Refining Liquid

Hearing Chang Wei invoke the director of Zhicheng Martial Arts Academy, Chen Xu bent down and pinched the little finger of Chang Wei's left hand.

With a crack, Chang Wei's scream rang out from the courtyard, only to be forcibly swallowed back down.

"Director Chen, what do you mean by this?" The pain of ten fingers connected to the heart made cold sweat stream down Chang Wei's face.

"I'm not discussing this with you anymore. I'm telling you: whether you want to give me the Bronze Body Technique or not, you're giving it to me!"

What went around came around without the slightest error. Chen Xu returned Chang Wei's words from a few minutes ago to him word for word.

"Director Xu ranked fifth among the martial hall directors at last year's Jinning Commandery Martial Hall Exchange Tournament. Director Chen, you'd better think this through." Thinking Chen Xu had spent all year inside the martial hall and did not understand how formidable their director was, Chang Wei emphasized it again.

Chen Xu said nothing more and raised his hand as if to strike.

Seeing this, Chang Wei hurriedly begged loudly, "Don't hit me! I'll talk, I'll talk, all right?"

Handing over the Bronze Body Technique would at most mean returning to be punished and starting over as the lowest-ranking instructor. If he kept acting tough here, he might never get another chance to be an instructor again.

Besides, the Bronze Body Technique required a matching medicinal bath for cultivation. Without the medicinal bath, relying solely on external training and beatings, he might not even touch the threshold after ten years.

Though this Director Chen was not that old, he was truly ruthless when he struck.

After Chang Wei recited the cultivation chant for the Bronze Body Technique, Chen Xu checked the [Tianwu] panel.

Host: Chen Xu

Strength: 1.8

Constitution: 1.3

Agility: 0.7

Spiritual Energy: 0.2

Martial Path: None

Martial Arts: Chen-Style Tiger Roar Fist (Fifth Layer), Bronze Body Technique (Not Yet Initiated)

Special Effect: Tiger Might Level 1

His strength was now incomparable to before. Breaking through to the fifth layer of the Tiger Howl Fist had not only moderately increased his strength and constitution, but also boosted his agility.

Chen Xu had already experienced the newly added Tiger Might special effect when he threw that punch earlier. His attacks came with sound effects and an intimidating effect.

With [Tianwu], the fastest shortcut for him to gain a foothold in this new world was undoubtedly through martial arts. No matter how many restrictions a technique had, as long as Tianwu dared to record it, he dared to practice it.

Chen Xu accepted the Abyss Coins in the sling bag without hesitation. Just as he was about to toss the bag back, he felt a small pouch hidden deep inside.

He unzipped the pouch and took out a transparent miniature sealed bottle filled with a crystalline liquid.

The moment Chang Wei saw the bottle, he visibly trembled.

Chen Xu raised an eyebrow. The memories of his predecessor contained no information about it, but judging from Chang Wei's reaction, it seemed quite valuable.

Before Chen Xu could ask, Chang Wei could not help saying, "Director Chen, this is Refining Liquid issued by the Martial Pavilion to martial halls. If you consume it and the Martial Pavilion finds out..."

Chen Xu sneered. Did Chang Wei really take him for some sheltered child wholly devoted to martial arts and ignorant of worldly affairs?

As long as things did not get too big, the Martial Pavilion did not care about private fights between martial halls in the city. Even annexations were ignored as long as no one died—or rather, as long as they did not discover that someone had died.

He slipped the miniature sealed bottle into his pocket, then casually tossed the sling bag onto Chang Wei. "Get lost. Bring ten thousand Abyss Coins in repair fees within three days. If you want to buy the martial hall, the price is fixed: two million."

Chang Wei watched helplessly as Chen Xu put away his Refining Liquid, and he wanted nothing more than to slap himself.

Why had he not left the Refining Liquid he had received at home before coming here?

You looked down on him and got burned. You fucking deserved it!

This trip had truly taught him what it meant to lose the wife and the army.

After sulking for a while, he silently picked up the sling bag and limped over to push open the iron gate.

Only after walking nearly a hundred meters away from Chen Martial Arts Academy did he glare resentfully back at the large iron gate. He had come alone today. A wise man knew when to yield. Next time, the entire Zhicheng Martial Arts Academy would be coming.

Director Xu had long had his eye on this plot of land. When they met again, he would see whether this brat could still be as arrogant as he was today.

Returning to his bedroom, Chen Xu approached the mess-covered desk and operated one of the martial hall's most valuable possessions: an old desktop computer.

It had been a birthday gift from the old director on his predecessor's fifteenth birthday.

The startup sound was different, and the startup screen was different. Only the tortoise-slow internet speed gave Chen Xu a faint sense of familiar nostalgia.

"Refining Liquid." Chen Xu awkwardly typed in the characters. The written language was completely different, so he could only fumble through it using his predecessor's occasional memories of using a computer.

"What is Refining Liquid?"

"Can Refining Liquid be released into the wild?"

"Can applying Refining Liquid to a little ** improve efficiency?"

"Is Refining Liquid something you use in the morning, lie down at noon, and walk at night?"

Chen Xu's face darkened. What the hell were these questions? It seemed that no matter the world, the idiotic nature of internet users could not be changed.

After learning how to use Refining Liquid, Chen Xu took the sealed bottle from his pocket.

There were only about ten grams inside, but this was a precious item Chang Wei could receive only once every two months. It provided considerable benefits to the cultivation of any martial art.

Taken orally, it was ten percent more effective than external application. However, only those whose ranked martial arts had reached Minor Accomplishment or above could use it. Otherwise, their bodies would be unable to endure it; at best, they would be paralyzed, and at worst, they would die on the spot.

Chen Xu sat cross-legged on the bed. According to the Martial Pavilion's official statement online, he had just entered the Minor Accomplishment level and qualified to take Refining Liquid orally.

He was unsure whether Refining Liquid could be converted into Spiritual Energy, so this was the perfect chance to test it.

He opened the panel and stared without blinking at the Spiritual Energy value after taking the Refining Liquid.

Less than five seconds after it entered his body, his Spiritual Energy rose from 0.2 to 0.3, then continued increasing.

After his Spiritual Energy reached 1.2, Chen Xu waited a full minute. The value stopped changing. Clearly, the Refining Liquid had been completely converted into Spiritual Energy.

One gram of Refining Liquid was roughly equal to 0.1 Spiritual Energy? Chen Xu pondered. This was good news. It meant his Spiritual Energy now had a source, and he could increase it through other means.

One point of Spiritual Energy really can't raise the Tiger Howl Fist anymore? After a brief moment of thought, Chen Xu invested the Spiritual Energy into the Bronze Body Technique and brought it to the entry level.

Compared with improving attack power, Chen Xu felt that defense was equally important.

If you can't hurt me but my blows hurt like hell, was there anything more satisfying than that?

Unlike the Tiger Howl Fist, the first layer of the Bronze Body Technique gave Chen Xu 0.2 Constitution and 0.1 Strength.

Compared with his Strength and Constitution, which had reached 1.9 and 1.5 respectively, his 0.7 Agility was clearly lagging behind. Chen Xu felt it was time to find a movement technique to practice.

No matter how high his attack power was, he still had to be able to hit someone; no matter how strong his defense was, he could not be a living target.

Of course, before looking for a movement technique, Chen Xu planned to visit the Martial Pavilion. Logically speaking, the old director should have had Refining Liquid, yet his predecessor's memories contained nothing like it among the inherited belongings. He had never even seen it. If there was nothing suspicious about that, Chen Xu would not believe it no matter what.

If he found out that someone had dared to swallow something that should have belonged to him, Chen Xu's newly improved Bronze Body Technique was just waiting for a chance to test itself.

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