Self-Created Martial Arts

Self-Created Martial Arts

After leaving the small grove, Lin Le suddenly sighed. Such a tired old plot.

After walking for a while, Lin Le spoke. "Gentlemen, aren't you coming out?"

As soon as he finished speaking, three men in black emerged from three different directions and surrounded Lin Le.

"Are you after money or goods?" Lin Le asked calmly.

"No, no. We want you." One of the men in black spoke. "To be precise, we want your flesh, outsider."

"Me, an outsider?" Lin Le raised a brow. "What makes you say that?"

"Didn't you know that entering the black market requires bowing before three sticks of incense?" The man in black sneered. "You don't even know this rule, yet you claim you're not an outsider?"

So that was why the incense seller had looked at me so strangely.

Lin Le thought back on it, and a trace of understanding dawned on him.

At that moment, the three men in black lunged at Lin Le together, scarlet light blooming from the daggers in their hands.

A combined attack technique. Second-limit Martial Masters?

Surprised, Lin Le sprang from the ground, leaping a full zhang into the air.

The three men in black jumped as well, pursuing Lin Le.

A sheet of blood-colored cloth appeared beneath Lin Le's feet. With a burst of force, he slid sideways a zhang to the left.

The three men in black missed completely. They exchanged glances and saw the horror in each other's eyes.

That had not been blood-colored cloth at all, but Blood Qi condensed to an extreme degree.

Blood Qi Like a Dragon—and Blood Qi Like a Dragon on the verge of approaching the Blood Qi Furnace.

"What did you mean by wanting my flesh?" Lin Le asked as he landed.

The three men in black had no intention of explaining. They turned and fled.

They had thought Lin Le was a second-limit Martial Master. Otherwise, why would he have been so stingy even when buying a Spirit Blood Pill? But reality proved that he was a third-limit Martial Master, and that changed everything.

They could hold a second-limit Martial Master firmly in their grasp, but against a third-limit one, at least one of them would have to die.

Yet none of them wanted to die, so retreating was the best choice.

But Lin Le had no intention of granting them the right to retreat.

Bang! Force burst beneath his feet. At a speed almost like teleportation, Lin Le flashed behind one of the men in black in the blink of an eye.

Feeling a gale of wind rush at his back, the man in black was horrified. He turned to block, but how could his speed compare to Lin Le's?

Bang!

With one punch, a huge hole exploded through the man's chest. He was clearly beyond saving.

The strange sound drew the remaining two men to turn around. Seeing their companion's chest blown apart by a single blow, they were instantly scared out of their wits.

It was not as if they had never seen a third-limit Martial Master strike before, but who had ever seen one as outrageous as Lin Le? To smash a second-limit Martial Master's chest apart with a single fist—did he possess inborn divine strength?

But even if they ran for their lives, they could not outrun Lin Le.

After slapping one man's head straight into his chest cavity, Lin Le seized the last man by the throat. "Answer what I ask, and you can die a little more easily."

"Bullshit!" The man in black had some backbone after all, and immediately cursed back.

Crack! Lin Le expressionlessly crushed the man's fingernail, then ground it hard, reducing even the bone to pulp.

The ten fingers were connected to the heart. The agonizing pain made the man lose his voice, and only choking coughs came from his mouth.

"Why do you capture outsiders?" Lin Le asked.

The man said nothing. It looked as though he had not yet recovered, so Lin Le directly slapped him hard across the face. Once the slap brought him back to his senses, Lin Le repeated the question.

"To feed a demon," the man answered obediently. He had thought himself a man of backbone. What hardship had he not endured for the sake of practicing martial arts?

But that burst of searing pain had truly terrified him. He was not as tough as he had imagined.

"Which Household's demon? What does it look like?" Lin Le pressed.

"The Xiang Household. A Fox Demon," the man in black answered.

Crack! The man in black immediately breathed his last.

Lin Le expressionlessly tossed the corpse aside. Veins bulged unconsciously along his arm, revealing the turmoil in his heart.

He had not expected to find a clue to his enemies so quickly.

The Xiang Household. A Fox Demon!

Lin Le's teeth creaked against one another.

Only after a long while did Lin Le calm down. He searched the three bodies, then set them ablaze before leaving.

Back at the inn, Lin Le entered the inner realm of his Inner Vision Divine Ability. His surplus merit had risen to fifty points, and the lotus root had grown into two sections.

He first spent a lotus seed to cultivate the Qi Swallowing Art to perfection. Then Lin Le swallowed the Spirit Blood Pill and began transforming his form.

A day later, Lin Le remained without breath, holding it for a full half hour before finally breathing again.

Great Whale Lung, complete!

After having the waiter bring over a huge pile of food, Lin Le devoured two to three hundred jin of it in one sitting. After becoming a third-limit Martial Master, his appetite had grown enormously as well.

Next came the Crimson Dragon Blood Scripture.

One thought, one year. Lin Le's cultivation progressed with every step as difficult as climbing to heaven. Although he could simulate essence and qi to replace secret medicine, without a nourishing method to control his Blood Qi, each cultivation attempt nearly killed him.

After exhausting one lotus seed, Lin Le had only managed to reach the entry level.

No, I need to change my way of thinking. At this rate, even two or three hundred lotus seeds won't be enough.

Lin Le consumed another lotus seed. This time, he used the nourishing methods of various martial arts to temper and blend the Crimson Dragon Blood Scripture. In the middle of it, an idea suddenly struck him. Why not use these martial arts as blueprints to create martial arts uniquely his own?

The forms he had transformed were all pieced together from here and there. How could that compare to twelve forms working together under one unified line of thought, all pulling in the same direction?

During one thought, one year, Lin Le's thinking had become rather single-minded. The more he considered it, the more he felt this approach was superior. From the very beginning, he refined the Crimson Dragon Blood Scripture, charging headlong toward the idea of creating his own martial arts.

When one thought, one year ended and Lin Le's thoughts returned to normal, he considered it carefully and still felt that creating his own martial arts was the better choice.

However, he also noticed a problem: his store of knowledge was insufficient. He had not noticed it during one thought, one year, but after reviewing it in the outside world, he clearly realized that his thinking had been confined to the martial arts he had learned so far.

Relying on only twelve martial arts manuals, even if all of them were perfected, would probably not be enough to create something new.

With that in mind, Lin Le went out and swept through the county, buying every martial art he could find. The three men from last night had provided five or six hundred taels in banknotes, so he did not need to worry about running short.

In the end, Lin Le gathered thirteen common martial arts manuals.

After finishing the last one, Lin Le tapped his fingers against the table, feeling that it was still not enough.

The common martial arts circulating on the market could only transform one form. Those capable of transforming two forms were already rare, while three or four forms were likely held in the hands of great clans and major sects.

That night, Lin Le returned to the black market and spent two hundred taels to purchase ten uncommon martial arts manuals.

After leaving the black market, Lin Le lingered in one place for some time.

No one followed me?

Lin Le frowned. He had wanted to ask for more information related to the Xiang Household.

Climbing over the wall back into the city, Lin Le passed a bandit den that had just been wiped out. Remembering that there was still a copy of the Empty Hand Technique inside that he had not collected, he climbed over the wall into the courtyard.

Upon entering, Lin Le could not help frowning at the corpses scattered across the ground, because they looked far too strange.

After so many days at ordinary temperatures, the corpses had not swollen or decayed. Instead, they looked as though they had been air-dried for years.

Picking up the book, Lin Le sensed something was wrong and prepared to leave, but a slightly seductive voice sounded beside his ear:

"Human, you look delicious."