Outsmarting the Masked Man

In the days that followed, Wang Hong practiced his spear techniques during the day, ate, cultivated his internal energy, and entered the space at night to read.

During this period, there were several incidents where unidentified outsiders infiltrated the academy, all of whom were discovered by the academy patrol, either killed on the spot or captured alive.

The academy also increased its patrol and security personnel during this time; the patrol teams were composed of students with a certain level of strength, and when combined with the Battle Formation Combined Attack Technique, even ordinary Houtian Realm Martial Artists could not easily get the better of them.

Through his studies during this time, Wang Hong had gained a certain understanding of medicinal herbs. The ginseng, Solomon's seal, and Purple Ganoderma in his space were all helpful for cultivating internal energy. As for the methods of consumption, there were many: they could be decocted into medicinal soup, made into pills, combined with food to create medicinal meals, or steeped into medicinal wine. Each method had its own advantages and disadvantages.

At this moment, Wang Hong was focused on stewing a pot of soup. During the day, Zhang Tiemao and the others had gone hunting in the mountains and caught a wild boar weighing three or four hundred jin, so they gave a large piece of ribs to Wang Hong. Wang Hong went into his space to dig up a piece of Solomon's seal that was over forty years old and stewed it with the pork ribs. The nature and flavor of Solomon's seal are relatively mild, possessing the effects of strengthening the spleen, replenishing qi, and nourishing the kidneys and essence, making it most suitable for medicinal meals.

At this time, white steam was bubbling out from the edge of the clay pot lid. "It's been stewing for an hour; it should be ready to eat." Wang Hong lifted the lid, and he saw the milky white broth rolling inside, the rich meaty aroma intermingled with a faint medicinal scent. The medicinal taste of the Solomon's seal was not too heavy; if he had used herbs with a stronger medicinal flavor, the medicinal meal would have lost the original flavor of the food.

Wang Hong picked out a piece of rib, grabbed it directly with his hand, blew on it a few times by his mouth, and took a fierce bite. "Mmm! The bones are crisp and the meat is tender, soft and glutinous in the mouth." Wang Hong finished the meat in a few bites, not forgetting to suck out the broth from the ribs, making a slurping sound. After finishing, he bit the bones apart; with every chew, the thick bone marrow flowed into his mouth.

Just as Wang Hong was happily eating meat and drinking soup, a hoarse voice reached his ears: "Kid, you're eating quite happily. You don't even know how to respect your elders and invite this old man to have a sip."

Wang Hong was startled by the sudden voice. He looked toward the source and saw a figure dressed in black night-traveling clothes, face covered with a black cloth, holding a gleaming single-edged blade, standing at the doorway.

Wang Hong's heart tightened. How did someone manage to sneak into his home? The intruder was at least a Houtian Realm Martial Artist. Although he had also entered the Houtian Realm, he had no practical combat experience, and he had only just begun to practice his spear techniques. He had no confidence at all that he could defeat this masked man.

"Kid, don't be nervous, and don't have any clever ideas. I'm just going to ask you a few things; you just answer honestly." As he spoke, he raised the blade in his hand and gestured at Wang Hong a few times.

Wang Hong suppressed the fear in his heart and immediately put on a smiling face. "Please ask whatever questions you have, sir. I will certainly tell you everything I know without reservation. To be honest, the people I admire most in my life are great heroes and gallants like you. If you think highly of me, just give me your orders, and I will certainly handle them perfectly for you."

Seeing that Wang Hong was willing to cooperate, the masked man relaxed quite a bit, thinking to himself, "The kid is sensible. It's not bad that a twelve or thirteen-year-old child didn't wet himself in fear. I'll let you die quickly in a moment."

The masked man pulled over a chair and sat down at the doorway, asking, "It is said that an immortal descended here not long ago. Is this true?"

When Wang Hong heard this, he realized it was indeed about this matter and immediately replied, "This is true. Thousands of people witnessed it at the time. That immortal master could control a flying sword, turning it into several zhang in size in the air. With a light flick of his finger, he shattered a giant boulder. Finally, the immortal master sat on the flying sword and, like a bolt of lightning, disappeared in the blink of an eye." As Wang Hong spoke, he ladled out a bowl of soup and drank it slowly.

The masked man's pupils contracted upon hearing this; clearly, his heart was not calm. "What was the purpose of the immortal master's visit? Did he leave behind any treasures? Like immortal elixirs or secret manuals of immortal techniques?"

Wang Hong took a sip of soup to moisten his throat and continued, "The immortal master must have come to recruit disciples for his Immortal Sect. He used a Magic Treasure to test everyone and then took one disciple. As for immortal elixirs, naturally, there were some." Wang Hong ladled more soup into his bowl, pacing around the room as he spoke.

"That immortal elixir is truly miraculous. Just opening the bottle cap and taking a sniff makes one feel their internal energy greatly increased. Our old dean only ate one, and his internal energy improved significantly; even his white hair turned black. As far as I know, there is one more immortal elixir, but unfortunately..." Wang Hong spoke with such enthusiasm that, without realizing it, he had paced to within two feet of the masked man. The masked man was listening with excitement; this kid had even whetted his appetite. Subconsciously, he pressed, "Unfortunately what?"

"Unfortunately, it was also eaten by someone!" As he said this, Wang Hong splashed the bowl of soup in his hand toward the masked man's eyes.

At the same time, an iron spear appeared in his hand, and he thrust it straight toward the masked man's chest. Wang Hong had practiced this move of quickly retrieving a weapon from his space and immediately entering combat for a long time.

The masked man had not fully processed the words "unfortunately, it was also eaten by someone." In that moment of distraction, he saw a bowl of soup splashed toward him. The masked man had rich combat experience; he hurriedly used his left arm to wave his sleeve to block, while the single-edged blade in his right hand slashed diagonally from bottom to top. Because he was sitting on a chair, it was inconvenient to dodge, and in his haste, he only shifted a few inches to the left.

Wang Hong's close-range sneak attack was extremely fast. When the spear tip was only an inch away from the masked man's left chest, it was deflected slightly by the diagonal slash of the blade, and combined with his slight dodge, a "pfft" sound of the spear tip entering flesh was heard. The spear pierced into the upper right part of the masked man's chest, entering more than three inches deep.

Wang Hong wanted to press his advantage and push the spear tip further, but although the masked man was injured, his reaction was not slow. He retreated, and the blade slashed along the spear shaft toward Wang Hong's fingers. Wang Hong had no choice but to rotate the spear head in the wound while quickly withdrawing it, bringing out a large chunk of flesh.

Wang Hong lunged forward again to launch a rapid attack, striking while the enemy was down, not giving the opponent any time to breathe, while simultaneously occupying the doorway to prevent him from escaping.

Wang Hong knew that although he hadn't pierced the heart and couldn't kill him instantly, he had definitely punctured his lung. With outside air entering the chest cavity, he would faint in at most two quarters of an hour. Coupled with the rich blood vessels in the lungs, the masked man would definitely not last long with heavy bleeding. He only needed to stall him and wait for him to faint to win.

Wang Hong had only practiced spear techniques for three months; his true strength was naturally far behind the masked man's. Now, he could only use his existing advantages to launch rapid attacks, aiming every strike at vital points, forcing the enemy to defend.

At the beginning, Wang Hong's rapid attacks were largely due to nervousness, as it was his first time fighting a person, and one with much stronger martial arts than himself. Now, the more he fought, the more comfortable he became, and his understanding of the Thunderclap Spear techniques grew deeper.

The masked man opposite him was furious. He had roamed the pugilistic world for many years, only to capsize in a gutter today.

At first, he hadn't taken this half-grown boy, who looked only twelve or thirteen, seriously. Even if he had started practicing martial arts in the womb, how much skill could he have? He had been just a little bit lax, and it was that little bit that led to his downfall.

The masked man grew weaker the more he fought. He felt that breathing was becoming increasingly difficult; exhaling was easy, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't inhale the air from outside.

His hands and feet grew softer and softer, unable to exert any strength. His eyelids felt heavy, and he just wanted to have a good sleep.

The masked man bit the tip of his tongue, forcibly rousing his spirit, and thought viciously, "If you want to kill me, even if I die, I'll take someone down with me."

Wang Hong used a "White Snake Spits Tongue" move to thrust toward his abdomen. This time, the masked man did not dodge or evade; the spear pierced directly into his abdomen, the head coming out from his lower back.

The masked man's eyes were bloodshot, revealing a crazed expression. His left hand grabbed the spear shaft, his body lunged forward, and his right hand slashed the blade toward Wang Hong's neck. He was actually trying to perish together with Wang Hong. Wang Hong hurriedly let go and leaped backward, but he was still left with a long gash on his chest by the tip of the blade.

The masked man used his final strength to continue chasing and hacking at Wang Hong. The room was too small to escape more than a few steps. Wang Hong fled a few steps, and suddenly an iron spear appeared in his hand again. At the same time, he executed a Returning Horse Spear move, and the masked man, caught off guard, was pierced through the heart.

The masked man fell to the ground, his limbs twitching for a while before finally dying. Even in death, the masked man could not understand where that spear had come from.