The long night stretched on. Sitting around waiting for his injuries to heal was unbearably dull, so Chen Xu decided to open the remaining four brocade boxes.
He took out all the items from the brocade boxes and placed them on the table one by one.
To make sure Chen Xu would know what the items were for, Master Cheng had even thoughtfully prepared little notes explaining their uses.
"A mobile phone, healing powder supposedly ground from all kinds of medicinal herbs, wrapped in a silk scarf; a lucky charm of unknown material, and the essentials of the Great Stone-Stele Smash." Comparing them against the notes, Chen Xu picked up the small porcelain bottle containing the healing powder.
After removing the stopper, he did not smell even a trace of the medicinal fragrance he had expected. Instead, an indescribably strange odor hit him.
In any case, besides healing injuries, it also came with the effect of refreshing the mind.
After applying the powder to the bloody hole in his chest, Chen Xu felt the wound go slightly numb, and the pain immediately eased considerably.
"Tianwu," he silently called out in his heart.
Host: Chen Xu Strength: 1.9 (1.2) Constitution: 1.5 (1.0) Agility: 0.7 (0.5) Psychic Energy: 0.2 Martial Path: None Martial Arts: Chen-Style Tiger Roar Fist (Fifth Layer), Bronze Body Technique (First Layer), Great Stone-Stele Smash (Not Yet Initiated) Special Effect: Tiger Might Level One
After reading through the essentials of the Great Stone-Stele Smash, the martial art called Great Stone-Stele Smash had already appeared on the panel. As long as he had sufficient Psychic Energy, he could learn it immediately.
The newly added attributes in parentheses were undoubtedly his current condition. Compared with his peak, his strength had fallen by far more than a little.
Unwrapping the silk scarf, Chen Xu placed the lucky charm, which felt rather rough to the touch, in his palm. His brows rose slightly.
The Psychic Energy on the panel began to increase slowly and steadily by fractions of a point.
Tiny yet inexplicable currents of warmth flowed from the lucky charm into Chen Xu's body.
In just a few minutes, his Psychic Energy had reached 3.56. Immediately afterward, its rate of increase gradually began to slow.
Without hesitation, Chen Xu swiftly focused his gaze on the Tiger Howl Fist. Two points of Psychic Energy vanished, and the Tiger Howl Fist flickered before changing to the Sixth Layer.
From Director Xu, he had already seen the power of focusing on a single martial path.
An expert with Tiger Howl Fist at the Tenth Layer would absolutely crush a Martial Artist with Tiger Howl Fist at the Fifth Layer plus Bronze Body Technique at the Fifth Layer.
He would first raise one martial path to its peak. Once he had enough power to protect himself, he could slowly improve his other martial paths.
Host: Chen Xu Strength: 2.3 (1.6) Constitution: 1.8 (1.3) Agility: 0.8 (0.6) Psychic Energy: 1.56 Martial Path: None Martial Arts: Chen-Style Tiger Roar Fist (Sixth Layer), Bronze Body Technique (First Layer), Great Stone-Stele Smash (Not Yet Initiated) Special Effect: Tiger Might Level Two
It consumed more Psychic Energy, but the efficiency of the strength increase was clearly higher than in the first five layers.
As his strength increased, Chen Xu felt that the extent of his injury recovery was also improving indirectly. The portion of his combat strength that he had estimated would take several hours to recover would now take at most one hour.
"I'll find a chance to ask Master Cheng where he bought this lucky charm." Chen Xu carefully stroked the patterns on the talisman. They might have something to do with a certain kind of wood, but he could not determine anything deeper just by feeling it.
At present, he had gained another method of acquiring Psychic Energy.
The first method was the medicinal concoction his predecessor had cobbled together blindly. The second, Refining Liquid, was the most stable and least risky source. The last was this talisman of unknown material.
For Chen Xu, the more ways he had to acquire Psychic Energy, the better, because more Psychic Energy meant his strength would rise faster.
He hung the talisman around his neck, letting it rest against his skin.
He had already tested it. As long as any part of his body touched an item that supplied Psychic Energy, he could absorb it.
Glancing at the clock hanging on the wall, he saw that it was already the dead of night.
The wound in his chest no longer hurt. Chen Xu flexed and stretched his body nimbly a few times, then strode out of the Chen Martial Arts Academy.
Apart from the flickering neon lights, Jinning Commandery in the early morning seemed quite tranquil.
After all, this was not one of Great Abyss's developed regions. It was equivalent to a fourth- or fifth-tier city from his previous life, still far from deserving the title of a city that never slept.
Pedestrians were few and far between on the empty streets. Occasionally, a few shabbily dressed young women passed by and tried to have a deeper exchange with Chen Xu, only to be sternly rebuffed by him.
After walking briskly for dozens of minutes, Chen Xu spotted the Zhicheng Martial Arts Academy in the distance, at least ten times the size of the Chen Martial Arts Academy.
The five-story building looked rather pocket-sized beside the surrounding office buildings that rose dozens of stories at every turn.
The main entrance was closed, while the security guard lay in the security booth, yawning endlessly.
Chen Xu circled around half the building and stopped at the rear iron gate.
Surveillance cameras were high-end products in this world. Zhicheng Martial Arts Academy clearly did not want to waste extra money on them.
Taking out the dozens of keyrings he had stripped from Director Xu, he tried them one by one.
While circling the building, he had seen only faint light coming from the fourth floor. There was no need to worry about the night staff inside the academy hearing any noise.
Besides, so what if they heard? Chen Xu would be more than happy to have someone familiar with Zhicheng Martial Arts Academy lead the way for him.
Click.
Twisting the key, Chen Xu gently pushed open the iron gate.
Searching aimlessly through the lobby for the warehouse where Zhicheng Martial Arts Academy stored its resources would be terribly inefficient. Chen Xu sighed inwardly and stepped onto the stairs leading to the fourth floor.
Chang Wei lit a cigarette, took several practiced drags, and his eyes were full of desolation.
Once upon a time, he had never smoked inferior cigarettes that cost less than fifty Great Abyss coins. Now, when his craving hit, he could not bear to buy cigarettes that cost more than fifty.
There was no helping it. Now that he had a family, he could no longer spend as freely as he had before.
The treatment of junior coaches and senior coaches differed enormously. He had struggled for nearly twenty years to climb to that position, only to be beaten back to square one overnight.
His status in Zhicheng Martial Arts Academy had also plunged like a thousand-foot waterfall. The deputy director candidates who had never gotten along with him had even kicked him when he was down, wishing they could use this chance to kick him out of Zhicheng Martial Arts Academy.
"It's probably been fifteen years since I last worked a night shift. Experiencing that old feeling again isn't so bad." Chang Wei wore a bitter expression as he stubbed out his cigarette.
"I'm not used to it. This cigarette smoke is a bit too harsh."
Just as he was sighing and lamenting, a young man's clear voice came from behind him. "Well, well, if it isn't Coach Chang Wei. How did you end up in such a state?"
"Who could say otherwise? If it weren't for that Chen..." Chang Wei failed to react for a moment and followed the thread of the conversation.
"Chen... Chen..." Cold sweat slid down Chang Wei's cheek. He felt that this voice sounded familiar, as though he had heard it somewhere before.
"Chen what? Go on, say it." Chen Xu lowered his voice with wicked amusement.
Turning his head around mechanically, Chang Wei forced out a smile uglier than a grimace. "Director Chen, what are you doing here?"
In those few short seconds, Chang Wei had already thought of all sorts of possible outcomes. For example, Chen Xu had specifically found out that he was on night duty because of what had happened during the day and had come to take his life.
He had once bragged to the other coaches that if he encountered such a situation, he could take on however many came at him.
Now that it had truly happened, Chang Wei's face turned deathly pale, and his hands and feet went icy cold.
Chen Xu pinched his nose with a disgusted expression and pointed at Chang Wei's dampened trousers.
"Are you so excited to see me that you pissed yourself?"
When everyone encounters advertisements like "Are you a True Person?", there is no need to pay attention to them. Just close them; do not scan any codes or send text messages!
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