"Chen Ping! Black Mountain County Military Service Bureau's genius of the year!"
"Zhao Zhiqiu left the Grand Martial Arts Arena just now to recruit other visiting martial artists. Chen Ping was the last person he invited out."
"What a calamity star. He got Senior Brother Zhao killed on his very first day here."
Many people stared at that low-key, humble martial arts genius with unfriendly expressions.
Only after hearing the surrounding discussions did Lu Ming understand the man's identity.
Chen Ping! Black Mountain County's martial arts genius.
"Had it not been for me just now, Senior Brother Zhao would not have died. Master Xu, Director Wei, please punish me."
Chen Ping looked remorseful as he stepped forward to plead guilty.
Xu Shou shouted sternly, "You caused trouble the moment you arrived. You—"
"Junior Brother, do not blame him too harshly." Wei Jinlin interrupted Xu Shou and shook his head.
"That demon was simply too cunning. It actually knew how to make a feint in the east and attack in the west. Junior Brother, did you see that demon's true form just now?"
Xu Shou's expression turned grave. "Senior Brother saw it as well?"
At that moment, many young martial artists surged in from outside the Military Service Bureau. Leading them were two middle-aged martial artists, both with weak, unsteady qi and blood and obvious injuries. They were clearly the other two Directors of the Military Service Bureau.
Wei Jinlin frowned slightly. "That demon is no trivial matter. This must be dealt with. Let us discuss it."
The four Directors promptly left, while everyone else continued training on their own.
Because Chen Ping had taken the initiative to plead guilty, the local members of the Military Service Bureau viewed him somewhat more favorably and were no longer so hostile toward him.
The many elite disciples from the four Military Service Bureaus began discussing the demons among themselves.
Lu Ming, however, frowned deeply. Chen Ping appeared humble and upright, but through his Heavenly Leak vision earlier, Lu Ming had clearly seen him clutch Zhao Zhiqiu tightly before the demon broke through the ground, leaving him unable to move.
After the demon arrived, Chen Ping suddenly leaped far back. Only then was Zhao Zhiqiu caught off guard and devoured by the demon, ending up as a dried corpse.
Lu Ming had even seen Zhao Zhiqiu's aura plummet sharply before the demon broke through the ground. Chen Ping had most likely already ambushed him.
Chen Ping must have sensed the demon's arrival and abruptly attacked Zhao Zhiqiu, leaving him powerless to flee. He had used Zhao Zhiqiu to draw the demon's attention so that he himself would have a chance to escape.
That fellow was cunning and sinister, absolutely nothing like the humble and honest person he appeared to be.
Lu Ming silently raised his guard. Having no interest in talking with these people, he quietly left.
"That demon's true form has already been seen by us. It is the legendary Earth Dragon Beast, and it has a habit of drinking blood!"
"I heard Earth Dragon Beasts especially like the blood of martial arts geniuses. They seem to possess a related bloodline divine ability that lets them grow stronger by drinking blood."
"Doesn't that mean the greater one's talent, the greater the danger?"
"Good thing I'm trash."
Before leaving, Lu Ming vaguely heard everyone discussing the demon's true form. Seeing Chen Feng and the others' grave expressions, his eyes flickered as he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
If that was the case, then he should be relatively safe.
His own cultivation talent was actually quite mediocre. He had only achieved a top-three result in the preliminary test through the two divine abilities, Godly Movement and Mountain-Pushing.
Of course, his Divine Ability Panel was also part of his strength and talent.
It was simply that this peerless aptitude was something the so-called Earth Dragon Beast clearly could not detect.
Otherwise, when he had been alone in the courtyard earlier, the Earth Dragon Beast would have come for him rather than Zhao Zhiqiu.
With that thought, Lu Ming relaxed. The enormous Military Service Bureau was now gathered with martial arts geniuses from the surrounding four counties.
Standing among them, he was utterly inconspicuous. For the time being, he did not need to worry about an attack from the Earth Dragon Beast.
However, faced with a demon that even Wei Jinlin had to treat seriously, he needed to improve his strength as quickly as possible in case anything unexpected happened.
After returning to the courtyard, Lu Ming continued practicing the Cloud-Piercing Finger.
"Hmm?" The instant Lu Ming made his move and tapped a finger against the Nine Palaces Stakes, he immediately sensed something different.
This time, his movement felt inexplicably smooth.
The qi and blood within him, the muscular control of his finger, and his mental intent all seemed to merge into that single finger strike. As his finger shot out, it flowed like drifting clouds and running water, filling him with an unprecedented sense of exhilaration.
"What is going on?" Lu Ming looked at his hand in surprise. Practicing the Cloud-Piercing Finger this time felt completely different from before.
It was as though his understanding of the Cloud-Piercing Finger had deepened by another layer.
"Let's try the Eighteen Green Bamboo Forms." A thought flashed through Lu Ming's mind. He picked up a short staff and practiced the staff technique within the Nine Palaces Stakes.
As soon as he began, he felt the difference again. It was as though he had gained some insight into the Eighteen Green Bamboo Forms. His movements flowed like drifting clouds and running water, nearly reaching the level of Minor Completion.
Yet after cultivating the Eighteen Green Bamboo Forms to the entry level, he had never practiced it again.
After so long without training, he should have become rusty instead.
"This..." A thought stirred in Lu Ming's heart, and a guess flashed through his mind.
Suppressing his excitement, he tossed aside the short staff and immediately fetched some leaves and white paper. He pressed them tightly together and hung them on a Puppet Stake.
Ever since reaching the entry level, he had not trained this way again.
Now that he tried again, every strike of his Cloud-Piercing Finger shattered the leaves without damaging the white paper. This was the standard entry-level Cloud-Piercing Finger.
The more he practiced, the more energized he became. A current of qi in his heart flowed freely and endlessly.
Something within his body seemed to be brewing, driving him to keep striking with his fingers.
Sst! Sst! Sst!
He continuously shattered leaf after leaf. Finally, after more than a hundred fragments of leaves had scattered across the ground, Lu Ming thrust out another finger.
A marvelous sensation welled up from his heart and flowed to his fingertips, allowing him to precisely control the muscles of his finger and even the subtle circulation of his qi and blood.
Crack!
This time, the Cloud-Piercing Finger landed on the leaf, yet the leaf did not break. It was not even damaged in the slightest.
But the sheet of white paper pressed against its back suddenly let out a sharp crack and shattered into pieces, drifting away in the wind.
"It worked! The Cloud-Piercing Finger has reached Minor Completion!"
A trace of delight appeared in Lu Ming's eyes.
The leaf remained unbroken while the white paper behind it shattered. This was the mark of Minor Completion in the Cloud-Piercing Finger, signifying that his control over finger force had risen to a higher level.
This definitely was not solely the Enlightenment Pill's doing—or rather, it was not just the Enlightenment Pill!
"I've taken Enlightenment Pills for five days already. I understand the effects of sudden enlightenment well. This unusual feeling today may be..."
Lu Ming's heart pounded wildly. If his guess was true, then he had a way to improve his cultivation talent!
With a thought, he suddenly performed the Cloud-Stepping Technique and practiced it once in the courtyard.
The result was that practicing his lightness skill felt exactly the same as before.
He then used the Nine Palaces Palm and went through the Stone Tablet Nine Palace Stakes once, but it was equally ordinary.
"It's confirmed!"
Lu Ming finished his practice and stood still, inwardly overjoyed.
Through the tests just now, he had confirmed that his acupoint talent had suddenly soared.
And the reason was that his Heavenly Leak Divine Ability had advanced from Initial Success to Minor Completion!
When the realm of a martial divine ability advanced, the corresponding martial talent would undergo a tremendous surge.
His aptitude in acupoints had originally been only average, but now it had perhaps more than doubled.
That was what allowed the Cloud-Piercing Finger, which he had painstakingly cultivated for many days, to leap directly from entry level to Minor Completion.
Naturally, the Enlightenment Pill had contributed to this as well. But if his acupoint talent had not improved, there was absolutely no way he could have reached Minor Completion so quickly.
"I originally thought I would need to keep practicing the Cloud-Piercing Finger and would have no time to cultivate my lightness skill or evolve a third Leg Dao Divine Ability. But now that I've reached my goal ahead of time, everything has taken a turn for the better!"
Lu Ming was overjoyed.
He immediately turned and headed out the door to find Wei Jinlin, carrying a trace of anticipation in his heart. He wondered what type of cultivation method Wei Jinlin intended to teach him.
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