So Weak?

The one blocking Chen Mo's path was none other than the burly man who had sensibly withdrawn earlier.

Without any more nonsense, the other man attacked directly. His sandbag-sized fist shot straight at Chen Mo's head, killing intent blazing in his eyes. One look was enough to tell he had killed quite a few people.

It looked tremendously imposing, but in Chen Mo's eyes, it was utterly ordinary.

Too slow!

Too weak!

It felt as though everything had been put into slow motion.

Instead of retreating, Chen Mo advanced, closing in. With one hand, he easily caught the man's fist in his palm, his five fingers suddenly tightening.

The man's pained cry immediately rang out beside his ear. He tried to pull free, but Chen Mo gave him no chance. Without pausing, Chen Mo yanked him closer and drove his left knee upward, smashing it heavily into the burly man's chest.

Crack~

The sound of splitting bones followed. The burly man doubled over, and the tremendous force sent his body flying upward.

But Chen Mo had hold of his hand, so he could not break free. His ascent was forcibly cut short, and he came straight down, crashing hard into the ground. That alone left stars swimming before his eyes, every bone in his body seeming to have fallen apart.

Regret flooded his heart. Why the hell had he come here to throw away his life?!

However, before the burly man could react, a heavy blow struck the back of his head. His skull caved in, and he instantly lost consciousness forever.

"So weak?"

Shaking his head in disappointment, Chen Mo released the hand he had been gripping, its bones already crushed into powder. He realized that he might have used too much force and felt a little regret.

"The banknotes in this guy's clothes should be all right, right?"

To be safe, he gave the man's head another kick before searching through the body that had already been smashed to pieces...

Other than a stack of banknotes, he found nothing else. All those bottles and jars had shattered, and the medicinal powders had mixed together, clearly unusable now.

"Fortunately, most of the banknotes weren't damaged."

Stuffing the banknotes into his clothes, Chen Mo quickly left the area and sprinted toward home at top speed.

Not long after he left, three men appeared there. Looking at the burly man who had already lost all signs of life, then at the human-shaped crater on the ground—and especially that head twisted and caved in at unnatural angles—their pupils all contracted.

Pulling aside the black cloth covering the burly man's face, one of the three could not help crying out.

"The Golden Sun Gang's gang leader—Iron Arm Wang Kai! He's an Inner Strength Realm expert, yet he was killed just like that!"

Hearing this, the other two were equally shocked.

"Nearly every bone in his body has been shattered. How miserable! Someone who could beat Wang Kai into this state in such a short time was probably a Divine Strength Realm Martial Artist, right?"

"Most likely a Divine Strength Realm Martial Artist. But damn it, if he's already in the Divine Strength Realm, why would he wander around a Black Market like this?!"

"Stop talking. We'd better leave quickly. If that expert comes back, we're finished..."

"..."

Coming to their senses, the three did not linger and fled at once.

Chen Mo, the one responsible for it all, knew nothing of this. Without wasting time, he returned home and began counting tonight's gains.

"Seven hundred and fifty-eight taels. Adding the banknotes that were shattered, this guy was carrying over a thousand taels in banknotes. He's really rich."

Murder and arson brought golden belts—Chen Mo had deeply experienced the meaning of that saying tonight.

Adding the more than one hundred and thirty taels taken from the previous eight people, his wealth had now surged to nearly nine hundred taels of silver. At his current rate of spending, it could support him for quite a long time.

"This time, I probably just happened to run into a fat sheep. I might not be this lucky next time. Still, I already let you go, so why did you come over to throw your life away?" Chen Mo shook his head.

Actually, he had not intended to kill the man. Who would have thought that he had misjudged the gap in their strength and used too much force?

His first time killing someone—honestly, it still made him somewhat uncomfortable.

But Chen Mo knew that this was a step he had to cross in order to adapt to this world where the strong devoured the weak. There was no avoiding it; he could only adapt and accept it.

The night quickly passed...

The next morning, he habitually went to a nearby breakfast stall. As his strength increased, Chen Mo found that his appetite had grown again. These ordinary foods contained too little energy. It seemed he had to eat meat at every meal now.

"I wonder how much Exotic Beast Meat I need for each meal with my current appetite?" Chen Mo was a little curious.

No one had sold Exotic Beast Meat at the Black Market last night, which disappointed him somewhat. But when he thought of how much his wealth had increased, his mood remained quite good.

His main goal next was to save up Enlightenment Count, use it to advance Flying Cloud Steps and Cleaving Wind Blade, then "cultivate" them to the Perfection Realm before going to develop in the Inner City.

During that time, going to listen to Brothel Music every day was not particularly interesting. He could not exactly wander the streets every day, or sit blankly in taverns and teahouses, either. Chen Mo decided to find something to do.

After spending half a day visiting every shop in the Outer City that sold martial arts manuals, Chen Mo found three Health Cultivation Techniques: Spring Return Technique, Bird Dance Technique, and Eight Brocades.

Idle hands were idle hands. He could set aside some time each day to cultivate these three Health Cultivation Techniques. Whenever he had extra Enlightenment Count in the future, he could directly enlighten them to the Perfection Realm.

Hopefully, they could improve his aptitude and Lifespan.

After buying the manuals, Chen Mo hesitated for a while before finally going to the place where Official Permits for the Inner City were processed.

Applying for an Official Permit required one's identity information to be verified, a process that took several months. Chen Mo spent ten taels of silver and got it done on the spot.

It truly showed that money could make even ghosts grind millstones.

With the Official Permit in hand, Chen Mo thought that although he would not be living in the Inner City for now, taking a casual look around should not be a problem. He walked straight into the Inner City.

He had no other intentions. He simply wanted to broaden his horizons.

Compared with the Outer City, the Inner City was undoubtedly more prosperous. The buildings were more refined, and the passersby all appeared well-off. Entering a shop, Chen Mo found that it sold a wider variety of martial arts manuals. There were even ranked manuals among them.

According to the shopkeeper, one of them was a top-tier third-rate martial arts manual.

As for better manuals, those were rare treasures that could only be found at an Auction House.

With no interest in buying it, Chen Mo's attention was drawn to another manual.

By the time he left the shop, he had two manuals in his clothes. One was called the Qi Concealing Art, and the other was a Pharmacopoeia.

As its name implied, the Qi Concealing Art could conceal a martial artist's aura, making them less likely to be sensed or discovered.

The Pharmacopoeia recorded the effects and appearances of over a thousand known medicinal herbs. Chen Mo felt that he could study it when he had time.

The two manuals cost fifty-five taels. They truly were not cheap.

What Chen Mo really wanted to learn was something like the Disguise Art. That way, he would not need to worry so much when acting and could create countless different identities.

Unfortunately, none of the shops here had such a manual. He searched through other shops in the Inner City as well, but likewise found no disguise-related manuals, not even any Health Cultivation Techniques.

"Maybe I should try disguising myself at home normally. Once a corresponding Skill appears on the panel, I can use enlightenment on it and raise it to the Perfection Realm." Chen Mo felt this idea was highly feasible.

The Inner City was roughly the same size as the Outer City, but most of it was occupied by great clans and the government. Another portion was taken by the Two Great Martial Arts Schools, leaving only the rest for commerce and other residential land. There were not that many places to explore.

Chen Mo spent less than two hours roughly touring all the places worth visiting and familiarizing himself with the situation. He found it was only so-so. He seemed to have been overly cautious before.

After asking around, he learned that houses with independent courtyards in the Inner City rented for over twenty taels a month. To buy one, one could not do it without a thousand taels.

Upon learning this, Chen Mo suddenly felt that he was not quite so wealthy after all. He thought to himself:

"Looks like I can't miss the twice-monthly Black Market."