Half a Month

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, half a month had passed.

Chen's Apothecary.

Back courtyard.

Wu Ming stood in the middle of the courtyard with the Crimson Serpent Spear in hand, facing Hu Yong, who wielded a heavy ring-pommel saber.

Hu Yong's gaze was solemn. He constantly shifted and darted about, evading Wu Ming's spear while trying to break through its reach and close in on him. Though he was at Second Blood Forging and possessed considerably greater strength than Wu Ming, the gap was not enough for him to crush Wu Ming through sheer force. Forcing his way past the spear proved extremely difficult, and he was repeatedly blocked.

After the two had exchanged several dozen moves, Hu Yong swung his saber and stepped back, halting his attack. He said with some admiration, "The young master said you were a spear prodigy. I had some doubts before, but now I believe it completely. At your age, you've already trained your spear technique to the point of seamless mastery, so watertight that even I can't find the slightest flaw. That's truly rare."

"But don't get careless. Your techniques may be refined, but you still haven't reached Second Blood Forging. The difference between Second Blood Forging and First Blood Forging isn't merely one of strength—your toughness and stamina are much greater as well."

Changing the subject, Hu Yong pointed out several key matters.

When he sparred with Wu Ming in this relatively open courtyard, it seemed that even with his Second Blood Forging cultivation, he could not break through Wu Ming's spear technique. But this was only a spar, not a true fight to the death.

If they truly fought, he had more than one way to forcibly break Wu Ming's spear technique. For example, he could rely on the long-lasting stamina of Second Blood Forging and launch a relentless assault, clashing for hundreds of moves in a short time without giving Wu Ming the slightest chance to catch his breath. Even if Wu Ming could defend without a drop slipping through, his stamina would inevitably fail to keep up, and he would soon reveal flaws as his strength waned.

Secondly,

As a Second Blood Forging martial artist, his skin and flesh were tough. If he put on thick leather armor, he could even endure some of Wu Ming's attacks head-on. Directly taking a thrust would be dangerous, but an ordinary sweeping spear strike could be endured a few times so long as he diverted its force. Even if he suffered some injuries, they would not be serious. Trading injury for injury like that, he could still take Wu Ming down.

Still, Chen Gui, the young master, truly had a good eye. Even if Wu Ming failed to reach the heights of Third Blood Forging in the future, given time, he would become one of the best among Second Blood Forging martial artists. Surpassing Hu Yong would be no problem.

"Thank you for your guidance, Uncle Yong."

After hearing Hu Yong's words, Wu Ming courteously clasped his fists in reply.

Hu Yong smiled and waved a hand, sheathing his ring-pommel saber. "All right, rest for a while. I'm going out for a walk."

With that,

Hu Yong left the courtyard, leaving Wu Ming standing there alone with his spear.

He weighed the Crimson Serpent Spear in his hand, a thoughtful look appearing in his eyes. He murmured inwardly, "Body and heart as one, qi and spirit as one, strength and blood as one... How can I condense body, heart, and technique into unity?"

Over the past half month, he had held fast to the "Lin" formula at night and honed his spear technique during the day. About two days ago, he had thoroughly mastered all sixteen forms of the Falling Leaf Spear Technique, making every move a falling leaf, every thrust snatching shadows without a trace.

The difference between infinitely close to mastery and true mastery was that no matter how close one came, one had only grasped the "form" of the spear technique. When performing fixed moves, there was no difference from mastery. Yet once faced with complicated circumstances and countless changes, it became difficult to blend the sixteen spear forms into every ordinary move, impossible to fuse their essence into one's very bones.

True mastery, however, no longer remained wholly bound by the fixed forms of the moves. For instance, "Wild Geese in Flight" from the Falling Leaf Spear Technique was a downward cleave performed while planted on the ground. After mastering the spear technique, even without both feet on the ground—while leaping through the air, or stepping sideways against a wall to borrow force—one could still unleash the power of "Wild Geese in Flight."

Having reached mastery in his spear technique, Wu Ming naturally began to ponder and explore the Unity Realm. Yet after two or three days, he still had no clue and could find no concrete direction. Clearly, entering Unity was not something that could be achieved overnight.

"Whew."

Wu Ming pondered for a while without finding an answer. In the end, he exhaled and calmed the distracting thoughts in his heart.

Perhaps his body was simply too weak. He had not even entered Second Blood Forging, and the skin and flesh across his body had yet to grow strong and condense. They simply could not bear the exertion techniques of the Unity Realm. That was why he remained trapped here, unable to find the key.

For the time being, he found it difficult to explore further in technique, and there was no great improvement to be made in his soul either. As for accumulating Blood Qi, that remained a slow grind. Fortunately, after gaining the ability to "catch the autumn wind" on North Street, he was no longer so strapped for resources. Every day, he could eat mang bull demon meat, which had an extremely potent nourishing effect, and his Blood Qi was growing stronger day by day.

The mang bull was a type of demon creature, and one of the very few demon creatures approved by the imperial court for raising. Its meat was extraordinarily nourishing, far surpassing ordinary meat. Naturally, it was also extremely expensive—one tael of mang bull demon meat cost a full tael of silver.

The former Wu Ming naturally could not afford it, but now he could eat two or three taels every day.

Wu Ming had a clear understanding of the changes he had experienced during this period, and an even clearer grasp of his own strength. Against Chen Gui, Sun Wang, and other First Blood Forging martial artists, he could now seize the upper hand through the weapon advantage of his long spear even without relying on his fine-detail perception. And if he used his soul perception...

Although Wu Ming had not gone all out in a long time, he knew very well that if he fought with everything he had, he could likely defeat a First Blood Forging martial artist who had mastered their techniques within just a few moves, severely injuring them or even taking their life!

Now that his soul had grown stronger still, his fine-detail perception had become truly terrifying. When he fully spread his senses, the movements and techniques of everyone else in his vision seemed to slow several times over!

Not to mention Chen Gui and the others.

Even against Hu Yong, who was at Second Blood Forging, Wu Ming believed he might not lose if they truly fought.

And that was only assuming he used physical martial strength. After his soul had grown half a month ago and he had mastered the "Lin" formula, he also possessed the soul-shaking method of the "Lin" formula. This method was even harder to guard against. If a First Blood Forging martial artist took one hit, they would basically lose focus in an instant, their consciousness thrown into disorder for at least several breaths.

Even a Second Blood Forging martial artist, if caught unprepared, would likewise fall into a brief daze after taking such a blow.

One had to know that when martial artists clashed, the slightest difference was the distance between life and death. A method that could make someone briefly lose focus in battle was far more effective than things like hidden weapons or poison darts, and it could not be avoided at all.

Though Wu Ming had never truly tested it, if he were to launch a sneak attack, he was confident that he could pierce the throat of a Second Blood Forging martial artist like Hu Yong with a single spear thrust and kill him on the spot!

His steadily growing strength was also Wu Ming's source of confidence.

Of course, all of this was only Wu Ming's speculation and judgment for now. It had yet to be tested in actual combat.

"What I need now is some real combat. But at present, it wouldn't be wise to draw too much attention..."

Wu Ming pondered inwardly. He knew that sparring and training were fundamentally different from real combat that drew blood. Now that his strength had accumulated and confidence had taken root in his heart, he naturally began to yearn for actual combat.

He remembered Chen Gui mentioning a few days ago that the Chen Family's estate and spirit fields outside the city were nearly ready for harvest, and they needed martial artists to patrol them. Perhaps he could take this opportunity to go along and broaden his horizons.

Just as Wu Ming was making his calculations.

North of the city.

Within a remote street and alley, inside a dim, dilapidated residence.

A vicious-looking man with a saber scar across his face entered the courtyard and slowly walked into the main hall. In the darkness at the back of the hall, another seven or eight figures stood or sat.

"Old Zhao, why are you so late?"

Someone asked the scarred man who had entered in a low voice.

"I had a bit more fun on North Street... You all came rather quickly. From the looks of it, you've already discussed everything?"

The scarred man grinned. "Tell me, which family is it this time?"

After the several figures in the depths of the room exchanged glances, one of them looked at the scarred man and spoke in a cold tone.

"Chen's Apothecary!"

"An apothecary?"

The scarred man frowned. "What good is robbing some damned apothecary? After taking those medicinal ingredients, we'd still have to find a way to sell them. Wouldn't that just give the Cautious Punishment Division an opportunity to track us down?"

"Hehe, then you don't know the situation."

One person in the shadows smiled faintly. "The Chen Family has made far too much silver from their medicinal tea business lately. Their refusal to share the medicinal tea profits has left quite a few people dissatisfied."

"So there's no need to worry about selling those medicinal ingredients. Someone will naturally take them away. And there's even less need to worry about the Cautious Punishment Division—I already know their patrol route tonight."

"As for Chen's Apothecary, there's only one Hu Yong there. He's at Second Blood Forging and has some skill. The other three martial artists aren't worth mentioning. We only need a quarter of an hour to settle it. Nothing can go wrong."

Upon hearing this,

The scarred man immediately relaxed and grinned. "Then there's no problem. The Cautious Punishment Division has been investigating us closely lately, and we haven't had a chance to make a move for over half a month. Once we finish this job, it'll be about time for us to stop and disband."

"Fine."

"It is about time."

The others in the shadows also spoke up in agreement.