Adding More Skills

As the Rank 7 Exotic Beast Meat was auctioned off by the Red-Skinned Ascetic.

This Black Market auction drew to a close.

Zhang Meng took Li Beichen to pay the six hundred taels in silver notes.

They took away ten catties of Rank 9 Exotic Beast Meat, along with the manual for the Shuriken and the small blades.

Lady Li even gifted Li Beichen a sword pouch as an extra.

It was made of cowhide and designed like a belt, meant to be worn around the waist with hidden compartments capable of holding eighteen small blades.

It was quite ingenious.

Zhang Meng watched, somewhat dumbfounded.

"You brat, don't tell me you've actually caught Lady Li's eye? I've never seen her give anyone gifts before."

"Then again, that's not right. Seventh Brother, you're wearing a mask; she can't even tell what you look like."

"Senior Brother, there is such a thing as charisma..."

"Go on with you..."

By the time Li Beichen returned to Jinglong District, the moon was already high in the sky.

The sound of the night watchman's clapper drifted over.

It was already the Hour of the Rat.

He was in no rush to sleep.

He went to the kitchen and carefully sliced a piece of the Rank 9 Exotic Beast Meat.

He grilled it lightly over charcoal fire.

He sprinkled on a bit of salt.

A rich, meaty aroma immediately filled the room.

His appetite was instantly whetted.

Fearless of the heat, he popped a piece into his mouth.

He chewed it thoroughly.

"Delicious! Exquisite!"

Li Beichen couldn't help but praise it.

As he swallowed, a surge of heat immediately spread through his body.

Li Beichen felt it carefully, a look of surprise and doubt appearing on his face.

"The potency is actually several times that of the Black-White Strange Pig!"

Li Beichen estimated that one catty of Black-White Strange Pig jerky might only be worth three taels of this Exotic Beast Meat.

After a moment of thought, he concluded that the disparity was likely because the Black-White Strange Pig's unique properties were centered on the spirit.

Li Beichen walked to the front courtyard and practiced the Giant Elephant Fist twice.

He discovered that this was indeed the case.

After eating the Black-White Strange Pig jerky, he was not only full of energy, but more importantly, his soul felt clear and his spiritual perception heightened.

After training, he never felt mentally exhausted.

But having just eaten the Exotic Beast Meat from the Black Market auction, after practicing twice, Li Beichen felt a trace of fatigue wash over him.

The effect was completely different from that of the Black-White Strange Pig.

Moreover, having eaten the meat of the Black-White Strange Pig for so long, Li Beichen clearly felt his memory had improved compared to before.

He had previously assumed it was a result of his cultivation.

Now it seemed more likely that it was caused by the Black-White Strange Pig.

From the fragments of information Meng Juxiang had shared about martial artists who train the spirit, Li Beichen knew that this Black-White Strange Pig was likely far more valuable than he had imagined.

"Good things should be consumed as quickly as possible."

Li Beichen made up his mind to finish the jerky as soon as he could, ensuring not a whisper of it leaked out.

The next day, Li Beichen opened the manual recording the Shuriken.

Inside, lines of fine, small characters were written with a wolf-hair brush.

It even included illustrations, using arrows to indicate the method of exerting force.

It was written in great detail.

Li Beichen read through it once, and several lines of small text appeared before his eyes.

[Skill: Shuriken (Novice)]

[Progress: (0/100)]

[Trait: None]

Li Beichen set up a straw target in the courtyard, took out a small blade, and attempted to throw it using the technique of [Shuriken].

With his foundation in Locust Stone, his eye for distance and accuracy was precise.

Although it was his first time practicing [Shuriken], the small blade still struck the straw target steadily.

Instantly, a sliver of insight surged into his heart.

On the panel, the progress for [Shuriken] quietly increased by one.

Li Beichen discovered that compared to the Locust Stone, which produced a violent whistling sound when fired, this small blade made very little noise when thrown.

In a noisy environment, this sound would be difficult to distinguish.

He removed the small blade from the straw target and examined it carefully in his hand.

He discovered that although the small blade appeared sword-shaped, it actually possessed some unique design features.

The tip was not a simple triangle but more rounded, like a tapered awl.

At the end of the hilt, there were slight tail fins extending outward, resembling the fletching of an arrow.

Such a design allowed the Shuriken to be more concealed and stable when thrown; with the same amount of force, its lethal range was fifty percent greater than that of the Locust Stone.

"It seems I will need to find a blacksmith to forge a batch of these small blades."

Li Beichen secretly noted this task in his mind, then threw himself back into practice.

Li Beichen found that his progress in cultivating [Shuriken] was exceptionally fast; after only a day's work, a prompt appeared on the panel.

[Skill: Shuriken (Beginner)]

[Progress: (0/200)]

[Trait: Wrist strength slightly increased; within thirty paces, ten out of ten hits on fixed targets, six or seven out of ten on moving targets]

A warm current surged from the void into Li Beichen's wrist, further strengthening his wrist power.

Looking at the small text on the panel, Li Beichen raised an eyebrow.

"This Shuriken is truly extraordinary. Just reaching the Beginner stage, the trait it provides already surpasses the Locust Stone at the Entry level. Moreover, with the foundation of the Locust Stone, the progress of this Shuriken is advancing exceptionally fast."

"It seems this skill will be able to form combat effectiveness very soon."

In the following days, besides spending the majority of his energy practicing [Giant Elephant Fist], Li Beichen would also set aside time to hone the [Shuriken] skill.

He had achieved minor success in [Giant Elephant Fist], and the progress required to reach the next realm, Mastery, was a full 1000 points.

Li Beichen estimated that, according to his current cultivation pace, it would take two to three months.

However, the progress of the Shuriken reached the Entry level after only three days, and ten days later, it surged directly to Minor Success.

Li Beichen rubbed his chin, feeling the texture of his dark stubble, and looked at the two newly generated traits with curiosity.

[Skill: Shuriken (Minor Success)]

[Progress: (0/1000)]

[Trait: Sharp, Like a Bow]

[Sharp: Sharp blade, sharp eyes, significantly increased accuracy]

[Like a Bow: Body like a great bow, thunderous string release, significantly increased lethality]

Just now, Li Beichen felt his eyesight had been further enhanced; he could clearly see the wing feathers of a mosquito or fly even at a distance of fifty paces.

Li Beichen knew this was the change brought about by [Sharp].

As for [Like a Bow], Li Beichen felt that under the influence of the warm current from the void, the major tendons in his body seemed to have sprouted new pathways, extending and connecting to one another.

He exerted a little force and felt his entire body become like a taut longbow, with his major tendons acting as the bowstring.

He could unleash powerful force in an instant.

"This trait doesn't just improve the Shuriken skill; it also provides a massive boost to the Giant Elephant Fist."

Strong tendon and fascia contraction, fierce explosive power, and increased body speed.

These were the hallmarks of the Eighth Grade Tendon-Refining Realm.

Li Beichen's two-courtyard residence had an outer yard that was sixty paces wide at its broadest point.

He placed the straw target at the furthest distance and set a copper coin on it.

At a distance of sixty paces, with a flick of his hand, the Shuriken crossed the distance in an instant and precisely sliced the entire copper coin in two through its center hole.

Li Beichen tried it multiple times, and not once did he miss his mark.

Furthermore, at sixty paces, when he went all out, he could even pierce through the straw target and pin the small blade into the earthen wall.

This power was already quite considerable.