Wang Dali's Ill Intent

"Hey hey hey! Comrade Soldier, you're bending the rules here! Why can he leave the city but we can't?"

"Exactly! He doesn't even look older than us, and he's not wearing any combat gear—clearly a rookie. How come you're not worried about him running into danger out there?"

"Yeah, why aren't you asking him for a Martial Artist Badge?"

The Squad Leader shot the noisy group of boys and girls a strange look but didn't argue.

Instead, he silently pulled out his phone from his waist, unlocked it, opened the photo album, and pulled up a picture. He handed it to the few youngsters and said:

"Take a look yourselves."

Curious, they crowded around. The moment they saw the photo, their eyes went wide, and they gasped:

"Whoa! Shadow Cats? Mid-grade Level 1 fierce beasts, Shadow Cats? That guy's dragging Shadow Cats behind him? Ten whole Shadow Cat corpses!?"

"Holy crap! Did that Handsome Guy kill all of these? He took down ten Shadow Cats by himself?!"

"How is that possible? What's his strength? Even those prodigies gunning for the top spot in Xujiang City's Martial Arts Exam couldn't pull that off, right?!"

Watching them stand there dumbfounded, swallowing hard, the Squad Leader couldn't help feeling a surge of satisfaction:

"Now you get why I let him through, don't you?

If any one of you could reach his level, even without a Level 1 Martial Artist badge, I'd let you through no questions asked!"

Still the same stretch of city ruins, everywhere covered in mossy broken walls and debris, with faint traces of old human civilization on the signboards.

Inside a large building.

A straight-backed, sharp-browed Black-Haired Youth stood at a distance, facing a Shadow Cat whose pitch-black fur and size dwarfed even a Siberian tiger.

Faced with such a massive, ferocious beast radiating a terrifying aura, any ordinary person would have been scared out of their wits.

But the youth remained calm.

Not only calm—he even struck first. The long blade in his right hand dragged across the hard floor, sending sparks flying, as his entire body turned into a blur of motion.

He lunged forward.

Clang!

In the dim light, a black blade flashed, like lightning born from the void.

Thud.

A black head, its eyes still gleaming with savagery, soared into the air amid a spray of blood.

Ding. Killed Mid-grade Level 1 Fierce Beast, Shadow Cat. Qi and Blood +0.005.

Name: Li Ziyu

Realm: Advanced Level 1

Combat Skills: Basic Gale Blade Technique, Basic Rampaging Bull Body Tempering Skill, Intermediate Blade Technique, Basic Movement Technique.

System: Martial God System.

Function: Can absorb all things to enhance Qi and Blood. Other functions await host's discovery.

Back when he tested at the Martial Arts Association, his Qi and Blood had already reached 5.99. After entering the city and casually killing a single fierce beast, he directly pushed his realm to Advanced.

"As my level rises, killing fierce beasts weaker than me gives less and less Qi and Blood."

"Before, killing one Shadow Cat would add 0.01 Qi and Blood. Now it's been cut in half."

"Looks like I need to go deeper, farther from the walls, and hunt higher-level fierce beasts."

Li Ziyu skillfully packed up the Shadow Cat's corpse while frowning in thought.

He had no idea how long he'd been in the Wilderness Area, nor how many Shadow Cats he'd killed.

All he knew was that by the end, he couldn't carry any more corpses.

The ones he'd killed nearby, he'd piled up in one spot, planning to have someone come haul them back after he finished hunting.

The ones scattered farther away, he had no choice but to abandon.

Li Ziyu's heart bled—every Shadow Cat corpse was money!

Each one was worth tens of thousands.

Still, his haul from this trip to the Wilderness Area was huge.

The Level 2 Rampaging Bull Body Tempering Skill he'd picked up at the Martial Arts Association—he'd already mastered the basics!

After getting the hang of it, the only feeling he had was that his body was now tougher than before!

The Qi and Blood in his body felt like it had been refined, heavier and more solid than ever!

Li Ziyu had tested it.

After cultivating the Body Tempering Skill, the quality of his Qi and Blood had increased by at least twenty percent!

In other words, his defense, endurance, and strength had all been boosted by twenty percent across the board!

Previously, when he faced a Shadow Cat, even using Gale Slash, he needed two strikes to kill it.

But now, he killed it in one slash!

Terrifying, truly terrifying beyond words!

No wonder combat skills were so expensive—the effect was this massive.

Li Ziyu thought to himself.

After resting in place for a while, Li Ziyu glanced at the sky.

The sunlight was still glaring. He took out his phone and checked it. Though there was no signal in the Wilderness Area, the time was still displayed.

16:00

"It's still early before heading down the mountain. Since I've brought enough rations, I'll keep going deeper to hunt higher-level beasts!"

Picking a direction, Li Ziyu gripped his War Blade with both hands and cautiously moved along the buildings deeper into the wilderness.

Xujiang City, Hongsu Martial Arts Hall.

"You're saying you have a classmate whose blood qi test was only 0.8 a few days ago, and today it jumped straight to 5.99?"

In a spacious training room, Wang Dali looked astonished at Bai Haoran, who was frantically hacking at a training dummy.

Last time he ran into Bai Haoran bringing a female companion here for a blood qi test.

He'd just casually mentioned it, asking Bai Haoran if he wanted to sign up for his sprint training course.

Two days with no word, and Wang Dali had almost forgotten about it.

He never expected Bai Haoran to suddenly come looking for him at Hongsu Martial Arts Hall today, specifically asking to enroll in his express course.

This delighted him—after all, it was a hundred thousand yuan, no small sum even for a Peak Level 1 Martial Artist like him.

And there was no such thing as an express course; he was just going to string the guy along for a few days, then feed him a pill that temporarily forced a blood qi boost.

Easy money.

"Can you tell me more about your classmate's situation?"

Wang Dali said, his eyes flickering.

Just mentioning Li Ziyu irritated Bai Haoran, so he casually spilled everything he knew about Li Ziyu to Wang Dali.

Wang Dali listened.

Lowered his head.

His eyes flickered even faster, as if he was rapidly calculating something.

If Bai Haoran had stopped his hacking, he might have heard Wang Dali muttering under his breath:

"Blood qi rising this much in three days... even for an awakened blood qi talent, it shouldn't be this fast..."

"That kid named Li Ziyu must have run into some kind of opportunity!"

A moment later, a glint of sharpness flashed in Wang Dali's eyes. He raised his head and said to Bai Haoran:

"I just remembered I have something to take care of. Training ends here for today!"

With that, leaving a bewildered Bai Haoran behind, he grabbed his blade and pushed open the door, walking out of the training room.

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