Capricious and Unreasonable

Pfft!

With a light tap of his finger, Mercenary Tao pierced deep into the rain-battered mountain rock. The motion looked no more difficult than poking into tofu.

"Your physique is decent enough, but you've neglected training. Your force delivery is an absolute mess. Before the power even leaves your body, ninety percent of it has already dissipated..."

Mercenary Tao did not turn around, and there was disdain in his voice. In the end, he was quite dissatisfied with Bai Cangshu's imitation of his movements and that final stomp.

The form was there, but not the spirit.

When he stomped, all his force condensed without dispersing. It traveled dozens of meters through the ground before finally erupting beneath Bai Cangshu's feet.

Bai Cangshu's stomp looked explosive, shattering the ground outright, but all its force had simply spilled away. To a Martial Artist, that was the mark of a complete novice.

He was entirely relying on brute physical strength and throwing it around blindly.

Mercenary Tao glanced at Bai Cangshu, feeling that this fellow was still inferior to the disciple his elder brother had found. He suddenly regretted taking him in.

At the end of the day, he had never possessed the heart of a teacher. He had only made an exception because Bai Cangshu's temperament suited his tastes.

Bai Cangshu remained meek and obedient, as though he had not noticed Mercenary Tao's dissatisfaction at all. Yet his mind was constantly turning over ways to prevent Team 64323 from killing Mercenary Tao.

Mercenary Tao was immensely powerful. Anyone capable of triggering such a mission had to be terrifyingly strong as well—at the very least, according to this dimensional game's judgment, they possessed the ability to kill Mercenary Tao.

Tell Mercenary Tao directly?

No. Bai Cangshu immediately dismissed the idea. Mercenary Tao thought highly of himself, and he was cruel and cunning. If Bai Cangshu rashly told him that a powerful group was preparing to hunt him down, Mercenary Tao would probably attack Bai Cangshu first and force him to reveal the source of his information.

Bai Cangshu saw it clearly. Mercenary Tao was not Master Roshi, and he had no so-called master-disciple affection for him. He was likely not even as good as Master Shen.

Mercenary Tao was a thoroughgoing villain. To him, Bai Cangshu was merely a tool. If Bai Cangshu learned a few moves and made a name for himself, Mercenary Tao's reputation would grow even greater. Conversely, Bai Cangshu's death would cost him nothing.

So he could not tell Mercenary Tao...

Bai Cangshu considered all sorts of plans in his mind, while his body meticulously followed Mercenary Tao in assuming various stances.

This was perhaps the greatest benefit of this brutal trial: a Martial Artist with a combat power exceeding one hundred personally guiding your martial arts training. Such an astounding reward was unimaginable in other worlds.

Bai Cangshu pressed his fingers together like a crane's beak and thrust them out fiercely.

Pfft!

His fingers struck the tree stump, and blood instantly flowed from his fingertips. At the same time, Bai Cangshu could feel a mysterious sensation of channeling his force into the stump's interior.

This was an entirely different experience from using brute strength to smash apart the surface of a stump with a punch.

Under the guidance of plot powerhouse Mercenary Tao, your special mastery has improved.

Current: Martial Arts Mastery Lv2

Martial Arts Mastery Lv2: You have mastered various force-delivery postures and can begin channeling force into a target's interior. Your attacks will ignore part of the target's defense.

Of course, Bai Cangshu was still far from being able to unleash this kind of force in all manner of forms. He could only achieve it through this special Crane-Form Thrust Hand attack.

This sight slightly improved Mercenary Tao's expression.

Overall, although his disciple had no foundation in martial arts, he possessed an extraordinary degree of control over his body's muscles. This allowed him to easily imitate Mercenary Tao's various movements.

As a result, he could basically learn any martial arts stance after seeing it once.

From this perspective, he definitely counted as a martial arts prodigy.

Unfortunately, when it came to ki, he was exceptionally dull. Mercenary Tao demonstrated it several times, yet Bai Cangshu still failed to sense ki.

In the Crane School's martial arts, as well as Mercenary Tao's own, ki was the utmost priority. This was why Mercenary Tao felt such disappointment after comparing Bai Cangshu with Tien Shinhan.

Tien Shinhan was a genius at controlling ki. Even Mercenary Tao felt somewhat envious of that talent.

Mercenary Tao's physical body was not actually all that indestructible. Although, when infused with ki, he could even use a piece of cloth to block sniper rifle fire.

Once his ki was depleted, however, even his body could not withstand a grenade explosion.

Without the ability to control ki with flexibility, one's lifelong achievement would amount to no more than being a skilled fighter in the eyes of ordinary people.

Mercenary Tao snorted coldly and turned to leave. He had always thought highly of himself. He did not even hold his elder brother Master Shen or the martial arts titan Master Roshi in high regard, so how could he tolerate his disciple being inferior to Tien Shinhan? (At this point, Mercenary Tao was very likely the strongest fighter on Earth.)

Mercenary Tao's impression of you has decreased.

Current: Friendly (5/100)

Bai Cangshu raised an eyebrow. Even with his temperament, he felt uncomfortable with Mercenary Tao's baseless fickleness.

Staying by the side of someone like this truly gave him no sense of security at all.

The "reality" of this Infinite Dimensional Game also gave Bai Cangshu a new understanding. Unlike the flat characters in anime, every character in this world had their own preferences and behavioral logic. Different actions from reincarnators would also lead to different outcomes.

He watched Mercenary Tao recede into the rainy mist. The English words "I Kill You" were written on the back of his pink robe, while his braid swayed gently like a venomous snake.

Perhaps even if he had truly become the man's disciple, once Mercenary Tao confirmed that he failed to meet his standards, or if he ever embarrassed him, Mercenary Tao would kill him in an instant.

Bai Cangshu suddenly had an idea. He abruptly found the answer to the question that had troubled him for so long.

Trial Mission Two: Prevent Team 64323 from killing Mercenary Tao.

Optional Mission: Reduce Team 64323's numbers by at least one.

Bai Cangshu's gaze settled on the words "prevent from killing." He pulled his hand back from the tree stump. The tips of three fingers were covered in blood, his nails had broken, and his joints were injured to varying degrees.

Yet Bai Cangshu seemed unable to feel the pain. With his bloodied fingers, he lightly pointed at Mercenary Tao's name, and a smile suddenly appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"Prevent from killing..."

"Heh, this dimensional game's wording seems even more rigorous than I imagined. It's practically saying that such a method really does exist."

At that moment, Mercenary Tao, who had walked far into the rainy mist, suddenly felt a faint chill down his back. He snorted coldly and wrapped his braid around his neck, intending to head first to Tang Badan's inn at the foot of the mountain for a hot bath.

He truly disliked the weather on this mountain. If not for the quiet surroundings that suited his temperament and status, he would not have wanted to stay in such a place.

"Fine. I'll watch him for two more days. If that fellow truly proves useless, then so be it."

Mercenary Tao had no intention of waiting for his disciple to mature. Or rather, he had never truly regarded Bai Cangshu as his disciple in the first place. If Bai Cangshu could learn a little of his superficial skill, he would naturally be able to spread some of Mercenary Tao's fame in the assassin world.

But if he could not learn anything at all, there would be no pity in killing him.

Mercenary Tao leaped down from the cliff with his hands clasped behind his back. His toes lightly touched the slick cliff face, and he swiftly bounded downward like a great bird.

Within a few breaths, he had reached the town.

Tang Badan had been keeping watch on the mountain dojo. Upon seeing the familiar attire, he immediately perked up and ordered his people to prepare food, hot water, and other necessities for Mercenary Tao.

What had earned Tang Badan Mercenary Tao's trust was his knack for reading people and situations.