Fist Arts Advance, Strength Soars

After the time it took to burn an incense stick, Wang Xuance headed toward his little courtyard, one hand clutching a sandalwood box while the other, hidden beneath his sleeve, carried a bulging money pouch.

In a private room at the Medicine King Shop behind him, Chen Linger watched Wang Xuance's retreating figure with a calm expression.

"You really didn't have to do this. I... I only need another half a year..."

A man with sword-like brows, star-bright eyes, and imposing phoenix eyes approached from behind, slowly coming to stand before Chen Linger.

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"No... I can't let you take the risk. I can't let you take the risk..."

With a click, he pushed the door open and entered.

Wang Xuance looked over the spotless little courtyard and nodded in satisfaction.

With a flick of his sleeve, he shut the door, then entered the main hall without a word.

He tossed the sandalwood box from his chest and the money pouch from his sleeve onto the table.

"Wealth is found amid danger—the bigger the waves, the pricier the fish!"

Just now, Wang Xuance had agreed to cooperate with Chen Linger. Though the decision had been somewhat rash, that woman was simply offering far too much!

Opening the wooden box, he found a palm-sized purple ganoderma lying quietly inside—Purple Blood Ganoderma, worth a full thirty taels of patterned silver.

And most of the time, it was something money couldn't buy!

The Western Desert spanned eight million li of yellow sands and received too little rain. As a result, medicinal herbs beneficial to martial cultivation were often exceedingly expensive.

They were far beyond what someone of his current status could afford.

Even the two Vermilion Summer Fruits had cost him three taels of silver, painstakingly saved by scrimping and pinching pennies.

Compared to that, he had truly "yielded" before wealth!

This Purple Blood Ganoderma was an essential medicinal herb for breaking through to become a martial artist.

When a martial cultivator reached the Three Knocks Blood Barrier, they would open their first martial aperture. Upon successfully breaking through two more apertures, they would enter the first realm of martial cultivation—the Fetal Breath Realm.

Countless people could exhaust their entire lives without ever stepping into this realm and becoming martial artists.

Purple Blood Ganoderma could directly grant martial cultivators an additional thirty percent chance when breaking open their martial apertures.

Do not underestimate those three parts of opportunity. Among herbs one could purchase, even a ten percent chance was often unattainable; most could only offer half that!

Naturally, such herbs were already immensely valuable. A single stalk often cost more than ten taels of silver—enough for a family of four in the outer city to eat, drink, and live on for several years.

He casually opened the money pouch, revealing fifteen taels of patterned silver before the youth.

This was the "extra payment"!

It left the youth greatly satisfied. Though he knew Chen Linger was generous with her money, nearly fifty taels of silver in a single move still gave him quite a "pleasant surprise."

The two had agreed that Chen Feng would leave the city two months later. Following Chen Linger's instructions, Wang Xuance would lie in ambush and wait for her to first deal Chen Feng a fatal blow.

The location was outside the city, and Wang Xuance was not worried in the slightest that Chen Linger would dare pull some "black-eats-black" trick.

There were three great families in the outer city—the Chen, Bai, and Li families. For families able to establish themselves in White Light City, face mattered more than anything.

For Chen Linger to join hands with an outsider to murder a member of her own clan was, in itself, a capital offense.

He could easily leave a contingency behind. If he failed to return safely to the city, within two hours, news that Chen Linger had killed one of her own clansmen would spread everywhere.

Trading one death for another was a losing deal no matter how one looked at it.

"Besides... heh heh, two months is enough time to change far too much!"

Putting away the herbs and silver on the table, Wang Xuance turned to his martial training.

With a thought, the transparent panel appeared in his mind.

[True Martial Qi: 220!]

This was the result of him single-handedly "dueling" everyone in his own squad. It was enough to raise both his fist technique and a stance technique into the proficient realm!

But according to his own estimate, only by cultivating a stance technique to great mastery could one reach the Three Knocks Blood Barrier. True Martial Qi worth merely 220 points was likely still insufficient.

"Fine, using it to deduce my fist technique isn't bad either. My barehanded skills are still far too poor!"

As the thought arose, he poured all of his True Martial Qi into the Vajra Fist on the panel.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

The muscles all over his body knotted and coiled, twisting in motion, while every sinew gave off a ringing hum.

A familiar sensation surged into his heart.

In a boundless desert, Wang Xuance wore a black short-sleeved outfit. His arms shifted as he focused his mind and gathered his strength.

Then he threw a punch. Like a spear, like a cannon, its force was ferocious to the extreme.

Yellow sand exploded into the sky around him, as though stirred by some immense force. Swept up by the fist force, the sand became a yellow python that lunged straight ahead.

His arms swung like sledgehammers, crashing down fiercely. A shrill howl tore through the air; before they even touched the ground, the entire surface sank several feet in an instant, bursting open with countless spiderweb cracks...

"Whew~~"

He expelled a mouthful of foul air, which shot away like a sleeve arrow.

The young man gazed at the changes in his arms, overjoyed.

Not only had they grown a full size thicker, but even his Juwei acupoint had loosened somewhat, making him ponder.

"It seems all martial arts are alike. Advancing in one discipline is never an isolated benefit—it greatly strengthens the entire body!"

With a muffled smack, Wang Xuance drove out his brute strength, his left arm suddenly drilling forward.

Boom!

A three-foot slab of rock that could withstand blades and swords was shattered by a single punch, without the slightest effort.

Moreover, the young man vaguely sensed that the force of his fist was already showing signs of developing toward fist aura.

Fist force, fist aura, fist intent, and beyond them, the highest realm—the fist domain, regarded by martial artists as the most ethereal of all.

Every transformation meant an explosive surge in strength, advancing by leaps and bounds!

Countless people exhausted their entire lives without ever entering the realm of fist intent. Thus, many who stepped into the martial artist realm chose a weapon, which could both protect them and aid their martial training.

The returns were far more efficient than practicing fists.

"Hehe, what others can never achieve is nothing more than trifling to me!"

His thoughts turned toward the Vajra Fist entry.

After consuming all of his True Martial Qi, it had already undergone no small change.

[Vajra Fist: 430/4000 (Proficient)]

[Note: Upon reaching great mastery in fist arts, one may choose a weapon. Cultivating both together can increase proficiency!]

"Tsk tsk, a weapon..."

The young man practiced the fist technique once through in the courtyard, only stopping when he was utterly exhausted.

Having entered the proficient level, the Vajra Fist now gained more proficiency from practicing for the same amount of time.

That meant that, with enough time accumulated, he would no longer need to expend True Martial Qi.

He could instead use his True Martial Qi to deduce the two stance arts. Those were the true foundation upon which he would establish himself in the world.

He had already glimpsed one spot and known the whole leopard's pattern of the Dragon Elephant Grand Stance's mysteries. This mere incomplete mysterious-rank martial art was already so powerful; he dared not imagine what level it would reach if it were complete.

"Still mysterious-rank?"

"Or spirit-rank?"

"Don't tell me it's saint-rank!"

Ten thousand miles away from White Light City stood a mountain that seemed to prop up the heavens, majestic and imposing—truly worthy of being called a "pillar holding up the sky"!

Within the mountain, in a vast, weathered cavern, nine figures sat cross-legged in the darkness. Invisibly, they imposed a twisting force upon the entire space.

Making them impossible to see clearly!

A voice like clashing metal and stone came from no one knew whom, piercingly harsh and utterly inhuman.

"Kongxing died outside. Though he was an outer disciple, he was still one of our mountain's own. Which of you junior brothers will send someone to make the trip?"

"Bring that martial art back to the mountain. The handnotes left by the Patriarch recorded in detail the importance of that martial art..."

"Remember! Remember! Do not damage the martial art. If anyone has secretly learned it... bring them back to the mountain as well!"