[Great Arm Scripture]

"Bold!"

[As I write this, I hope readers will remember our domain name, Taiwan Novels → 🅣🅦🅚🅐🅝.🅒🅞🅜]

The two men standing with spears exchanged a glance, each seeing terror on the other's face.

As his companions, although the two of them were a notch stronger in martial cultivation, neither dared underestimate his strength.

Whenever they robbed homes and plundered travelers and came across fellow martial artists, their companion, armed with nothing more than an iron spear, had sent countless people to their deaths beneath its point.

Yet it had taken only one move!

One move, and his head had been smashed to pulp. He had died on the spot.

From the start of the clash until now, only a few breaths had passed.

They were shocked, but Wang Xuance, the one who had struck, was equally stunned.

The Vajra Fist had only reached the beginner level, yet its power was already so ferocious. Battle intent surged within him as he stared at the two men like a tiger eyeing its prey.

"Let's go all in! This one's a hard nut to crack today. If either of us harbors any second thoughts, we'll definitely die here!"

"Hmph, you didn't need to tell me that. For him to unleash such powerful fist force barehanded, he probably can't use it repeatedly. Drive him back first!"

The two spoke in turns, their feet shifting soundlessly. Their spear shafts spun and danced in the air like two white serpents flicking their tongues, deadly beyond measure.

Not daring to be careless, Wang Xuance spotted the short spear at his feet. He rolled, kicked its tip up with a burst of force, then swept his sleeve and hurled it out first.

"Clang—"

"Parting Grass to Seek the Snake!"

The spear's shadow was like a blue dragon spouting water, swift beyond reckoning. Before Wang Xuance could land a blow, two spearheads swept toward him low through the air from opposite sides.

"Fine spearwork!"

Wang Xuance secretly rejoiced. The two men did not wield their spears with much force, but their techniques were anything but ordinary.

The two spearheads swept at him together, one high and one low. With no time to think, the muscles in his arms knotted, and he caught both shafts at precisely the right points. Pouring force into his grip, he sought to snap them apart.

Who would have thought that, seeing him seize the shafts, the two men merely sneered? With a mechanical "click-clack," something engaged.

The next instant, Wang Xuance felt a chill in his palms. His blood and qi immediately stagnated, and he abruptly released the spears. Looking closely, his expression changed drastically!

A tiny, nearly invisible puncture wound had appeared on each palm, glowing with an eerie purple light.

In only a few breaths, Wang Xuance felt his breathing grow rapid. His legs went weak, and he slumped cross-legged onto the ground, glaring unwillingly at the two men.

[True Martial Qi +10!]

[True Martial Qi +10!]

[True Martial Qi +10!]

"Heh heh, brat, this is Snow Scorpion Bone Poison, unique to Supreme Unity City of Blue Orchid Continent. No way you can cure it!"

"Don't worry. You won't die alone—one of my brothers will keep you company!"

The two men removed their face guards, revealing their true faces, and tightened their grips on their long spears as they approached him.

One had a square face and a broad mouth. A scar covering his entire face lay exposed, lending him an extra measure of savagery.

The other had a round face, a short beard, thick brows, and large eyes. Countless wolf tattoos covered most of his face.

The two wasted no more words and raised their spears to strike.

But Wang Xuance merely looked up and gave them an awkward smile. Then, like a loach slipping through mud, he flashed before them in an instant. His two fists crashed into their stomachs like mountain floods bursting through a dam, carrying a violent gale of force.

"Pfft!"

His fists shattered their padded armor and punched through their bellies. The protective gear that could normally withstand blade and axe strikes, flaming arrows, and flying shafts was like paper before the youth's iron fists.

"You... how..."

Wang Xuance twisted his arms and, with a wet rip, yanked a section of spine from each of their bodies.

"Crunch, crunch..."

[True Martial Qi +80!]

[True Martial Qi +90!]

"Thud!"

Wang Xuance panted heavily, opened his hands, and flung away the two sections of spine. The wounds on his palms had already vanished, leaving behind only two faint white marks.

It turned out that the instant the so-called Snow Scorpion Bone Poison entered his body, his blood and qi had begun to stagnate.

No matter how he circulated it, it only moved slower and slower. Just as he was about to be poisoned to death, Wang Xuance, as if guided by some unseen hand, began circulating the stance formula of the Dragon Elephant Grand Stance.

The so-called poison scattered away like spring snow beneath the sun, forced out of his body in streams. By the time those two men approached him, most of the poison had already been expelled.

Relying on the Vajra Fist to smash through their bellies and wrench out their spines, he had escaped death by a hair's breadth and gained the upper hand by a move.

"Huff, huff~~"

"What a vicious poison. It nearly cost me my life!"

"No, I need to find a body-tempering martial art in the future. At the very least, I can't let someone pierce my skin and poison me to death like this again!"

After taking several slow breaths, Wang Xuance felt the tension in his body ease slightly. He drew a small knife, cut off the two men's heads, and stuffed them into a burlap sack.

Then he began a "great sweep"!

He found over eight taels of loose silver and several unknown ores on the first man.

"Tut, tut. Horses don't grow fat without night grass, and men don't grow rich without windfalls. Killers and arsonists wear golden belts—looks like you three have harmed no few people yourselves!"

He then toyed with the chunks of ore, but could not make heads or tails of them.

There were two things the Western Desert never lacked: one was sand, and the other was all manner of ore.

Many weapons suitable for martial artists were forged from ores by specialized craftsmen using their smithing skills.

"Fine. Once I return to the city and look through some books, I'll know what metals these ores are!"

He proceeded to search the other two men in the same manner. When he rummaged through the third man, he felt something unusual near his ribs.

He tore apart the cotton armor and clothing on the man's body, exposing dark skin. Yet the skin around his ribs bulged in a square-shaped abnormality.

Wang Xuance frowned slightly. He snatched up the spearhead from the ground and, with a wet PFFT, pierced the skin and dug out the object inside.

The three jet-black characters, [Great Arm Scripture], leaped into view. The so-called foreign object was an irregular piece of silk no larger than his palm, its texture extraordinarily soft.

With a rub between two fingers, four similarly sized silk slips unfolded one after another.

After only a cursory glance, a familiar feeling surged into his heart.

[Dragon Elephant Grand Stance: 100/3000 (Beginner)]

[Tortoise-Snake Great Stance: 0/3000 (Proficient)]

[Crane Form Grand Stance: 0/1000 (Beginner)]

[Vajra Fist: 430/4000 (Proficient)]

[Great Arm Scripture: 0/2000 (Beginner)]

[Eight Evolutions Heavenly Gang, Volume One (Beginner 2/10000)]

"A martial art? An unexpected delight, too!"

Wang Xuance suppressed the joy in his heart, but considering the unsuitable surroundings, every extra breath he stayed meant danger.

He swiftly cleared up the mess on the ground, grabbed the burlap sack wrapped around the heads, mounted his horse, and rode away.

He sped along like lightning, taking a shortcut into White Light City...

Naturally, he did not know that not long after he left, two black-robed figures wearing face armor stood silently upon the battlefield where the four had fought in pairs.

After roughly the time it took to drink a cup of tea, one of them spoke in a hoarse, droning voice.

"The item is gone. It was hidden beneath the skin by the ribs, and someone has already dug it out!"

"All three were struck in vital points by a single fist. The force was enough to rival that of an ordinary martial artist, yet from the aura left behind, he was merely at the second knock of the Blood Gate..."

At that, the voice abruptly stopped, seemingly waiting for what came next.

"Hmph! Most likely some fellow who stumbled into shit luck and learned a scrap or two of a Profound-grade stance art!"

"His vitality and blood far surpass those of martial artists at the same level."

"But no matter what, these three used their identities to harm a Holy Son of the sect and steal a sacred relic of the sect. Their deaths were well deserved!"

"Even if what they stole was only a fragmentary scroll, it cannot be allowed to remain lost outside!"

"Anyone who dares take a sacred relic of our sect... cannot be allowed to live either!"

The man lightly flicked his five fingers. With a WHOOSH, a spiraling gust shot forth; a muffled CRACK followed, and the three corpses instantly burst into scattered flecks of bloody mist...