Second-Rate Martial Artist

"Haha~~"

A hearty laugh rang out through the small courtyard in Yicheng, and a flicker of surprise crossed the eyes of Chu Xin (Li Qingyu), who was practicing her boxing.

That lecherous tiger actually broke through again. Is the gap between people really this vast?!

"So this is the Second-Rate realm!"

Looking at the empty jade box on the table, Gu Sheng secretly sighed that this trip had been worth it. Over the course of nine days, he had not only absorbed the medicine from five boxes of precious herbs, but had also begun mastering the Heaven-Grade Manual fragment, "Meteor Blade," which he had obtained from Lang Ge. Now, he possessed three thousand jin of strength and was a genuine Second-Rate martial artist.

"Qingshan has already taught me all the techniques. In that case, once I settle the matters concerning Li Manor, there'll be no need to remain in Yicheng any longer."

During those nine days, Gu Sheng had not simply buried himself in training. After relentlessly pestering Teng Qingshan, he had received everything Teng Qingshan knew, now that his favorability had been maxed out. His gains could only be described as enormous.

Xingyi Boxing (including the Twelve Forms of Xingyi, Five-Element Boxing, and Three-Body Stance)

Type: Internal-External Cultivation Technique

Quality: Grade 3C Technique (Three-Star Peak)

Notice: Skill not certified. It can only be used in this world and cannot be brought back to Lord God Space.

Certification required: 3,000 points, one Silver Medal

Tiger Form Spirit Art

Type: Internal Cultivation Secret Art

Quality: Grade B Technique (Four-Star)

Notice: Skill not certified. It can only be used in this world and cannot be brought back to Lord God Space.

Certification required: 1,000 points, one Silver Medal

That was right. Gu Sheng had learned the complete internal transmission of Xingyi Boxing from Teng Qingshan.

The Twelve Forms of Xingyi, Five-Element Boxing, and Three-Body Stance were all the essence of the divine-grade Secret Codex Teng Qingshan would possess in the future. Although they had not yet been perfected, their potential was immense.

According to what Chu Xin had said, she had never seen a Grade C technique whose certification cost was three times higher than that of a Grade B technique. Of course, with Samsara having only just emerged, this little girl's knowledge was limited.

In Gu Sheng's eyes, the relationship between the authentic Xingyi Boxing and the Tiger Form Spirit Art was equivalent to that between the Nine Yin Manual and the Nine Yang Divine Technique. The former encompassed everything and contained numerous divine techniques, while the latter focused on cultivating a single discipline.

The Tiger Form Spirit Art was a secret art that could only be practiced after internal boxing had reached the Grandmaster realm. It could rapidly elevate a cultivator's physical qualities to an entirely new level.

However, after reaching that level, the "Tiger Form Spirit Art" could no longer improve the body. Once the body began to age, its physical qualities would even decline. In other words, the Tiger Form Spirit Art was simply a secret art for developing the body's potential.

Gu Sheng pushed open the door and walked toward Chu Xin, who was practicing Xingyi Boxing.

Over the past nine days, the relationship between the little girl and Gu Sheng had eased considerably. After Gu Sheng generously shared the task of becoming Teng Qingshan's disciple with her, the two had reached an understanding in the mission world and become teammates.

Gu Sheng placed great importance on Chu Xin. The ability to sense good and evil—even if the perception was faint—was already extremely impressive. Used in the right circumstances, it might produce unexpected results.

"Hmph~"

When Chu Xin saw Gu Sheng approaching, she deliberately ignored him. When he reached her, she folded her arms, turned around, and refused to look at him.

"Chu Xin, little Xin'er, my darling Xin Xin..."

Gu Sheng spoke with a grin, effortlessly spouting one nauseating term of endearment after another.

"Lecherous tiger, shut up!"

Chu Xin quickly turned her head around. Gu Sheng's words were so sickeningly sweet that she truly could not handle them. "Speak! What do you want with me?"

Gu Sheng smiled. "I missed you. Isn't that reason enough?"

"Spare me! I'm not one of those worldly little girls who think they can be fooled just because someone says a few nice words. Don't even think about it."

Chu Xin rolled her eyes at him playfully, but her little face had reddened slightly. "Speak! What is it, really? From what I know of you, if you had nothing to do, you'd probably be itching to train nonstop!"

Gu Sheng secretly chuckled. Looks like the first step of my girl-raising plan is going very smoothly!

Gu Sheng smiled. "As expected, my Xin'er understands me best!"

Chu Xin protested, "Lecherous tiger, don't talk nonsense. Who's your Xin'er?"

Gu Sheng took half a step forward and leaned close to Chu Xin. He lightly breathed in the faint fragrance from her hair and smiled ambiguously. "We've already slept in the same bed. Things between us are already unclear!"

"You!"

Chu Xin flushed with anger and embarrassment. "Lecherous tiger, it was clearly you... You're awful."

"All right!"

Gu Sheng naturally pulled the little beauty into his arms. Fortunately, the Chu Xin in the real world was still a "good girl" who had not yet graduated high school. Strictly controlled by her mother, she had been forced to devote herself wholeheartedly to her studies and had no experience with certain matters. That was why Gu Sheng had managed to win her over so easily.

"I naturally have something to discuss with you."

Gu Sheng spoke gently. "I've already planned our next target, but it's somewhat dangerous."

Chu Xin turned her head. "What place?"

Gu Sheng brought her to the stone table and spread out a map covered in all kinds of lines—the wilderness.

"Iron Arm Ape Mountain! Silver Horn Mountain!"

Looking at the two endpoints covered in various routes on the map, Chu Xin's delicate brows drew together slightly. "I've heard Master from Gui Yuan Sect talk about this place called the wilderness. It's extremely dangerous. With our strength, entering it would be putting our lives on the line—and calling it nine deaths out of ten would be understating it.

"What exactly is in there that makes you care so much about it?"

Gu Sheng picked up a small wooden stick and pointed at Iron Arm Ape Mountain. "There's a group of Iron-Arm Apes guarding an exotic treasure here—the Cinnabar Fruit. According to the records of the Nine Provinces, the Cinnabar Fruit is one of six treasures capable of allowing someone to break through the Dantian Limit and reach the Postnatal First-Rate realm."

"Cinnabar Fruit!"

Chu Xin's eyes lit up. As someone who was still a Third-Rate weakling, she naturally longed to improve her strength, and she began eagerly anticipating Gu Sheng's proposal.

Gu Sheng pointed the stick toward Silver Horn Mountain. "As for this place, I can only say that it might be the key to completing our Main Quest. I suspect information about a key node can be found there."

Gu Sheng had never forgotten the mission from Lord God Space: the Main Quest, to explore the world's mysteries and search for the key node. At first, he had assumed that Lord God's target should be the "protagonist."

However, after coming into contact with Teng Qingshan, he discovered that things were not as he had imagined. Although Teng Qingshan was important, he did not seem to count as a key node in Lord God's eyes.

After thinking it over repeatedly and letting his mind wander, Gu Sheng came up with an idea. Perhaps this node was not a living person like the protagonist, but a place or an object. In the world of The Nine Cauldrons World, the most mysterious objects were the nine small cauldrons that had mutated after suppressing the nine spiritual veins.

If his guess was correct, then the small cauldron at Silver Horn Mountain should be the target of his Main Quest this time.

"The Main Quest?"

Chu Xin's gaze grew solemn. After pondering for a long while, she smiled and spoke decisively. "Since that's the case, what reason do we have to give up?"

Originally, she had always valued caution and held a different opinion about their trip into the wilderness. The Cinnabar Fruit was precious, but their lives were more important. That was her creed.

However, after Gu Sheng mentioned the Main Quest, she could no longer remain calm. She did not want to experience being forcibly thrown into a mission world by Lord God again.

She wanted to become the other version of herself once more.