The Chen Martial Arts Academy stood on the outskirts of the commandery, far quieter than the brightly lit center of Jinning Commandery.
Ever since a mentally ill man had killed sixteen residents overnight nearby a few months ago, few people had remained in this residential area.
The scavenging old man tightened his foul-smelling overcoat, glanced sideways at the middle-aged man in gray robes standing with his hands behind his back, and quickened his pace.
Rip.
Blood stained the coat. The old man fell to the ground with a bewildered expression and died.
"We can't let you see what happens next." Director Xu leisurely wiped the blood from his right hand with a silk handkerchief, then kicked the corpse into the nearby grass.
"Director Xu, slaughtering innocent civilians is not something a martial arts academy director should do. If the Martial Pavilion finds out, Zhicheng Martial Arts Academy will fall apart at once." Chen Xu placed the bag containing the brocade box in the grass as a faint bronze sheen spread across his palms.
"As long as the Martial Pavilion doesn't find out, it'll be fine, won't it?" Xu Lie no longer wore the gentle smile he had shown during their daytime meeting at the Martial Pavilion. Undisguised killing intent surged straight at Chen Xu.
His thumbs bent outward, his other four fingers pressed together, and his second and third knuckles curled tightly.
His bent fingers stretched forcefully toward the backs of his hands, his palms turned back, and his hands moved one above the other like a goshawk circling through the sky.
"Director Chen, I specifically warned you not to walk at night!"
The moment the word "night" left his mouth, he sprang forward several steps and clawed at Chen Xu.
The goshawk bore down on him, carrying the stench of blood and a vicious gale.
Out of nowhere, a tiger's roar erupted. Chen Xu forcibly broke through the opponent's near-tangible pressure.
His Eagle Claw Technique is no weaker than my Tiger Roar Fist! Chen Xu drew in a slight breath, activating the Bronze Body Technique and Tiger Howl Fist simultaneously as he lunged like a starving tiger pouncing on prey.
Their clothes burst apart, exposing the lean, powerful upper bodies of both men.
As Chen Xu looked at the torn flesh on his arm, he felt no fear. Instead, the violent instincts hidden within him stirred eagerly.
Perhaps he had been born to walk the path of Martial Dao.
Judging by the data, his Eagle Claw Technique is at least at the sixth level, possibly even the seventh.
Without question, he was the strongest opponent Chen Xu had encountered since crossing into this world.
That previous group had not even been worthy of carrying his shoes.
"You mastered the Bronze Body Technique in such a short time?" Director Xu's killing intent boiled even fiercer. With such a gifted enemy before him, he would never feel at ease until he killed him.
"But didn't your master tell you that only by devoting yourself to a single path can you possibly reach the pinnacle?"
Director Xu attacked again, dozens of claw shadows flashing through the air.
His academy possessed three In-Ranked Martial Arts, but over forty-five years, he had devoted all his energy to the Great Strength Eagle Claw Technique. That was how he had earned the illustrious title of Jinning Eagle King.
His toes scraped across the yellow dirt road, kicking up a cloud of gravel and sand.
"You're even using such underhanded tricks. I'm ashamed to associate with you!" His claw force erupted, and the rushing air swept up blinding sand and dust.
Seizing the opportunity to evade the fatal claw strike, Chen Xu raised both fists and drove them straight forward.
What did a little martial virtue matter if it meant staying alive?
Two consecutive punches drove Director Xu back again and again.
"Scum of the Martial Dao World, today I'll rid the people of evil!" Forcibly suppressing his surging blood and qi, Director Xu left several-inch-long claw marks across Chen Xu's chest.
The pain from the wounds did nothing to curb Chen Xu's offensive. It only made him fight more wildly.
Before reaching the Martial Form realm, everyone was still made of flesh and blood. Relying on his Bronze Statue Art, Chen Xu stopped defending everywhere except his vital spots and traded injury for injury with Director Xu.
"Damn it. If this continues, I won't be able to make use of my advantage at all." Director Xu had not cultivated any body-tempering art. In a head-on clash, he held no advantage whatsoever and could even easily fall into a disadvantage.
Force him back, then regroup. Director Xu immediately made the decision best suited to his fighting style.
His waist exerted force, channeling it through both shoulders and into his ten fingers.
Eagle Strikes the Sky!
Chen Xu had no time to withdraw his punch—or rather, he had no intention of doing so.
He shifted slightly, preventing the attack from hitting his heart.
Ten fingers like iron hooks pierced Chen Xu's chest. Director Xu was about to exert force and completely rip apart the man before him.
"Hm?" Director Xu's pupils contracted slightly. A trace of bronze glimmered amid the bloody, mangled flesh of Chen Xu's chest. If not for his sharp eyes, he would never have noticed it.
He swiftly tried to pull his fingers out, but the Bronze Body Technique and Chen Xu's muscles clamped them firmly within his chest.
"I've got you locked down." Chen Xu grinned savagely. In Director Xu's eyes, it was no different from the smile of a devil.
A punch landed on Director Xu's head, leaving him dizzy. Before he could react, fists rained down upon him.
Ora ora ora ora ora ora!
Only when he felt the ten fingers embedded in his chest stop struggling did Chen Xu finally loosen his blood-covered fists.
He forcibly pulled the ten fingers from his own chest, then examined Director Xu, whose original appearance was no longer recognizable.
He lay sprawled across the yellow dirt road, no longer breathing.
Xu Lie, the Eagle King whose name shook Jinning, died without a sound, forever falling in this secluded place.
After looting Xu Lie's corpse, Chen Xu took a deep breath and dragged him together with the innocent old scavenger.
If he did not want to be wanted by the Dayuan Martial Pavilion, he had to dispose of these two corpses that could expose him.
Even if he had technically acted in self-defense, considering Deputy Pavilion Master Xu at the Martial Pavilion, Chen Xu would never entrust his life to someone else's character.
After taking the two corpses to an even more desolate place, Chen Xu lit a great fire.
Under the firelight, everything turned to ash along with the corpses, their ashes scattering away on the wind.
He toyed with several strings of keys taken from Director Xu's corpse and silently watched the flickering flames. Director Xu was the first person Chen Xu had personally killed since arriving in this world.
The sounds of his fists striking flesh still echoed in his mind.
It was not that he grieved for Director Xu, who had wanted to kill him. He merely wanted to remember this day: without strength, he could be killed without reason just like that old scavenger.
If he lacked strength in a Martial Dao battle or underestimated his enemy, then Director Xu's fate today would be his own tomorrow.
Director Xu had taught him with his life that he must never underestimate anyone. If Director Xu had fully utilized the Wandering Battle Eagle Claw Technique, Chen Xu might have been forced to accumulate injuries bit by bit until he could no longer endure them.
Unfortunately, he had underestimated Chen Xu. He had chosen to clash head-on from the very beginning, and in the end, he had been forcibly traded to death through this injury-for-injury fighting style.
The blood dripping from Chen Xu's chest gradually lessened. Once he confirmed that nothing remained apart from a patch of charred black marks, he took the brocade box and returned to the martial arts academy.
Once his injuries had mostly recovered and no longer affected his fighting, he would go claim Zhicheng Martial Arts Academy's resources. Originally, he had planned to deal with the weaker academies first.
But plans could not keep up with change. Director Xu had been so confident in his strength that he came to block the road and challenge him alone, only to end up without even a corpse left behind.
His 1.5 constitution gave him far greater recovery abilities than ordinary people. At most, it would take a few hours for him to recover part of his strength, after which he could take the resources Zhicheng Martial Arts Academy had accumulated over so many years.
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