One Night of Arduous Cultivation, Success in Entering the Gate

Blood dripped continuously.

Scarface's body stiffened, his eyes filled with endless unwillingness as he fell straight down, silent and motionless.

Lin Qing panted heavily, observing his surroundings vigilantly for a moment.

Confirming that the man was thoroughly dead, he stepped forward to search the corpse.

From Scarface's chest, he pulled out a thin, yellowed booklet with the four scrawled characters for Wave-Breaking Blade Technique written on it.

Following that, he picked up the horizontal blade, which was of decent quality.

However, after searching the entire body, he found nothing but a few hundred copper coins—not even a single piece of silver.

"What a rip-off!"

Lin Qing couldn't help but curse under his breath.

This guy must have been driven mad by poverty to attempt such a high-risk gamble, only to end up falling at his hands.

Scarface's strength was not weak; he was at least a late-stage Skin-Refining martial artist, or he never could have held out for so long.

Lin Qing wrapped the manual and the blade in cloth, placing them alongside the medicinal herbs he had purchased.

Glancing at the corpse on the ground, he laboriously dragged it to a hidden thicket, covering it simply with dead branches and fallen leaves.

Having finished, he dared not linger, identified his direction, and walked briskly toward Qingping County.

As night fell, Lin Qing took a detour before finally returning safely to the backyard of Benevolent World Hall on Yongning Street.

He tapped lightly on the door, and his sister Lin Wan's hushed voice immediately came from within.

"A-Qing?"

"It's me, Sister."

Confirming it was him, Lin Wan quickly slid the bolt back, pulled him inside, and shut the door in a flash.

"A-Qing, you're finally back. Where did you go?"

By the glow of the oil lamp, Lin Wan looked her brother up and down, gasping when she saw his clothes were torn to shreds.

"Oh, I went into the mountains and found quite a few rare herbs," Lin Qing replied.

"Brother, why must you go to such dangerous places? What would happen if something went wrong?"

As Lin Wan spoke, her eyes suddenly turned red.

"Sister, I'm fine. These clothes were just snagged by tree branches."

Lin Qing hurriedly comforted his sister.

After several rounds of gentle reassurance, Lin Wan finally calmed down.

"I—I'm not blaming you."

"I just feel that since Father is gone, you have to worry about everything and take all the risks for this family, while I can't help at all."

Lin Wan wiped away her tears and said earnestly.

"Sister, what are you saying? Could I run this pharmacy all by myself?" Lin Qing gave a bitter smile.

"Well, I recently finished weaving a winter coat. See if it fits." Lin Wan took a padded jacket from the inner room.

Lin Qing took the densely stitched jacket and put it on, finding it a perfect fit.

"Thank you, Sister."

Lin Qing felt a stir of emotion within.

No matter the time, home would always be the final harbor.

"Silly brother, what are you saying?"

Lin Wan smiled.

"I'm going to wash up first."

Lin Qing put away his clothes and headed to the kitchen.

"Go ahead, the water is already hot."

That night, Lin Qing lit the oil lamp in his room and took out the Wave-Breaking Blade Technique manual and the horizontal blade from his bundle.

The manual was thin and the handwriting was somewhat sloppy, but the content within made Lin Qing's eyes light up.

This Wave-Breaking Blade Technique followed a path of swiftness and ferocity.

It emphasized overwhelming the opponent with momentum, unfolding like a raging tide where one wave follows another before the first has even subsided.

It sought to crush the opponent in the shortest time possible with a continuous, relentless offensive.

The three lethal moves recorded within were particularly astonishing in their power.

However, compared to the Iron Wire Fist, it was still lacking.

The Iron Wire Fist was a low-grade martial art that cultivated both internal and external strength; while its strikes were fierce, it focused more on tempering the foundation and circulating power, making its moves relatively structured and predictable.

As for this Wave-Breaking Blade Technique, it is purely an external martial art for slaughter, focusing solely on offense without internal cultivation; over time, it is prone to accumulating hidden injuries.

Skills are never a burden; having one more blade technique means one more bit of capital to save my life. Lin Qing understood this principle well.

The Iron Wire Fist is his foundation and his reliance in the open.

And this Wave-Breaking Blade Technique might just become the fangs he keeps hidden in the shadows.

He gripped his horizontal blade, walked out into the courtyard, and began to slowly mimic the movements according to the diagrams and force-exertion methods in the manual.

At first, his movements were obscure, but soon, he began to find his rhythm.

Information regarding the Wave-Breaking Blade Technique appeared on the Heavenly Dao Record.

[Wave-Breaking Blade Technique (Not Initiated)]

[Experience Points: 1/1000]

With the foundation of the Iron Wire Fist at the mastery level, his understanding of force and control over his body far exceeded that of ordinary people, so entering the threshold of this blade technique was no difficult task.

He repeated the basic movements of chopping, hacking, lifting, and slashing over and over, feeling the unity of his waist and stance as force flowed into the blade, constantly deducing the variations contained within the blade moves in his mind.

The moonlight gradually faded, but Lin Qing was completely oblivious, immersed in the practice of the blade technique.

Sweat soaked his clothes, and he was drenched.

He could clearly feel that his understanding of this blade technique was improving rapidly.

Under the moonlight, his figure moved like a dragon.

The cold glint of the blade illuminated the courtyard.

When the horizon turned a pale fish-belly white, Lin Qing finally sheathed his blade and stood still, exhaling a long breath of stale air.

Although he had not slept all night, his eyes were bright and he was full of energy.

[Wave-Breaking Blade Technique (Elementary)]

[Experience Points: 105/1000]

A night of hard practice, and he had successfully entered the threshold!

Although he had only just glimpsed the path, he could barely execute the killing moves of the technique; all that was lacking was seasoning and tempering through actual combat.

Over the next few days, Lin Qing was in no rush to go to the black market to retrieve the Kirin Spike, instead focusing his main energy on processing the medicinal herbs he had purchased.

What he intended to brew was a version of Blood Nourishing Powder that he had improved himself.

The original recipe for Blood Nourishing Powder obtained from Manager Zhang was already quite ingenious, with low costs and mild, lasting effects.

Now, Lin Qing's pharmacology had reached the pinnacle, and his understanding of medicinal properties far surpassed that of an average pharmacy manager.

He carefully analyzed the original recipe and, combining it with the specific blood-replenishing characteristics of his Iron Wire Fist practice, made fine adjustments to the formula.

He added Niu Dali to enhance the effects of strengthening bones and increasing power, supplemented it with Eucommia to reinforce the toughness of tendons and bones, and used a few auxiliary ingredients with balancing properties to neutralize the heat that might arise from the new additions.

This made the medicinal properties more balanced, easier to absorb, and more suitable for long-term consumption by martial artists in the stage of tempering their tendons and membranes.

The process of brewing the medicinal powder was extremely tedious and required total concentration.

Different herbs required different pre-treatments; some needed to be ground into powder, some sliced and sun-dried, or roasted over a low flame to stimulate their medicinal properties.

During the brewing, the control of the heat was the key.

When to use a fierce fire for a rapid boil, when to switch to a low flame for a slow simmer, and when to add which herb.

The slightest error could affect the efficacy or even produce the opposite effect.

Lin Qing locked himself in the kitchen in the back courtyard of Benevolent World Hall, guarding the medicine pot, relying on his peak-level pharmacological knowledge and precise intuition to carefully control every step.

He still failed twice; either the heat was slightly too high, causing the medicine to take on a burnt, bitter taste, or the order of adding the herbs was wrong, leading to a conflict in medicinal power.

It was not until the third time, when a faint, mellow fragrance wafted from the pot, that Lin Qing finally let out a sigh of relief.

Lifting the lid, he saw a layer of dark red, uniform, and fine medicinal powder at the bottom of the pot.

He dipped his fingertip in and tasted a bit; a gentle, warm current spread through him, and his blood seemed to become a bit more active.

"It's done!"

A look of joy flashed in Lin Qing's eyes.