Severing Armor One Style (Please Vote, Please Follow)

For the entire next day, Xu Bai stayed in his room grinding the progress bar.

Liu Er worked quickly. By the afternoon, he had already exchanged the copper coins and conveniently brought back the escort masters' partnership money as well.

With the requirements for Maple Leaves Like Rain resolved, Xu Bai felt much more at ease.

Though the escort masters found it strange and had no idea why Xu Bai had stayed in his room all day, no one dared ask.

As time passed and night fell, Xu Bai lit the oil lamp on the table.

He stared unblinkingly at the Nameless Saber Scripture. Only the final sliver of the progress bar remained.

The oil lamp's flame flickered, and the shadows shifted without end.

The next moment, the final sliver of the progress bar finally filled. Pale blue words appeared before his eyes.

You observed the Nameless Saber Scripture and comprehended Armor Piercing Twenty-Four Styles (Incomplete).

"Armor Piercing Twenty-Four Styles? And it's incomplete?"

Xu Bai stroked his chin, staring at the pale blue text as he recalled what Yun Xiang had said.

It seemed this saber scripture truly had been divided into twenty-four parts. Yun Xiang had not lied about that.

At that moment, the pale blue text gradually faded, replaced by new words.

A fusion option has been detected. Fusion in progress.

Armor Piercing Twenty-Four Styles (Incomplete) + Bone Severing Blade Technique = Severing Armor One Style.

Fusion successful.

The words before him vanished again, followed by the appearance of Xu Bai's status panel.

Name: Xu Bai.

Realm: Eighth Rank Loose Cultivator.

Severing Armor One Style (Tier 2): Max Level.

Four Directions Slaughter Heart Sutra (Tier 2): Max Level.

Kidney Hammering Technique (Tier 1): Max Level.

Maple Leaves Like Rain (Tier 2): Max Level.

Four Xun Movement Technique (Tier 1): Max Level.

Four Xun Array Formation (Tier 1): Max Level.

Comprehension (Max Level).

A vast flood of information poured into his mind. Xu Bai briefly digested it, then opened his eyes a moment later.

Severing Armor One Style, as its name implied, had only one move—but that one move contained twenty-four variations.

He reckoned it was related to Armor Piercing Twenty-Four Styles.

After everything he had been through, he was now an Eighth Rank Loose Cultivator, after all. He possessed at least this much insight.

If every move had twenty-four variations, then Armor Piercing Twenty-Four Styles would have five hundred and seventy-six variations.

"What a pity it's incomplete." Xu Bai placed his hand on the hilt of the Ghost-Head Saber and thought to himself.

Just one move possessed twenty-four variations. If he could gather the full set, its power would undoubtedly multiply severalfold.

Of course, that did not mean he was dissatisfied. On the contrary, he was extremely satisfied, because this was no longer Armor Piercing Twenty-Four Styles.

The old Bone Severing Blade Technique emphasized steadiness, precision, and ruthlessness. But after fusing with Armor Piercing Twenty-Four Styles, the new Severing Armor One Style not only retained the characteristics of the Bone Severing Blade Technique, but also possessed those of Armor Piercing Twenty-Four Styles.

Armor piercing, just as the name suggested.

Using True Yuan Power as a guide, it transformed into fierce saber qi that could pierce through armor and strike within.

Xu Bai felt that if he encountered that blacksmith again, he could kill him with saber techniques alone.

"So strong..."

Pulling open the front of his clothes, Xu Bai looked at the Golden Silk Soft Armor he had obtained from Fierce Tiger Stronghold and felt a powerful urge to test it.

To attack one's shield with one's spear.

But it was only a thought. He was not mad enough to go that far.

Having obtained such a powerful new skill, Xu Bai was thrilled.

Thrilled as he was, he did not forget to erase the traces.

He took a brazier from the room and tossed the Nameless Saber Scripture into it. Xu Bai lightly stomped his foot.

The Four Xun Array Formation rose, and flames surged upward.

A moment later, the Nameless Saber Scripture had turned to ashes in the blazing fire.

"Hmm... now only that tree outside remains." After the saber scripture had become ashes, Xu Bai put the brazier back and walked to the doorway, looking at the solitary Chinese scholar tree in the backyard.

By then, it was late at night. Moonlight filtered through the clouds, laying a silver-gray sheen across the backyard.

The Chinese scholar tree's leaves glittered beneath the moonlight, as if covered by a thin layer of frost.

In the dead of night, only Xu Bai and the Chinese scholar tree remained in the backyard.

That sliver of progress bar was growing very slowly. Xu Bai stood in the room and watched for a while before preparing to return to bed.

It was still the same rule as before: he could not stay up late at night, lest he be in poor spirits the next day.

He had to maintain the most perfect mental state at all times. After everything he had experienced, he did not want to make a mistake over some trivial matter.

The tree was sitting right there. Could someone really come and chop it down?

Whoever dared touch his tree, he would definitely skin them alive.

"Time to sleep."

Xu Bai stretched and prepared to close the door.

Just then, a cool breeze suddenly swept through. As it passed over the Chinese scholar tree, its leaves rustled loudly.

The backyard had been silent to begin with. The instant the sound arose, Xu Bai snapped his head around, his eyes widening as his hand pressed against the Ghost-Head Saber.

Just moments ago, a sudden drowsiness had clouded his mind, and the True Yuan Power within him began to stir again.

The same thing had happened when he first stepped into the backyard during the day.

Now that it was night, the drowsiness was even deeper. Fortunately, his True Yuan Power could resist it, and no ill effects came of it.

This tree is strange. Xu Bai stared directly at the Chinese scholar tree.

With True Yuan Power protecting him, this drowsiness was nothing to him.

I'll deal with it after I finish grinding the progress bar. Xu Bai returned to the room and shut the door.

For now, he would not do anything to the tree.

Progress bars were hard to come by. At least for the moment, he found them difficult to encounter.

Having finally caught one, he naturally had to comprehend it to the fullest first.

Once he had finished grinding the progress bar, he could deal with the Chinese scholar tree's problem then.

With that in mind, Xu Bai returned to bed.

Inside Liu Xu's chamber at the Liu Family.

Liu Xu sat on an exquisite yellow rosewood stool, her legs slightly bent.

Because of the stool, even through her white clothes, the pressure outlined the rough contours of her figure.

A yellow rosewood table stood beside her, with an incense burner atop it, wisps of pale smoke drifting from within.

At that moment, Liu Xu had removed the veil from her face, revealing beauty capable of toppling kingdoms.

Her shoulders seemed carved, her waist slender as silk; her graceful neck stretched long, her fair skin gleamed, and her cloudlike hair was piled high in an elegant coiffure.

She knew full well that if she did not wear a veil in daily life, she would draw countless gazes. She disliked that very much.

Only when she was alone in her room would she remove it.

An Iron Bead rested in her fair hand.

Ever since the Blacksmith Shop had been abandoned, she had repeatedly used Paper Crane Tracking and finally found a trail. In a patch of wilderness outside Sheng County, she had discovered two charred corpses and an Iron Bead.

The charred corpses' faces were no longer recognizable, but one of them wore iron armor, making the identity easy to guess.

—The Nether Blacksmith couple were dead.

Iron Beads had also been discovered elsewhere. Combined with what the county office had said before, this further confirmed Liu Xu's suspicions.

A third person had acted, and they were an exceptionally skilled martial artist.

This person was not only proficient in saber techniques, but also wielded highly refined concealed weapons.

The Extreme Life Sect, the Bureau of Surveillance clerk, and the Nether Blacksmith couple had all been killed by this person.

More importantly, Liu Xu's trail had gone cold again.

Paper Crane Tracking no longer worked. Liu Xu knew the reason.

At first, she had used the Nether Blacksmith as her guide. Now that she had changed methods and still could not find any trace, it meant the other party was stronger than she was.

The county office said that the Bureau of Surveillance will send someone over after some time. I'll wait until they arrive. Liu Xu thought to herself.