Dojo Master

"Cough, cough~, there are still experts."

Standing beside a building in the dark, he used his hands to prop himself against the asbestos-like wall to steady his body.

Tao Yu clutched his broken ribs. His shoulder, outside the bulletproof vest, also bore a gruesome gunshot wound. As he channeled Wish Power, his ribs quickly healed, and the gunshot wound pushed the bullet out.

He had already spent over three thousand Wish Power to replenish his stamina, allowing him to maintain high endurance.

Shadows could enter at any moment, and an explosion could happen at any time.

He spent over a thousand more to recover from his injuries, a huge loss!

He could have recovered by eating, but given the current situation, there wasn't enough time. Tao Yu had no choice but to spend the Wish Power reluctantly.

Then, looking at the bundle wrapped in a bedsheet in front of him, filled with various odds and ends, Tao Yu didn't know how much it could restore.

He couldn't meticulously search for more.

Although he had cleared everything from the outskirts to the inside, there should be no survivors from the Li family. He had shaken everything to the core, and finally, he had even set a fire with kerosene.

But he couldn't stay at the scene forever!

He could only hastily retrieve these items that seemed potentially valuable, mainly Wish Power items.

"Are these considered stolen goods? Aren't they too conspicuous?"

Tao Yu picked up a small Wish Power knife. He could sense its properties of sharpness and causing bleeding. He decided to absorb it directly as raw Wish Power.

They all seemed to be auxiliary items. Although their value was indeed higher than simply absorbing Wish Power, Tao Yu clearly didn't have time to deal with them, so he absorbed them all in one go.

In total, he absorbed about eight thousand Wish Power…

"What a shame. If I had sold them all, it would have been at least ten thousand, or even more. I wonder if families like theirs have any backup treasure spots…"

Tao Yu sighed somewhat. He only kept two items from the entire bedsheet bundle.

One was a seemingly ordinary handgun with the Wish Power characteristic of 'ballistic precision.' It was a very common but practical Wish Power item. Absorbing its Wish Power yielded only four hundred, but its price should be around two thousand.

Because it was a high-quality, common item, Tao Yu kept it.

The other was a long dagger, which could also function as a short sword. It only had two hundred Wish Power reserves but possessed three excellent Wish Power characteristics: 'armor piercing,' 'wear-resistant,' and 'sharp.' It was a small gem.

The rest were all absorbed for their Wish Power, turning into ordinary items.

These could also be sold for some money, but after some hesitation, Tao Yu found a place and buried them.

He needed Wish Power, but there was no need to take such risks…

"Actually, I didn't want to risk it at night. In the previous environment, a stray bullet might have hit my head. Even if I used Wish Power to recover instantly, it might not have worked. I wasn't willing to try."

Tao Yu finally returned to his bed, sighing somewhat.

Originally, he had intended to spread the information and risks incrementally, but the Li family had gone too far…

"No, tomorrow I still need to continue providing information to the dojo. Otherwise, after they learn about the Li family's annihilation, the shopkeeper might get greedy and decide not to report it. What then?"

Tao Yu reviewed and found new problems.

This world was too dark. The thought of them coming to silence him overnight made him tremble with fear…

The next morning, Tao Yu ate breakfast as if nothing had happened.

He headed out towards Hound Stronghold, on his way to the dojo to learn martial arts. The scene was similar to yesterday.

A group of people from the Outer City were queuing to enter the stronghold.

In the Outer City, where ordinary people relied on shouting to spread news, the tragedy that occurred in the Security Team's residential area wouldn't reach them so quickly.

However, when it was Tao Yu's turn to queue for entry, he saw three people in Security Team uniforms running in a hurry.

The three headed straight for the stronghold entrance. Their hurried movements attracted the attention of many onlookers, who wondered what had happened.

"Post these notices in your stronghold, and arrange for people to read them aloud next to them for the first three days."

The three Security Team members went directly to the entrance and threw down a stack of notices that still smelled of ink, seemingly freshly printed.

The guards, who usually acted high and mighty towards other Outer City residents, now forced smiles and nodded in agreement upon seeing the three Security Team members.

A guard squad leader even offered them some self-rolled cigarettes.

"Gentlemen, what happened this time?"

A subordinate quickly brought water.

A Security Team member, who had indeed become thirsty from rushing over, pulled at his collar, lit his cigarette on the spot, and said with a grim expression:

"Something big happened. The Li family was wiped out."

"Wiped out?"

"The Li family?"

People queuing to enter the stronghold nearby pricked up their ears to listen.

"Which Li family?"

The stronghold's guard captain was a bit stunned.

"The South City Li Family."

Three members of the Security Team also looked somewhat terrified. The crime scene was in the Security Team's residential area, so close to the Inner City wall, and yet an entire family was wiped out?

What kind of grudge could cause this! What kind of strength!

Hiss~

Everyone nearby who heard this sucked in a cold breath.

This was truly a major incident...

"Junior Disciple Tao? What's wrong? You look so preoccupied."

Smith smiled when he saw Tao Yu change into his dojo training clothes and arrive.

"Ah, don't even mention it. When I entered the stronghold just now, I heard the South City Li Family was annihilated."

"What? The South City Li Family?"

Smith had clearly heard of the South City Li Family before.

"I heard their family's [Knight's Breathing Technique] is also top-notch. They're... they're wiped out just like that?"

Smith also appeared very shocked.

The Outer City was actually never peaceful. On Awakening Day alone, who knows how many people died, and nameless corpses in the gutters were commonplace.

But the annihilation of a prominent family like this was relatively rare.

"Yeah, I was even in the same intake as a young man from their family. Senior Brother, can I see the Dojo Master? I have something I want to discuss."

Tao Yu put on a worried expression.

Although Smith had just heard some juicy gossip, he was still just an observer. Hearing Tao Yu's words, he chuckled and said, "Speaking of which, the Dojo Master wanted to see you after he heard about your situation. Come with me, you might even get personal guidance from the Dojo Master."

Compared to the Li Family's annihilation, which had no relation to him, the Dojo Master and this Junior Disciple were more important. Smith directly led Tao Yu towards a separate, relatively smaller wooden house.

Although this wooden house didn't take up much space, it was exquisite and much more aesthetically pleasing than the other buildings in the dojo.

At this moment, an unremarkable middle-aged man was sitting cross-legged on a cushion outside the wooden house, with a cup of freshly brewed hot tea beside him.

Upon seeing Smith bring Tao Yu over, this person, also dressed in a dojo uniform and appearing very ordinary, nodded and smiled at Tao Yu.

"You must be the genius student Smith was talking about. You truly have a distinguished appearance."

The Myriad Flow Dojo Master, Liu Yi, looked truly ordinary, with no exaggerated bulging muscles visible.

But just sitting there casually gave Tao Yu a feeling of blending into nature.

And although he smiled gently and his demeanor was casual, Tao Yu always felt a subtle sense of tension, the kind of involuntary nervousness an ordinary person feels when facing a fierce beast.

The Dojo Master is indeed strong!

This feeling was even a bit stronger than Li Hui's yesterday.

Li Hui's pressure was too immense, which caused Tao Yu to stack all his skills at once. After the fight, if he hadn't replenished some Wish Power, he would have almost collapsed