Tracking

Hearing this, Su Ti asked instinctively.

"Professor Xu, you already knew?"

"Hmph, she still wanted to hide it from me. How could something like this possibly be hidden? She secretly took that bracelet out, and when I found out later, I knew something was bound to happen! These things are too sinister. They contain mysterious powers we still cannot understand. When collecting these Cursed Antiques, one must be extremely cautious."

Xu Shouyang snorted, then said to Su Ti,

"Su Ti, I still have to thank you. You are my daughter's benefactor. You helped her avert a disaster."

"She is my only daughter, the apple of my eye. Nothing can happen to her."

"The moment she graduated from university, I pulled some strings to arrange for her to work by my side as a counselor at Mingguang University. I was worried that if she left me, something might happen to her."

"To repay your kindness, take anything you like from here. Consider it a gift from me. Don't stand on ceremony. Professor Xu may not have much else, but I have plenty of antiques."

Xu Shouyang waved a hand, utterly unconcerned.

Su Ti estimated that the most expensive antiques in Xu Shouyang's collection were worth over a million.

Letting him take whatever he wanted meant giving away items worth millions just like that, all to repay a favor. It showed what kind of man he was.

But Su Ti was a man of principles too.

"Professor Xu, what are you saying? Xu Jun is my friend. Friends support each other—that's only natural. How could I take your things?"

"Cough, cough, cough!"

Hearing that, Xu Shouyang immediately choked again. After coughing heavily several times, he waved his hands repeatedly.

"All right, all right. Don't say any more about your relationship with Xiao Jun. I already know. I understand very clearly."

Su Ti nodded slightly. It was good that he understood.

"However, Professor Xu, I'm very interested in these Cursed Antiques. Do you have any channels to acquire more?"

Xu Shouyang froze, somewhat puzzled.

"Are you dissatisfied with those few pieces? If you want them, I can give them to you. You just need to store them carefully and never maintain prolonged physical contact with them."

Su Ti silently thought, What would be the point of giving them to me? The energy is already gone.

"No need, Professor Xu. I'm really just curious and want to see more of them."

"That is quite an unusual hobby. But Cursed Antiques are already a very niche type of collection. I only acquired these three by chance. If I obtain any new ones in the future, I'll invite you over to see them first thing."

"Then thank you, Professor Xu."

"Ah, don't call me Professor anymore. We're already so familiar with each other. From now on, call me Uncle Xu. If you have any questions about your studies, come ask me anytime. If your family runs into difficulties, you can tell me too. Even if nothing is wrong, you can come here and visit often."

Xu Shouyang was an exceptionally upright man. Although Su Ti had refused his gift, it only made Xu Shouyang think more highly of him, and his tone became increasingly warm.

"Then thank you, Uncle Xu."

After that, Su Ti finished dinner at Xu Shouyang's home. They chatted for a long while about the history of Xiya and Cursed Antiques before he finally left.

For some reason, though, Xu Jun looked at him with a trace of resentment when he left.

As Su Ti walked home, he thought about how Xu Jun had kept putting food on his plate during dinner. He had eaten until he was stuffed, so the walk was perfect for helping him digest.

"Cursed Antiques."

Su Ti pondered those words. Although he now knew that Cursed Antiques were the source of energy, he had yet to find a way to obtain them.

Xu Shouyang had said that he would invite him to see any new Cursed Antiques he acquired, but Su Ti felt he still needed his own channels. After all, even a major collector like Xu Shouyang had only gathered three Cursed Antiques over so many years.

"The dark web might be a route. It can even get its hands on Ancient Martial Arts. Cursed Antiques may be obscure, but there must be people collecting them."

"Still... Cursed Antiques on the dark web probably won't be cheap."

Though they were ominous objects, the more mysterious power such strange items possessed, the more they attracted wealthy people with unusual tastes.

If Su Ti wanted to purchase Cursed Antiques on the dark web, he would undoubtedly need a large sum of money. Although he still had the fifty thousand his uncle had given him, it probably would not even be enough to buy one.

But his most urgent concern was not collecting Cursed Antiques. It was finding someone powerful enough to shield him from the trouble of the Death Fighting Competition.

Su Ti had not gone to Dragon Gate Martial Hall for two days. Now that he had enough energy and had mastered the Dragon Shape Five Forms, it was time to pay the martial hall another visit.

Mastering the Dragon Shape Five Forms in one week—such talent should be enough for the master of Dragon Gate Martial Hall to accept him as a disciple.

That way, not only would he have someone to protect him, but he could also learn more advanced Ancient Martial Arts.

Just as he was thinking that, Su Ti's eyes shifted. A cold look crossed his face. Someone was following him.

If it had been before, he definitely would not have noticed. But now, his physical abilities had improved across the board, with both Strength and Agility at 1 point.

Strength could be understood as muscular power and explosive force, while Agility encompassed flexibility, reflexes, and the senses.

One point of Agility gave Su Ti senses roughly twice as sharp as an ordinary person's. He easily noticed the gaze that had been watching him from behind.

At a time like this, who else would be following him? The answer was obvious.

People sent by Li Mingyuan, the organizer of Mingguang City's underground black boxing matches!

Before mastering the Dragon Shape Five Forms, Su Ti might have been afraid. But now, he merely sneered, turned on his heel, and headed toward a secluded park nearby.

Red Leaf Park was located in the old district where Su Ti lived. It had fallen into disrepair long ago and was now abandoned.

There were no surveillance cameras anywhere near the park, and even streetlights were scarce. At night, it became pitch-black. Ferocious stray dogs also wandered through the area, so few people came here after dark, and most deliberately avoided it.

Two men in black casual clothes and masks arrived there. Apart from an abandoned sandbox, swings, and a broken slide, they saw nothing.

"We were clearly following him here. Where did that brat go?"

The taller man in black frowned, while the shorter one began to grow uneasy.

There was nothing around for miles. The silent park looked like something out of a horror movie, and the fact that their target had killed the professional fighter Black Bear made him feel even less confident.

"Could he have noticed us? Maybe we should forget it. He's an expert who killed Black Bear. The two of us don't even know martial arts. Why did Li Shao send us to capture him?"

The shorter man's words were filled with resentment. Though he was also a burly man with a strong build and well-developed chest muscles, he did not think he could defeat a professional underground fighter.

No matter how strong an ordinary person was, there was still a gap between them and a professional underground fighter capable of killing with a punch.

Moreover, he had been below the ring when Black Bear was beaten to death that day. The screams of the man's shattered limbs were still vivid in his mind.

That was why he was somewhat terrified of capturing the vicious man who had killed Black Bear.

"What are you afraid of? That kid is only a jiu-jitsu expert. His physical condition is worse than ours."

The taller man snorted disdainfully, then sneered.

"Don't forget, there are two of us now. His jiu-jitsu can only handle one person. Besides, we have stun guns tucked at our waists this time. Forget a D-Class Fighter—even if a C-Class or B-Class Fighter came, one shot from us would put him down."

Once the taller man said that, the shorter man felt much more at ease.

That was right. This was no longer ancient times, when martial arts and fists ruled. No matter how skilled you were, a single shot could take you down.

The two men drew the stun guns from their waists, switched on their flashlights, and began searching the park carefully with their backs pressed together.

The park was small, and they soon reached its end.

The sound of rushing water came from ahead. At the end of the park was a river.

They shone their flashlights toward the riverbank and discovered a coat and a pair of shoes lying there.

Their expressions changed. They hurried over and shone their lights into the water, but all they saw was endlessly flowing, murky yellow water. There was no one there.

"Damn it! That brat got away!"

"That little bastard must have spotted us and jumped into the river to swim away!"

Just as they cursed his slippery escape,

A rustling sound came from the woods beside them. The taller man reacted first. His face changed, and he spun around to fire.

But before he could turn fully around, something sliced through the air. With a crack, blood burst from the taller man's head.

Only then did the shorter man turn around, just in time to see it.

A sharp stone flew through the air. The taller man's temple caved in deeply, his eyes bulged, his face twisted grotesquely, and blood sprayed everywhere.

The shorter man's mouth fell open. The horrifying scene at such close range stunned him for an instant. That instant slowed his movement to turn and fire. The next second—

Su Ti flung a handful of sand from the park's sandbox. The Integrated Strength coursing through his body gave the sand tremendous kinetic force, blasting it straight into the shorter man's face.

Street fighting—sand toss!

The shorter man screamed as pain and darkness overwhelmed his eyes. His hand fired instinctively, and two electrode darts shot out, embedding themselves in the ground seven or eight meters away.

Su Ti stood at a fifty-degree angle from the darts, silently watching the shorter man scream and collapse to the ground. One hand covered his bleeding eyes, while the other clutched the already-fired stun gun. He kept shouting for Su Ti not to come closer.

Su Ti did not approach.

Wearing only a thin shirt and barefoot, he searched the woods beside the path for a while before finally finding a stone the size of a washbasin.

Carrying the stone over to the shorter man, Su Ti ignored his continued screams, raised it high, and smashed it down. The blow burst the taller man's brains out, killing him beyond doubt.

He then untied the taller man's shoelaces and bound his legs to the large stone.

With a splash, the taller man's corpse sank into the river and vanished.

Hearing that sound, the shorter man shuddered from head to toe. Though his eyes had been injured by the sand and he could see nothing, he already knew what had happened.

"No! Don't kill me! Don't kill me!"

The shorter man threw away his gun and scrambled backward on his hands, but the river was behind him.

One hand found nothing but empty air, and he was about to fall in when Su Ti grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up.

Su Ti's face was cold. First, he had been captured and forced to fight at the underground boxing venue. Now, these two had followed and ambushed him. After being provoked again and again, the anger in his heart kept building, and a somewhat insane idea emerged in his mind.

"Tell me where Li Mingyuan is."

"If I tell you, will you let me go?!"

Before he could finish, Su Ti snapped one of his fingers. Pale bone protruded through the blood, and the shorter man let out a pig-like shriek.

"Tell me where Li Mingyuan is."

The excruciating pain made the shorter man vicious as he roared,

"If I tell you, I die. If I don't tell you, I die. Why should I tell you?!"

Crack.

Su Ti broke another of the shorter man's fingers. This time, aside from screaming, the pain made tears and snot stream from his face, and his entire body shook.

"You should have seen my jiu-jitsu skills. I can crush every bone in your body and keep asking you questions."

"Now tell me, where is Li Mingyuan?"

"At Great Wealth KTV!"

This time, the shorter man answered without any hesitation, roaring the words out.

His psychological defenses had completely collapsed. If he could see, he would surely be looking at Su Ti with the terrified eyes of someone staring at a demon.

"Great Wealth KTV?"

"That's Li Shao's business. Li Shao spends every day there!"

"How many people are protecting him? Does he have guns? Are there any martial arts experts? Tell me everything."

At this, the shorter man finally realized what Su Ti intended to do. Terror appeared on his face, but before he could speak, another finger was snapped.

"Ah!"

"If you hesitate again, I'll break another one. Let me remind you, you still have seven fingers left."