Street Stall Divine Skill? Blood Qi True Flame!

"I want... I want... your love..."

After a quick wash, Lin Chen was about to head out when suddenly a voice like a pig being slaughtered came singing through. Then a greasy, bloated young man swaggered in with a gait that acknowledged no one.

"Fatty, what's with the peacocking today?" Lin Chen looked at the newcomer, speechless.

"Little Chen, you wouldn't get it. I'm in love." Fatty wore a smug look, like a boar in mating season.

"You sure it's love, and not just you going crazy?"

"That's jealousy, pure jealousy!" Fatty shot Lin Chen a fierce glare.

"You didn't trick some naive underclassman, did you?"

Lin Chen was curious. Graduation was almost here—who would start dating Fatty at a time like this? After four years as roommates, he knew Fatty well: aside from a pile of flab, the guy had no redeeming qualities.

"Nonsense, I'm devoted. It's Hu Xiaoling from the class next door."

Hu Xiaoling?

Lin Chen paused. Fatty had had a crush on Hu Xiaoling for ages, but the thing was, while she wasn't the class beauty, she was still pretty and sharp. She'd ignored Fatty for four years of college—why would she date him right before graduation?

What was she after?

"I'm done talking. Gotta shower first, then I'm off to meet my Lingling for a date."

Watching Fatty waddle toward the bathroom with a lovesick grin, Lin Chen swallowed the words on his tongue. Anyway, Fatty had nothing worth scamming except his fat. People had to grow up sometime.

Leaving the dorm, Lin Chen passed the cafeteria, grabbed some breakfast, and ate as he walked toward the spot where he'd killed the Mutated Rat last night.

"Just as I thought..."

Casually passing the spot from yesterday, he saw the road looked normal. Lin Chen's expression tightened. The Mutated Rat's corpse was gone, and there wasn't a trace left on the ground—as if everything that happened last night had been a dream.

But this made Lin Chen realize someone was secretly cleaning up Mutated Creatures. They were probably from the authorities. Otherwise, a dead rat that big would've left some sign or sparked rumors.

"The authorities..."

Lin Chen raised an eyebrow. If they were handling Mutated Creatures in secret, they definitely knew about this stuff. Maybe they had the martial arts he needed.

"The authorities are just a backup. No decision yet."

Lin Chen mulled it over. It wasn't that he had a problem with them, but official ties usually came with heavy restrictions. If he had a chance at freedom, he didn't want to be tied down.

"I'll try on my own first. If I can't get any martial arts, then I'll consider contacting them." Lin Chen quickly made up his mind.

"Hey, classmate, want to buy some books? We've got all kinds."

Just then, a sudden voice rang out beside Lin Chen. He turned to see a middle-aged man in a blue robe, with a neatly arranged book stall nearby.

These stalls were common on campus—books printed by some tiny workshop, sold at sixty or seventy percent off. Many freshmen fell for the bargain and bought a few, only to leave them untouched by graduation.

Lin Chen had been burned twice in this life and his past one, so he wasn't interested. But just as he was about to leave, his eyes caught a pile of messy old books beside the stall.

"Old books..."

His eyes lit up. Those newly printed ones couldn't have real martial arts, but old books might hold a sliver of hope.

Lin Chen walked over to the pile and started browsing. Sure enough, he spotted several "manuals"—Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms, Nine Yang Divine Skill, and the like.

"Classmate, these are Taoist divine arts. I'm a believer myself—just look at this robe..." The stall owner saw Lin Chen picking through the books and immediately started pitching.

Lin Chen's mouth twitched. The system didn't react. He flipped open a manual, pointed at a line of small print on the back cover, and gave the stall owner a knowing smirk. "Divine arts?"

Qingzhou Publishing House.

Mass-printed divine arts from a publishing house?

The stall owner let out an awkward laugh, silently vowing to tear off the back covers once Lin Chen left.

"Strengthenable martial art: Indestructible Golden Body (Fragment)."

Just then, a voice rang in Lin Chen's mind. His hand, about to put down the manual, froze. Then joy surged through him—he'd actually found a usable martial art at a street stall?

Suppressing his excitement, Lin Chen quickly skimmed the rest of the old book pile, but only this Indestructible Golden Body could be strengthened.

"Thread-bound, handwritten!"

Flipping through the manual, Lin Chen noticed it was different—a thread-bound handwritten copy, nothing like the mass-produced books from publishers.

"How much?"

Just as the stall owner thought Lin Chen was leaving, his voice came through.

"Five hundred. This is a handwritten copy, at least a few hundred years old..."

Lin Chen gave the stall owner a deadpan look. The guy was treating him like a sucker. "Fifty. Take it or..."

"Scan to pay!"

Before Lin Chen could finish, a QR code appeared in front of him. His mouth twitched. "Too high!"

Still, fifty for a martial art the system recognized was a steal. He scanned the code, paid, and left.

"Easy fifty. Time to treat myself!"

The stall owner, having gotten the old books for free as scrap, leisurely opened his phone and started scrolling through videos of girls in black stockings.

Now that he had the martial art, Lin Chen couldn't wait. He found a secluded, shady spot nearby and immediately chose to strengthen it.

Whoosh~

The secret manual in his hand suddenly burst into flames, instantly transforming into a dancing phoenix that flew straight into Lin Chen's brow.

"Martial art recorded: Phoenix Undying Body!"

"Phoenix Undying Body: Rooted in the self, cultivate Blood Qi, condense the Blood Qi True Flame!"

"Cultivated to the peak, nine Blood Qi True Flames can be condensed, forming the Phoenix True Flame—capable of burning all things in the world, enabling rebirth through nirvana, unmatched in ferocity!"

Hiss~

Lin Chen couldn't help but suck in a sharp breath. A fragmentary manual could actually be fully restored, and even upgraded on top of that?

As expected of a must-have for a transmigrator—even if it wasn't the smartest, it was still absolutely insane!

"Doesn't this mean that from now on, I only need to get my hands on some fragmentary manuals?"

Lin Chen's face lit up with joy. For him, this was definitely good news. Complete manuals were hard to come by, but fragmentary ones were much easier.

"Condense Blood Qi True Flame!"

Lin Chen closed his eyes and began cultivating according to the method he had long since memorized. Instantly, the Blood Qi within his body seemed to boil over.

Lin Chen felt like he was about to catch fire—literally. The surging Blood Qi in his body churned and scoured through him, and his physical fitness skyrocketed. In just a few breaths, his physique was at least ten times stronger than before.

Finally, all that Blood Qi gathered, condensed, and formed a single blazing golden flame in Lin Chen's dantian.

Blood Qi True Flame, formed!

"Powerful!"

Lin Chen clenched his fists slightly, feeling the overbearing, unmatched strength. He had a strong sense that if he ran into those Mutated Rats again, one punch would turn them into paste—literally, paste.