Battle of the Martial Masters!

Soon, another segment of memory flooded into the mind of Zhao An.

It was the five-year journey of the Soul Slave Liu Gen painstakingly studying the Golden Scale Pile Driving Technique within the Soul Pool.

Liu Gen had been illiterate while alive; if he had been left to simply stare at the contents of this manual, he likely would have broken his head against the wall without achieving any results.

But with the help of Meng Wanyi, Zhao An had already translated every word in the entire manual.

Even the acupoints, meridians, and various postures depicted in the illustrations had been analyzed in detail by Meng Wanyi from the perspective of a physician.

Although Meng Wanyi was not a martial artist, what she said had benefited Zhao An greatly.

Likewise, he could share this relevant information with the Soul Slave Liu Gen.

Only in this way could the Soul Slave understand the contents of the manual and have a possibility of comprehending it; otherwise, it would just be a meaningless waste of time.

A moment later, Zhao An opened his eyes abruptly!

The Soul Slave Liu Gen had not comprehended the martial art, but he had not come away empty-handed either.

For the first three years, Liu Gen had pondered repeatedly without success, only vaguely touching upon a few threads of logic.

In the final two years, perhaps like a blind cat stumbling upon a dead mouse, he had accidentally discovered some traces of martial arts within those pages of illustrations.

But unfortunately, that was as far as it went.

The potential of this Soul Slave was limited, and five years of contemplation were far from enough to derive a martial art from it.

But at the very least, Zhao An had reached a conclusion.

This was truly a martial arts manual, but it was far too profound and obscure, or perhaps it was missing some prerequisite training guides.

Without guidance, for an ordinary person to learn the martial arts within such a small booklet would be as difficult as ascending to heaven!

Cao Li could not learn it and treated it as a book of erotic illustrations, which was a waste of a heavenly treasure, but Zhao An was determined to make a serious attempt.

He could vaguely sense that the subtlety hidden within this manual far exceeded his Ninth-Grade Fierce Tiger Blade Art!

He would not give up until he got to the bottom of it.

After a moment of thought, Zhao An selected two more Soul Slaves to continue contemplating this Pile Driving Technique together.

This method of having multiple Soul Slaves perform the same task simultaneously was actually somewhat wasteful, as the content derived by the Soul Slaves would likely contain a fair amount of overlap.

It would be better to do it one after another, with each Soul Slave continuing to advance based on the latest training progress.

However, the reason Zhao An tried having multiple Soul Slaves perform the task at once was to save time.

In any case, he still had a surplus of Soul Slaves in his Soul Pool, and he would be able to acquire more in the future.

If two Soul Slaves could not comprehend this martial art, then he would have four Soul Slaves tackle it together.

As long as he could obtain this martial art, the consumption of these Soul Slaves was nothing.

After all, this world was full of wicked people; Soul Slaves were simply inexhaustible!

The sky grew dim, and a clap of muffled thunder exploded. The previously clear sky darkened suddenly, and dark clouds gathered from all directions as if rushing to a market.

Before long, a light drizzle began to pelt the bluestone tiles, splashing up tiny droplets of water.

Pedestrians covered their heads and hurried to the eaves of buildings to hide from the rain.

A person wearing a bamboo hat walked through the street, paying no mind to the falling rain.

He stopped in front of a guild hall, lifted his hat, and revealed a pair of cold, triangular eyes that swept over the characters on the door plaque.

Python Gang Headquarters.

Confirming he was in the right place, he walked inside.

"Junior brother, you finally arrived." Xu Donglai was overjoyed to see the man and stepped forward to give him a bear hug.

The visitor took off his bamboo hat, revealing a horse-like face that was not particularly handsome, his hair somewhat disheveled, and he nodded expressionlessly.

"Who do you want me to kill this time?" He Song looked at Xu Donglai and asked straight to the point.

"Someone from the Tiger Head Gang." Xu Donglai personally poured him tea, his expression enthusiastic.

Before the words had even faded, He Song had already furrowed his brows.

"Is it that Zhou Hu?"

"Not at all, let's put that guy aside for now. This time it's a kid from the Tiger Head Gang. He's a bit tricky, so I wanted to ask you to try your hand at it." Xu Donglai shook his head.

"A Martial Master?"

"I believe so. He has killed quite a few of my men. If you can, please help your senior brother eliminate him." As Xu Donglai spoke, he reached into his sleeve, pulled out a large silver ingot, and pushed it across.

"This is thirty taels."

He Song took the silver ingot and immediately stood up to walk outside.

"Junior brother, it wouldn't hurt to wait until the rain stops..."

"No need. Rainy days are good for getting things done." As He Song spoke, his figure had already blurred into the rain and vanished.

"Gang Leader, can your junior brother really pull this off? That Zhao An even killed Cao Li!" a Python Gang leader asked.

"No need to worry. My dear junior brother is even more capable than I am. In the future, he might even have a chance to enter the inner sect of the Silver Snake Sect. A mere Zhao An will be easy for him to kill." Xu Donglai sipped his tea, looking completely at ease.

In his view, it wouldn't be long before his junior brother returned carrying the head of Zhao An.

No matter how strong Zhao An appeared, he was ultimately just an amateur, and given his age, there was a limit to how powerful he could truly be.

In the small courtyard.

Zhao Chunzi and Li Gou'er were playing cards out of sheer boredom. Before long, Zhao Chunzi's face turned red with frustration; all the money on his person had been won by Li Gou'er.

"That's enough. If we keep playing, I'm afraid you'll end up losing your underwear to me too," Li Gou'er sneered.

Zhao An leaned against the doorpost with his blade slung over his shoulder. This sudden downpour had interrupted his blade practice.

A rainy day is actually a better match for slaughter...

At this moment, he was considering whether he should take advantage of this rain to settle his grievances with the Python Gang once and for all.

Another rumble of thunder echoed, the rain intensified, and the sky grew even darker.

Just then, Zhao An faintly heard an unusual sound coming from the roof tiles above him and couldn't help but look up.

Through the curtain of rain, a black shadow suddenly flipped down from the eaves.

The black shadow locked eyes with Zhao An and raised his left hand.

Zhao An then saw clearly what the man was holding.

It was a crossbow, with a short bolt already nocked and aimed directly at him.

Zhao An felt a chill run down his spine. Before his mind could even react, his body had already moved on instinct, raising the Big Ring Blade in his hand.

With a light click, the trigger was pulled, the bowstring snapped taut, and the bolt tore through the rain, whistling toward the center of Zhao An's forehead.

However, as if by instinct, Zhao An swung his blade down and actually managed to hack the flying bolt out of the air on the spot.

This sight made He Song's eyes narrow.

The speed of a bolt fired from a hand crossbow was incredibly fast.

To be able to strike it down with a blade when caught so off guard was not something an ordinary person could achieve.

Even he himself could not guarantee that he could successfully intercept a fired bolt at this distance!

Xu Donglai had said this kid was troublesome, and now he was starting to believe it!

At the same time, he met the gaze Zhao An fixed upon him.

The fierce light radiating from those eyes was like that of a wild beast released from its cage!

The next moment, without a word, Zhao An erupted into motion, charging into the rain and straight toward him.