Legacy

The next morning.

The sky over Military Floating Land No. 17 was still a bleak iron gray, but the mood throughout the Recruit Camp had changed completely.

News of the recruits' sweeping victory at the underground Black Boxing Arena—and of the winners taking all—had spread to every corner overnight.

The veterans who usually looked down on the recruits and treated them as easy targets had all gone quiet. When they crossed paths with the recruits, who now walked with their backs straight, they even avoided meeting their eyes.

At the center of it all was Jiang Yue, who had raked in a fortune last night. He was now one of the wealthiest men in the Recruit Camp.

But Jiang Yue had no intention of saving it. Improving his fighting strength immediately was what mattered.

As for Shen Qing, those generous Points had paid for the treatment he needed. He had been rushed into an advanced military Medical Pod overnight and given the extravagantly expensive Specialized Bone-Mending Repair Fluid.

In just one night, his broken, twisted arms had been set and mended. His face was still pale, and his arms were bound in support bandages, but he could move around again.

Inside the training room.

Jiang Yue sat cross-legged on the cold alloy floor, holding a thumb-sized dark red crystal.

It was a piece of Exotic Beast Blood Essence, much like the one he had bought before.

Unlike crude Exotic Beast meat, this was a pure energy crystal made by draining an Exotic Beast of its vital blood and refining it through a military process. The violent Blood Energy within it far exceeded that of an equal weight of meat.

Ordinary Quasi-Martial Artists had to soak Blood Essence in a special buffering solution before absorbing it, drawing the energy out bit by bit.

If they swallowed it whole like a piece of candy, its violent heat and energy would burn straight through their organs in an instant!

Jiang Yue did not hesitate. He tilted his head back and swallowed the crystal, despite the tremendous heat it radiated.

He had swallowed one before, and now that his trait had advanced, it posed even less of a problem.

The Blood Essence's energy, which should have rampaged through his body, was instantly pinned down. Then it was crushed apart at a terrifying speed, transformed into the purest reserve of life force, and pumped furiously through every limb and bone.

Jiang Yue kept his eyes shut. He did not punch the testing machine, but he could clearly feel his body undergoing a hidden transformation that was nothing short of frightening.

Fed by the immense Blood Energy, his muscle fibers did not swell. Instead, they contracted and tightened, as though hammered and twisted into thick steel cables.

Deep in his bones came a tingling sensation like ten thousand ants gnawing at them—the physical sign of his bone density soaring.

Most exciting of all was the layer of Skin Membrane covering his body.

Jiang Yue slowly opened his eyes and pressed a hand to his forearm.

The Skin Membrane there was tough. It felt less like skin than a protective layer made from some special material.

"The upper limit for a Quasi-Martial Artist..."

Jiang Yue clenched his fists, feeling the surging, destructive power in his knuckles. A sharp glint flashed in his eyes. "I'm close."

He had no test results to put a number on it, but he strongly sensed that the power stored within his body had reached a terrifying level. A true qualitative leap could come at any moment!

Hah—

Jiang Yue let out a long breath of scorching air, stood, and pulled open the Extra Training Room's heavy airtight door.

The moment he stepped out, he paused.

Shen Qing stood quietly in the corridor, his arms still wrapped in support bandages. Straight as a spear, he had apparently been waiting there for some time.

When Jiang Yue emerged, this aloof martial arts fanatic, who normally cared for nothing else, took an unprecedented half step back and bowed deeply to him.

"Thank you for last night," Shen Qing said, his voice hoarse but utterly sincere.

He knew that if Jiang Yue had not appeared for the final bout like a savior descending from the heavens, he would have lost all his Points. Without prompt, advanced treatment, he would have been crippled for life.

Jiang Yue had saved his life and his future in martial arts. He had also preserved his dignity as a Martial Artist before the veterans.

Jiang Yue showed little reaction to the deep bow. "We both got what we wanted. I stepped in because I wanted the pile of Points on the bookmaker's table. Neither of us owes the other anything, so don't worry about it."

With that, Jiang Yue moved to walk past him.

Shen Qing straightened and shook his head. His gaze fixed intently on Jiang Yue. "Aren't you curious where the force technique I used in the ring last night came from?"

Jiang Yue stopped and turned toward him.

Shen Qing took a deep breath. "I wasn't born into one of the capital's powerful families, with their top-tier medicines and vast resources. My ancestors belonged to an Ancient Martial Arts School handed down from the old era."

"After the Interstellar Great Crusade Era began, Exotic Beasts arrived, and Gene Ascension became humanity's main path forward."

"Ancient Martial Arts took too long to master, depended heavily on individual talent and insight, and couldn't be taught across the military on a large scale. In the end, the military's far more efficient system of genetic evolution pushed it aside completely."

Loss and frustration flashed through Shen Qing's eyes. "My family's tradition declined with it."

"But I refuse to let fighting arts passed down for thousands of years die out! I want to prove in a real fight to the death that Ancient Martial Arts, paired with a powerful body, can unleash killing power beyond all expectations!"

Jiang Yue listened in silence.

Ancient Martial Arts had declined not because it was weak, but because it did not suit the pace of war.

"Last night, I only recited the formula to you once."

Shen Qing's eyes grew bright, almost feverish. "You had never even practiced it, yet in that split second between life and death, you drove your strength through your body perfectly and delivered a textbook Inch Power strike!"

"Your insight and your absolute control over your body make you the most terrifying monster I've ever seen!"

Shen Qing drew a deep breath and made his offer. "You have a body with unfathomable strength, like some peerless beast. That's an advantage, but you lack the refined force techniques needed to channel that strength.

"If you rely on brute force alone, you could easily lose to the heirs of powerful families who know killing techniques in the coming Monthly Grand Exam."

"To repay you for saving my life—and to keep my family's Ancient Martial Arts from being forgotten in this era..."

Shen Qing snapped his back straight and said each word with care. "I'm willing to teach you everything my family has passed down: the Ancient Martial Arts Force System, including Inch Power, Combat Footwork, and the Blood Energy Circulation Technique. I'll hold nothing back!"

He was offering to teach Jiang Yue his family's closely guarded secrets in full!

It was an opportunity countless people in the Recruit Camp would not have dared dream of!

Shen Qing took a deep breath. His face, still somewhat pale from his recently healed bones, turned solemn.

He looked at Jiang Yue and revealed the secret of his family's tradition:

"The true name of the Ancient Martial Arts I practice is the Six Harmonies Method."