Results

Gu Yuyue had long since grown used to such things. She nodded. "What Ruyan said is quite fitting. However, our school calls it a Forging Card. You can get one by taking first place in the freshman test. It waives the cost of weapon forging three times anywhere, and gives you a forty-percent discount on one limited quantity of mid-grade rare metal."

Chen Wu said worriedly, "Sis, if you do this, won't you be unable to use it anymore?"

"I used it once before, to have the masters of Forge Master Mountain reforge the longsword our parents left me. It is already enough to handle battles between mid-tier martial artists. It's just a pity that our mother's Mystic Tide Halberd was destroyed in that beast tide. Otherwise, it could have been passed down to you as well."

Whenever her parents and adoptive mother were mentioned, Gu Yuyue's tone carried a trace of melancholy.

Seeing his sister like this, Chen Wu changed the subject. "Sis, now that the weapon matter is settled, my pill payment just came through. Let me treat the two of you to a meal."

Before heading out that morning, Chen Wu had handed over the ten bottles of top-grade Qi-Accumulating Pills agreed upon for the month to the buyer.

When he had just left the Arms Foundry Bureau, he happened to receive a bank notification. A total of thirty thousand Red State Currency had been deposited.

After using the Alchemy Cauldron app to purchase a batch of medicinal ingredients for refining ninth-grade Qi-Concentrating Pills, Chen Wu still had more than twenty thousand left.

As someone from the military, Qi Ruyan spoke openly and without restraint. "Sounds great. To be honest, I got hungry while we were in there."

Chen Wu took the chance to lighten the mood. "Then what are we waiting for? Eat to your heart's content!"

Watching the two of them play off each other, Gu Yuyue shook her head helplessly, a faint smile hanging at the corners of her mouth.

Over the next ten-odd days, Chen Wu's main body underwent training from Gu Yuyue and Qi Ruyan, while his secondary body, Zhu Wu, applied what he learned in underground boxing matches, rapidly accumulating combat experience and deducing new martial arts.

After a round of discarding the old and bringing forth the new, the eighteen forms of the Dragon-Subduing Divine Leg were swiftly completed.

Of these, the final form, Raging Dragon Thunderclap, was the most astonishing. It poured all of one's power into both legs and unleashed six consecutive kicks, striking such fatal vital points as the heavenly spirit, brow, throat, heart, dantian, and groin in one unbroken breath. Each kick carried the force of ten thousand jun, achieving a one-hit kill.

If an ordinary person used this move, their true qi would be completely drained, leaving them utterly exhausted.

Even with Zhu Wu bolstered by the two god-tier qi-recovery arts, Dual Qi Flow and the Divine Essence-Absorbing Art, as well as support from the main body, it still consumed three-quarters of his source-seed true qi.

After mastering this move, Zhu Wu encountered a peak ninth-grade body-refining expert who had come to challenge the underground boxing arena.

After a fierce battle, he had no choice but to use this move, kicking apart the man's protective true qi and claiming victory.

After that battle, the name "Zhu Huang" rose to prominence in the underground boxing arena.

Basically, the entire underground boxing world of Jincheng came to know of a fellow who liked to wear black clothes and a black mask that concealed his face, with a head of distinctive crimson hair.

Because he never seemed to tire in battle, could rise and fight again no matter how severe his injuries were, and would recover completely by the next day—among many other unbelievable phenomena—he was bestowed the title of "Undying Vermilion Emperor."

However, quite a few underground fighters and martial artists scoffed at that title. They believed that the "Undying Vermilion Emperor" was merely a fraud who had stolen a reputation under false pretenses.

The so-called "undying" was probably the result of an organization or group of people sharing a single title.

As long as one of them was seriously injured in a match, they would simply switch to another person the next day.

As for constantly getting back up during battle, that was even simpler: he must have used some secret art that consumed his lifespan.

There was another rumor that "Zhu Huang" was a ferocious beast in human form, infiltrating the human world to steal secrets.

When Chen Wu heard these rumors, he could not help marveling at martial artists' wild imaginations.

Immediately afterward, Zhu Wu discussed with the people at the underground boxing arena whether he could increase his matches from three a day to five, while still being paid the original rate.

He had expected to need some persuasion, but unexpectedly, the boss who remained hidden behind the scenes was very easy to talk to.

The moment Zhu Wu made the request, the other side agreed at once.

Not only did they change his three daily matches to five, they even paid him according to five matches.

It was precisely thanks to fighting so many ninth-grade martial artists that inspiration poured forth from him, greatly increasing the deduction speed of his three souls.

Even the new martial art, Dragon-Subduing Divine Palm, had been deduced into ten forms.

Chen Wu could not help sighing. There really were more good people in this world.

July passed, and in the blink of an eye, August arrived.

After one day's training, Qi Ruyan brought up her departure to Gu Yuyue and Chen Wu.

Qi Ruyan was, after all, with the military. Although her workplace was in Jincheng, she still had to report back to her unit.

A mission had come down this time, so Qi Ruyan had to return and lead a team to carry it out.

During this period, Qi Ruyan, whose main focus was body refinement, had not only guided Chen Wu in fist and palm techniques, but also explained some body-refinement techniques to him.

This gave him some direction regarding an external cultivation art suited to himself. He merely lacked inspiration and the right opportunity, which was why he had yet to create his own body-refinement cultivation art.

To thank Qi Ruyan for her guidance over the past several days, and because he had heard she was about to carry out a mission, Chen Wu decided to share the Dragon-Subduing Divine Palm he had created.

"This martial art was created under the guidance of my sister and Sister Ruyan, combined with my own insights from this period. It is called the Dragon-Subduing Divine Palm. It is just a pity that, due to time constraints, I have not been able to complete it. Its power falls far short of what I expected."

Chen Wu sounded quite regretful as he said this.

"Then hurry up and begin."

Qi Ruyan was actually more excited than usual, while Gu Yuyue beside her shook her head helplessly.

When Qi Ruyan heard that Chen Wu had created a palm technique and wanted to teach it to her, she found it somewhat absurd.

She knew Chen Wu was a genius, and she had also learned from Gu Yuyue that he had awakened the Heavenly Spirit Sacred Body.

But for him to say that he had created a palm technique and wanted to teach it to her, a peak seventh-grade martial artist, was a little too arrogant.

Still, she wanted to see exactly what sort of palm technique Chen Wu had supposedly created.

If she could offer him a few pointers and earn Chen Wu's admiring gaze, that would be even better.

During this period, she had truly experienced what a martial arts genius was.

Anything explained once was immediately learned, and he could even draw inferences from one instance to another.

Later on, the questions Chen Wu raised were simply beyond her ability to answer.

Teaching a martial arts genius was certainly very enjoyable, but the process truly gave her little sense of accomplishment.

Under the watchful eyes of his sister Gu Yuyue and Qi Ruyan, Chen Wu displayed this self-created palm technique for the first time.

"First Form—Dragon Appears in the Field. A move that turns defense into offense. It can break an enemy's grappling technique and counterattack in the flow of the moment, unleashing a heavy, swift palm strike."

"Second Form—Flying Dragon in the Heavens. Leaping into midair and striking down from above, a form of extraordinary power that deals the enemy a crushing blow from high overhead."

"Third Form—Wild Goose Alights on Land. The essence of this move lies in cleverness: it hides cleverness within clumsiness. It is a move for driving back the enemy, using the palm to make it difficult for them to close in."

"Fourth Form—Hidden Dragon, Do Not Act. The force of this move is drawn inward and condensed without being released. Should an enemy dare test its edge and meet it head-on, they will certainly find it hard to escape calamity and inevitably suffer its consequences."