Create His Own Martial Art!

Mountain Splitting Fist

Eagle Claw Technique

Staring at the two manuals laid before him, Shen Lin drew a deep breath and slapped his cheeks to sharpen his focus.

Since he had decided to break into the County Office prison by force, he couldn't use Blood Battle Saber Technique.

He couldn't even use Wild Wind Sword Technique.

After all, the County Office's martial arts instructor, Old Yuan, had given him that technique. Others might not recognize it, but if he happened to run into Old Yuan, the man would identify it at a glance.

So he had to use an unfamiliar martial art on this trip.

With that thought, he picked up Mountain Splitting Fist and began to leaf through it.

This was a martial art Shen Lin had taken from the Opening Meridians Realm warrior guarding the Wu Family's treasury. Its name sounded imposing, but in practice it was hardly any more sophisticated than Blood Battle Saber Technique.

Still, that was understandable. If the warrior had come from an impressive lineage, why would he have become a guard for a wealthy family in the countryside?

Given the choice, Shen Lin would certainly have started by deriving Eagle Claw Technique. It was a martial art from the Demon Suppression Bureau, and far stronger than any of the techniques he had learned before.

But what Shen Lin needed now was to quickly master a martial art he hadn't revealed in front of anyone.

Eagle Claw Technique was excellent, but the more powerful a martial art was, the more abstruse it became. With less than half an hour, he'd have little chance of fully grasping it.

Besides, even if he had enough time, Shen Lin wouldn't dare use it.

The County Magistrate had given it to him.

If someone used a martial art he'd just received to break into the County Office prison that very night...

No one would believe he could master Eagle Claw Technique to perfection in a single night, but it would still arouse some suspicion.

What if they followed the trail and discovered his system...

Shen Lin shook his head and began studying Mountain Splitting Fist in earnest.

A moment later, the system's prompt rang out.

[Congratulations, you have learned the martial art Mountain Splitting Fist. Would you like to spend lifespan to derive it?]

"Yes!"

Without the slightest hesitation, Shen Lin chose to proceed with the derivation.

[Year 1: With your strong physique and abundant Qi and Blood Force, it takes you only three months to grasp the basics of Mountain Splitting Fist. Mountain Splitting Fist, beginner!]

[Year 3: Your fist shoots out like rolling thunder, its might astonishing. Mountain Splitting Fist, minor mastery!]

[Year 9: Perhaps thanks to the foundation laid by your other techniques, you grasp Mountain Splitting Fist at an astonishing pace. In only nine years, you bring it to great mastery.]

[Year 20: After years of relentlessly throwing punches, you finally master every secret of Mountain Splitting Fist. At this point, even the person who created it understands the technique less than you do. Mountain Splitting Fist, perfection!]

[Year 23: You sense the meridians connected to Mountain Splitting Fist, only to discover that both of them have already been opened by you. With nothing else to do, you continue deriving Mountain Splitting Fist.]

[Year 24: Spring gives way to autumn, and you throw punch after punch, yet your understanding of Mountain Splitting Fist makes no progress at all. You begin to suspect that you have pushed the technique to its limit. Changing your approach, you stop confining yourself to the wisdom of those who came before and begin pondering how to improve Mountain Splitting Fist yourself.]

[Year 48: Hoping to make a fist open a mountain, as the name Mountain Splitting Fist suggests, you sit beneath a mountain and study its slopes. After years of contemplation, you finally understand that, at your current level, your own strength limits you. You simply cannot create a technique capable of opening a mountain with one punch.

Just as you are about to give up, a sudden flash of insight comes to you.

The mountain won't come to me, so I'll go to the mountain!

With one thought, the world opens wide.

You no longer see the mountain as an enemy. Instead, you weave all the understanding of its slopes that you have gained over the years into your fist technique.

One punch surges forth, like a mountain collapsing, its overwhelming force crushing all before it.

You have successfully created a martial art: Mountain Tipping Fist!]

[Year 50: You try to keep improving Mountain Tipping Fist, but your knowledge and strength hold you back. In the end, you make no progress.]

[Derivation complete. Congratulations on creating the martial art Mountain Tipping Fist.]

[For successfully creating a new martial art, you have gained the talent—Fist Mastery (Beginner)]

[Talent—Fist Mastery: You have exceptional insight into fist techniques. When deriving fist-based martial arts, you can shorten the training time and may even experience a sudden breakthrough!]

Shen Lin slowly opened his eyes, his face full of surprise.

He hadn't expected much from Mountain Splitting Fist, so he'd only invested fifty years of demonic lifespan in its derivation.

After all, when he had first arrived in this world, it had taken only a little over twenty years to derive Blood Battle Saber Technique to perfection.

He had invested fifty years just to be safe.

But he hadn't expected the system to give him such a pleasant surprise.

With the system's help, he had successfully derived a new martial art.

Mountain Tipping Fist.

Shen Lin could feel that with each punch of his self-created technique, he could call upon all the Qi and Blood Force in his body.

This martial art was connected to ten meridians!

It was the martial art connected to the most meridians that Shen Lin had encountered so far.

And the more meridians a martial art connected to, the more powerful it was.

Shen Lin estimated that once this fist technique was unleashed, few in the Opening Meridians Realm could withstand it.

At the very least, no one in Qiulin County should be able to.

After letting out a long breath, Shen Lin pondered for a while. To be safe, he got up, tossed the Mountain Splitting Fist manual into a copper basin, and burned it to ashes.

Once that was done, he dusted off his hands and was just about to leave when a strange sound began echoing through the night.

He stepped outside, leaped onto the roof, and listened carefully.

"Fire! Someone, help!!!"

"The flames are too strong! Hurry to the County Office and get help!!!"

Faint cries of panic reached him one after another.

Shen Lin sighed helplessly.

Hadn't they agreed to make their move an hour later?

Were Zijing's subordinates really that unreliable?

As Shen Lin grumbled, Zijing and her people stood on the upper floor of Miaoyin Tower, staring blankly at the fire.

"Aren't all our people here?"

She turned around in confusion and looked at her subordinates.

They were all here, and she had only just started assigning the tasks. So how had a fire already started???

The raging flames lit up the street.

Holding a Steel Saber, Li Bailin pointed at the man with a torch and shouted, "You insolent criminal! How dare you start a fire in Qiulin County! Do you know how grave a crime this is? Surrender at once!"

The man with the torch stared back, utterly bewildered.

How had he gone from simply coming out to watch the commotion to being branded an arsonist?

What lousy luck!

Liu Hong felt that he must have left home without checking the almanac. Why else would everything keep going wrong?

He had finally found a sucker willing to hire him to guard a treasury, only to be ambushed by an unknown expert and knocked unconscious before he even knew what was happening.

Luckily, the man had held back. He had only knocked Liu Hong out, taken his money and the martial art his bargain-basement master had given him, and left him alive.

After waking up, Liu Hong had been too ashamed to face his employer, so he had slipped away under cover of darkness.

It wasn't until he reached Qiulin County that he remembered he was completely broke and had nowhere to stay. In the end, he had to lie beneath an overpass.

He'd just been about to fall asleep when the commotion woke him. He'd come out to watch, only to be mistaken for an arsonist.

He sighed and decided to leave.

He wasn't the arsonist, but it was still best not to get involved with the authorities.

At least they hadn't recognized him. Otherwise, this Qiulin County...

Just then, a constable behind Li Bailin suddenly shouted excitedly, "Chief! I know this guy! He's a wanted Opening Meridians Realm criminal from the provincial capital! Liu Hong, the Mountain Splitting Fist!"