One Breath, Nine Breaches! Smooth Ascent to the Clouds!

Outside the Li Family Bank, someone had set up a challenge arena to test the mettle of the bank's guards. If they failed, the bank would be forced to shut down.

The Li Family Bank had fallen to such dire straits? It was already at a critical moment of life and death.

And Li Youning had requested his help.

"Now, I will teach you the Nine Palaces Palm. This is the accompanying martial art for the Nine Palace Living Stakes. As long as you can master it, you'll have a chance to pass the Stone Tablet Nine Palaces Stakes and achieve Nine Breaks in One Breath!"

Wei Jinlin said slowly, "Are you ready?"

Lu Ming put away the letter, paused for a moment, then cupped his hands and said:

"Teacher Wei, I can already achieve Nine Breaks in One Breath."

"Good... Huh?!" Wei Jinlin suddenly turned his head and stared at him. "What do you mean?"

Lu Ming pointed at the Stone Tablet Nine Palaces Stakes and said solemnly, "I have already reached the level of Nine Breaks in One Breath. I can pass the Stone Tablet Nine Palaces Stakes."

Wei Jinlin's expression turned slightly serious. "I haven't taught you the Nine Palaces Palm yet."

Lu Ming said, "I don't need the Nine Palaces Palm."

Wei Jinlin paused for a moment, then said, "Try walking it."

He stepped back.

Lu Ming took a deep breath and approached the Stone Tablet Nine Palaces Stakes. Looking at the heavy stone tablets that stood motionless in the wind, his gaze suddenly grew profound.

His vision shifted. The surrounding wind turned into gray dashed lines, and on each stone tablet, black leakage points emerged, like small clusters of black smoke that the wind could not scatter.

He had already tried with Grass Gliding. In one breath, he could not finish one set of Nine Palaces Stakes—he would be a little over time.

But that was when he wasn't using the Heaven Leak Divine Ability.

Once he used the Heaven Leak Divine Ability, each time he struck a black leakage point, his momentum and strength would increase by a trace, and he would definitely be able to control the time within one breath.

As for needing the power of Refined Skin Perfection to shatter the stone tablets—that was true for others. But for him, even a stone tablet's momentum did not surpass his own.

So...

Lu Ming suddenly stomped the ground, his entire body shooting like a cannonball into the Stone Tablet Nine Palaces Stakes. His figure shifted rapidly among the nine stakes, and at the same time, he pressed his index and middle fingers together and struck swiftly.

In the span of a single breath, he struck nine times.

Point Kill!

The moment his finger touched the stone tablet, he felt he could press his momentum against it. In that instant, whether the stone tablet turned to powder or shattered into several pieces was entirely up to him.

Crack, crack, crack...

He chose to shatter the stone tablets into several pieces.

Thus, in one breath, he passed through the Stone Tablet Nine Palaces Stakes, and behind him, the stone tablets exploded, scattering into dozens of fragments on the ground.

Dust stirred briefly in the air. The wind blew it away, revealing Lu Ming's resolute face.

"Teacher Wei! Do I now have the qualifications to leave the Military Service Bureau?" Lu Ming asked slowly.

A trace of surprise finally appeared on Wei Jinlin's usually calm face. He looked down at the broken stone tablets on the ground, then raised his head to look at him and said:

"Since you can shatter the stone tablets, naturally you can leave. But, are you going to help Li Youning?"

Lu Ming was taken aback, then thought to himself that Wei Jinlin, though he paid no attention to the struggles of these great families, was not ignorant of them.

He immediately replied:

"Yes! Senior Sister Li has helped me a great deal. The Grass Gliding lightness skill I just used was gifted by her.

"Also, the injury medicine and the Qi-Nurturing Powder were all given by her.

"Without Senior Sister Li's help, I wouldn't have reached my current level so quickly.

"Now that I can be of help, I naturally won't shirk the duty."

A glint of approval appeared in Wei Jinlin's eyes. He pondered for a moment and said, "You used lightness skill just now, and also a finger technique?"

Lu Ming said, "Yes. I once obtained a manual by chance called the Bone-Unraveling Technique, which includes a finger technique. After practicing it, I found it to be very powerful. Even though my cultivation hasn't reached Refined Skin Perfection, it allows me to shatter the stone tablets."

Wei Jinlin said, "Finger techniques once flourished in ancient times due to the prosperity of acupoint cultivation.

"But the fortune of the acupoint tradition was exhausted, and it faded into the river of time. Finger techniques declined along with it.

"Your talent in finger techniques is good, but finger techniques have no future.

"Since you also have talent in lightness skill, I can teach you a lightness skill. What do you think?"

Lu Ming's heart stirred. He asked, "Why do you say finger techniques have no future? Even without the acupoint tradition, can't I cultivate them on my own?"

Wei Jinlin clasped his hands behind his back and looked up at the sky. A hint of loneliness appeared in his eyes. "Those matters are too far beyond you.

"For now, you only need to know that a tradition grants an extremely powerful boost to those with great talent.

"The difference in strength between a martial artist with a tradition's blessing and one without is like heaven and earth."

"Right now, acupoints have no orthodoxy. Even if your finger technique talent is unmatched under heaven, in the end, when a crowd of orthodox disciples contend, how can you surpass them?"

"On the martial path, the further you go, the more you need to contend. If you cannot contend with others, it will be difficult to walk further. You should still learn lightness skill."

Upon hearing this, Lu Ming's eyes were opened wide.

So it turned out that this world valued talent so heavily because, in the later stages, the orthodoxy would bestow its support upon the talented.

But as for the specifics, Wei Jinlin was unwilling to say more, so he had to suppress his curiosity and said:

"I naturally want to learn lightness skill as well, but I heard that everyone else is learning the Nine Palaces Palm."

Wei Jinlin said: "Your palm technique talent is not as good as your lightness skill talent, so naturally you should learn lightness skill."

Lu Ming said: "Can I... learn both?"

The Nine Palaces Palm was clearly a palm technique; if he could learn it, wouldn't he be able to evolve a palm-based divine ability?

Wei Jinlin gave him a slight glare: "Bite off more than you can chew."

Lu Ming argued: "Teacher Wei, my teeth are very good."

Wei Jinlin said expressionlessly: "The Military Service Bureau only stipulates that I need to teach one. If you want to learn two, or even three... you'll have to pay more!"

"Then forget it." Lu Ming immediately shook his head. He was penniless right now.

At the same time, he grumbled inwardly—being so stingy, missing the chance to invest in a disciple with such peerless talent as himself, was Wei Jinlin's loss.

So in the end, he still chose to learn lightness skill.

After all, although the Nine Palaces Palm could evolve into a palm-based divine ability, he now possessed the Bone-Unraveling Technique finger method, which, combined with the Point-Kill Divine Ability, already gave him a certain level of combat power. He didn't need the Nine Palaces Palm for the time being.

And since he would be temporarily leaving the Military Service Bureau in three days, it was naturally safer to cultivate a more advanced lightness skill.

More importantly, he had asked one more question and discovered that the lightness skill Wei Jinlin was going to teach him was actually a first-class martial art, close to a peerless technique!

With the opportunity to learn a first-class martial art, he naturally couldn't miss it.

The Grass Gliding lightness skill he was currently practicing, according to Wei Jinlin, although it was ranked, was only a third-class martial art.

And the Nine Palaces Palm was merely a second-class martial art.

Clearly, Wei Jinlin still had some faith in his lightness skill talent; otherwise, he wouldn't teach him a first-class lightness skill.

"Watch closely."

After Lu Ming finally made his decision, Wei Jinlin led him to a wide open space in the courtyard and said to him.

"Next... I will teach you the Smooth Ascent to the Clouds!"