Lethal Strike

Feeling the chill emanating from all around, Luo Puxin's entire body trembled.

Although he wasn't a Blood Qi Martial Artist, he still had some understanding of the Qi and Blood Path.

Now, however, he had a question.

It was... it was just a few days ago that Chen Yan had awakened, right?

Right.

It was just a few days ago, wasn't it?

Or had it already been a month since the awakening.

"Not bad." He turned around, back facing Chen Yan, and commented flatly:

"When did you awaken?"

Chen Yan found it strange—didn't you already know?

Luo Puxin cleared his throat dryly:

"I understand you're focusing on the Qi and Blood Path, but you need to be clear that the Limit Breaking Awakening is Zhou Ming's method of selection. Zhou Ming is the remnant consciousness of an Ancient God. In its eyes, living beings are just numbers; it only wants experts."

Luo Puxin turned back around:

"So, you can't abandon the Body Tempering Path for the sake of Qi and Blood. The Body Tempering Path explores the limits of the human body—it's the foundation of your strength and survival."

Ancient God...

Chen Yan murmured.

"Ancient Gods are powerful beings that have existed since time immemorial. There are no living Ancient Gods in Summer Country now, but there are still some outside. You can't regard them as our friends—they should be seen as partners, or even enemies."

Luo Puxin briefly explained a sentence or two, unwilling to say more.

The Limit Breaking Awakening was of great consequence. The Ancient Gods also needed peak experts to help themselves, which is why the Limit Breaking Awakening existed.

Summer Country didn't reject the Limit Breaking Awakening. Martial artists must compete, and Summer Country also needed peak experts.

But in the end, it was still too cruel.

Thinking this, Luo Puxin spoke earnestly:

"You need to place more importance on the Body Tempering Path!"

Chen Yan's gaze narrowed, and he nodded:

"I will. These past few days studying the [Crimson Heart Fist], I've indeed run into some difficulties."

Luo Puxin smiled. Of course it was difficult—you haven't even learned the [Crimson Gang Profound Strike Fist], and you're directly studying the [Crimson Heart Fist]. It's bound to be hard.

"What's the Accumulation and Forging Degree of your heart now?" Luo Puxin asked casually.

"It should be around thirty-five," Chen Yan said. Just now, when he converted his Qi and Blood, the quality of the Qi and Blood turned into extremely high-grade Yin Zhe, so the Accumulation and Forging Degree must have dropped.

Luo Puxin was stunned.

Damn.

At this rate, are you going to reach the Hundred Meridians in a month?

"Good, but still, focus on the Body Tempering Path!" Luo Puxin said.

"Mm!" Chen Yan nodded:

"There are some questions about the [Crimson Heart Fist] I'd like to ask Brother Luo."

Luo Puxin nodded in satisfaction. Chen Yan had accepted the Heavenly Pride training of the Military Martial Guard, and one of the terms was that he would guide him personally.

That is, private training.

"Perform the Crimson Heart Fist once," Luo Puxin said. He had come today to spring a surprise inspection.

To pick out flaws and put some pressure on Chen Yan.

To make Chen Yan value the Body Tempering Path.

He wasn't wrong. He wanted Chen Yan to be strong enough. As for the talent origin, if it was lost, it was lost.

Once it was gone, you'd still have Qi and Blood—even stronger than most True Origin Awakened.

And you'd still have safety.

Chen Yan's gaze sharpened. He could feel the seriousness in Luo Puxin's eyes. His body slightly bent, Internal Force flowing through him, a faint red Qi Wave spinning around his fist.

Luo Puxin was stunned, tilting his head to look at Chen Yan sideways.

A punch was thrown, the air current exploding in reverse, causing waves to roll through the entire Training Room.

Silence.

Chen Yan looked at Luo Puxin, who was staring back at him with a calm expression.

Chen Yan's heart sank. Was it not good enough?

He thought he had worked hard enough these past few days.

Another punch.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Chen Yan threw several punches in succession, and Luo Puxin remained silent for a long while.

He pressed his lips tightly together, simply staring at Chen Yan, somewhat dazed.

He was genuinely dazed.

He thought back to his own progress when he first started cultivating.

He recalled how, back then, he had only begun learning the [Crimson Heart Fist] after he had already achieved Unity with the Seventy-two Patterns—and what his progress had been like at that stage.

Holy shit!

Luo Puxin roared inwardly. Chen Yan's [Crimson Heart Fist] right now was almost at the threshold of mastery!

Just a little more, and it would be mastered!

He hadn't even learned the foundational [Crimson Gang Profound Strike Fist].

The [Crimson Gang Profound Strike Fist] was the external martial art corresponding to the [Crimson Gang Body Tempering Canon], while the [Crimson Heart Fist] was a finishing move derived from the [Crimson Gang Profound Strike Fist].

What Chen Yan was doing now was like skipping elementary math and already solving advanced calculus!

Something was off, seriously off.

He had just said Chen Yan didn't focus on Horizontal Refinement.

Holy shit!

"Stop for a moment." Luo Puxin called out to Chen Yan:

"Let me teach you the Crimson Gang Profound Strike Fist first. That's the foundation of the Crimson Heart Fist."

Luo Puxin stopped Chen Yan, deciding to start with the basics.

Teaching the basics wasn't shameful.

If you wanted to learn advanced lessons, you still had to solidify the foundation first.

You couldn't just keep using finishing moves to fight others, right?

Right?

Luo Puxin paused, suddenly uncertain.

It went on until eleven at night.

Luo Puxin arrived with mixed feelings, and left with mixed feelings.

He was even more conflicted now.

Besides being baffled by Chen Yan, he was also baffled by himself.

Why had learning the [Crimson Gang Profound Strike Fist] been so difficult for him back then?

He looked up at the night sky, feeling the world was profoundly desolate.

Suddenly, he spotted two people.

"What are you doing, skulking around like that!"

Luo Puxin walked along the street, barking at the two figures.

He was already simmering with anger.

Zhang Qingsi and another burly youth changed expression, quickly bowed to Luo Puxin, then hurried back to their lodgings.

In the dark night.

Chen Yan raced through the wilderness, his speed astonishing.

[Saint Breaking Realm: Level 3 (50/75)]

[Saint Breaking Fruit:

Strength: (44/100)

Blood: (25/100)

Technique: (4/100)

Body: (87/100)]

At night, Chen Yan consumed another [Strength] Character Saint Breaking Fruit, and the negative effects on his body were swept away.

Luo Puxin's instruction had indeed been extremely effective. After taking a [Technique] Character Saint Breaking Fruit, Chen Yan's understanding of the [Crimson Heart Fist] deepened.

Mastered!

But Luo Puxin hadn't shown any sign of approval.

As for the [Crimson Gang Profound Strike Fist], since it was the foundation of the [Crimson Heart Fist], Chen Yan found it relatively easy to learn.

On his chest, the second Strength Stripe had almost solidified, roughly ninety percent complete.

He had already gone several days without rest, but fortunately the Saint Breaking Tree had solved that problem for him.

Because of Yin Zhe's presence, Chen Yan constantly felt a pressure bearing down on him, urging him to grow stronger as quickly as possible.

Chen Yan took a black metal badge from his pocket and pressed his index finger against a certain spot on it. Several lines of text immediately appeared on its surface.

[Optional Mission: Kill Ye Yong. Base reward: fifty Martial Merit Points. Ye Yong's address: Zhangxing Street, Yunmeng City...]

[Optional Mission: Join the Tianbang Boxing Tournament and obtain a Bronze Rank certification. Reward: fifty Martial Merit Points. Tianbang Boxing Tournament contact point: Wuxing Road, Yunmeng City...]

[Training Mission: Condense a second Substantial Pattern within one week. Reward: fifty Martial Merit Points. (1/7)]

[Training Mission: Reach fifty percent Accumulation and Forging Degree in the heart within one month. Reward: fifty Martial Merit Points. (1/30)]

[Training Mission: Kill a First Order Ancient Beast. Reward: ten Martial Merit Points per beast.]

[Training Mission:...]

This was the Martial Merit Badge. The moment Luo Puxin handed it to Chen Yan, it meant Chen Yan had entered the candidate pool for the Military Martial Guard.

And the mission to kill Secretary Ye was clearly listed on it.

Chen Yan tapped the first mission, and instantly that string of text turned orange.

If you can't find the book by its title, try searching by the author's name—maybe it was just renamed!

This confirmed the mission.

As long as he killed Ye Yong, he would receive Martial Merit Points.

Martial Merit Points could be exchanged for various techniques, martial skills, weapons, and Treasure Medicines belonging to the Town Martial Division...

This gave Chen Yan a path to grow stronger.

If he hadn't joined the candidate pool, even if Chen Yan became stronger, where would the rewards come from?

Chen Yan smiled. His pace grew even faster, stirring up rolling Earth Waves across the ground like a whirlwind.

A faint Red Mist escaped his lips as gold, orange, and green lights intertwined continuously within his Saint Breaking Realm.

Luo Puxin was right—he had indeed been too lax in the Body Tempering Path.

Thinking this, he sped up even more.

The city center of Yunmeng City wasn't far from Luoshan County—about a hundred kilometers or so.

At Chen Yan's current speed, combined with his Breathing Technique, he could reach it in roughly two hours.

It was past one in the morning.

Inside Yunmeng City, lights glittered brilliantly.

Chen Yan tapped the first mission on the Martial Merit Badge again. Instantly, the text on the badge changed into a map route.

It marked the locations of various surveillance points and methods to avoid them. Chen Yan slipped into an alley, dodging and weaving until he reached the door of a Small Courtyard, then vaulted over the wall and jumped inside.

The Small Courtyard was exquisitely decorated. This entire row was a villa district for the wealthy.

Chen Yan marveled inwardly—every inch of land in Yunmeng City was worth its weight in gold. This little villa must have cost a fortune.

Compared to Yunmeng City, Green Mountain Town really was shabby.

He activated his Breathing Technique, and the sounds from inside the house reached his ears.

"That fucking Chen Yan, that fucking Luo Puxin—I'm not done with them!"

"Oh, come on, calm down."

"Gong Qing told me. I'll head to Lao City for a few days and come back after a while. By then, Shen Yiwei should have fallen too."

"Exactly. He's just some kid from a backwater. When the time comes, won't it be easy to deal with him? I was already thinking of spending some money to kill that brat for you."

"Forget it, don't bother. You're too sloppy when handling things."

Chen Yan listened carefully. Inside the room were Secretary Ye and a woman's voice.

Secretary Ye was currently smoking by the window, sneering coldly.

He was going to destroy that kid who had broken his finger.

Chen Yan frowned. There was another person here?

He had chosen this time slot—past one in the morning.

After thinking for a moment, Chen Yan left.

At the same time.

On the rooftop of a towering building five kilometers away from Chen Yan's location, two figures stood, gazing toward Chen Yan from several thousand meters away.

"Looks like he gave up. Chen Yan's heart is too soft, if you ask me, he should've just killed them both."

Among the two, a woman spoke. Her figure was curvaceous, and she wore a black robe, as if she had merged into the night itself.

"So this is the Horizontal Refinement Heavenly Pride Deputy Chief Shen mentioned?" The other man spoke, frowning. "Clicking on a mission in the dead of night, dragging us out here to grade it."

A trace of resentment lingered in the man's eyes.

They were Soldiers of the Military Martial Guard, but only logistics personnel—the ones who collected data, drafted plans, and scored operations.

"No, Chen Yan didn't leave." The woman spoke up.

"Huh?" The man looked over, only to see Chen Yan walk into a convenience store and come out holding a bottle of frozen mineral water.

"Can't finish the mission, so he buys a bottle of water." The man laughed, finding it more and more ridiculous. He still had a poker game to get to.

"Yeah, once he leaves, we'll grade it." The woman sighed. "Zero points. Not even the basic reward."

The two were speechless. You're not even going to put up a fight?

Buy a bottle and leave?

But then, Chen Yan walked into a residential building near Ye Yong.

"What's he doing there?" The woman frowned, lightly leaping hundreds of meters to the roof of another skyscraper, changing her angle to watch Chen Yan.

At that moment, Chen Yan stood by a window in the residential building's hallway. He took the ice from the bottle and rubbed it between his fingers.

Soon, a pea-sized piece of ice was pinched between his fingers.

"What's he going to do?" The man had also come over now, staring at the scene in surprise.

"He..." The woman opened her mouth, then said in a strange tone, "He's not thinking of killing Ye Yong with that ice, is he?"

Looking at it, the window of Chen Yan's residential building and the window of Ye Yong's villa formed a slanted straight line.

"Ridiculous. Isn't he only at Horizontal Refinement?" The man laughed.

Dreaming?

Trying to kill someone with a tiny piece of Ice Crystal.

You'd need that kind of precision, and that kind of finesse.

He thought so, but didn't say more, because Chen Yan had raised his right hand, his body leaning sideways, already in position to throw the ice.

A faint, imperceptible trace of Yin Zhe seeped from between his fingers, controlling that small ice ball.

He was at least a hundred meters from Secretary Ye. If he threw it directly, the accuracy would definitely be off.

But he had Yin Zhe, which could control the ice ball's direction over a certain distance and also accelerate it.

Besides, using ice to kill had its advantages.

Once the ice melted, no one would even find the murder weapon.

Inside the villa, Secretary Ye smoked a cigarette, his gaze cold. The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. He looked at the woman on the bed and said viciously, "And Gong Qing, another coward. Fuck, if I..."

A crisp sound rang out. Secretary Ye froze, as if something had hit him.

He was about to look for it.

The sound came from the back of his head. His eyes rolled back, and he collapsed to the floor, blood seeping from the back of his skull.

"Old Ye?" The woman on the bed screamed and ran toward Ye Yong.

Crack, bang!

The vase behind her shattered.

Fear filled the woman's eyes, a look of terror.

A tiny ice ball struck her forehead. Soon, a bloody hole appeared, and her body fell backward.

Both were dead.

On the distant rooftop, the man and woman monitoring Chen Yan stared with their mouths wide open.

They looked at each other.

"Go clean up the aftermath!" the woman said. At this point, there was no time for anything else. They were logistics, so they had to finish all the logistics work.

"Mm... mm." The man nodded, his expression complicated now.

Just killed them like that?

No wonder he was a Heavenly Pride, and they were just logistics.

"What score do we give?"

"Let's go ask Deputy Chief Shen."

The two spoke as they entered the villa and began cleaning. Soon, the man carried away the bodies of Ye Yong and the other.

The woman continued inspecting the surroundings, checking for anything left behind. Her mind recalled Chen Yan's methods from earlier, and she sighed inwardly.

Walking to the window, she measured the distance between this spot and that building—roughly a hundred meters.

She marveled inwardly. That technique was indeed quite impressive.

The next instant, her face suddenly turned deathly pale.

There, on the floor above where Chen Yan had been, a youth with a clean-cut face emerged from the darkness, silently locking eyes with her.

Chen Yan!

He hadn't left!

She, the logistics personnel assigned to supervise, had been discovered.

The woman froze in place, utterly at a loss, and could only force a smile and wave.

Across the way, Chen Yan nodded once, then vanished into the darkness.

"Scary." The woman let out a long breath, then quickly departed.

Time passed slowly.

A tall, pitch-black figure floated into the room.

"Strange, there's really no one. Did Tianbang feed me false information?" Chen Yu frowned as a golden formation disk flickered in her eyes.

Within the Consciousness World, the Red-dressed Woman spoke:

"There's a smell of blood in the air. Someone died here recently."

Chen Yu was startled. Who? Did Ye Yong have enemies?

"The bodies were disposed of very cleanly. Professional work," the Red-dressed Woman said. "Let's go. If the other party doubles back, you'll be in danger."

Chen Yu nodded, but a doubt lingered in her heart: "Teacher, could it be that my brother did this?"

She knew her elder brother's temperament well.

"Disciple, can you go three sentences without mentioning your brother?"

The Red-dressed Woman was exasperated. Did she have a brother-obsessed disciple on her hands?

There was no logic to it. Chen Yan was still in Luoshan County. How could he have killed anyone?

And with such professionalism?