Half a Month

"It really is hard..."

After training all day, Tao Yu was getting ready to head home and let his family know he'd be staying at the dojo for the next few days. A look of rueful wonder crossed his face.

He'd mastered Myriad Flow Stance three times over!

And now, even with Deification-level Myriad Flow Stance as his foundation, he still couldn't master a single form in one day. That was with Smith constantly correcting him and giving him hands-on instruction, too!

As expected, learning the five forms was far more difficult. No wonder they'd simplified stance training first, so they could use willing power to speed up the process.

"But I've got the general feel of it now. Two days at most—I should have it down in two days."

His proficiency was visibly improving, and he hadn't run into any bottlenecks or anything he couldn't understand.

With his foundation in stance training and his excellent physical attributes, learning all five forms wouldn't be a problem.

Then there was Saliva Swallowing Technique, which helped with digestion.

That was Tao Yu's goal for this month.

Although after awakening his talent, he only had to wait five days before returning to the Abyss, Tao Yu still planned to learn everything he could first, and use up nearly all his willing power before going back.

Sharpening the axe wouldn't delay the work of chopping wood!

Compared to the Abyss, the Real World was much more comfortable, and he could learn new skills here, too.

"Huh? Uncle Hu, what brings you here?"

When Tao Yu reached home, he saw Uncle Hu standing outside with two members of the Security Team, smoking and chatting.

His third brother, Tao Tong, who rarely went out, had rolled his wheelchair outside, too.

Tao Tong also had Dynamic Vision. He'd joined the Security Team before, through Uncle Hu's connections, and now he was chatting with them with a rare smile on his face.

"Well, look who's back—our little genius!"

Uncle Hu had a cigarette dangling from his mouth. He spotted Tao Yu, grinned, and beckoned him over.

"Uncle Hu?"

Tao Yu jogged over.

"I heard you went to the inner city to learn some skills. How's it going? Smoothly?"

Uncle Hu looked Tao Yu up and down as he asked.

"Great. The Dojo Master and my senior brothers have been really welcoming."

"Of course. Everyone's welcoming to an A-rank talent."

After exchanging a few words, Tao Hu explained why he'd come.

"You've heard about the Li family, right? I'm actually here because of that."

"I have. It scared me half to death. Go ahead, sir."

Tao Yu listened quietly nearby. They clearly hadn't come to accuse him of being the killer or anything like that. It had to be about the Blood Orchid.

"We've got some leads. You did a good job passing along the information about the Blood Orchid yesterday. I was a bit careless before."

Tao Hu praised Tao Yu, then filled him in on the situation.

"We can pretty much confirm the Li family was sold out by their allies. Given the Li family's connections, we can narrow down the suspects to a few groups. But they're very cautious, and none of them have slipped up. Now that you've sold the information, this should be the end of it."

Tao Hu was being blunt, just as Dojo Master Liu Yi had predicted.

The other party hadn't targeted the Security Team. This was purely a dispute over how the Li family's spoils were divided.

If the Li family had been working with the Security Team as a whole and then got wiped out, they'd definitely have united against the culprits. They might even have made a big enough fuss to bring in the Company Security Department.

But this was just a case of people failing to divide the loot fairly. The Security Team couldn't be bothered to get involved.

"...You would've been in danger otherwise, but luckily you were quick-witted. The problem should be settled now."

"Heh, I passed the information to the Dojo Master, too. I got a few free skills in exchange, and I've been staying at the dojo these past few days."

"Haha, you're a clever one. Looks like I was worrying for nothing."

Tao Hu laughed and patted Tao Yu on the shoulder. The kid seemed to have grown quite a bit taller; patting him felt a little awkward now.

Then he reached into his coat, took out a wristwatch, and handed it to Tao Yu.

"Here. The Sun family's young lady sent you this to congratulate you on getting an A-rank talent."

Tao Yu froze for a moment, then quickly took the watch.

Unlike the pixelated receiver on his old B-Boy, this was a sleek, smart-watch-style device with plenty of features.

"Those two big shots from the Floating City have already heard about your A-rank talent, and they know you're one of their partners. They sent word..."

Tao Hu cleared his throat, apparently quoting them directly.

"'We more or less understand what you're thinking. There's no need to worry too much. If you're willing to come over, we can keep you safe. If you're not comfortable with that, you can come later. For now, focus on improving your strength. Don't waste your talent.'"

It seemed that most of the people who'd returned over the past three days had fairly average talents. Tao Yu's A-rank Dynamic Vision was one of the more impressive ones.

After finishing, Tao Hu handed Tao Yu a card as well.

"Because of your talent, they've sent you three thousand points of willing power as startup money. The guy in charge of your district tried to skim some off the top, but I beat him up."

Holding the willing-power card, Tao Yu couldn't help feeling moved.

Compared to the way the Li family and Yosef operated, those two from the Floating City were a lot more generous.

They might look down on everyone else, but they were willing to spend real money to win people over.

Their motto seemed to be that a generous reward would bring brave men running.

"Uncle Hu, you seem more confident these days. What's up? Did you get a shot at moving up?"

Tao Yu teased Tao Hu in return.

To his surprise, Tao Hu grinned.

"It's not confirmed yet, not confirmed. For now, I'm just acting in the position."

That really surprised Tao Yu. He never would've guessed. It seemed Uncle Hu had stayed in touch with the big shot who'd taken a liking to him!

With his mechanical arm, Uncle Hu had the strength to be deputy captain of the South City District Security Team. But getting that position would also take connections and influence.

After all, based on Tao Yu's estimate, even a Security Team deputy captain would be killed if a group of ordinary people trapped him in the open and sprayed him with gunfire, unless he was wearing armor. It wasn't a matter of simply being strong enough.

Still, this was good news. Better to keep the benefits in the family...

The Li family massacre remained a hot topic in the neighborhood for half a month. But Tao Hu had already told Tao Yu how the Security Team felt about it, so there was no way anything would come of the case. The factions under suspicion clearly weren't going to slip up, either. The only arrests were some petty thieves and people dealing in contraband whom the authorities had overlooked before.

Gradually, people's attention shifted elsewhere.

The people of the Outer City had to focus most of their energy on filling their stomachs and staying alive. Plenty of those with spare cash were also being consumed by "pleasure." They didn't have much time to gossip.

People died all the time. Just look at the number of people dying by the transit plaza every day. The Outer City could only keep going because it had such a large population...

The Myriad Flow Dojo continued to resound with the trainees' rhythmic shouts during the day's training.

Of the few people who'd been getting extra instruction from Smith, only Tao Yu and Zhang Wei remained. The others had joined the main group and begun practicing.

Zhang Wei had relied on his D+ endurance talent to grind his way through stance training. Now he'd gritted his teeth and started learning a form, choosing Bear Form, which focused on defense and endurance and had a bit of a body-tempering feel to it.

As for Tao Yu, he'd now mastered all five forms. He still came to the dojo to practice, but mostly to replenish his body with Qi Replenishing Soup.

He'd also used up nearly all the willing power he had.

With his increased strength, his willing power was becoming less effective. And as his physical attributes approached their limits, he was starting to experience diminishing returns. Tao Yu could feel the efficiency of his training declining day by day.

"Ah, I'll have to find a way to make money again—and figure out how to keep raising my limits..."

Tao Yu swung his arms like an ape. The crisp crack of his fists cutting through the air rang out.

Myriad Flow Ape Form—Modified had reached level 2. The five forms consumed quite a bit more willing power than ordinary skills, but Tao Yu had finally forced it up to level 2.

Then the new change he'd been waiting for appeared.

The five skill orbs combined and spun around each other, giving birth to a new skill orb at their center!

Normally, he would've needed to raise all five ordinary forms to level 4 before he could master this new ability. But thanks to Deification, he'd met the requirement as soon as all five reached level 2.

Five Forms Unification Lv. 1: Combines the Tiger, Crane, Bear, Python, and Ape Forms into a single system, strengthening the body's vital energy and blood and moderately raising the body's limits.

If stance training was a prerequisite for the Five Forms, then the Five Forms were a prerequisite for Five Forms Unification!

And this was only the ordinary version. Looking at the 1,200 points of willing power needed for Deification, Tao Yu had only 2,000 left—but he didn't hesitate.

Deify!