Kidnappers!

Kidnappers!

"A One-Star Level warrior doesn't necessarily have a perfect foundation!"

Gu Shaoshang understood. Just as not every college student was a top scorer on the college entrance exam, not every One-Star warrior possessed a perfect foundation. More often than not, their foundations were merely ordinary.

Those with ordinary foundations could likewise advance to One-Star and Two-Star levels!

But only a deep foundation allowed one to go farther and higher!

A shallow foundation could not support a skyscraper. No matter how formidable someone with a shallow foundation became while wielding a divine weapon, they would not travel far on the path of cultivation!

"Supreme!"

Gu Shaoshang closed his eyes. With a divine artifact like the Myriad Heavens Projection Mirror, how could he be satisfied without forging a Supreme foundation for himself?

Xu Zhen had, after all, been a public figure. His death not only shook the entire Southeast Asian martial arts world, but also prompted the Public Security Department to mobilize immediately.

For the next two days, the entire city was placed under martial law. Police cars patrolled the streets from time to time, while the petty thugs who usually filled every corner had vanished without a trace.

Inside a small inn, Gu Shaoshang practiced boxing in the cramped room.

Whoosh!

He turned his palms and threw punches, one move following another.

Gu Shaoshang's strength was immense. Even though he held back, every strike still made the wind howl.

With every push and press of his palms, his qi and strength moved as one throughout his body. After his palms shot out, his shoulders sank, elbows dropped, waist collapsed, neck straightened, and knees turned slightly inward.

Smack! Smack! Smack!

His left foot advanced by inches, his right foot followed, and his hands rubbed upward and rotated outward. With his elbows raised in attack, his palms formed probing claws and fiercely seized at the air! The wind whistled beneath his strikes, his sleeves snapping sharply.

He pounced and struck, crashing his palms forward as his left foot followed. Within that tiny room, Gu Shaoshang shifted left and right across the floor, moving his body and extending his claws.

Gu Shaoshang practiced the forms over and over, gradually becoming more familiar with them.

When gathering himself, he was like a crouching raccoon; when springing forth, like a tiger unleashed!

The more Gu Shaoshang fought, the more excited he became. His Techniques grew fiercer, faster, heavier, and steadier, each quality complementing the others.

Taiji, Bagua, Xingyi Quan, Bajiquan—he unleashed all manner of boxing arts. Gradually, Gu Shaoshang's movements slowed, his Techniques becoming increasingly gentle.

One punch resembled Xingyi Quan and Bajiquan, yet was neither quite one nor the other. It contained the methods of exerting force from countless schools, yet belonged to no boxing art at all!

He was beginning to slowly evolve a martial art of his own!

After practicing several rounds of boxing without pause, three or four hours had already passed.

Gu Shaoshang slowly withdrew his fists and stood in the Three Body Form. Every pore on his body was tightly shut, not a bead of sweat emerging, yet rolling heat poured off him like a furnace.

"What a pity! I still can't fully fuse several boxing arts into one!"

Gu Shaoshang slowly exhaled a long breath, sending the dust on the ground swirling into the air.

Guoshu had been passed down for centuries, perfected time and again by generation after generation of exceptional figures. Though there was no further path ahead—

—in terms of boxing arts and control over the physical body alone, it still ranked among the finest throughout the Myriad Heavens and Worlds!

For Gu Shaoshang to have reached this level after such a short time was already unbelievable. Much of it was due to materializing Teng Qingshan's experience with Xingyi Quan!

To evolve his own fighting style and boxing art was far from something that could be accomplished overnight.

Gu Shaoshang understood this himself. He was even willing to slow his collection of Source Power in order to steadily solidify his foundation!

As for the citywide manhunt outside, Gu Shaoshang was well aware of it.

Though he did not relax his vigilance, neither was he overly uneasy.

A torrential rain had fallen all day, visibility had been extremely poor, and this era did not have surveillance cameras everywhere. Moreover, Gu Shaoshang had beaten Xu Zhen and his disciple to death in a matter of moments, with no one witnessing it.

If they could still find him so quickly under those circumstances, Gu Shaoshang would have nothing to say!

And once these few days had passed, he would leave the city after rescuing Zhao Liang.

In the end, it would become an unsolved case with no leads, fading away without resolution.

Practicing boxing, practicing boxing, practicing boxing—Gu Shaoshang waited quietly for two days.

Then, suddenly, his phone began to buzz.

Zhao Liang had given it to him, and only the father and son knew the number.

"Hello, Uncle Zhao! Is there news of Liangzi?"

Gu Shaoshang answered casually.

"Shaoshang, the kidnappers contacted me. The location is a small courtyard in the suburbs. I'll text you the address shortly."

Over the phone, Zhao Aiguo's usually warm voice could not conceal his exhaustion.

"The kidnappers demanded that I not call the police and drive there alone tomorrow. Remember this: if they take the money and release Little Liang, don't make a move! I'll deal with them myself afterward. But if they take the money and refuse to release him... avenge Little Liang!"

"...All right!" Gu Shaoshang wanted to speak, then stopped. He wished to comfort him, yet did not know where to begin. In the end, he gave a muffled reply and hung up.

"Even with wealth beyond measure or high office on one side, there will always be times when neither can help! Only one's own strength is the foundation upon which one establishes one's life!"

Gu Shaoshang keenly sensed the underlying order of this world: the strong devoured the weak, a principle that held true across all worlds!

"Once this is over, I'll go seek the things that move me deep in my heart."

Lowering his head to glance at the text message, Gu Shaoshang sat cross-legged on the bed and closed his eyes to rest his mind.

After arriving in the Dragon-Snake World, Gu Shaoshang's goal was no longer merely to collect Source Power. More importantly, he wanted to systematically study Guoshu, cross-reference the two paths, and hopefully forge a road of his own.

At around two in the morning, Gu Shaoshang opened his eyes.

He got out of bed and moved about a little. His bones immediately crackled like a string of firecrackers.

"The Marrow Cleansing Scripture still hasn't reached great completion. Otherwise, even sitting for an entire day wouldn't leave my body weary—it would even cleanse and refine my marrow!"

Gu Shaoshang frowned, somewhat dissatisfied.

Ba Liming had treasured many rare manuscript manuals, most of them either long lost or secrets never passed down by great sects.

Naturally, Gu Shaoshang had not let them slip by. He committed each one to memory. Most were secret techniques that could only be cultivated after reaching Hidden Force, or even Transforming Force.

Yet some had an extremely low threshold—techniques anyone could practice.

For example, the Marrow Cleansing Scripture.

Of course, this Marrow Cleansing Scripture was not that peerless divine art from martial arts worlds.

Rather, like Tiger-Leopard Thunder Sound, it was a method for cleansing and refining the marrow.

In ancient times, monks would sit in meditation for days at a time. Their blood and qi would seemingly stagnate throughout their bodies, yet they remained full of vigor—no hemorrhoids, no aching waists, no sore backs, no numb legs—and they could even live long lives. It all relied on the Scriptures of this Marrow Cleansing Scripture.

Though this Marrow Cleansing Scripture was not as swift as Tiger-Leopard Thunder Sound, its strength lay in the fact that anyone could practice it.

Gu Shaoshang himself had not slept for a long time. He basically spent his time sitting in meditation and practicing the Marrow Cleansing Scripture.

There was no moon tonight. The sky was pitch-black, while the wind rustled the leaves along the street.

"Dark night, high wind—perfect!" Gu Shaoshang suddenly smiled.

Gu Shaoshang lightly tapped off with the tips of his feet. Shrouded by darkness, he whipped his entire spine, lowered his center of gravity, and all the hairs on his body stood on end. His lower abdomen was hard as steel, goosebumps like iron sand rising over his skin as he suddenly exerted force.

At times, his waist and hips moved naturally, pulling up like grass being torn from the earth; at others, he was like a great snake slithering through the grass!

With a single movement and burst forward, he covered more than ten meters, as swift as a galloping horse!

Following the main road straight into the outskirts and nearing the surrounding villages, the streetlights gradually grew fewer. It truly became "night."

Gu Shaoshang did not stop, treading deep and shallow over a country path.

"That's the place!"

Gu Shaoshang's spirits lifted as he came to a halt.

Several hundred meters away lay a small village. In an overgrown clearing at its entrance stood an abandoned three-story building. The nearest homes were dozens of meters away.

It stood there alone at the village entrance.

At first glance, it looked like a haunted building.

Gu Shaoshang narrowed his eyes. There, faint lights flickered, and shadows of people seemed to move in and out of sight.

Thank you to reader 25172017194552576 for the reward. Author-kun is working very hard on writing—could everyone cast a recommendation vote? Thank you, everyone! A deep bow in thanks!