillness, like the eyes of a dead fish staring at him coldly.

Beyond that, there was only a hazy, grey shadow!

The man’s speed was so great that evasion was impossible!

In the face of absolute velocity, all experience, all accumulated knowledge, and all instinct became useless! It was an absolutely fatal strike!

At that critical, nail-biting moment, Jun Moxie rapidly made a judgment; there was no choice left. Disregarding the need for secrecy, he flashed, instantly retreating into his ultimate life-saving trump card—the Grandmist Pagoda (Hongjun Ta)! Because the suddenness of this instantaneous event meant a lingering afterimage remained, giving the appearance that the man and his sword had simply passed right through his chest.

Then, he immediately emerged from the Grandmist Pagoda, still seated atop his horse. All of this happened in the blink of an eye. Everyone was too dazzled to follow, and who among them would suspect Jun Moxie possessed such an unfathomable, ghostly means of self-preservation?

Just then, cries of shock erupted again from the crowd!

A ray of Xuanhuang light shot out like a dragon, following the path of the attack, extending from the great tree where the assassin had briefly stood!

Jun Zhantian had already moved in front of his grandson, his body blazing with blue light, clearly pushing his cultivation to the absolute peak. He suddenly thrust a punch! The fist wind tore the air, producing an explosive sound akin to thunder, proving the old man had exerted his full might!

But this full-force strike landed squarely on empty air.

This menacing yellow light scattered upon contact, vanishing without a trace. There was absolutely no energy contained within it.

"It was an afterimage!" Jun Moxie spoke slowly from behind, watching the yellow light dissipate. His face was etched with gravity.

This person's Xuan Qi cultivation wasn't actually very high, perhaps only at the peak of the Earth Profound Realm's middle stages. But his speed was utterly bizarre. Jun Moxie had no doubt that even Eagle Strikes the Sky (Ying Bokong), renowned for his speed, could only match this man at full exertion.

He actually managed to leave the Xuan Qi light beam I had projected from above trailing behind him! What terrifying speed was that!

The peak Earth Profound Realm, how could one possess such supreme, transcendent speed?

It wasn't just Jun Moxie who couldn't fathom it; all the surrounding experts were equally perplexed! How could anyone in the world achieve a speed of this magnitude?

Seeing everyone poised in grave defense, Jun Moxie offered a faint smile. "No need to worry. With such terrifying speed, this person could likely only manage one strike! If he could repeat it, wouldn't he be even more formidable than Yun Biechen?"

The crowd instantly understood. While such terrifying attack speed was fearsome, it likely couldn't be sustained. However, few in the world could withstand such an attack!

Even a peak Heaven Profound expert, facing this attack abruptly, would likely suffer grievous wounds, if not death itself! So how had Jun Moxie evaded it?

None of them knew that Jun Moxie’s entire body was now covered in layers of cold sweat! The lingering fear was intense.

Such a lightning-fast, fatal blow! Even within the knowledge and experiences of his past life, he had never witnessed anything like it!

Even his own unparalleled assassin techniques from his previous life fell short of this!

This speed truly surpassed the absolute limits attainable by the human body!

This didn't mean such speed was entirely unattainable. If a peak Sovereign Divine Profound expert possessed it, it wouldn't be surprising. Eagle Strikes the Sky, for instance, could achieve or even exceed this speed when fully engaged. But to see this speed suddenly manifest in someone only possessing Earth Profound strength was genuinely an instance of surpassing the ultimate limit!

Jun Moxie had always been exceedingly self-assured, confident enough to look down upon the heroes of the world. Aside from his cultivation being limited by his young age, he was immensely proud of his speed and reflexes.

In his past life, he had successfully dodged a bullet fired from a sniper rifle at a distance of ten meters, while fully alert and completely unharmed!

Even in this life, combined with the Creation of Heaven and Earth technique, his mastery of speed had not diminished in the slightest. Yet, this time, he was unable to evade the lightning strike through conventional means!

Did this not imply that this man's attack speed had actually surpassed the muzzle velocity of a bullet roaring from a sniper rifle barrel? That velocity, from the rifle's muzzle, was nine hundred meters per second—a supersonic speed nearly three times the speed of sound!

Jun Moxie was shocked to his core. Even having safely evaded that thunderous blow, he was drenched in sweat, soaking his clothes.

Although in his past life he had been fully focused and standing on solid ground, while now he was mounted on a horse—a significant difference—this man's speed was undeniably terrifying!

Suddenly, a thought sparked in Jun Moxie’s mind. Xuan Qi speed, by itself, absolutely could not reach this level unless the user employed a self-destructive ultimate move like Sea Sinking Wind (Hai Chenfeng), or a desperate technique akin to the Demonic Body Shattering Art of his previous life, concentrating all power into an instantaneous burst of speed...

If that analysis held true, then the assassin must be extremely weak now, perhaps even suffering from five injuries and seven damages...

Jun Moxie gazed in the direction the assassin had fled, his eyes sharpening!

This person was simply too dangerous!

Following such an unexpected assassination attempt that fortunately resulted in no casualties, the entire party proceeded with even greater caution. Tang Yuan abruptly detached from the group halfway through, rushing back to the Aristocrats' Hall to gather medicinal supplies.

Only upon reaching the Jun family gates did Jun Zhantian finally restrain himself and ask his grandson, "Moxie, how did you manage to dodge that last strike?" The old man had held this question in for the entire journey. He questioned himself: could he, the old master, have evaded that blow? He was unsure. While Jun Moxie possessed miraculous abilities, strength always required years of diligent cultivation; there were no shortcuts. This was what puzzled the old man the most.

Jun Moxie smiled faintly, looking at his grandfather, and said earnestly, "Grandfather, you can rest assured. As long as I, your grandson, do not wish to die, then no person, no matter who, can kill me! Even if the Eight Great Sovereigns attacked together, they absolutely could not harm a single hair on my head! On this point, I am completely confident!"

"Ah!" Jun Zhantian was stunned speechless. That was an astonishingly bold claim!

"Grandfather, this concerns my greatest secret." Jun Moxie winked, a hint of amusement in his eyes. "It is my ultimate means of ensuring my survival under any circumstances! You wouldn't insist I reveal it, would you?"

"I see!" Old Master Jun let out a long sigh, his shock giving way to a smile that crinkled the corners of his eyes. He no longer pressed for details about the secret. The old master, seasoned by decades of life experience, understood that some secrets remained truly secret only when kept to oneself. The more people who knew, the higher the risk of exposure. Knowing his grandson possessed such a capability was all the reassurance he needed.

"Moxie, if this is truly the case, then let it be the greatest secret of your life," the old man said, looking at his grandson with profound relief. He cautioned, "Even when you eventually find a wife, never tell her. Keep it to yourself. This is your greatest reliance! A secret provides the trump card, the confidence! When the secret is no longer a secret, the trump card is no longer a trump card!"

"Don't worry, Grandfather, I understand!" Jun Moxie felt genuinely moved. This kind of complete, unconditional love from his grandfather was something he had never experienced, even across two lifetimes.

"His Majesty will surely mobilize troops this time!" Jun Wuyi, who had not attended the Autumn Scholar Banquet, stated with absolute certainty after hearing the account from the grandfather and grandson in the Jun family hall. "And this time, His Majesty will issue appointments for command! Otherwise, even news of the heavens falling would not have caused His Majesty to utter that name in distress at such a moment."

Old Master Jun nodded gravely, remaining silent. Since Jun Wuyi recovered from his injuries and assumed the role of Family Head, the Old Master had made it a policy not to speak unless necessary, allowing Jun Wuyi to shoulder the entire family burden. Only when matters were truly beyond handling or oversight did the Old Master offer input, and even then, his involvement was minimal—a mere hint to guide things, never excessive interference.

"It seems I must prepare myself," Jun Wuyi chuckled, a familiar martial spirit flickering in his eyes.

"Why?" Jun Moxie, though clever and perceptive, couldn't quite grasp this statement. Why would the Emperor's decision to send troops mean Jun Wuyi needed to prepare? The news of Third Master Jun's recovery was known only to a select few; in the eyes of the world, Third Master Jun remained disabled.

"Strictly speaking, this Autumn Scholar Banquet was hardly a banquet for scholars at all!" Jun Wuyi sneered. "This banquet was entirely for you, Jun Moxie! The duration was short, the events few, and the primary objective was you. Unless you chose to accept humiliation without a fight, either way, you were going to be exposed the moment you engaged. Whether it was the matching couplet or the poem, crude though they were, your ability to produce them in such a short time demonstrated talent! Once you finished your response, the banquet immediately concluded, stopped by the Emperor himself! This proves his objective was achieved. That is the conclusion!"

Jun Wuyi let out a heavy chuckle. "Moxie, you haven't experienced the turmoil of court politics. The Imperial Court has seen chaos far worse than today. Can you not see the Emperor's impatience? That is why I deduce that the goal of this Autumn Scholar Banquet was none other than our Jun family! Since it concerns the Jun family, and Moxie revealed even the slightest anomaly, given the Emperor's suspicious nature, he would immediately question: Why? He would never imagine we acted to protect ourselves from his suspicion; he would only conclude one thing: Such forbearance implies vast plotting! Whether true or not..."

On one side, Old Master Jun sighed deeply and turned his head away, seemingly unwilling to listen further. In truth, everything Jun Wuyi said was something the Old Master had already considered. He hadn't mentioned it earlier, holding onto a faint hope. But now, that hope was extinguished. He was even less inclined to speak. Decades of brotherhood—and to think his old brother had plotted so meticulously against his own family... how painful!

"Given the Emperor's habitually suspicious and cautious nature, I believe he will not act immediately with overwhelming force. Therefore, next, he will gradually erode all of the Jun family's power! And I am the first target to be tested. The Xuan Beast tide in the Southern Heaven conveniently provides him with the perfect pretext... So, this time, it will be my turn." Jun Wuyi spoke calmly, a sharp, profound chill gleaming in his eyes.

Jun Moxie let out a cold laugh. "If he truly thinks that, he is gravely mistaken." He looked at his Third Uncle. "Third Uncle, if you are truly sent to lead the expedition, I will go with you. The Heaven Punishment Forest (Tianfa Senlin) is an excellent destination for me, and indeed, for our entire Jun family."

Jun Wuyi narrowed his eyes. "You're going too?" He paused, then looked at his father. "Perhaps you won't have a choice. My only concern now is... if both I and Moxie are sent South, Father, you will be alone at home?"

Jun Zhantian laughed heartily. "My son, you need not worry about that. Before our Jun family is completely overthrown, he will not rashly move against me. Otherwise, why test you first?"

Jun Wuyi slapped his head. "I didn't think that through."

Jun Moxie smiled. "Third Uncle is worried, not that he didn't think of it."

The grandfather and grandsons concluded their strategy. For now, all they could do was wait and see how events unfolded.

All three felt this situation was no great matter, especially the young master Jun, who considered an impending event he already held control over to be trivial!

"Moxie, perhaps you should consider slightly easing the training intensity for the Three Hundred Guards during this period? They are already exhausted from this constant high-intensity regimen. Haste makes waste," Jun Wuyi stated gravely.

Jun Moxie paused, falling silent. He slowly replied, "I understand Third Uncle's concerns, but their current training intensity is still far from my requirements! I will only gradually increase it; I will not relax it by even a fraction! Only those who can endure it will form the core of my strongest fighting force!"

Jun Wuyi was stunned. Such cruel training was actually going to be intensified? Any one of these men, if placed on a battlefield now, could surely become a standard killing machine, yet he claimed they were still far off?

What kind of monstrous unit was his nephew trying to forge? And could those soldiers actually withstand it?!

On the training ground, a hundred men were divided into two teams engaged in combat. Every single person was dripping with sweat. Since returning from the outer reaches of the Heaven Punishment Forest, Jun Moxie had implemented a training plan twice as strenuous as the original. They trained day and night, with Jun Moxie measuring time down to the second over twenty-four hours.

Now, each man was strapped with additional weighted sandbags on their limbs, not permitted to remove them even for eating or sleeping. Every day's combat drill was conducted as if it were a fight to the death!

If an outsider were present, they would be utterly shocked. This looked less like human combat, less like military training, and more like a pack of beasts savagely tearing at each other. Every eye gleamed with fierce intent, emanating palpable killing aura, as if the opponent were an irreconcilable, mortal enemy.

After a whole afternoon of brutal sparring, the Xuan Qi within their bodies was entirely depleted within the first quarter-hour. Now, they relied solely on instinct, applying brute physical strength to strike and endure blows from the opponent!

The vast training ground of the Jun residence offered no sign of disturbed dust! During this period of training, every inch of that earth had been repeatedly soaked with sweat and blood. Bodies were constantly thrown to the ground with heavy thuds, creating humanoid impressions in the soil—then new craters would be smashed next to them, which would then be flattened. As of now, one could only make a slight mark on that earth even with an iron hammer; the entire ground had taken on an oily sheen.

What a terrifying sight!

When Jun Moxie arrived, the fighting was clearly at its fever pitch. None of the combatants had much strength left.

A brute roared and lunged at another, delivering heavy punches and kicks. The target neither dodged nor retreated, absorbing the blows with solid bang-bang sounds, and then delivered a punch and a kick of his own. Both men staggered backward, crashing down with a loud boom. Then, they immediately struggled up to resume the fierce exchange, resembling two rhinoceroses violently colliding with each other...

The Jun family's original pond was now filled with a dark, inky liquid. Beside it, dozens of massive iron cauldrons bubbled continuously, boiling medicinal herbs. People constantly poured the brewed decoction into the pool, then added water to continue the distillation.

Nearly a hundred huge men soaked naked in the pool, eyes closed, expressions solemn. They were not bathing, but undergoing another form of training. During this period, Jun Moxie tossed enormous quantities of steeped medicinal herbs into the pool daily. The entire pool's water and herbs were replaced every three days. After their training concluded each day, these strong men would jump into the pool to soak their bodies, absorbing the medicinal properties and recovering fatigue.

The reason this was called another form of training was that the water temperature approached boiling point. If their physical bodies had not reached a certain level of resilience, there was a genuine risk of being cooked alive. Furthermore, due to the large amount of precious medicinal essence contained within, while the liquid dissolved fatigue, it also nourished and regulated the warriors' bodies, allowing them to withstand such rigorous training.

Of course, using such superior water demanded a price; even the task of replacing the water had to be completed by the soldiers themselves, and it was strictly forbidden to interrupt training time for this chore!

Jun Moxie's training methods could no longer be described merely as "cruel." Even Jun Wuyi, the famously strict commander, felt that this training regimen was borderline "inhumane"!

Jun Moxie observed discreetly from the side, scrutinizing every individual. During this time, he increased the training intensity almost daily. These brutes would discover with amazement every morning that the intensity they had adapted to yesterday was insufficient today...

Limits! Limits existed every moment!

And their current training involved surpassing those limits every second of every day! Their physical strength increased minutely, slightly, every other day. The Xuan Qi within their bodies improved, much to their pleasant surprise, every few days—though perhaps not dramatically, it was an undeniable, real improvement...

This rate of advancement was simply horrifying!

Their Xuan Qi cultivation levels and realms might not be very high—the strongest barely reaching the peak of the Gold Profound Realm, with a large portion still in the Silver Profound realm—but their physical resilience had reached an astonishing, terrifying degree in every single one of them!

Not far off, a line of fifty burly men stood motionless, legs wide in a horse stance against the wall's base, eyes closed, hands hanging slack. Beside each man stood another, gripping a thick wooden stave, teeth gritted, swinging it with ferocious force. The blows whistled sharply through the air, landing on every part of their bodies, producing a bizarre sound, like a heavy slap against cured oxhide. Yet, their expressions betrayed no real agony; at most, a slight flinch on the face, or a momentary furrowing of the brow—nothing more, no superfluous reaction whatsoever!

Their bodies remained standing, resolute and strong!

After each man had endured hundreds of strikes, they finally exhaled a collective, rough breath in unison, exiting the horse stance and twisting their necks and rotating their wrists and ankles. A violent cacophony of loud slapping sounds erupted throughout the area, akin to the sudden barrage of firecrackers, before they picked up the wooden staves. The fifty men who had been administering the beating instinctively moved to occupy the positions of those who had just been struck.

Eyes closed, horse stance, hands lowered—the muscles across their bodies immediately corded and swelled.

The whistling sound started again, only now the roles of striker and recipient were reversed.

After these two rotating groups had completed their session of hammering blows, a single command was issued, and the hundred men separated into two precise formations, marching onto the drill ground. The hundred men who had previously been fighting with desperate ferocity on the ground also stopped at another sharp order, lining up perfectly, each one panting heavily. They advanced in two neat rows toward the base of the wall, then, nb;nb;, they began either striking or being struck.

Under that single command, these hundred men launched into a terrifying, unrestrained melee without hesitation. Every punch and every kick was aimed precisely at vital points: the chest, the throat, the temples, the back of the head, the groin, the knees, and every major joint.

One could easily imagine the gruesome scene if a hundred men failed to defend themselves—how horrifying! Yet, these strongmen were all thoroughly accustomed to it. They accurately parried incoming attacks while simultaneously searching for any possible opening to strike their opponent before them. Even when struck, they made every effort to ensure the blows landed on thick, resilient flesh in non-critical areas.

Occasionally, someone caught a direct hit to the nose, and blood streamed freely. But neither their opponents nor their comrades showed any change in expression; their gazes remained cold and hard, as if the one bleeding was an enemy, not themselves or their sworn comrade!

With a sharp cry, the nearly one hundred men in the water pool rose simultaneously, quickly pulled on their clothes, and then formed ranks exiting the water. Those already on the field simultaneously ceased their fighting, stripped off their outer garments, and smoothly entered the pool.

Those who had just emerged from the water began an even more savage sparring session. This time, it was not one-on-one; it was a chaotic, targetless free-for-all between the two teams—sometimes one man against several, or several men ganging up on a single individual.

One moment, this warrior was being overwhelmed by several assailants; the next, he had plunged into the fray, joining a group overwhelming someone else. The scene was indescribably chaotic. Every so often, one could see a burly figure receive a vicious kick to the chest or the lower abdomen, sending him flying backward to crash into several others; yet, the very next instant, he would be back, brimming with savage energy, launching into another nb;nb; frenzy…

Throughout the entire process, aside from the sharp, commanding shouts, the only sounds were the coarse yells of men engaged in brutal combat. Not a single person spoke a word. Communication was achieved in entirely different ways—with fists, feet, elbows, even shoulders…

These three groups cycled through their respective training regimens in this manner, day after day. The evening training, beyond the cultivation of Xuan Qi, was even more brutal than the day sessions, for that was the discipline of weaponry!

Every man gritted his teeth, fighting with every ounce of his being, pouring his entire soul into accepting the training. Only one objective remained crystal clear in their minds: they must meet the Young Master’s standard! Because the Young Master had warned them that the assessment date was drawing ever nearer! Those who failed the evaluation would be purged and sent back to the drudgery of guarding gates, sweeping floors, and boiling water!

Having tasted the sweet reward of rapidly advancing power, having witnessed the clear hope of becoming true masters, no one was willing to regress to their former, almost decadent existence! That life was a disgrace!

This team of iron men, having endured a death trial akin to a phoenix rising from the ashes, was finally taking shape!