Strength and Confidence

It was not until three days after Wang Gang's death that someone finally discovered him.

He had been a bachelor living alone. Only when Pi Liu had not seen him for several days and sent other underlings to check on him did they find his corpse, already beginning to stink.

Given the state of the scene at his home, it was treated as a murder committed during a break-in robbery.

The incident spread like wildfire through the surrounding neighborhoods.

However, Wang Gang had been someone from the gray underworld with no family to speak of. No one cared about his death at all.

Of course, while the people in the nearby streets felt immensely gratified, they also grew ever more fearful of this harsh world.

Quite a few households were left trembling with unease.

Of course, many others secretly applauded.

Pi Liu himself was naturally furious as thunder, but he could never have imagined that the killer was a thirteen- or fourteen-year-old boy. He never once suspected Chen Fan.

In times like these, there were no effective criminal investigation tools and no surveillance cameras. Chen Fan had carefully hidden his tracks, so naturally he was not worried about being discovered.

Meanwhile, Chen Fan, who had played the role of an extreme dark knight for once, continued to rise early for work and return at dusk as if nothing had happened.

After Tiger Fist reached mastery, his appetite no longer increased as outrageously as it had before.

After dealing with Wang Gang, Chen Fan found eight or nine taels of silver in his home, temporarily easing his financial straits.

He also bought several more fowl.

At dusk.

Chen Fan stood before the duck pen, watching the ducks move about.

His little niece, Chen Xi, crouched beside him, watching the ducks run around with loud quacks as well.

Over the past few days, both his Great Hand Seal and Soft Cloud Palm had reached perfection. Though the increase in his strength was not as exaggerated as when Tiger Fist had reached perfection, it had still risen considerably once more!

All three martial arts had produced inner breath. Other than their slightly differing characteristics, there was nothing particularly special about them.

Then, very soon after.

The view before Chen Fan's eyes shifted.

A string of words emerged.

[You observed the ducks' movements and entered a state of enlightenment. Your overall understanding of Duck-Walking Fist has improved.]

"So it really works!"

Chen Fan's eyes lit up.

Very soon, he began practicing Duck-Walking Fist again!

[The progress of the first form of your Duck-Walking Fist has increased by 80%. Idle training efficiency increased.]

This time, its progress had jumped by eighty percent, instantly completing his training in the first form of Duck-Walking Fist!

Duck-Walking Fist likewise had only four forms. At this rate, with both training speed and progress climbing steadily, it would take less than ten days to reach perfection!

Yet as he practiced, Chen Fan could not stop shaking his head.

Though this fist technique had distinctive characteristics, its power and effect were nowhere near Tiger Fist. Their quality was worlds apart. Mastering Tiger Fist had given Chen Fan more than ten times the improvement Duck-Walking Fist did!

After Chen Fan had some extra money, he sought out that scruffy man from the Flying Tiger Sect again.

He once more asked to buy secret manuals.

That fellow found Chen Fan's behavior utterly strange. He had already spent five taels of silver. If he saved up a little more, he might be able to afford tuition for a martial arts school. Once admitted, the entry-level martial arts would be free. Why insist on buying secret manuals?

But Chen Fan had his own reasons.

With Pi Liu pressuring him, he could not save any money.

And if he had not even the slightest ability to protect himself, it might be years before he saved enough for martial arts school tuition. That would be far too great a waste of his talent.

Yet seeing Chen Fan persist, the man said no more.

Since Chen Fan was a returning customer, he gave him another discount, allowing him to buy six secret manuals for four taels of silver.

However, he also told Chen Fan plainly that these manuals were all of rather poor quality. Not one could compare to Tiger Fist. Moreover, he had sold almost all the Flying Tiger Sect strength-training manuals that he was able to sell. The others involved the sect's interests and could not be passed on!

Chen Fan understood that buying secret manuals was only a temporary solution. If he wanted to continue improving, the only path left would be joining a martial arts school.

"What a pity. Not one of these six manuals can compare to Tiger Fist..."

Chen Fan immediately unlocked two more martial arts.

One was called Flowing Wind Palm, and the other Embracing Origin Fist.

Chen Fan also noticed that all the manuals he had bought were palm techniques or fist techniques. There were no manuals for leg techniques.

Basic martial arts were used to build strength and temper the body. It seemed fist and palm techniques were more suitable for that.

Shaking his head, Chen Fan began practicing Flowing Wind Palm.

He was no longer cultivating for the first time. Even if he was merely following the diagrams, his movements were much more precise now.

These two manuals were also inferior to Tiger Fist, roughly on the same level as Duck-Walking Fist. They were manuals with only three or four forms as well!

After finishing his practice, Chen Fan noticed that the cultivation efficiency of Flowing Wind Palm seemed slightly faster than that of Duck-Walking Fist when he had first unlocked it.

Clearly, the two should have been at about the same level.

"I've successfully mastered several strength-training martial arts. With the help of these martial arts, my body has continued to grow stronger, and my constitution has improved..."

The efficiency of idle martial arts training was ultimately affected by the host's own martial arts experience.

Chen Fan had experience mastering three martial arts, so his idle training efficiency had improved as well!

Though only by a very limited amount.

Even so, the discovery delighted Chen Fan all the more.

Chen Fan made a rough calculation.

It would still take two months to finish cultivating all the remaining manuals!

One week later.

Chen Fan's Duck-Walking Fist also reached perfection.

At this point, he had fully mastered four strength-training secret manuals.

As one strength-training martial art after another reached perfection, Chen Fan also worked out some general patterns regarding such techniques.

While practicing strength-training martial arts, from initiation to mastery, one's physique could continuously be strengthened as progress deepened. Once mastery was achieved and inner breath was comprehended, one's strength would make a small leap. But the body could no longer be strengthened further; continuing to practice was useless.

Mastering different martial arts had not made Chen Fan's inner breath especially powerful, but its nature had become broader and more all-embracing!

Chen Fan guessed that the cultivation of inner breath might be the path that followed in martial arts.

Unfortunately, Chen Fan had no martial arts manuals for further cultivation. Once a technique had been trained to its end, it became useless. He could only continue improving his strength and increasing his body's vitality and blood through new strength-training manuals, laying down an even more solid foundation!

Chen Fan did not understand martial arts, but he understood the logic of how things developed.

Strength-training manuals were techniques for building a martial foundation. Naturally, the thicker and sturdier the foundation, the better. Chen Fan's golden finger allowed him to cultivate several techniques simultaneously without expending effort, so he naturally had to seize that advantage!

However, what disappointed Chen Fan even more was this.

The more strength-training manuals he practiced, the more gradually the improvement in his physical condition slowed.

The quality of the strength-training manuals Chen Fan cultivated afterward was simply too poor...

And he had already passed the earliest period of rapid growth.

Of course, even so, his strength had expanded considerably once again.

Compared with when he had just mastered Tiger Fist, his strength had improved greatly!

"My strength is far greater than that of an ordinary quasi-martial artist who has cultivated inner breath, unless the strength-training manual they mastered is of a quality far above Tiger Fist..."

Of course, that was only among ordinary martial artists.

In the vast Flying Spirit County, there were no telling how many geniuses. Chen Fan had trained martial arts for only a few months and did not believe himself to be truly remarkable.

However, as his strength grew, he became increasingly confident. He planned to remove Pi Liu, this lingering threat. Limited by his talent, Pi Liu's strength was likely no greater than his own.

But Pi Liu was different from Wang Gang. As a minor leader, he was always accompanied by underlings whenever he went out. His movements were difficult to predict, making it hard for Chen Fan to find an opportunity to ambush him!

Chen Fan was, after all, a complete novice in martial arts with no real combat experience. He also did not dare offend the Black Tiger Gang, so it was naturally better to kill Pi Liu in a secret ambush.

Thus, every night, he once again donned dark clothes and slipped out, trying to find the whereabouts of Pi Liu and the others.

He was fairly cautious as well, keeping tools such as chili water and lime powder on him at all times.

Without confidence, he did not dare act rashly.

Yet what Chen Fan had not expected was that an opportunity soon came his way.

Five days after Chen Fan completed Tiger Fist, his Soft Cloud Palm also reached mastery.

However, Soft Cloud Palm reaching mastery did not increase his strength by much.

He understood that the bonuses from basic martial arts were ultimately limited.

If he wanted to improve further, he would still need higher-quality strength-training martial arts or some other means of improving himself.

However, his body had grown much stronger than before.

He had not gained much weight, but his muscles and bones had been steadily strengthening.

He had already been in a period of rapid physical development, so the changes in his body did not particularly surprise anyone else.

The Black Tiger Gang had also recently begun a series of operations.

It seemed that they were searching for someone.

Pi Liu was responsible for patrolling and searching the surrounding neighborhoods.

Chen Fan often saw Pi Liu leading members of the Black Tiger Gang around Sophora Street.

They wandered everywhere, all the way until deep into the night...