Acquiring More Martial Arts

Chu Jiang fell silent.

The men under the original owner had grown used to bullying the common folk all day long. It was good for them to get taught a lesson.

"This isn't urgent. Where in Baishi County can we find martial arts techniques?" Chu Jiang asked.

"Huh?" Zhang Liancai thought he had misheard. Normally, upon hearing such news, shouldn't they immediately go deal with whoever had provoked them? Had Lord Chu changed his nature today?

Ever since Lord Chu had gotten involved with demons, he had paid almost no attention to martial arts. He either ate, flirted with respectable women, or gambled heavily.

"My lord, as far as this subordinate knows, the Zhao Family's Meteor Saber in the east of the city and the Great Strength Fist of Greedy Wolf Martial Arts School in the west both have some merit."

"They're only a little better than street-stall junk, nowhere near the techniques of our Demon Hunting Office." Zhang Liancai muttered to himself, yet answered honestly. He truly could not understand why Lord Chu was acting so abnormally today.

Perhaps Lord Chu was merely acting on a whim.

After all, similar things had happened before. Usually, within three days, his lordship would lose interest, and everything would return to its former lazy state.

Chu Jiang was equally helpless about this. Cultivation techniques were scarce resources no matter where one went. High-level Cultivation Techniques, in particular, were mostly closely guarded secrets never passed on to outsiders.

The Demon Hunting Office possessed only two techniques—the Demon Suppressing Saber Technique and the Sun Gathering Art. Since there was no other way, he could only seek another path.

If he wanted more advanced techniques, there was actually another route: become the one in power at the Demon Hunting Office, the man who called the shots.

However, that would not be easy. Unless the current decision-maker was transferred away or died, Chu Jiang would have no chance to take his place.

"Enough. You may leave," Chu Jiang said.

"My lord, then what about that brat Liu Guangwu? Are we just letting this go?" Zhang Liancai noticed that Chu Jiang did not seem inclined to stand up for them and grew anxious. That brat had beaten his eye swollen. A man could endure some things, but not everything.

"Get lost. We'll discuss it later!"

The brat was pushing his luck, but Chu Jiang paid him no mind. He rose from behind the desk, preparing to leave the Demon Hunting Office.

Hearing this, Zhang Liancai felt helpless. It seemed he could only swallow this huge loss whole this time. Ah, no, wait...

As a lackey who constantly studied his superior's intentions, he instantly understood what it meant.

"This subordinate will get lost at once, hehe!"

Grinning ingratiatingly, Zhang Liancai left the Demon Hunting Office and vanished from sight in the blink of an eye.

Such an obvious hint required no further explanation. His lordship was still the same lordship—he truly had not changed one bit.

This time, I'll make you pay! Zhang Liancai cursed inwardly.

One incense stick later.

Chu Jiang arrived at the Zhao Family residence.

"Lord Chu, you wish to learn our Zhao Family's Meteor Saber?" A startled cry rang out from within the Zhao residence, the speaker's face full of disbelief.

Chu Jiang said, "Yes."

Upon hearing this, the Zhao Family head felt both shocked and furious.

Though their Zhao Family's Meteor Saber was not some high-level technique, it was passed down only to direct family members and never taught outside the family. Now this baleful star had come to demand it. If he refused, he feared fresh trouble would arise.

"What? Does Family Head Zhao have some difficulty?" Chu Jiang sneered, then continued, "Don't worry, I won't take it for nothing. I'll buy it with silver!"

"I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare. Since Lord Chu wishes to learn it, I shall teach you the Meteor Saber. As for the silver, forget it. Consider it my contribution to Baishi County's great cause of eliminating demons!" the Zhao Family head hurriedly replied.

At present, this was the only path available to him.

Otherwise, with Lord Chu's methods, if he stuffed a demon into his bedding while he slept, then he would truly suffer in silence.

Very quickly, Chu Jiang obtained the complete Meteor Saber manual from the Zhao Family head.

Receiving the saber manual, Chu Jiang beamed with joy. His ability to obtain it so easily was partly related to the formidable reputation the original owner had built up.

After all, if others had not provoked him, he could hardly draw his gun and rob them outright.

After leaving the Zhao Family, Chu Jiang went straight to Greedy Wolf Martial Arts School.

The master of Greedy Wolf Martial Arts School was even more straightforward. Upon hearing that Chu Jiang wished to learn the Great Strength Fist, he taught it to him without a word. Afraid that Chu Jiang might not understand the cultivation, he even demonstrated the force-exertion techniques of the Great Strength Fist in person on the spot.

Chu Jiang left in satisfaction, now holding two new martial arts techniques in his hands.

Naturally, he had paid for both.

Even when they refused to accept payment, Chu Jiang forced the silver into their hands.

He lacked everything now—except silver.

Though the original owner had squandered money recklessly, he had still left behind nearly a thousand taels of silver.

In this world, silver had tremendous purchasing power.

One tael of silver was enough to cover an ordinary person's expenses for an entire year.

It was enough for him to spend extravagantly.

Chu Jiang returned to the house where he lived. It was a two-courtyard siheyuan with seven rooms in total, furnished rather exquisitely. Yet strangely, the original owner had not hired any maidservants.

The entire household consisted of him alone.

However, he quickly understood why. Given the original owner's special identity and his dealings with demons, if anyone exposed it, it would bring him trouble.

His dealings with demons had been conducted in secret.

They could only remain beneath the water, never seeing the light of day.

Because of his caution, he had never been caught with solid evidence over the years. Everything was hearsay; no one had truly seen him conspiring with demons.

Chu Jiang looked at the panel, where two more martial arts techniques had appeared.

Once Houtian martial arts were cultivated to great mastery, they could generally harm some relatively weak demons.

Of course, against demons as strong as the pig demon Chu Jiang had killed yesterday, even Houtian martial arts cultivated to perfection would only serve as an extra meal.

As for demons at the sheep demon's level, they were among the strongest around Baishi County. Other than Xiantian experts, who could easily kill them—

Anyone else who went would merely become an extra meal for it.

[You began cultivating the Great Strength Fist. Recalling the force-exertion techniques taught by the martial arts school master, you trained painstakingly and entered the beginner stage in the third year.]

[You felt as though aided by the gods, achieving minor mastery of the Great Strength Fist in the fifth year.]

[Just as you believed the Great Strength Fist would soon reach great mastery, an accident occurred. You had failed to straighten out one point of force exertion and could not break through for a long time. Unable to find an answer despite agonizing thought, you could only persist until the thirteenth year.]

[In the fifteenth year, whether through Heaven's mercy or a sudden enlightenment, you finally grasped the trick and entered great mastery.]

[In the twenty-second year, you entered the realm of perfection.]

[Thirty years later, your Great Strength Fist possessed the force of a thousand jin, entering the realm of transformation.]

Chu Jiang could not help clenching his fist, feeling it brimming with explosive power.

He stepped into the courtyard and punched at a large tree.

Bang!

The fierce fist wind cracked loudly, leaving a fist mark as thick as a bowl's mouth in the tree.

Judging by its depth, it was more than an inch deep.

He had merely tested it casually, yet it already possessed such power. The Great Strength Fist at the realm of transformation was far too destructive.

Chu Jiang calmed his mind, continued pouring in lifespan, and began deducing the next martial art.

[You began cultivating the Meteor Saber. Your Demon Suppressing Saber at the realm of transformation gave you considerable saber mastery, allowing you to enter the minor mastery stage in just one year.]

[In the third year, the Meteor Saber reached great mastery.]

[In the fifth year, you thoroughly mastered every move and stance of the Meteor Saber, entering the realm of perfection.]

[In the seventh year, after being refined by you, the Meteor Saber broke through once more. Its original cumbersome nine forms were simplified into three, advancing into the realm of transformation.]

[Demon Lifespan: eighty-three years]

Chu Jiang opened his eyes once more and found that his physical strength had increased further. However, he was still a little short of the perfected Tenth Level of Body Refinement.

At the Tenth Level of Body Refinement, the growth provided by Houtian martial arts was better than nothing, especially from techniques that had only just reached the Houtian level. The improvement was slight.

Though his realm had not broken through, his combat strength had increased by at least thirty percent.

When Houtian martial artists faced a Xiantian expert, even ten Body Refinement cultivators at perfection attacking together would not only fail to trouble the Xiantian martial artist, but the expert could easily kill most of them.

Unless they fought a battle of attrition and waited until the Xiantian expert exhausted his true qi, there would still be a chance.

But Chu Jiang—

With four martial arts at the realm of transformation, almost no one in the Body Refinement realm could reach his level.

Within the Body Refinement realm, he could already reign supreme. Even against a Xiantian expert, he could fight.

"This feels incredible!"

Chu Jiang was greatly delighted. For the time being, no one could threaten him.