Azure Wolf Stealth Hunt

After two feints, Duan Xuan knocked the life out of Wolf Tian with a single punch.

Watching those dark green eyes slowly close, Duan Xuan was exhausted, but he did not forgo the finishing blow.

Using every last ounce of strength, he hammered punch after punch into Wolf Tian's heart, temples, and the back of his skull.

Only after all three spots had caved in—his heart pierced and his brain pulp pierced through—did Duan Xuan finally stop.

Wolf Tian was now a mangled mass of blood and flesh. Duan Xuan swept his gaze around; not one of the twelve remaining men from Wolf Stronghold had survived.

Meanwhile, his Trap and Hunting, as well as the Broken Mountain Stake Method and Broken Mountain Fist, surged madly as though they had been fed stimulants.

[Man rewards diligence; Heaven rewards what man lacks]

[Trap: Mastered (86/300)]

[Hunting: Minor Mastery (91/100)]

[Broken Mountain Stake Method: Minor Mastery (58/1000)]

[Broken Mountain Fist: Beginner (214/300)]

On the martial path, qi and blood reigned supreme, while methods reinforced them.

To improve quickly, one relied on three words: eat, kill, train.

What one ate was meat. What replenished one's reserves was costly Blood-Qi Powder, Blood-Qi Pills, or even higher-quality medicinal pills.

Duan Xuan had received three packets of Blood-Qi Powder from his two senior sisters, directly making up for the speed the system could not provide.

This allowed him to successfully break through to Bright Force on the final day of the second month and remain at the martial hall.

Normally, Duan Xuan relied more on practicing the stake method to raise the density of his qi and blood.

That progress could only be described as steady and methodical—painfully slow. Practice a few rounds, gain a few points.

If the values required for future breakthroughs became enormous, then even if he devoted ten hours every day without eating or drinking, it would still be difficult to break through and advance quickly.

The reason Duan Xuan's values had risen so quickly today was because he had experienced the second word of the three-word mantra: kill!

A life-and-death battle between martial artists could be defined as killing. The strong slaughtering the weak could also be defined as killing.

But when the weak killed the strong, that was killing within killing, and the qi-and-blood bonus gained would rise dramatically.

Other martial artists, however, had to recover to their peak condition before their qi and blood would raise their upper limit accordingly.

Because Duan Xuan had the system, the values of the whole process were displayed directly, and the feedback came a step ahead of everyone else.

"Wolf Tian may have had old injuries, but his method was far too bizarre. He actually went berserk within mere seconds and became immune to the pain caused by my Broken Mountain Fist.

"If my iron arrow had not broken his leg bone at the start—

"And if his old injuries had not flared up afterward, leaving him short on qi and blood, combined with his arrogance, I really wouldn't have been able to beat him!"

As these thoughts ran through his mind, Duan Xuan buried all the corpses in the great pit and collected every Trap.

He destroyed their faces and every trace of the scene.

Weighing the silver in his hand, Duan Xuan cursed, "The grand chiefs, second chiefs, and third chiefs of an entire stronghold—and all the silver on them adds up to only ten taels.

"But this thing is quite a good item!"

Aside from the silver, Duan Xuan found an ancient book in Wolf Tian's robes.

Four large characters had been written on it in brushstroke.

Azure Wolf Stealth Hunt

"So this was Wolf Tian's method?"

Seeing that the person from Benevolent Harmony Hall responsible for changing shifts had arrived, Duan Xuan hurriedly hid it in his clothes.

He ran to the shrubbery he had watched the entire time and searched for a long while before finding a shattered porcelain bottle.

Inside lay a bright red pill the size of a mung bean.

The moment he gave it a light sniff, abundant essence wafted from the pill and entered Duan Xuan's body.

"This is more than four times richer than Blood-Qi Powder. Could this be a Blood-Qi Pill?"

"Junior Brother, you'd better catch this! Your Senior Brother won't bully you—I'll only use the first two moves of Broken Mountain Fist to spar with you!" Zhang Chen strode forward in huge steps. His already broad, heavy body combined with the Broken Mountain Fist stance made him seem like a mountain crashing toward Duan Xuan with a rumble.

After leaving the herb garden, Duan Xuan still decided to spend some time at the martial hall. By sheer coincidence, he arrived just as Zhang Chen was practicing his fists.

The latter dragged Duan Xuan over with great interest, insisting on sparring with him.

He wanted to test how much his Junior Brother had improved recently.

Had it been anyone else, Duan Xuan would have refused.

But Zhang Chen mostly threw instructional punches. There was no provocation, nor any other ill intent.

As Zhang Chen darted toward him, Duan Xuan did not hesitate. He immediately sank his body and settled into a horse stance.

He mobilized the qi and blood beneath his feet, twisting it into a single rope and forming a Mountain-Breaking Awl.

Zhang Chen's punch used the first move of Broken Mountain Fist, the first form of Mountain Opening—Break Ground.

His fist technique held an advantage. His body was brimming with qi and blood, and he was large besides; among those of the same level, few could contend with the strength behind his blows.

Duan Xuan understood this. He chose the second move of Broken Mountain Fist, the first form of Mountain Rift—Drill Split.

His knuckles protruded, his fingers slightly hooked, like a Mountain-Breaking Awl.

This move discarded the broad attack range of the first form and instead focused all its force onto a single point—the raised portion at Duan Xuan's fingertips.

He turned slightly sideways, and Zhang Chen's fist swept horizontally past his face.

Then Duan Xuan struck fiercely. His angle was tricky and agile, driving straight for the acupoint exposed beneath Zhang Chen's arm.

Zhang Chen did not panic. After missing with one punch, he hurriedly pressed his arm against his armpit.

His muscles immediately swelled as he chose to withstand the blow with the thickest part of his arm muscles.

With a thud, Zhang Chen shed most of the force of Duan Xuan's Mountain-Breaking Awl without even letting out a muffled grunt.

Twisting at the waist, he spun back around as his left fist shot out sharply, bursting forth with a rushing howl.

This was the derived fist frame of the first move, Mountain Opening's second form—Split Stone.

Originally, one was meant to attack with both fists: one fist blocking while the other continued striking, alternating in cycles to offset damage.

But in actual combat, the course of battle was often difficult to predict, so the arms, legs, and every hard part of the body could replace the fists for defense.

Watching the left fist grow larger and larger before his eyes, Duan Xuan knew perfectly well that if Senior Brother Zhang landed this punch, countless blows would rain down after it.

So he made a bold decision, drawing both fists back to his waist.

At the same time, he exerted all his strength, rising from the ground and gathering it into the faces of both fists.

Whoosh!

The distance was too short. He did not dare be arrogant and continue charging his strength.

So, though he moved later, he struck first. His fists opened and closed in grand arcs, like a sweeping wave, forcibly lashing out across the left side of his chest.

The second move of Broken Mountain Fist, the second form—Mountain Sweep!

This form had originally been a wide-range attack meant for facing many enemies alone, but it was also a desperate means of self-preservation. With a horizontal chopping swing, it could effectively intercept an enemy's heavy, powerful fist.

With a heavy thud, Duan Xuan's body swept rapidly backward.

Zhang Chen chuckled. He knew that in that exchange, his Junior Brother's force and strength had been far inferior to his own, and that he had suffered badly. With his stake method planted firmly, he took great strides forward and pressed his advantage.

Little did he know that this was exactly what Duan Xuan wanted. Duan Xuan retreated another two steps, then his backward momentum came to an abrupt halt. This was not him forcing himself to use a new frame—it was a feint he had calculated long ago.

The moment Zhang Chen saw this, his smile vanished.

He hurriedly switched to the Mountain Sweep form, intending to block Duan Xuan's sudden counterattack.

Yet Duan Xuan's fist gathered without striking. It was another feint, causing Zhang Chen's body to swing fully open and leaving his center gate dangerously exposed.

The Mountain Sweep form was fierce and domineering, broad and sweeping. It truly was an excellent move for driving back a formidable enemy.

But its weakness was equally obvious: if it failed to let the enemy taste its savage force, then the center gate exposed in that instant became the enemy's golden chance to turn defeat into victory.

This was the most taboo approach in martial arts.

When masters traded blows, a mistake no wider than a hair's breadth in a single instant could often decide victory and defeat.

Seeing that his second feint had succeeded, Duan Xuan seized the initiative tightly. The Broken Mountain Stake transformed once more into a Mountain-Breaking Awl that concentrated force at a single point, driving straight for Zhang Chen's kidney.

"Not good!"

"Ahhhhh!"

Duan Xuan's hand stopped over Zhang Chen's kidney and did not strike.

He understood very well that even if he had punched Senior Brother Zhang in the chest just now, despite Zhang Chen exposing his center gate to him, his fist might not have injured that big fellow too badly. But if the Mountain-Breaking Awl pecked at his kidney, one blow would make Zhang Chen lose his ability to move.

"Good lad! You've only practiced the second move for thirty-some days, yet you've already used the essence of the final form—the feint—with such consummate mastery!" Zhang Chen threw an arm around Duan Xuan's shoulders, praising him without reservation.

"Senior Brother held back and did not hurt me. Otherwise, when you threw your first punch, I would already have been lying on the ground, snoring away," Duan Xuan said modestly.

"Hahahaha! Junior Brother is far too modest. With those two feints you just used, many Bright Force Senior Brothers in the sect aren't even your match. Not bad—keep it up!"

"By the way, Senior Brother, have you ever taken a Blood-Qi Pill?" That was Duan Xuan's true purpose in returning to the martial hall.

Blood-Qi Pills differed from Blood-Qi Powder. Their qi-and-blood content was simply too concentrated, and even Blood-Qi Powder had to be taken in several portions before it could be fully digested.

But a Blood-Qi Pill was a whole pill. If swallowed rashly, it would certainly be wasted.

There might even be the danger of bursting one's meridians. The loss would outweigh the gain.

"Blood-Qi Pills? Those things are rather too expensive. But I did see one of the Dark Force Senior Brothers take one before..."