Taking Stock of the Spoils, Fusing the Yin Body Art! (1 / 2)

Zhao Er had no interest in chatting with an enemy, much less communicating with a dead man. He ignored Luo Yu's question and simply circulated the Nine-Turn Golden Armor Art, coating his fists in iron armor before hammering punch after punch into the other man's chest.

Luo Yu was already at the end of his rope. After several consecutive punches from Zhao Er, he could no longer hold on.

"Whew..."

Only then did Zhao Er breathe a sigh of relief.

"The Nine-Turn Golden Armor Art works surprisingly well with a poison palm."

Looking down at the corpse on the ground, Zhao Er finally voiced his thoughts.

The Nine-Turn Golden Armor Art allowed him to endure his opponent's attacks without restraint, then trade injury for injury to drive poison into his opponent's body.

Poison delivery was not limited to his palms. As long as he channeled blood energy and force into it, his feet could work just as well. Earlier, he had protected himself with the Nine-Turn Golden Armor Art, then driven poison into his opponent's body with Scorpion Sweeping Leg.

He just had not expected his opponent to follow the same approach.

"Right, he practiced a protective art too..."

The moment Zhao Er recalled his opponent's methods, his reflective mood vanished, and he could barely contain his eagerness.

He first glanced at Luo Yu, who lay on the ground. The man was naked and could not have hidden anything on his body, so Zhao Er turned his attention to the pile of clothes nearby.

He stepped forward and rummaged through the clothes. His eyes immediately lit up as a manual, a money pouch, and two bottles of pills appeared in his hands.

"Leave first. I can examine the spoils once I'm home!"

Zhao Er tucked everything into his robe and raised his foot to leave.

"Ah..."

But before he could take that step, he could not help sighing.

He turned toward the coffin. Inside lay a woman with elegant makeup and neatly styled hair, but her face was now ashen, and her clothes were disheveled.

Half an hour later, Zhao Er had filled in the fresh grave again. Carrying the Longwind Gang Leader's corpse, he left the woods.

Event complete. Beginning settlement!

Settling event: Assassination!

Successfully assassinated Blood Condensation Realm martial artist ×1

Experience gained: "Nine-Turn Golden Armor Art" +8, "Five Poisons Returning to Origin Body" +10, "Five Poisons Fist" +10, available skill points +2, Poison Resistance +3

"Not bad. A decent haul. Even Poison Resistance, which hasn't budged in ages, went straight up by three points."

Zhao Er was fairly satisfied as he watched the panel settle his rewards.

Although today's opponent had been a Blood Condensation martial artist, their actual exchange had ended after a single move. These rewards were already quite good.

Zhao Er guessed that the main reason he had killed his enemy so quickly was that the Longwind Gang leader practiced an Unorthodox Path art, and his greatest offensive weapon was the yin poison he had mentioned.

As a result, that palm strike had contained little force or Blood-Energy Force, ultimately allowing Zhao Er to kill him so easily.

"So my thinking should be right. Poison can be my greatest trump card, but I can't rely entirely on it to kill enemies."

Today's battle had also served as a warning to Zhao Er. Martial arts flourished in this world, and no one knew whether some art might counter his poison.

Zhao Er planned to buy the Dian Clan Eight Methods of Twin Halberds as soon as possible, but his actions did not slow in the slightest.

Finally, Zhao Er dumped the Longwind Gang Leader's corpse near the gang's headquarters, then hurried home.

Only after returning home did Zhao Er take out his greatest prize of the day.

When he saw the large words "Yin Body Art" on the manual's cover, Zhao Er knew this was probably the true reward of the assassination.

Zhao Er did not even check how much silver was in the money pouch. Holding the Yin Body Art manual, he began reading it carefully.

As Zhao Er had expected, the Yin Body Art was indeed an Unorthodox Path art. It cultivated both the internal and external aspects, though it placed somewhat greater emphasis on the physical body.

Moreover, once a practitioner broke through to the Blood Condensation Realm, their blood-energy force would carry a poison condensed from yin energy.

Most importantly, cultivating this art did not require inserting oneself into a corpse and performing unspeakable acts, as Zhao Er had imagined. Simply circulating the art allowed the practitioner to absorb nearby yin energy and use it as a cultivation resource to temper the body.

While leafing through the manual, Zhao Er also discovered a description of a pill formula called the Extreme Yin Pill.

"Have someone take an Extreme Yin Pill while they're still alive, and once they die, their corpse will automatically absorb the surrounding yin energy, keeping it from decaying?"

Reading the description on the pill formula, Zhao Er roughly worked out the logic behind the Longwind Gang Leader's cultivation.

"In that case, what that fellow did earlier was most likely his own hobby. It had nothing to do with the art."

Only after figuring that out did Zhao Er truly breathe a sigh of relief.

He was ruthless toward himself, and he did not hold grudges, but that did not mean he had no morals whatsoever.

[Art: Yin Body Art (blue) lv1 (1/100)]

"Good, very good. This art's grade is even higher than the Five Poisons Art. Just what I need. Panel, add points!"

Zhao Er was very pleased by the text appearing before him, and he immediately ordered it fused with the Nine-Turn Golden Armor Art.

As for an art's grade, Zhao Er guessed it was related to the upper limit of the arts he possessed. His current arts could only be cultivated to the Third Realm at most. Converted into levels, their maximum level would be lv.3.

[Fusing the arts "Nine-Turn Golden Armor Art" and "Yin Body Art" requires skill points ×4. Yes/No]

"Yes!"

Perfect. He had gained another two skill points today. Otherwise, making another trip to the Longwind Gang would have been quite a hassle.

[Art extrapolation and fusion in progress. Time required: six days. Please wait...]

"This time, not only did the skill-point cost increase, but the time required did too. Is that because the art being fused is a higher grade? I wonder what improvements this fusion will bring..."

After speculating for a while, Zhao Er finally shook his head. It was only six days anyway. He would know once those six days were up.

He picked up the money pouch beside him, untied its cord, and emptied everything onto the bed. Once its contents were all out, a smile blossomed across Zhao Er's face.

He counted ten silver ingots worth five taels each. Apart from those, there was not a single piece of loose silver or copper coin.

"Fifty taels of silver. I've struck it rich!"

Zhao Er's eyes shone as he counted the ingots. He knew this was probably the Longwind Gang Leader's share after handing over the protection money.

Fifty taels of silver was no small sum. Strictly speaking, there should have been more, but... Zhao Er turned his gaze toward the two small porcelain bottles beside him.

Zhao Er picked up one of the bottles and followed his usual routine, sniffing it first.

"Hmm? A new kind of pill? Let's try one."

The pills Zhao Er had taken before had all smelled faintly floral with a hint of sweetness. This time, however, he smelled nothing but medicine and a fishy odor. After sniffing it, Zhao Er tipped out a pill and tossed it straight into his mouth.