On the fourth day after Shi Fen returned home.
After a bottle of Millennium Black Crow Root medicinal wine had been used up, Shi Fen's family and Wei Wen had all seen comprehensive improvements in their strength.
Shi Tian and Shi Tie had received special attention from Shi Fen, and their strength had increased the most. Now, the two were nearly equal in strength. Shi Fen caught their full-force punches in his palm and estimated that they could each exert around 3,000 kilograms of force, reaching the average strength standard for an intermediate Fighter Level.
Shi Fen helped Wei Wen increase his strength to over 1,300 kilograms, far exceeding the Quasi-Fighter standard. Worried that Wei Wen might get hurt during the Martial Artist Combat Assessment on February 1, Shi Fen had helped him improve so much. Over the past few days, Shi Fen had found every possible way to teach Wei Wen martial techniques, including many practical basic knife techniques. They were more than enough for the Martial Artist Combat Assessment.
As long as Wei Wen practiced diligently before the assessment and was careful when dealing with monsters, earning his Martial Artist qualification wouldn't be difficult.
Wei Wen was so grateful to Shi Fen for the tremendous improvement in his strength.
He hugged Shi Fen, crying and sniffling all over him.
Shi Fen found it extremely "revolting" and practically kicked Wei Wen out the door, telling him to stop grossing him out.
After leaving Shi Fen's home, Wei Wen first went to the Extreme Martial Arts Hall to test his strength, then contacted Instructor Jiang Nian about the Quasi-Fighter Assessment in a few days. After that, he called the school and quit on the spot, devoting himself fully to the Martial Artist Combat Assessment in a little over two months.
After passing the assessment, Wei Wen planned to move straight into Bright Moon Residential District and become neighbors with his good friends, so he could focus entirely on studying forging!
Wei Wen's appearance once again left Jiang Nian utterly stunned.
"What on earth did Shi Fen get his hands on? He even managed to turn Wei Wen's strength around." Jiang Nian couldn't figure it out. He knew nothing about treasures of the level of Spirit of Vegetation, and Wei Wen would rather die than tell him, leaving Jiang Nian even more baffled.
Fortunately, Jiang Nian had accepted Shi Fen's "gift." When he was alone that night, he was so delighted he didn't know what to do with himself.
Luo Feng, Shi Fen, and Wei Wen each represented a reward from the Extreme Martial Arts Hall, so Jiang Nian naturally hoped Shi Fen would bring a few more people along.
Unfortunately,
Shi Tie and Shi Tian had no interest in becoming Martial Artists. Their minds were set on forging. They already lived in Bright Moon Residential District, and having a few more Martial Artists in the family offered no extra benefits. Li Ziyi wasn't a Quasi-Fighter, and there was even less chance she'd go.
After seeing how astonishing the medicine's effects were, Li Ziyi drank it three times, bringing her strength close to the Quasi-Fighter level. Then she refused to drink any more.
No matter how much Shi Fen tried to persuade her, it was no use.
Li Ziyi gave her share to the three men. She knew perfectly well that a little more strength wouldn't do much to improve her life, while the stronger the three men became, the brighter the future of "Three Stones" would be.
After working in accounting for so long, Li Ziyi had picked up some habits from the job. She liked to budget carefully.
Shi Fen couldn't stop her.
There was no shortage of good things in the future, so Shi Fen didn't pay it much mind. Right now, he was very preoccupied with the Spirit of Vegetation on Mist Island...
"If I could raise all three of them straight to the War God Level, I could take them to meet my master and have them learn forging together." Shi Fen's idea was extremely "dangerous."
After their strength improved, Shi Tie and Shi Tian had spent the last four days dragging Shi Fen into the Forging Room to teach them how to forge Kro Alloy. Shi Fen couldn't refuse, and his plans to head to the Wilderness Area kept getting delayed...
On the fifth day after returning home,
Shi Fen had to plead and bargain as hard as he could before he finally won his "freedom."
Today was November 29.
Shi Fen had to go to the Wilderness Area today because he needed to reach County 0231 and stop a beast tide.
He had planned his vacation around the date. This day fell right in the middle of his break. Experiencing it firsthand meant that the disaster he had read about would no longer be "just words on a page"; he would feel it for himself. He wanted to save those people.
Shi Fen didn't know about any other beast tides, but he would definitely step in to stop the disasters he did know about.
Jiangnan Base City, North Military Region.
Shi Fen wore a black combat suit and a black helmet with a face shield. Thirty SS-grade flying knives were tucked into the sheaths on his back and legs, and he carried a War Blade and shield. He got off the train at the military region's station, where a large number of Martial Artists streamed out of the carriages.
The place had an air of grimness. The Martial Artists all chatted and laughed, but the grimness in their eyes couldn't be concealed. Along the way, Shi Fen saw many injured Martial Artists. Their wounds were wrapped in bandages, some of which were still seeping blood. They had clearly been hurt only recently.
Those injuries were considered mild. Shi Fen saw many Martial Artists with severed arms or legs. The most grievously injured one had his eyeball gouged out by something, leaving only a deep, blood-filled socket.
It was a frightening sight.
"The Wilderness Area really is a bloody place." Shi Fen walked forward, his hand tightening unconsciously around his scabbard. "From now on, not one of these monsters will get away alive."
Shi Fen was beginning to regret his decision.
Why was he hiding his identity?
Wouldn't it be better to go straight to Mist Island and obtain Hu Yanbo's inheritance?
If he entered the universe ahead of time, how many fewer people on Earth would die?
"Forget it. I'll go to Mist Island tomorrow!" After a long struggle, his conscience ultimately won out. Compared with helping countless people teetering on the brink of death and the Martial Artists fighting for humanity's safety, what did it matter if he took Luo Feng's opportunity?
"I'll make it up to Luo Feng with more resources later," Shi Fen thought to himself.
With his current Spiritual Master abilities, Shi Fen could use them to propel the Eight Trigrams Reincarnation Mirror on long-distance flights. The mirror now traveled at well over ten times the speed of sound, making a trip to the Australian Continent a matter of just two or three hours.
Combined with the Eight Trigrams Reincarnation Mirror's scanning range of a thousand kilometers in diameter, Shi Fen only needed to scan once to find Mist Island's exact location.
Shi Fen shook his head, putting tomorrow's plans out of his mind.
Alone, he followed the signs for the Martial Artist passageway toward the Supply Base. Before long, it came into view. Shi Fen went inside, bought some water and food, then left the Supply Base as if he were an ordinary visitor.
At the Supply Base entrance, the guards saw the scanner display the information on Shi Fen. Since he hadn't asked for a rest villa, they let him leave.
They didn't even dare ask him a single question.
It was no joke. Hong had personally registered his identity information. How could his clearance level be anything but high? Even the Extreme Martial Arts Hall headquarters in a Base City couldn't demand anything of Shi Fen. That was the power of belonging to the Extreme Martial Arts Hall's elite forging department.
The guards saw which department Shi Fen belonged to and noticed that his equipment was all SS-grade. They didn't dare say a word, merely saluting and watching him leave.
Shi Fen smiled and gave the guards a slight nod before striding toward the Wilderness Area.
"Good grief, after all these years, that's the first time I've ever seen someone from that department. I never expected such a big shot to be so approachable." The guard's heart pounded. Shi Fen's smile beneath his face shield had somehow struck him as a sign of approachability.
It wasn't that the guard had never seen anyone important. The odds of seeing someone from that department were like the odds of seeing a giant panda in the forests of the northeast—almost impossible!
After all, those people were at least War Gods. Why would someone of such standing come to a tiny county town like this?
Shi Fen stepped into the Wilderness Area.
The vast wilderness and ruined buildings gave him a powerful sense of novelty.
Shi Fen didn't draw his blade. He strolled through the Wilderness Area as if walking in a private garden. Feeling the faint, cool breeze, he followed a dilapidated highway straight toward his target, County 0231.
Though he appeared to be strolling, he was practically flying just above the ground, moving faster than the speed of sound.
Along the way, the various monsters could barely make out a black blur. Then nothing. Herds of monsters wondered if their eyes were playing tricks on them.
Once he entered the city, Shi Fen slowed down.
An Elementary Beast General Level Twin-Tailed Tiger Cat launched a surprise attack at him from the side.
Shi Fen instinctively drew his War Blade and leaned his upper body sharply backward, evading the Twin-Tailed Tiger Cat's fatal strike. At the same time, he swept his blade upward in a backhand motion, lightly slicing its throat.
Grievously wounded but not quite dead, the Twin-Tailed Tiger Cat traced an arc through the air and slammed heavily into the ground.
Shi Fen stood with his blade in hand, watching the fallen Twin-Tailed Tiger Cat twitch.
Shi Fen froze.
"Was that Perfect Level movement technique just now?" Shi Fen couldn't understand what had happened. He had clearly used very little strength, shifting his body only slightly, yet he'd dealt with the Twin-Tailed Tiger Cat with ease.
As Shi Fen puzzled over it, he went over and finished off the Twin-Tailed Tiger Cat with one slash, then quickly stripped off its valuable materials.
When Shi Fen practiced his movement technique, he had nothing else to use as a reference. He had always been fumbling around on his own and had believed his movement technique was at the Micro-Level. Now it seemed things weren't so simple.
Shi Fen walked leisurely, waiting for the monsters to attack.
"Here they come."
As Shi Fen focused, he immediately sensed the ground tremble faintly. A monster was about to ambush him!
"Eleven Iron-Armored Bulls. Just what I need." From afar, Shi Fen saw a herd of Iron-Armored Bulls charging toward him.
Instead of retreating, Shi Fen accelerated and charged at the herd. Seeing their prey act so brazenly, the Iron-Armored Bulls let out furious bellows, lowered their horns, and charged faster.
Shi Fen darted into the herd and kept his strength at an Elementary War General level. Holding his blade, he weaved and flipped among them, practicing his movement technique with outrageous confidence. The Iron-Armored Bulls found they couldn't hit him no matter what, and their eyes gradually turned bloodshot. One after another, they went berserk, attacking Shi Fen like mad.
The instant Shi Fen charged excitedly into the herd, his brain shifted into high gear. It rapidly analyzed every detail his eyes took in, and Shi Fen barely had to think at all. He could simply let his body dodge according to his "instincts."
The eleven frenzied bulls attacked for more than ten minutes, yet they never even touched the hem of Shi Fen's clothes.
"Could this be the principle that mastering one thing lets you master everything?"
Shi Fen realized that dodging felt just like forging when he swung a hammer rapidly. He didn't need to think much at all; he only had to follow the "rhythm."
"Why is my Perfect Level movement technique so different from what the books say?" Shi Fen was bewildered.
"I'm done playing with these mad bulls." Among the herd, Shi Fen darted about like a slippery loach that couldn't be caught. While dodging, he slashed at the Iron-Armored Bulls' vital points again and again. In just eleven strikes, all the Iron-Armored Bulls had fallen dead.
As he butchered them for materials, Shi Fen kept thinking about his movement technique.
He had a tentative guess.
After finishing the eleven Iron-Armored Bulls, Shi Fen had enough monster materials to fill his backpack completely. He quietly found an empty spot and put all the materials into his World Ring.
With his backpack empty, Shi Fen continued searching for test subjects to verify his theory.
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