Corpses and a Fragmentary Manual

Before Li Zhengyang could make sense of the Demonic Core.

[High-concentration fluctuations detected 200 meters ahead.]

[Host is advised to investigate.]

Li Zhengyang stared at the line for two seconds.

The system had never proactively issued a prompt before. That meant something good was hidden ahead—either a high-level Magic Beast or some place where spiritual energy had gathered.

He flicked the blood from the Mountain-Piercing Spear, stepped over the shattered limbs of Red-armored Spiders littering the ground, and headed deeper into the tunnel.

After advancing another two hundred meters, he reached a dead wall.

There was no path ahead. Yet wind was pouring through cracks in the wall.

The crack was extremely well hidden, draped in a thick layer of old spiderwebs. No wonder the two teams that had fallen here before had failed to notice it.

He turned sideways and squeezed his way in.

The rock walls were icy cold, and the deeper he went, the stronger the spiritual energy fluctuations became.

After walking roughly thirty meters, his view suddenly opened up.

The crack led into a natural cave.

Several ore deposits in the cave ceiling cast the entire space in a cold glow.

The first thing Li Zhengyang saw was something lying in the center.

A corpse.

More precisely, a skeleton.

The bones had already taken on a faint sheen. Judging from the density of the bone matter alone, this person had at least been a Great Martial Master before death.

A huge hole had been blasted through the skeleton's chest. Seven or eight ribs had all snapped, their breaks jagged and uneven.

Some terrifying thing had punched through his heart and lungs in a single blow while he was alive, leaving him no time to react.

A broken Alloy Spear, snapped into two pieces, lay scattered beside the skeleton's left hand. Its right hand was clenched tightly around a yellowed leather booklet.

Li Zhengyang walked over and crouched down.

His gaze settled on the booklet. Four words were written on its cover: Mountain-Splitting Spear Art.

A Lower Profound Grade spear technique.

Martial techniques were divided into four tiers: Heaven, Earth, Profound, and Yellow.

The miscellaneous moves circulating on the market did not even count as Yellow Rank. Other than entering a Martial Arts University or receiving an inheritance from a great family, one had to buy a Cultivation Technique through other means.

A Lower Profound Grade Cultivation Technique would start at three hundred thousand Great Xia yuan if thrown into an auction house. And this was a spear technique, perfectly suited to Li Zhengyang's tastes.

He reached out for the booklet.

The instant his fingers touched the leather page, the system displayed another prompt.

[Fragmentary Cultivation Technique detected: Mountain-Splitting Spear Art (Upper Volume)]

[New system function unlocked: Technique Deduction]

[Description: The host may consume currency or Blood Qi to directly absorb a Cultivation Technique, achieving mastery without cultivation.]

[Required cost: 100,000 Great Xia yuan / 1,000 points of Blood Qi.]

Li Zhengyang's hand froze in midair.

A new function—spend money to directly learn a skill. It spared him years, perhaps even over a decade, of grueling cultivation and brought him straight to mastery in one step.

This deal was absolutely worth it!

A Lower Profound Grade spear technique was worth at least three hundred thousand on the market. Spending one hundred thousand to achieve mastery was a bloody steal.

The only problem was that he had no money in his account right now.

He had just gone all out, and now only had some loose change left in his pocket. No money—but he could use Blood Qi instead. His Blood-Qi Value was currently 7,328. After deducting 1,000 points, he would have 6,328 left. It would not cost him much in terms of cultivation level; at most, his Body-Protecting Astral Energy would be a little thinner.

In exchange, he would gain a mastered practical killing technique. No matter how he calculated it, it was worthwhile.

Confirm absorption.

The numbers on the System Panel flickered, and his Blood Qi dropped.

Then an enormous flood of information poured into his mind.

Opening stance, thrust, horizontal sweep, upward strike, Collapse Formula, Twisting Formula.

Several fundamental power-generation postures, seven sets of killing-move combinations, the force paths of every move, and the circulation routes of Blood Qi all carved themselves into his muscle memory as if with a blade.

Li Zhengyang rose to his feet, gripped the Mountain-Piercing Spear in one hand, and thrust it forward.

It was merely a simple straight stab.

The spear tip tore through the air with a shrill boom.

A blast of force lashed out from the spearhead, gouging a half-inch-deep white mark into the stone wall three meters away.

He had not infused it with any excess Astral Qi. This was purely the combination of muscular force and spear technique.

With this spear art, his practical combat lethality had at least doubled.

Satisfied.

He put away the spear and turned his attention back to the skeleton.

His gaze shifted downward and stopped at the skeleton's right hand, where a dusty gray ring was looped around one finger.

Li Zhengyang did not stand on ceremony. He pulled off the ring, wiped away its dust with his clothes, and found that it was a Space Ring.

It was a low-grade item, with only one or two cubic meters of storage space inside.

But having a Space Ring made things far more convenient. Usually, carrying a huge tactical pack while running missions was extremely troublesome in a fight.

With this thing, the burden issue was solved outright.

He swept the pile of Red-armored Spider legs outside into the ring, and the weight on his back instantly vanished completely.

"Thanks, brother."

Li Zhengyang patted the skeleton on the shoulder and turned to leave the cave.

By the time he crawled out of the abandoned tunnel, the sky was completely dark.

The night wind of North Mountain lashed painfully against his face.

Ordinary mission teams would find somewhere to set up camp as soon as night fell. They would never dare wander around the wilderness recklessly.

Night was the domain of Magic Beasts, and ambushes could come from anywhere.

But Li Zhengyang did not stop.

He had accepted three D-Rank Missions tonight. He had only completed one so far, and the remaining two were both in this area of North Mountain.

Since he was already here, he might as well finish them in one trip.

Over the next two hours, he cleared out two low-level Magic Beast nests nearby.

His methods were clean and swift, and it took little effort.

Then, on his way back, the wind changed direction.

A thick, earthy stench mixed into the air.

Li Zhengyang stopped and looked toward the smell. Behind a massive boulder fifty meters to his front-left, two dark shapes were lying on the ground.

They were built like water buffaloes, their backs covered in hard, uneven lumps like granite.

Rockspine Beasts.

The target of a C-Rank Mission—Third-Rank Magic Beasts.

Their hides were thick and their flesh tough, and their frontal charging force was exceptionally powerful. They were equivalent to human Great Martial Masters; Martial Masters had to take a detour when they encountered one.

But he had just absorbed the Mountain-Splitting Spear Art. Against these things, he really wanted to test its quality.

Li Zhengyang lowered his body, circled to the downwind side, and used a pile of broken rocks for cover as he crept to within ten meters of the Rockspine Beasts.

The two beasts were chewing on the corpse of some unknown animal. Their loud chewing covered all movement around them.

Blood Qi flowed through his meridians and into the spear shaft, coating the metal surface with a layer of Astral Qi.

Opening stance, Collapse Formula.

His body crossed ten meters in an instant.

The Rockspine Beast in front heard the wind and had just raised its head when the spear tip was already upon it.

The spearhead drove in through its lower jaw.

Power erupted along the spear shaft, directly twisting its skull to pieces.

There was no scream. The Third-Rank Magic Beast kicked all four legs once and crashed to the ground.

The second one reacted. Its enormous body twisted sharply, lowered its head, raised its back armor, and charged at Li Zhengyang with astonishing speed.

Li Zhengyang did not retreat. He yanked back the spear, turned with the force of pulling it free, and swept it horizontally in one fluid motion.

Twisting Formula.

The spear shaft smashed into the Rockspine Beast's front leg joint, and Astral Qi exploded.

The impact of over a thousand pounds snapped its foreleg outright. The Rockspine Beast lost its balance, and its massive body pitched forward, its chin slamming heavily into a rock.

Before it could climb back up, the spear came down from above and nailed it dead to the ground.

Two Third-Rank Magic Beasts, one after the other, in under ten seconds.

With a Profound Grade spear technique to support him, killing monsters above his rank was no longer just a dream.

Li Zhengyang pulled out his Short Blade and skillfully cut off their tail spikes, then pried open the heads of both Magic Beasts.

His luck was not bad. He dug out two Beast Cores.

After wiping off the blood, he tossed them into the ring.

That took care of everything.

He found a rock to sit on and pulled out his phone.

The three D-Rank Missions paid one hundred fifty thousand for the Red-armored Spiders, while the other two paid fifty thousand each, totaling two hundred fifty thousand.

The standing bounty for Rockspine Beasts was thirty thousand per beast, sixty thousand for two.

That made three hundred ten thousand.

He also had three Third-Rank Beast Cores in his pocket. He had gotten lucky with one from the Red-armored Spiders, plus the two from just now. At market price, Third-Rank Beast Cores conservatively started at forty thousand.

Three came to one hundred twenty thousand.

Three hundred ten thousand plus one hundred twenty thousand.

Four hundred thirty thousand.

The money had come too quickly—so quickly that he felt a little unaccustomed to it.

A week ago, he had still been worrying about his daily living expenses. Now, he had earned over four hundred thousand in a single night.

He patted his pocket, rose to his feet, and headed down the mountain.

Fortunately, the hall of the East City Martial Artists' Office operated twenty-four hours a day.

At the front desk, Liu Ting was propping up her cheek and dozing off, her head bobbing again and again.

A pile of items clattered onto the counter, startling her so badly that she shot straight up.

"Who?!"

Liu Ting rubbed her eyes.

A person stood before her, dressed in a black T-shirt with a spear on his back and the smell of blood clinging to him.

Li Zhengyang.

"Three D-Rank Missions, plus the bounty for two Rockspine Beasts. The materials are all here. Settle the bill."

Liu Ting blanked out for two seconds, then lowered her head to look over the counter.

Red-armored Spider leg shells, Sand-Tail Scorpion pincers, Iron-Tooth Rat tails—and beside them, two tails with bony barbs.

They were the tail spikes of Rockspine Beasts, the targets of a C-Rank Mission.

When Liu Ting looked back at Li Zhengyang, the look in her eyes had completely changed.

A Martial Master, alone, had swept through all the low- and mid-level Magic Beasts in the North Mountain area in a single night.

The hell—had he gone there to stock up on goods?

"Check it." Li Zhengyang tapped the counter.

Liu Ting hurriedly began counting, scanning, and entering everything into the system.

"No problem. Three missions, three hundred ten thousand total."

"Transfer it."

His phone vibrated. Three hundred ten thousand arrived in his account.

The moment the money came in, Li Zhengyang immediately began figuring out how to spend it.

As for those three Beast Cores.

Selling them through the office's official channels would not be worthwhile.

The office took a commission, suppressed the price, and made the process troublesome. If he wanted to sell them for a good price, he needed to find a store specializing in Spirit Material Acquisition.

He walked out of the hall, stood on the steps, and pulled out his phone. He entered "Spirit Material Acquisition" into the search bar.

A row of ads popped up on the page. He quickly scrolled down, skipped past those flashy chain stores, and fixed his eyes on an inconspicuous listing.

[Myriad Treasures Pavilion]

[Address: No. 14, Old Street, West City.]

[Purchase Rules: Beast Cores and Spirit Materials of all grades accepted. Source not questioned, cash settlement. The larger the quantity, the better the price.]

"Source not questioned, cash settlement." Those eight words hit exactly where it counted.