"You really are suspicious!"
Seeing that this hunter actually possessed such strength, Shi Mingdong thought to himself that his premonition had indeed been right. He had to capture this hunter and find out exactly what was wrong with him.
Shi Mingdong's body twisted like a swimming dragon, and he suddenly arrived behind Su Mo and to the side. The arrow Su Mo had shot had startled even Shi Mingdong, so naturally he couldn't let Su Mo continue firing from range. He had to close in and take down this hunter.
Su Mo, however, had no intention of granting his wish. With merely a light tap of his toes, he opened up the distance from Shi Mingdong. His speed was so fast that even Shi Mingdong could barely react. Then Su Mo raised his hand and fired another arrow.
Faced with such a swift and fierce arrow, Shi Mingdong could only dodge. This enraged him greatly. He was a genius from the prefectural city—since when had taking down a hunter from some remote mountain village become so troublesome?
He swept out a palm, and tidal ripples seemed to surge from it. The dead leaves and broken branches on the ground ahead appeared to be drawn by some invisible force, gathering into his palm. Just as Su Mo's arrow came shooting over again, he fused the dead leaves and branches into a ball and violently blasted it toward the incoming arrow.
Bang!
Su Mo's arrow pierced straight through the condensed ball of leaves and blew it apart. The dead leaves and branches exploded in an instant, scattering through the air. Taking advantage of that fleeting opening, Shi Mingdong moved.
He closed the distance and grabbed for Su Mo's shoulder. Just as he thought Su Mo would try to open up the gap again, Su Mo suddenly turned around and drove out a fist, smashing it toward Shi Mingdong's palm.
Shi Mingdong was extremely confident. The hunter before him couldn't possibly withstand this claw. Boom! His palm collided with Su Mo's fist. In an instant, Su Mo's body trembled slightly, and he was sent stumbling back three steps.
Shi Mingdong's body remained steady, and he retreated only one step.
Su Mo's expression turned solemn. Were Body Tempering Realm martial artists all this powerful? First, one had easily dodged several of his arrows, and now he had taken his punch head-on while gaining the upper hand.
Su Mo's heart was in turmoil.
Shi Mingdong steadied himself, his expression calm, but a monstrous storm had already erupted in his heart. Who was he? He was a prodigy from the prefectural city, a genius of his lineage. At fifteen, he had broken through to the late Body Tempering Realm and had nearly been invincible among those of the same realm.
Moreover, his late Body Tempering Realm cultivation had been deliberately suppressed. He had done so to lay a deep martial foundation in the Body Tempering Realm. Otherwise, Shi Mingdong would have already broken through to the peak of the Body Tempering Realm, or even advanced beyond it to the Meridian Opening Realm.
It was precisely because he had deliberately suppressed his cultivation that his foundation was so solid. Among those of the same realm, very few could stand against him.
Only those heaven's favored dared to contend with him!
Yet this little hunter from a remote mountain village could actually fight him to a draw? Who would have believed it?
Shi Mingdong shot forward. He didn't think this hunter from a remote mountain village could cause him any real trouble. He would make this hunter understand the consequences of provoking him.
Both his palms swept out, stirring the air ahead like a massive millstone. Clearly, this was another extremely formidable martial technique. Seeing this, immense strength surged through Su Mo's body. He didn't know any fist techniques, so he simply threw one punch after another.
The air rang out with a series of bangs. Those were the sounds of fists striking flesh and muscles colliding.
Seeing that every punch he threw had been caught by Shi Mingdong, Su Mo's heart grew even heavier. His right hand reached toward the ancestral Hunting Knife at his waist.
He was preparing to use Basic Saber Technique—at the perfected level!
"Stop! Stop!"
Just as Su Mo was about to draw his ancestral Hunting Knife and execute Basic Saber Technique, Shi Mingdong suddenly shouted, hurriedly demanding that he stop.
At this moment, Shi Mingdong was still dressed in fine silk and brocade, without the slightest injury on his body. Yet the look he gave Su Mo was indescribably strange, even complicated.
When he saw Su Mo stop, Shi Mingdong quietly let out a long breath.
"My name is Shi Mingdong. I'm from the Shi family of Northern Cold City. Take this."
With that, Shi Mingdong pulled a booklet from his robes and tossed it to Su Mo.
Then Shi Mingdong left directly.
Yes, Shi Mingdong left. He had finally discovered what was wrong. If they continued fighting, he might be beaten to death...
"Introduction to Martial Arts!"
Su Mo looked at the booklet in his hand, somewhat surprised. It was actually a book explaining martial arts. It recorded the Martial Dao Realms and the characteristics of each realm in detail. Although he didn't know why Shi Mingdong had given it to him,
this Introduction to Martial Arts was of tremendous help to Su Mo, who was a complete novice when it came to martial arts.
"My name is Su Mo. I'm from Qingliang Mountain. Uh, I'm a hunter."
Perhaps intending to respond to the booklet Shi Mingdong had given him, Su Mo spoke up. He had originally wanted to exchange courtesy for courtesy, but realized he had nothing presentable to give, so he could only introduce himself.
However, Shi Mingdong, who had already gone far away, heard those words and the corner of his mouth twitched violently. On closer inspection, traces of blood had already seeped from it...
Where Northern Cold City was, Su Mo had no idea. He only knew that outside Qingliang Mountain there was a large Qingshan Town. But today's battle had reminded him that Body Tempering Realm martial artists were all extremely powerful—not weak at all.
Su Mo felt he had to be careful. He still needed to keep practicing.
With Shi Mingdong's departure, the Green Wolf King he had beaten to the brink of death naturally became Su Mo's spoils.
Su Mo stepped forward and swung his Hunting Knife. The Green Wolf King, lying on the ground and already grievously wounded, had almost no strength left to resist before Su Mo killed it. What surprised him, however, was how hard the Green Wolf King's bones were. Even his ancestral Hunting Knife found it difficult to cut through them.
That was also why the Green Wolf King had been able to withstand several of Shi Mingdong's attacks without dying: its bones were simply too hard.
At the instant he killed the Green Wolf King, the Ancient Profound Pearl, which had remained dormant inside Su Mo, suddenly began to turn slowly, emitting a faint glow. Within the Ancient Profound Pearl, the phantom image of a Green Wolf King was currently roaring and struggling, trying to break free.
With a thought from Su Mo, the Ancient Profound Pearl shone brightly. The runic marks on it directly ground down and devoured the phantom image of the Green Wolf King. At the same time, that familiar warm current once again flowed through his entire body, strengthening it.
The innate traits possessed by the Green Wolf King manifested.
[Iron Bones], [Wolf Howl]!
Su Mo directly fused the two innate traits. The warm current refined his entire body, and the bones within him made strange sounds. Those were the sounds of tempering and grinding. Moments later, the warmth vanished, and Su Mo's bones underwent a heaven-shaking transformation.
He lightly moved the bones in his body, and they crackled like refined metal being shaken. This greatly increased Su Mo's physical defense, while also strengthening his physical strength and speed.
The [Iron Bones] trait strengthened and tempered all the bones in his body, making them as hard as profound iron. Of course, they had not truly reached the level of profound iron, but Su Mo knew that the hardness of his bones had absolutely reached a terrifying degree.
Ordinary attacks could no longer harm him.
Even if he faced Shi Mingdong again, he was confident he could exchange palms with him without falling behind. His physical body was hard enough now.
The [Wolf Howl] trait allowed Su Mo, by letting out a roar, to intimidate the wolves nearby and make them submit. Its effect was ordinary, but it was better than nothing.
Su Mo then packed up the several Green Wolves Shi Mingdong had killed, along with the Green Wolf King and the Gray Rabbit he had shot earlier, and carried them all away.
After returning to Shuanglin Village, Su Mo remained very low-key. He first took a piece of Green Wolf Meat to Uncle Chen Shan and the others next door. Only then did Uncle Chen Shan finally notice that something about Su Mo was different.
It wasn't that he had realized Su Mo had become a Body Tempering Realm martial artist. Rather, Su Mo's rate of hunting Green Wolves was simply too high.
To this, Su Mo only said, "Uncle, there's plenty of meat. Eat without worry."
Back then, Uncle Chen Shan had saved his life with a rabbit leg. Now that Su Mo had the ability, how could he fail to repay that kindness?
"Su Mo, you've really grown up. Perhaps your uncle really is old now!"
Seeing how strong Su Mo's hunting skills had become, Chen Shan couldn't help lamenting that he was old. At the same time, he felt that Su Mo was low-key and practical. Even though he had hunted Green Wolves several times, he had never boasted about it.
Because of this, Chen Shan secretly kept it from others on Su Mo's behalf.
Aunt Cui Hua even burst into tears once.
Some of the elderly villagers who had once helped Su Mo also received Green Wolf Meat from him one after another. They were moved, but silently kept the matter to themselves.
As a result, in the enormous Shuanglin Village, almost no one knew that Su Mo had already hunted several Green Wolves.
Everyone only knew that, some time ago, father and son Zhang Tieshan and Zhang Hai had hunted a Plum Deer.
What everyone didn't know was that they hadn't hunted the Plum Deer through their own ability. It had been casually killed and gifted to them by the genius Shi Mingdong from the prefectural city.
"I finally know what was strange about that hunter. It's because this hunter has the strength to beat me to death!"
On the other side, after leaving Green Wolf Ridge, Shi Mingdong raced onward. When he reached a mountain hollow, he could no longer endure it. Clutching his chest, he suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, his face deathly pale and his breath weak and unsteady.
Clearly, Shi Mingdong had been injured.
The one who had injured him was precisely the mountain-village hunter Su Mo whom he had never thought highly of.
During his earlier exchange with Su Mo, the more Shi Mingdong fought, the more alarmed he became. Su Mo's physical strength was far too powerful. Although his cultivation realm was higher, he still couldn't withstand their close-quarters clash of raw strength. His internal organs had been shaken by that immense force, causing varying degrees of internal bleeding.
That was also why Shi Mingdong had called for a halt. If they continued, that hunter would beat him to death.
At the same time, he finally understood why he had felt that something was wrong when he first saw Su Mo. It was because Su Mo's physical body was extraordinarily terrifying, making him feel a threat he had never experienced before. But because he looked down on hunters, Shi Mingdong had never taken that feeling seriously.
Now, he understood. He had encountered someone stronger, and his body had been sending him a warning.
As for giving Su Mo Introduction to Martial Arts, it was because Shi Mingdong had observed that Su Mo was completely ignorant of martial arts, knowing almost none of the basic knowledge.
And the truth was exactly as he had imagined. Su Mo only knew of a single cultivation realm, and even that he had learned from the Bearded Man of Black Wind Stockade.
He didn't even know that cultivating in the Body Tempering Realm required a Cultivation Technique as its foundation.
No wonder Su Mo had always felt that something was missing.
"Once I return and cultivate for a while, after my strength improves, I'll definitely come back to Qingliang Mountain. By then, I'll let this hunter know how powerful I, Shi Mingdong, am. I'll show him what a genius is."
"It's just a pity. If I had encountered this hunter two years earlier—no, this extraordinary talent—I would definitely have made him my follower!"
"But now, that hunter should be eighteen. His bones have solidified, and his potential for molding is low. His ceiling on the martial path is too low, practically locked in. He won't be able to see much farther along the Martial Dao. What a pity!"
Shi Mingdong circulated his Cultivation Technique and stabilized his injuries. He secretly swore that he would return to Qingliang Mountain. Once his strength improved, he would come back and settle the score.
Although Su Mo had been born in a remote mountain village near Qingliang Mountain, in Shi Mingdong's eyes, he was an extraordinary talent through and through.
It was just a pity that he was too old. He was already eighteen, his bones had solidified, and his ceiling on the martial path was too low. He would likely never achieve any great accomplishments in the Martial Dao. What a pity.
Yet he didn't know that the next time he saw Su Mo, merely being able to see Su Mo's back would be enough for him to feel proud!
"If you enjoyed this book, remember to add it to your bookshelf so you won't lose it next time."
Before you continue