"What a failure!"
Wenwu inwardly grumbled, then looked at Xialing and said indifferently, "I didn't find him. There's no need to look anymore, either. I'll just consider him dead out there!"
Xialing made no fuss at his words, but the disgust in her eyes deepened.
"I want to leave this place. I don't want anything to do with the Ten Rings anymore!"
Xialing abruptly dropped those words.
Wenwu was somewhat taken aback. These two children of Xu Wenwu's really weren't normal!
You might say Xialing hated the Ten Rings because it was an underground terrorist organization, but she would later set up an underground fighting arena herself, making a living by running it ruthlessly.
In other words, she simply hated Xu Wenwu himself!
Wenwu shook his head with a derisive chuckle and waved a hand. "Do whatever you like. This is your home. If you ever come around and want to return, come back!"
His children didn't like him as their father, and he didn't like these two messed-up children, either. They could do whatever they pleased, as long as they didn't come disgust him again!
Xialing looked at Wenwu in surprise. Whenever she had said those words before, Xu Wenwu had reprimanded her harshly and even confined her, refusing to let her leave.
She hadn't expected him to agree so readily now, and in such an indifferent tone. It left her feeling stifled, as though she had lost something important deep inside, making her terribly uncomfortable.
What a joke. How old had Xialing been back then? A girl that young wanted to run away from home? She would have been sold by human traffickers! Xu Wenwu had refused to let her leave, yet she had taken it all as him restricting her freedom!
"Fine, I'll go! I'll never come back to this place that fills me with disgust!"
Xialing shouted, her eyes red.
Just then, Wenwu suddenly acted. A ring flew from his right hand, glowing a deep blue, and reached Xialing's chest in an instant. It pulled the jade pendant off her neck and carried it back into Wenwu's hand.
"That's a keepsake Mother left me! You can't take it!"
Xialing shouted bitterly.
"If you want to leave, the pendant stays. Make your choice!"
Wenwu spoke mildly, his face expressionless.
The jade pendant was one of a pair, keepsakes Ying Li had left to the siblings Shang-Chi and Xialing.
Joined together, the two pendants provided Ta Lo's location and the key to opening its gate.
He would definitely visit Ta Lo Village someday, so naturally, he wouldn't let Xialing take the pendant away!
"I hate you!"
Two trails of tears ran down Xialing's face, her eyes red, and she turned and rushed out of the hall without looking back.
Just then, a burly white man entered through the door. A retractable mechanical blade prosthesis was fitted to his disabled right hand.
His code name was Razor Fist. He was the commander of the Ten Rings' ground forces and a senior combat officer, with fairly decent strength.
He was extremely loyal. Like Death Dealer, who had worn a Peking opera mask earlier, he was one of Xu Wenwu's most trusted confidants.
Death Dealer oversaw the assassin organization and trained the next generation of assassins. Proficient in all kinds of cold weapons and close-range assassination, he possessed exceptional combat skills. He was one of the Ten Rings' finest martial artists and the instructor who had trained Shang-Chi.
"My lord, should we send someone to follow her?"
Razor Fist had clearly heard Xialing's words just now, and he asked respectfully.
"No need. With her skills, she can protect herself."
Wenwu answered coldly.
"But..."
Razor Fist froze. He hadn't expected his lord, who had always cared deeply about his daughter, to say such a thing. He really was leaving his own daughter to her own devices!
"If there's nothing else, leave."
Wenwu spoke with authority.
"Yes!"
Razor Fist's heart trembled. Feeling that his lord seemed to be in a rather bad mood, he quickly acknowledged the order and withdrew.
Wenwu went alone to the center of the training ground in the main hall's rear courtyard.
With a thought, the rings on his hands glowed a deep blue and flew free, circling nimbly around him.
At that moment, Wenwu's mind seemed to merge with the rings, allowing him to control them at will!
With another thought, the ten rings split into groups of five and slid onto his arms.
Bang!
Wenwu slammed both arms toward the ground.
Instantly, the rings on his arms unleashed powerful energy, blasting two deep craters into the solid ground.
Propelled by the recoil, he shot into the sky like a cannonball!
He traced an arc high in the air, covering several hundred meters before plunging toward the ground.
Bang!
A crater exploded in the ground, and he used the force to leap up again. In two bounds, he had flown out of the Ten Rings headquarters and landed in a dense mountain forest.
There, Wenwu raised his right fist and punched toward a towering tree. At the same time, a ring flew out, carrying an enormous surge of blue energy, and smashed viciously into the trunk, blasting the tree, so wide it took three people to encircle it, in half!
Wood splintered and leaves scattered as the enormous tree toppled in an instant.
Whoosh!
The ring flew back instantly and slipped onto Wenwu's right arm.
Wenwu punched again, and five rings flew out together, erupting with even more terrifying energy.
Boom!
The earth shook. The fallen tree was instantly blasted to powder, and a deep crater ten meters across appeared in the ground.
"Not bad. A single ring could easily blow up a tank."
Wenwu nodded in satisfaction.
With such strength, he could definitely rank among the best on Marvel's Earth, where mutants and freaks ran rampant!
"Unfortunately, this level of strength is still far from enough."
Wenwu knew very well that all his power came from the rings. He couldn't afford to depend on them too much.
If he lost the rings someday, he would be sent straight back to square one. He had to find a way to increase his own inherent strength.
As for scientific research, he had no talent for it, and the Ten Rings lacked the resources in that field.
Even with resources, producing results wouldn't be so easy.
Looking at the human enhancement technologies researched by Marvel's major powers, they were either not strong enough, or strong enough but came with enormous risks and side effects.
Although his physique was now augmented by the rings' energy, allowing him to overturn trucks and withstand ordinary sniper rifles and bombs, that was all thanks to their support.
His actual physical strength was only four or five times that of an ordinary person. He needed a perfect way to improve it!
"The Hand has K'un-Lun's Chi cultivation system. Perhaps it can take me a step further!"
The thought instantly tempted Wenwu. K'un-Lun's Chi held tremendous potential. Those who cultivated it to a high level, such as Iron Fist, could punch straight through a tank.
Of course, Iron Fist's Chi was so powerful because he had inherited a trace of Shou-Lao's dragon Chi.
"If I use the rings to help cultivate Chi, could that successfully speed up my cultivation? Could it even produce a greater resonance with the rings?"
The more Wenwu thought about it, the more feasible it seemed!
Thinking of the Hand, he couldn't help shaking his head with a sigh.
Compared with the Hand in terms of individual combat strength, Xu Wenwu's Ten Rings was practically nothing. It merely controlled more ground troops.
When it came to individual martial prowess, the Ten Rings had far too few experts!
If he obtained a method for cultivating Chi, he could not only practice it himself but also strengthen his subordinates.
So Wenwu immediately sent people to Hell's Kitchen in New York to contact Madame Gao.
The Ten Rings' business overlapped heavily with that of the Hand's other Fingers, and the two sides had clashed many times. Only Madame Gao, who focused on trafficking heroin, had no direct conflict of interest with the Ten Rings.
Still, this visit to seek instruction would probably involve some conflict.
Two days later.
In Hell's Kitchen, inside an extremely luxurious hall within a shabby-looking building.
Wenwu sat opposite a frail-looking old woman.
The old woman was none other than Madame Gao, one of the Hand's Five Fingers.
"Mr. Wenwu, please have some tea."
Madame Gao personally poured Wenwu tea and spoke courteously.
She held Wenwu in great respect-or rather, she respected the Xu Wenwu of a century ago.
A hundred years earlier, the two had met in Southeast Asia over a conflict between their forces. Although they hadn't fought, she had personally witnessed the terrifying power of the rings on Xu Wenwu's arms.
Now that Wenwu had approached her himself, she received him courteously, though she didn't know what he wanted.
She simply hadn't expected Wenwu to still be so young. Legend said he had lived for a thousand years, but she didn't know whether that was true.
"Thank you for your hospitality, Madame Gao."
Wenwu picked up his teacup and took a light sip.
"May I ask what brings you to see this old woman, Mr. Wenwu?"
Madame Gao couldn't help asking.
"I'd like to ask you for something, Madame Gao."
Wenwu set down his teacup and looked at Madame Gao, speaking with calm composure.