Martial Dao: Peace by Force

Chapter 158: Chapter 125: Secret Palace

But in Wan Ze’s hands, he was nothing more than a rag doll.

Or perhaps, a punching bag.

Wan Ze slammed him onto the ground.

Once.

Twice.

A third time.

Sun Weilong’s head slammed against the concrete floor, each impact producing a sickening thud.

After the tenth slam, he was still cursing. After the twentieth, he started begging for mercy. By the thirtieth, his eyes had lost focus. By the fiftieth...

"Sir! Sir, please!"

Sun Weilong’s mouth was full of blood and his voice was distorted. "What do you want to know?! Whatever you want to ask, I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you everything!"

Wan Ze stopped and tossed him onto the floor.

Sun Weilong lay there in a heap, gasping for air and seeing stars.

He’d been a Boxer his entire life. He’d taken his share of beatings and given plenty, but he’d never experienced anything like this... being so utterly dominated, tossed around like a tattered sack.

"What technique are you practicing?" Wan Ze asked, crouching down to look at him.

Sun Weilong swallowed a mouthful of bloody spit and answered between gasps, "The C-Corpse Ghost Fist. It’s from the lineage of the Jiangbei White Eyebrow Lion King. My master is... the Lion King."

As he spoke, he looked up, his eyes scanning Wan Ze before a sudden realization dawned on him. "Your style... it’s like Dragon Eagle. Are you one of the Hawk King’s men?"

Wan Ze didn’t answer.

But Sun Weilong seemed to latch onto this, forcing an ugly smile. "Brother, our masters are the two kings of the North and South—one Lion, one Hawk. They’re both prominent figures in our world. We’re bound to run into each other. There’s no need to take this to the death..."

"I don’t care who your master is," Wan Ze cut him off.

Sun Weilong froze.

Wan Ze watched him, his expression placid and unreadable.

’This guy isn’t falling for the usual pleasantries or attempts to claim connections. So what does he want?’

"How long have you been practicing this art?" Wan Ze asked.

"Twenty years."

"And twenty years of Corpse Ghost Fist made you... like this?"

Sun Weilong’s pupils contracted slightly.

Wan Ze noticed.

Acting as if he hadn’t, he continued, "When I was slamming you around just now, I got a feel for your bones. Your bone density is off. So is your muscle development. I’ve seen Horizontal Training before. At its peak, the practitioner’s flesh becomes like iron, but that’s not you... Your body... it’s like it’s being propped up by something from the inside."

A muscle in Sun Weilong’s jaw twitched.

"You’ve practiced something else, haven’t you?" Wan Ze’s tone was casual.

"N-no."

"You hesitated."

"..."

Wan Ze leaned forward, lowering his voice. "I’ve seen a physique like yours before. The man’s name was Jie Zhengyang. I cornered him, and he ended up just like you... His Strength increased, his recovery quickened, but his mind slowly deteriorated. Do you know what they call it?"

Sun Weilong’s Adam’s apple bobbed, but he said nothing.

"Divinity Transformation." Wan Ze stared into his eyes. "Have you heard of it?"

Sun Weilong’s breathing hitched.

It was a subtle thing, something an ordinary person would never have noticed.

But Wan Ze’s hearing was highly trained. To him, the hitch was obvious.

He smiled. "So you have heard of it."

"I don’t know what you’re talking about..." Sun Weilong said, struggling to get up.

Wan Ze placed a hand on his shoulder, forcing him back down. "You just said your master is the Jiangbei White Eyebrow Lion King. I’ve heard of the Lion King—an old-school Boxer who’s never left North of the River his whole life. But for the past few years, you’ve been fighting in underground rings in South Asia, then you came back to the Holy City to run with President Qin... Your master can’t control you, and you don’t listen to him. So who do you listen to?"

The color drained from Sun Weilong’s face. He tried to argue, "I don’t listen to anyone..."

"When you came at me just now, I sent you flying with the first punch. A normal person would have backed down. But you didn’t. You went for Tie Qingyang on your second attack. What was going through your mind then?" Wan Ze asked.

Sun Weilong opened his mouth but said nothing.

Wan Ze continued, "Did you really think you could kill him?"

"..."

"That feeling... it feels good, doesn’t it? A surge of Power, speed so fast you can’t even control it, knowing one punch is all it takes to kill... Doesn’t that feel even better than your twenty years of training?"

Sun Weilong’s eyes started darting around.

They moved too quickly, as if he was desperately searching for an excuse, an escape route, any way to talk himself out of this.

Wan Ze laughed.

The sound sent a chill down Sun Weilong’s spine.

"Your eyes drift to the right when you lie," Wan Ze said with a smile. "You’ve said six things to me so far. Five of them were lies. As for the last one... ’I don’t know what you’re talking about’... that was the biggest lie of all."

The muscles in Sun Weilong’s face began to twitch uncontrollably.

"Who the hell are you?"

His voice had changed, losing all its earlier attempts at familiarity.

"I ask, you answer." Wan Ze removed his hand from Sun Weilong’s shoulder and stood up. "Lie to me again, and I’ll break every bone in your body. If you’re still alive when I’m done, I’ll just keep asking."

Sun Weilong lay sprawled on the ground, gasping for breath.

He stared up at Wan Ze. The man just stood there, his eyes seeming to pierce through every disguise, every lie, and every secret buried in the deepest corner of his heart.

Three seconds passed.

Five.

Ten.

In the silence, Sun Weilong’s mental defenses crumbled.

He knew that if he kept lying, he was going to die.

"I’ll talk... I’ll tell you everything."

Wan Ze said nothing, simply waiting.

"A year ago... I joined an organization." Sun Weilong looked up, an unreadable expression in his eyes. "They call themselves the Secret Palace."

Wan Ze’s brow twitched. "How did you join?"

"They found me," Sun Weilong said with a bitter smile. "I was fighting in the underground circuit in South Asia back then. I pissed someone off and had a price on my head. They saved me. Gave me a way out."

"What kind of way out?"

"Divinity Transformation."

When Sun Weilong uttered those two words, his voice was low, as if speaking of something forbidden.

"They have this drug. Once you take it, your body changes. Your Strength increases, you recover faster, and your wounds heal in no time. I was a Boxer for twenty years and got stuck at the Blood Tempering Third Transformation, I just couldn’t break through. But after I took that drug... within half a year, I could hold my own against someone at the Refining Viscera Early Stage."

Wan Ze stared at him. "And the price?"

Sun Weilong was silent for a moment before speaking slowly. "You need an injection every six months. If you don’t get it, the Power fades. It drops to a level even lower than before you started. And... the more you take, the more you depend on it, the less control you have. Sometimes, right after a shot, I feel like I’m going crazy. I want to kill people, to smash things. They said that’s a normal side effect—a rejection response during the Divinity Transformation process."

"Do you know what’s in it?"

"No," Sun Weilong said, shaking his head. "Only Core members know the formula. I’m just an outsider who runs errands for them. They give me the drug, and I do their dirty work."

"What kind of dirty work?"

"Assassinations. Turf wars. Sometimes deliveries." Sun Weilong paused, then looked up. "Also... they just pulled off something big recently. I only heard rumors, so I don’t know the details. It sounds like they hijacked a shipment, a really important one. All the strongholds here in the Holy City are celebrating, saying everyone’s going to get a cut of some very good stuff."

Wan Ze raised an eyebrow. "The Secret Palace has a stronghold in the Holy City?"

Sun Weilong hesitated.

Wan Ze crouched down again.

Sun Weilong spoke at once. "Yes! It’s in the suburbs, at an abandoned chemical plant... There aren’t usually many people there, but a lot have gathered recently because of that shipment. I know how to get in. I know the password."

He looked at Wan Ze, a flicker of hope igniting in his eyes.

"Brother, spare my life and I’ll take you there. The Secret Palace has some really good stuff right now, I’m serious, they hit the jackpot. If you let me live, we can work together—no, you’ll be the boss, and I’ll be your lackey. The resources the Secret Palace has... you can’t even imagine..."

Wan Ze listened to his rambling, his face devoid of expression.

After Sun Weilong finished revealing the Secret Palace’s hidden location and handed over a small booklet detailing the cultivation secrets of the Corpse Ghost Fist, Wan Ze nodded.

"I see."

A look of delight spread across Sun Weilong’s face. "So, are we—"

Before he could finish, Wan Ze’s hand was already on his head.

Sun Weilong’s pupils contracted violently. Before he could react, an immense force twisted down.

"CRACK!"

His head was twisted a full one hundred and eighty degrees.

The sound of his neck breaking was faint, like a dry twig snapping.

Sun Weilong’s body twitched twice before slumping to the ground... Even in death, his face held a final, fleeting expression of a desperate desire to live.

Wan Ze stood up, lost in thought.

’The suburbs... an abandoned chemical plant... the Secret Palace...’

He glanced at the corpse on the ground, then turned and walked toward the door.

He took two steps, then stopped and looked back at Sun Weilong’s twisted body.

’Divinity Transformation... one shot every six months.’

’It seems the Secret Palace’s secrets run far deeper than I imagined.’

’But...’

’The Secret Palace has always been the one on the offensive. Now, it’s my turn to strike.’

After a moment’s thought, Wan Ze pulled out his phone and decisively made a call for backup.

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