Jiang Yi understood this clearly as well!
With his current strength, he was still far from being able to storm a bandit stronghold and kill his way through it.
That would be no different from using an egg to smash against a rock.
After all, he had only just touched upon the threshold of the Skin Refining Realm.
Though he already had one foot in the ranks of martial warriors,
he was not, in the end, a true martial warrior!
Before a genuine martial warrior, he likely would not even last five exchanges.
If he encountered someone stronger,
he might not even be able to withstand a single move before being slain on the spot. They simply were not on the same level.
"I wonder whether cultivating the Rock Steadiness Fist to perfection can let me truly step across the threshold of martial arts and become a—
genuine Skin Refining Realm martial warrior!"
Jiang Yi pondered.
He considered whether to spend more lifespan and continue deducing this martial art until it reached perfection.
Just then, a cautious voice sounded out!
"X-Xiao Yi?"
Hearing the voice, Jiang Yi turned around!
The speaker was a young man with dull yellow hair, a gaunt face, and tattered clothes.
Faintly visible beneath them
were glaring scars left by countless lashes.
When he saw Jiang Yi looking his way,
the young man's frail body shuddered instinctively. Nervously, he shielded the two boys beside him behind his back.
"Brother Dafeng?!"
Memories gradually surfaced in Jiang Yi's mind, making him blurt it out.
Jiang Dafeng was like him.
He too came from Jiang Family Village and was roughly two years older than him!
The two boys he protected were the same. One was called Jiang Fu, and the other Jiang Sanxi.
They had all been dragged back to the stronghold with him that day and made slaves in this mine.
The one who left the deepest impression on Jiang Yi was Jiang Dafeng.
Perhaps because he was older than them, he had been the leading big brother of their little Jiang Family Village group.
These past few days,
if not for his desperate protection,
Jiang Yi's pitifully scant food would likely have long since been snatched clean by the other Mine Slaves.
There would have been no need to wait until today!
He would already have starved to death alive.
"Ah—yes!"
Jiang Dafeng froze for a moment, then hurriedly nodded!
He opened his mouth, wanting to say something more, but hesitated.
"Brother Dafeng, what is it?"
"X-Xiao Yi, y-your foolishness is cured? How did you suddenly become so powerful?"
"Yeah, Jiang Yi, how did you become this strong?"
"Was that the Rock Steadiness Fist you used just now? Are fist techniques really that incredible?"
Jiang Yi's initiative in speaking
gradually emboldened the other two boys, and they gathered around him.
They spoke over one another, brimming with curiosity!
"Yeah, it's cured!
I don't know why I'm so strong either. After getting better, it just seemed like I naturally knew how!"
Jiang Yi smiled.
As for why he had become stronger, naturally, it was because he possessed a Golden finger!
This was his own ultimate secret!
Could he possibly reveal it so casually?
Obviously not!
"G-Good, this is wonderful news!
If your father and mother knew about this and saw how powerful you'd become, they would surely be so happy... uh, this..."
Jiang Dafeng had wanted to clap and cheer, but then remembered that Jiang Yi's parents had long since died at the hands of the bandits.
For a moment, he was speechless!
At a complete loss!
Hearing this, the other two boys could not help falling silent, their eyes reddening.
They sniffled, their throats beginning to choke up.
That day,
the bandits of Black Wind Stronghold had launched a surprise attack, charging into the village to burn, kill, and plunder.
Not only Jiang Yi's family, but theirs as well, had died one after another while desperately resisting the bandits.
Jiang Yi shook his head and said softly,
"It's alright, Brother Dafeng! You're right. If Father and Mother knew, they would definitely be happy for me."
"Y-Yeah, yeah!"
Jiang Dafeng nodded in agreement, reaching out to gently pat Jiang Fu and Jiang Sanxi on the shoulders to comfort them.
"Xiaofu, Sanxi, don't be sad anymore. It has already passed.
What we need to do now is live well!
Jiang Family Village is gone, so we'll build another one—a stronger Jiang Family Village."
"That's right, Brother Dafeng is right. We'll build another one!" Jiang Fu wiped away his tears in one swipe, his face full of determination.
"We also have to take revenge. I want to train in martial arts!
When the time comes, I'll kill all those hateful bandits and avenge my family!"
Jiang Sanxi clenched both fists, gritting his teeth in hatred!
"We need to leave quickly!"
"Before the bandits of Black Wind Stronghold learn what happened here, we should first head to nearby Wushui Town and hide there for a while.
Once the heat dies down, we can make proper plans..."
As Jiang Dafeng spoke, he bent down, suppressing the discomfort in his heart as he reached out to rummage through a corpse that had died a tragic and fierce death.
To survive in a town, they needed money!
How could a Mine Slave like him have any money?
If he had none,
then where could it come from? They could only search the corpses. If he did not have any, surely these bandits would.
Especially that little bandit leader!
Jiang Fu and Jiang Sanxi followed suit convincingly.
Each ran to a corpse and searched it from top to bottom.
Some Mine Slaves looked over, seeming eager to make a move.
Jiang Yi raised his head!
With merely a sweep of his indifferent gaze, those Mine Slaves' hearts trembled. Startled like birds and beasts, they fled.
Killing people and looting corpses!
An idiom he had only seen in novels in his previous life had now become reality.
He had become one who put that idiom into practice.
From the body that had been cleaved in two, he found a pouch filled with hard little chunks, along with—
a yellowed, bloodstained ancient book.
Three large ancient characters were written prominently on its cover—
Eagle Claw Technique
It was the claw martial art cultivated by that bandit!
[An unranked martial art Eagle Claw Technique has been detected. Record it?]
"Yes!"
A series of contents related to the cultivation method of the Eagle Claw Technique poured into Jiang Yi's sea of consciousness.
It swiftly let him understand how to cultivate this martial art.
It was comparable to the Rock Steadiness Fist he practiced, except the former was more inclined toward combat and killing.
Once cultivated to great mastery!
A full-force claw could easily tear apart ironwood and punch through steel plates five or six tenths thick.
Its power was quite formidable.
If that landed on an ordinary person, it would absolutely rip off a thick layer of flesh.
Since the Eagle Claw Technique had already been recorded by his Golden finger,
there was no need to keep carrying around this martial arts manual!
"Brother Dafeng, catch!"
Jiang Yi handed the book and the small cloth pouch to Jiang Dafeng.
"N-No, I can't take them..."
Jiang Dafeng hurriedly waved his hands, wanting to refuse.
"You keep them. I'll feel at ease that way!"
"Ah, a-alright then!"
Seeing the look on Jiang Yi's face that brooked no refusal, Jiang Dafeng accepted them helplessly.
He carefully opened the pouch. When he saw what was inside,
his expression brightened with joy!
"There are actually seven or eight taels of broken silver!
If we're frugal, it'll be enough for us to survive in Wushui Town for half a year."
At this time, Jiang Fu and Jiang Sanxi also ran over and handed over the scattered copper coins they had found.
Jiang Dafeng placed every one of them into the small cloth pouch!
After tying several extra knots at its opening, he carefully tucked it into his clothes together with the martial arts manual.
Only after pressing it down with his hand did he finally feel at ease.
"Let's leave quickly!"
"Try to enter Wushui Town before nightfall!"
Before you continue