The Second Acupoint Divine Ability, Point Kill!

The morning after Wei Jinlin killed three men from a distance with three qi arrows, the Martial Arts Arena welcomed three middle-aged men of imposing bearing.

"Director, the three men last night were scouts under our command, not intentional spies. Rather, we have heard of demonic activity near Red Cloud County recently, and we feared something might happen to the Military Service Bureau, so we conducted a covert investigation. If we have offended, we beg your forgiveness!"

On the training ground, before the high platform, the three middle-aged men offered sincere apologies to Wei Jinlin, who stood atop it.

Not far away, the four hundred disciples of the Military Service Bureau watched, stunned and bewildered.

"Those three... those three are the clan heads of the Chen, Shen, and Zhao families! They're the heads of the top martial families in the city! And they came in person to apologize to Teacher Wei."

"The Military Service Bureau really holds a transcendent status. I must strive to become a martial seedling!"

"Look at Chen Jinyang and Shen Jue's expressions—they don't seem ashamed at all, just grim, as if they've received some shocking news. What happened?"

"I vaguely heard them say... 'demon' to Teacher Wei!"

Among the crowd, Lu Ming stood near the front and heard clearly.

He saw that after the three clan heads spoke the word "demon" to Wei Jinlin, even Wei Jinlin's expression shifted slightly, and Lu Ming's heart sank.

He had heard that this world had demons, but they were usually deep in the mountains and forests. Red Cloud County had rarely seen any trace of them.

He never expected demons to appear now. This was a serious matter. Even Wei Jinlin feared demons—if they encountered one, wouldn't it mean certain death?

Soon, the three clan heads left.

Wei Jinlin's expression returned to calm. He said nothing more, letting everyone train on their own, and turned to leave as usual.

Just then, a tall man with triangular eyes stepped out from the crowd and addressed Wei Jinlin:

"Teacher Wei, I have reached the level of Three Breaths Nine Breaks."

"Oh?" Wei Jinlin stopped and swept his gaze over the man. "Three Breaths Nine Breaks? Not Three Breaths Nine Echoes?"

The man was only wearing gray training clothes. Generally speaking, Three Breaths Nine Breaks was practiced on the Wooden Tablet Nine Palace Stakes, which was for disciples in white training clothes.

The man said respectfully, "Disciple Wu San has indeed reached the realm of Three Breaths Nine Breaks."

Wei Jinlin said, "Try walking it."

"Yes."

A flash of confidence passed through Wu San's eyes. He walked straight to a set of Wooden Tablet Nine Palace Stakes and, without pausing, stepped inside.

"Slap slap slap..."

In less than three breaths, he had passed through the Wooden Tablet Nine Palace Stakes, shattering all nine wooden tablets.

Three Breaths Nine Breaks!

The crowd buzzed with discussion.

"It's Wu San! He quietly reached the Three Breaths Nine Breaks realm without a word."

"Doesn't that make him a martial artist? A Skin-Tempering martial artist! How is that possible? He hadn't even reached Three Breaths Nine Echoes before—he was wearing gray training clothes just like us."

"He must have been hiding his strength. Now that he heard about demons, he couldn't hold back and showed his power to get better training."

"But if he didn't reach Three Breaths Nine Echoes, how did he get the wooden tablets?"

"Someone must have helped him. I heard he's been working for Shen Jue..."

Among the crowd, Lu Ming's gaze sharpened. This Wu San was the one who had bullied Li Hu in the woods before, and he did work for Shen Jue.

He never expected that today, Wu San would make a stunning breakthrough, leaping two levels to reach Three Breaths Nine Breaks.

Wei Jinlin took out a brass key from his person and handed it to him, saying:

"I'll come to you this afternoon to teach you the method of striking the Stone Tablet."

Wu San was ecstatic. "Yes."

After Wei Jinlin left, Wu San was surrounded by many people, all flattering him.

After all, becoming a martial artist almost guaranteed passing the major exam and earning the status of a martial man. He had already risen above the crowd.

Lu Ming was only briefly surprised and soon stopped paying attention. He focused on queuing up to practice the Wooden Tablet Nine Palace Stakes.

In recent days, others had also reached Three Breaths Nine Echoes or even Three Breaths Nine Breaks. Wu San was not unique.

His main concern was himself. Today, he could max out his experience and evolve his Acupoint Divine Ability again!

With this expectation, after lunch, he hurried back to his small courtyard and shuttled back and forth between the Wooden Tablet Nine Palace Stakes.

He spared no expense on medicinal ointments, carefully applying them to his body after each session, resting and recovering, then starting the next round of stake walking.

His acupoint experience surged wildly.

[Evolving Acupoint Divine Ability (944/1000)...]

[Evolving Acupoint Divine Ability (946/1000)...]

[Evolving Acupoint Divine Ability (982/1000)...]

[Evolving Acupoint Divine Ability (998/1000)...]

Finally, as the sun slanted westward, he finished his last round of the Nine Palace Living Stakes.

[Evolving Acupoint Divine Ability (1000/1000)...]

As he gained the final 2 experience points, the next moment, new information arrived from the ability panel.

[Evolution complete!]

[Acquired Acupoint Divine Ability: Point Kill.]

[Point Kill]: The acupoint is momentum. Strike the acupoint, suppress the momentum, and kill.

[Acupoint Divine Abilities]: Heaven Leak (Initial Success), Point Kill (Initial Success).

Point Kill!

Lu Ming saw this ability and was overjoyed.

To evolve this kind of ability!

With the Point Kill ability in hand, he looked again at the black leakage acupoints on everything around him, faintly sensing the difference in "momentum" between himself and those things.

Once his own momentum surpassed the target's, striking the target's black leakage acupoint allowed him to choose to crush it with his own overwhelming momentum, impacting the target through the black leakage acupoint and instantly killing it with a single point.

This ability was extremely powerful on its own.

Most crucially, it could complement the Heaven Leak Divine Ability.

In battle, he could strike black acupoints to build his momentum, and once his momentum surpassed the target's, a single Point Kill would finish it off instantly!

Very strong!

Lu Ming was ecstatic to obtain this ability.

However, it seemed that evolving abilities created new ones, not upgraded existing ones.

Lately, he faintly felt that using the Heaven Leak Divine Ability for so long had made it smoother and smoother.

Perhaps, already cultivated abilities needed frequent use to gradually improve, rising from "Initial Success" to higher levels, like Major Success or something.

That would have to be verified another day.

A hundred thoughts raced through Lu Ming's mind. Now that he had a new ability, he wanted to test it, but his whole body ached unbearably, so he had to endure for now.

He prepared to go inside to wash up, then head to the Public Kitchen for dinner.

Suddenly, he heard a "dong dong dong" knock at the door.

Who would come looking for him?

A bit puzzled, Lu Ming turned and walked through the Nine Palace Stakes, opening the courtyard gate. Outside stood a beautiful, radiant woman in white—Li Youning!

"Sister Li?" Lu Ming quickly greeted her.

"Junior Brother Lu, I have something to tell you," Li Youning said, glancing around before slipping into his small courtyard and closing the gate.

The gate blocked outside eyes. Li Youning drew close to Lu Ming, letting him catch a faint, subtle fragrance. The atmosphere grew a bit awkward.

Lu Ming asked in surprise, "Sister Li, what's this about?"

A trace of weariness flickered across Li Youning's pure, refined face. News from home had been bad lately.

But she quickly composed herself and said seriously to Lu Ming:

"I've been thinking it over recently. Junior Brother Lu has talent in lightness skills. If you wait until after the big exam to train, it'll be too late.

"I've found a lightness skill manual for you, Grass Gliding.

"If you can grasp its secrets, you can use it to break through. Once you become a martial artist, training the Nine Palace Living Stakes will be much easier."

The lightness skill Grass Gliding?

Lu Ming took the manual in surprise, his first thought being whether cultivating this skill could evolve a lightness divine ability.