Rapidly Advancing Acupoint Experience

"Thump, thump, thump..."

The next day, just as the sky began to lighten, Lu Ming heard the clamor coming from the surrounding courtyards and opened his eyes.

The scrolls were already open!

Even while sleeping at night, he occasionally heard the sounds of people practicing martial arts—some stayed up late training.

Now they were starting early again, which made him feel a bit of tension. He cursed under his breath—everyone was risking their lives.

He immediately got up, washed up briefly, ate some dry rations, left the room, and walked over to the Nine Palace Stakes.

By now he was fully awake. After briefly reviewing the finger techniques from the Bone-Unraveling Technique, he stepped into the Nine Palace Stakes with a mud-treading step.

Yesterday, he had trained hard all afternoon and reached the level of nine strikes in five breaths. That meant completing the Wooden Tablet Nine Palace Stakes in five breaths, striking all nine wooden tablets.

Today, for the first time, he entered the Wooden Tablet Nine Palace Stakes using the finger techniques from the Bone-Unraveling Technique to strike the tablets.

Nine crisp "tap tap tap" sounds rang out as Lu Ming stepped out from the other end of the Nine Palace Stakes. He sensed that because he had changed his striking method, he was actually one breath slower.

It had become nine strikes in six breaths.

But when the information from his ability panel arrived, a hint of surprise surfaced in his heart.

[Currently evolving Acupoint Divine Ability (42/1000)...]

42!

The experience had reached 42. He remembered ending yesterday at 40, which meant he had gained 2 experience points in one go!

It had doubled directly!

Lu Ming clenched his fists in excitement. At this rate, he wouldn't be gaining 40 experience points a day, but a full 80!

Originally, it would have taken twenty-five days to evolve the Acupoint Divine Ability again, but now he needed less than thirteen days.

The required training time had been drastically shortened!

The finger technique was indeed related to acupoints. And his memory was correct—as long as he cultivated similar techniques with different foundations, he could shorten the time needed to evolve this kind of ability.

This was because evolving an ability inherently required him to have experience in that area. The more he understood finger techniques, the easier it would naturally be to deduce the Acupoint Divine Ability.

The only downside was that after each round, his fingers were somewhat swollen and ached faintly.

"The early stages of finger techniques aren't easy! Harder than palm blade!" Lu Ming bared his teeth slightly as he applied medicine to his fingers.

His fingers felt ice-cold at first, then somewhat hot and tingling, before slowly returning to normal. Without hesitation, he turned around and continued training.

[Currently evolving Acupoint Divine Ability (44/1000)...]

[Currently evolving...]

[Currently evolving Acupoint Divine Ability (60/1000)...]

In just one short hour, he had run through the Nine Palace Stakes ten times, and his experience points had directly reached 60.

Compared to yesterday's one-by-one increase, now it was two-by-two, noticeably faster. This made him increasingly expectant—soon, very soon, he would be able to evolve an ability again.

Moreover, after ten runs through the stakes, he had gradually grown accustomed to striking the wooden tablets with finger techniques and had returned to the level of nine strikes in five breaths.

"Clang~ clang~" At that moment, the bell summoning everyone to the training ground rang out. He walked straight out and headed to the training ground to practice.

Since breaking wooden tablets meant spending money to replace them, he didn't dare use his full strength when practicing on his own.

So he made sure to practice on the training ground's Wooden Tablet Nine Palace Stakes at least once or twice a day to verify his progress.

When running the stakes there, if he broke a wooden tablet, Wei Jinlin would replace it without charging him.

Thus, over the next ten days, he trained diligently every day.

He had fully mastered the finger techniques from the Bone-Unraveling Technique and could execute them smoothly along with the Nine Palace Living Stakes.

His level on the Wooden Tablet Nine Palace Stakes had long since reached nine strikes in three breaths.

At the training ground, his performance had also drawn some attention. After all, after nine strikes in three breaths came nine breaks in three breaths!

That step was difficult—one had to transform from whole-body force into blood-and-qi power, using blood-and-qi power to temper the skin and reach the Skin Tempering stage before it could be achieved.

But many people couldn't even reach nine strikes in three breaths, let alone nine breaks in three breaths.

It could be said that Lu Ming had now touched the threshold of a martial artist, just one step away from advancing.

Once he advanced to martial artist, based on past experience, he would definitely rank within the top two hundred of the Military Service Bureau. After the major examination, he would at least obtain the status of a martial man—that would be a different story!

Lu Ming, however, paid no attention to others' gazes and buried himself in hard training.

Compared to reaching nine strikes in three breaths on the Nine Palace Living Stakes, what excited him more was that after ten days, he had almost maxed out his acupoint experience.

[Currently evolving Acupoint Divine Ability (920/1000)...]

920 experience points!

In the evening, after finishing his last round of the Nine Palace Living Stakes, Lu Ming felt soreness throughout his body, especially in his fingers, but he was extremely excited inside.

He was only 80 experience points away from evolving the Acupoint Divine Ability.

That meant... after he finished training tomorrow, he could evolve it!

That night, he slept deeply and soundly, carrying thick anticipation into his dreams.

"Who dares invade the Military Service Bureau!"

Just as he was in the depths of slumber, a sudden explosive shout jolted the entire Military Service Bureau.

Lu Ming jolted awake. Stepping outside, he saw the sky filled with stars—it was still the early hours before dawn.

That was Wei Jinlin's voice! After the shout, three black figures leaped onto the eaves and fled in three directions.

"Die!!"

Another explosive shout rang out, this time accompanied by a faint rumbling like thunder.

One of the three figures cried out in terror, "Tiger Leopard Thunder Sound!"

"No..."

In the darkness, three pale white air streams shot out like arrows, striking the three men in the blink of an eye.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

The three were hit midair by the air streams, blood splattering as they crashed straight to the ground.

Gasps erupted all around. Some lit lamps and pushed open their doors.

"It's nothing. Everyone go back. Rest well and continue training tomorrow."

Wei Jinlin's calm voice came through. The crowd immediately responded with respectful assent, cast him an awed glance, and turned back to their own small courtyards.

But many would likely lose sleep tonight—a body that births Tiger Leopard Thunder Sound, spitting air arrows to kill with a shout!

Wei Jinlin's strength was terrifying beyond imagination.

Lu Ming closed his courtyard gate. Recalling the scene he had just witnessed, his heart swelled with longing.

He suddenly understood why Wei Jinlin hadn't even hired guards. He had thought it was just another case of the man being stingy.

Now he realized—this one man alone could defend this sprawling Military Service Bureau!

His strength was too terrifying.

Lu Ming's heart surged with excitement. Back in his room, he was still thrilled.

After a long while, he calmed down, but his brow furrowed slightly.

This world was not peaceful. He was currently in Red Cloud County of the Great Li Dynasty, yet the dynasty's power could not overpower those martial arts sects.

Both the dynasty and the sects were under the rule of a higher orthodoxy.

The Military Service Bureau was part of that orthodoxy's power, established in every county.

All genius disciples of the Great Li Dynasty had to be supplied to the orthodoxy first, with only the leftovers going to the dynasty and ordinary sects.

Yet even with the Military Service Bureau's transcendent status, someone had dared to spy on it in the dead of night—for what purpose, unknown.

To survive in this martial world, he had to raise his strength as much as possible.

Lu Ming thought to himself—he needed to hurry.