Immense Strength

Immense Strength

Early morning.

Morning mist shrouded the mountains; cooking smoke curled up below them.

The streets and alleys brimmed with the warmth of daily life and rang with vendors' cries, all drifting through the window into Lu Zhaojin's ears.

He awoke from a deep sleep. When his eyes opened, they were like a blazing sun hanging high in the sky—bright, radiant, and sharp with spirit.

His qi and blood, his very blood, boiled within him, as though he possessed inexhaustible energy.

With a thought—

The muscles across his entire body tightened, each one hard as iron.

Beneath the daylight, a faint bronze sheen even surfaced across his skin.

The Golden Body Technique needed only a little more proficiency before it could reach the entry level.

Yet with his current state, he already felt no fear toward blades or swords.

He looked at his character panel.

With only a few dozen experience points left, and both techniques merely at the entry level, Lu Zhaojin suddenly felt that the road ahead was long and the burden heavy.

The aroma drifting in through the window stirred the hunger in his belly.

Training the Golden Body Technique last night had consumed a tremendous amount of energy. He had been ravenous, and while he had just been focused on his increased strength, now that he smelled food, his stomach began to rumble.

Lu Zhaojin recalled that letter, but he had no intention of keeping the appointment.

The technique was in hand. This matter was over.

In the inn's dining hall.

Lu Zhaojin dealt with a table full of meat—chicken, duck, fish, and pork, all of it quite tasty.

The Golden Body Technique stated: train more, eat more. Otherwise, one's qi and blood would run dry, and all efforts would come to nothing.

Though he could force his proficiency upward with experience points, his appetite had genuinely grown larger.

Besides, only when he was full and satisfied would he have the strength to hit people harder.

A commotion suddenly broke out at the inn entrance. The crowd surged, and even the diners inside, who had been drinking and chatting, were alarmed. As if they had seen some terrifying figure, they rose from their seats and shifted toward the walls.

The leader was a towering man, more than eight feet tall, with unusually long arms. Hanging naturally at his sides, his fingertips could reach his knees.

His palms seemed to have no flesh upon them, withered and thin as branches. Yet his nails were sharp, comparable to a beast's claws. One could imagine that if he scratched someone, he would tear off a chunk of flesh.

Mu Zhuo's face was dark as he stared at the figure before him, who had his back turned and was stuffing himself with food. Killing intent filled his eyes.

He had never expected something that had been in the bag to take such a turn.

It was all because of this youth.

Not only had Zhao Nuanyu escaped death, but his younger brother Mu Kui had died on Mount Qi. By the time he led people up the mountain and found the body, it had already been half-devoured by wild beasts.

So this youth had to die!

Mu Zhuo's right hand turned into a claw as he grabbed for Lu Zhaojin's head.

Seeing that Lu Zhaojin did not dodge, as though he had resigned himself to his fate, Mu Zhuo sneered again and again. But his smile soon froze.

He felt as though his claw had struck steel. Not only was it incomparably hard, but even when he used Internal Energy, he could not damage so much as Lu Zhaojin's skin.

What kind of monster was this?!

Mu Zhuo was inwardly horrified and tried to retreat, but his hand had been seized by the youth. He could not pull free, as if it had been clamped in iron pincers.

And Lu Zhaojin was tightening his grip. The crisp crack of bones breaking rang through the room, and the agonizing pain made the deputy gang leader howl, "Ah! Let go of me!"

His other hand clawed toward Lu Zhaojin's neck, completely forgetting how his right hand had been broken.

Both hands were caught in the grip—and both were crushed.

Only then did Lu Zhaojin let go. Mu Zhuo looked at his limp hands and wailed as he stumbled backward, knocking over tables and chairs. Wine and food spilled all across the floor.

The diners hiding against the walls and the onlookers crowding the entrance all stared in shock. They had not expected the youth to be so ruthless. Even the Moon Wolf Gang's deputy leader, known for his Blood Claw Technique, was no match for him.

However, the true pillar of the Moon Wolf Gang was Howling Moon Wolf Chen Kang. He was a Seventh-Rank Realm expert. This youth had such strength at such a young age, but unfortunately, he had offended Chen Kang. He likely would not live much longer.

Someone shook their head, feeling it was a pity.

Before he could even use the Blood Claw Technique he had once been so proud of, the youth had broken both his hands. Hatred overflowed from Mu Zhuo's heart as he roared at the gang members, "What are you all standing around for? Get him! Kill him for me!"

Unfortunately, the gang members holding sabers looked at that back with fear in their hearts and did not dare step forward.

Even their deputy leader was no match for him. If small fry like them charged in, what difference would it make from throwing away their lives?

Would it not be better to report this to the chief gang leader and wait for him to leave seclusion? Then he could kill this boy with a casual gesture.

Mu Zhuo was overcome with fury and cursed them as a bunch of useless trash.

Struggling up from the ground, he wanted to leave the inn and return to the Moon Wolf Gang's headquarters to report this to his elder brother, Chen Kang.

Lu Zhaojin had finished eating the meat. "You hit someone and think you can just leave?"

Mu Zhuo's face turned cold, his voice somewhat shrill. "What do you want?"

He threatened, "My elder brother Chen Kang is a Seventh-Rank Realm expert. Offending my Moon Wolf Gang means a dead end for you. I advise you to sever your own meridians now. Do not wait for my elder brother to act, or you will beg for death but be unable to die."

Lu Zhaojin shook his head and sighed softly. There was no sword in his hand, so he could not slit a throat with a single stroke. That left only one option: throw his full strength into a punch.

He lunged forward, his gaze icy. His right hand clenched into a fist and smashed toward Mu Zhuo's head.

It was merely a simple punch, without any fist technique behind it.

Yet it still carried the force of a rainbow, its Fist Stance terrifying. His sinews and bones rang together like a tiger's roar and thunder's rumble, leaving everyone pale with shock.

Before that pressure, like a mountain crashing down overhead, Mu Zhuo seemed trapped in a swamp. His legs went weak, and he could not move at all. He could only watch helplessly as the fist shadow grew larger in his eyes—until his head burst like a smashed watermelon.

Red and white splattered everywhere.

Experience +500 for killing an Eighth-Rank Martial Artist

Experience: 569

Mu Zhuo was killed with one punch.

The place fell utterly silent, as though that bloody scene had stolen everyone's voices. Or perhaps they had been shocked speechless by the youth's audacity in daring to kill the Moon Wolf Gang's second-in-command.

"Constables on official business! Make way at once!"

The constables had arrived.

The crowd opened up a path.

Captain Liu led his men over, arriving at last.

In his expectations, Lu Zhaojin would be no match for Mu Zhuo. At the critical moment between life and death, he would descend like a divine soldier from the heavens and surely complete the task assigned by the county magistrate.

But upon arriving, he saw Lu Zhaojin standing there straight as a silver spear, completely unharmed.

There was, however, a headless corpse lying on the ground. Judging from its build, it was clearly Mu Zhuo of the Moon Wolf Gang.

Captain Liu's pupils abruptly contracted. When he looked at Lu Zhaojin, his gaze became somewhat unnatural, filled with shock, wariness, and fear.

When Lu Zhaojin looked his way, he hurriedly averted his eyes, afraid that something might be seen through, and shouted, "Who caused trouble here?"

No one present spoke.

Captain Liu frowned slightly and had the constables behind him question the innkeeper while gathering up the corpse on the ground.

As for those Moon Wolf Gang members, they had scattered and fled the moment Mu Zhuo died. By now, they had likely already returned to the gang headquarters to report the news.

Captain Liu walked up to Lu Zhaojin and cupped his hands. "Young Hero Lu, the county magistrate requests your presence."

Lu Zhaojin stared at Captain Liu for quite a while.

That flash of unnaturalness in the other man's eyes had not escaped him, though he did not know its source. But thinking carefully, Mu Zhuo had come for him suspiciously quickly, and he had attacked him the very first moment he arrived. Was that not too rash?

And it seemed the county magistrate had guessed that Lu Zhaojin would not attend the banquet, which was why he had specifically sent Captain Liu to wait nearby?

Then perhaps that meal was not merely meant as thanks after all.

Lu Zhaojin signaled for Captain Liu to lead the way, but he silently kept today's events in mind. If there truly was something fishy going on, he would not be softhearted.