Sneak Attack

Li Qi, like a shaman, began muttering incantations in a strange posture.

But he had to admit, this actually worked!

Water, from some unknown source, began to converge into Li Qi's body.

The water flowed like icicles melting in winter, no more than twenty milliliters in total, as thin as a thread.

Yet this water brought Li Qi immense comfort.

He felt his spirit cleansed, his body purified.

His core, limbs, and mind were all like riverbanks, scoured by the babbling current, washing away every impurity.

The flowing water also carried a rich vitality, gradually swelling his body, which had been less than robust due to a lack of meat.

Li Qi felt a wave of relief. He looked at his own body and suddenly saw two progress bars.

Ritual Enhancement: ninety-two percent.

Ox-Strength Technique progress: one hundred percent.

For some reason, the Divine Will Inheritance progress for the Ox-Strength Technique had suddenly filled up.

Perhaps it was an effect of the ritual's distribution, but regardless, Li Qi's head rang with a crash, and all the key points of the Ox-Strength Technique were directly learned!

It was truly like memories appearing out of nowhere, as if he had suddenly gained ten years of skill.

Like playing a game, clicking a skill book, and after the progress bar finished, he was instantly a master.

Could the Divine Will Inheritance really achieve this?

But judging by Uncle Liu's condition, he definitely didn't have this effect.

Why was he so sure? Because Uncle Liu's Wave-Pushing Strength was far inferior to his own, and Uncle Liu himself said his Wave-Pushing Strength came from a Divine Will Inheritance.

Uncle Liu had also received a Divine Will Inheritance, yet his Wave-Pushing Strength was worse than what Li Qi had achieved through two years of practice.

Clearly, the Divine Will Inheritance shouldn't be able to make someone a master directly.

But now, for some reason, he knew deep down that he had mastered the Ox-Strength Technique!

"The effect of the progress bar? When it fills up, I just learn it?" he couldn't help but guess.

There were still too few samples to be sure; it could also be an effect of the ritual.

Still, his heart was filled with joy—he had bet correctly this time!

He quickly got up and scurried away in a light jog.

After the ritual, people were kicked out. He had snuck in, and though security wasn't tight, there were Night Watchmen patrolling at night. He had to slip away before anyone saw him.

Weaving through alleys and turning corners, he carefully made his way home.

He turned another corner, and suddenly, a stick shadow appeared before Li Qi.

He lacked experience and was caught off guard by the Sneak Attack. Though his caution let him react, he only managed to dodge halfway, and the club slammed hard onto his shoulder!

A dull thud rang out, the wooden club actually snapping in two. Li Qi grunted in pain, half his body going limp!

And the attacker didn't hesitate, swinging again!

Li Qi even sensed someone behind him!

His half-numb body ached, and he crouched low, nearly losing the ability to fight back.

A normal person hit with such force would only react like this. If Li Qi hadn't dodged slightly, that blow to the head would have knocked him out instantly.

Even though he had trained in Wave-Pushing Strength and his body wasn't that fragile, the attacker's strength was astonishing. The club was clearly made from leftover Ironwood used in shipbuilding, hard as metal, and it had shattered with one hit!

But it wasn't over. From the darkness, another club swung, the wooden stick whistling through the air as it aimed straight for Li Qi.

At the same time, Li Qi clearly saw two progress bars in the darkness, both displaying 'Attack.'

There really were two people!

Then, his body seemed to no longer belong to him.

His skin began to harden, becoming like tanned leather—not only losing elasticity, but even his sense of touch dulled, so that even a hard pinch felt nothing.

His muscles started to surge, and a wave of heat rushed to his head!

Bang! The club struck him hard, but this time, only the club broke.

The blow landed, but his body felt no pain. The force surged in, and Li Qi couldn't help but gasp.

Two white pillars shot from his nostrils, and a massive amount of white vapor erupted from his body, directly enveloping the attacker's form, momentarily blinding him.

The white pillars were powerful enough to scatter the ash in the corner with their heat.

Li Qi suddenly felt incredibly strong, as if he could punch through a wall.

The Ox-Strength Technique activated, and his body seemed to be stuffed with a wild bull, visibly swelling.

Then came a punch!

The man holding the club in front of him, still blinded by the white vapor, couldn't react in time and was completely defenseless as the punch landed square on him.

With a crack, the man's eyes went wide!

This world didn't have any sophisticated machinery, but if it did, he would have used one phrase to describe how he felt right now—

Like being hit by a Mud Truck.

Blood gushed wildly from his mouth, unstoppable, his vision went black, and his entire body felt like it had been smashed apart!

But as Li Qi threw that punch, the attack from the person behind him arrived right on schedule.

Li Qi watched the "attack" progress bar fill up, but his body couldn't react in time, so he could only helplessly wait for the strike to pierce through.

A pfft sound, like a dull blade cutting through tough leather armor.

That person froze.

This was a knife!

How could there be someone a knife couldn't kill?

No, wait... how had this person suddenly grown taller?

And on Li Qi's side, his figure abruptly shot up by a foot, his entire body swelling by a third in volume.

White smoke billowed from his nose, his skin flushed red, and he was unmistakably a human-shaped wild bull!

He grabbed the attacker and slammed him to the ground.

He had intended to restrain him, but with a bang, the back of the man's head caved in, his legs kicked, and he stopped breathing.

This left Li Qi stunned in place.

From the moment he was ambushed to now, less than two seconds had passed.

In less than two seconds, he had taken out two enemies? And one of them he'd tried to hold back on, yet still crushed in one go.

"Mighty Gang people... before, I could only take on two at most, but now I'm one-shotting them, taking out two in two seconds?" Li Qi stared at his own hands, barely believing it.

He was certain those were Mighty Gang members.

Only the Mighty Gang's strength could shatter an Ironwood club, and among his enemies, only they had that kind of power.

He just didn't know how the Mighty Gang had found out it was him.

Even though he'd killed someone, he didn't feel any problem with it, nor did he experience the nausea others had described after their first kill.

After all, the Mighty Gang had tried to kill him first; he was just defending himself. Even in court, it would be self-defense—what was there to feel sick about?

Compared to killing, his attention was now more focused on himself.

The effect of the Ox-Strength Technique had far exceeded his expectations!

No wonder it was a technique!

But now wasn't the time to be amazed. He quickly grabbed the two corpses, one in each hand, lifted them, thought for a moment, and tossed them into the water. Then he dove in himself, using Wave-Pushing Strength to swim to the bottom, dig up silt, find rocks, bury both bodies, and weigh them down with stones to ensure they wouldn't float up. After that, he washed himself clean and cleared the scene of the crime.

As he cleaned up, he suddenly felt a bit short of breath.

Checking his body, he saw a progress bar for the Ox-Strength Technique appear on himself.

"Ox-Strength Technique, duration 95%."

Counting the time, about ten minutes or so?

He immediately deactivated the Ox-Strength Technique, and his body deflated like a punctured balloon.

Having gotten used to that immense power, it felt a bit uncomfortable, but according to what he remembered... the Ox-Strength Technique could be used three times a day, and if each use lasted ten minutes, that was already incredibly strong.

"And... the third function of the progress bar has shown up too," he thought to himself.

The first was for checking status.

The second might be that once a learning progress bar filled up, he could directly master the skill.

The third was this—being able to check the remaining duration of his own techniques!

With this, combined with the Ox-Strength Technique, Li Qi clenched his fist.

Give him some time, and he wouldn't have to be a towman anymore!