A quarter of an hour later, Shen Han had finally recovered a little strength.
Clutching his chest, he glanced at Kang Zhiwen's corpse, then slowly walked toward Hu Teng, who was still alive in the corner.
Hu Teng was already scared out of his wits. "Y-you..."
As Shen Han drew closer, Hu Teng tried to flee, but he couldn't move at all. "Spare my life..."
"Is that so?"
Shen Han's voice was cold.
Tonight had been the most dangerous night since he'd crossed over. Before this, he hadn't faced much resistance when killing Hu Jiao, Ding San and Mao Si, or the Qiankun Two Rats.
But this time was different. Kang Zhiwen's punches had been so powerful that Shen Han had suffered internal injuries.
If he hadn't used the furnace ash at the critical moment, it would have been hard to say who would have come out on top.
"Sir, I was wrong..."
Hu Teng begged for mercy through the pain. "If you spare me, I'll be your ox or horse for the rest of my life. I'll follow your every command..."
Shen Han snorted. "Sorry, I don't need that."
Hu Teng trembled all over and hurriedly added, "I-I'll give you all the silver I have..."
"Seems to me that if I kill you, the silver will be mine anyway."
"Uh..."
Hu Teng was at a loss for words.
But to stay alive, he tried a different excuse. "I'm a disciple of the Black Wind Stronghold. If you kill me, the stronghold master won't let you get away with it..."
Shen Han smiled. "Don't worry. This time I won't use that red sack to carry your corpses. No matter how capable your stronghold master is, he won't be able to trace them back to an insignificant nobody like me."
"You!"
Hu Teng's last hope vanished.
His eyes were filled with deep terror.
"Enough. It's getting late. Go reunite with your cousin!"
Shen Han picked up a stone.
Crack, crack, crack, crack!
Without any fancy moves, he slammed the stone down on Hu Teng's head again and again. Though injured and much weaker than before, Shen Han had no trouble overpowering Hu Teng, who couldn't fight back. After a dozen or so blows, Hu Teng's skull was crushed, and he breathed his last.
"Good thing Sister Yun Yi left this morning. If she saw this, she'd be terrified."
After killing the two men, Shen Han drew a deep breath.
The pain in his chest was growing worse.
He hurriedly circulated his energy again to heal his injuries and ease the pain. "Thank goodness tomorrow's my day off. When I go to Hua'an Hall to buy Qi Condensing Powder, I'll pick up some herbs for internal injuries, too.
"Good. After a hard night's work, it's time to search the bodies."
Before long, he'd caught his breath. He walked over to Kang Zhiwen and Hu Teng's corpses and searched them with practiced hands.
From Kang Zhiwen, he found a full eighty taels of silver.
"Rich man!"
Shen Han couldn't help but click his tongue.
Hu Teng had far less silver on him—only twenty taels.
However, inside a hidden pocket in Hu Teng's chest, Shen Han found a small black booklet.
"Is this some kind of Angry Dragon Divine Fist?"
Shen Han remembered what the two men had said on the wall.
The booklet had lost its cover, and several pages seemed to be missing from the middle as well.
"Never mind. I'll deal with the bodies first and look through it later."
He put away the booklet, found some thick rope, and tied the two corpses tightly together. Then, under cover of night, he carried them out of the courtyard.
He couldn't go to the place where he'd killed the Qiankun Two Rats last night, so he chose the opposite direction.
After several turns and detours,
he brought the bodies to the mouth of a deserted alley.
"This will do..."
Thud!
He dropped the corpses.
"This place is far from my home. Even if the night watchman finds them, it has nothing to do with me... Hm? What's that?"
Just as he was about to leave, his sharp eyes spotted someone lying on the ground not far away.
A thought stirred in Shen Han's mind, and he walked over.
It was a bald monk, covered in blood. He'd been dead for quite some time.
"Damn..."
I'm not the only one killing people in the middle of the night!
Three Rivers County really isn't peaceful!
A gust of night wind swept by, making Shen Han suck in a sharp breath. He quickly looked around, but fortunately, nothing seemed amiss.
"Let's try our luck."
He quickly crouched down and searched the monk's body.
After a moment, he found five taels in broken silver and, besides that, a jade pendant.
He tucked it all away and darted off.
Back in the courtyard.
"This jade is quite pretty."
Under the oil lamp, Shen Han carefully turned the jade pendant over in his hands.
It was a bright orange Double Fish Jade Pendant, lifelike and exquisitely crafted.
How had a monk who chanted sutras come by something like this?
And why hadn't the killer searched the body?
"Let's look at the fist manual."
He set down the jade pendant, took out the booklet, and skimmed through it from beginning to end.
It really was a manual for the Angry Dragon Divine Fist.
The divine fist had twelve forms, all extremely intricate. But three of them were missing from the manual. Could he still practice it?
"Let the clone try..."
Shen Han took out the Bronze Mirror and handed the manual over.
Even if the manual had been complete, he wouldn't have been able to practice it himself. Letting the clone give it a try cost him nothing.
The clone took the manual and immediately began studying it in earnest.
Before long, the clone tossed the manual back.
"Can you do it?"
Shen Han asked softly.
The clone nodded. Then, to his surprise, it assumed a stance and began practicing, every movement precise and methodical!
"You can practice even with an incomplete manual?"
Shen Han was overjoyed. "You really do have extraordinary talent. Good. Practice this set of Angry Dragon Divine Fist properly!"
After giving the clone its task, he drank a large bowl of water and went to bed.
Early the next morning,
the internal injury in Shen Han's chest woke him with a stab of pain.
He quickly circulated his energy to regulate his condition.
It seemed his strength was still too limited. If he hadn't crippled Hu Teng first last night, the two of them would have attacked together, and he would certainly have been the one to die. He had to strengthen himself as soon as possible!
"Hm?"
The moment he opened the panel, Shen Han froze.
Mirror Master: Shen Han
Cultivation: Skin Refining
Technique: Breathing Technique (Perfected)
Martial Arts: Angry Dragon Divine Fist (Minor Mastery)
Skill: Medicine (Perfected)
The Basic Fist Technique that had originally been listed under martial arts was gone, replaced by the Angry Dragon Divine Fist.
And it was already at minor mastery!
Then he looked at the clone's movements in the mirror. Its fists flowed like water, as if it were a real dragon.
"I get it!"
Shen Han understood in an instant.
Even with the clone's exceptional talent, there was no way it could have trained the Angry Dragon Divine Fist to minor mastery in just one night.
There was only one explanation:
When the clone practiced a high-level martial art, it could merge it with a lower-level martial art of the same type! In other words, the Angry Dragon Divine Fist had merged with the perfected Basic Fist Technique, which was why it had leapt straight to minor mastery!
"Brilliant!"
Shen Han praised it. "That means that from now on, practicing a high-level martial art of the same type will take half the effort and yield twice the results!"
He immediately ran through the Angry Dragon Divine Fist in his mind.
Sure enough, every punch, move, and technique of the divine fist was deeply imprinted in his mind.
At the same time, his body had developed muscle memory.
The effects of the Angry Dragon Divine Fist at minor mastery were roughly the same as those of the Basic Fist Technique at perfection. Naturally, once the clone trained the Angry Dragon Divine Fist to major mastery or even perfection, its power would far surpass that of the Basic Fist Technique.
Even more impressive, the clone had learned all twelve forms of the Angry Dragon Divine Fist!
It had even automatically filled in the three missing forms!
"Heavens really are on my side!"
Satisfied, Shen Han stepped out of his room. After cleaning up the traces left in the courtyard, he went out.
Even though it was his day off, he still had plenty to do: buy medicine for his injuries, buy Qi Condensing Powder, and get a new stove. As for the clone, it could devote itself entirely to practicing the Angry Dragon Divine Fist!
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