King of All Weapons

Bang!

After the deafening blast,

a fist imprint an inch deep had appeared plainly on the stone disk.

"Good! Zhou lad, from what I know, only the prodigies of the Imperial City can stand shoulder to shoulder with your talent."

From the voice alone, Zhou Ming knew that Escort Leader Wang had arrived.

Escort Leader Wang brushed past Zhou Ming and came before the stone disk, carefully examining the fist imprint upon it.

He pressed the index and middle fingers of his right hand together, forming a finger sword, and tapped the stone disk.

In an instant, the entire stone disk shattered into chunks.

"Unbelievable, Zhou lad. I take back what I just said. From what I know, with a mortal body controlling force, even the Imperial City's prodigies pale slightly beside your talent."

Zhou Ming rubbed his forehead helplessly. "Uncle Wang, stop praising me. It's pretty awkward. If you have something to say, say it. Otherwise, don't interrupt my training."

Though his tone was somewhat unfriendly, he truly could not be blamed.

For the past month and a half,

Wang Quan had come every day to watch him train.

Watching was one thing, but he also kept praising him.

At first, Zhou Ming had been rather pleased with himself. After all, Wang Quan was an elder with broad experience and knowledge.

At first, Wang Quan compared him to martial arts geniuses from various provinces. In recent days, he had even compared him to the Imperial City's prodigies.

The more Wang Quan praised him, the more Zhou Ming felt something was off.

So he asked how many provinces of the Yan Kingdom Wang Quan had visited, and how many times he had gone to the Imperial City.

If he had not asked, he would not have known. Once he asked, he was thoroughly startled.

Wang Quan was thirty-nine this year and had never even left Jinzhou, much less visited another province.

Not to mention the Imperial City.

As for geniuses from other places, he had only read about them in martial artists' bulletins from various regions while escorting goods, or heard about them from storytellers.

When Zhou Ming heard this half a month ago, the corner of his mouth had twitched for an entire day.

In the end, with no other choice, he could only visit the escort agency's clinic and have the physician insert two silver needles before the twitching finally stopped.

Wang Quan cleared his throat. "In just over a month, you've already trained the Dragon Soaring Stance to the ninth level of perfection. It's simply inconceivable! But training requires a balance between movement and stillness. I've accepted a silver escort job. Want to come with me?"

Zhou Ming had just wanted to refuse when his thoughts shifted.

Since he was already here, it would be good to experience it.

Roaming the martial world, righting wrongs, righteous heroes of the greenwood—it sounded thrilling just thinking about it.

The more he thought about it, the more excited Zhou Ming became. He immediately asked, "When do we leave?"

"Early tomorrow morning."

"Fine. I'll go prepare right away."

Watching the wildly excited Zhou Ming sprint away, Wang Quan was utterly baffled and thought it strange.

What was Zhou lad so excited about? Before this, he had not even been willing to go out for a walk.

Why had he suddenly changed his tune?

The sky gradually darkened, and candlelight flickered within the room.

Bare-chested, Zhou Ming lowered his head slightly and looked at the cluster of Blood Qi at the center of his chest.

Becoming a Martial Artist was simple to say, yet difficult to say.

There were only two steps.

First, one had to train Stance Training to perfection. Strength was merely an added benefit of stance training; its true purpose was to transform training into Blood Qi.

Stance training was the process of accumulating Blood Qi.

The second step was to control the Blood Qi, break the whole into scattered parts, and spread it throughout the body, reaching a state where it nourished the flesh in unison.

This step depended on one's control over Blood Qi.

Being able to manipulate Blood Qi did not mean one could control it perfectly. This step could only be achieved through diligent practice.

A month ago, he had already reached the ninth level of perfection in the Dragon Soaring Stance.

His continued polishing of the stance over the past half month had all been for this final step: perfect control over his Blood Qi.

Zhou Ming murmured, "It's time to break through!"

As he circulated his Blood Qi, half the Blood Qi in his chest instantly spread through half his body.

With his spine as the dividing line, one half became a little yellow person, and the other half a little red person.

Three seconds later, the corner of Zhou Ming's mouth twitched slightly.

He cursed inwardly, No, no. I was only thinking about doing half of it.

In an instant, the remaining half-cluster of Blood Qi in his chest rapidly covered the little yellow person.

Then the Blood Qi he had accumulated for so long exploded within his body, nourishing the land like spring rain, washing over his entire body before flowing into his limbs and bones.

At that moment, he could clearly feel his flesh being strengthened beneath the cleansing of Blood Qi.

The Blood Qi that flowed throughout his body was refined as well. Its quantity decreased, but its quality underwent a tremendous leap.

Originally, fifty percent of his Blood Qi could shatter a stone disk. Now, fifty percent of his Blood Qi could blast a stone disk into powder.

Zhou Ming clenched his right fist and tested it slightly. He definitely had a thousand pounds of force now, though he would need an actual test to determine the exact amount.

The abilities of a Ninth-Rank Martial Artist certainly did not stop at this.

Zhou Ming adjusted his breathing slightly.

As he inhaled and exhaled, a scorching aura enveloped his entire body, like the blazing sun shining down.

With a flick of his right wrist, a blood-red spear appeared in his hand.

Blood Qi Manifestation!

Zhou Ming rose and swung the spear twice. His face was flushed red, and he was wildly excited.

After playing with the spear for a while, his pupils suddenly contracted.

A spear?

The king of all weapons!

Wasn't his AK-47 also a gun?

In the blink of an eye, a blood-red AK-47 appeared in Zhou Ming's hands.

Zhou Ming pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened.

Looking at the AK in his hands, Zhou Ming muttered, "All show and no substance?"

Then, based on information he had seen in his mind, he began making adjustments.

"Mm, first there needs to be a barrel."

"And a gas block and gas tube."

"That's right. Next is the long-stroke piston. The piston rod has to connect with the bolt carrier."

"Gas propulsion? That's easy to solve. I'll use a thread of Blood Qi to ignite it."

"Heh, workable. As for the rotating bolt, it isn't needed. There's no need to eject casings anyway."

"The last step is the recoil spring assembly."

Construction complete!

Next came the magazine. He would make a standard detachable curved thirty-round magazine.

Its power would depend on how much Blood Qi was infused into each Blood Qi bullet.

"Yo-ho-ho-ho!"

Looking at the perfectly replicated AK, which did not even need to eject casings, Zhou Ming let out a string of strange cries.

After coming back to his senses,

Zhou Ming immediately covered his mouth with one hand and looked around in every direction.

After a long while,

Zhou Ming let out a breath of relief. Fortunately, he had a detached house, and no one was peeping.

Looking at the king of all weapons on the table, he planted his hands on his hips and silently laughed toward the sky.

"Eh?"

Under the faint candlelight, Zhou Ming raised his head and blinked at the ceiling.

From a lifted roof tile, a pair of bright eyes blinked back at him.

As though answering him.

In an instant, Zhou Ming's face turned scarlet. He roared, "Which grandson is spying on your grandpa? Take a shot from me!"

Zhou Ming grabbed the AK he had just constructed from the table and swept it toward the roof.

Da, da, da, da, da...

In an instant, the entire roof fell apart, tiles spraying in every direction and crumbling into dust.

The roof beams were directly severed by the Blood Qi bullets, and wood chips flew everywhere.

Boom!

After the thunderous crash, the roof collapsed and dust burst outward.

Zhou Ming leaped out from the dust-filled room and looked toward the shadow that had already vaulted over the outer wall of the Dragon Soaring Escort Agency and was suspended in midair.

Zhou Ming instantly removed the magazine, adjusted his breathing, mobilized fifty percent of his Blood Qi, condensed it into bullets, and loaded them into the magazine.

Loading, aiming, and pulling the trigger flowed together in one smooth motion.

A streak of blood-red light tore across the sky, catching up to the shadow in an instant and piercing straight through it.

The commotion was so great that every Martial Artist in the escort agency was alerted.

The first to arrive was Wu Escort Leader, one of the only two Seventh-Rank Martial Artists in the entire escort agency.

The instant he emerged was precisely the moment Zhou Ming pulled the trigger, and he happened to witness that absurdly fast attack.

His pupils narrowed slightly. Without another thought, he chased directly after the shadow.

As Zhou Ming dropped from the air, he gasped fiercely, and the AK in his hand could no longer be maintained.

It dispersed directly.

Several escort leaders and escorts leaped onto the edges of the roofs, staring at the pale-faced Zhou Ming, who was panting heavily amid the ruined house.

A trace of astonishment appeared in each of their eyes.

Only ten breaths had passed from the moment they heard Zhou Ming's roar to the moment they arrived.

Even a Ninth-Rank Martial Artist at perfection would find it difficult to cause such extensive destruction.

A thousand pounds of force could smash roof beams and cause a roof to collapse, but that would only be localized damage.

Yet now, the beams had shattered in many places, and some of the tiles had even been reduced to powder.

Unless he had learned martial techniques, and his realm was not low,

a Ninth-Rank Martial Artist could never cause such widespread destruction within ten breaths.

After a moment, Zhou Ming's breathing steadied. He looked up at Escort Leader Wang, standing at the highest point, and grinned. "Uncle Wang, I don't have to compensate for this house, right?"