Breakthrough and Gains

"Aaargh!"

Agonizing pain flooded One-Eyed Boss's nerves like a rising tide.

He let out a beastlike roar of pain. The blood and qi of the Body Tempering Second Stage erupted within him, forcibly twisting his body as the Mountain-Cleaving Axe in his hand swept toward his back with the resolve to perish together!

He knew he was finished.

His kidney had been destroyed; even immortals could not save him.

But even if he died, he would drag this little bastard down with him!

Yet the instant Chen Chen's strike landed, he immediately withdrew and retreated. His body seemed boneless as he slid along the ground, narrowly evading that lethal axe blow.

"Boom!"

The Mountain-Cleaving Axe smashed heavily into the stone wall, making the entire cave tremble.

One-Eyed Boss staggered several steps before dropping to one knee. Blood gushed wildly from the corner of his mouth and his lower back.

The bamboo tube in his hand fell to the ground as well, releasing a mist that shimmered with faint fluorescence.

By that fluorescent glow, he finally saw the enemy who had been lurking in the darkness.

It was a youth, his body covered in blood and mud. Yet his eyes shone like cold stars in the night, filled with an indifference and resolve utterly mismatched with his age.

"It... was you..."

One-Eyed Boss forced out those words with difficulty, his eyes full of unwillingness and venom.

Until his death, he could not understand how a mere Body Tempering First Layer brat had so precisely judged his location and delivered that fatal strike.

Chen Chen looked at him coldly without answering.

His success had not relied on darkness alone.

It had also relied on the precise grasp of human nature he had learned as a special forces soldier in his previous life.

He had deliberately spoken to draw One-Eyed Boss's attention, making him think Chen Chen was in the direction the voice had come from.

But in truth, his real body had already silently circled around behind him.

This was a blind spot of the mind.

[ Ding! Killed a Body Tempering Second Stage martial artist. Cultivation Points +20! ]

[ Ding! Killed a Body Tempering First Layer martial artist. Cultivation Points +10! ]

Almost at the same moment One-Eyed Boss fell, Black Bear, whose wrist had been severed, also swallowed his last breath from excessive blood loss and extreme terror.

Two system notifications rang out in Chen Chen's mind in quick succession.

An energy far more vast than any before surged into his limbs and bones.

His Cultivation Points skyrocketed in an instant!

[ Name: Chen Chen ]

[ Realm: Body Tempering First Layer (Peak) ]

[ Cultivation Technique: None ]

[ Martial Skill: None ]

[ Cultivation Points: 50 ]

Fifty points!

Chen Chen's breathing could not help becoming more hurried.

This was nearly the sum of all his previous gains!

"Break through! Break through immediately!"

Without any hesitation, he gave the command in his mind.

[ Consuming 40 Cultivation Points. Beginning breakthrough to the Body Tempering Second Stage... ]

Boom!

If breaking through to the Body Tempering First Layer had been like a trickling stream joining a great river—

Then breaking through to the Body Tempering Second Stage now was like a river flowing backward and crashing into the sea!

Within Chen Chen's body, his blood and qi surged and roared like boiling magma.

His bones gave strained creaks, as though they were about to burst beneath that power. Fine beads of blood even seeped from the surface of his skin, making him look like a man drenched in blood.

The intense agony made him let out a low roar.

Yet he gritted his teeth hard, madness flashing in his eyes.

He knew this was the only path to shedding his mortal frame and remaking his bones!

A full incense stick's time passed.

Only then did the violent aura within the cave slowly subside.

Chen Chen exhaled a long breath of foul air tinged with blood and slowly rose to his feet.

He could feel that the power within his body had undergone another earth-shaking transformation.

If the Body Tempering First Layer had allowed his physical qualities to surpass those of ordinary people—

Then the Body Tempering Second Stage gave him the true foundation of a "martial artist." His blood and qi had become more condensed, while his strength, speed, and endurance had all risen by more than a single level!

He clenched his fist, and his knuckles crackled in a series of crisp explosions.

He was confident that if he faced One-Eyed Boss again, even in broad daylight, he could kill him within ten moves!

[ Name: Chen Chen ]

[ Realm: Body Tempering Second Stage ]

[ Cultivation Technique: None ]

[ Martial Skill: None ]

[ Cultivation Points: 10 ]

"Ten Cultivation Points left..."

Chen Chen's gaze flickered, but he did not rush to improve further.

Cultivation Points could allow him to break through quickly, but stabilizing his foundation was equally important. He needed time to adapt to this explosive increase in strength.

His gaze fell upon the three corpses in the cave.

Now, it was time to take stock of his gains.

He first walked over to One-Eyed Boss's corpse and, enduring the stench of blood, began searching it carefully.

Very soon, he pulled a heavy money pouch from One-Eyed Boss's robes.

When he opened it, he found seven or eight gleaming gold leaves inside, along with several dozen taels of loose silver.

At least a hundred taels of silver, Chen Chen estimated.

For mercenaries, this was already no small fortune.

Aside from the gold and silver, he found a small porcelain bottle. After opening it and taking a sniff, he found it contained a bottle of decent healing medicine.

And... a yellowed booklet.

Three bold, wildly flowing characters were written on its cover—Cloak Axe Technique.

"Martial skill!"

Chen Chen's eyes lit up instantly.

This was precisely what he lacked most right now!

Having strength but not knowing how to wield it was like a beggar clutching a mountain of gold.

He eagerly opened the booklet.

This Cloak Axe Technique was a Yellow Grade Low Tier martial skill. Its movements were broad and forceful, its power heavy and fierce, making it highly suitable for strength-based martial artists.

Though it did not match the steel blade he currently used, its methods of exerting force and variations in its moves could still offer him tremendous inspiration.

"Good stuff!"

Chen Chen unceremoniously tucked it into his robes.

He then searched Black Bear and Monkey, obtaining more silver and dried provisions.

After finishing all this, Chen Chen looked at the cave entrance sealed by the massive boulder, his brows slightly furrowing.

The boulder weighed at least a thousand jin. With his current strength, he was still unable to push it aside.

He was trapped here.

However, he was not panicked.

Though the cave had been sealed off, it was not entirely airtight. Air could still circulate.

Moreover, he had enough dried provisions and healing medicine. More importantly, he now had a martial skill he could study.

This place had instead become a perfect place for secluded cultivation.

"Wang Family... Black Wind Mercenary Group..."

Chen Chen sat cross-legged, his eyes icy.

He knew very well that once word got out that members of the Black Wind Mercenary Group had died here, it would inevitably bring even greater trouble.

Before he was discovered, he had to possess enough strength to protect himself—and even to kill in return!

He laid the seized steel blade across his knees, closed his eyes, and began recalling the moves and force-exertion methods in the Cloak Axe Technique.

He had no axe, but he could turn the axe into a blade.

Moves were dead; people were alive.

What he needed was not to copy it wholesale, but to absorb its essence and integrate it into his own fighting instincts.

Time slowly passed within that dark, deathly silent cave.

Chen Chen immersed himself completely in studying the martial skill, forgetting both hunger and the passage of time.

At times, he frowned in thought. At others, he extended a finger and gestured through the air.

He broke down the axe technique's "cleave," "chop," "sweep," and "lift" bit by bit, then tried to develop them into blade techniques.

Two days later.

When he swallowed the last piece of dried provisions, his tightly shut eyes suddenly flew open!

A terrifying glint flashed through the darkness.

He rose to his feet, the steel blade in his hand seeming to become an extension of his arm.

He took a deep breath, shifted his footing, and suddenly slashed out with the steel blade!

There was no earthshaking display, nor any dazzling flash of light.

There was only a blade gleam, swift to the utmost, flashing through the air.

"Ssh!"

A soft sound rang out.

A head-sized rock three meters in front of him split smoothly down the middle, its cut as smooth as a mirror.

Chen Chen looked at his handiwork, and a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

He had already initially grasped the essence of the Cloak Axe Technique.

He was more than a level stronger than he had been two days ago!

It was also time... to leave.

He walked up to the massive boulder blocking the cave entrance and took a deep breath, circulating the blood and qi of the Body Tempering Second Stage with all his strength!

"Hah!"

The muscles in his arms bulged, veins coiling like horned dragons as he used all his strength to shove fiercely against the boulder!

"Creak... creak..."

The thousand-jin boulder let out a strained groan as he slowly pushed it aside, little by little, opening a narrow gap.

Long-missed sunlight streamed in through the gap, making him squint slightly.

And at that very moment, a cry full of delight came from somewhere not far outside the cave.

"Look! It's Young Master Wang Lie! The Wang Family has found this place!"