Black Crow Fire-Qi Demon-Subduing True Power Technique! Alien Source? Drastic Change: Execution Ground Beheading?

In the dilapidated house.

Shi Wen sorted through the beast meat and other supplies.

A delighted expression appeared on his face.

Though he had somehow gotten into a conflict and caused all this subsequent trouble, the gains had been considerable.

Two hundred jin of ordinary beast meat, including what he had bought.

Around thirty jin of the special Snake-Pattern Meat.

One Dragon-Tiger True Blood Pill. Including the Blood-Nourishing Pills, Spring-Returning Pills, and the other pills he had purchased, he had a total of around four hundred. That was enough to support his training for quite a long time!

Over the next month or two.

He likely would not have to worry about nourishment at all!

"Next, I'll train like mad and bring every martial art I have to perfection. Only then will I have some ability to protect myself in Black Cloud County!"

"My next target is the Origin Blood Realm."

Shi Wen silently set his goal.

He opened Ning Da's money pouch.

There was a stack of banknotes, mostly in denominations of ten and fifty taels, with several hundred-tael notes. He did not know whether Ning Da had obtained them through highway robbery or taken money that had not yet been handed over after destroying the Xingshui Gang.

He counted them.

There were roughly fourteen hundred taels.

Adding the loose silver, he probably had around seventeen hundred taels on him now!

"I'm rich!"

Shi Wen steadied his breathing, a stunned look flashing through his eyes.

Seventeen hundred taels was not a huge amount, but the stack of banknotes in his hand was savings that many people could not accumulate in an entire lifetime!

"With seventeen hundred taels, buying a house in the Inner City should not be a problem. Tomorrow—tomorrow I'll go to the Real Estate Agency and ask about housing prices in the Inner City!"

"The Outer City is getting more and more chaotic."

"Even the three teachings and nine streams can't keep down the refugees drifting in from Tiannan Prefecture. What does the County Office mean by not restricting calamity victims from entering the city? Does the imperial court not care? More and more wandering martial artists are appearing in the city."

"If I find a suitable house in the next few days, I'll move into the Inner City!"

Unease flashed through Shi Wen's eyes.

He had the feeling that Black Cloud County was becoming increasingly chaotic.

Just tonight, while hurrying home, he had been robbed by several groups along the way. There had even been an out-of-town Blood Tempering martial artist blocking the road.

Even martial artists had come out to rob people these days. It was clear just how terrible the environment in Black Cloud County had become!

He could deal with them easily enough.

But when he was not around, he did not know whether his parents might suffer some mishap and lose their lives.

"Later, I need to tell the Harmony and Prosperity Union people to keep watch over Peace Lane and not let outsiders come cause trouble."

Shi Wen put away the banknotes.

From the pile, he pulled out a conspicuous sheet of special hide paper.

When he saw the words on it.

His heart involuntarily skipped several beats!

"Black Crow Fire-Qi Demon-Subduing True Power Technique?"

Shi Wen's heart gave a small thump.

He stared at the special hide paper, more than a meter long and half a meter wide when unfolded, scanning every word and every movement breakdown in the illustrations.

At once, his head began to ache.

It was cumbersome and complex, with far too many martial principles and techniques.

In the end.

Shi Wen turned his gaze toward the True Power Diagram.

This True Power Diagram was only the size of a palm.

It depicted a dark, crimson sky and a black crow flying through the air!

Flames burned beneath the black crow's feet, while the trail behind it flashed like a meteor.

If he stared at it for too long, the black crow and the flames beneath its feet seemed to surge before his eyes, lifelike and vivid!

When the black crow moved, it seemed to tug at his consciousness as well.

It made him feel dizzy and disoriented.

But the moment Shi Wen blinked, the Black Crow Emblem stopped moving.

"Hiss... What level of martial art is this?"

"Damn it, did I really make this mess too big?"

"Holy shit, who stuffed this martial art on me?"

Shi Wen placed the Black Crow Emblem face-down on the bed.

He rubbed his temples with a headache.

Forget it. Too many lice did not make one itch. The Prosperity Society, the Extreme Yang Society, and now the Border Army—let them come.

His original intention had only been to live quietly, be an ordinary person, earn some money, and support his family. As long as these people did not force him into anything, it was fine.

After Shi Wen finished reading the Black Crow Fire-Qi Demon-Subduing True Power Technique in its entirety.

He could not help drawing in a sharp breath.

He felt that he had truly been swept into no small storm!

This martial art was far more heaven-defying than he had imagined. Its grade surpassed the martial arts he had learned by an unknown number of levels.

Though this martial art was named after the black crow, it contained the traits of utmost hardness and utmost yang, using violence to slaughter demons.

That was right—slaughter demons...

After cultivating so many martial arts, this was the first time Shi Wen had heard the words "slaughter demons."

Under the bright blue sky, in such prosperous times, where could there be demons in this world?

Shi Wen mocked himself and carefully studied the martial art.

This technique contained three major sections: the Force-Condensing Chapter, the Martial Arts Chapter, and the True Strength Chapter.

The so-called force condensation meant drawing a faint wisp of fire-force qi into the body through the energy one cultivated within, allowing the body's energy to assimilate that fire-force qi until one's blood was infused with blazing force qi. This would allow one to temper skin, flesh, tendons, and bones at every moment!

Once the Black Crow Fire-Force had condensed, it would not only increase the body's strength dozens of times over, but when the fire-force erupted, it would reach temperatures exceeding a thousand degrees.

Enough to melt any iron or stone.

To blast apart powerful enemies and suppress evil demons!

The Force-Condensing Chapter included a body-tempering method, cultivation method, condensation method, breathing method, stance training, and certain special requirements. When circulating the technique, every step had to be carried out simultaneously without the slightest error.

In terms of complexity.

It ranked second among all the martial arts he had seen—none dared claim first place!

The Force-Condensing Chapter was the core, the foundation of everything.

The Martial Arts Chapter included five major parts: fists, palms, force power, movement techniques, and killing moves. It was all-encompassing, yet all of it required Black Crow Fire-Force to unleash its true killing power.

Cultivating the True Strength Chapter, meanwhile, required observing this True Power Diagram.

Though Shi Wen did not know what the True Power Diagram did, he still found it terrifying beyond measure.

Once he had carefully read through all three sections.

New information appeared on the Extreme Seal.

[Black Crow Fireforce Chapter: Not Initiated (0/500)]

[Black Crow Martial Arts Chapter: Not Initiated (0/500)]

[Black Crow True Strength Chapter: Not Initiated (0/500)]

"Hiss..."

Shi Wen could not help but draw in a sharp breath.

It took five hundred proficiency points just to get initiated?

This was absolutely the martial art with the highest entry threshold he had ever seen, without equal!

"Five hundred just to get started. If I want to cultivate it to perfection, how long will that take? Until monkeys become kings and horses grow horns?"

"But the contents of every section are incredibly tempting. For example, the movement technique in the Martial Arts Chapter, Dark Night Crow Shadow Step: one's figure becomes as elusive as a night crow, one's tracks like a shadow. For a short time, speed can surge dozens of times over. At full eruption, it can condense nine black shadows to attack the enemy together, each shadow possessing sixty percent of the main body's power."

"For example, the killing move Demon-Subduing True Power: gather all the True Power and Black Crow Fire-Force in the body into one palm to destroy anything blocking the way ahead. Barehanded, it can unleash the force of a collapsing mountain!"

"This has already surpassed the scope of ordinary martial arts, hasn't it?"

"If I can cultivate the Black Crow Fire-Qi Demon-Subduing True Power Technique to perfection, I can definitely walk sideways through Black Cloud County!"

Shi Wen was overjoyed.

This martial art was truly incredible.

For an ordinary person, cultivating even a single part would likely require long years of accumulation.

But if one could master it, one's strength would surge by an unknown number of levels!

"It may take a long time, but at least there's hope."

"Once I bring my other martial arts to perfection, I can focus entirely on the Black Crow Fire-Qi Demon-Subduing True Power Technique. I won't need to run around everywhere looking for martial arts to cultivate anymore."

"This one martial art is enough!"

Shi Wen folded up the martial art and put it away.

Only then did he look toward the final small pouch.

His face was full of curiosity.

Earlier, Ning Da had suspected that he had accomplices lying in ambush nearby and said this item was some kind of "Alien Source."

Ning Da had been willing to trade it for a chance to live.

A treasure that could be used to exchange for one's life definitely was not simple.

"Strange, why is there a pair of sunglasses too? Is this thing really sunglasses? Am I seeing this right?"

"The art style is all wrong too."

A wooden object resembling sunglasses was tied to the outside of the pouch.

Shi Wen set the sunglasses aside.

He directly poured out the contents of the pouch, and his pupils abruptly shrank.

What rolled out was an eyeball!!

The eyeball was the size of a fist, gray and dull, covered in blood vessels. Nerves still dangled from behind it, and it was coated in wet, sticky fluid.

Even more bizarrely, the eyeball was alive.

The instant it was poured out.

It rotated in place, as though searching for some target.

Suddenly.

It turned toward him and stared straight at Shi Wen's eyes.

Boom!

Shi Wen's scalp went numb, and his mind instantly became muddled.

In an instant.

The scene of the surrounding dilapidated house vanished, replaced by a sight of himself with his hands and feet bound, kneeling on the ground.

It seemed to be an execution ground, a scene where he was about to be executed!

Below the platform stood rows of blurry-faced figures.

They pointed and gestured at him.

Though he could not make out their appearances, it was obvious that the clothes they wore bore some resemblance to the Republican-era attire he knew.

And beside him.

A row of people dressed in ancient clothing like his were tightly bound and kneeling on the ground.

On both sides of the platform, as well as among the soldiers maintaining order below, everyone held identical Type 88 Rifles. They wore gray-blue military uniforms and leather boots, their killing intent awe-inspiring!

This sight left Shi Wen somewhat stunned.

What was going on?

Where the hell had this brought him?