"Classified martial arts cost twenty taels of silver to simplify. That's much cheaper than low-grade martial arts."
Zhao Han murmured, then checked how much silver he had.
Thirty-five taels and five mace of silver, plus one tael of gold, came to a total of forty-five taels and five mace.
Spending twenty taels to simplify it was a drop in the bucket.
"Simplify Mad Saber Three Stacks Wave!"
[Simplification successful] Mad Saber Three Stacks Wave [Simplified, classified, beginner 0/50, chop water five thousand times]
"Chop water... five thousand times. That looks pretty simple."
Zhao Han nodded and immediately left, ready to return to the martial arts school and find a large water vat to practice his saber technique.
As soon as he stepped through the martial arts school's gate, he saw Old Man Mi sleeping. Zhao Han softened his steps and slowly made his way inside.
Once Zhao Han had left, Old Man Mi's eyes snapped open, disbelief showing in them.
"Muscle... Muscle Refining? W-where did this kid come from? How did he break through to the Muscle Refining Realm in just two days?"
Old Man Mi was deeply surprised. Zhao Han had exceeded his expectations by far.
Still, this wasn't enough to surprise Old Man Mi too much. It was only the little Muscle Refining Realm, hardly worth much attention.
"This kid has some conscience, at least. But as long as he doesn't interfere with the Blade Ghoul's growth into a Weird Artifact, it'll be fine. Otherwise, this old man will have to get serious."
After that, Old Man Mi closed his eyes and went back to sleep, once again an unremarkable old man guarding the gate.
After Zhao Han entered the martial arts school, back at the abandoned alley from earlier,
Yu Qiuyue rested for a while, then struggled to her feet and staggered over to the unconscious Dong Qiang.
"Dong Qiang, this is all your fault for threatening me. You brought this on yourself."
She raised the steel saber in her hand and drove it straight into Dong Qiang's throat. Blood sprayed everywhere.
"Ugh..."
The searing pain woke Dong Qiang, and he struggled desperately with all his might.
When he saw Yu Qiuyue, Dong Qiang's eyes brimmed with a desperate desire to live, along with a plea for mercy.
But it was all in vain.
His injuries were far worse than Yu Qiuyue's. No matter how hard he struggled, it was useless.
In the end, Dong Qiang bled to death before her eyes, his corpse a ghastly sight.
After dealing with Dong Qiang, Yu Qiuyue picked a direction and slowly walked away, planning to return to the Yu Family to recover before deciding what to do next.
As the alley fell quiet, a beggar arrived before long.
Seeing someone dead in the alley was nothing new to him. He even went over and searched the corpse.
"Tsk, tsk, a wealthy family's man, all right. These clothes are so decent. They'll still be wearable after a wash."
"The trousers aren't bloody, just a little dirty. They can still fetch some money."
"This headpiece is nice too. It's worth a few coins, at least."
Before long, the beggar had expertly stripped Dong Qiang's corpse of everything worth taking, leaving only the body behind.
After the beggar left, no one else searched the corpse. The only ones who passed by were other beggars, who took a quick look, saw there was nothing to be gained, and walked straight on.
It wasn't until deep into the night, in the abandoned courtyard where Zhao Han had practiced martial arts that day,
that a sinister chill suddenly gathered beside the pagoda tree. Yin energy, invisible to the naked eye, condensed into a hazy, uncanny human head.
It floated in midair. As it gradually took shape, it even opened its mouth and began greedily sucking in the surrounding yin energy.
Sensing that something was wrong, the human head passed through a wall and entered the alley.
There, it saw Dong Qiang's corpse on the ground.
The body had turned purple, covered in livor mortis, and stiff as a board. Its blood had long since stopped flowing and had dried up completely.
"Hehehe!"
The Head Monster cackled and slowly floated in front of the corpse. Then its half-open mouth sucked a stream of gray-blue qi out of Dong Qiang's body and into its maw.
After draining Dong Qiang's soul, the human head licked its lips, looking satisfied.
It had eaten the souls of ordinary people for so long. This was the first time it had tasted a Martial Artist's soul.
The soul was drained, but the pneuma was still here.
The human head lunged forward and entered through Dong Qiang's facial orifices, taking possession of his body.
People had three souls and seven pneuma. The three souls were the Heaven Soul, Earth Soul, and Human Soul.
The Heaven Soul was bestowed by Heaven and belonged to yang, while the Earth Soul was bestowed by the earth and belonged to yin.
The Human Soul was cultivated after birth and belonged to the middle, growing constantly under the influence of the Heaven Soul and Earth Soul.
All three souls were essential. Losing even one threw yin and yang out of balance, with dire consequences. The person would usually end up an idiot.
After someone died, their Heaven Soul dispersed instantly, because death meant their heavenly mandate had ended and their fate had reached its conclusion.
The Earth Soul would dissipate shortly afterward, returning to the earth.
The Human Soul would remain inside the body for seven days, then disperse on its own.
The seven pneuma were the skin, flesh, bones, internal organs, blood, acupoints and meridians, and brain.
Damage to any one of the seven pneuma would cause serious illness, or even death.
At that moment, Dong Qiang's corpse had lost its Heaven Soul and Earth Soul, while the Head Monster had sucked away his Human Soul.
His seven pneuma had also died completely, because the most crucial one, his blood, was gone.
Without blood circulating, the other pneuma would gradually die as well.
The human head took possession of Dong Qiang's corpse and struggled to rise like a marionette, its body creaking and groaning.
That was what happened when the seven pneuma were gone. All that remained was rotten skin, rotten flesh, and rotten organs...
Only the bones were still intact. Since the body needed bones for support in order to move, the human head could still make the corpse walk.
Dong Qiang's corpse still had its eyes wide open, frozen in the same expression it had worn in death.
"Creak, creak, creak..."
The corpse shuffled away from the Mad Saber Martial Arts School, where yang energy was at its strongest, and headed toward the place with the deepest resentment: the slums where the beggars gathered.
The human head had once been an incorporeal ghoul, able to strengthen itself only by devouring souls.
Now, attached to the body of a Skin Refining Warrior, it could easily devour many more souls after killing someone.
This would greatly benefit its growth as well.
That night was sure to be a sleepless one for the slums.
After returning to the martial arts school, Zhao Han carried a large water vat over from a corner beside the Wood Shed where no one could see him. He filled it with water, then began practicing his saber.
He could swing with all his might twice in one second, which meant he could swing a hundred and twenty times in a minute.
In ten minutes, he could swing a thousand two hundred times.
Zhao Han couldn't keep going at full strength for that long. Three minutes was his limit, but with the Energy Pill's help, he could manage it.
After reaching the Muscle Refining Realm, Zhao Han's energy consumption increased, and the Energy Pill's effect weakened. It could only keep him going for half an hour.
But that was enough.
After taking two pills, Zhao Han successfully trained Mad Saber Three Stacks Wave to the proficient level.
A surge of immense strength welled up within him. Zhao Han became even more familiar and proficient with Mad Saber Three Stacks Wave.
He wielded it with effortless ease.
His strength in the Muscle Refining Realm grew stronger by the day.
Dong Qiang had only cultivated to the first layer. He was nowhere near Zhao Han, who had reached the third.
The two were worlds apart.
Mad Saber Three Stacks Wave [Simplified, classified, proficient 0/100, observe the waves and practice the saber technique a hundred times]
"Observe... the waves? You've got to be kidding me!" Zhao Han was immediately speechless.
Blackwater County in Liang Prefecture was deep inland, far from the sea. Where was he supposed to find waves?
Wasn't this just making things difficult for him?
"Ugh, this lousy martial art is such a pain. I'll have to put it aside for now."
Zhao Han shook his head and left the Wood Shed, leaving Er Gouzi looking a little perplexed.
"These Young Masters and their ilk really don't treat us laborers like people. They leave us to clean up this whole mess..." Er Gouzi grumbled as he cleaned up.
Before you continue