Transcendent Mastery Listening to Tides Art

There was no more needless talk.

Su Xinghe turned and walked toward the Black Tiger Gang men still standing at the shop entrance.

"Sorry for the trouble of making you come all this way. I'll treat everyone to drinks when I have the time."

Though his words were courteous, his expression remained cold and indifferent. He could not even be bothered to put on the basic show of cupping his fists.

The burly Black Tiger Gang men did not respond, still wearing expressions of aloof detachment as though it had nothing to do with them.

Su Xinghe did not bother with them further. Instead, he called out to the others gathered around the entrance:

"Everyone, disperse. With so many people lingering here, if we draw the Public Security Office's attention, they might take people away to give statements."

As he spoke, his face gradually darkened, and his sharp gaze swept over several street thugs in the crowd.

"Who knows... they might even take away a few witnesses."

He threatened them outright.

Sure enough, those street thugs who lived by scraping the ground for scraps grew frightened.

They had come only to see whether there was anything to gain.

Now that they saw the shopkeeper was a Martial Arts School apprentice—and one who was not easy to talk to—they also extinguished any urge to fish in troubled waters or kick someone when they were down.

The moment the words Public Security Office were mentioned, they turned and hurried away.

At that moment, his father Su Cheng also came outside and stuffed several large coins into the hands of the Black Tiger Gang brutes who patrolled the streets.

In the end, only the two "victims" remained outside the Su Family grocery shop.

Seeing three grown men from the Su Family present, the two did not dare let out so much as a fart. Faces black, they turned and ran.

"Follow them. See who they meet and where they live."

Su Xinghe instructed Little Beggar, who was squatting by the roadside.

After his younger brother got married, his father Su Cheng had mentioned splitting the household, but Su Xinghe had not agreed.

He simply liked having a large, lively family together.

Perhaps because of what had happened today, no one said much over dinner.

After night fell, Little Beggar hurried back.

He brought news that was neither good nor bad.

In the second-floor living room along the street.

The floor had already been repaired.

To prevent such an accident from happening again, he had even laid down two thick layers of carpet.

"Boss, those two brats are sly as foxes. If my Listening to Tides Art hadn't improved enough for me to hear ants moving house from six zhang away, I nearly would have lost them."

The youth wiped away his sweat, picked up a cup, and gulped down water in great mouthfuls. He had followed them for more than two hours without touching a drop of water. He truly looked exhausted.

However, Su Xinghe had saved him a meal, which was now on the table.

"Keep talking."

He stood by the window, looking at the nighttime view of Narcissus Street below.

The autumn wind blew past, carrying threads of chill.

It dispersed the inexplicable irritation in his heart.

This place was much safer than Tongzi Ward. Quite a few pedestrians strolled through the streets, while children played at street corners and alley entrances, and laughter never ceased along the roads.

"After they left, they first went to Firewood Alley. They stayed inside for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea before the Black Tiger Gang drove them out. There were thugs standing watch at the entrance, so I couldn't get in. I don't know what exactly they talked about."

"After coming out, the two didn't go home. They turned and entered the Mingsheng Gambling House at the mouth of the next alley. They played a few rounds of pai gow and quickly lost all twenty large coins, even pawning off the Travel Pass Talismans on them."

"I managed to slip into the gambling house, but they were just chatting normally."

"Now they found a gambling buddy and are drinking at Chen's in Tofu Alley, grumbling and venting. It doesn't look like they'll leave the table anytime soon. I was afraid it would get too late, so I came back to report first."

Little Beggar rapidly shoveled down his food, not forgetting to offer his own opinion.

"After all, without Travel Pass Talismans, they can't run far."

Firewood Alley was the territory of the Backer Gang. Inside were all sorts of small gang alliances that found work in the mountains.

There were herb-gathering gangs, firewood-cutting gangs, mountain-goods gangs, snake-catching gangs—more than a dozen of every sort. They had no territory of their own in the city and all sheltered under the Backer Gang's banner.

The Black Tiger Gang's headquarters was there as well.

They had originally been one of the Backer Gang's allies, but now they had latched onto the Fierce Tiger Martial Hall's thigh. Or rather, the Black Tiger Gang had always been the Fierce Tiger Martial Hall's eyes and ears planted within the Backer Gang.

Su Xinghe listened quietly, then pondered for a moment.

Seeing that Little Beggar had nearly finished eating, he took out a silver coin from his pouch.

"Go buy something to eat, then keep watching those two. I want to know exactly where they're staying."

He intended to send him away, because it was time to practice tonight.

As for how he would get back at them,

He wanted to let the bullets fly a little longer.

After all, this had just happened today. It would not be wise to act directly. Otherwise, if the Public Security Office followed the clues back to him, the trouble would be enormous.

"Thank you, Boss!"

Little Beggar accepted the silver, and his heart immediately blossomed with joy.

That one coin was worth at least five qian. It was enough for three months of living expenses.

Boss was becoming more and more generous with his money!

The room was very quiet.

Time passed bit by bit, and the candle flame on the stand gradually dwindled.

"Diligence Makes Up for Dullness, a hundred practices a day."

"Golden Ape Earth-Splitting Art, experience +2."

Boom!

A great mass of condensed qi and blood power blasted into his third leg.

A numb, tingling sensation immediately swept over him.

After so many days, he had trained up his tolerance as well.

The pain of Body Tempering?

Mere wind and frost!

"Hiss... ha..."

Feeling the emptiness of the qi and blood power within him, Su Xinghe clenched his fists.

Thanks to being able to control two silver little figures at once, his cultivation progress had doubled again under the "Dual Engines" setup. Moreover, he did not need to throw punches himself. He only needed to control the circulation of qi and blood within his body.

It was equivalent to turning the Golden Ape Earth-Splitting Art, a moving fist art, into a still art that only required circulating qi and blood through his body.

And its efficiency had doubled.

However, the consumption of his own qi and blood, as well as Qi-Replenishing Pills, had doubled too.

His limbs had already been tempered. Now, only his torso remained.

His base strength, which had been 1,000 jin when he had just broken through to the Ninth Rank, had also risen to just over 2,000 jin.

Tonight's three rounds of the Golden Ape Earth-Splitting Art ended there.

He returned to the table and began eating a late-night meal to replenish his strength.

Half a month had passed since he broke through to become a Ninth-Rank Martial Warrior.

The ten bottles of Qi-Replenishing Pills, two hundred pills in total, had been exhausted six days ago. Over the last few days, as his cultivation rapidly advanced, he had needed to swallow two pills at once to sustain this full-power cultivation state.

Without pills these past few days, his qi and blood could not recover quickly enough.

He used the extra time to advance the marvelous secret art, Listening to Tides Art.

At the thought of having to procure more pills, his forehead began to throb.

He could not ask Elder Xie for more, unless he dared expose all his trump cards.

That was absolutely impossible.

Even if it delayed his martial cultivation progress, he still had to proceed steadily, step by step.

With a long sigh, he focused and opened the Fate Panel.

"Su Xinghe: White Ape Martial Academy (Outer Disciple)"

"Martial Arts: Ninth Grade Realm (Body Tempering 51%)"

"Fate: Diligence Makes Up for Dullness"

"Trait 1: Water-Tight, Unyielding"

"Trait 2: Sand Forms a Tower, Water Reaches Its Channel"

"Listening to Tides Art (Transcendent Mastery) 1330/100000"

"Golden Ape Earth-Splitting Art (Perfect Mastery) 3221/10000"

"Ascending Dragon Stance (Hall-Entering) 566/1000"

"Incomplete Red Lotus Treasure Vase Qi 0/10000"\n

With the extra free time these past few days,

the Listening to Tides Art had advanced at astonishing speed, rising to the level of Transcendent Mastery.

The marvel it brought caused the range of his spiritual perception to surge again. From the original ten zhang, it broke through to twenty zhang in one leap.

The Silver Fish in his mind split once more, producing four additional fish. Yet he could still only activate two silver little figures.

The Listening to Tides Art had become his first martial art to surpass the standard, able to unleash 1.5 times the art's original power.

This was the addition of strength, not the multiplication of it.

His original base strength of 2,000 jin, gained from fifty-one percent Body Tempering through the Perfect Mastery Golden Ape Earth-Splitting Art, soared directly to a massive 5,000 jin after he circulated the Transcendent Mastery Listening to Tides Art.

With half his Body Tempering progress complete, all five limbs had already been tempered and strengthened. Though he still could not withstand a forceful thrust from a sharp weapon, ordinary blades and swords no longer frightened him.