Wok Tossing, Massive Surge!

Yu Hang heard Zhou An's words. Seeing Zhou An stop, he stopped as well and nodded. "I took the Imperial Examination a few times before. I heard about it while traveling there."

"The Blood Shadow Gate is a very unusual force. They mainly cultivate through shadows, but everyone who joins already possesses their own abilities."

Their own abilities?

Zhou An's brow furrowed ever deeper.

This was actually normal. Changing one's identity, or switching sects and factions, happened often. None of it was rare.

But what Yu Hang meant seemed to be something else.

Yu Hang explained, "Shadows are only supplementary. They haven't abandoned the abilities they originally possessed; they even use them as their main strength."

"For example, if you know blade techniques, then after learning their methods, your blade techniques can improve greatly. The shadows are the foundation of that improvement."

Worried that Zhou An would not understand, he explained as thoroughly as he could, even using an example.

Zhou An understood completely. He recalled what had happened at the little girl's home that day.

Besides the Gray Rat Worshipers, there had also been a black shadow.

That black shadow had long fingernails as well.

Those nails were very similar to the Beast Cult's.

Linking the two together, Zhou An reached a conclusion.

There were Blood Shadow Gate members within the Beast Cult too.

Shadows were merely supplementary and could strengthen one's original abilities.

That Beast Cult fellow had cultivated not only the Beast Cult's techniques, but also the Blood Shadow Gate's techniques.

But Zhou An could not make sense of the corpses that had appeared today.

Naturally, Yu Hang understood even less. He only knew some basic information about the Blood Shadow Gate.

The two did not talk much more and continued patrolling the streets.

Fortunately, everything went smoothly, and nothing unusual happened.

When night fell, Yu Hang returned to the yamen and continued staying there, while Zhou An went home.

There were people patrolling the streets at night as well, but they did so in shifts.

One group of constables rested first. Once they were done resting, the people who had begun the street patrol rested in turn.

After returning home, Zhou An was still thinking about what had happened that day.

He planned to toss the wok for a while and raise his proficiency first.

The more complicated the situation became, the more important his own strength was. As long as he was strong enough, he could handle complicated situations.

After eating a simple meal, Zhou An went to the kitchen and prepared to start tossing the wok.

Tomorrow night, it would be his turn to patrol at night. He planned to grind a little longer today.

"Clang, clang, clang..."

A string of wok-tossing sounds rang out within the room.

That night, Zhou An grinded for a while longer and slept for only an hour and a half.

When he got up the next morning, he was still full of energy.

Qi flowed through his body. Now that it had grown stronger, it granted him even more vigor.

After grabbing a simple breakfast outside, Zhou An went to the yamen to report for duty.

Yu Hang was already waiting for him there.

After chatting for a while, the two prepared to patrol the streets again.

The entire morning passed in patrols, and once again, nothing happened.

At noon, they ate something on the street. After finishing their afternoon patrol, they returned to the yamen.

Zhou An did not go home. He had not patrolled at night yesterday, so tonight it was his turn.

Having to rush back after going home was troublesome, so Zhou An planned to stay at the yamen.

After casually eating something outside, he returned to the yamen.

But it was not time yet, so he was in no hurry.

"I should find something to pass the time."

Zhou An stood up, exchanged a few words with Yu Hang, then went to the kitchen. He planned to practice the Butchering Ox Technique there for a while.

Because they had been busy lately, the kitchen had not been used for cooking these past two days.

Chef Liu was sitting in a reclining chair, leisurely fanning himself with a palm-leaf fan.

When he saw Zhou An arrive, he greeted him, then continued fanning himself to cool down.

Zhou An did not waste any words. He picked up a piece of wood and began carving.

Things were getting increasingly complicated, so he intended to seize every moment to raise his proficiency.

"Here, take it."

Just as Zhou An was fully focused, something sliced through the air.

Zhou An instinctively raised his hand and caught what Chef Liu had thrown over.

He found that it was a key.

"You've been busy lately too, and you haven't been eating here. I took a few days off, so I might not come to the yamen. If you want to practice your Knife Skills, just unlock the door yourself." Leaning back in his reclining chair, Chef Liu spoke.

Zhou An nodded, thanked him, tucked the key away, and continued practicing his carving.

His proficiency was steadily rising, slowly but surely.

Over the following days, many more days passed.

Every day, Zhou An repeated the same orderly routine.

Patrolling the streets, practicing Knife Skills, tossing the wok at night.

The cycle repeated day after day, but he did not feel tired.

As his proficiency increased, he instead grew more and more excited.

It was worth mentioning that over these many days, An Ding County experienced a succession of strange incidents.

Every so often, a corpse would be discovered.

Each corpse bore a Blood Shadow Gate token.

Yet neither the Demon Suppression Division nor the yamen found anything.

The Beast Cult had also vanished without a trace. It seemed to have become more restrained after being suppressed by the Demon Suppression Division.

Since there were no leads on the Beast Cult for the time being, the Demon Suppression Division instead shifted its focus to the Blood Shadow Gate.

Zhou An did not concern himself with these matters and continued his orderly life.

Even an organization like the Demon Suppression Division had no clues, much less him fighting alone.

Seizing the time to improve himself was more important than anything else.

In times like these, strength was the only true support.

It was night. The moon shone bright, while the stars were sparse.

"I'm off, Lao Yu."

Standing at the yamen entrance, Zhou An bade Yu Hang farewell and returned home once more.

Nothing happened along the way.

After shutting the door behind him, Zhou An looked at the words before him, and the corners of his mouth rose slightly.

Wok Tossing lv.2 (Strength +1): 19856/20000

Over all these days, he had not slackened in the slightest. Other than when he patrolled at night, he spent every evening grinding away in his room.

Labor naturally brought rewards. Wok Tossing was getting closer and closer to level three.

If he worked a little harder tonight, he would reach level three proficiency perfectly and undergo a qualitative transformation.

Thinking of this, Zhou An felt excitement well up in his chest.

He rubbed his hands together. After eating something, he took the large iron wok and went to the stove.

He casually tossed a little food into the wok, then began flipping it.

After continuously grinding so hard, he had become increasingly skilled at tossing the wok.

The food in the wok seemed to be charged with energy, constantly flying about inside, yet not a single bit spilled out.

His hands no longer felt sore either. After all, he had already adapted to it.

Feeling his proficiency steadily rise, Zhou An entered an extremely focused state.

He could no longer feel the passage of time.

When a person was focused, the speed at which time passed no longer mattered.

His proficiency rose bit by bit.

When it reached a limit, new words appeared before Zhou An's eyes.