One-Character Yang Strike

"Worthy brother, as they say, offense is the best defense. You can give it a try."

Yang Shi moved Qingyang's hand away and finally managed to speak.

"We'll cultivate together, you and I brothers fighting side by side. Wouldn't getting into the Logistics Division be as easy as turning over one's hand?"

Yang Shi had no hope of passing the imperial examinations, so he could only follow in his father's footsteps and join the Demon Exorcism Bureau's Logistics Division.

Originally, after so many years in Brocade City, he had genuinely accumulated enough merits to join the Logistics Division directly.

But because of Lin Jun, the Demon Exorcism Bureau's rules had changed. He had no choice but to start practicing martial arts, and there was even danger to his life.

Yet he did not hate Lin Jun. Of the entire Yang Family, Yang Shi was the one who truly treated Lin Jun as his own younger brother.

Seeing Yang Shi's optimistic expression, Qingyang let out a sigh, slowly rose to his feet, and walked outside.

"You study first. I'm going to take a look at that Fox Demon. If there's anything you don't understand, I'll come back tonight and explain it to you. Study properly! If you dare slack off, I'll break your legs!"

Qingyang sighed inwardly again. Why did he feel like Lin Jun's old father? If not for Yang Wan, he would not have cared even if Lin Jun had died in the jaws of demons.

Speaking of demons, he had never expected Green Forest County to have a Half-Step Boundary Breach demon. The demons around Green Forest County in particular were packed so densely that even he felt alarmed.

He could not help marveling at Lin Jun's good fortune. Lin Jun had actually survived for three years in such an environment, and even this Fox Demon on the verge of a Boundary Breach had been dealt with by some unknown expert.

Seeing Qingyang leave, Lin Jun asked curiously, "Brother, did you come with the Demon Exorcist Army?"

"Not exactly. Young Master Qingyang merely passed through this place. I came here to take you home."

"Come to think of it, Young Master Qingyang was even startled by that group of Demon Exorcist Army soldiers."

Home?

Hearing that word, Lin Jun's heart inexplicably trembled.

"But worthy brother, your luck is truly good. Just seeing that Fox Demon's corpse from afar made my heart pound. Thankfully, some unknown expert killed the demon. What a delight!"

"Enough of that. Hurry up and study this martial art. If there's anything you don't understand, I can explain it to you. Don't pretend to understand when you don't. As they say... they say... forget it. Just learn it."

Looking at Yang Shi's appearance, Lin Jun finally understood why Yang Shi could not earn scholarly honors.

"That is called: know what you know, admit what you do not know; that is knowledge."

Yang Shi's eyes immediately lit up.

"Yes, yes, yes, that's it! I never thought worthy brother also enjoyed reading the books of sages. Excellent, excellent."

Though he did not know why, this world had quite a few things resembling those from ancient dynasties on Earth, such as certain books. That was also one reason Lin Jun had been able to integrate here so quickly.

Perhaps this place was the parallel world of some dynasty from Earth.

Lin Jun shook his head helplessly and opened the martial arts manual.

[Transformation-Origin Martial Arts: One-Character Yang Strike (Not Initiated)]

Transformation-Origin Martial Arts?

Lin Jun had thought it would be some Mortal martial art.

At that thought, Lin Jun grew excited.

Lin Jun's martial arts were currently rather limited, especially his offensive methods. He only had one Transformation-Origin Martial Art, and it relied heavily on his saber. Without one, more than half his abilities would be gone.

Yet he often shattered his saber.

This martial art happened to be fist-and-kick combat, requiring no weapon.

As long as the practitioner's physique was good enough and their body tough enough, its brief bursts of power might not be inferior to swords or sabers.

This was a martial art closely tied to one's physique, following the path of crushing ten thousand techniques with a single force and breaking all laws with strength.

The better one's physique, the higher this martial art's upper limit.

At that thought, Lin Jun's heart itched.

Unfortunately, he only had three thousand experience points. Simulating this martial art to the Transcendent Realm was probably impossible.

[You have obtained the Transformation-Origin Martial Art, One-Character Yang Strike. You decide:]

[1. Study diligently and train hard; accumulate over time and achieve the Transcendent. Consumes 500 experience.]

[2. Seek another shortcut; use this method to train your saber techniques and take them to a higher level. Consumes 700 experience.]

[3. Apply your ingenuity and modify the cultivation method. However, this cultivation method is already highly complete, and modification may prove futile. Consumes 1000 experience.]

Looking at the three options, no matter how he viewed them, he could only choose the first.

Lin Jun believed his saber techniques were already sufficient. Modifying the cultivation method was too expensive, and there was a chance all that effort would be wasted.

[You decide to study diligently and train hard. This is already quite familiar to you. In only three years, you successfully enter the threshold and begin to grasp the essentials of martial arts. One-Character Yang Strike (Initiated), (-500)]

[Ten years later, you can recite this martial art backward and forward. Ten consecutive years of unceasing training have made your body remember this martial art. Now, you can perform it through your body's memory alone. One-Character Yang Strike (Minor Accomplishment), (-500)]

[You believe the path you chose is correct, but another ten years pass. You make no progress whatsoever and even regress considerably, leaving you puzzled. (-500)]

[You refuse to accept it and continue cultivating. Yet you gain nothing. You feel that you have entered a misunderstanding, but you do not know how to find your way out. (-500)]

...

[In your seventieth year, you finally understand what was wrong. You had been using the mindset of saber training to practice this fist-and-kick technique; the path had been wrong from the very beginning. You decide to start over. This time, everything falls into place naturally. One-Character Yang Strike (Major Accomplishment), (-500)]

All three thousand experience points had been thrown in, and Lin Jun had trained One-Character Yang Strike to Major Accomplishment.

More than that, Lin Jun discovered in astonishment that this cultivation method could actually combine with the Killing Intent in his body.

The Killing Intent within him was, in essence, part of Lin Jun's strength. One-Character Yang Strike compressed and concentrated the energy within the body into a single point before erupting it outward, so naturally the Killing Intent was included as well.

Lin Jun desperately wanted to find something to test it on, but all the nearby demons had been killed, leaving him nowhere to start.

"Worthy brother? Worthy brother, why are you still spacing out? It's already evening. You can't read like this."

In Li Shi's eyes, Lin Jun had stared blankly at that martial arts manual from noon until evening. Sure enough, making his good little brother read was indeed unrealistic.

He still had to step in as the elder brother and give Lin Jun a proper lesson tonight.

Just then, the gates of the Demon Affairs Prefecture opened, and Qingyang walked in from outside.

He had gone around the ruins of the yamen, then met several colleagues in the Demon Exorcist Army.

According to them, they had already figured out who killed the Fox Demon and were discussing how to reward that person.

But he did not listen further. After all, he still had to teach Lin Jun martial arts.

"How's your reading going? If there's anything you don't understand, just ask me directly. Don't worry that I'll hold anything back."