In an E-rank mission world, no experts above E-rank would appear. That was the Main God's explicit answer.
Given that condition, with all of Xu Long's attributes at 50 points, it was impossible for him to be unable to see through the old beggar.
Unless the Main God was lying, or the old beggar was powerful enough to deceive the Main God, Xu Long's senses couldn't be wrong.
But was that possible?
That being the case, the old beggar was definitely not a martial arts expert, and he must have gotten the manuals from somewhere else.
"I..."
Hearing Xu Long's words, the old beggar instinctively wanted to find an excuse to refuse.
But when he saw Xu Long pull out a pistol, he silently swallowed the words on the tip of his tongue.
"Wait a moment!"
The old beggar knew he couldn't get out of this. He could only lift the tattered bedding he slept on and pull a wooden box from a hole underneath.
"This is all of them. I can't read the characters in them, so I could only copy the pictures to swindle a little money."
As soon as Xu Long took the box, a series of notification sounds rang out.
[Hidden mission: 1, obtain martial arts manuals! Complete! 800 points awarded!]
"Not bad, just as I thought!"
He opened the box. Inside were eight manuals.
Nine Swords of Dugu, Nine Yang Divine Skill, One Yang Finger, Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms, Thousand-Hand Divine Fist, Buddha's Palm, Tai Chi Chuan, and Heartless Sword.
Besides the pictures, which resembled those in the bootleg copies, there were also many explanations in ancient script.
It was only thanks to Sing being the protagonist, an unparalleled genius seen once in a century. Otherwise, with nothing but the pictures in those bootleg manuals, he couldn't have mastered the techniques even after hundreds of years of practice.
And even the genius Sing's ten-odd years of grueling practice hadn't done a damn thing. Only later, when a chance encounter led to The Beast opening his Ren and Du meridians, known as the bridge between heaven and earth, did he fully master Buddha's Palm.
It had to be said, the old beggar was quite the swindler.
"That's all? No internal cultivation techniques?"
Xu Long put all the manuals into his storage space and stared at the old beggar as he asked.
"No."
The old beggar shook his head. Even these had been passed down from his ancestors.
If he really had an internal cultivation manual, he wouldn't have ended up in his current state.
"Master, there's no need to worry. Internal Force isn't a problem. You'll have it soon."
The Red Queen's voice came through the earpiece, leaving Xu Long a little puzzled.
"You said I'll have Internal Force soon. Did you find a manual?"
Xu Long pressed the watch on his left wrist and spoke.
This set of equipment had been made by the Red Queen. The watch combined functions such as storage, scanning, and searching, and also had a remote communication function with a range of ten kilometers.
The earpiece was used together with the watch, making the setup extremely powerful.
"The T-virus is a fascinating thing. Its greatest characteristic isn't its ability to cause organisms to mutate at random, but its powerful adaptability."
The Red Queen's voice came through the earpiece. "Stay somewhere with fire, and the virus will slowly increase its resistance to heat. Stay somewhere cold, and the virus will slowly increase its resistance to freezing. By the same token, if you're especially eager to evolve in a certain direction, Master, the T-virus will also adjust itself."
"I understand!"
Xu Long nodded, understanding what the Red Queen meant.
The T-virus's greatest characteristic wasn't random mutation, but making wishes come true.
It was just that the threshold for the T-virus was too high, with less than one chance in a hundred million.
Across all the Resident Evil movies and games, Alice was the only person who could meet the threshold.
Others, like Wesker and Alexia, had also retained their original sanity and memories while mutating and evolving, but they had all used methods that amounted to cheating. They were different from Alice, who had met the threshold outright.
Moreover, Xu Long's T-Virus Enhanced Bloodline had undergone the Main God's intervention and was more perfect than Alice's evolution, so it was only natural for it to have the characteristics the Red Queen described.
"How are things on your end?"
Xu Long asked.
"Almost done!"
As soon as the Red Queen finished speaking, a notification sound rang out.
[Hidden mission: 2, bring the Axe Gang under control! Complete! 500 points awarded!]
The Axe Gang was the largest underworld force in Shanghu City. Bringing it under control was the first step; after that came taking control of the entire Shanghu City underworld.
As for how to take it over, all she had to do was kill the Axe Gang's boss, Brother Sum, and then assume his appearance.
The gang business was what the Red Queen had to take care of, while Xu Long had something else to do.
"Remember, forget what happened today. You never saw me, and there were no martial arts manuals."
He handed all the money in his pockets to the old beggar. "Leave Shanghu City at once. If I find out you still haven't left tomorrow..."
"All right, I'll leave right away! Right away!"
Taking the cash from Xu Long, the old beggar didn't waste a word. He turned and ran.
After returning to Pig Sty Alley, Xu Long immediately took out the eight manuals.
Nine Swords of Dugu, Nine Yang Divine Skill, One Yang Finger, Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms, Thousand-Hand Divine Fist, Buddha's Palm, Tai Chi Chuan, and Heartless Sword.
The instructional verses in the first seven manuals were all in ancient Chinese, obscure and difficult, requiring a certain level of proficiency in the language.
But after Xu Long read the general outline of the last manual, he was immediately amused.
Heartless Sword Technique: with no woman in your heart, your sword will be divine the moment you draw it. On the first page of the sword manual, forget the one you love. On the second page, women wound the heart and soul. On the third page, angrily slay your former lover. On the fourth page, slaughter every faithless lover. On the fifth page, enter seclusion and lock the door to your heart. On the sixth page, without women, you will surely surpass the gods.
"What the fuck..."
Xu Long seriously wondered whether Cao Zhengchun or Dongfang Bubai had written this. Just reading the general outline gave him the feeling that its resentment reached the heavens.
But one thing was certain: the creator of this sword technique had definitely been hurt by a woman.
He carefully read through all eight manuals and committed their contents to memory.
To put it plainly, Internal Force was actually a special kind of energy that mixed essence, energy, and spirit. That was why it could improve a practitioner's attack, defense, speed, perception, and so on across the board.
After practicing a round of the moves in the Tai Chi Chuan manual, Xu Long soon sensed a warm current of energy quietly appear and begin circulating continuously along a particular path.
It wasn't that Internal Force was commonplace, but that Xu Long was too strong.
All his attributes had reached the limit for an E-rank reincarnator. Entering an E-Rank World was just bullying people.
Combined with the terrifying adaptability of his T-Virus Enhanced Bloodline, that was what allowed Internal Force to appear within Xu Long's body.
With the aid of Internal Force, Xu Long felt his fist techniques flow more smoothly, and they also had an indescribable quality.
It was as though heaven, earth, and nature were all standing beside him, gently pushing each move and every form from behind like the wind.
"As expected of the foremost internal fist art. It truly lives up to its reputation."
Xu Long sighed in admiration and began to execute the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms.
Fierce and forceful, overbearing, his palms struck like dragons.
Xu struck with one palm, sending explosive force flying. From five or six meters away, it actually overturned a pot of oil.