This martial saint's health bar is too thick

Chapter 235: No longer the same person this month (big chapter)

In the sky, the black sun was cut open and black rain fell.

Soon, this illusion created by the power of mind was shattered.

Li Fei put away the 'Red Voice Fire Vajra'.

He found signs of burning on the ground, and the collapsed Xingtai and the stands were burned into ruins by the flames!
The several bodies on the ground, including Yan Shijin who had died not long ago, were also burnt.

The flaming world just now was indeed an illusion created by Hao Yi's mental power, but after the mental power was manifested and merged with the warrior's blood, qi and strength to form the "Tao Power", even if it was an illusion, it was true in illusion and real in illusion.

The warriors at the scene who were not protected by the barrier cast by the three great wizards, and who were below the Dao Foundation Stage, lost a large amount of water in their bodies, and their meridians felt like they were burning in flames. Their meridians were damaged, and their internal organs were burning!

As for the group of Daoji period strong men, except Guan Haoxuan who had already cultivated Dao power, the others were all injured to varying degrees.

Li Fei didn't care about what others were doing at this time. He looked up at the sky, wanting to know whether Xu Jing was dead or not.

Several hundred meters in the sky, a large mass of black water was surging.

After a while, the black water receded, revealing Xu Jing inside.

I saw that almost half of his body was chopped off!

Starting from the left eye, half of the face and left ear were gone.

The left shoulder moves down and the entire left arm disappears!

The left side of the body seemed to have been wiped off, and nearly half of the flesh and blood was missing from the left leg, and all the wounds were covered with black water.

The body of a martial arts master can already be called a [Dao body], and his vitality is much stronger than that of a Dao base period strong man, so such an injury did not directly take Xu Jing's life.

But it also left his [Tao body] incomplete and his foundation damaged, making it difficult for him to recover to his peak in the future!

Xu Jing stared at Hao Yi below, and used all his strength to activate the Black Water Magical Ability. An endless stream of vitality gushed out from the black water, quickly repairing his [Tao body].

His Taoist foundation [Frost Cloud Sky] is an all-round Taoist foundation, and also possesses extraordinary abilities of healing.

After obtaining the Black Water Divine Power, he integrated the extraordinary ability of healing into this magical power. He could use this magical power to devour the vitality of others, and then return it when needed to heal himself.

When Xu Jing killed the 'King of Swords' Gu Xianfeng, he not only devoured the opponent's magical powers, but also devoured the opponent's powerful vitality.

After a martial arts master achieves the [Dao Body], his vitality will be completely locked up, so that his body will no longer age. Until the day his lifespan ends, his body functions will still be at their peak.

Gu Xianfeng was only in his fifties when he died, and he still had hundreds of years left to live, so the vitality that Xu Jing devoured was extremely enormous.

Originally, he planned to use this power as a 'ladder' to break through to the Grandmaster level.

As long as he gets rid of Hao Yi today and unties the knot in his heart, he will be able to break through in one fell swoop!
But now he has used up this vitality in advance to repair his body.

Martial arts masters are not easy to come by. Xu Jing wants to catch another master to devour, but he doesn’t know when he will have the chance.

His only remaining right eye looked at Hao Yi below with resentment.

I don’t understand why Hao Yi is not dead yet?

Just now, Hao Yi attacked him with all his strength and reduced his internal defenses to the minimum, and was clearly dealt a fatal blow by his water-controlling ability!
But at this time, Hao Yi did not look injured at all.

He raised the knife in his hand, as if he was going to give Xu Jing another stab!

Xu Jing's eyes changed, and finally he looked at Hao Yi angrily, then turned and flew away.

If he hadn't met Li Fei today, he would definitely stay and try again.

But Li Fei had been hit by his water control ability several times in a row, but nothing happened!
The same is true for Hao Yi now.

This made Xu Jing start to doubt himself: Was there a loophole in his water control ability? Had someone found a way to crack it?
You can't blame him for not being confident enough, it's just that Li Fei is too unreasonable
Moreover, the damage inflicted by Hao Yi using the method of refining life was far beyond Xu Jing's imagination. He was not sure how much life Hao Yi had left to waste.

If he were to use the same move twice more, he wouldn't be able to withstand it.

So in the end Xu Jing chose to withdraw.

With the ability to fly, he can go wherever he wants and no one can stop him.

Seeing Xu Jingfei leave, the remaining people in Rongguang Square suddenly felt embarrassed.

They all looked at Hao Yi with fear, fearing that this new martial arts master would start a massacre!
Xu Jing couldn't stop him, let alone the others.

At this moment, the ground suddenly shook.

Bian Jingru, who was protected by the barrier of three great wizards, suddenly showed joy.

When the incident happened, he immediately sent people to find the imperial army.

Now, two hundred imperial soldiers obeyed his orders and finally arrived at the scene!
One hundred Imperial Camp soldiers formed into a military formation could already pose a threat to the martial arts master. Two hundred Imperial Camp cavalrymen riding exotic beasts, even if they could not kill Hao Yi, at least they could fight.

Hao Yi glanced at the imperial cavalry charging towards this side in the distance, took a step, and instantly came to the side of Li Fei and Shangguan Xiao, then dragged the two of them with a strong force and rushed out of the square.

There were a number of Dao Foundation Stage experts on the square, including two Wuda professors, Wen Ke and Guan Haoxuan.

No one dared to stop him.

Hao Yi was speeding on the street with Li Fei and Shangguan Xiao.

It was real flying. The three people's feet did not even touch the ground. They were flying very fast at a height of about three meters above the ground.

Hao Yi doesn't have the ability to fly, but he can use the suction force of his [magnetic angle] on metal to make himself move at high speed.

You just need to lock onto a metal object in the distance, pull it towards you, and use the force to move towards that side.

Objects on the streets, such as cars, lamp poles, metal brackets of billboards, etc., are all objects that Hao Yi can use as leverage.

He took Li Fei and Shangguan Xiao and quickly passed through the streets, and soon arrived at the edge of Datong District.

In the middle of the street, Master Yunshen was still blocking the convoy.

At this time, Li Tianyu, disguised as "Li Fei", had already got off the car and was surrounded by several Wuanwei.

Master Yunshen sensed the movement behind him and turned to look.

Seeing that Hao Yi successfully rescued Shangguan Xiao, he couldn't help but look happy.

brush--

Hao Yi brought Li Fei and Shangguan Xiao to Master Yunshen's side.

"Amitabha, is everything okay?"

Master Yunshen asked with concern.

Hao Yi smiled and shook his head, and said to Master Yun Shen: "I'm afraid you won't have peace from now on."

Master Yunshen smiled slightly and put his hands together: "As long as your heart is at peace, everywhere is a pure land."

"As a monk, you have to speak in a very different way."

Hao Yi shook his head, then looked at Li Fei, who was pretending to be Li Tianyu, with deep meaning in his eyes.

He suddenly waved his hand, and the Ghost Slashing Sword in Li Tianyu's hand was instantly unsheathed and flew into his hand in an instant.

Before Li Tianyu could react, Hao Yi had already taken Li Fei and Shangguan Xiao and flew away.

Looking at this scene, Master Yunshen was thoughtful and suddenly had a bad feeling.

He looked at Hao Yi's receding back and silently chanted sutras and prayed for his good friend in his heart.

More than thirty minutes later, Hao Yi took Li Fei and Shangguan Xiao out of Datong City and came to the suburbs.

There wasn't that much metal in the suburbs, so Hao Yi put the two of them down, and he took Shangguan Xiao with him, with Li Fei following behind him, and continued on his journey.

After more than 30 minutes, Hao Yi stopped:
"almost."

Li Fei also stopped after hearing this.

He was thinking of an excuse to get away all the way, and he planned to leave after making sure that Hao Yi and Shangguan Xiao were safe.

"Xiao Fei."

Just as Li Fei was about to speak, Hao Yi suddenly looked at him and shouted.

Li Fei was stunned and froze in place.

"I never thought that you were actually the Green-Faced Ghost."

Hao Yi's eyes were complicated.

"teacher"

Seeing that he had been exposed, Li Fei stopped disguising himself, restored his original form, and removed the layers of human skin mask on his face.

"Brother, don't blame Xiaofei. He actually confessed to me a long time ago. I asked him to keep it a secret from you."

Shangguan Xiao spoke from the side.

Along the way, Hao Yi had broken the talismans and spells on her body, and removed the means in her body that restricted her strength and movements, allowing her to recover.

Hao Yi smiled when he heard this: "I don't mean to blame him."

Then he looked at Li Fei and said, "Each generation has its own choices. You don't have to follow my old path. I am already a person who has been corrupted by the old times. The future belongs to you."

"teacher"

Li Fei heard the ominous meaning in Hao Yi's words.

"Brother, are you injured? Is it serious?"

Shangguan Xiao also asked hurriedly.

"I'm running out of time."

Hao Yi said calmly.

"what?!"

Shangguan Xiao stepped forward, grabbed Hao Yi's arm, and asked with red eyes:

"Were you seriously injured by Xu Jing just now? Then you should heal your wounds quickly! Or we can go find Yun Shen, he might have a solution!"

Hao Yi waved his hand and said softly:
“Listen to me”

He then told them about his actions when he broke through the realm that year and the method he used to break through the realm today.

".I only have a few years left to live. In the battle with Xu Jing just now, I used my magical power to refine my remaining lifespan, and it has almost been exhausted."

"impossible!"

Shangguan Xiao shouted excitedly, "Breakthrough to the Martial Arts Master and achieve the [Dao Body], and your life span will increase by 60 years immediately. There is no way you have used up all 60 years of your life span just now, right?"

When a warrior is in the Dao Foundation Stage, each additional implant he receives can extend his lifespan by about 10 years.

Breaking through to the master level and cultivating the [Dao Body] can immediately increase one's lifespan by 60 years. This is the gift from this world to the martial arts masters.

Hao Yi smiled bitterly:

"The reason why I dared to spend 40 years of my life to preserve the strength for the breakthrough was not only because I knew it would be difficult to return to the peak, but also because I thought that as long as I could successfully break through, I could at least get another 60 years to do what I want to do."

"Unfortunately, man proposes, God disposes"

Everyone has only one chance in their lifetime to build the foundation of martial arts, because when building the foundation, the five elements of implantation are needed to completely release one's root power, and this power is one-time, and once missed, it will never come back.

At the beginning, Hao Yi used his magical power of refining objects to consume his own lifespan and forcibly retain this power.

But he could retain his strength, but he couldn't retain time.

If he had been able to successfully absorb this power into his body and build a foundation for the Tao, he would have been able to immediately increase his lifespan by 60 years.

But the laws of heaven and earth had already given him a gift, but he failed to accept it.

As he sealed this power in the sword, the power itself did not lose any power, but the life span contained in it was constantly lost over time.

Hao Yi had a life span of 60 years, but he waited 37 years before going to get it again. So the remaining time was not 23 years, but nothing at all!
This life span can only flow normally in a person's body. If it is placed on a sword, it will naturally flow away very quickly.

Therefore, even if Hao Yi successfully broke through to the realm of martial arts master today, he did not gain any lifespan extension.

He used up the three years of life returned by the sword. Theoretically, he had three years left, but in reality, a little more.

But all these lifespans were consumed by that last blow.

Otherwise, he would not be able to defeat Xu Jing, who possessed three magical powers and was only one step away from becoming a master.

"At that time, Xu Jing had been using the water control magic to attack me. If I were to attack with all my strength, I would definitely be killed by the water control magic first."

Hao Yi explained to the two, "So I used the last bit of my life to exchange for life energy."

To put it simply, it is to refine lifespan into a 'blood bar'. At that time, Hao Yi was like Li Fei, with a very thick 'blood bar', so he was not killed by Xu Jing's water control ability.

But after this operation, it was just as Hao Yi said.

His time is running out.

He kept his hope of breaking through for 40 years and finally succeeded.

But time played a cruel joke on him.

After listening to his story, Li Fei and Shangguan Xiao both fell into great sorrow.

"Actually, you should be happy for me." (Note 1)

Hao Yi said with a smile.

"I only have a few years left to live. Rather than wasting my time in Xingcheng and eventually dying of old age in a hospital bed, I might as well give it a try and die a glorious death!"

"Now I have successfully broken through the realm, and in the last battle of my life I defeated a martial arts master who was only one step away from becoming a grandmaster. Most importantly, I saved you."

Hao Yi took Shangguan Xiao's hand and said with a smile.

This was the first time he had taken the initiative to do so.

If it were under normal circumstances, Shangguan Xiao would feel a little embarrassed.

But now, all she had left in her heart was sadness and reluctance.

"Brother, it's all my fault."

"Don't say that. Even without you, they would have forced me to enter Datong City in other ways. Besides, I want to come back myself."

Hao Yi shook his head.

Then he picked up the Ghost Slasher that he had taken from Li Tianyu, and at the same time, his sword also floated up.

"I wanted to leave my knife to you."

He said to Li Fei, "But this knife carries my past and my Tao. You should have your own Tao, so I decided to leave it to you in a different way."

His sword is a level six exotic weapon.

The third-grade exotic beasts are of the middle grade, and the highest is the sixth grade.

A sixth-grade superior exotic beast possesses combat power equivalent to that of a peak Dao Foundation Stage.

Above that are the top three grades of exotic beasts. Beasts of this grade are extremely rare, and ordinary warriors may never see one in their lifetime.

Moreover, it is almost impossible to raise the third-grade beasts, they are either in the mountains and swamps, deep seas, or on ice fields. It is very difficult to find them, and the weakest seventh-grade beasts have the fighting power of martial arts masters.

Therefore, the sixth-level exotic weapon is almost the best weapon available on the market!
Going further up, each one is a peerless divine weapon!
Hao Yi did not intend to give his level 6 strange weapon directly to Li Fei.

Without him making any movement, the sword floating in the air was suddenly enveloped by a ball of flames.

Then, this level six alien weapon began to melt at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Li Fei could sense a great power from this seemingly insignificant flame, which contained everything and was full of infinite changes!
“Is this the power of divine ability?”

Li Fei seemed to be thinking about something.

Soon, under the control of the magical power of refining objects, Hao Yi's sword was refined into a ball of red-hot molten iron.

Hao Yi slowly merged the molten iron into Li Fei's Ghost Slashing Sword.

The process was very quick and was completed in just a dozen seconds.

Anyone who possesses the ability to refine objects is the greatest blacksmith in the world!

After the fusion was completed, Li Fei's Ghost Slashing Sword did not seem to have changed much, except that there was an additional symbol that looked like a flame on the blade.

"Take it."

Hao Yi handed the refined Ghost Slayer Sword to Li Fei.

Li Fei took the knife with both hands.

"The original transformation function of the sword is still there. The amplification of the fire attribute innate Qi and strength has become about twice as strong, and the amplification of the gold attribute innate Qi and strength has also been greatly enhanced.

In addition, I have refined all the insights of my last Heavenly Sword. You can always feel the essence of my last sword, and you can also inject your own mind power, blood essence and fire attribute power into the mark on the sword. If you don't have fire attribute power, you can also use fire attribute treasures instead.

As long as there is enough power stored in this mark, it can be transformed into Dao power and reproduce my Heaven and Earth Sword. "

Hao Yi explained to Li Fei.

He completely refined his level 6 weapon, giving the Ghost Slashing Blade two more functions:
First, it allows Li Fei to always feel his sword of heaven and earth.

Second, it gave Li Fei the ability to reproduce this move.

"Thank you teacher!"

Li Fei suppressed his sadness and bowed deeply to Hao Yi.

The time left for Hao Yi has entered the countdown, and every second from now on is very precious.

But at the end of his life, the first thing he thought of was to do something more for his students.

Hao Yi smiled and nodded, then turned around and took Shangguan Xiao's hand again:
"For the rest of the time, I want to be alone with your master."

More than thirty years ago, on the night when he failed to break through, when he made that decision, he did not consider leaving time for Shangguan Xiao.

Now, he just wants to spend the last moments of his life with Shangguan Xiao.

"Yes."

Li Fei had no way of refusing.

Even though he really wanted to stay with Hao Yi for a while longer and chat more, he willingly gave his time to Shangguan Xiao.

So Hao Yi took Shangguan Xiao's hand and turned to walk towards the hillside ahead.

Li Fei kept staring at Hao Yi's back.

He knew that this would probably be the last time he would see his teacher in this life.

Seeing that Hao Yi was about to walk up the hill and disappear from sight, Li Fei's eyes became hot, and he knelt down on his knees in the direction of Hao Yi and shouted loudly:
"Master!"

"Disciple Li Fei, farewell to Master!!!"

Li Fei knocked his head heavily to the ground, performing the first master-disciple ceremony in his life.

Also the last one.

Hao Yi's body trembled and he slowly turned around.

Looking at the young man kneeling in the distance to salute him, he smiled with relief.

He and Li Fei have always been in a teacher-student relationship, but in fact, what he has done for Li Fei has long gone beyond the scope of a teacher.

Lord of Heaven and Earth, personal teacher.

Master, you are like a teacher and a father!
When Hao Yi asked someone to hand over all the inheritance of Tiangang Sect to Li Fei, he had already tacitly accepted in his heart that Li Fei was his disciple and the successor of his sect.

But he didn't mention this matter specifically because he didn't want Li Fei to bear the burden of the past.

He hoped that Li Fei could follow his own path without any restraints.

But when Hao Yi heard Li Fei calling him "Master", he was still very relieved and happy.

He wanted to say something, but in the end he just nodded to Li Fei, then took Shangguan Xiao's hand and turned away.

Until the two people's backs disappeared, Li Fei was still kneeling on the ground and did not get up for a long time.

"I still remember the first time I saw you, you looked like a carrot, thin and small."

In the mountains and fields, Hao Yi held Shangguan Xiao's hand and walked slowly.

In the past, when he and Shangguan Xiao were together, Shangguan Xiao was the one who took the initiative to find topics.

Today it's the other way around.

"At that time, my master told me that from now on, you are my junior sister. I thought to myself at that time that I must protect you."

Hao Yi said with a smile.

Shangguan Xiao turned to look at him, tears streaming down her face: "Then why didn't you ever tell me?"

"I was young at that time, sorry."

"I didn't listen to you even when I was growing up."

"As you grow older and become more beautiful, I become less and less willing to say it."

"Humph, you've never praised me for my beauty!"

"Sorry."

"I don't want to hear an apology, I want to hear you praise me more."

"it is good."

"."

The mountain breeze blew gently across the earth, making the leaves rustle.

The afternoon sun shines down, warm and itchy.

Hao Yi held Shangguan Xiao's hand and strolled in the mountains, smelling the faint fragrance of wild flowers.

Love words that have never been said in my life.

At this moment, just tell her.

In Datong City, after Hao Yi left and two hundred imperial camp soldiers arrived at Glory Square, Bian Jingru possessed the strongest power in the entire venue.

He did not order the Imperial Camp Army to pursue Hao Yi and others, but only ordered them to collect the bodies at the scene first.

Except for Shangguan Xiao who was rescued, the other people who were supposed to be executed today have all died in Hao Yi's flaming world.

In addition, a Dao Foundation Stage expert and more than a dozen guards also died.

The deaths of these people are nothing. What is really troublesome is the death of Yan Shijin.

Less than three months after Zhang Zongyang's death, another official in Datong Prefecture died!
And this time, the people who died were the leader of the investigation team from the provincial capital and a deputy inspector general of the Supervision Department.

If this matter gets out of hand, it might even alarm the cabinet!
However, Bian Jingru remained calm and just asked people to keep Yan Shijin's body.

"Master Bian!"

At this point, an official from the investigation team finally couldn't help but burst out.

He shouted sharply:
"Your Datong Prefecture even allowed prisoners on the execution ground to be openly kidnapped, and even caused the death of Lord Yan. Shouldn't you give us an explanation?!"

"Explain?"

Bian Jingru's face also darkened. He turned to look at the official with a cold look in his eyes and said word by word:

"You are the ones who should give the explanation, right?"

The other party was startled when he heard this: "Master Bian, what do you mean by this?"

"What's going on with Xu Jing? Do you think I don't understand?!"

Bian Jingru said sternly.

Although he is not a warrior, he has a certain understanding of martial arts.

Xu Jing used the Cloud-flying Divine Power that originally belonged to Gu Xianfeng many times today. Even if Bian Jingru didn't know about the Black Water Divine Power, he could guess the trick behind it.

He could almost conclude that all of this was a joint plan by Xu Jing and the provincial capital, and even Zhang Zongyang's death was designed by the other party!

"Mr. Bian"

"I'm telling you!"

Bian Jingru interrupted him without any hesitation, "After today, I will report to the court and make a report. I want you to give me an explanation in Datong Prefecture!"

In official circles, reporting to a higher level is a taboo.

Normally, if something happens on the border, it should be reported to the provincial capital first, rather than directly reporting to the cabinet center bypassing the provincial capital.

However, Datong Prefecture has a special status and there is a Wuda University there, so as the garrison commander, Bian Jingru has the ability to "reach directly to the ears of the emperor"!

He now directly said in front of a group of officials from the provincial capital investigation team that he would "report to the court", which means he is planning to completely break off relations!
Hearing what he said, all the officials in the investigation team lost their temper and dared not say another word.

Their greatest reliance is their own status. Now that Bian Jingru has made it clear that he will no longer give face to the provincial capital, their status means nothing to Bian Jingru!

This is Datong Prefecture, it’s someone else’s territory.

What if Bian Jingru is angered and he orders the Imperial Camp Army to kill all the officials of the investigation team, and then reports that they died in today's battle? What should we do then?
Seeing that the other party was silent, Bian Jingru snorted coldly and walked away.

He still has a lot to deal with.

Today's event is just the beginning, not the end!
Time passed little by little, and a bright moon hung high in the sky.

Hao Yi had been walking with Shangguan Xiao for several hours, chatting from day to night.

At a certain moment, Hao Yi suddenly stopped.

Shangguan Xiao's expression changed and her whole body tensed up.

Hao Yi looked up at the moon above his head.

He had read a statement in a miscellaneous book before, which said that the moon in the sky was very far away from people, so the light of the moon might take many years to complete this journey from the moon and shine on people.

What a strange statement.

But at this moment, when the moonlight shone on Hao Yi, he seemed to really feel the past time from it.

Many years ago, he might have looked up at the moon in the sky one night and saw a ray of light.

He was determined to change the world.

Time flies like water, and decades pass by in a flash.

The light he had seen in the sky many years ago finally completed its long journey and landed on him.
Li Fei, who had been kneeling there and waiting quietly, suddenly sensed a strong wave coming from the distant mountains and forests.

This fluctuation was the same as what he had felt from Hao Yi before.

This is the power of the magical power of refining things!

"Why did the teacher use his magical power of refining things again? Did he encounter an enemy?"

Li Fei suddenly stood up from the ground, holding the newly refined Ghost Slashing Sword in his hand, and rushed towards the direction where the wave came from.

After a while, he found the place and saw Shangguan Xiao sitting on the ground with her back against a huge rock from a distance, while Hao Yi was not next to her.

Li Fei's heart tightened, and he rushed over quickly:

"Master? What happened? Where is Master?"

When he came closer, his heartbeat began to speed up.

Because Shangguan Xiao had her eyes closed, a peaceful smile appeared on her face.

Li Fei didn't feel any breath from her.

"Master."

Li Fei shouted in a trembling voice.

He walked step by step to Shangguan Xiao and knelt down suddenly.

Shangguan Xiao held a fiery red bead in her hand, and there were words engraved on the rock behind her.

Li Fei looked up:

“Xiao Fei, I promised your master that I would accompany him wherever he went, so I went with him.

The bead in my hand is the last thing your master left for you. It is the seed of supernatural power that he condensed by using his supernatural power of refining objects to refine his foundation of Taoism [Core of Steel] at the last moment of his life.

In the future, if you master the [Hunyuan Tianjin], this magical seed will be very compatible with your Tao foundation. If you take it at that time, there is a certain chance that you can inherit your master's magical power.

Xiaofei, your master mentioned you for the last time. He wanted me to tell you not to lose yourself in hatred and to walk your own path.

Finally, find a place where you won’t be disturbed and bury me and your master together.”

Many years ago, the little girl was taken away from Datong Prefecture by her father and met Hao Yi. After that, she followed Hao Yi back to Datong Prefecture to become famous, and then she resolutely broke with her family, followed Hao Yi everywhere, and finally went to Xingcheng together.

Now, she followed him to a distant place again.
After reading the words left on the rock, Li Fei burst into tears.

Then he started to cry uncontrollably.

This was the first time he cried out loud since he came into this world.

The moonlight shone quietly on him.

This month is no longer the same person.

From now on, he has to walk his own path.

Asking for monthly ticket

Note 1: When the character Hao Yi was first designed, he only had a few years left to live, so I think the best arrangement for him is to successfully break through and die after a spectacular battle.

People like him shouldn't die of old age in their beds, watching the world getting worse and worse without being able to change anything.

Finally, this volume will end with one last climax~
(End of this chapter)