Ambush Outside School, Shattering Bones Shows Its Might

Morning sunlight streamed into the room through the shattered window.

Jiang Yuan sat up from the hard plank bed and stretched his limbs.

Last night's Thunderclap Vibration had made his meridians even more unobstructed. The circulation speed of his Nine Yang Divine Skill's inner force was a full thirty percent faster than before.

He was quite satisfied with that sense of overflowing power.

A rhythmic knock shattered the tranquility of the Old City District.

"Hello, you have an urgent local delivery. Please sign for it," a sweet female voice called from outside.

Jiang Yuan walked to the door and looked outside through the peephole.

Three young women in different uniforms stood in the hallway.

One wore the uniform of a well-known courier company, with an extremely low neckline. Another wore a nurse's outfit and carried a medical case. The last wore a JK uniform, her skirt absurdly short.

All three women were exceptionally beautiful, and a peculiar fragrance wafted from their bodies.

This scent could numb a martial artist's nerves, causing them to lower their guard without realizing it.

Jiang Yuan sneered.

After watching action movies for half the night, his willpower had long been tempered into something as solid as stone. This level of seduction had no effect on him whatsoever.

He directly unlocked the door and pulled it open.

The instant the door opened, all three women moved at once.

The courier pulled a military dagger coated in deadly poison from her package and thrust it straight at Jiang Yuan's throat.

The woman dressed as a nurse swiftly opened her medical case. Dozens of hair-thin needles poured out like a storm, sealing off every avenue of escape.

The girl in the JK uniform performed a sliding tackle, her long leg sweeping toward Jiang Yuan's lower body like a steel whip as a sharp refined-steel blade sprang from the tip of her shoe.

Jiang Yuan remained expressionless as Nine Yang Inner Force instantly flooded his entire body.

Baxia · Stone-Metal Body was pushed to its limit, and a heavy dark-golden sheen emerged across his skin.

Rather than retreating, he charged directly into their attacks.

The military dagger stabbed viciously into Jiang Yuan's throat with a crisp metallic clang. Its refined-steel tip snapped clean off.

The rain of needles struck his body, yet failed even to scratch his skin before clattering to the ground.

Jiang Yuan raised his right foot and stepped with pinpoint accuracy on the JK girl's ankle.

The sound of shattering bone echoed through the corridor. The girl let out a shrill scream, clutching her right leg as she rolled about the floor in agony.

Jiang Yuan did not waste time tangling with them. His legs suddenly exploded with force, and he shot upward like a cannonball leaving its barrel.

The old tenement building in the Old City District had long fallen into disrepair. Its fragile floor could not bear such violent force and was smashed through by his body.

Wood splinters and chunks of concrete flew everywhere.

Jiang Yuan leaped onto the rooftop and, under the cover of night, raced across the tightly packed roofs of the single-story houses.

The wind howled past his ears. Relying on his familiarity with the Old City District's terrain, he made several successive leaps and shook off the eyes trying to track him from behind.

A few minutes later, he jumped down from a towering eave and landed steadily in a dead-end alley behind Treasure Gathering Studio.

Tall brick walls sealed off both ends of the alley, leaving only a narrow route of retreat.

Three exceptionally burly men strode out of the shadows, blocking the only exit.

All three were Body Tempering Peak martial artists. They wore identical black tactical uniforms, their muscles stretching the fabric tight.

The lead brute carried a thick alloy chain, while the other two wore high-voltage shock gloves that crackled and hissed. Blue arcs of electricity were especially glaring in the night.

The brute violently shook the chain in his hand, producing a harsh screech of metal scraping against metal.

"Kid, you run pretty fast," the brute said arrogantly. "Young Master Chu gave the order. We only want one of your arms and that wooden box. Cooperate, and you can avoid some pain. If we have to do it ourselves, you won't have a single intact bone left by tonight."

Jiang Yuan did not even remove the wooden box containing the broken sword from his back. He merely rolled his wrist casually.

"Just the three pieces of scrap metal?" Jiang Yuan asked flatly.

The three men flew into a rage and attacked at once.

Their coordination was flawless. The brute wildly swung the alloy chain, forming a huge spinning disc of metal slaughter in the air.

The other two flanked him from the left and right. Using the chain as cover, they rushed at Jiang Yuan's face and heart with their high-voltage shock gloves.

This was the signature technique they relied on to survive in the underground black-fist arena: Spinning Windmill.

The chain sealed off movement, while the shock gloves delivered the killing blow. Ordinary Body Tempering Peak martial artists would be electrocuted into charcoal within three exchanges against this move.

Jiang Yuan shifted his footwork, weaving through the dense gaps in the chain like a swimming dragon.

Seizing the moment, he formed claws with both hands and directly unleashed the Snake Fang Thrust from the Profound Heaven · Shattering Bone Hand.

His ten fingers carried fierce Spiral Hidden Force, striking like venomous snakes flicking their tongues as they pierced with extreme precision into the brute's wrist joints.

Crack.

The brute's wrist was instantly dislocated. The alloy chain spun out of control and smashed heavily into the brick wall beside them, leaving a massive crater.

Jiang Yuan did not stop. His hands flitted over the three men like butterflies dancing among flowers.

In less than ten seconds, Jiang Yuan had forcibly stripped their high-tech equipment and outer clothing from them, scattering everything across the ground.

The three men lay bare-chested on the ground, clutching their dislocated joints and rolling around in agony, unable to rise again.

Jiang Yuan stepped forward and planted a foot on the brute's chest, looking down at him from above.

"Where is Chu He?" Jiang Yuan increased the force beneath his foot, and the brute's breastbone gave a dangerous grinding sound.

The brute was drenched in cold sweat from the pain. His mental defenses instantly collapsed, and he gasped for breath as he begged for mercy.

"Young Master Chu... Young Master Chu sent twelve people in total. They're guarding the three entrances to the Old City District. He himself... he's waiting for news on the second basement level of the abandoned Third Machinery Factory north of the Old City District."

Jiang Yuan bent down, picked up the tactical recorder the brute had dropped, and aimed its camera at his own face.

"Wash your neck and wait for me," Jiang Yuan said to the camera. Then he clenched his five fingers, crushing the recorder into a lump of scrap metal before casually tossing it into a nearby trash can.

He turned to head for Third Machinery Factory, but after reaching the mouth of the alley, he stopped.

Under the dim yellow streetlamp, a familiar figure blocked his path.

It was Uncle Chen, Treasure Gathering Studio's appraiser.

Uncle Chen usually walked with a hunched back, looking so frail that he seemed ready to breathe his last at any moment.

But now, he stood perfectly straight, gripping a pitch-black alloy baton in his hand.

Uncle Chen did not look at Jiang Yuan. Instead, his gaze was fixed firmly on the wooden box behind Jiang Yuan, his shriveled lips twitching slightly.

"You've already fed this sword blood?"