The Opening Conditions of the Gluttonous Crucible

This was Han Zheng's first real fight.

For a newcomer just stepping onto the martial path, he should have been nervous, but Han Zheng was utterly calm.

He set up the Vajra Fist stance, muscles and tendons in his arms surging as he crossed them before him, bracing against Brother Xiong's knife-hand strike.

Bam!

A dull thud rang out.

Han Zheng took half a step back, and Brother Xiong's expression shifted instantly.

Han Zheng now had a measure of the situation.

They were evenly matched in strength, with the other slightly stronger—probably having opened around seventy Acupoints, but not yet a second Meridian.

Fightable!

Blood and qi churned and boiled. Han Zheng's arms bulged with knotted muscle as they lashed out like two heavy Vajra Pestles, slamming toward Brother Xiong simultaneously.

Brother Xiong's techniques were a messy mix—fist forms, palm strikes, and grappling.

But now, facing Han Zheng's counterattack, he could only passively block the relentless barrage.

The longer they fought, the more wrong it felt to Brother Xiong.

Each of the other's punches rattled his blood and qi, yet Han Zheng seemed completely unfazed.

Force was mutual; logically, Han Zheng should be suffering too.

Han Zheng did feel the backlash of force stirring his blood and qi.

But he had sacrificed his sense of pain, so it couldn't affect his combat ability at all—instead, it made him fight fiercer.

A flicker of ruthlessness flashed in Brother Xiong's eyes.

His palms coiled like vipers around Han Zheng's arms.

Though tall, he suddenly crouched low, compressing his frame to its smallest.

Borrowing leverage from his arms, he launched himself into the air, kicking straight at Han Zheng's groin!

The move was ugly, like a dog lifting its leg to piss, but it was a genuine killing strike.

Han Zheng rooted his feet, twisted his waist, and sharply angled his body, narrowly dodging the kick.

Blood and qi surged. Han Zheng wrenched his right arm free from Brother Xiong's grip, turned his fist into a pestle, and smashed down from midair!

Vajra Demon Subduing!

This was the fruit of training against the Martial Intent of the Vajra Fist within the Gluttonous Crucible.

The punch Han Zheng had just unleashed in life-or-death combat was a true embodiment of the Vajra Fist's Martial Intent.

Even if Li Jingzhong himself had come—though his realm far surpassed Han Zheng's—he might not have thrown a punch with such essence.

Bam!

With another dull thud, Brother Xiong, with no foothold after his aerial strike, couldn't dodge. The blow smashed into his head, slamming him hard to the ground.

His forehead was even caved in by Han Zheng's punch, blood gushing like a spring. He twitched once on the ground and then lay still.

Han Zheng went over and checked his breath. Brother Xiong was dead as dead could be.

In martial combat, better to press forward in a moment than to pause in one.

Han Zheng had perfectly followed Li Jingzhong's teaching—striking with lethal intent, no hesitation, no holding back.

Whether in this life or the last, this was Han Zheng's first kill.

But for some reason, he felt no discomfort at all.

In life-or-death combat, it was either you or me.

Right now, he only felt relief that the one lying there wasn't him.

[Slain early Houtian realm martial artist. Obtained 1 Vitality Essence, available for sacrifice.]

Han Zheng paused for a moment.

But there was no time to dwell on it. He walked over to Ma Gui, who was nearly scared witless, grabbed him by the throat, and said in a calm voice, "Now, can you talk?"

Ma Gui was truly terrified.

He'd thought that with Brother Xiong here, Han Zheng would be dealt with in no time.

He never expected that in just a few exchanges, Brother Xiong would be beaten to death!

The moment Brother Xiong died, Ma Gui wanted to run, but it was too late.

One of his legs had been kicked out of joint by Han Zheng—where could he go?

"Don't kill me! I'll talk! I'll tell you everything!"

Ma Gui started to speak, then his face crumpled. "I want to talk, but I don't know anything!"

"You don't know anything? Are you messing with me?"

Han Zheng's face darkened.

He had just killed a man, and the Killing Intent still hung thick on him. His hand tightened steadily, and Ma Gui's face flushed crimson in an instant.

Ma Gui hurriedly said, "I really didn't trick you! I'm not even a full member of the Three Harmonies Gang—how would I know that much?

The man you killed was Wang Xiong, a gang leader in the Three Harmonies Gang. I did a few jobs for him and wanted to join.

But Wang Xiong said I wasn't good enough yet—I had to pull off one more thing.

Find him a young, strong-blooded man. Trick him, coax him, whatever it takes.

That day I happened to run into you. You'd been training at the martial arts school for so long, you had to qualify.

I took out ten taels of silver and lied to you, said I needed help moving some contraband for a merchant caravan at night, had to leave the city after dark.

When night came, I handed you over to Wang Xiong, and you two left the city. As for what happened after that, I really don't know a thing."

After he finished, Ma Gui shot Han Zheng a cautious glance.

He thought to himself, I didn't follow you out of the city—you should know that yourself. Why come asking me?

"Don't know? Then why were you so shocked to see me alive?"

"Because that's what Wang Xiong said himself.

Wang Xiong didn't just take you out of the city—there was another young man and two girls under twenty.

I asked him one extra question, what he was taking you all out of the city for so late at night, and he slapped me. Said don't ask about things I shouldn't.

Then he told me to keep my mouth shut—you all definitely weren't coming back. That means dead."

Han Zheng frowned slightly.

So there really was something wrong with him waking up outside the city.

Who knew what Wang Xiong was taking him and the others out of the city for? Just to kill them?

Probably not. The way he had Ma Gui find people was completely random.

He was just unlucky enough to run into Ma Gui, and happened to be short on cash, so he got tricked.

Too bad Wang Xiong, the only one who knew everything, was already dead by his hand.

"Does the Three Harmonies Gang know I'm alive?"

Right now, the only thing Han Zheng wasn't sure about was whether Wang Xiong's actions had anything to do with the gang. If they found out he was still alive, would they come to kill him too?

Ma Gui shook his head. "I don't know that either.

After I ran into you yesterday, I agonized over it all day. I only told Wang Xiong this morning.

His face changed on the spot. He told me not to go blabbing around.

If anyone else, especially the Second Gang Leader, heard about it, we'd both be finished.

He said he'd come find me tonight to figure out what to do."

Hearing that, Han Zheng relaxed a little.

From what Wang Xiong said, him being alive meant Wang Xiong had botched the job, so the higher-ups in the Three Harmonies Gang probably hadn't caught wind of it yet.

"You don't know anything else?"

"Nothing! I'm just an errand boy. I didn't recognize your greatness. Please, just let me go!"

Ma Gui begged with a tearful face.

But he felt the hand around his throat tightening. He wanted to plead, to scream, but no sound came out.

Watching Ma Gui go completely still in his grip, Han Zheng dropped his body to the ground like a dead dog.

"Since you don't know anything else, you've got no reason to live."

Killing the first man hadn't fazed Han Zheng much.

Now, killing the second, his mind was even calmer.

He glanced at the two corpses on the ground, just starting to think about how to deal with them, when footsteps echoed from outside the alley.

The commotion from his fight with Wang Xiong had been loud enough to wake some nearby residents.

But in this day and age, it was better to avoid trouble. Those commoners wouldn't dare come check.

Now that the noise had stopped, they were finally poking their heads out to see what happened.

With no time to dispose of the bodies, Han Zheng slipped around to the back courtyard.

After making sure the alley behind it was empty, he vaulted over the wall and fled.

Back home, Han Zheng took a shower first, washing the smell of blood off himself while mulling over the whole chain of events.

The Three Harmonies Gang had a massive presence in Black Stone County. Deaths from gang fights were common, and murder was routine.

With their influence, even if they killed a few people openly on the street, the County Yamen wouldn't lift a finger.

Yet Wang Xiong, a gang leader, had secretly taken two men and two women out of the city, certain they'd die out there and never come back. There had to be something far more serious behind it—not just a few simple killings.

And the fact that Wang Xiong was terrified of the Second Gang Leader, Gao Kaiyuan, finding out he was still alive proved this was tied to the gang's higher-ups.

But once the trail led to someone at the level of the Three Rivers Gang's Second Gang Leader, it was no longer something he could investigate on his own.

The only good news now was that both Ma Gui and Wang Xiong were dead.

He was just some random hire Ma Gui had picked up. Aside from Ma Gui and Wang Xiong, no one else knew his identity. For the time being, he should be safe.

Putting those thoughts aside for now, Han Zheng summoned the Gluttonous Crucible.

Beneath the Gluttonous Crucible, rows of small compartments appeared, like a backpack in a game.

There was only one item inside—what looked like a blood pearl, with a line of description above it.

Vitality Essence: condensed from a martial artist's vital energy and blood. Sacrificing it grants 10 points of Satiety.

This was the first time Han Zheng had obtained something he could sacrifice that wasn't a part of his own body.

But the problem was, this thing could only be obtained by killing martial artists.

He had killed two people today, but Ma Gui didn't even count as a martial artist, so no Vitality Essence was gained.

Was the Gluttonous Crucible telling him that to grow stronger, he would have to keep killing?

Han Zheng had felt something sinister about this thing before, and now he was certain.

The condition for activating the Gluttonous Crucible was to drive Han Zheng into endless slaughter, accumulating Satiety—or sacrificing himself to gain power.

Whether he could resist that temptation would depend entirely on his own will and resolve.

Han Zheng didn't waste the 10 points of Satiety. He immediately sacrificed them to the Gluttonous Crucible and entered it to cultivate.

The Three Harmonies Gang matter was always a lurking threat. To protect himself, Han Zheng had to build up his strength.

10 points of Satiety allowed him to cultivate inside the Gluttonous Crucible for ten days.

And Han Zheng noticed that this time, his cultivation progress seemed faster.

In ten days, he opened ten acupoints and also opened another meridian.

As his proficiency with the Iron Elephant Skill grew, his cultivation speed would increase as well.

Han Zheng pulled up his Attribute Panel to check his status.

Name: Han Zheng

Cultivation: Houtian Meridian Opening Realm (seventy acupoints opened, two meridians opened)

Martial Arts & Techniques: Houtian Realm "Iron Elephant Skill" Proficiency (35%), Houtian Realm "Vajra Fist" Proficiency 50%

Current Status: Pain Insensitivity, Healthy Vital Energy and Blood

Han Zheng let out a soft sound of surprise.

He hadn't practiced the Vajra Fist inside the Gluttonous Crucible this time, yet its proficiency had jumped from 30% to 50%.

It must have been because he had used the Vajra Fist in a life-or-death struggle with Wang Xiong, even landing a punch that contained the true essence of the technique—that was what caused the surge in proficiency.

Han Zheng had more or less figured out the rules of proficiency.

Internal cultivation techniques naturally increased in proficiency through continuous practice.

But martial skills grew fastest in life-or-death combat.

Thanks to fellow reader Jiangbei Little Red Star for the 10,000 Qidian coins tip (^ω^)