God-Like Extraction

by Stayrr

“Discovered the corpse of an ordinary human, loot to receive Super-strength Pill, extract?” “Yes!” “Discovered hundred years aged Original Plane corpse, loot to receive Indestructible Golden Body, extract?” “Yes!” “Discovered the Demonic Body of the Hellbound Domination Emperor, loot to receive Sun-swallowing Cerberus, extract?” “Yes!” … Su Jinghang said, “You may not believ

1. 1

God-Like Extraction

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"Discovered the corpse of an ordinary human, loot to receive Super-strength Pill, extract?"

"Yes!"

"Discovered hundred years aged Original Plane corpse, loot to receive Indestructible Golden Body, extract?"

"Yes!"

"Discovered the Demonic Body of the Hellbound Domination Emperor, loot to receive Sun-swallowing Cerberus, extract?"

"Yes!"

…

Su Jinghang said, "You may not believe me, but this invincible power of mine all came from physical labor."

---

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Yu Nation.

Changyang Prefecture, Qinghe City.

…

"Little Su, Little Su, wake up. It's time to work."

Su Jingxing, who was groggy from sleep, heard the call. Rubbing his eyes, he sat up and looked at the big-faced young man beside the bed.

"Already?" he answered subconsciously.

"Yes, there's 15 minutes before our shift starts. Hurry up and go freshen up," said the big-faced young man.

With that said, he gave a funny look and smiled oddly. "Speaking of which, who's 'Wanrong'? Even in your dreams, you were calling out her name. She must be quite the looker, huh?"

"…You were hearing things," said Su Jingxing, yawning as he got out of bed.

"You can continue talking nonsense while I'll go wash up."

"Haha, getting shy?"

Looking pleased, the big-faced youth continued his teasing. "There's nothing to be shy about. I've been there before, the age where you start feeling things towards girls. It's normal to fall for pretty girls. There's no need to feel embarrassed about it, heh…"

"…"

Su Jingxing ignored him.

He put on his clothes and walked into the bathroom.

As he peed, he sighed faintly.

How he wished it was a pretty girl!

Unfortunately, Wanrong…

Or rather, it was Wan Rong!1

Not only was Wan Rong not a girl, he was his enemy.

Well, to be precise, the enemy of the original Su Jingxing!

That's right, Su Jingxing had transmigrated.

His soul had traveled from Earth to a planet known as "Earth Star" and occupied the body of Su Jingxing, who had just died.

Earth Star had its own technology, but unlike Earth, martial arts was everything here.

Powerful martial artists could single-handedly split mountains and part rivers, or even annihilate cities and nations.

Of course, this had nothing to do with the original Su Jingxing.

The original Su Jingxing was just an orphan who grew up in an orphanage.

Three months ago, he turned fifteen—the age required to leave the orphanage—and left for the streets to make a living through manual labor.

His goal was to rent a place of his own—a small house he could call home.

The original Su Jingxing lived frugally and worked hard.

As a result of over-exhaustion, he once fainted on the street while returning from work.

Fortunately, the owner of a small grocery store—Boss Wang—saved him in time.

Boss Wang was a good man; after learning about the original Su Jingxing's situation, he introduced him to a crematorium where few people were willing to stay. There, he was offered the job of a corpse collector, and began moving corpses around all day long.

Although the job required him to deal with corpses, it provided food and accommodation, as well as a monthly salary of a thousand Great Yu dollars. The original Su Jingxing was very satisfied.

Three days ago, after receiving his first month's pay, he excitedly bought a bunch of delicious food on the way back as a present for Boss Wang.

When he reached Boss Wang's store, he discovered to his surprise that a new owner had taken over.

He inquired about the previous owner's whereabouts—and learned that Boss Wang had been killed.

Not only was Boss Wang killed, but his wife and daughter as well.

The one who murdered them was a martial artist named Wan Rong!

The original Su Jingxing was taken aback.

When he got back to the crematorium, he was in a stupor.

As a result, while he was moving a corpse up the stairs, he missed his footing and fell. Death came swiftly when his head hit the ground, and that was when Su Jingxing transmigrated into his body and assumed control.

Even though he died, his obsession did not dissipate.

Kill Wan Rong and avenge Boss Wang!

That was the obsession of the original Su Jingxing.

A favor of a drop of water ought to be repaid with a gushing spring.

The kindness that Boss Wang had shown was enough reason for the original Su Jingxing to pledge vengeance.

But this had nothing to do with Su Jingxing!

Wan Rong was a martial artist; what could an ordinary person like Su Jingxing do to him?

Helplessness was all he could feel.

Yet, there wasn't anything he could do, so Su Jingxing chose to go with the flow.

As a newcomer, he hadn't fully adapted to the situation yet.

The original Su Jingxing was happy with being a corpse collector, but not current Su Jingxing.

On Earth Star, the crematorium had very important functions, and its workers worked shifts all day and night to keep it operating.

When Su Jingxing woke up, it was still dark outside. It was three in the morning, but he had to go to the morgue to move corpses. Just thinking about it made his hair stand on end.

But he had no other choices.

The crematorium had strict rules, and Su Jingxing had already rested in the dormitory for two days, giving the excuse that he had a headache. If he continued to not show up at work, he would definitely get fired.

Getting fired now would mean ending up homeless.

After debating about it at length, he braced himself for work.

At the very least, the big-faced young man was there to keep him company.

The big-faced young man was Kong Dabao, Su Jingxing's roommate-slash-partner.

There were a total of three teams at the Western District Crematorium. Each team consisted of six members, and they worked in groups of two.

Su Jingxing and Kong Dabao were in Group Two of Team One.

…

Earth Star adopted pro-natalist policies, and one could get married at the age of eighteen.

As a result, every region had a large population.

More people meant more conflicts, and correspondingly, more death.

Gang fights, murder for profit, accidental death, illness…

All these led to corpses being transported to the crematorium every day.

Business was booming, and the crematorium remained brightly lit even at three in the morning.

For the sake of convenience, the crematorium's staff dormitory and canteen were less than a hundred meters away from the working area. Luckily, the air was kept clean through special air-purifying techniques.

After a few minutes of walking, Su Jingxing and Kong Dabao arrived at the working area.

In the changing room, the two of them slipped into their work clothes before heading to relieve the previous group. After some additional preparation, they stepped into the morgue.

Kong Dabao led the way, and Su Jingxing tagged behind him. Mechanically, they approached a corpse…

[Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?]

What?

Su Jingxing paused.

For some reason, a notification had popped up in his head.

Could it be…

"What's the matter, Little Su?" asked Kong Dabao, confused by Su Jingxing's inaction.

"Oh, it's nothing."

Putting aside the questions in his mind, Su Jingxing came back to his senses.

Together with Kong Dabao, they loaded a corpse into a bag.

At the crematorium, if the corpse belonged to someone who had relatives, a farewell ceremony would be arranged before the cremation.

Otherwise, they would go straight into the incinerator.

A good example of the latter would be the corpse that lay in Su Jingxing and Kong Dabao's cart, which no one had come forward to identify.

These types of corpses were easier to deal with; they could just load them onto a cart and send them to the incinerator room.

Nothing strange happened during the trip, though there was some exertion involved.

After all, corpses were considerably heavy.

By now, Su Jingxing had grown somewhat comfortable with the job.

It wasn't as scary as he had imagined, and it provided enough for him to settle down temporarily.

In fact, not only was he no longer afraid, he was starting to get interested.

[Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?]

The notification that intruded Su Jingxing's mind stuck with him, all the way until the corpse was inside the incinerator room.

What's going on?

Having put everything together, Su Jingxing had a hunch.

However, he needed to verify it.

And the way to do that was easy—he just had to continue moving corpses!

As he had expected…

[Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?]

[Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?]

…

Every time Su Jingxing got close to a corpse, the same notification popped up in his head.

And once he got further away from the corpse, the notification faded away.

This validated Su Jingxing's assumption; he shared the same trait as all other transmigrators.

He too had some form of a cheat ability!

And it was related to corpses.

"Would you like to extract it?" What exactly was "it" referring to?

Su Jingxing didn't know, but was nonetheless excited.

However, knowing that Kong Dabao was beside him, Su Jingxing suppressed his excitement and did not spill the beans.

If something big were to happen during the extraction process, he would have a hard time talking his way out of it, not to mention the increased risk.

With that in mind, Su Jingxing waited patiently.

It was not until the sun had risen that Kong Dabao headed for the toilet, leaving Su Jingxing alone. Swiftly, he walked into the morgue and stopped before a random body.

[Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?]

"Yes!"

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Chapter 2: He Would Love to Help

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

One minute.

Two minutes.

Three minutes.

…

What's going on?

Su Jingxing frowned.

Five minutes had passed since he replied to the notification, yet nothing had happened.

"Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?" What happened to the things he supposedly "extracted"?

Or was the notification earlier just an illusion?

With flickering eyes, Su Jingxing made his way towards another corpse.

He got a little closer…

[Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?]

Then sprang back and distanced himself from the corpse. The notification vanished.

Again, he got a little closer…

[Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?]

It wasn't an illusion!

The notification was real!

"Yes!" answered Su Jingxing as he reapproached the corpse.

This time, he carefully observed his surroundings and watched out for any potential changes in his body.

Still nothing.

That was when he realized two cards were sitting in his pockets that were originally empty, as though they had popped out of thin air.

"Are these cards what I have extracted?" mused Su Jingxing as he took the cards out of his pocket and examined them.

He had extracted one card from the first corpse…

And another from the second, making it two cards in total.

They looked the exact same; both had light purple as their background color and were roughly the size of a poker card.

A chaotic pattern was printed on the back of the card, and a full-body diagram on its front.

Essence Energy Card!

The words popped up in his mind.

Almost immediately following that, a detailed description of the "Essence Energy Card" formed in his mind.

Essence Energy Card gives "Essence Energy Pill(s)".

Essence Energy Pill: A type of pill that could cleanse one's fatigue, rejuvenate one's energy, and boost one's virility.

Su Jingxing had heard his Team Leader mentioning such pills before. They were originally developed for the use of scientific researchers so that they could strengthen their essence and spirit. However, after they circulated outside, they completely took over the sildenafil market.

This was only to be expected since sildenafil was harmful when taken regularly while Essence Energy Pills had no side effects.

The thing he extracted turned out to be the improved version of sildenafil.

For a moment, Su Jingxing was at a loss of words.

"Hold on!"

If Essence Energy Cards give Essence Energy Pills, what about other cards?

Su Jingxing recalled the notification that accompanied the appearance of the Essence Energy Cards; it did not state anywhere that Essence Energy Cards were the only things he could extract.

Kong Dabao had yet to return, so with these thoughts in mind, Su Jingxing walked up to a few other corpses.

[Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?]

"Yes!"

[Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?]

"Yes!"

…

Walking briskly through the morgue, he extracted every corpse he came across.

As he walked, he took out the cards that materialized inside his pocket and inspected them one by one.

Essence Energy Card, Essence Energy Card, Essence Energy Card…

Most of them were Essence Energy Cards, but there were some others as well.

Strength Enhancement Card!

Strength Enhancement Card gives Strength Pill(s).

Strength Pill: A type of pill that can increase one's strength. Each pill can increase one's strength by ten catties.

Jackpot!

Suppressing his excitement, Su Jingxing stored the cards away. Together with Kong Dabao, who came back from the toilet, they continued moving corpses.

As expected, the cheating ability did not disappoint him.

Even though he couldn't eat all the Essence Energy Pills from Essence Energy Cards by himself, he could sell them for money.

For instance, Gu Bo—the leader of Corpse Collection Team One—was among those who had bought it before.

One Essence Energy Pill could fetch over 300 Great Yu dollars!

Strength Enhancement Card was even better; each pill from it could increase one's strength by ten catties.

Likewise, they did not have any side effects!

Both cards were definitely good stuff.

As to whether there was a third type of card…

Su Jingxing was optimistic. Something in his subconscious told him it had to exist!

On top of that, the key to extracting cards was to get close enough to a corpse, which was perfect for Su Jingxing's current job.

Now, Su Jingxing wouldn't leave even if someone paid him to leave.

The crematorium was great!

In fact, this place was simply amazing.

There were not many opportunities to come into contact with corpses outside.

But over here, corpses would be delivered to his doorstep every day!

Su Jingxing made up his mind—before he was strong enough to protect himself, he wouldn't leave the crematorium no matter what.

…

"Why do you look so happy? Did they put a thousand-year-old ginseng in your food?"

"Why do you look so happy? Did they put a thousand-year-old ginseng in your food?" asked Kong Dabao puzzledly, looking at Su Jingxing's plate that had the exact same content as his. It was afternoon, and they were in the hall of the canteen.

"Cough…" Su Jingxing drew a deep breath to suppress his excitement and grinned. "Nothing, I just thought of something happy."

"What is it? Share the good news with me," pressed Kong Dabao as he munched on his food.

"Well…"

"Hey! There you are!" a cheery voice broke in.

Kong Dabao took a glance at the comer. "What do you want, sleazebag?"

"Don't say that, Brother Bao. Can't I look for you for no reason?" said the comer, shrugging innocently. "Brother Bao, you have to believe me. I…"

"That's enough." Kong Dabao raised his hand to forestall him, and raised his eyebrows. "If there's no reason, you can get out of our sight now. Don't you realize you are interrupting our meal?"

"…"

"Brother Jian, tell me about your problem. I'll definitely lend a helping hand if it's within my capabilities," offered Su Jingxing as he regarded the embarrassed man with a smile.

This man's name was Feng Tiejian, and he was also a member of Team One.

Kong Dabao and Feng Tiejian were both veterans on the Corpse Collecting Team and had worked in the crematorium for more than three years.

They knew each other very well, and it wasn't rare to see them bickering.

Feng Tiejian coughed.

"That's why Little Su is the best. You should work on your bad habit of being impatient, Dabao," riposted Feng Tiejian. Before Kong Dabao could make a comeback, he quickly went on. "The thing is, I have an errand to run in the afternoon, and I can only make it back by around nine in the evening. Can you cover my shift, Little Su?"

"Sure," Su Jingxing replied offhandedly.

Deep down, his heart was full of joy.

He would love to help!

He couldn't wait to move more corpses.

If he got tired, he could always pop an "Essence Energy Pill" and be as fresh as a daisy again.

"Thank you so much," said Feng Tiejian gratefully, not privy to Su Jingxing's thoughts. "You have my gratitude, my good brother. Let's find a day to visit the city. I'll treat you to a feast at the Golden Jade Pavilion!"

"I appreciate the offer, Brother Jian, but you don't have to splurge on me. There's nothing for me to do back in the dormitory anyway," said Su Jingxing, smiling.

Golden Jade Pavilion was one of the finest restaurants in Qinghe City, and one meal there could easily cost over 4,000 Great Yu dollars.

"I insist. It's only natural for me to pay you back for your help. I'm a man of principles," said Feng Tiejian, grinning from ear to ear. He shot a perfunctory glance at Kong Dabao. "Unlike some people who only know how to take and never show any gratitude!

Thud!

Kong Dabao glared at Feng Tiejian and slammed his chopsticks on the table. "You wanna get roughed up, sleazebag?"

"Hey, what got you so riled up? Was it something I did?" asked Feng Tiejian, feigning ignorance.

He gave Su Jingxing a quick wave before Kong Dabao could blow up.

"Alright then, Little Su. I'll be off,"

With that, he scurried towards the canteen exit.

"What a douchebag!" cursed Kong Dabao as he watched Feng Tiejian's back, then shifted his gaze towards Su Jingxing. "Little Su, you don't have to accommodate him. This guy has always been like this. It wasn't this bad in the past, but nowadays he's looking for every opportunity to slack off and fool around. Don't be afraid to turn him down if you don't want to cover his shift. I'll deal with that sleazebag if he dares give you trouble."

"It's fine," said Su Jingxing, smiling. "I meant what I said earlier— I really don't mind covering his shift. But thank you for the concern, Big Brother Dabao."

"Bah, there's nothing to thank me for!" said Kong Dabao, waving his hand dismissively.

Seeing that Su Jingxing was fine with it, he stopped trying to persuade him.

After all, covering a shift wasn't much of a big deal.

…

After lunch, they took a short break.

Then, the two of them continued working together to move corpses.

[Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?]

"Yes!"

[Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?]

"Yes!"

[Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?]

"…"

…

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Chapter 3: A New Card

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Without any disturbance, Su Jingxing spent the following of his days hopping between the dormitory building, the working area, and the canteen.

In order to increase the opportunities of coming into contact with corpses, he covered other members' shifts from time to time.

In just a few days, Su Jingxing had earned the nickname of "Helpful Little Su".

Some people mocked him behind his back, but Su Jingxing couldn't care less.

Only a real fool would reveal such a profitable ability.

[Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?]

"Yes!"

[Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?]

"Yes!"

…

As time passed, his inventory of Essence Energy Cards and Strength Enhancement Cards increased.

The number of pills a card gave varied, ranging anywhere from one to five.

Su Jingxing only consumed a few Essence Energy Pills, but gobbled down every last one of the Strength Pills he acquired.

Every Strength Pill gave ten extra catties of strength.

Furthermore, Strength Pills also had the effect of tempering one's body.

As a result, in just a few days, Su Jingxing not only got stronger, but also became more muscular. He even grew from 1.7 meters to 1.8 meters.

But this wasn't too abnormal, since he was around fifteen—the age where growth spurts happen.

Thus, Su Jingxing's physical changes did not attract much attention.

Even Kong Dabao didn't get suspicious and only teased Su Jingxing, claiming that he would soon become the taller one out of them.

Su Jingxing, who had secretly been building up his strength, simply smiled at those words.

He had been taking Strength Pills for some time now; sure enough, he was growing taller, but that wasn't the most important thing. There was something he was unsure about—his overall physical strength.

He needed answers.

Seizing an opportunity where nobody was around, Su Jingxing entered the dormitory and went into one of the empty rooms in the hall on the first floor. He stopped before a device.

This was a Strength Measuring Device, designed to measure one's physical strength.

Su Jingxing had always wanted to try it, but there were always people around.

Now that he was alone, he clenched his fist and punched at the contact part with all his strength.

Bam!

Swish! Swish! Swish!

With a dull thud, the numbers on the dial of the device began rising rapidly.

When it stopped, the number "818" appeared on the display.

Su Jingxing took a glance, then threw a punch with his other hand.

Bam!

Swish! Swish! Swish!

The numbers on the dial flickered rapidly, ultimately stopping at "936".

"Nice!"

"936 catties on the left, and 818 on the right. If I continue taking Strength Pills, I'll be on the same level as a ninth-grade martial artist soon!"

Su Jingxing drew a deep breath to contain his excitement.

On Earth Star, martial artists were divided into nine grades based on their abilities.

Ninth-grade was the weakest, and first-grade the strongest.

One of the defining features of a ninth-grade martial artist was having over 1000 catties of strength on each arm.

This wasn't hard to achieve for Su Jingxing; all he had to do was take more pills.

However, there was no way for him to become a true ninth-grade martial artist.

To become a ninth-grade martial artist, the foundation that truly mattered was one's internal force, rather than having over 1000 catties of strength.

Internal force was a powerful force that had to be specially cultivated through internal exercises.

On Earth Star, every citizen was required to learn martial arts. However, ordinary people did not have the chance to come into contact with real martial arts.

For instance, in the Yu Nation, ordinary people only had access to one set of basic martial arts—The Thirty-Six Forms of Body Forging.

Even though The Thirty-Six Forms of Body Forging was referred to as martial arts, it was actually closer to a form of exercise.

If ordinary people wanted to cultivate internal force, they had to take other paths.

The first was to get into various martial arts schools by examination, the second was to join sects, and the third was to train at a dojo.

Out of these three paths, entering a martial arts school was the fairest, since talent decided everything.

Talent not only referred to one's aptitude for martial arts, but also one's ability in studying.

The logic behind it was simple; without a certain level of comprehension skills, one could not even understand certain profound martial arts, let alone cultivate them!

The first path was out of the question, since Su Jingxing wasn't gifted and had already dropped out of school.

Similarly, he did not have any illusions about joining a sect.

That was because sects were even more strict when it came to recruiting disciples. They only accepted elites with an outstanding aptitude for martial arts.

Therefore, the last of the three paths was the only viable option for Su Jingxing.

The dojo!

As long as one can afford it, one can learn martial arts from the various dojos in Qinghe City.

By the time he acquires internal force and increases his strength to 10,000 or even 100,000 catties…

Getting revenge on Wan Rong would no longer be a pipe dream!

Thanks to the obsession of the Original Su Jingxing, revenge was never far from Su Jingxing's mind, not even in his dreams.

He had to get rid of this annoyance as soon as possible!

For that, he had to continue moving corpses.

Getting close to corpses meant getting more Essence Energy Pills and Strength Pills, which translates to more money and strength.

What a great spot to be in!

…

[Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?]

"Yes!"

[Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?]

"Yes!"

[Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?]

"Yes!"

…

Extract… Extract… Extract…

Essence Energy Card… Strength Enhancement Card… Essence Energy Card… Strength Enhancement Card…

The days flew by.

Patiently, Su Jingxing accumulated more and more Essence Energy Pills. The strength in both his arms had exceeded 1,000 catties, and was creeping towards 2,000.

However, no new cards came into his possession.

Just when Su Jingxing thought that there were only two types of cards, a new card emerged.

Internal force card!

Based on the card's description, the Internal Force Card he had contained two years of cultivation.

To put it simply, once Su Jingxing uses it, he would immediately gain the same amount of internal force that would have taken a regular martial artist two years to cultivate.

To use it, he just had to stick it in between his eyebrows.

What a pleasant surprise!

Originally, the plan was to resign to fate and continue selling Essence Energy Pills until he had enough money to enroll in a dojo.

This development was beyond his expectations.

His cheat ability had provided him with two years of internal force cultivation, turning Su Jingxing into a real ninth-grade martial artist overnight!

"Hahaha…"

Swelling with uncontainable excitement, Su Jingxing laughed out loud. He had specially come to the back mountains of the crematorium to use the internal force card. A warm energy coursed through his body upon activating the card.

How great it was to immediately acquire internal force!

Even though cultivating martial arts could make one stronger, its process was tedious.

On the other hand, Su Jingxing acquired internal forces without having to cultivate.

If other martial artists knew about this, they would be green with envy.

He figured it would be best for him to keep a low profile.

Cough! Cough!

He coughed a few times to calm himself down.

Previously, all I could extract was Essence Energy Cards and Strength Enhancement Cards. How did I end up getting an Internal Force Card this time? wondered Su Jingxing.

Everything happens for a reason.

If he managed to figure out the reason, he might be able to extract even more new cards!

The thought spurred him into action.

Returning to the crematorium, Su Jingxing got his hands on the corpse records.

The crematorium had strict rules.

The information of every corpse that was sent to the crematorium had to go into the records, whether or not anyone came forward to identify them.

After getting hold of the corpse records, Su Jingxing went through the entries one by one.

It wasn't long before he got his answer.

A martial artist!

The corpse from which he extracted the Internal Force Card belonged to a ninth-grade martial artist!

All of the other corpses he had encountered so far belonged to ordinary people.

The deciding factor was that the corpse belonged to a martial artist!

That makes sense since internal force only forms in the body of martial artists.

If I'm right, my cheat ability allows me to somehow extract a person's past possessions from their corpses …

Hey, wait a minute!

Su Jingxing's eyes lit up.

If I can extract the internal force of a martial artist from their corpse, can I also extract the secret martial arts manuals they practiced?

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Chapter 4: Within Seven Steps, All Enemies Shall Drop Dead!

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

This was highly probable!

Everyone has essence energy and strength.

What martial artists had and ordinary people didn't was internal force and martial arts.

If he could extract a corpse's internal force, then he should be able to do the same with martial arts!

Su Jingxing's breathing intensified at the thought.

If he could obtain a couple of secret martial arts manuals directly through the corpses, it would save him a lot of trouble.

It's time to get those corpses moved!

However, he would have to shift his focus to corpses of martial artists, since they held the most value.

Oh, how good it was to be a martial artist, to be highly sought-after in life and in death!

…

The plan was great.

But things didn't work out the way Su Jingxing wanted them to.

For the next week, he toiled away at moving corpses without skipping a single day.

The corpses yielded mostly Essence Energy Cards and Strength Enhancement Cards.

Essence Energy Pills and Vigor Pills were daily loots for Su Jingxing.

However, the secret martial arts manual he hungered for remained elusive.

That's right, it eluded him, despite the fact that there had been corpses of martial artists.

For the past week, Su Jingxing had been keeping an eye out for martial artist corpses. Whenever one of these was sent to the crematorium, he would search for an opportunity to get close and extract a card from it.

Unfortunately, among three martial artist corpses, the first two only gave Strength Enhancement Cards, yielding a total of seven Strength Pills.

Finally, when he was at the third corpse, he extracted an Internal Force Card.

To make matters worse, the Internal Force Card only contained three months' worth of internal force cultivation.

This paled in comparison to the first Internal Force Card he got, which had contained a whole two years.

There was also no trace of any secret martial arts manual.

Su Jingxing mulled over this.

He had learned something from these three corpses; not every martial artist corpse gave Internal Force Cards.

Only one fact was certain: Internal Force Cards only came from martial artist corpses, but not all martial artist corpses gave Internal Force Cards!

If Internal Force Cards are already this rare, then isn't it normal for secret martial arts manuals to be even rarer?

After arriving at this conclusion, Su Jingxing slowly curbed his impatience.

And so, he continued toiling away at the crematorium as he did before.

This went on until one afternoon; as he was relieving the morning shift, he heard someone talking sympathetically about the death of an eighth-grade martial artist. Almost acting on instinct, Su Jingxing made his way to the hall where farewell ceremonies were held. When he got close enough to the eighth-grade martial artist's corpse, he managed to extract a new card.

A skill card!

Walking out of the farewell ceremony hall, he went to a corner and took out the card to examine it. When he saw the description of the card, he almost fainted from excitement.

Seven Steps Fist.

It was a secret martial arts manual! The Skill Card contained a secret martial arts manual!

He finally got one!

Such was the way serendipity worked.

Seven Steps Fist—a fist technique that was supplemented by footwork.

It wasn't an advanced technique, but still decently strong once mastered.

The name of the technique was representative of its main feature.

Seven steps!

Every level was separated by a step, and each level differed greatly in terms of difficulty.

At the highest level, all enemies would drop dead by the time the practitioner takes seven steps.

In a way, the power of this fist technique could increase endlessly.

Taking Su Jingxing as an example, the strength of each of his arms currently exceeds two thousand catties.

If he could cultivate the Seven Steps Fist to the highest level, he would be able to unleash 14,000 catties of strength by the time he takes seven steps!

That amount of power was enough to wound or even kill a seventh-grade martial artist, let alone a ninth-grade one.

To become a ninth-grade martial artist, one needed to generate internal force and have arms that both exceeded 1000 catties of strength.

To become an eighth-grade martial artist, one needed to exude internal forces and have arms that both exceeded 3000 catties of strength.

To become a seventh-grade martial artist, one needed to be able to converge their internal force to one spot and open up their dantian. Both of their arms should exceed 10,000 catties of strength.

If a seventh-grade martial artist was caught off guard and struck by 14,000 catties of mighty strength, they would be left crippled even if they managed to survive.

From this, one could see the power of the Seven Steps Fist.

Su Jingxing had to take a few deep breaths to contain his excitement, before he stuck the card in between his eyebrows.

As soon as he unlocked the card, every bit of information regarding the Seven Steps Fist was engraved into his mind.

There was no need to worry about getting it wrong or failing to comprehend it.

The particularity of Skill Cards was that they allowed Su Jingxing to immediately know how to cultivate the technique and make breakthroughs as soon as he absorbed the card's information.

However, he couldn't master the fist technique instantaneously like how he acquired internal force.

Still, it saved him a lot of trouble by letting him learn the ropes immediately.

It was like that adage: The master leads his disciples onto the right path, but how far one can go depends on themselves.

The skill card taught Su Jingxing how to practice the technique, but the level of mastery he could achieve in the future depended on his own actions.

Would he give up halfway because the training was too tedious and tiring?

Or would he remain focused on his goals and persevere to the end?

Su Jingxing, who had hungered for secret martial arts manuals for the longest time, obviously chose the second option.

He still had a score to settle with Wan Rong, his "mortal enemy".

But before that, he should find out more about the practitioner of the Seven Steps Fist.

In Qinghe City, an eighth-grade martial artist could be considered to be quite capable.

It would indeed be a pity if such a person had died from an accident.

Of course—

The reason why Su Jingxing wanted to find out his identity was to learn more about the origin of the Seven Steps Fist.

On Earth Star, most secret martial art manuals had a traceable origin.

Due to various reasons, secret martial arts manuals were controlled by a few people.

These people strictly guarded the secret martial arts manuals. If they discovered that someone had secretly practiced them, they would either rob them of their cultivation or cripple them, and in worse cases, silence them.

Therefore, it was very important to learn the origins of the Seven Steps Fist!

…

Su Jingxing returned to the farewell ceremony hall.

Using his identity as a crematorium staff member, Su Jingxing checked the deceased's identity.

Wei Zhongting!

That was the name of this eighth-grade martial artist.

After leafing through the information, he left quietly.

Deep down, Su Jingxing heaved a sigh of relief.

Wei Zhongting, who had just turned 40 this year, owned a martial arts dojo.

Seven Steps Fist was his heirloom technique.

More than ten years ago, the Wei Family's dojo once had its time in the sun.

The reason was that Wei Zhongting's late father was a sixth-grade martial artist, and was considered a powerful figure in the western region of Qinghe City who enjoyed great fame.

He had cultivated the Seven Steps Fist to the highest level and was unrivaled in the Qinghe City.

Unfortunately, he died from an illness.

His death put an end to the Wei Family's prestige.

Wei Zhongting, who had inherited the dojo, was only average in terms of aptitude for martial arts.

He had expended a lot of energy and financial resources to barely break through to the eighth-grade. Having cultivated his family's ultimate heirloom technique—the Seven Steps Fist—to the Advanced level (but not the highest), he barely managed to preserve the Wei Family's dojo.

As for the cause of his death, it was because he was too eager for progress and suffered from a qi deviation.

Su Jingxing learned some new information from the conversations of farewell ceremony attendees: The Wei Family's dojo had been in a precarious position.

The Wei family's assets were being both openly and secretly coveted.

This caused Wei Zhongting to panic and make a mistake during cultivation, ultimately dying from qi deviation.

Now that Wei Zhongting was gone, the Wei family was on thinner ice.

Of course—

These had nothing to do with Su Jingxing.

Had he been a sixth-grade martial artist, he wouldn't mind secretly lending a helping hand as a token of gratitude for the Seven Steps Fist.

Unfortunately, he wasn't even an eighth-grade martial artist.

There weren't any problems with the origin of Seven Steps Fist; many people had practiced it at the Wei Family's dojo.

Practicing it shouldn't give Su Jingxing any future trouble.

…

At night, past work hours.

Su Jingxing made up an excuse so that he could go out, then headed straight to the back mountain of the crematorium.

He stuffed an Essence Energy Pill into his mouth to get rid of his fatigue and slowly started practicing the Seven Steps Fist.

Tap!

…

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Tap!

Tap!

Gripping the ground with his feet, he stepped forward, backward, left, then right…

His body followed his mind, and his mind obeyed his will.

As he clenched his fist, he shifted his steps and punched forward repeatedly!

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

A series of fist winds were produced, slow at first but getting faster.

They followed Su Jingxing's movements, whirling, sweeping up sand, and sometimes petering out into wisps of internal force and dissipating into the air.

The philosophy of Seven Steps Fist dictated that footwork and fist techniques were of equal importance.

When used in conjunction, they complemented each other to maximize the power of the technique.

The technique—designed to help one dodge and move about quickly—required one to take a step at a time.

If one were to go completely on the offensive and take multiple steps consecutively, the difficulty would keep on increasing due to the additional footwork required.

After familiarizing himself with every move of the fist technique, Su Jingxing tried to launch an attack. Unidirectionally, he moved forward on continuous footwork and punched.

In the end…

Plop!

As though he had walked into a thick trunk, he lost his balance and fell to the ground.

The attempt failed!

If he wanted to take two steps at once, he might have to attempt the breakthrough a gazillion times.

When encountering such barriers during technique cultivation, one could only rely on themselves to make the breakthrough.

One had to try repeatedly, even if it meant having their internal force and power twisted into one.

Forceful attempts at breaking through would not only harm the body, but also the mind.

Of course, Su Jingxing wouldn't want that.

If one time didn't work, he would try two times. If two times didn't work, then he would try three times…

Time passed by as Su Jingxing continued his attempts.

So engrossed he was in practicing martial arts that he forgot to return to the dormitory.

He only realized the night was over when morning light emerged.

"It's dawn already?"

Su Jingxing stopped practicing and swiped at the sweat on his face.

Even after a whole night of labor and martial arts practice, he was not tired in the least.

Needless to say, the Essence Energy Pills had been very effective.

Big Brother Dabao will surely tease me for not being back all night.

As Su Jingxing walked down the mountain, he thought about moving out of the dormitory.

He was sitting on over 200 Essence Energy Pills, which was enough to fetch a handsome sum on the black market.

The way things stood, living in the dormitory was starting to prove inconvenient.

He made up his mind; he would visit the black market that night to sell his wares.

…

Su Jingxing mulled over the thought until he reached the dormitory.

To his surprise, Kong Dabao was out at this time in the morning.

Without dwelling on the thought, Su Jingxing picked up a towel and a basin before making his way to the public bath, where he took a shower.

After returning to his room, he slipped into a fresh set of clothes and headed for the canteen.

He was famished after a night of martial arts practice.

Su Jingxing had three servings of breakfast before getting up and leaving the canteen.

It was his day off, but by force of habit, Su Jingxing headed for the working area to see if he could cover anyone's shift.

In a sense, he was the most dedicated worker among the dozens of workers in the crematorium!

…

"Hey, Little Su, do you happen to be free later?"

Someone called out to him as soon as he stepped into the working area.

He turned to find Team Leader Gu Bo waving at him from a short distance away.

"Absolutely. I'm always free," answered Su Jingxing, walking up to Gu Bo in brisk steps. "Is there a shift that needs covering, Team Leader Gu?

"Heh, you addicted to covering shifts or something, kiddo?"

Gu Bo was a man of large build in his primes. He was 35-years-old but could easily pass for 27. His square face was well-defined and bore a resolute expression. He wasn't exactly handsome, but he had a manly aura and was right up the alley for certain older women.

"Nah, I'm just bored," said Su Jingxing, laughing drily.

Not like he could tell him about the benefits he could reap from getting close to corpses.

"You are a funny guy," said Gu Bo, breaking out into a laugh. He then motioned at Su Jingxing. "Come, we'll talk as we walk."

He started walking ahead.

Su Jingxing followed.

"Little Su, you might think I'm talking too much, but let me tell you this—right now, you are at the perfect age for learning. It doesn't matter what you learn—there's no harm in picking up a thing or two," said Gu Bo as he walked.

"Unlike me. It's too late for me to learn anything."

"Now that I'm old, my brain is all rusty, and manual labor is all I could do to make a living."

"If you don't learn new things, you could even end up like Feng Tiejian—he really lives up to his nickname of 'sleazebag'. There's no hope for him now."

"When he just came here, he still had the sense to save his money. Nowadays, all he thinks about is fooling around with women."

"It's okay if he ends up marrying one of them, but he's never content with just one woman. "

"You must not end up like him, Little Su…"

He never stopped rambling along the way.

Su Jingxing wasn't in a position to refute, so he only nodded or uttered an affirmation every now and then.

After a few months of interaction with the other team members, he was already familiar with their personalities.

Team Leader Gu Bo was a forthright man, but also a chatterbox.

Once he found a topic, he could keep the conversation going all by himself.

After his transmigration, Su Jingxing had pretty much learned everything about the Original Su Jingxing from Gu Bo.

In time, Su Jingxing got used to it.

This time, Gu Bo did not ask him to step in for anyone. Instead, he was asked to assist Gu Bo with retrieving some bodies from Forestry Town, a town that was a dozen of lis west to Qinghe City.

It was a field mission!

Most of the bodies that arrived at the crematorium had been delivered there, but some of them had to be retrieved by Su Jingxing and the other members of the Corpse Collection Teams.

Su Jingxing had already been on such field missions several times.

However, all the previous trips had been within the city. The location this time was not only outside the city, but all the way over at Forestry Town.

This was the first time Su Jingxing had left the city after his transmigration

Forestry Town, as its name suggested, was a town that managed a forestry station.

In the Yu Nation, the smallest administrative division unit was "town" and not "village".

These towns did not function purely as residential areas. Instead, they each specialized in an area that provided necessary products for the cities. They were functional towns.

Forestry Town, for instance, was responsible for providing timber, rare mountain-exclusive cooking ingredients, herbs, and other things for Qinghe City.

There were also Farm Towns, Fishing Towns, Mining Towns…

Every day, there would be trucks going back and forth between these towns and Qinghe City.

A corpse transportation truck had been arranged for Su Jingxing and Gu Bo on their way there.

Gu Bo drove while Su Jingxing took the ride.

The two of them chatted as the truck moved steadily across a dozen lis of mountain road. Soon, they arrived at Forestry Town.

After entering the town, they got in contact with the person who called them—a manager named Zhou Hongsong.

Zhou Hongsong guided the two of them to an empty cabin where the corpses were stored.

"Thank you for the help, Team Leader Gu. The corpses are all here," said Zhou Hongsong with a sad look on his face. He pointed at the ten corpses lying in a row on the ground and sighed. "Please do what you have to. I'll call for the relatives of the deceased."

"Alright," replied Gu Bo.

"I'll be right back," said Zhou Hongsong.

He nodded at Su Jingxing, before turning away to carry out his task.

When he was far away, Su Jingxing carefully inspected the ten corpses on the ground and sighed. "What a tragic way to go. They didn't even get to die in one piece. As compared to them, our lives as Corpse Collectors almost seem too good to be true."

The ten corpses belonged to members of the Forestry Town Mountain Patrol Team. They had left for the mountains the day before yesterday, and hadn't returned since.

Earlier that morning, Forestry Town had sent out a search team, who found what remained of their corpses.

After piecing the remnants together, the death of all ten people was confirmed, and blamed on fierce beasts residing in the mountains.

"Tragic indeed," said Gu Bo with a hint of suspicion in his voice.

Sensing that Gu Bo had more to say, Su Jingxing looked up at him quizzically. "Is something the matter, Team Leader Gu?"

"Well, I don't think this was the work of beasts."

…

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"It wasn't the beasts?" asked Su Jingxing, stunned.

A memory stirred within him. "Team Leader Gu, are you saying that the barbarians were behind this?"

Humans were not the sole ruler on Earth Star.

A powerful race existed alongside humanity.

Barbarians!

Unlike humans, barbarians were bloodthirsty savages.

They were brawny, large beings that were at least three meters tall. Their skin and flesh were tough as leather, and their strength exceeded a thousand catties.

That means, once barbarians reached adulthood, they would be equivalent to a ninth-grade martial artist.

Due to their powerful strength and bloodthirsty nature, barbarians never stopped attacking humanity.

For thousands of years, the war between humans and barbarians never ceased.

Before the modern era, humans suffered more defeats than victories.

In recent times, with the advancement of firearms, humans gradually gained the upper hand and chased the barbarians into the Boundless Mountain Range.

To keep the barbarians away, the nations erected sturdy walls and gates along the edges of the mountains.

Therefore, barbarians showing up in the forest of Forestry Town would be a major—and frightening—happening.

Whether it was the impact or the aftermath, it was not something a small team leader like Gu Bo could handle.

Gu Bo wasn't stupid, and he knew the gravity of the matter.

As soon as Su Jingxing finished his words, he immediately denied it. "No, it's not the barbarians."

"Glad to hear that," said Su Jingxing, heaving a sigh of relief. "If neither beasts nor barbarians did this, is there a chance that a powerful martial artist had killed them?"

[Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?]

"Yes!"

[Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?]

"Yes!"

…

Su Jingxing extracted a card from every corpse, making it ten in total.

"It's possible," said Gu Bo pensively.

He thought for a moment and continued. "Little Su, go and get the head of the forestry station and the Security Team leader. I must speak with them."

"Got it," replied Su Jingxing. Without asking any questions, he turned around, walked out of the cabin, and went on his way.

Despite it being his first time here, he managed to locate the two prominent figures in the town after some asking around.

To his surprise, the leader of the Security Team—who was also the second most important figure in the forestry station—was actually cultivating in seclusion.

No one dared to disturb him, despite the gravity of the issue—for goodness sake, the entire patrol team had been killed!

There were guards stationed outside the secluded cultivation room, and Su Jingxing wasn't allowed to go in, so he decided that giving up was the best option.

He turned around to look for the head of the forestry station. However, when he found him, he was met with apathy.

"Aiya, all you have to do is take the bodies away. What's there to talk about?" said the head of the Forestry Station. His belly protruded, and his face shone with grease. "Go back and tell your team leader to look for Zhou Hongsong if he wants to talk. I'm too busy to entertain you. Run along now, child."

"Are you sure that's okay, Head Wang?" asked Su Jingxing. He then continued in a matter-of-fact, but polite tone. "Team Leader Gu thinks that the members of the Mountain Patrol Team had been killed by people, not ferocious beasts. If his speculation proves true and the murderer gets caught after a thorough investigation, wouldn't it reflect badly on you?

"I…"

Head Wang's expression changed. From the corner of his eye, he glanced at a few others around him and squeezed out a smile. "Oh silly me! I had been so occupied with work I couldn't think straight. Yes, yes, you're absolutely right. This matter requires cautious handling. I will get to the bottom of this and mete out justice, for the sake of the victims."

With an effort, he propped himself up against the table and rose from the sofa. With his big belly sticking out, he gestured at his lackeys. "The few of you, come with me. We must find out the truth."

"Yes, boss," answered the few office staff in unison.

Su Jingxing smiled surreptitiously at the sight.

Without another word, he turned around to lead the way.

They left the administration building and headed straight for the cabin that stored the corpses.

They traveled slowly—mainly because the Forestry Station Head was too fat.

There was no point for Su Jingxing to walk fast alone.

Slowly, they crossed two streets.

As they were about to reach their destination, they heard a commotion.

Su Jingxing faintly heard Team Leader Gu's voice. Subconsciously, he picked up his pace.

After taking a few quick steps forward, he saw that the once empty cabin was now surrounded by people.

The sound of Gu Bo arguing with someone emanated from the cabin.

Su Jingxing sped up as he listened in.

"Excuse me, please make way. I'm from the Corpse Collection Team. Please make way."

Su Jingxing jostled through the crowd. When he was at the cabin door, he saw the identity of the person that was arguing with Gu Bo.

It was Zhou Hongsong!

With a furious look on his face, the manager who received them earlier was coming down harshly on Team Leader Gu. "Team Leader Gu, you're the leader of the crematorium's Corpse Collection Team, not the leader of our Security Team! We've already carried out the autopsy, and we don't need you to do it again! Please fulfill your own duties and don't poke your nose into matters that don't concern you!"

"I'm doing this precisely because I want to fulfill my duties!"

Livid, Gu Bo continued in a deep voice. "You're right. I'm only the leader of the crematorium's Corpse Collection Team, not the Security Team. But because of that, I've seen more corpses than the leader of the Security Team!"

"And you are proud of it?" said Zhou Hongsong mockingly.

"No, my point is, I've been in this line for more than ten years and have seen all kinds of corpses. I may not always be right, but I can tell what caused the wounds on a corpse nine out of ten times."

Gu Bo paused and pointed at the ten corpses on the ground. "Take a look at their corpses, for instance. These wounds were clearly not caused by beasts!"

"What caused it then?"

Head Wang's voice emerged from the crowd of spectators.

"Make way, don't crowd at the door."

A path opened up as the office staff members cleared out the crowd.

Clomping towards the door, Head Wang took a quick glance at the corpses on the ground and swiftly retracted his gaze. Then, he looked at Gu Bo and said sternly, "Go on. What caused these wounds?"

"Team Leader Gu, this is the head of the Forestry Station." Su Jingxing offered a well-timed introduction. "The leader of the Security Team couldn't come because he's cultivating in seclusion."

"Cultivating in seclusion?"

Gu Bo's face flushed with anger. "How could he be practicing in seclusion at a time like this!"

Hmm?

Su Jingxing was taken aback; Gu Bo's reaction clearly wasn't normal.

Even the spectators could tell as much.

Gu Bo's reaction was somewhat over the top, despite the matter at hand being the complete annihilation of the Mountain Patrol Team.

"Cut the crap," snapped Head Wang with an impatient wave. "Forget about other people. I'm the head of the forestry station. You can report your findings to me, and if there is a problem, I promise to investigate till the end!"

"I agree with you, Head Wang, but I dare say this fellow is deliberately stirring up trouble!" said Zhou Hongsong with a livid look on his face.

He pointed at the corpses on the ground. "They are already in such a state, yet you refuse to let them rest in peace. What do you mean by a second autopsy? Do you not have any respect for the dead? Don't you understand how much of an insult it is for the dead to go through another autopsy?" he said with great sorrow and indignation.

"Yeah, Corpse Collection Team Leader my ass! Get the hell out of here! I'll send my brother's corpse over to the crematorium by myself!"

"Scram! You think you are a big-shot because you work at the crematorium?"

"…"

Curses of indignation rose from the relatives of the deceased who were crowding at the door.

"Team Leader…" said Su Jingxing as he walked up to Gu Bo.

"There's nothing to be afraid of," reassured Gu Bo.

"I'm not…"

"Shut up, all of you!

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Chapter 7: From Another World

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

A bellow reminiscent of clashing metal erupted.

Everyone inside and outside of the cabin went quiet. Their ears rang incessantly as the color went out of their faces.

An expert!

Taken aback, Su Jingxing turned to look outside the door.

The comer was muscular, but not particularly tall—he was standing at about 1.7 meters tall.

He donned an ordinary martial arts suit, and a long saber dangled from his waist.

As he walked, his aura was stable and converged.

His facial features were ordinary, but his eyes were intimidating, and his gaze was as sharp as blades. No one dared to look him in the eye.

"Hello, Team Leader Wu."

"We have been waiting for you, Team Leader Wu."

"…"

Without any encouragement, the crowd that had converged outside the door made way for the comer.

Everyone—regardless of gender— wore ingratiating smiles as they regarded the comer with fear and admiration.

Wu Anxun!

He was the leader of Forestry Town's Security Team, and a seventh-grade expert!

Unlike the obese Forestry Station Head, Wu Anxun was the true stabilizing force of Forest Town—the guardian of tens of thousands of mous of forests.

When Su Jingxing went to find him earlier, he was told that Wu Anxun was still cultivating in seclusion.

To his surprise, Wu Anxun had now shown up on his own.

…

As soon as Wu Anxun appeared, everyone's gaze immediately fell on him.

Wu Anxun had a piercing gaze and a sullen expression. Before he even stepped into the cabin, Head Wang rushed to greet him ingratiatingly. "Younger brother Wu, have you come out of seclusion? Sigh. I'm so sorry that this trivial matter ended up disrupting your cultivation."

Su Jingxing and the rest of the crowd watched them in silence.

Without a doubt, Head Wang was a man who knew when to bow his head.

Even though Wu Anxun was in charge of everything in town—except the security team—people did not look down at him for groveling to a seventh-grade martial artist, since he was only an ordinary person.

"Are you the one stirring up trouble?"

Wu Anxun ignored Head Wang and turned his cold gaze on Gu Bo.

"I… I wasn't stirring up trouble," said Gu Bo with audible nervousness.

The pressure exerted by Wu Anxun was way stronger than the likes of Zhou Hongsong and Head Wang.

As though to encourage himself, Gu Bo swallowed some spit.

"I just thought the wounds on these corpses looked strange," he said, trying his best to maintain composure.

He then walked over to the nearest corpse, squatted down, and pointed to the curled part of the winding sheet—beneath that lay exposed two chunks of dead flesh that had been pieced together. Gu Bo's face grew solemn. "Team Leader Wu, please take a look at the point of traumatic amputation and tell us, whether you think this was caused by the fangs of beasts, or the impact of weapons!"

Frowning, Wu Anxun took a few steps forward and studied the point of traumatic amputation.

Suddenly, his expression changed. Dashing forward, he flung off the entire sheet.

"Ah!"

The crowd at the door shrieked and backed away.

This reaction was provoked by the sight of the corpse which was now exposed to full view; over ten pieces of cut-up human flesh had been badly put together to somewhat resemble a human.

This wasn't their first time seeing the horrific sight, but they were terrified nonetheless.

What a dreadful scene!

Had Su Jingxing not been around so many corpses lately, he would not have dared to look at it either.

However, he was more curious about Wu Anxun's reaction than the terrible state of the corpses.

At this moment, the seventh-grade expert's face was ashen, and his piercing eyes seemed as though they were literally about to shoot daggers.

Swish!

After scanning the corpse, he suddenly took a step forward and stripped the winding sheet off another corpse.

Then, without stopping, he exposed the other corpses.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

In a moment's time, he had removed all the winding sheets from the corpses.

Ten incomplete corpses lay exposed in the air.

Wu Anxun, face ashen, scrutinized them one by one.

During this process, not a single person inside or outside the room spoke, and they silently waited for Wu Anxun to finish his inspection.

Su Jingxing was also waiting for the result.

Unexpectedly, from the corner of his eye, he noticed that Zhou Hongsong's body was trembling violently.

What's going on?

"Is he afraid of something?"

Stunned at first, Su Jingxing then fell into deep thought.

After Wu Anxun finished examining all the corpses, Gu Bo broke the silence with a soft cough. "What do you think, Team Leader Wu? Was it the work of 'Corpse Puppets'?"

Corpse puppets?

After freezing for a moment, Su Jingxing's expression changed drastically. "Are you serious, Team Leader Gu?"

The people outside the room were also in an uproar.

"What? Corpse Puppets? Really?"

"Impossible. No one from our town ever died in the wilds, so how could there be Corpse Puppets?"

"I don't buy it either! It couldn't have been a Corpse Puppet!"

"Team Leader Wu, is what he said true?"

"…"

The crowd was in a mess, with people shouting and yelling non-stop.

Intense fear was written on their faces.

Corpse puppets!

The meaning of those words was certainly not to be taken lightly, for it hinted at something even scarier.

Extraterrestrial Devil Insect!

To be precise, it was a type of Extraterrestrial Devil Insect named "Corpse-raising Insect".

About eighty years ago, a group of extraterrestrial visitors invaded Earth Star.

They were known as 'devil insects'!

These insects of various species had differing abilities, but what they shared in common were terrifying lethality and destructive power. Ever since they landed on Earth Star, they have managed to stir up a series of disasters.

Among them was the Corpse-raising Insect.

Humans named them as such because of the ability they possessed—

their eggs could burrow into and assume control of human corpses, causing them to rise from the dead as corpse puppets!

These puppets were incredibly powerful.

Their dead flesh could not be pierced by swords and spears, their sharp claws contained immense power, and their speed when running matched that of a cheetah. Moreover, these beings were even more savage than barbarians.

If an ordinary person encountered one of these, they were as good as dead.

In a one-on-one scenario, even a ninth-grade martial artist had to flee.

Only eighth-grade martial artists could barely contend against it.

After arriving on the Earth Star, 'Corpse-raising Insects' relied on this ability to quickly bring about countless bloodbaths, and there were many cases where whole cities got wiped out by Corpse Puppets.

Against tens of thousands of Corpse Puppets, even a first-grade martial artist had to run away with his tails between his legs.

The terror of Corpse Puppets eventually forced human nations to dig up corpses from underground and burn them into ashes.

Every corpse was to be incinerated, and there were no exceptions.

As a result, the crematorium became an important official department overnight.

Every city needed it to function.

Under the strict laws of the nations on Earth Star, anyone who died must be sent to the crematorium to be cremated!

Anyone who performed cremations in private would face harsh punishments if discovered.

In the early days when the law was just implemented, many people wishfully thought that the eggs wouldn't always be able to seek out the bodies. Thus, they burned dead cattle and passed the resultant ashes for human ashes, then secretly buried the human corpses that were still intact.

In the end, Corpse-raising Insect Eggs sought out every last one of them.

No one knew how they found the bodies, or why they targeted human corpses exclusively.

All people saw was Corpse Puppets crawling out from underground and going on massacres.

If the ten-man Mountain Patrol Team of Forestry Town really died to a "Corpse Puppet", it meant that someone had died recently and was secretly buried underground!

Who could it have been?

…

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Chapter 8: Another New Card

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Everyone in and out of the cabin looked towards Wu Anxun anxiously, hoping he would rebut the theory.

Unfortunately…

"It's true," said Wu Anxun, his face livid. His next words boomed out through gritted teeth. "I wonder which sh*thead buried a corpse outside!"

Hum-

The throng was in an uproar.

"Corpse Puppets exist?!"

"But how? How could it have happened?"

"Who did it? Who did this?!"

"…"

Anger, fear, and unease filled the air.

No one doubted Wu Anxun's words.

There wasn't a point in telling a lie that would get exposed in no time.

Once Corpse Puppets appeared, they had to be eliminated. Otherwise, the minced remains of the patrol team that lay in the cabin would only be the beginning of a plethora of deaths.

Should they escape?

But Forestry Town was their home, and they had nowhere to go in the cities.

Sure, they could give up everything and pack up for the cities; but that would mean starting all over again.

Moreover, now that there was a Corpse Puppet breakout, there was no way the authorities wouldn't intervene. They would surely send experts over to exterminate these things.

Even before that, Wu Anxun would conduct a raid on them.

He was the leader of the Security Team—the man responsible for all security-related cases.

Therefore, despite the turmoil, everyone's gaze fell on Wu Anxun from time to time, waiting for his next move.

The wait wasn't long; once his rage subsided, Wu Anxun jumped into action.

"Old Wang, run a check on everyone in the town right away. Make sure to find the dead before noon!"

"Understood!" answered Head Wang solemnly with a thrust of his big belly.

With that, he turned, left through the door, and ordered the staff members to get moving.

The crowd dispersed as well, running homebound to spread the word.

Corpse Puppets appearing in the woods was an emergency that had to be broadcasted to the entire town, so as to prevent anyone from entering the woods again.

There were more than five thousand residents in Forestry Town—a town with its own schools, supermarkets, hospitals, and amusement parks…

Identifying the missing person wasn't a difficult task.

Of course, this was merely the first step. Wu Anxun's next move was to order the security team to retrieve heavy firepower.

Ordinary firearms could barely tickle Corpse Puppets.

Every member on the patrol team that entered the mountains was equipped with firearms, and they were led by a ninth-grade martial artist.

Even so, they got completely wiped out and returned in pieces.

As for the third step, Wu Anxun ordered people to collect the blood of livestock as bait for the Corpse Puppets.

Corpse puppets were especially sensitive to blood; even from several lis away, they could smell it and speedily rush over.

The fourth step should have been reporting the matter to Qinghe City, which Wu Anxun seemed to have forgotten.

After giving the first three orders, he squatted down and gazed at the ten corpses in silence.

Su Jingxing was curious, but knew enough to keep his mouth shut.

Along with Gu Bo, they took down the particulars of corpses' owners.

When they were done, they went to a corner outside the house for a break.

"You ever seen any of those Corpse Puppets, Team Leader Gu?" asked Su Jingxing.

"Nah," said Gu Bo, shaking his head. He lit a cigarette and exhaled. "You think I'd be standing here if I ever saw one?"

"Well, I was just curious," said Su Jingxing with a dry laugh. "Everyone thought they were killed by beasts, but you could tell it was done by Corpse Puppets at a glance. I dare say that there aren't many in this city that can match your level of insight. You can totally be a consultant for the security team!"

"Stop buttering me up," said Gu Bo irritably, puffing out a ring of smoke. "I've never seen a Corpse Puppet before, but I've seen what they did to their victims. Loads of them. That was over ten years ago, before I even came to Qinghe City."

"Laugh all you want, but that's the very reason I came here," said Gu Bo with a sigh.

"It's all in the past. We should always look ahead," comforted Su Jingxing. Feigning excitement, he pressed the topic. "Tell me the secret, Team Leader Gu. Beast wounds and Corpse Puppets wounds—what's the difference?"

"Well…" Gu Bo thought for a while, and rose." It's hard to explain in words. Follow me into the cabin and I'll explain based on the wound."

"But Team Leader Wu's still inside," reminded Su Jingxing.

"It's fine," said Gu Bo, tossing his cigarette butt. "Let's just keep our volume down."

"Besides, we have to talk to Team Leader Wu and see whether he wants us to bring these ten corpses back."

"Huh? Isn't it a must to bring them back to the crematorium?" asked Su Jingxing, puzzled.

"There are exceptions to everything—special circumstances," explained Gu Bo, walking. "And this is one of them. Even though these corpses are all minced up, they have been out there in the mountains for a day and a night. No one can guarantee the Corpse-raising Insects hasn't spawned in them. If there are eggs in them and we bring them back to the crematorium, they will burrow their way into the other corpses. What do you think is gonna happen then?"

Su Jingxing said nothing.

Bringing Corpse-raising Insect eggs into the morgue of the crematorium would no doubt lead to a catastrophe!

Given that these corpses could create new Corpse Puppets, the right thing to do was to burn them on the spot.

The two chatted as they returned to the cabin.

Wu Anxun was still squatting on the ground, gazing silently at the corpses.

Su Jingxing and Gu Bo called out to him, sotto voce. There was no response, but that didn't bother them.

Starting from a corpse on the far end, Gu Bo pointed at its wound and explained the nuances in a low voice.

These were useful and practical knowledge, so Su Jingxing listened closely and memorized everything.

When Gu Bo was done explaining, the investigation was still underway.

Su Jingxing made an excuse to visit the bathroom.

In a cubicle, he took out the ten cards he extracted earlier and inspected them.

Five Essence Energy Cards, three Strength Enhancement Cards, one Internal Force Card, and one Requiem Card.

Another new card!

Requiem—a Mass for the repose of the souls of the dead?

Pleasantly surprised, Su Jingxing picked up the Requiem Card to receive its information.

Requiem Card gives Spirit Accumulation Pill(s).

Spirit Accumulation Pill: A type of pill that could increase one's Soul Power.

Increase one's Soul Power!

Wow, this was even better than Strength Pills or Internal Force Cards.

An increase in soul power clearly affected aspects like the spirit and the soul.

Crack!

With a soft crack, the Requiem Card unlocked itself.

A blackish-purple pill appeared in Su Jingxing's palm.

Without hesitating, he swallowed the pill.

He didn't feel anything, but soon enough, Su Jingxing realized his mind was getting clearer, sharper, and more analytical.

It was an indescribable, mysterious feeling.

At length, Su Jingxing completed the integration and got used to the feeling.

He kept the Essence Energy Cards and Strength Enhancement Cards, then unlocked the Internal Force Card to absorb the one-year worth of Internal Force within. By manipulating his Internal Force, he cleansed his internal organs and nourished his bones and meridians. In the past week, he had gotten even stronger.

A few more Strength Pills and I'll have over 3000 catties of strength on each hand.

3000 catties of strength on each hand—one of the trademarks of an eighth-grade martial artist.

Su Jingxing took out three Strength Enhancement Cards and unlocked them. He got four Strength Pills in total, which he proceeded to gobble down like jellybeans.

…

By the time he returned to the cabin that stored the bodies, the investigation was already over.

"Team Leader! We have found out the identity of the missing person."

"Who is it?"

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"Mei Jinju!"

"Mei Jinju?"

The mention of the name stunned the sullen Wu Anxun briefly.

"How could it have been her?" murmured Head Wang, jaws dropping.

"Who is she? Someone famous?" asked Su Jingxing in a low voice, noting Head Wang's reaction.

"Of course she's famous," blurted Chief Wang. "Mei Jinju is one of the three golden flowers of this town. She's got the face and the figure, and men go crazy for her!"

"And then she died," added Gu Bo faintly.

Head Wang said nothing.

Exactly. Sometimes, being born too pretty is a huge inconvenience

"We… we don't know that for sure yet," said Head Wang, swallowing his spit. "She may have gone missing, but it could have been someone else who died."

It was a feeble lie to feed himself.

The current Head Wang was the perfect definition of the phrase "self-deceit".

Su Jingxing and Gu Bo didn't bother to argue with him.

…

"Mei Jinju?"

Wu Anxun paused for a moment before regaining his composure. "When did this Mei Jinju disappear? And who saw her last?" he asked in a deep voice.

"Three nights ago," answered the investigating personnel. "As for the last person who last saw her…"

He paused and turned his gaze to Zhou Hongsong, who was standing in a corner. With an odd expression, he said, "According to many eye-witnesses, the last person who saw Mei Jinju was Manager Zhou. Three nights ago, a number of people saw Manager Zhou chasing after Mei Jinju before the two of them disappeared into the alley behind the amusement park."

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Everyone turned their heads toward Zhou Hongsong.

"I…" said Zhou Hongsong.

With a sharp wave, Wu Anxun cut him off in a booming voice. "You killed Mei Jinju and buried her in the forest?"

"No, I didn't. That's nonsense!" denied Zhou Hongsong fervently. Jumping up, he yelled, "Why would I kill her? Everyone knows I was wooing her. How could it have been me?"

"Hmph, that's simple," said Head Wang with a sneer. Acting as though he had concluded the case, he said, "You tried to woo her, but she kept rejecting you, and that's how your grudge formed. Humiliated when she rejected you again, you flew into a rage and killed her!"

"I didn't! That's bullsh*t!" cried Zhou Hongsong, his face flushed red as he vehemently tried to defend himself. "I did follow her to her house that night, but I quickly left afterward. After I sent her home, she asked me to leave and so I did. I have no idea what happened afterward. Haven't you seen me looking for her for the past few days?!"

Mhm?

Su Jingxing's eyes lit up.

There was a contradiction in Zhou Hongsong's statement!

According to what he said, he already knew that Mei Jinju was missing—so why hadn't he told anyone about it?

Su Jingxing didn't know if Mei Jinju lived alone, or with her friends or family.

Whichever the case, if Mei Jinju was such a beauty, people would definitely be curious if she didn't appear for three days in a row.

Yet there hadn't been any rumors in town. That was strange!

Su Jingxing wasn't the only one who thought of this; Wu Anxun was the next to spot the contradiction.

Swoosh!

Like a bolt of lightning, Wu Anxun darted towards Zhou Hongsong and grabbed him by the collar. With one hand, he lifted him up and dangled him in the air.

"Spill it! How did you kill Mei Jinju?" bellowed Wu Anxun angrily.

"No… It wasn't me… I… I didn't…" stammered Zhou Hongsong with an effort, frantically patting at the arm that clasped him tightly.

"Heh, you think you can get away with keeping your mouth shut?" sneered Wu Anxun.

"Was Mei Jinju really murdered by this f*ckhead, Younger Brother Wu?" asked Head Wang. "I thought we still couldn't confirm whether she's dead?"

Earlier, he only said what he said to trick Zhou Hongsong.

"That's true," said the investigating personnel, chiming in. "Although Mei Jinju was largely missing for the past few days, people have seen her in town… Hold on!"

There was a sudden pause, and the investigator's eyes darted around in remembrance. "No, that's not it! The only person who claimed to have seen Mei Jinju in town was Manager Zhou! The others had heard it through him!"

"What… What does that mean?" asked Head Wang, slightly puzzled.

"It's simple," said Gu Bo, his gaze fixed on Zhou Hongsong. "Mei Jinju had gone missing three days ago, but Manager Zhou deliberately told others she's still in town!"

"Because of this, everyone thinks that Mei Jinju was still in town even though she hasn't appeared for three days!"

"If people thought she's still in town, naturally, no one would suspect anything bad had befallen her."

"If my guess is correct, Mei Jinju occasionally lives like a recluse and stays at home for prolonged durations. Is that correct? "

"Yes, exactly," said the investigating personnel, nodding.

Head Wang finally saw the light. His mouth slowly gaped open. Glaring at Zhou Hongsong, he said angrily, "You son of a b*tch, do you still think you can talk your way out of this?! Spill it! Why did you kill her?"

"I… I didn't…" said Zhou Hongsong, his face flushed as he tried to break free.

Bang!

Wu Anxun threw him to the ground and said expressionlessly, "Give him a cut and send him into the mountains,"

Zhou Hongsong stifled a scream.

Steadying his breath and enduring the pain, he begged with a face full of sweat, "No… please don't…"

Wu Anxun paid him no heeds.

With a wave of his hand, two security personnel rushed over and escorted Zhou Hongsong away.

Wu Anxun followed behind them in large strides, herding the rest of the security team personnel who were armed with heavy firearms.

Head Wang and the others watched the whole proceeding. Some lips moved, but no one said anything in the end.

"Is this Team Leader Wu always so domineering?" asked Su Jingxing softly.

"Why else would I be so scared of him?" said Head Wang, smiling helplessly.

Then, he sighed, wiped at his face, and cursed. "It's all because of that bastard Zhou Hongsong. He f*cked us up real good this time. Sh*t!"

"Come, follow me, guys!" he said with a thrust of his belly. A heroic expression rested on his face. Solemnly and gloomily, he and his staff members followed behind Wu Anxun and the others.

Eh…

Su Jingxing studied the personnel. Fear, grief, and anger were written on their ashen faces, and they were clearly doing their best to keep themselves together.

"Are they joining the Corpse Puppet extermination?" asked Su Jingxing, puzzled. "Why not just sit it out if they are so unwilling to go?"

Gu Bo shrugged. "Wu Anxun is going to use Zhou Hongsong as bait to lure the Corpse Puppets over. If this works out, then Wu Anxun and Head Wang wouldn't need to face punishments for this incident. Even in the worst-case scenario, they'll simply be transferred to other posts. The others will receive neither merit nor punishment. However, if someone doesn't go, they don't have to think about ever getting a promotion again."

"I don't really get it," admitted Su Jingxing, shrugging.

"It's okay if you don't. You are not a part of their system anyway," said Gu Bo with a smile. "In fact, if it had been an ordinary murder case, it wouldn't affect the lower-ranked personnel in any way. But it's a different matter if Corpse Puppets are involved!"

"Once these things appear, anyone who has anything to do with them will get implicated!"

"Alright, enough talk. They are on their way to encircle and exterminate the Corpse Puppets. Shall we…"

"Go and take a look?" finished Su Jingxing.

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Chapter 10: Coming!

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

"What? Are you out of your mind?" said Gu Bo, starting and staring at Su Jingxing in shock.

"They're going there to exterminate the Corpse Puppet. Why should we be there?"

"By encircling and exterminating, the personnel simply mean forming an outer circle to boost morale. The security team is the one that's going to do the dirty work."

"Or rather, Wu Anxun alone!"

"Don't be deceived by their numbers. In reality, only Wu Anxun can deal with the Corpse Puppet."

"The other people will just get torn apart, even if they were to band together."

"I'm telling you…"

Gu Bo rambled on and on, so agitated he almost employed his fists.

Su Jingxing, whose face was covered in Gu Bo's saliva, dared not interrupt. He only gave a smile when Gu Bo took a break from his rambling, and said, "Take it easy, Team Leader Gu."

"How am I going to take it easy! You are courting death, and I…"

"Stop, stop!" Su Jingxing broke in., "I never said we should participate in the operation. I just want to take a look and broaden my horizons. Earlier, you said that with Team Leader Wu Anxun's abilities, he can finish off the Corpse Puppets all by himself. If that's the case, our safety should be guaranteed if we stay at the outer circle. The personnel aren't fools either; if it was a suicidal mission, who would care about future promotions?"

"That's true but…"

"Okay, how about this? We'll just take a pair of binoculars and watch from afar. That should be okay, right?" interjected Su Jingxing again.

"We won't even be at the outer circle. We can just stay at the foot of the mountain. Or some rooftop. Sounds safe enough, doesn't it?"

"That works," relented Gu Bo, his eyes lighting up as he nodded his approval.

If they watched from the rooftop of a tall building, the Corpse Puppet wouldn't be able to lay a finger on them no matter how powerful it was.

"Let's get going then," said Su Jingxing. "We need to find a store that sells binoculars."

"Sure, but are the shops still open?" asked Gu Bo, slightly hesitant as he scuttled after Su Jingxing.

"We'll know when we get there," said Su Jingxing without looking back.

Watching Wu Anxun kill Corpse Puppets to broaden his horizons?

That was just an excuse he made up on the spot!

Did Gu Bo really think he was an ignorant youngster who would disregard everything in a moment of excitement?

Su Jingxing's real intentions were simple.

He wanted to approach the corpse right after Wu Anxun slays the Corpse Puppet, to see if he could extract special cards from it.

After all, Corpse Puppets were also corpses, and they were special in the sense that they had been reconstructed by Corpse-raising Insects.

If such a special corpse could be extracted, the rewards must be extraordinary.

At the very least, it should be better than Essence Energy Pills or Strength Pills.

Su Jingxing looked forward to what kind of rewards awaited him.

According to previous experiences, it might be the Corpse Puppet's physical invulnerability or cheetah-like speed. Even if it wasn't, he was certain that whatever he got would benefit him greatly.

…

After a short run, he arrived at a store and managed to buy two pairs of binoculars.

After that, he hurriedly located Head Wang and the others to learn more about Wu Anxun's ambush plan; the location was set at the foot of the mountain, and they weren't going to enter the woods.

The operation required heavy weapons, and these were easier to deploy in open areas.

Wu Anxun ordered someone to inflict a bleeding wound on Zhou Hongsong, break his legs, and tie a rope to him. Instead of driving him deep into the woods, they left him at the outer edge of it. The other end of the rope was connected to the outside of the mountain.

At this moment, Zhou Hongsong was yelping and begging for mercy. He crawled on the ground on all fours, trying to escape.

He almost wished he had more ropes tied to him so that they could pull him in faster!

Su Jingxing and Gu Bo took a few glances from afar before turning around and leaving. They searched for the best vantage point among the row of buildings near the foot of the mountain.

Once they found it, they went up to the top of the building and looked through their own pairs of binoculars.

…

At the foot of the mountain, Wu Anxun commanded the security team to quickly deploy the heavy weapons.

Head Wang led a group of personnel to guard the outermost circle. The group was filled with trepidation.

The town, void of its usual hustle and bustle, was dead silent.

In the mountains, the only sound that could be heard was the echoes of Zhou Hongsong's cries.

The blood trickling down him, combined with the blood of other animals, produced a strong metallic smell that got carried into the woods by the wind.

A minute passed, then two, then five…

Ten minutes passed. There weren't any movements in the forest.

Fifteen minutes passed. The forest remained as calm as ever.

The eerie silence was reminiscent of a calm before the storm; everyone at the foot of the mountain, be it the security team personnel or Head Wang, was extremely tense and fearful.

Only Wu Anxun kept his cool the entire time.

Twenty minutes passed, then twenty-five, then thirty…

Just as Zhou Hongsong was hoarse from shouting and about to faint from excessive blood loss, it happened.

Swish!

A dark shadow emerged from the woods.

"It's coming!" said Wu Anxun, who detected the movement immediately. He whispered an order through the earpiece. "Everyone, get ready!"

In their positions, the security team personnel tensed up and stared at the woods.

The two men in charge of pulling the rope couldn't help but swallow some spit.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

The dark shadows moved quickly through the woods towards Zhou Hongsong, who was only capable of moaning at this point.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

The swishing grew faster and faster, and the shadow was quickly approaching Zhou Hongsong.

Finally—

"Pull!" bellowed Wu Anxun.

Whoosh!

The rope that bound Zhou Hongsong was immediately pulled in, dragging Zhou Hongsong out of the woods.

"Ah!"

The force from the sudden pull and the pain from friction against the ground caused the drowsy Zhou Hongsong to instantly regain consciousness. He screamed and begged for mercy. "Don't kill me, don't kill me! It was my fault, it was my fault! Sob, sob, sob… It wasn't on purpose. I didn't want to kill her! She was the one who resisted! I wasn't aware of how much strength I was using and accidentally killed her! Sob, sob, sob… It was my fault, all mine! I'm willing to accept the law's punishment… Ah!!"

Zhou Hongsong, who finally confessed to the murder, suddenly let out a shriek.

Because 'Mei Jinju' had appeared!

She came very close to pouncing onto Zhou Hongsong and tearing him in half.

The current "Mei Jinju" had disheveled hair, eyes that were entirely white, twisted limbs, and nails that were sharp like blades. She sprinted with the swiftness and ferocity of a cheetah.

Swish! Swish!

Tugged by the rope, Zhou Hongsong was moving away from the woods.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

In hot pursuit of him, "Mei Jinju" charged out of the woods.

She kept chasing, and soon she was at the foot of the mountain—the ambush location.

"Fire!"

Wu Anxun, who was hiding on a tree, issued a timely order.

In an instant…

Ta ta ta!

Pew pew pew!

Boom boom boom!

Mortars, rocket launchers, rapid-firing machine guns…

All the heavy weapons fired at once, bombarding 'Mei Jinju' with a barrage of gunfire and shells.

Under heavy firepower, even though 'Mei Jinju' managed to dodge most of the attacks, she eventually got hit and fell to the ground, growling in pain.

"Stop!"

Seeing that she was down, Wu Anxun ordered his men to stop firing.

Then, he leaped down from the tree and slowly approached "Mei Jinju".

At this point, "Mei Jinju" had a large hole in her abdomen, half of her head missing, her left arm torn off, and only half of her right leg remaining. When Wu Anxun was about ten meters away from her, she suddenly sprang up, opened her mouth that was filled with sharp teeth, and pounced at Wu Anxun with a roar…

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Swish!

A wisp of blade light bloomed from Wu Anxun's waist.

Wu Anxun had drawn his saber. Instead of moving back or dodging, he stood his ground and swung his saber at "Mei Jinju" as it pounced on him.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The saber danced in the air, glimmering and whistling.

With his saber, Wu Anxun weaved an airtight offensive web around "Mei Jinju".

Enveloped by the strike zone of the saber, "Mei Jinju"'s incomplete body suffered further heavy damage.

Thud!

Half of its right leg separated from its torso, flying through the air before landing on the ground.

Rip!

Its open abdomen was halved into front and back.

Plop!

Half of its head parted its neck, sprang up, and traveled over ten meters before thumping on the ground.

Rip! Rip! Rip!

Its broken body, split into several pieces, lay scattered across the ground.

Wu Anxun stopped. With a cold look on his face, he swept his gaze across the cubed remains of 'Mei Jinju". He frowned. "Fetch me some heavy oil."

"…R-right away, Sir!" stuttered one of the security team personnel—who had been lying in ambush—as he snapped out of his amazement.

How incredible!

Although "Mei Jinju" had been crippled by the heavy firepower and its mobility had been greatly reduced, the sight of Wu Anxun dismembering "Mei Jinju" with his swift saber still impressed.

It excited and invigorated not only the security team personnel, but also Head Wang and the others.

This was the power of a strong martial artist!

The goal that everyone on Earth Star pursued.

With Wu Anxun's capabilities, no one ever doubted his chances of winning against "Mei Jinju" in her Corpse Puppet form.

Still, they chose to start off the attack with heavy firepower as a precaution, lest "Mei Jinju" flee into town.

The result was perfect—they successfully took down 'Mei Jinju'.

At present, Wu Anxun had ordered his subordinates to retrieve heavy oil in order to incinerate "Mei Jinju".

Even in its dismembered form, 'Mei Jinju"'s lips and fingers were still moving, its limbs trembling.

It was still alive!

The security team personnel tasked to gather and incinerate the body balked at the sight, subconsciously stepping away from it.

Wu Anxun's face sank, and he was about to come down on them—

"I'll do it!"

Su Jingxing called out from a distance as he dashed towards the body. "Collecting bodies is what I do best! Let me handle this!"

"He's right, haha! This is right up Little Su and Team Leader Gu's alley," said Head Wang. All smiles, he said to Wu Anxun, "Relax, Younger Brother Wu. It's a matter that's best left to professionals."

"Hmph!" snorted Wu Anxun. He did not say anything else.

The security team and office personnel were visibly relieved.

Then, they looked at Su Jingxing with grateful eyes as he scuttled to the body.

Using a pair of abnormally large tongs, Su Jingxing picked up the pieces of 'Mei Jinju' and piled them up.

At the instant when all of the pieces were gathered together—

[Parasitic Worm Zombie discovered. Would you like to extract it?]

It appeared!

As he had expected, there were new cards to be extracted!

"Parasitic Worm Zombie" must have been "Corpse Puppets"' true name.

Su Jingxing didn't dwell much on that. Once he received the notification, he stifled his excitement and replied "Yes" in his mind.

Silently, a card formed in Su Jingxing's pocket.

Instead of checking it immediately, Su Jingxing put down the tongs, picked up the bucket of heavy oil brought by the security team personnel, and poured it across "Mei Jinju"'s body.

After dousing the body with heavy oil, he stepped away and motioned at a security team personnel holding a lit torch, signaling him to set the body on fire.

The latter nodded gratefully and threw the torch at the "Mei Jinju"'s remains.

Boom!

Raging flames soared skyward.

Aflame, the dismembered "Mei Jinju"' roared in agony.

However, due to the inability to move, it could only accept its fate of burning into ashes bit by bit.

Everyone watched the entire process in silence.

For most of the people present, this was the first time they saw a Corpse Puppet—and it was transformed from Mei Jinju. It was a complicated feeling.

Without a doubt, Mei Jinju was the most innocent victim in this potential catastrophe.

Driven by lust, Zhou Hongsong tried to force her to submit, but she resisted fiercely, and that was when Zhou Hongsong accidentally killed her.

Hoping to escape punishment, Zhou Hongsong stored her body in the fridge and waited until midnight, then transported her body to the mountains and buried her in a hole.

Was Zhou Hongsong unaware that corpses attracted insect eggs?

Of course he knew!

Having already confessed, he had laid everything bare.

After killing Mei Jinju by accident, Zhou Hongsong had hoped that by freezing Mei Jinju's corpse in the fridge, it could escape detection from Corpse-raising Insects.

After some time, no one would be able to link her disappearance to him.

By then, Mei Jinju could turn into a Corpse Puppet and kill whoever enters the mountain, and it would have nothing to do with him.

He wasn't planning on entering the mountains anyway.

As for those who had died as a result, an unfeeling "Sorry" was all Zhou Hongsong had to offer.

Better you than me.

Zhou Hongsong couldn't care less about the lives of others.

Such a way of thinking could only be described as ruthless.

And this was Su Jingxing's first time witnessing such ruthlessness.

Because of him, eleven people had died.

The corpses of the eliminated patrol team were also transported to the empty field at the foot of the mountain and burned to ashes.

After the victim's relatives received the ashes, they ganged up on Zhou Hongsong and beat him until he was half-dead.

All four of his limbs… and an additional "limb" were broken.

Even if he was treated, Zhou Hongsong would be a cripple for the rest of his life.

Rather than giving him a swift end, it was more satisfying to make him live in hell.

Of course—

None of these had anything to do with Su Jingxing.

After a long day, they returned to Qinghe City on an empty truck. On the way back, Su Jingxing endured Gu Bo's long emotional speech, cooperatively chiming in from time to time.

His mind was long away from Forestry Town; all he could think about was the card in his pocket.

When he finally returned to the crematorium, Su Jingxing found an excuse to slip away. He ran to the back of the mountain and took out the card he had gotten from "Mei Jinju" to examine it.

Martial Arts Practice Card!

Unlike his expectations, it wasn't a strengthening card or physical invulnerability card, nor was it a speed-enhancing card or one that could increase one's agility.

The Martial Arts Practice Card he had newly acquired actually had the ability to boost his cultivation level of a specific secret martial arts manual!

Su Jingxing never expected such a card to exist.

Once unlocked, it could be used to increase his cultivation level of any secret martial arts manual.

The maximum duration was ten years!

Take Su Jingxing's Seven Steps Fist for example. If he cultivated it slowly, it would have taken him an unknown amount of time to reach the highest cultivation level.

But with the help of the Martial Arts Practice Card, he could shorten the time required by ten years!

"What level of mastery of Seven Steps Fist can I reach with ten years of cultivation? "

Taking a deep breath to suppress his excitement, Su Jingxing unlocked the card.

Whoosh!

The Martial Arts Practice Card turned into a ray of light that enveloped Su Jingxing's entire body.

Before Su Jingxing could react, he found himself in a boundless white space.

As though something was driving him, he began to practice the Seven Steps Fist on his own.

Over and over again.

There was no fatigue, no hunger, no thirst, and no soreness.

As though he had forgotten about all other matters, he just kept practicing.

Over and over again.

Time flew by.

After an unknown period of time had elapsed, the white space shattered and his consciousness returned to his body. Only then did Su Jingxing wake up.

He opened his eyes and took in the familiar scenery of the back mountain.

"How long… has passed?"

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Chapter 12: A Wonderful Dream

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

From his pocket, Su Jingxing took out his second-hand phone and took a look.

Mhm?

Three minutes?!

While his consciousness was within the space of the "Martial Arts Practice Card" for ten years, only three minutes had passed in reality?

T-this is beyond incredible!

After the initial shock, Su Jingxing was ecstatic.

The ability of the Martial Arts Practice Card was simply too powerful; it could completely make up for his lack of talent.

He was excited to find out what level of mastery he was at after cultivating the Seven Steps Fist for ten years.

Su Jingxing drew a deep breath, put down his phone, and walked a few steps away. Then, he began to perform the Seven Steps Fist.

Whoosh!

As soon as he made a move, the air was filled with whooshing sounds from his fist winds.

His feet move along with his fists, whirling and shifting with great mastery.

Straight ahead, one step, two, three, four, five!

Bang!

Accompanied by an explosion in the air, Su Jingxing took five steps in one breath before he had to stop.

He took five out of the seven steps! That meant he was at the cultivation level of Perfection!

After tirelessly practicing "Seven Steps Fist" in the Martial Arts Practice Space for ten years, Su Jingxing's mastery of the fist technique had reached Perfection.

Although this wasn't the highest achievable level, he had already surpassed most of the practitioners of this technique.

It has been decades since anyone from the Wei Family's dojo—the origin of Seven Steps Fist—had achieved this level of mastery.

Su Jingxing's current strength was close to 3000 catties.

If he were to use the Seven Steps Fist and take five steps in a row, he would be able to unleash around 13,000 to 14,000 jins of power!

In terms of strength alone, Su Jingxing was stronger than a seventh-grade martial artist.

With the Martial Arts Practice Card and "Seven Steps Fist", Su Jingxing could finally somewhat keep himself safe within Qinghe City.

He was one step closer to taking revenge on Wan Rong!

Huff…

Su Jingxing exhaled and calmed himself down, ending the practice.

Martial Arts Practice Card!

As compared to normal skill cards, the Martial Arts Practice Card was rarer and more effective.

The card had come from a Corpse Puppet; if he wanted to obtain it again, he would most likely have to find another Corpse Puppet.

But corpse puppets were not ubiquitous. The appearance of a single one of them had caused massive panic in Forestry Town, as well as the death of eleven.

If Su Jingxing wanted to find another Corpse Puppet, he would have to "create" it himself!

First, he had to steal a corpse, then dispose of it in the wilderness and wait for Corpse-raising Insects to get attracted to it. After the reconstruction is complete, the corpse would turn into a Corpse Puppet.

Before the Corpse Puppet began to move, he would have to dismember it. Then, finally, he would be able to extract a card from it.

The entire process required Su Jingxing's close monitoring.

There were many problems with the plan: putting aside whether Su Jingxing could break the Corpse Puppet's terrifying body with his fist technique alone, the very first step of the plan—which involves stealing a corpse—was extremely difficult.

Every corpse that enters the crematorium would be kept under surveillance the second it passes the gate, all the way until it burns to ashes.

Su Jingxing might be a member of the Corpse Collection Team, but that didn't mean it was possible for him to steal corpses.

As for hunting for corpses outside the crematorium…

He thought it best to discard the thought. The more he thought about it, the more it gave him a headache.

Shaking his head, Su Jingxing stifled his impatience. He then picked up his phone and left the back mountain.

He decided to get dinner at the canteen before heading to the working area to see if he could extract a few extra cards.

[Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?]

Mhm?

Su Jingxing, who was walking along the corridor, froze and glanced around.

There were no corpses nearby, so why did the notification suddenly appear?

In his bewilderment, Su Jingxing took a few steps back. The notification disappeared.

Then a few steps forward—

[Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?]

The notification popped up again!

He took a few steps forward, and the notification disappeared again.

A few steps backward. The notification appeared. A few more steps backward. The notification disappeared.

After several tries, Su Jingxing finally came to a conclusion.

The notification had a certain range limit!

It wouldn't appear if he was out of the range.

And this range also took the other side of the corridor wall into consideration.

Su Jingxing walked for a long time before he arrived at the other side of the wall. Sure enough, there was a corpse lying in the corner.

He was at the back door entrance of the farewell ceremony hall. Every corpse would stop by this place briefly before entering the hall.

The notification earlier was clearly triggered by this corpse.

But the strange thing was that the corpse was more than two meters away from where Su Jingxing had received the notification!

Could it be that my extraction range had increased?

Su Jingxing was pleasantly surprised.

There was no other way to explain it; the notification had appeared even before he got close to the corpse.

Previously, they only appeared when he was within one meter of the corpse.

How much has the extraction range increased?

Su Jingxing stifled his excitement and walked towards the corpse, testing his theory by calculating the distance between him and the corpse.

As expected, the extraction range had increased!

It had increased from one meter to three meters.

"Why did it increase?"

When the excitement was over, Su Jingxing began replaying the events that took place on that day.

The increase in extraction range probably didn't have anything to do with the Corpse Puppet. It couldn't have been the effects of the Martial Arts Practice Card either, since that could only be used to cultivate one's martial arts secret manual.

The only possibility was the Spirit Accumulation Pill he got when he unlocked the Requiem Card!

Soul power?

My extraction range had increased along with my soul power?

After figuring out what was going on, Su Jingxing was pleasantly surprised.

This came as a better surprise than the Martial Arts Practice Card.

The logic was simple.

If his extraction range increased whenever his soul power increased, then as long as Su Jingxing kept taking Spirit Accumulation Pills, his extraction range would eventually be big enough to cover the entire crematorium!

Or even the entire Qinghe City!

When that day comes, Su Jingxing would be able to extract cards in the comfort of his home.

Being able to become stronger while lying down in bed was simply too good to be true.

Tsk!

Su Jingxing swallowed some spit to stifle his excitement, then left the corner.

A few steps later, he slowly began to compose himself.

It was a wonderful dream, but incredibly difficult to realize.

And the reason for that was because Requiem Cards were even harder to acquire than Martial Arts Practice Cards.

At the very least, he already knew the source of Martial Arts Practice Card: Corpse Puppets.

As for Requiem Cards, Su Jingxing had no idea where they came from, or how he ended up obtaining one.

Su Jingxing had gone through the particulars of all ten deceased members of the patrol team—none of them stood out in any way.

There was only one ninth-grade martial artist among them, and he had produced an Internal Force Card.

Therefore, Su Jingxing couldn't identify which corpse had produced the Internal Force Card.

He did not know where or how to get them, and he would have to rely on luck if he wanted more of them.

Increasing his soul power to the point where his extraction range can cover the entire crematorium was a long and arduous journey!

He got so excited, but in the end, he still had to go back to diligently moving corpses for Essence Energy Cards, Strength Enhancement Cards, and the occasional Internal Energy Cards.

He had planned to go to the black market that night, but after all the trouble the two cards had put him through, Su Jingxing had no mood to carry on with that plan.

Anyway, he was still a few dozen Essence Energy Pills short of 300.

He should be able to hit that number in a day or two.

With this in mind, Su Jingxing got back to diligently moving corpses and covering others' shifts the next day.

The day passed by, and he rinsed and repeated what he did on the following day.

By evening, he had gathered 300 Essence Energy Pills.

After taking all the Strength Pills he had obtained, the strength of both his hands exceeded 3,000 catties.

Even without the Seven Steps Fist, Su Jingxing's strength was already on par with an eighth-grade martial artist.

Of course—

Strength was only the superficial trademark of a true eighth-grade martial artist; the key was to be able to exude internal force!

And the way to do that was by delivering internal force into another's body through punches!

It could deal burst damage on the spot and damage veins, blood vessels, and bones, or destroy the opponent's internal organs after some time.

This was what exuding internal force meant!

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There were two prerequisites to exuding internal force.

First, one needs to have enough internal energy; otherwise, he wouldn't be able to combine it into one, much less manipulate it at will.

Second, one needed a specialized martial art—it had to be offensive to be used as a medium to exert force.

It wasn't that defensive, speed, and supportive martial arts weren't good; they were simply incompatible.

In the first place, these martial arts did not require the exuding of internal force.

Therefore, eighth-grade martial artists usually cultivated more than two martial arts.

Su Jingxing had Seven Steps Fist as a martial art, and no lack of internal force. If his goal was to exude internal force, all he had to do was keep trying.

Supplemented by his Perfection mastery—the level where one can take five steps in a row—of the Seven Steps Fist, he could achieve this in anywhere from half a month to half a year!

In simple words, he just needed to put in the time.

With Essence Energy Pills to cleanse his fatigue and provide energy, Su Jingxing could stay up for a few days straight.

However, the amount of space he had for training was limited.

Although the back mountain of the crematorium had few visitors, there was still a chance for him to get exposed.

The dormitory was also out of the question due to Kong Dabao's presence.

He had to move!

…

That night.

Su Jingxing packed up the 300 Essence Energy Pills and left for the black market.

Qinghe City's black market was located at the intersection of the central, western, and southern districts. It existed in the form of a secret alley, specially created during the renovation of an old district.

It operated only at night.

Of course, its existence wasn't exactly a secret—just that everyone who knew about it didn't discuss it openly.

Having existed for decades, the black market had long formed its own complete industrial chain.

No matter how intense conflict between factions got, the black market was an armistice zone; everyone had something to gain from this treasure pot, even the government.

Anyone who wanted to enter the black market had to pay an entrance fee of a hundred Great Yu dollars.

Inside the black market, those who wished to hawk their wares would have to pay an additional fee to purchase a stall. Stalls weren't that expensive, and only cost 100 Great Yu dollars per square meter.

When a transaction is complete, one could go to a dedicated banking counter to ensure a secure payment. Every transaction there would be subjected to a transaction fee, which was merely a flat 5% of the total spending.

In short, as long as no murder was involved, the black market management committee would provide excellent service and aim to let both the buyers and sellers leave in satisfaction.

Of course, what made a black market a black market were goods and people that could not be displayed openly.

For safety and self-preservation, everyone who entered the black market would put on a disguise.

Playing by the rules, Su Jingxing bought a black cloak and a black mask separately. After putting them on, he found one of the three entrances to the black market and paid 100 Great Yu dollars to enter.

It's bustling here!

That was Su Jingxing's first impression as he walked through the street of the black market.

If not for the fact that everyone around him wore masks, the place differed little from the night markets on Earth.

But the items that were being transacted there were by no means ordinary.

Things that were prohibited in the cities could be found everywhere here.

Firearms, elixirs, martial arts, weapons… They had a bit of everything.

It was Su Jingxing's first visit, and he wasn't in a hurry to set up a stall, so he just began window-shopping.

After making a whole round, he decided he had had his fill of spectacles and headed to the management committee to pay for a stall.

Interestingly enough, unlike all the visitors who wore masks to hide their identities, the staff of the management committee worked normally with their faces exposed, as though they were on the outside.

When there was time to spare, groups of people would gather to shoot the breeze.

On the way to applying for a temporary stall pass, Su Jingxing passed by an open office, where a few people were chatting idly.

"Who would have expected him to make the breakthrough so quickly?"

"Indeed. So many people failed to advance from the sixth-grade to seven-grade, but Wan Rong actually succeeded."

"Heh. You better address him by Master Wan next time. He's also a prominent figure now."

"Yeah, that's what entering the sixth-grade does to one's status. Even us in the black market gets to reap the benefits. It sure pays to be powerful.

"I heard our boss's boss personally presented our black market share to Wan Rong."

"What, you envious or something?"

"As if you aren't."

"Haha…"

In the office, the few of them chatted and laughed without any restraint.

The news made Su Jingxing tense up.

Although he recovered quickly, Su Jingxing couldn't help but complain in his heart.

Wan Rong!

Upon hearing this name again, the obsession of the Original Su Jingxing began reacting subconsciously.

Su Jingxing felt helpless about this uncontrollable behavior.

He had to put an end to this as soon as possible!

As long as this problem didn't get resolved, Su Jingxing could never be at peace.

But the problem was…

Wan Rong had hit sixth-grade?

Su Jingxing walked out of the management committee office and frowned.

The original Su Jingxing only knew that Wan Rong was a powerful martial artist, but not his exact realm.

Before this, Su Jingxing had gauged it to be eighth-grade or seventh-grade.

After all, martial artists above the seventh-grade were already on another level, and should rarely interact or have conflicts with ordinary people.

Su Jingxing's original plan was to seek revenge on Wan Rong after becoming a seventh-grade martial artist.

However, after coming across the news that Wan Rong had actually hit sixth-grade, he had to amend his plans.

Seventh-grade martial artists were nothing compared to sixth-grade martial artists.

A sixth-grade martial artist could easily handle ten seventh-grade martial artists at once.

Since ancient times, there had always been three thresholds in the nine martial artist grades.

The first was from an ordinary person to a ninth-grade martial artist. The second was from seventh-grade to sixth-grade, and the third was from fourth to third-grade.

It was relatively easy to cross the threshold of the ninth-grade; one just had to learn a martial art and a certain amount of resources at their disposal.

Seventh to sixth-grade was far more complicated; it required both talent and perseverance.

Futilely, many seventh-grade martial artists spent their entire life trying to make the breakthrough.

However, those who made it would be on a whole new level of the social ladder, and their status and fame would rise almost immediately

Wan Rong made a fine example; after advancing to the sixth-grade, he even owned a share in the black market.

And that had been a gift delivered to his doorstep.

Meanwhile, the likes of Wu Anxun were stuck in a place like Forestry Town.

In a sense, Wan Rong's breakthrough had more than doubled the difficulty of Su Jingxing's revenge plan.

Before he was absolutely confident that he could succeed, he had to tote the weight of the original Su Jingxing's obsession!

…

Huff—

Su Jingxing exhaled to stifle his impatience.

Forcing himself not to take his mind off Wan Rong, he located his stall.

After reaching his designated area, he took out a large piece of cardboard that he had prepared and wrote down the names and prices of the items for sale.

High-quality Essence Energy Pills, 300 Great Yu dollars per pill!

During his window-shopping earlier, Su Jingxing had seen a couple others selling Essence Energy Pills, with prices ranging widely from 250 to 350 Great Yu dollars.

Quality-wise, it was up to the observer.

Su Jingxing picked the middle value to save trouble.

After he finished writing, he placed the cardboard in front of him and poured out an Essence Energy Pill from its porcelain bottle as a sample.

Needless to say, the Essence Energy Pill obtained from the Essence Energy Card was top-notch.

Anyone who knew their stuff could tell its quality in one glance.

Before long, a short, stout man wearing a mask stopped before his stall. He picked up the sample Essence Energy Pill and leaned in to smell it. After a few careful whiffs, his eyes lit up. Excited, he said in a low voice, "How many Essence Energy Pills of such quality do you possess?"

"300," replied Su Jingxing.

"I'll take them all!"

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Chapter 14: Here Comes The Simp

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

All of them?

Su Jingxing was momentarily stunned. Then, coming back to his senses, he lowered his voice and said, "Sure, but you have to pay for the transfer fee."

"No problem!"

The tubby man seemed slightly anxious. "Can we get to the transferring already?"

"Alright," granted Su Jingxing. He swiftly packed up his wares and headed to the management committee with the tubby man.

…

Su Jingxing had returned to the management committee to settle the payment after an extremely fast deal, but the staff there didn't ask anything.

Such was nothing but an everyday occurrence.

This was one of the features of the black market.

Once somebody sees an item they fancied, they would often close the deal in seconds.

Su Jingxing's case was by no means an exception.

After confirming the transaction amount, the tubby man paid the transaction fee and transferred 90,000 Great Yu dollars to Su Jingxing's card through the bank's secure payment service.

Each pill cost 300, and he sold a total of three hundred pills, amounting to exactly ninety thousand Great Yu dollars!

Upon receiving a text notification, Su Jingxing immediately handed all the Essence Energy Pills to the tubby man.

The man inspected the pills to make sure the number was right, then strode away.

After leaving the black market, Su Jingxing boarded a bus.

He alighted after a few stops to board another bus, and repeated this process twice. When he was sure that he wasn't being followed, he removed his cloak and mask and headed for the Western District.

90,000 Great Yu dollars was enough for Su Jingxing to rent a room and live on for a while.

The money had come to him like a free lunch.

As to the intention of the tubby man who bought all of Essence Energy Pills—whether he was going to consume or resell them—Su Jingxing couldn't care less.

The sooner he got rid of it, the sooner he could be at ease.

…

Buses in Qinghe City ran until 11 pm.

After closing a fast deal and changing two buses, it was only 10 pm.

There was no hurry for him to return to the dormitory at this time.

After putting away his cloak and mask, Su Jingxing came out of an alley and strolled towards a nearby bus stop.

There weren't many people waiting at the bus stop, since it was far from the main road.

Including Su Jingxing, there were only five people.

No one spoke, and they all stood under different memorial arches, gazing at the distant road.

As they waited for the bus…

"That bast*rd Wei Zhongting finally died."

A hushed voice suddenly came from the street lamp ten meters to the left of the bus number sign.

The mention of "Wei Zhongting" made Su Jingxing look over his shoulders subconsciously.

Three people stood beneath the street lamp, smoking and whispering.

One of them was a tall, muscular man with a fierce face. His aura was slightly overpowering.

A martial artist!

"Heh, it's long overdue. Now that he's dead, everything in his house belongs to us."

"Hey, is the chick coming out soon?"

"Probably. Dumb girl made a secret trip here to plead for help. Thinks she found herself a protector. Bummer! The person she's looking for isn't Wei Zhongting's good brother anymore. Not since he died."

"Well, duh. I heard he's also trying to get a piece of the Wei family's business. Stupid girl's walking into the wolf's mouth like a lost sheep."

"Rather than letting someone else enjoy her, why not let us have the honors instead!"

"Heh heh heh…"

The three of them laughed sinisterly.

Moments later, the fierce-looking man received a text. He motioned to the others and shouted, "Get moving! She's coming!"

With that, the three of them walked away from the street lamp and headed for a small alley.

Under the bus stop sign, Su Jingxing's eyes glimmered. He had overheard the conversation between the three men.

Wei Zhongting?

The rightful owner of the Seven Steps Fist—Wei Zhongting's descendant—was being targeted?

Su Jingxing took stock of the situation for a brief moment, then decided he would go take a look.

Immediately, he left the bus stop and walked towards the alley.

…

"Huff… Huff…"

Wei Jiajia, who was running away with all her might, could not feel the cold at all. However, the pain in her chest was intensifying, and her knees were growing more numb with each passing second.

Her body was swaying in rhythm with her rapid breathing, and the road ahead of her felt endless.

Just as she was about to throw in the towel…

Bang!

A huge force struck her from the back.

Wei Jiajia lost her balance and fell forward. She fell on the hard ground, scraping her palms in the process.

Before she could scream in pain, another heavy blow came to her back.

A foot was stepping down hard on her back, and heavy breathing came to her ears.

"F*ucking… B*tch… Let's see… how you escape now!" said the fierce-faced muscular man bitterly, gasping for air as he drove his foot into Wei Jiajia's back.

His lackeys—equally out of breath—were bent over with their hands on their legs.

"B-Boss, we can't… we can't let this b*tch off easy."

"Yeah, let's make her pay!"

"Huff…" The fierce-faced muscular man had caught his breath. As he slowly straightened his body, an evil smile formed on his face. "You don't have to tell me. She's definitely paying. I mean, such a pretty little face… Wouldn't it be a shame if I don't show her some love before sending her to reunite with her dead father?"

"Hehehe…" The two subordinates laughed vilely.

"Don't… don't you dare touch me!"

Pressed to the ground, Wei Jiajia's expression changed drastically upon hearing their words. As she struggled, she hurriedly yelled, "If you dare touch me, when Eldest Senior Brother returns, he will definitely make you pay with your lives!"

"Eldest Senior Brother?" sneered the fierce-faced muscular man. Smiling, he said disdainfully, "By now, your Eldest Senior Brother should be laying in his grave!"

"Nonsense! Eldest Senior Brother wouldn't die!" said Wei Jiajia defiantly, clutching tightly onto her last hope.

"Heh! Even if he's alive, he won't be here to save you!" said the fierce-faced muscular man coldly. A sinister smile flashed across his face as he swung his hand down to signal his henchmen.. "Hold her still. After I'm done, I'll let you guys have your turn!"

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Chapter 15: Eldest Senior Brother

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

"Thanks, boss!"

The two henchmen rushed to her sides with vile smiles on their faces.

"Be patient, sweetie. We'll show you a damn good time later!"

"Heh heh heh…"

The two of them got down to pinning Wei Jiajia—who was screaming and struggling—to the ground.

"Keep her there," instructed the fierce-faced man, grinning wickedly as he started taking off his trousers.

When his pants were halfway down, he suddenly froze.

Whirling around, he lifted his head up to look.

A person wearing a black cloak had popped out in the alley. No one knew when he got there.

Only his eyes were revealed through a mask.

"Who are you?" asked the fierce-faced man as he put his trousers back on. He then thundered in a low voice: "I'm with the Dagger Gang. You better think twice about messing with us!"

Su Jingxing remained silent.

Wei Jiajia, who was pinned to the ground, heard the commotion and looked over her shoulders with an effort. When she saw the cloaked Su Jingxing, she couldn't contain her joy.

Struggling, she shouted, "Kind sir! I thank you for saving…"

"Saving my ass!"

The fierce-faced man stomped her viciously on the head, provoking a scream. Half of her face was pressed against the ground, and she dared not move again.

Tap!

Seeing this, Su Jingxing took a step forward.

"Back off!" warned the fierce-faced man."You better back off before I f*ck you u… F*cking hell, get him!"

Seeing that Su Jingxing was unfazed, the fierce-faced man swung his hand down forcefully, signaling his henchmen to intercept Su Jingxing.

The two of them roared a war cry and charged at Su Jingxing with daggers in hand.

"Go to hel…"

Thud! Thud!

With two dull thuds, the two men who were rushing towards Su Jingxing were sent flying back before they could even touch him. They crashed to the ground, groaning in pain.

"Son of a b*tch!"

The fierce-faced man was livid. Letting out a bellow, he produced two daggers and charged at Su Jingxing, leaving Wei Jiajia on the ground.

He was much stronger than his henchmen.

Not only was he close to reaching the eighth-grade, his dagger techniques were well-cultivated. He let out a ferocious aura as he ran.

Su Jingxing took him face-on, tensing his body and adjusting his footwork.

One step, two, three…

In the blink of an eye, he had taken five steps!

It was so fast that it exceeded the speed of the fierce-faced man.

While he was taking the steps, he nimbly dodged the dagger and unleashed all of the power that had accumulated in his fist at the chest of the fierce-faced man who was about to reach him.

Craaaack!

"Ouch!"

The sound of bones breaking resounded through the alley.

The fierce-faced man spat out a mouthful of blood as his large body was propelled into the air. He flew over Wei Jiajia and a couple more meters before crashing into the ground. Trembling uncontrollably with blood flowing out from the corner of his lips, it was difficult for him to even let loose a scream.

A yawning hole had opened up in his chest, exposing his entirely-cracked bones and shattered inner organs. Blood was spurting and flowing out in gushes.

One punch!

He had 3000 catties of strength, and with the multiplier from Seven Steps Fist, he was able to exert ten thousand catties of strength.

A single punch had put the fierce-faced man at death's door.

His two henchmen who were howling in pain earlier were stunned by what they saw.

They stopped yelling and lay on the ground blankly, looking at Su Jingxing in fear.

Wei Jiajia was equally shocked.

Even Su Jingxing himself was shocked by the power of this punch.

He had practiced the "Seven Steps Fist" for ten years in the Martial Arts Practice Space, but since this was his first time in actual combat, he did not hold back and unleashed the maximum power of ten thousand catties.

This amount of power was enough to deal with a seventh-grade martial artist.

Still, he didn't expect the fierce-faced man to go down in just one punch!

"Seven… Seven Steps Fist!"

In the silence, Wei Jiajia snapped back to her senses and got up from the ground. She shifted her gaze to Su Jingxing and exclaimed in surprise, "The move you just used was Seven Steps Fist! Are you a student of my Wei Family's dojo?"

Su Jingxing remained silent.

Retracting his fist, he turned around and left.

"Wait," requested Wei Jiajia, catching up to him.

Su Jingxing broke into a run.

Saving a mistress in distress was one thing, but Su Jingxing wanted nothing to do with Wei Family dojo.

Ignoring Wei Jiajia, he sprinted away.

Before long, Su Jingxing got rid of Wei Jiajia. After removing his cloak and mask, he hailed a taxi instead of taking the bus, and headed straight to the crematorium.

…

Huff, huff, huff…

After a long chase, Wei Jiajia stopped in her tracks, realizing that her target was nowhere in sight. She leaned against a street lamp and gasped for air.

Who was that? Who could it have been?

Not only was he able to use the Seven Steps Fist, he took five out of seven steps! Just who was he?

Is he one of Grandpa's disciples? A student from the dojo?

Wei Jiajia let loose her imagination as she panted.

Students were different from disciples.

Students could learn a martial art by paying a school fee, and were free to leave anytime they inclined to.

Of course, such people were not allowed to learn advanced martial arts.

Disciples were different; they were considered part of the lineage, giving them access to authentic secret manuals.

A teacher for a day, a teacher for a lifetime.

If the Wei Family did not have any descendants, a disciple even held the power to carry on its legacy.

When Grandpa Wei was still alive, he had taken in two disciples.

One of them, after mastering the fist technique, left for the world outside. He hadn't returned in more than ten years.

The second was a vain man who enjoyed brawling. He was assaulted and beaten into a cripple after Grandpa Wei passed on.

When Wei Jiajia's father was head of the dojo, he had also taken in a disciple.

Wei Jiajia's Eldest Senior Brother.

Her Eldest Senior Brother was very talented, and was already an eighth-grade martial artist at the young age of twenty. However, when Wei Jiajia turned ten, he left for the outside world and never returned.

If Uncle-Master and Eldest Senior Brother were still around, the Wei Family dojo would be in safe hands even if Wei Zhongting died.

But now, the dojo had been deserted by all its students, and a bunch of people coveted Wei family's business.

These vile people… when Eldest Senior Brother returns…

But wait, he's already back!

Recollecting how Su Jingxing had fatally wounded the fierce-faced man with a single punch, Wei Jiajia's eyes lit up. She made up her mind.

Eldest Senior Brother is back!

The Seven Steps Fist user was definitely Eldest Senior Brother!

At the time of the Wei Family's Dojo's crisis, Eldest Senior Brother had returned to stand up for them…

No, it was more than that. He was ready to become their supporting pillar!

To be able to take five steps while executing the Seven Steps Fist—how could any ordinary person boast of such talent and perseverance?

It had to be her Eldest Senior Brother!

With the crippled fierce-faced man as evidence, Wei Jiajia was certain she could convince others about her theory.

…

Su Jingxing, who had returned to his dormitory, had no idea about his newly-imposed identity as the Wei Family Dojo's "Eldest Senior Brother" and future "supporting pillar".

With only 90,000 Great Yu dollars in hand, buying a house was out of the question; but it was more than enough for him to rent a place.

He had no need for a villa; a small courtyard located in the Western District would suffice.

To that end, after handing over his shift the following afternoon, he went to a real estate agency in the Western District to search for a suitable house.

After getting the details from Su Jingxing, the agent brought him to view a few places in person.

The small courtyards in the Western District were mostly owned by locals.

It was spread across a large area, where the population was quite dense.

Su Jingxing had specially requested for a corner area. After viewing three places, he finally found a suitable one.

However, he grew a little hesitant when he learned the identity of the landlord…

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Chapter 16: A New Goal

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Wu Anxun!

The Team Leader of the Security Team of Forestry Town, the man who slaughtered the Corpse Puppet, turned out to be the landlord of this place.

According to the agent's explanation, this small courtyard near the foot of the mountain was Wu Anxun's parents' inheritance, as well as his former home.

But after Wu Anxun's parents passed away, it became vacant.

The house had never been the same ever since he became its sole occupant.

Plus, Wu Anxun stayed in Forestry Town all year round and rarely returned to Qinghe City.

Even during his trips back, he opted to stay in his house in the city, and hardly visited this small courtyard.

Not wanting to let the space go to waste, Wu Anxun hired an agent to put it on rent.

The previous tenant ended his tenancy since he had to leave Qinghe City due to work arrangements.

Su Jingxing's visit was less than half a month from when the previous tenant left.

Eager to close the deal, the agent wagged his tongue non-stop.

"Mr. Su, this is the place you are looking for. There are a few other places, but they don't entirely match your requirements. Feel free to look around this place more."

Su Jingxing kept silent.

The whole idea of renting a house was to avoid contact with acquaintances, so that they don't find out what he was up to.

Even though Wu Anxun had only met him once, a seventh-grade martial artist like him might be able to tell that something was amiss.

Still, the small courtyard did meet all of his expectations.

It was at the foot of the mountain, the furthest corner of the Western District, and had walls all around it. The walls were only about two meters tall, but that sufficed for Su Jingxing.

It was remote, quiet, and secluded—exactly what Su Jingxing needed.

After weighing the pros and cons, Su Jingxing gave a nod. "This place will do."

"Excellent choice, Mr. Su. Please hold on while I get the keys and the contract," said the agent happily. He was practically bouncing as he went out of the small courtyard.

Su Jingxing agreeing to rent the place had saved him a lot of trouble.

On the other hand, Su Jingxing had his own considerations.

If the landlord was Wu Anxun, there was always the risk that he might notice something was off.

However, this risk did not come with serious implications.

Plus, by the time Su Jingxing gets stronger than Wu Anxun, the risk would be negligible.

Besides, Su Jingxing had no intention of staying here for long.

He was collecting Essence Energy Pills on a daily basis; he would buy his own house as soon as he accumulated enough money from the sale of these pills.

Wu Anxun's old house was nothing but a temporary shelter.

…

After concluding the contract with the agent, Su Jingxing received the key to the place.

That night, Su Jingxing moved from the crematorium dormitory to the small courtyard.

The furniture in the house had seen little use and was in good condition.

The place was inhabitable after some brief clean-up and replacing of old beddings and daily necessities.

For the sake of getting to work, Su Jingxing bought a bicycle.

This reduced the travel time to the crematorium to less than five minutes.

It had been a while since his transmigration, and he was finally a proud owner of his own ride and housing.

Without having to worry about inconveniencing others, Su Jingxing got down to practicing the fist technique right away on the first night.

After taking an Essence Energy Pill, he could feel energy welling up within him, and his fatigue going away.

He began executing the Seven Steps Fist while channeling his internal force. As he punched, internal force was being exuded.

He did the same moves over and over again.

When the night was over, Su Jingxing had learned the ropes of exuding internal force

Seeing that it was about time, he stopped practicing. After taking a shower in the bathroom and changing into clean clothes, he traveled to the crematorium by bike.

After breakfast in the canteen, he met up with Kong Dabao to get ready for a day's work.

"How was last night? Must have been hard to get out of bed this morning, eh? How's your waist holding up?"

Along the way, Kong Dabao kept winking and smiling suggestively at Su Jingxing.

Huh?

Puzzled, Su Jingxing asked, "What are you talking about? Why would moving to a new place affect my waist in any way?"

"Yeah, keep up the act!" said Kong Dabao disdainfully.

"What act?" asked Su Jingxing, unsure of what to make out of that.

"Tsk…" said Kong Dabao in contempt. "Yeah, keep acting innocent. You think I don't know you moved out to shack up with your sweetheart, Wanrong?"

Su Jingxing was speechless.

He almost lost it!

Him, shacking up with Wan Rong?

I…

Huff…

Su Jingxing took a deep steadying breath. Resisting the urge to complain, he said irritably, "What Wanrong? I already said it was nothing like that. Big Brother Dabao, can you not be so gossipy?"

"I get it, I get it," said Kong Dabao, raising his eyebrows suggestively. "Don't worry, I won't tell a soul. I'm just here to give you some advice. You are a young man, so I understand that you have urges that need to be satisfied."

Su Jingxing was speechless.

He could not be bothered with him and simply ignored him.

"Haha, there's no need to be shy," continued Kong Dabao. "I was once your age too, so I know how addictive 'doing the deed' can get at the start. With time, the magic will wear off by itself. But remember, kid, always use protection."

"After all, you're only in your teens. You don't want to be a father at this age, do you?"

"Besides, with kids… Hey, hey, slow down!"

Kong Dabao was lagging behind and trying to catch up, but Su Jingxing pretended not to hear him.

There was nothing he could say to this fellow.

Come to think of it, everyone on the Corpse Collection Team treated him quite well; just that they loved poking fun at him.

Su Jingxing understood that it was because he was young.

Whenever Kong Dabao, Feng Tiejian, Gu Bo, and the others made fun of him, Su Jingxing would change the topic or fade out of the conversation. Of course, sometimes he did strike back.

Fortunately, Kong Dabao, Feng Tiejian, Gu Bo, and the others never went overboard.

After the teasing, they still behaved like brotherly figures to him.

…

Moving corpses, cultivating, moving corpses, cultivating.

In the days that followed, Su Jingxing resumed his usual life: Extracting cards as he moved corpses at work.

Most of the cards he extracted were Essence Energy Cards, Strength Enhancement Cards, and occasionally Internal Force Cards.

Skill cards never showed up during this time.

Neither were there any Requiem Cards or Martial Arts Practice Cards.

Soon, he had accumulated 200 Essence Energy Pills again.

As for the Strength Pills, he gobbled them down like jellybeans, so his strength increased steadily day by day.

Half a month later…

Bam!

Swish! Swish! Swish!

With a dull thud, the numbers on the dial of the Strength Measuring Device began refreshing rapidly.

It stopped at the number "5223".

Su Jingxing took a glance, switched to his other hand, and punched again.

Bam!

Swish! Swish! Swish!

The numbers on the dial flickered rapidly, stopping at the number "5108".

"Nice!"

"5223 catties on the left, and 5108 on the right. Both of my hands have exceeded 5,000 catties. Onwards to 10,000 catties!"

Liking what he saw, Su Jingxing retracted his fist in satisfaction.

With 10,000 catties of strength on each hand and the Seven Steps Fist, he would no longer be afraid of seventh-grade martial artists.

From there, the goal of defeating sixth-grade martial artists wouldn't be too out of reach either.

Su Jingxing had made up his mind; once both of his hands exceeded 100,000 catties of strength, he would seek revenge on Wan Rong!

With 100,000 catties of strength and the Seven Steps Fist, even if he could only take five steps, he could still release 500,000 catties of accumulated strength at once!

He supposed that should be more than enough to take care of Wan Rong.

Su Jingxing narrowed his eyes.

Half a month had passed, and he was only a step away from being able to exude internal force.

Once he crosses this hurdle, he would be a bonafide eighth-grade martial artist!

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In the Wei Household.

"Sis, tell me the truth. Is Eldest Senior Brother really back?"

A slim young man with delicate features stared at Wei Jiajia with wide eyes.

"Like I said, he is! There's no reason for me to lie to you," said Wei Jiajia matter-of-factly, avoiding her brother's gaze.

"Heh…" sneered Wei Jiaping. "Even at this point, you are still gonna lie to me? "

"Why would I lie to you?" said Wei Jiajia irritably. "I've already told you a million times; Eldest Senior Brother is back. He really is! What can I do if you don't believe me?"

"What can you do? Why didn't you ask him to represent us? Wouldn't that solve everything?" Wei Jiaping clenched his fists. "I would buy your words if I see Eldest Senior Brother standing up for us."

"Eldest Senior Brother has other matters to attend to," said Wei Jiajia hastily. "He'll show up when he's ready. Don't be so impatient…"

"Me being impatient? Is that the problem at hand?!" snapped Wei Jiaping. He stood up abruptly and thundered at Wei Jiajia, "If you have the guts, why not tell the Dagger Gang to not be impatient? I'm sure that will work out well for us!"

"I…"

"Enough of your bullsh*t. I don't have time for this!"

Wei Jiaping broke in, shouting. "'Eldest Senior Brother has other matters to attend to.' How long do you think this lie is going to hold? Do you have any idea how bad things are? In the past two weeks, Eldest Senior Brother hasn't shown his face once. The Dagger Gang is already suspecting… no, they have already been testing us!"

"If the Dagger Gang acts, how many times can you endure their 'tests' without Eldest Senior Brother's aid? Huh?! Answer me, will you?!"

"I…"

"I said enough of the bullsh*t! Give it to me straight. Is Eldest Senior Brother back or not?!" roared Wei Jiaping.

Wei Jiajia opened her mouth, wanting to further the lie, but decided to come clean when she saw her brother's red-rimmed eyes.

"He's not."

Plop!

Wei Jiaping flopped down on the ground like a deflated balloon. He let out a miserable laugh.

"Haha, I knew it. I knew you were lying all along."

"Eldest Senior Brother? Eldest Senior Brother my ass! Hahaha…"

"Stop that, Jiaping," comforted Wei Jiajia, squatting down and wrapping her arms around her younger brother's head. "I'm sorry. Lying wasn't my intention, but what choices did I have? You saw it yourself—the lie was the only thing that kept the Dagger Gang at bay for half a month."

"I know, I know," said Wei Jiaping, drawing a deep breath as he tried his best to calm himself down. He shuddered. "I know why you lied. Look, I didn't want to lash out at you like that either, but this kind of lie isn't gonna last. In less than half a month, the Dagger Gang is already onto something. Now, they have begun to test the waters with small-scale attacks. We might be able to fend them off once or twice, but we'll crumble if the frequency goes any higher. When that time comes, the lie would expose itself."

"I already saw it coming," said Wei Jiajia as she took a deep breath.

"You did?" asked Wei Jiaping, stunned. "Does that mean you have a solution in mind?"

"Of course!"

"No kidding? What is it?" asked Wei Jiaping, overjoyed. "Let me in on it!"

"I'm gonna search out my savior!" declared Wei Jiajia, her eyes shining brightly.

"What?" asked Wei Jiaping, stunned. Quickly snapping out of his daze, he exclaimed in surprise, "Sis, you mean the person who impersonated our Eldest Senior Brother?"

"He wasn't an impersonator. I was the one who made him out to be one," admitted Wei Jiajia with an embarrassed smile. "I know it wasn't nice of me, but I had no other options. It did buy us half a month before the Dagger Gang caught on, no?"

"…Delaying the problem doesn't solve anything," said Wei Jiaping, frowning.

"The time it bought us was essential," said Wei Jiajia grimly. "I deliberately got the word out that Eldest Senior Brother has not only returned, but also took out one of the Ten Great Heavenly Kings of the Dagger Gang the moment he came back. It was actual hand-to-hand combat, and he did it with a single punch, no less!"

"Ten Great Heavenly Kings my ass. Nothing but a bunch of clowns who aren't even at the eighth-grade singing their own praises," said Wei Jiaping, curling his lips dismissively. "But none of these matters. Tell me how you intend to find your savior. Wasn't he wearing a cloak and a mask? How should we find him if we don't even know his name or what he looks like?"

"You don't know, not 'we'," said Wei Jiajia with sparkly eyes.

"You aren't joking, are you?" asked Wei Jiaping, elated.

"Of course not," continued Wei Jiajia confidently. "For the past few weeks, I've been thinking about what happened on that night. That night, I ran past quite a number of people while I was running for my life. However, he couldn't have been any of the people I met at the start."

"Otherwise, he would have acted sooner. There's no reason for him to follow me all the way. That leaves the people I encountered during the latter half of my run, one of them must have tailed me into the alley after seeing that I was in a pinch."

"Or rather, he just so happened to be near the alley right before the incident took place!"

"No way!" cried Wei Jiaping, gaping.

"I thought about it long and hard, but none of the people I met later fitted the description, however…" Wei Jiajia took a deep breath and continued. "However, there was a bus stop near that alley!"

"A bus stop? What does that have to do with anything?" asked Wei Jiaping, puzzled.

"It has everything to do with it. For the past few nights, I went back to the place where the incident happened and took the buses along that road," said Wei Jiajia solemnly. "Bus 303 is the only bus that passes that particular bus stop. After some research, I found out that Bus 303 covers the Western District. Once that person boards the bus, I'm ninety-percent sure I could recognize him!"

"Way to go!" cheered Wei Jiaping, waving his fist. "Once we find him, we can… but wait!"

Suddenly remembering something, Wei Jiaping's expression changed. Hesitation replaced the joy on his face. "Even if we did find him, it wouldn't solve anything, would it?"

"It's true that he learned the Seven Steps Fist from our dojo, but he did not stand up for us directly. Maybe he doesn't want anything to do with us."

"He could have saved you simply because he couldn't stand the sight of a girl getting bullied."

"I know that," said Wei Jiajia, her face calm and collected. "I know that he was only passing by, and it was by chance that he saw or heard me in trouble and acted. When I called out to him, he took off immediately. The message was clear."

"Then why do you still…"

"Let me finish," said Wei Jiajia, raising a forestalling hand. "Once I find him, I'm certain I can convince him to help us."

"How?" asked Wei Jiaping doubtfully.

"Simple. I'm going to strike a deal with him!"

Wei Jiajia's face turned grim. "This is a secret that outsiders don't know, but both of us are well aware that Seven Steps Fist isn't our family's only exclusive martial art!" His eyes widened. "Don't tell me you plan to…"

"You are right. I plan to use the Eight Steps Rising Dragon as our bargaining chip!"

…

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"You're out of your mind!"

Wei Jiaping hopped in rage and exasperation. "Who's to say he will honor his end of the deal if we hand over the Eight Steps Rising Dragon? What if he changes his mind and refuses to help?"

"Then consider it a token of appreciation for saving my life," Wei Jiajia said calmly.

"You…"

Wei Jiaping was stunned. He clearly wasn't expecting that answer.

"We are out of options, Jiaping," said Wei Jiajia, turning her eyes to her brother. She sighed. "The leader of the Dagger Gang, Chen Xiaodao, won't let us off easily. Without external help, we will eventually fall into his hands. Even if he doesn't know about the existence of Eight Steps Rising Dragon, he will definitely torture us and interrogate us about our family secrets. By then, how long do you think you can hold out?"

Wei Jiaping was silent.

He considered the question.

Even though he didn't have an exact answer, he knew he—having led an easy and carefree life growing up— couldn't hold out for long.

A few whips would probably suffice to extract any secrets out of him.

Wei Jiaping shuddered at the thought.

Wei Jiajia sighed internally before continuing. "This is the biggest crisis our Wei family has ever encountered. If we fail to overcome it, everything will go to pot. No matter what choice we make here, we won't be able to safekeep the Eight Steps Rising Dragon."

"Eight Steps Rising Dragon is a rare martial art that's hard to come across. Instead of letting Chen Xiaodao rob us of it, I rather my savior have it!"

In truth, there was more to it than Wei Jiajia was letting on.

She had a backup plan in mind; if Su Jingxing went back on his word and refused to help them after receiving the Eight Steps Rising Dragon, she would immediately pass this information to Chen Xiaodao.

Chen Xiaodao—a seventh-grade martial artist—was the president of the Dagger Gang.

Given how valuable the Eight Steps Rising Dragon was, Chen Xiaodao would definitely target Su Jingxing if he were to find out about it.

Essentially, Wei Jiajia was using the Eight Steps Rising Dragon as bait, knowing that Chen Xiaodao and Su Jingxing would fight fiercely over it.

In the end, no matter who won, Wei Jiajia would benefit!

Wei Jiaping wasn't as much of a schemer, and would never have thought that far ahead.

He was only sixteen, and had never encountered such major events before.

At this moment, a wave of dizziness swept over him.

…

At the crematorium.

In the washroom, Su Jingxing was staring absently at a newly obtained card in his hand.

A skill card!

He had extracted another skill card from one of the corpses.

He examined the card, and was briefly stunned by the information he received.

Hacking Expertise!

It wasn't a martial arts manual.

Instead, the skill card contained a professional skill—hacking skills. By absorbing it directly, he could immediately reach a high level of proficiency in hacking.

Snapping out of his daze, Su Jingxing had mixed feelings—but was nonetheless excited.

It made sense when he thought about it. Skill cards should encompass all kinds of skills, and not just secret martial arts manuals.

From the very beginning, his own assumption was what had led him astray.

For ordinary people, computer skills were indeed a skill.

So was cooking, medical practice, painting, sculpting, calligraphy, music, and so on!

In theory, Su Jingxing could pick up any of these skills.

The reason why he never received such cards in the past must have been because the owners of the corpses were all too ordinary, had limited skill sets, or didn't obtain enough proficiency in the skills they possessed.

His cheat ability did not consider them worthy!

The hacking skills he just extracted were a little different from the normal skills.

Su Jingxing could absorb it directly and immediately master the craft.

After all, hacking skills were different from secret martial arts manuals; it was purely mental and didn't have much to do with the body.

Su Jingxing didn't need years to master it.

By the same logic, if Su Jingxing extracted any skill cards from science researchers, he would also be able to unlock and master their corresponding skills immediately.

Hacking Expertise was just one of many.

Even though it wasn't a secret martial arts manual, it was nonetheless a useful technique.

Based on what Su Jingxing knew, Yu Nation didn't have the most advanced network security.

With the Hacking Expertise skill, he could hack into most banking systems, government systems, scientific research systems, and so on.

If he was so inclined, he could even sneak out a handsome sum of money from the bank.

However, spending the dirty money could prove difficult, so he rather not bother with it.

What Su Jingxing wanted was clean money.

Like lottery winnings for example!

All he had to do was hack into the lottery center's computer system and manipulate the winning number; that wouldn't cause any problems, would it?

Haha!

Su Jingxing almost burst out laughing at the thought of this.

"I won't be able to make it in time for this month's draw. In that case, I'll call dibs on the first… no, the second prize for next month!"

Winning the first prize was too eye-catching; he was satisfied with taking home the second prize.

Luckily, the small courtyard Su Jingxing had rented only had a short-term lease of three months.

In the following month, he would be able to buy his own house with the prize money!

Talk about getting lucky!

Suppressing his excitement, Su Jingxing placed the card between his eyebrows and unlocked it. Immediately, he knew all he needed to know about hacking.

Right as he finished absorbing—

"Hey, Little Su, you done in there?"

Kong Dabao's voice came from outside.

"Yeah," answered Su Jingxing. He hesitated for a moment, then flushed the toilet, opened the cubicle's wooden door, and exited the washroom.

"What's the matter, Big Brother Dabao?" he asked Kong Dabao when he was outside.

"Hurry, we gotta make a trip to the city to collect some corpses," explained Kong Dabao as he made for the exit of the building. "Customer service just got a call. Word is, the Black Tiger Gang and the Flying Cloud Sect had a huge clash in the city, just a few minutes ago. The casualty count has exceeded three digits. Team Leader wants to dispatch us there immediately to help bring back the corpses."

"Hundreds of casualties? That many?" asked Su Jingxing, raising his brows.

"Heh, not like it's the first time these two syndicates are going at each other. This time just happened to be grander in scale," said Kong Dabao, curling his lips. "A hundred plus deaths is nothing to them. Soon enough, they would have recruited enough new members to make up for the loss. These syndicates never lack manpower!"

Well then…

Not knowing what else to say, Su Jingxing clammed up.

Black Tiger Gang and Flying Cloud Sect were the largest syndicates in the Western District of Qinghe City.

Smaller syndicates like the Dagger Gang and whatnot all worked under them.

The upper echelons of these two syndicates were comprised of sixth-grade—and even fifth-grade—martial artists.

Even the lower echelons had members who packed a punch.

At the lowest level, there were ninth-grade martial artists and ordinary people who were about to hit the ninth-grade.

Therefore, Su Jingxing was more than happy about the deadly brawl between the Black Tiger Gang and the Flying Cloud Sect.

Cards extracted from the corpses of martial artists tended to give more rewards when unlocked.

He expected an abundance of Internal Force Cards and skill cards!

…

He turned out to be right.

The development of events wasn't far from Su Jingxing's expectations.

The entire Corpse Collection Team 1 was hastily dispatched to the location where the deadly syndicate brawl had taken place.

Without betraying any emotion, Su Jingxing walked past all of the corpses at the scene; he collected a total of 27 cards from 27 corpses.

There had been 27 confirmed deaths and a little above 110 casualties in this syndicate clash.

The death count did not take into account the severely wounded that were being rushed to the hospital.

As for now, the Corpse Collector Team's main task was to retrieve the 27 dead bodies on scene and bring them back to the crematorium; the ones at the hospital would have to wait.

The documentation of particulars was handled by someone else.

Su Jingxing found the time to hide in a corner and inspect the cards he extracted.

Strength Enhancement Card, Internal Force Card, Internal Force Card, Skill Card, Skill Card…

"Oh? Equipment Card? Is this yet another new card?"

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Su Jingxing was pleasantly surprised.

At long last, a new type of card had appeared!

He had seen Essence Energy Cards, Strength Enhancement Cards, Internal Force Cards, Requiem Cards, Martial Arts Practice Cards, and Skill Cards.

And now, there were Equipment Cards!

Different types of cards gave different rewards when unlocked.

Unlocking Equipment Card…

Eh?!

Su Jingxing was stunned when he received the information related to the card.

"What kind of reward is this?"

Corpse Dissolving Liquid!

The reward in the Equipment Card turned out to be two bottles of Corpse Dissolving Liquid.

Could it be that the members of the Black Tiger Gang and the Flying Cloud Sect were carrying these with them during the clash?

Otherwise, how could he have extracted them from their corpses?

His cheat ability could only extract things that were once possessed by the owner of a corpse.

The name "Corpse Dissolving Liquid" was self-explanatory of its function.

What surprised Su Jingxing was that the gang members had carried Corpse Dissolving Liquid around even during the clash.

Were they prepared to get rid of their opponent's corpses from the get-go?

The thought sent a chill down Su Jingxing's spine.

Plus, if extracting Equipment Cards was a possibility, how come I never came across any in the past?

It had been some time since he started moving corpses, and he found it odd that this was his first time obtaining an Equipment Card.

It wasn't just the martial artists; even ordinary people should carry something on them just before they die.

Yet he had failed to extract any Equipment Cards from them; something wasn't adding up!

Could it be that corpses were sent to the crematorium too long after their death?

Su Jingxing pondered.

This time, the corpse collection operation had taken place quickly. Within a few minutes of the clash between the two syndicates, the crematorium received a call, and Su Jingxing and his colleagues rushed over at once.

Come to think of it, Su Jingxing was the first person to arrive at the scene.

At that time, the bodies of the dead syndicate members had not yet been deprived of their belongings.

As a result, his cheat ability ended up extracting their physical possessions.

And, for him to extract these items, it must mean that they were as important as the likes of Strength Pills and Internal Force Pills!

That was the only way to explain how he randomly extracted an Equipment Card.

With that in mind, Su Jingxing quickly browsed through the other cards.

Sure enough, he found four more Equipment Cards.

They contained several items—three throwing daggers, a bottle of Bone Strengthening Pills, a human skin mask, and a fake tooth.

But in what world is a fake tooth considered important?

Astonished, Su Jingxing began examining the tooth closely. Then the answer dawned on him.

"Seems like it's filled with venom."

Hidden in the fake tooth were two drops of venom; each drop potent enough to off an elephant.

The other items—throwing daggers, the Bone Strengthening Pills, and the human skin mask—also had their own uses.

The throwing daggers, far from ordinary, were prized weapons that cut through iron like mud.

Bone Strengthening Pill, as the name suggested, could strengthen one's bones. Ultimately, they could harden one's bones to the point where they are as tough as steel.

The human skin mask was not crafted from human skin—despite its name—but from a special material instead. Once worn, it allowed its wearer to take on the appearance of someone else!

The items contained in these five Equipment Cards were great in and of themselves.

In high spirits, Su Jingxing put away the Equipment Cards.

This field mission had proved extraordinarily fruitful.

His haul consisted of five Equipment Cards, two Skill Cards, three Strength Enhancement Cards, four Essence Energy Cards, and a bunch of Internal Force Cards.

The Internal Force Cards contained internal force cultivation ranging from two months to three years.

The two Skill Cards were Black Tiger Fist and Falling Cloud Palm respectively.

Su Jingxing held the cards in his hand and obtained their relevant information. As it turned out, both martial arts were inferior to the Seven Steps Fist.

Most likely, these were low-level martial arts that were given to low-rank members of the two syndicates.

Su Jingxing wasn't interested in learning this sort of martial art, since it was nothing but a waste of his time.

What about selling it on the black market?

He entertained the idea but decided against it.

Although these two martial art manuals could each fetch 100,000 Great Yu dollars in the black market, they were hard to get rid of since they were exclusive to the two syndicates; no one would bat an eye if anyone from the Black Tiger Gang or Flying Cloud Sect cultivated these basic martial arts, but outsiders would get into trouble if they were found cultivating them.

Therefore, even if he took them to the black market, they wouldn't attract many buyers.

Worse still, he might end up catching unnecessary attention from the Black Tiger Gang and the Flying Cloud Sect.

It's worth mentioning that in the black market, the base price of any martial art manual was 100,000 Great Yu dollars.

That was why Su Jingxing did not buy any martial arts manuals on his previous trip.

He couldn't afford it!

The 90,000 Great Yu dollars he got from selling Essence Energy Pills wasn't even enough to afford the most commonplace martial art manual.

For ordinary people, the most economical way was to learn martial arts from a dojo.

That had been Su Jingxing's plan before he got hold of so many martial arts manuals.

…

This haul had been equivalent to Su Jingxing's half a month of moving corpses.

To celebrate, after the shift change, Su Jingxing went out of his way to buy some good food before returning to his rental courtyard.

On the way back, Su Jingxing took a detour, then subconsciously followed a narrow path near the foot of the mountain.

To his surprise, he heard the sound of a fight coming from ahead when he was about to reach his residence.

Screech!

The wheels of the bicycle dragged against the ground before coming to a forceful stop.

Su Jingxing got out of the bicycle and parked it by the side of the road. Stealthily, he took a few steps forward and hid in a corner, where he could see the source of the racket.

A dozen of lis away from where the foot of the mountain met with the road, there were two groups of people…

That wasn't it!

More accurately, it was a group of people ganging up on one person.

Under the light from the street lamp, Su Jingxing saw that the person who was being ganged up on was heavily built and over three meters tall.

All alone, he fended off his group of assailants; at times he pushed them back, and at times he closed the gap.

Under the night sky, the two sides fought fiercely.

Oddly enough, despite the ferocity of these fighters, not a single one of them uttered a word.

The whistling of the night wind echoed through the empty path—the only sound present apart from weapons whooshing through the air and the sound of flesh on flesh.

Su Jingxing hid in a corner and looked on for a while. He noticed that for some reason, the burly man that was getting ganged up on was gradually losing ground.

Rip! Rip! Rip!

The attackers' weapons—long sabers and long swords—bit into the burly man's flesh from time to time, tossing drips of blood and strands of flesh into the air.

Among them was a dandy young man in a fancy suit who had his hair all spruced up. With his bare hands, he forced the burly man into a steady retreat.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The dull sound of impact filled the air.

The burly man remained silent throughout the fight, not uttering so much as a groan when the blade of a sword pierced through his palm.

As though he was incapable of feeling pain, all he did was cycle between counterattacks and attempts at escaping.

However, with more than ten people on his tail, he would get caught as soon as he took a few steps.

In the end, the number of wounds on his body kept stacking up.

And at last…

Thud!

With a loud thud, the burly man fell to the ground motionless.

The one who dealt the final blow was the well-dressed young man who wore a cold expression.

His last palm that struck the burly man in the chest had stopped the latter's heart.

Having eliminated the target, he converged his energy and exhaled.

Then, turning around slowly, he looked towards where Su Jingxing was hiding and said calmly, "Greetings, friend.. You have been watching us for a while now. Don't you plan to introduce yourself?"

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Chapter 20: A Shocking Turn of Events

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

He got busted!

Su Jingxing was caught off guard.

How did the young man spot him in his hiding spot from a dozen of meters away?

Su Jingxing had spectated purely out of curiosity.

He didn't think the young man would be able to detect his presence while in combat.

Is his martial art actually stronger than I expected?

To be clear, Su Jingxing wasn't afraid. From the fact that the young man and the others had spent a great deal of time to finish off the burly man, it was evident that their cultivation realms weren't high.

The young man who was calling the shots was probably an eighth-grade martial artist, or seventh-grade at best.

Against a seventh-grade martial artist, even if Su Jingxing couldn't win, he should be able to retreat with relative ease.

Had it been a sixth-grade—or fifth-grade expert—he would have made a run for it as soon as he saw them.

Unafraid and confident in his own abilities, Su Jingxing had decided to hide in the corner to watch the whole thing.

Now that he was discovered, he was completely bewildered.

Revealing himself and having a chat with the young man wasn't that big of a deal.

But was it really necessary?

Just as Su Jingxing was hesitating, something shockingly unexpected happened.

Boom!

The dead burly man sprang to his feet, aimed at the two men who were standing the closest to him, and slammed his plantain-fan-sized hands at them.

Bam! Bam!

Blood splattered out through cracked skulls.

The heads of the two men had burst apart!

"Watch out!"

"What the heck?"

"Kill him!"

The others were taken by surprise.

Faced with this sudden turn of events, they all sprang into action and began a joint attack on the burly man.

"How is this possible?!" murmured the young man, as he turned around and stared at the burly man with bewildered eyes. He no longer had time to deal with Su Jingxing.

"Everyone, get him! Don't show any mercy and aim for the head!" commanded the young man as he took the lead and charged at the burly man.

Seeing this, the others gritted their teeth and followed suit, launching an all-around attack on the burly man.

Su Jingxing gazed from afar, shocked and confused at the same time.

He wasn't dead?

That big fella is still alive?

The young man's final palm should have been powerful enough to shatter his heart.

But instead of dying, the burly man seemed to have become even stronger.

The burly man who had been at an obvious disadvantage—and should have been killed—was now demonstrating terrifying power.

His defense had become more solid, and blades and daggers couldn't even leave a mark on him.

His plantain-fan-sized hands seemed to be drawing power from an endless fountain.

His hands cracked through the air like a whip.

Even his movements were faster than before.

At this point, only a few of the young man's fighters could keep up with the burly man's pace. The rest of them were as good as dummies. Not only could they not contribute to the fight, the burly man was making quick work out of them, shattering their rib cages and smashing in their skulls.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

The dull, explosion-like sounds persisted.

Soon, the action began to slow down. The young man was still duking it out with the burly man. He was the last survivor in his group.

The burly man persistently attacked with crazed ferocity, while the young man kept evading and moving backward.

As for the direction of retreat… he was moving towards Su Jingxing's hiding place!

Trying to lure the menace to me?

Su Jingxing sneered internally when he realized the young man's intentions.

Once the distance between the three of them decreased, Su Jingxing could see the two men's faces clearly.

There was nothing noteworthy about the young man, but the burly man—his mouth had been sewn shut!

"No wonder he never made a sound."

A gleam flashed across Su Jingxing's eyes. He stood up and prepared to leave.

Just then—

Boom!

A loud explosion resounded through the air.

The burly man, who was still hot on the young man's heels and throwing out attacks, seemed to have been enraged. With a sudden acceleration, he charged and crashed into the young man.

Instantly, the young man was propelled into the air as though hit by a zooming car.

Before he even landed on the ground, the burly man had caught up and grabbed him by the feet at lightning speed.

As soon as his hands latched on, he swung the young man into the ground with all his might.

Bam!

The ground gave a little shake, and cracks began branching out from the spot where the young man had been nailed into the ground. Not a single bone in him managed to stay intact. The only part of him that was above ground level was his legs, from calves to toes, still tightly within the burly man's grasp.

What speed!

His movements were too quick!

And it wasn't just that; he was a complete savage too!

The young man didn't even have time to let loose a scream before dying immediately to the impact. He wasn't even granted a full corpse.

The burly man's cruel methods, emotionless face, and bloodthirsty eyes were reminiscent of a killing machine.

A machine?

The thought suddenly came across Su Jingxing after witnessing the entire process.

Just as he was about to retreat, the burly man, who was more than ten meters away, made his move.

Swish! Swish!

He produced a whooshing sound as he zoomed forward.

Suddenly, the burly man threw the young man's severed feet, still connected up to his calves, at Su Jingxing.

At the same time, he continued charging at Su Jingxing, his massive body roaring like a train.

How fast!

That was Su Jingxing's first thought.

I can't dodge it in time!

This was Su Jingxing's second thought.

Once the two thoughts flashed across his mind, Su Jingxing acted at once. Instead of retreating, he faced his enemy.

If flight wasn't an option, then his only choice was to fight!

At that moment, Su Jingxing's mind was clearer than ever. He executed the Seven Steps Fist without any reservation, delivering the full might of 5000 catties of strength through his punch.

Bam! Bam!

His fists met the young man's severed calves, causing them to burst into bits.

Slithering, Su Jingxing advanced.

One step, two, three…

At his fifth step, he was right about to collide with the burly man.

In the blink of an eye, with 5000 catties of strength in each hand and the Seven Steps Fist, he instantly dished out 25,000 catties of strength, meeting the burly man's attack head-on.

Bang, bang, bang!

As soon his right fist—enveloped in internal force—collided with the burly man's fist, the latter was reduced into a plethora of scrapped flesh and minced meat.

Squish!

His left fist, wrapped in internal force, came out of the muscular man's chest from the other side.

However, the burly man was not yet done!

His attacks persisted!

With his other hand, he slammed down at Su Jingxing's head viciously from a close distance.

Huff…

With his brain in full gear, Su Jingxing managed to act before the burly man. Using the hand that had pierced through the burly man's chest as support, he charged forward, dragging his opponent along with him.

As he charged forward, the burly man's palm strike missed midway.

His huge body was dragged by Su Jingxing uncontrollably, and when Su Jingxing retracted his hand, he flew more than ten meters before crashing to the ground and rolling several times.

Whoosh!

With his hand freed up, Su Jingxing dashed forward at full speed, throwing a punch at the bigger man's head before he could regain his footing.

Bam!

A muffled sound reverberated through the night.

The burly man's head was reduced to a pile of white and red matter, splattering all over the ground.

[Barbarian Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?]

Barbarian?

The Barbarian race?

Before Su Jingxing could even heave a sigh of relief, the notification struck him dumb.

The burly man turned out to be a barbarian?

That's the kind of opponent the young men and his group of fighters were up against?

How barbarians had appeared in Qinghe City, how come he hadn't heard anything about it?

Unless…

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"Unless someone brought him here on purpose?"

Su Jingxing's mind went to the burly man's sewn lips and how he was attacked by the young man and his party.

From these two facts, it would be logical to assume that the burly man had been subjected to abuse. His appearance here told of a successful escape; however, whoever had captured him clearly didn't intend to let him off and sent out a group of assailants to go after his life.

It looked like he was at a disadvantage at the beginning of the fight, but in hindsight, it was apparent that he was only playing dead earlier.

His sham death served more than to bid time for a surprise attack; it also had something to do with an innate power held by barbarians.

Just like how human martial artists had internal force, the barbarians also cultivated their own power.

To unleash this power, they needed to first play possum and charge up.

Had Su Jingxing not happened to pass by, the burly man's plan could have worked out!

After charging up, he would have wiped out the young man and his party, then escaped Qinghe City.

Unfortunately…

"Whoever captured these barbarians and sewed their mouths shut… Just what are they plotting?"

Su Jingxing was troubled.

He just wanted to take a shortcut home, but unexpectedly, he got tangled up in some large organization's conspiracy.

Ordinary people would neither have the guts nor the ability to capture barbarians and smuggle them into Qinghe City.

And if they were bringing in barbarians, they must be up to something!

Just what on Earth Star are they trying to do?

Oh well, whatever.

Shaking his head, Su Jingxing contained his racing thoughts and focused his attention on something else.

If he was dealing with organized trafficking and not a barbarian invasion, Su Jingxing didn't want to get involved further.

In any case, no one could know that this matter was related to him.

There were no security cameras installed along this path.

In fact, in all the major cities of Yu Nation, only the main roads had security cameras.

It wasn't that the government didn't have enough funds to install them; the reason for the dearth of security cameras was because martial artists valued their privacies, and would destroy them on sight.

In time, the government no longer bothered.

Therefore, no one could possibly link the murder of the burly man to Su Jingxing.

There was little Su Jingxing could do to cover up the scene given the scale of destruction, so he decided to simply leave that job to someone else.

A barbarian corpse found within the city, huh? Looks like things are about to get lively in Qinghe City.

No matter what the intentions the secret organization harbored, they would have a lot of cleaning up to do thanks to this unforeseen event.

Having processed these thoughts, Su Jingxing replied "Yes" to the notification in his mind and extracted a card from the barbarian corpse.

He subconsciously took it out of his pockets to take a look.

"A Martial Arts Practice Card?"

Su Jingxing was taken aback at first, then a wave of ecstasy swept over him.

"It's a Martial Arts Practice Card! With 14 years of practice time, no less! Sweet!"

As to how he was able to extract a Martial Arts Practice Card from a barbarian corpse, Su Jingxing decided to put that line of thought aside for now.

He briskly walked towards the young man's corpse—

[Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?]

"Yes!"

A card materialized in his pocket.

As Su Jingxing strolled past the other corpses, he took out the cards in his pocket and inspected them.

A Skill Card!

It's definitely my lucky day. What's the deal with this 'Advanced Hearing' though?

Su Jingxing frowned.

The Skill Card extracted from the young man's corpse was not a secret martial arts manual, nor was it a professional skill—like hacking, singing, or dancing. Instead, It was an odd ability.

Advanced Hearing!

He held the card up to receive its corresponding information.

So that's how it works!

Having figured things out, Su Jingxing's face lit up with joy.

Advanced Hearing was actually a secret ability!

Unlike martial arts, secret techniques were more straightforward and convenient.

It was like a superpower, so to speak.

Once mastered, the ability would always stay with him.

Advanced Hearing, for example, repetitively stimulated one's ear apertures with internal force to strengthen their hearing, hence allowing them to receive various sound waves

Within a certain radius, any sound waves could be detected.

Then, by analyzing these sound waves, one could deduce where they came from.

Be it the rustling of grass, the whistling of the wind, the chirping of birds and insects, or the breathing and heartbeats of human beings.

Earlier, the young man had discovered Su Jingxing because of this secret ability.

What a pleasant surprise!

Taking the shortcut had led him to run into some danger, but the ending was full of pleasant surprises.

[Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?]

"Yes!"

[Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?]

"Yes!"

…

From the remaining corpses, he managed to extract more than ten cards.

Then, Su Jingxing quickly fled the scene on his bike.

When he was back at his residence, he took out a dozen or so cards and examined them one by one.

Internal Force Card, Internal Force Card, Strength Enhancement Card, Strength Enhancement Card, Essence Energy Card…

When he was done, he did not find any new cards.

It was only the same old Internal Force Cards, Strength Enhancement Cards, and Essence Energy Cards.

This didn't dampen Su Jingxing's spirits though.

He unlocked the Internal Force Cards immediately and absorbed them. The Essence Energy Cards produced a few Essence Energy Pills, which he added to his stockpile. As for the Strength Pills he received, he consumed them promptly.

When all was said and done, Su Jingxing took out the Martial Arts Practice Card and pondered on why he was able to extract it from a barbarian corpse.

The first martial arts card had come from a corpse puppet, and the second from a barbarian corpse puppet.

What was the connection between the two?

After pondering for a while, Su Jingxing couldn't arrive at an answer and decided to move on.

In any case, corpse puppets and barbarians were both beyond Su Jingxing's reach.

The odds of him encountering their corpses again were extremely low.

Su Jingxing was never one to aim for the sky; he was a firm believer in seizing the day.

With that in mind, Su Jingxing unlocked the Martial Arts Practice Card. The card transformed into a ray of brilliance that enveloped Su Jingxing entirely.

His consciousness entered the white space once again.

As though something was driving him, he began to practice the Seven Steps Fist on his own.

He did the same moves over and over again.

There was no fatigue, no hunger, no thirst, and no soreness.

As though he had forgotten about all other matters, he just kept practicing.

He did the same moves over and over again.

Time flew by.

After an unknown amount of time, Su Jingxing regained consciousness.

However, unlike the last time, the white space did not collapse like last time.

What's going on? Why am I still here?

Su Jingxing was confused.

He perceived his surroundings—sure enough, he was still within the space.

However, he was no longer practicing the Seven Steps Fist.

Wait, I think I know!

Suddenly, Su Jingxing thought of something and tried to execute the Seven Steps Fist.

And lo and behold, he realized that he had reached the highest level of mastery in Seven Steps Fist.

In other words, it was the realm where he could take all seven steps in one go—Godlike Mastery!

"There must have been time to spare after I reached the highest level in Seven Steps Fists. Is that why this space still exists?"

Su Jingxing remembered that the Martial Arts Practice Card contained a period of 14 years—4 more than the previous one.

Once he reached the highest level in Seven Steps Fist, time stopped within the space.

Su Jingxing could direct his consciousness back to his physical body at any time he wanted, but that would mean wasting the remaining time in this space.

Martial Arts Practice Cards weren't easy to come by, and it would be a shame to waste them.

At the thought of this, Su Jingxing switched to another skill to practice—Advanced Hearing!

As soon as he made the decision, the internal force in his body uncontrollably surged and converged at his ear apertures, stimulating them in a slow and orderly manner…

…

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Whoosh!

The white light dissipated and the space crumbled.

Su Jingxing's consciousness returned to his body.

His ears twitched, and immediately, he could hear all sorts of sound waves clearly.

Su Jingxing scanned around him, matching every sound wave to a source and committing this knowledge to memory.

The final step was to find out its range.

As it turned out, it was a radius of a hundred meters!

With the help of the Martial Arts Practice Card, Su Jingxing had successfully mastered the secret ability Advanced Hearing to the point where his hearing range was a hundred meters.

With Su Jingxing as the center, any sound waves within a hundred-meter radius could be heard.

Within this range, Su Jingxing could walk without bumping into obstacles even with his eyes closed.

On that note, Su Jingxing could also sense anyone or anything that entered his hundred meters hearing range!

Even a mouse or a fly could not escape his senses!

This was definitely a kick-ass ability.

What a nice guy.

Deactivating his secret ability, Su Jingxing silently express his gratitude to the young man who was brutally murdered by the barbarian.

Who was he?

Ordinary organizations could never get their hands on a secret ability like Advanced Hearing, let alone guard it.

Not only did the young man obtain it, he had managed to master it. It wasn't hard to figure out that he had powerful backers.

Plus, only a powerful organization could have had the resources to capture barbarians.

Shaking his head, Su Jingxing put aside the stray thoughts and began familiarizing himself with the Seven Steps Fist, which he had achieved Godlike Mastery in.

…

On the following day, he was hard at work moving corpses again.

The cards he extracted were mainly Strength Enhancement Cards and Essence Energy Cards.

Outside of work, Su Jingxing also paid attention to the affairs of Qinghe City.

A day had passed, yet there was no sign of the disturbance he had predicted.

No gossip reached his ears on the second day, and the third day was peaceful as well.

Does that mean…

The barbarian corpse wasn't exposed to the public?

Had the organization behind the young man managed to suppress the information in time?

After pondering on it at length, that was the only plausible explanation Su Jingxing could come up with.

To think they managed to suppress it so quickly… I wonder which organization is behind all this.

He ended his trail of thought, deciding to not pay any more attention to the issue.

At the end of the day, barbarians and whatnots were way too detached from his reality.

As a nobody, it was best not to get involved in such matters.

…

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

At the back mountain of the crematorium.

Su Jingxing was punching with the might of a phoenix and moving with the swiftness of a dragon. Between steps, he shifted from one stance to another.

The surface of his fists was wrapped in shapeless, colorless internal force.

His punches stirred the air, producing gusts of wind that fanned his sleeves and ruffled his hair.

With his Seven Steps Fist at the highest level, Su Jingxing was finally able to hold his own in this new world.

He had come to the back of the mountain to test his mastery of internal force.

Bam!

Without warning, he threw a quick punch at the trunk of a tree.

He then leaped backward.

As he was backing away, his gaze was fixed on the trunk of the tree.

A second passed, then two, then five.

Finally, at the tenth second, the trunk of the tree that had been hit by his punch burst into pieces. The tree, which had a diameter of around 50 centimeters thick, snapped midway up, throwing out myriads of wood chips.

It worked!

He managed to exude his internal force!

Su Jingxing retracted his fist and looked at the fallen tree. His face lit up with joy.

Exuding internal force—the trademark of a bonafide eighth-grade martial artist!

Compared to martial artists of the same grade, the internal force exuded by Su Jingxing had a much longer retention time!

It lasted for a full ten seconds!

In actual combat, it would be a piece of cake for him to deliver internal force from his fist into his opponent's body and destroy their veins and tendons.

Now that he was an eighth-grade martial artist, he was another step closer to seeking revenge on Wan Rong.

Huff…

Su Jingxing exhaled and relaxed his body.

A moment later, he scanned the scene and did a bit of cleaning up, then made a hasty exit before anyone else arrived.

…

The days continued to pass.

Days were spent moving corpses, and nights were spent practicing his Advanced Hearing.

Every night on the way back to the small courtyard, Su Jingxing would listen to the movements around him as he rode his bicycle, memorizing all kinds of sound waves.

For this secret ability, a hundred meters was only the starting point.

If he persevered with the stimulation, it was possible to extend his hearing range to a thousand, or even ten thousand meters!

As the range increased, his corresponding tolerance would also increase.

One of the fruits of his training was that Su Jingxing managed to overhear many secrets.

And certain… bed activities.

But let's not dwell on that…

That night, after ending his shift, Su Jingxing got on his bike and rode homeward. As usual, he leisurely trained his hearing as he pedaled.

At the beginning of his journey, he didn't hear anything that was out of the ordinary.

However, a new heartbeat emerged after he passed by a small road.

At first, Su Jingxing thought it was just a passer-by and didn't give much thought to it.

However, even after a few minutes, he realized that the owner of the heartbeat was still within range—behind him.

Am I being followed?

Su Jingxing's heart skipped a beat.

Instead of immediately changing routes or pedaling faster, he continued in the same direction for a bit longer.

He listened carefully and realized that the owner of the heartbeat was still there.

It was time to change routes!

Su Jingxing made a prompt decision. Putting his practice on pause, he swerved onto a different route.

A few minutes later, he could still hear the same heartbeat close behind him!

He was actually being followed!

A cold gleam flashed across Su Jingxing's eyes. He picked up speed before turning into a small alley, where he chose a corner to park his bike. Then, he made a quick dash to a dark spot where he hid himself.

Moments later, hurried footsteps followed.

Let's find out who you are.

Su Jingxing stood in the shade and strained to see the face of his stalker that was coming out of the alley.

The next second—

It's her?

Su Jingxing raised his eyebrows. He didn't expect his stalker to be Wei Jiajia.

She was Wei Zhongting's daughter—the girl he saved the previous time.

She found me?

Does that mean she knows I was the one who saved her?

No, wait!

Su Jingxing racked his brains and analyzed the situation.

If Wei Jiajia knew that he was the person who had saved her, she would have paid him a direct visit at the crematorium, instead of tailing him all the way out here!

Alternatively, she could have waited at the entrance of the crematorium and introduced herself once he came out.

Since she hadn't done any of that, she clearly didn't know his identity.

What she recognized was Su Jingxing's back view!

From his back view, Wei Jiajia might have realized that Su Jingxing was his savior.

However, this was all just Su Jingxing's supposition. Wei Jiajia might not be sure of his identity yet.

He could simply be one of her targets.

In that case, she must have followed him to confirm her theory!

Having worked this out, Su Jingxing's eyes twinkled. He took out his mask, put it on, and walked out of the darkness.

He couldn't carry the cloak around because it was too big, but the mask was fine.

…

Under the streetlamp.

Wei Jiajia was feeling frustrated about having lost her target. She let out a helpless sigh.

All of a sudden—

"Looking for someone?" asked Su Jingxing, lowering his voice intentionally. His voice resounded in the quiet alley.

Swish!

Wei Jiajia jerked her head up and looked over her shoulders. Her eyes fell on Su Jingxing, who was standing ten meters away.

She stared at his face.

The back view, the height, the mask; they all matched!

She was certain now!

"Yes! I've been looking for you. I need to talk to you," said Wei Jiajia, thrilled at the sight of Su Jingxing. She began running towards him.

"Don't move," said Su Jingxing coldly. "You can talk from there."

"…"

Wei Jiajia stopped in her tracks and drew a deep breath. "First of all, I want to thank you for saving me last time. Secondly, I have a proposal…"

"I'm not interested in your proposal."

…

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Chapter 23: Peerless Lightness Skill

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Admittedly, the Skill Card—Seven Steps Fist—held special meaning to him.

After all, that had been the foundation to his quick growth after his transmigration.

A martial artist who only had internal force and no martial arts wouldn't amount to much.

On top of that, Su Jingxing loathed lowlifes who violated women.

That was why Su Jingxing had stepped out and lent a helping hand when Wei Jiajia was almost violated.

He considered this favor as the end to his ties with the Wei Family.

From then on, they should have been nothing but strangers.

That being said, Su Jingxing naturally had no intention of deepening his ties with the Wei Family.

That's why he decided to reveal himself and clear things up with Wei Jiajia. This would also save her the trouble of more stalking and snooping around.

He believed such matters ought not to be dragged. More importantly, he knew he had to be rational.

How could he live his own life if he had to go around repaying the favors of every corpse he extracted?

Putting all the other examples aside, take a look at the Corpse Puppet Mei Jinju. Su Jingxing had extracted his Martial Arts Practice Card from it.

To repay that favor, wouldn't he have to find the Corpse-raising Insect that created the corpse puppet?

That would be ridiculous!

Not to mention unrealistic.

To put it bluntly, extracting cards from corpses and unlocking them for rewards was no more than an act of recycling.

If Wei Jiajia was hounding him because she wanted him to repay the favor, then she was clearly expecting too much!

…

"Not… not interested? Wait… This isn't a joke, you know?" stammered Wei Jiajia. After a brief pause, she anxiously continued. "I'm dead serious."

"So am I," replied Su Jingxing coldly. "I did save you, but I was only passing by and merely did it on a whim. I don't need you to repay the favor, and I would really appreciate it if you can leave me alone from now on."

He then turned around and made leave.

"Hold on!" cried Wei Jiajia, panicking. "I'm not playing around, I really have a good deal for you."

Before Su Jingxing could reply, she went on. "You've practiced the Wei Family's Seven Steps Fist, so you should be well aware of its power. In truth, however, our family possesses a martial art that is even more profound—the Eight Steps Rising Dragon. It's a peerless lightness skill."

"Well, here's the deal. You help my family out a couple of times, and the Eight Steps Rising Dragon would be all yours!"

Su Jingxing stopped in his tracks.

Eight Steps Rising Dragon?

It does sound pretty strong.

Moreover, judging from Wei Jiajia's words, it seemed to be a trade with no strings attached.

At the thought of this, Su Jingxing turned around and looked at the nervous and expectant Wei Jiajia. "Eight Steps Rising Dragon?" he repeated calmly.

"Right, right. The Eight Steps Rising Dragon," confirmed Wei Jiajia with a quick nod. "Actually, the Seven Steps Fist is also called the Seven Steps Long Fist. This fist technique, along with the Eight Steps Rising Dragon and a long-lost martial art called 'Nine Steps something', are the three ultimate techniques of my Wei family."

"The Nine Steps martial art has already been lost, and the majority of the Seven Steps one has been taught to outsiders. But the Eight Steps martial art is something that only we Wei family members know."

"And I guarantee you that the Eight Steps Rising Dragon is extremely powerful once mastered."

Su Jingxing remained silent.

Wei Jiajia waited nervously. At length, he said, "Same time tomorrow. Meet me at the pavilion ahead with the Eight Steps Rising Dragon ready."

"Deal!" agreed Wei Jiajia promptly, not daring to ask too much.

After getting a response, Su Jingxing looked deeply at Wei Jiajia, then turned around and left without another word.

This time, Wei Jiajia did not stop him. Standing still, she watched as Su Jingxing disappeared into the night.

Only after he was far gone, she took a deep breath and let out a long sigh of relief!

She finally got hold of him!

Even though Su Jingxing's attitude was cold, her plan to get in contact with him had succeeded.

With the value of the Eight Steps Rising Dragon, Wei Jiajia had no doubts that Su Jingxing would get tempted.

Once Su Jingxing was tempted, she would get to decide the terms of the trade!

This thought gave her confidence and assuaged much of her unease.

The next night.

Wei Jiajia arrived at the pavilion way before the appointed time.

After waiting for nearly an hour, the masked Su Jingxing finally turned up.

"Here's the original copy of the Eight Steps Rising Dragon," said Wei Jiajia. Without delay, she handed Su Jingxing an ancient manual wrapped in a beast skin scroll.

"…"

Su Jingxing didn't take it immediately. Instead, he stared at Wei Jiajia with a strange look and said indifferently, "Aren't you afraid that I might go back on my word after taking the secret manual? I could kill you right here, or make off with the secret manual, you know."

"There's no reason to be afraid," said Wei Jiajia with a smile. "Firstly, there are no benefits in killing me. On the contrary, it'll draw the attention of the Dagger Gang and the Public Security Team. There's no need for me to explain why it would be a bad idea to get on the bad side of the Public Security Team. The Dagger Gang, on the other hand, is a big organization that's plotting against my family business. My younger brother knows about our meeting tonight, and if I were to die, he would report this incident to the Dagger Gang. I doubt you want a life where both the evil and the righteous side are putting a bounty on your head."

"Secondly, if you make off with the secret manual, it's no big loss for me either. I'll just treat it as paying you back for saving me last time. After all, if you turn me down here, we won't be able to guard the Eight Steps Rising Dragon anyway. Rather than handing it over to the Dagger Gang, I thought it's better to let you have it."

"And thirdly, I trust you."

After saying what she had to say in one go, Wei Jiajia grinned at Su Jingxing as she waited for his reply.

After hearing this, Su Jingxing looked at Wei Jiajia seriously for the first time.

He had a newfound respect for the young girl standing before him.

Even though it was obvious that Wei Jiajia had left some things unsaid, Su Jingxing could tell that she was bold and intellectual just from the three points she listed.

Or was scheming a better way to put it?

According to Wei Jiajia, the Eight Steps Rising Dragon was a powerful lightness skill.

If she was telling the truth, she could bring this peerless lightness skill to the Black Tiger Gang, the Flying Cloud Sect, or even the government to seek protection.

Yet she chose to give it to Su Jingxing, whom she had only met once!

From this, he could tell that she was a scheming girl.

The reason was simple; government protection for her and her brother wouldn't last twenty-four-seven. On top of that, she wouldn't hold her breath for them to help the Wei family flourish and seek vengeance for them.

The Black Tiger Gang and the Flying Cloud Sect were even more practical; once they got their hands on the Eight Steps Rising Dragon, they would almost certainly toss them aside.

Even if, on the off chance, the Black Tiger Gang and the Flying Cloud Sect made good on their promise and helped her keep the coveters of Wei Family's businesses—like the Dagger Gang—at bay, it wouldn't last for long.

Once the protection was effectively over, the members of the Dagger Gang would definitely come look for Wei Jiajia and her younger brother again. She wouldn't put any underhanded methods past them.

They wouldn't kill the Wei siblings openly, but they had all kinds of underhanded methods to drive them crazy!

Su Jingxing was a different story.

Firstly, as Wei Jiajia had said, he had already saved her once.

There was a foundation of trust between them.

Secondly, Su Jingxing's performance last time had given Wei Jiajia hope.

So much so that it didn't matter whether Su Jingxing was a lone wolf or had a powerful backer behind him.

Su Jingxing was her best shot at protecting and developing the Wei Family!

Of course—

This wasn't a risk-free gamble for Wei Jiajia.

But she showed courage and placed her bet on Su Jingxing.

And as it turned out…

She won!

After a brief silence, Su Jingxing took the Eight Steps Rising Dragon secret manual from her hands and leafed through it.

His pupils constricted immediately.

Wei Jiajia wasn't lying; this was indeed an exceptional lightness skill!

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Chapter 24: A Fair Deal

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

There were many kinds of lightness skills.

Some involved floating over great heights, some granted phantom-like movement, some were burst-like gap closers, and some could sprint across long distances…

Every lightness skill had its own advantages.

Eight Steps Rising Dragon was likewise.

However, as compared to other lightness skills, the Eight Steps Rising Dragon had more advantages since it had three attributes.

The martial art allowed one to float over great heights, move like a phantom, and fly across long distances.

That's right, it wasn't just sprinting, but flying.

Once mastered, the Eight Steps Rising Dragon allowed one to fly in the sky!

To do that, however, he had to fulfill two conditions first.

Firstly, his dantian had to be able to produce true energy. Secondly, he needed to produce enough of it.

Producing true energy was the trademark of a sixth-grade martial artist.

In other words, before he reached the sixth-grade, even if he managed to master the Eight Steps Rising Dragon, he would only be able to sprint on the ground.

He had to hit sixth-grade before he could take off from the ground.

That was the unique characteristic of the Eight Steps Rising Dragon, as well as where its strength lay.

In Su Jingxing's opinion, even if the Eight Steps Rising Dragon couldn't allow a practitioner below sixth-grade to fly in the sky, it was still considered a profound martial art.

This was because the agile and phantom-like attributes of Eight Steps Rising Dragon reminded him of Wave-like Subtle Steps1.

In terms of agile movements, it was ten folds better than Seven Steps Fist.

The only downside to The Eight Steps Rising Dragon was that it had a range limit of eight steps.

A shame, to be sure.

The saving grace was that Eight Steps Rising Dragon was easy to learn.

Even though it was easy, there was a prerequisite—he had to comprehend it first!

The secret manual not only contained relevant information, but also accompanying illustrations.

Anyone could understand the illustrations, but the content was a different story.

Su Jingxing could only understand it thanks to his increased soul power. Before that, he would have no problems understanding the individual words, but sentences would be beyond his level of understanding.

It was just like Old Chinese—anyone could read an individual word after being taught how to, but they would be at a loss if asked to decipher a compound word.

The Wei family had always guarded the Eight Steps Rising Dragon's secret existence from outsiders.

This had to do with a number of factors.

The long and short of it was, the Wei Family themselves had not seen many kinsmen who fully mastered the Eight Steps Rising Dragon.

No one knew about the distant past, but in recent decades, the only Wei kinsman who advanced to the sixth-grade was Wei Jiajia's grandfather.

As to whether he managed to master the Eight Steps Rising Dragon when he was alive, Su Jingxing didn't know.

Chances were, he didn't!

Even if he did, he probably only had a basic understanding of the martial art, and never used it before others.

If the existence of an advanced lightness skill like the Eight Steps Ascending Dragon were to leak out, it could easily bring trouble to its keeper.

Su Jingxing kept that in mind. After browsing through the secret manual, he decided to proceed with the deal with Wei Jiajia.

…

"It's not a bad lightness skill," said Su Jingxing. He closed the secret manual and said calmly, "Make your offer."

"Ten !" Wei Jiajia's eyes lit up. "In exchange for this, I want you to help us out ten…"

Su Jingxing broke in. "Make it three."

Wei Jiajia opened her mouth, then gritted her teeth. "Three times is too little. I won't take anything below eight!"

"Three."

"…Three times is simply not enough," complained Wei Jiajia, stamping her feet. Then, almost coquettishly, she said, "If eight times is too much, how about five…"

"Three," said Su Jingxing nonchalantly. "Three requests, no more, no less. And I get to decide whether I want to fulfill a particular request."

Wei Jiajia was at a loss for words.

Resisting the urge to curse, she drew a deep breath and said reluctantly, "Well…"

"If you don't like the terms, we can call the deal off," interjected Su Jingxing. "I agree that the Eight Steps Rising Dragon is an excellent martial art, but it's not good enough for me to sign a slave contract with the Wei family."

Wei Jiajia was at a loss for words again.

"You must be misunderstanding something," said Wei Jiajia, clenching her fists and forcing out a smile. "This is a fair trade, not…"

"I'll be the judge of that," said Su Jingxing calmly, maintaining his indifference. "I have but one condition. I'll fulfill three requests of yours, and I get to decide whether to accept a particular request. If you don't like the sound of that, the deal is off. And don't worry, I won't take the Eight Steps Rising Dragon by force."

He handed the secret manual back to Wei Jiajia.

Wei Jiajia remained still.

Her mind was in a mess and her chest was heaving up and down.

She had lost control over the situation…

Or rather, she had never been in charge from the beginning.

She was never the one calling the shots!

Initially, she thought that once she took out the Eight Steps Rising Dragon, Su Jingxing would take the bait immediately.

She did not expect Su Jingxing to remain cool and collected even after seeing the Eight Steps Rising Dragon.

In fact. he had been frighteningly calm throughout their interaction.

That made Wei Jiajia feel a strong sense of defeat. If Su Jingxing didn't take the bait, all her scheming would be futile.

Wei Jiajia couldn't wrap her head over his behavior.

How could Su Jingxing be cool as a cucumber in the face of a secret martial art manual like the Eight Steps Rising Dragon?

Little did she know Su Jingxing was indeed tempted.

However, even though he was tempted, Su Jingxing did not deign to take orders from others just for the sake of a martial art.

The Eight Steps Rising Dragon was indeed powerful.

However, in time, Su Jingxing would eventually be able to extract a similar—or even more powerful—martial art from one of those corpses.

During this period of time, Su Jingxing had figured out some patterns regarding his extraction ability.

Skill Cards that contained martial arts all came from martial artists.

The stronger a martial artist and the higher his realm, the better the grade of the martial art that could be extracted from his body!

The reason why Su Jingxing only obtained the Seven Steps Fist so far was because stronger martial artists had lower chances of dying.

However, there were many old martial artists who had achieved high-realms in Qinghe City.

In anywhere from three to a dozen years, they would doubtlessly die of old age.

When that time comes, Su Jingxing would have all the opportunities in the world to get near their corpses and extract Skill Cards from them.

The only reason why Su Jingxing agreed to the deal with Wei Jiajia was because he didn't want to wait that long.

If Wei Jiajia found his conditions unacceptable, Su Jingxing wouldn't force her either.

He was a man of his own principles!

…

"So is it a yes or no? Just say the word."

Su Jingxing waited for a while, then broke the silence. "If you are not willing to do this, please…" he started indifferently.

"I'll do it, I'll do it!" said Wei Jiajia, coming back to her senses. She gritted her teeth and yielded. "Fine. Three requests, and you get to decide whether you fulfill a particular one!"

Su Jingxing smiled beneath his mask.

Retracting his hand, he stored away the Eight Steps Rising Dragon secret manual. He deliberately deepened his voice while maintaining his nonchalant attitude. "State your first request."

"I want you to throw down the gauntlet at Chen Xiaodao!" Wei Jiajia took a deep breath, her face growing solemn. "I want you to issue a challenge to the leader of Dagger Gang, Chen Xiaodao, in the name of my Eldest Senior Brother, Duan Feihong. During the fight, I want you to kill him."

"…Sure," said Su Jingxing after giving it some thought. "When, and where?"

"Noontime, the day after tomorrow…"

"I'm not free at that time," interrupted Su Jingxing.

He had shifts on that day.

"…What about three days from now?" ventured Wei Jiajia.

"That can be done."

Huff…

Wei Jiajia took a deep breath and continued. "The time would be set at three in the afternoon, three days from now. As for the location, it would be held at a small square outside the entrance of my family dojo. I will put up an arena there!"

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In the Yu Nation…

More accurately, in most countries on Earth Star, private fights were generally prohibited.

However, there were no rules on fights behind closed doors. As long as no citizenry was disturbed or harmed in the process, they could pretty much fight to their heart's content.

Therefore, fights between syndicates usually took place at remote places.

For example, after the last clash between the Black Tiger Gang and the Flying Cloud Sect, Su Jingxing had collected the corpses from an abandoned construction site.

Fighting at public areas, the main drags, schools, and so on were strictly off-limits.

To keep the martial artists in check, the Yu Nation had specially set up an agency.

The Martial Suppression Office!

Security teams were only in charge of handling matters like ordinary fights, petty theft, family disputes, and so on.

The Martial Suppression Office was what ensured the stability of the various cities in the Yu Nation.

Dojos, sects, martial arts families, underground syndicates, independent cultivator alliances…

All martial artists were under the jurisdiction of the Martial Suppression Office!

There were many ordinary people in the security team, but the Martial Suppression Office consisted of only martial artists. Even the weakest members among them were ninth-grade.

As for the strongest…

Su Jingxing only knew that the Rank 1 expert in Qinghe City was the Commander of City Governance of the Martial Suppression Office—Li Linzhou!

He was a fourth-grade martial artist.

Under his command, there were fifth-grade Commissioners of Defense, sixth-grade Chiefs of Control, seventh-grade Commissioners of Command, and eighth-grade generals.

These titles were held by an unknown number of people.

Under most circumstances, it was rare for ordinary people to even see them in person.

But there were special circumstances that made that possible.

One of them was an arena match—much like the one Wei Jiajia was organizing.

Even though the Yu Nation generally forbade private fights, it did provide martial artists a chance to settle their grudges.

In the arena!

Under the supervision of the Martial Suppression Office, rivaling martial artists could participate in an organized arena deathmatch.

To organize an arena match, Wei Jiajia had to first submit a report to the Martial Suppression Office.

During the match, the Martial Suppression Office would send supervisors to the venue.

The procedures of the event were up to Wei Jiajia to decide.

All Su Jingxing had to do was show up on time to attend the arena fight.

The two quickly went on their separate ways after sealing the deal.

Before parting ways, Su Jingxing exchanged phone numbers with Wei Jiajia, using a phone card—which did not leave any caller IDs—he bought that morning. He also asked her to send him a photo of her Eldest Senior Brother Duan Feihong when she got home.

Wei Jiajia did not know his intentions but agreed anyway.

As soon as she reached home, she dug out a photo that was left behind by her Eldest Senior Brother and took a picture of it, then sent it to Su Jingxing.

After receiving the message, Su Jingxing immediately got down to work. Using one of his previous loots—the human skin mask—he began disguising his features with Duan Feihong's facial features as reference.

After putting in some serious effort, he successfully took on the appearance of Duan Feihong—the resemblance was around 70%!

Since Duan Feihong had long hair when he left Qinghe City, Su Jingxing made the special effort to buy a long hair wig the next day; it came with a fake scalp as well.

After returning home, he continued to work on his disguise. Finally—the resemblance was now about 80%!

While Wei Jiajia nursed a grudge against the Dagger Gang, Su Jingxing didn't.

Killing Chen Xiaodao was only part of the deal. Naturally, he did not want to make enemies with the Dagger Gang and have them going after his ass and tracking his every movement.

However, now that he had disguised himself as Duan Feihong, this worry was out of the window.

Even in the worst-case scenario where he loses to Chen Xiaodao or lets him get away, he wouldn't be the one the Dagger Gang looks for when they try to settle the scores.

Wei Jiajia might have her own schemes, but Su Jingxing was also well-prepared.

In the past two days, apart from moving corpses, Su Jingxing also practiced the Eight Step Rising Dragon.

The peerless lightness skill proved rather easy to learn after he comprehended it.

All he needed to do was follow the instructions on the illustrations and set up an internal force network within his body. After that, he could expend his internal force to execute the martial art.

Su Jingxing mastered the basics after a night of practice.

To test his progress, he executed the martial art in his courtyard. As he was taking the eight steps, he was moving almost like a shifting shadow.

Su Jingxing was yet another step closer to taking revenge on Wan Rong!

As for Chen Xiaodao, Su Jingxing was confident he could take him down.

At this point, seventh-grade martial artists could not pose much of a threat to him.

Due to the consistent intake of Strength Pills, Su Jingxing's hands had both already exceeded 7,000 catties of power.

With his Seven Steps Fist at the highest level, he could unleash nearly 50,000 catties of power at once! Su Jingxing believed that was enough to send Chen Xiaodao to an early grave!

Therefore, Su Jingxing was very calm about the fight on the following day.

In the afternoon, he worked leisurely in the crematorium as usual, moving corpses from one place to another.

Kong Dabao smiled at his mannerism. "Let me in on the good news, Little Su. Share some joy with me."

"What are you on about?" asked Su Jingxing, unsure of how to react. "I'm not doing anything different from usual."

"That may be so, but you seem especially laid-back today."

Kong Dabao raised an eyebrow. "Did your little girlfriend…"

"Ah!!"

Kong Dabao was interrupted by a bloodcurdling scream that came from ahead.

"What the heck?" Kong Dabao frowned. "That voice sounded familiar."

"Only one way to find out," said Su Jingxing as he moved towards the direction of the scream.

The two of them had just returned from transporting a corpse to the incinerator room.

Upon hearing the familiar scream, they immediately put their work aside and went to check out what was going on.

From a distance away, he could see a throng gathered outside the entrance of the farewell ceremony hall.

The crematorium staff was having a stand-off with a group of people.

Su Jingxing and Kong Dabao walked over and jostled their way through the crowd. A member from Corpse Collection Team 2 lay on the ground, screaming in agony.

The elderly corpse collector's right leg was broken, and his left arm was bent to 90 degrees.

White bones were showing. A ghastly sight.

"Old Liu!"

Kong Dabao's eyes reddened. "Who did this? Who the f*ck did this?!"

"It's them!"

A crematorium staff pointed at a group of arrogant martial artists who were sneering. He gritted his teeth and said, "All Old Liu did was bump into a child by mistake and they broke his hands and feet!"

"F*cking piece of…"

Just as Kong Dabao was about to fly into a rage, the manager of the crematorium rushed over and shouted, "Stop! Everybody stop!"

"They crossed the line, Uncle Wang!" said Kong Dabao, turning around to look at the comer.

"I know. Stay out of this. I'll take care of it."

The crematorium manager—Manager Wang—was looking livid. He gazed towards the other party at a long-faced man in his thirties. "Don't you think you went overboard, President Chen?" he said in a deep voice.

"Overboard?"

The long-faced man didn't even bat an eyelid. "The sad sack hurt my son. He should be glad I only broke his arms and legs. If I wanted to go overboard…"

"What would you have done instead?" demanded the crematorium director in a booming voice as he made his way towards the group.

"Ho. To think even Director Wu is alarmed over such a small matter." The long-faced man glanced at the crematorium director and said unhurriedly, "Aren't you a busy man, Director Wu? Nothing on your schedule today?"

"You…" Director Wu was a man of medium build with graying hair. He drew a deep breath and shot an icy stare at the long-faced man. "Chen Xiaodao! Don't be too arrogant, or you are bound to die an ugly death someday!"

Chen Xiaodao?

The long-faced man was Chen Xiaodao, the president of the Dagger Gang? The man he was going to fight on the next day?

Su Jingxing, who had been silent all this while, couldn't help but look at the long-faced man. A cold glint flashed across his eyes.

…

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Chapter 26: Enforcing Justice on Behalf of the Heavens

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

"An ugly death?"

Chen Xiaodao paid no attention to Su Jingxing, Kong Dabao, and the others. Instead, his gaze fell on the director of the Western District crematorium—Wu Shouhan.

"You are talking about my match tomorrow, aren't you?" he sneered. "Words sure spread fast. I didn't expect a busy person like you to know about it.

"So? You think I'm going to lose… no, what was it again—die an ugly death tomorrow?

"You think Duan Feihong's got the fight in the bag after leaving for a few years?"

"Don't put words into my mouth," said Wu Shouhan coldly. "I'm not interested in shooting the breeze with you, Chen Xiaodao. Your guys over there did a number on Old Liu. I want a solution."

"A what? A solution?" Chen Xiaodao snorted. "The prole hurt my son first. Am I expected to compensate him?"

"That's not true!"

"It was you who…"

"Hush!" blared Wu Shouhan, cutting the explaining staff short. He took a step forward and glared at Chen Xiaodao. "So what you are saying is, you are not going to do anything about what happened to Old Liu?"

"What are you going to do about it?" asked Chen Xiaodao with a sinister smile. He held Wu Shouhan's gaze without the slightest fear.

Even though Wu Shouhan wasn't weaker than Chen Xiaodao in terms of aura, the latter was a grade above him when it came to cultivation realms.

Chen Xiaodao was a seventh-grade while Wu Shouhan was only an eighth-grade.

However, Wu Shouhan wasn't a nobody. He was the director of the crematorium—a civil servant of Qinghe City!

Hitting only eighth-grade at his martial arts realm was certainly considered low for his age.

In this lifetime, he could forget about entering the seventh-grade, let alone sixth-grade.

However, that didn't stop Wu Shouhan from making connections. After decades of keeping his nose on the grindstone, the old man had established many connections. That included officials, businessmen, martial artists, and even military personnel.

Chen Xiaodao dared to break Old Liu's arm and leg, but he didn't dare to do anything to Wu Shouhan.

That was why Wu Shouhan dared to face him down,

If crematorium staff like Kong Dabao, Su Jingxing, or the others offended Chen Xiaodao, they would definitely suffer retaliation in the future.

Wu Shouhan wasn't afraid of that. The old man's face was expressionless, and his eyes were cold.

"All I want is justice to be served.

"Since you don't want to settle this privately, I'll have to ask Commissioner Qi over to be our judge.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Old Wang, fetch me the security camera footage," ordered Wu Shuhan.

"Right away." Manager Wang nodded, turned, and made to leave.

"Hold it," said Chen Xiaodao uncomfortably. When Manager Wang stopped in his tracks, Chen Xiaodao glared at Wu Shouhan and said in a deep voice, "Looks like you've got a soft spot for your employees, Director Wu."

Wu Shouhan ignored him and looked at Manager Wang instead. Frowning, he said, "Old Wang, what are you standing there for?"

"Yes, Director. I'm on it!" said Manager Wang, stifling a laugh as he strode away.

"I said hold it!" The veins at the corner of Chen Xiaodao's eyes twitched. He gritted his teeth and shouted, "Fine! You want compensation, right? 200,000 Great Yu dollars should suffice for an arm and a leg, yeah?"

"Far from it," said Wu Shouhan, his face void of emotion. "At least 500,000."

"Fine! 500,000 it shall be!" Chen Xiaodao ground his teeth and said coldly, "I'll arrange someone to bring 500,000 Great Yu dollars over right away."

With that, he turned around and left.

Seeing this, his group of subordinates dared not linger on and quickly tagged along behind him.

The noisy bunch disappeared into the corner.

"Uncle Wu, are we going to let them go just like that?" asked Kong Dabao glumly, his eyes fixed on the end of the corridor.

"What do you propose, then?" retorted Manager Wang irritably. "It's plenty good that the director managed to make Chen Xiaodao cough up the money."

Then, he looked towards the ground at Old Liu, who was starting to get woozy. He uttered an encouragement. "Hang in there, Old Liu. The ambulance will be here soon."

"Yeah, Old Liu. You must not fall asleep here."

"The director has secured 500,000 Great Yu dollars for you! It's not the time to sleep."

"Old Liu, hang in there!"

The others came back to their senses and began cheering Old Liu on to prevent him from losing consciousness.

"I won't sleep, I won't sleep," promised Old Liu, shivering, his face pale as a sheet.

Su Jingxing stood at the side and studied him. Mixed feelings bubbled up inside him.

To some martial artists, ordinary folks like Old Liu were nothing but personal punching bags.

On the Earth Star, human nations had already chased their nemesis—barbarians—into the Boundless Mountain Range.

But that didn't mean the nations were at peace. There were often conflicts between nations, and small-scale wars broke out from time to time.

The Yu Nation also had enemy nations, as well as hidden threats within its borders.

Putting the calamity caused by the Extraterrestrial Devil Insects aside, there were the evil organizations that would cause a huge commotion from time to time.

That being said, it was still a stable nation overall.

Among all the countries, Yu Country was ranked third in terms of safety.

However, even in such a safe country, the citizenry was often harassed and bullied by martial artists. Most ordinary people dared not provoke martial artists.

The strength and authority of the Martial Suppression Office was the only thing that kept the situation under control.

This reflection made Su Jingxing reach a conclusion—the only way to not get bullied was to become strong!

Seventh or sixth-grade was far from enough.

The only way to decide his own fate was by reaching the first-grade.

Wan Rong?

He was nothing but a temporary obstacle in Su Jingxing's journey to first-grade.

…

Soon, the ambulance arrived, and out came a couple of doctors who carefully moved Old Liu onto the stretcher and carried him into the ambulance.

Manager Wang and the leader of Corpse Collection Team 2 got on the ambulance and accompanied him to the hospital.

Su Jingxing and Kong Dabao continued transporting corpses.

After the incident, Kong Dabao was in a huff for a long time, cursing from the Dagger Gang to Chen Xiaodao as he moved the corpses.

From his cursing, Su Jingxing learned that the child Old Liu had accidentally bumped into was Chen Xiaodao's godson. Back when Chen Xiaodao was younger, he suffered an injury in his lower regions that left him infertile. Owing to that, he adopted three godsons.

Under his tutelage, his three godsons were all full of themselves.

Roughing up other students, verbally abusing teachers, and bullying girls in school were par for the course with them.

This time as well, the kid had bumped into Old Liu first before falling over.

Yet, the young imp falsely accused Old Liu of knocking him down.

Without bothering to find out the truth, Chen Xiaodao ordered his subordinates to break Old Liu's arm and leg.

The only silver lining was that the incident happened at the entrance of the farewell ceremony hall, which was under video surveillance.

Had it happened outside, Old Liu would have gotten nothing in return for his broken arm and leg.

Chen Xiaodao had come to the crematorium with his band of hoodlums to bemoan the death of his right-hand man. In truth, however, he had only shown up at the farewell ceremony to maintain the facade of someone who valued brotherhood.

This decision ended up putting Old Liu through hell.

If it wasn't for Wu Shouhan, Old Liu would've had nowhere to report the wrongs that had been done to him.

As far as Su Jingxing was concerned, killing a person like Chen Xiaodao would be akin to enforcing justice on behalf of the heavens!

…

Wei Jiajia had only managed to trade the Eight Steps Rising Dragon with Su Jingxing for three requests.

Given the limited amount of chances, she had to make the most out of every request.

Therefore, as soon as Su Jingxing agreed to her first request, Wei Jiajia immediately began spreading the news—to those who were either coveting the Wei family's business or watching from the sidelines—that the Wei family was ready to strike back.

And the first step of that was challenging Chen Xiaodao to a public fight!

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Chapter 27: Eldest Senior Brother's Actually Back?

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Well…

To be precise, he had to kill Chen Xiaodao during a public fight while disguised as the Wei Family dojo's Eldest Senior Brother—Duan Feihong!

Nothing would serve better as a warning to the other coveters than Chen Xiaodao's death.

Wei Jiajia's intentions were well-understood by most of the people who caught wind of the news.

Therefore, on the afternoon of the following day, a throng had gathered at the small square before the Wei Family Dojo even before the fight's appointed starting time.

On the spectator stands put up by Wei Jiajia, the supervisors sent by the Martial Suppression Office had been on standby for a long time.

Other than these people, some representatives from the Black Tiger Gang—the parent organization of Dagger Gang—had also come to spectate.

"If it isn't Commissioner Qi. I have to say, I'm surprised you are here for this petty fight," said Huang Boyi—a branch master from the Black Tiger Gang. He was ensconced in a chair, addressing a muscular yellow-faced man with a smile.

"My duty calls me here," answered Qi Zhaochen, a seventh-grade martial artist who was the Commissioner of Command of the Martial Suppression Office's Western District branch.

"Haha! Most certainly so," said Huang Boyi, laughing ingratiatingly. "Unfortunately, I'm afraid this fight is going to be a waste of your precious time."

"Heh. You think Chen Xiaodao's got it in the bag, Branch Master Huang?" asked Qi Zhaochen, smiling.

"I can see why Branch Master Huang has so much confidence in Chen Xiaodao. However, I'm more interested in Duan Feihong." An old man with a long beard interjected. "It's been eight years since Duan Feihong left the city for the world outside. With his talents, it's possible that he reached seventh, or even the sixth-grade."

"Haha! If he's at sixth-grade, then Chen Xiaodao is in for it," commented Wu Shouhan with a hearty laugh.

That's right—Old Wu was also present.

Chen Xiaodao had been a loose cannon for years, and Old Wu had always been disapproving of his actions.

Just yesterday, he had ordered his men to break Old Liu's hand and leg. Among the spectators, Wu Shouhan was, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the person who wanted Chen Xiaodao dead the most!

"Sixth-grade?" Huang Boyi chuckled. "If Duan Feihong is really sixth-grade, he would have mounted an attack on the Dagger Gang on his first day back."

"Oh. So you are suggesting that Duan Feihong is only at seventh-grade, Branch Master Huang?" asked the long-bearded elder, raising an eyebrow.

"We'll know whether he's seventh-grade or sixth-grade later," said Qi Zhaochen coolly.

"That's right. We will know the answer soon enough," said Wu Shouhan, clenching his fist.

…

"Sis, is he here yet?"

Inside the Wei Family's dojo, Wei Jiaping was pacing up and down. Every once in a while, he consulted the electronic display mounted on the wall.

"He said he'll be here soon," said Wei Jiajia. She was also a little on edge. At this stage, nothing was in her control anymore. All she could do was pray for Su Jingxing's victory.

Otherwise…

The Wei family would really be done for!

"You keep saying that, but it's almost time already! Why isn't he here yet?" complained Wei Jiaping anxiously. "What's wrong with this guy? If he agreed to the deal, why not just stay at the dojo?"

Wei Jiajia was at a loss for words again.

She would have loved to accommodate Su Jingxing at the dojo, but she didn't even know his name or appearance.

Hold on!

A sudden thought made Wei Jiajia's heart skip a beat.

She had issued a challenge at Chen Xiaodao under her Eldest Senior Brother's name, but what if Su Jingxing appeared in a mask later?

During their three encounters, Su Jingxing had always worn a mask. Clearly, he was very secretive about his true identity.

It hadn't been much of an issue previously, but things might get tricky if he comes to the public match masked, no?

Wei Jiajia herself didn't care about the mask, but that didn't mean others would be as forgiving.

W-what if they refuse to acknowledge that he's Eldest Senior Brother?

What if they asked him to remove the mask?

Wouldn't that expose everything?

After all, there were many people who were acquainted with Eldest Senior Brother.

These thoughts made Wei Jiajia panic.

Oh no, what do we do if that…

"Eldest Senior Brother?" Wei Jiaping burst out in surprise. "Sis, Eldest Senior Brother is here! He really did come back! He just came in through the backdoor!"

Huh?

Snapping out of her disorientation, Wei Jiajia froze momentarily before looking over her shoulders at the backdoor. And sure as day, there was a man dressed in loose martial arts attire who looked exactly like Eldest Senior Brother…

Wait, is that really Eldest Senior Brother?

Did he really come back?!

Wei Jiajia was struck dumb.

"What? Am I late?" asked Su Jingxing coolly in his deliberately deepened voice, his eyes meeting Wei Jiajia's blank gaze.

"You…"

"Eldest Senior Brother, you're finally back! That's awesome!" Wei Jiaping broke in excitedly before Wei Jiajia could finish her sentence. "Eldest Senior Brother! You came back in the nick of time! So many things have happened lately, and Sis and I are at our wits' end! Thank goodness you have returned! Now we don't need any hired guns. Let's back out on the deal with that guy and get our secret manual back!

"Now that you are back, we can take care of Chen Xiaodao and the Dagger Gang by ourselves!

"Speaking of which, what grade are you at now, Eldest Senior Brother? Sixth, perhaps? If so, killing Chen Xiaodao would be a walk in the park for you, wouldn't it?

"Hahaha! This is all just too great!"

Wei Jiaping's face was full of excitement. He could not contain his joy as he danced and laughed out loud.

At first, Su Jingxing chalked Wei Jiajia's younger brother's behavior up to a lively and bubbly personality, thinking that he had quickly warmed up to him despite it being their first encounter.

However, as he rambled on, Su Jingxing realized that he had mistaken him as the real Duan Feihong!

With the aid of the human skin mask, Su Jingxing looked 80% similar to how Duan Feihong looked when he left a few years ago.

It had been years since they last met, and it was normal for Wei Jiaping—in his state of excitement—to not be able to tell he was a fraud.

If Su Jingxing were in his shoes, he might have done just the same.

Looking at Wei Jiajia's dazed expression, it was obvious that she was fooled by his disguise as well.

"Cough…" Su Jingxing gave a light cough and spoke calmly in a studied voice. "Sorry, but I have no idea what grade your Eldest Senior Brother is at. As for the Eight Steps Rising Dragon, I will return it to you after completing your third request."

Huh?!

The words came to the excited Wei Jiaping like a bolt from the blue.

Struck dumb, he stood rooted to the ground with his mouth agape.

Wei Jiajia was less shocked; as soon as she heard the familiar voice, she realized that the "Eldest Senior Brother" before them was the expert who received her Eight Steps Rising Dragon.

Even so, she could not help but let out a deep sigh.

She too was convinced that Eldest Senior Brother was back!

She never expected the "Eldest Senior Brother" before her to be Su Jingxing in disguise.

His disguise techniques were out of this world!

To think that she was worried about Su Jingxing exposing his identity in the arena a moment ago…

But who would have thought…

Huff…

Wei Jiajia had to take three deep breaths in a row before restoring her composure.

"N-No hurry." She smiled stiffly. "There's no rush in returning the secret manual. What's important is the imminent arena fight. Are you…"

"Relax. I'm fully prepared," said Su Jingxing coolly. "Before I step into the arena, there's something I want to check. How would you like Chen Xiaodao to die?"

Mhm?

Wei Jiajia quickly snapped out of her initial daze. "I want him to die an ugly death!" The words, filled with hatred, came out through gritted teeth.

An ugly death?

Su Jingxing recalled hearing the same words from Director Wu.

"Got it," Su Jingxing nodded calmly and walked towards the main door. "It's about time for me to step into the arena."

"I'll come with you," said Wei Jiajia, falling into step beside him.

Wei Jiaping remained rooted at the spot, wearing an expression that combined shock, astonishment, and disbelief on his face.

"He… he really isn't Eldest Senior Brother?"

…

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Chapter 28: Hard to Swallow

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

In the small square at the entrance of the dojo.

Cheers erupted as "Duan Feihong" made his appearance.

"He's here! Duan Feihong is here!"

"Duan Feihong has entered the arena! Where's Chen Xiaodao? Why hasn't he shown up yet?"

"Tsk tsk, could it be that Chen Xiaodao is getting cold feet?"

"Come, come! Place your bets!"

"…"

The place was boisterous with shouts, laughter, squabbling, and other noises.

As Su Jingxing took the stage, the cheering reached its peak.

Curiously, Chen Xiaodao was nowhere to be seen, even though it was past the appointed time.

On that note, not a single member from the Dagger Gang was present.

It almost seemed like Chen Xiaodao really chickened out.

"What's going on?"

In the spectator stands, Wu Shouhan frowned and said, "What is Chen Xiaodao up to? Is he really so scared of Duan Feihong that he refuses to show up?"

Huang Boyi also frowned and said huskily, "I'll phone him to see what's going on."

Although Chen Xiaodao was not one of his men, the Dagger Gang served the Black Tiger Gang and paid tribute to it monthly.

If Chen Xiaodao really chickened out, the Black Tiger Gang's reputation would be affected as well.

Even though it wouldn't have a huge direct impact on their reputation, the Flying Cloud Sect—Black Tiger Gang's sworn enemy—would definitely publicize the news to embarrass the Black Tiger Gang.

Therefore, Huang Boyi did not allow Chen Xiaodao to back out. He had to show up in the arena, even if that meant getting killed!

If Chen Xiaodao died during the fight, they could easily replace the president of the Dagger Gang with someone else.

Beep… beep…

The call went through, but no one answered.

"What on earth is Chen Xiaodao doing?" Huang Boyi creased his eyebrows. He hung up and phoned another number.

That was when Wu Shouhan's phone rang, followed by the phones of Qi Zhaochen, the long-bearded old man, and a few others.

Before Huang Boyi's second call went through, he received an incoming call.

Wu Shouhan and the others exchanged a look, then answered their phones.

The next moment—

"What?"

"Are you sure this intel can be trusted?"

"All of them died? Not a single survivor?"

Huang Boyi, Wu Shouhan, and the long-bearded old man sprung up to their feet, their expressions changing.

Qi Zhaochen was even more extreme; right after answering the call, he leaped down the spectator stand and dashed into the distance, treading on the heads of other spectators.

Huang Boyi followed suit after ending his call.

The long-bearded old man, Wu Shouhan, and the others did the same.

This sudden turn of events caused the spectators to exclaim in alarm.

"What's going on? Did something happen?"

"Beats me. Why are all the big shots taking off all of a sudden?"

"Seems like they were talking on the phone just now."

"…"

The confused crowd gathered together to exchange opinions.

Wei Jiajia, who had just picked up the megaphone and was about to address the crowd, was equally dumbfounded. She glanced at the empty spectator stand, not knowing what to do.

"What's going on, Sis?" asked Wei Jiaping, confused. He had just come out of the dojo

"I… I don't know," said Wei Jiajia blankly. "Why did Commissioner Qi and the rest take off? It's strange enough that Chen Xiaodao did not show up."

"Because Chen Xiaodao is dead," said Su Jingxing. He too had treaded over the heads of others as he exited the arena to meet up with the Wei siblings. "We'd find out what's going on if we drop by the headquarters of Dagger Gang."

"Huh?" murmured Wei Jiajia, stunned.

"What? Chen Xiaodao is dead? No kidding?" exclaimed Wei Jiaping.

"Only one way to find out." Su Jingxing frowned. "Let's put everything else aside. Do you guys own a car?"

"Yes, we do," replied Wei Jiaping, nodding. He turned around and made for the dojo to get the car keys.

Wei Jiajia stood rooted to the ground blank-faced, not knowing what to make of the whole situation.

Chen Xiaodao died?

Why must he die at this point in time?

In order to deal with him, she even sacrificed the Eight Steps Rising Dragon.

And now, he just went ahead and dropped dead right as the match was about to start?

If Chen Xiaodao had died, then wouldn't all her recent suffering, depression, helplessness, grievance, scheming, and tears have all been for nothing?!

She found it hard to swallow.

This turn of events was too much for Wei Jiajia to take in

Su Jingxing saw her reaction, but made no attempt at consoling her.

Wei Jiajia didn't need his consolation either.

Besides, Wei Jiajia wasn't the only one that was shocked by the news—Su Jingxing himself was equally caught by surprise.

The crowd around the arena could not have heard what Huang Boyi, Wu Shouhan, and the others were saying on the phone, but Su Jingxing could!

The calls they received carried the same message.

The Dagger Gang had been wiped out!

All of its members—including Chen Xiaodao—were found dead in its headquarters.

This was a major case.

A case that was enough to shake the entire Western District!

No one knows who committed the massacre.

Out of curiosity, Su Jingxing couldn't help but take a few more glances at Wei Jiajia.

Once Wei Jiaping pulled up, the two of them got into the car and headed straight for the headquarters of Dagger Gang.

Noticing that Wei Jiajia had come back to her senses, Su Jingxing asked, "Was it your doing?"

"What? What are you talking about?" asked Wei Jiajia, confused.

"Chen Xiaodao. The Dagger Gang," said Su Jingxing succinctly. "Did you hire people other than me?"

"Wha-you think I hired someone to wipe out the Dagger Gang?" asked Wei Jiajia, having comprehended the question. She smiled helplessly. "If I had that much influence, why would I have given up the Eight Steps Rising Dragon?"

"But it's undeniable that the Dagger Gang got annihilated," commented Wei Jiaping from the driver's seat.

"It really wasn't my doing," said Wei Jiajia irritably. She wrapped her hands around her head. "I couldn't have employed anyone. Not with the limited ability and resources at my disposal. Just this morning, I contacted Chen Xiaodao and asked him to arrive on time. Who would have expected…"

Wei Jiaping kept quiet.

Su Jingxing also frowned and remained silent.

In the morning, Chen Xiaodao was still alive.

Yet he was dead by late noon.

This meant that Chen Xiaodao and his subordinates were killed at around noon.

A huge group of people were killed within their headquarters, and no one even heard a sound. It wasn't until a few minutes ago that their bodies were discovered.

The murderer could not have been anyone ordinary!

Su Jingxing pondered.

Wei Jiaping stepped on the gas as the trio traveled in silence. Before long, they were at the Dagger Gang headquarters.

It was a five-story building.

The entrance to the building and the roads on its sides had been cordoned off by the Public Security Team.

Wei Jiaping saw the barricades and pulled up at one end of the road.

After getting out of the car, they made a beeline for the building.

Just as an officer was about to stop the trio from entering the cordoned area, Qi Zhaochen walked out of the building. When he saw them, he immediately asked the security team officer to let them through.

"Good timing. Follow me inside and have a look around. Maybe you can find a clue or two," said Qi Zhaochen coolly.

Without waiting for a reply, he turned around and led the way.

"What kind of clue does he expect us amateurs to find?"

whispered Wei Jiaping uncomprehendingly.

Su Jingxing ignored him.

Wei Jiaping might have missed Qi Zhaochen's unspoken message, but not Su Jingxing.

They were marked as suspects!

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Chapter 29: He's Dead For Real Now

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Simply put, it was too much of a coincidence!

Duan Feihong was to fight Chen Xiaodao in an arena match at late noon, and at noon on the same day, Chen Xiaodao had been murdered, along with every last Dagger Gang member.

At first glance, these two events seemed to be unrelated. But on further thought, this was too much of a coincidence.

The most suspicious point was that no one knew when Chen Xiaodao died.

Or rather, those who knew—the entire Dagger Gang—perished alongside him.

And at this point in time, who wanted Dagger Gang gone the most?

Duan Feihong and the Wei siblings!

Indeed, Duan Feihong could kill Chen Xiaodao in a public arena match.

However, there were other members in the Dagger Gang who coveted the Wei family's businesses.

Even if Chen Xiaodao died, the Dagger Gang would still have their eyes on the Wei siblings.

Rather than staying passive, it would be much more efficient to take out the entire Dagger Gang at once!

It was reasonable to suspect that Duan Feihong's challenge to Chen Xiaodao was nothing but a mere distraction to draw attention away from their actual operation, and that the Wei siblings had pulled off the perfect diversion tactic.

Without any evidence, the Martial Suppression Office wouldn't be able to do anything to them.

On the other hand, through this power play, the Wei Family Dojo could fully exert its dominance!

The message was clear: from now on, anyone who covets the Wei Family's businesses would suffer the same fate as the Dagger Gang.

That's right—whether or not Wei Jiajia had anything to do with the Dagger Gang's annihilation, the Wei Family would be the biggest winner out of this!

The person who stands to gain the most is likely to be the murderer.

Going by this rule, Wei Jiajia was inevitably the prime suspect.

Even Su Jingxing had his suspicions about her on the way there, let alone Qi Zhaochen.

Wei Jiaping didn't think that much, but Wei Jiajia more or less figured it out.

How frustrating!

Wei Jiajia was stressed out of her mind.

Su Jingxing's direct question and Qi Zhaochen's reaction made her so frustrated that she wished she could jump down a building and end it all.

Their suspicions wouldn't have bothered her as much if the Dagger Gang's annihilation had really been her doing—but the problem was, it wasn't!

She had no idea that Dagger Gang would get taken out so quickly!

Heck, Chen Xiaodao was a seventh-grade martial artist, and his subordinates included two eighth-grade "Guardians" and nine ninth-grade "Heavenly Kings"!

Apart from them, there were close to a hundred syndicate members.

She wondered how it was possible for the murderer to kill so many people without even making a sound.

These were a hundred people that's being talked about, not a hundred pigs.

It was impossible to even kill a hundred pigs without making a din.

Yet, the murderer was capable of all that.

How could a little girl like her get such a person to do her biddings?

Silence.

Wei Jiajia was silent throughout the journey.

Su Jingxing was taciturn as usual.

Seeing that no one was conversational, Wei Jiaping kept quiet as well.

[Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?]

"Yes!"

[Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?]

"Yes!"

…

A series of notifications popped up in rapid succession as Su Jingxing followed Qi Zhaochen into the building.

He extracted cards from the corpses as he walked.

Dead people…

Dead people everywhere.

Starting from the hall of the first floor, everywhere they went was strewn with corpses.

The corpses weren't complete either; pieces of flesh, severed limbs, and various organs were scattered all over the place.

That, combined with the overpowering smell of blood, made Wei Jiaping go on all fours and throw up.

Wei Jiajia puked too, but she soon managed to hold the vomit down. Suppressing her discomfort, she followed Qi Zhaochen to the third floor.

She wanted to see Chen Xiaodao's corpse for herself!

If he was dead, she had to verify it with her own eyes; even if she was the prime suspect at the moment.

Su Jingxing's reason was simpler.

Chen Xiaodao was a seventh-grade martial artist; Su Jingxing was curious about the kind of reward that could be extracted from the corpse.

He looked forward to it.

…

They climbed the stairs to the third floor.

Su Jingxing and Wei Jiajia followed Qi Zhaochen into a spacious office. There, Wu Shouhan was hunkered down guarding a corpse.

On his side stood Huang Boyi, the long-bearded old man, and a few others.

They looked at the corpse's face… it was Chen Xiaodao!

"What's going on here?" asked Wei Jiajia, confused.

"Chen Xiaodao is still alive," said Qi Zhaochen indifferently. His sharp eyes were fixed on Wei Jiajia and Su Jingxing.

"What?" exclaimed Wei Jiajia exclaimed, "He's not dead yet?"

Su Jingxing raised his eyebrows, pretending not to notice Qi Zhaochen's gaze.

With the human skin mask on, he could not freely change his expression even if he wanted to.

In that case, he might as well maintain his indifferent facade and remain silent.

Qi Zhaochen noted their reactions. He was no longer paying attention to Wei Jiajia, and his eyes were on Su Jingxing.

"Luckily for him, he had this Dark Iron Chainmail on," said Wu Shouhan. "The prized chainmail had mitigated most of the impact from the palm strike. Still, some of the force went through and broke most of his bones, shattered a number of internal organs, and inflicted severe internal injuries.

"Anyone else would have died under such circumstances, but Chen Xiaodao practices a special internal exercise that allows his internal force to envelop his heart. That managed to preserve his final breath.

"Chen Xiaodao lost consciousness before his final breath dissipated, which resulted in suspended animation."

"When will he wake up?" asked Huang Boyi.

"Beats me." Wu Shouhan shook his head. "I'm only capable of performing minor surgeries. The medical specialists would be more qualified to answer your question, but we'd have to wait for their arrival."

Wu Shouhan wouldn't even have bothered to examine Chen Xiaodao if not for the sake of finding out who his assailant was.

"I've already called. They'll send someone over soon," said Qi Zhaochen huskily.

"I hope they hurry," said Huang Boyi anxiously. "If Chen Xiaodao couldn't make it through…"

"Duan Feihong!"

Suddenly, Chen Xiaodao—still laying on his back—let loose a furious roar. His eyes snapped open. "Duan Feihong! I'm gonna kill you! I'm gonna kill you!"

After the roar, Chen Xiaodao shot up to a standing position—despite his sternum being mostly broken.

He scanned around with bloodshot eyes. When he saw Su Jingxing, he roared again.

"Duan Feihong! I'm gonna kill you!!!"

Huff…

His internal force stirred up a gust that carried the smell of blood.

With his hands curled into the shape of sickles, Chen Xiaodao charged at Su Jingxing.

Swish!

Su Jingxing took a backstep to avoid the blow.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

With the swiftness of a tiger, Chen Xiaodao chased after Su Jingxing while launching crazed attacks with his claw-like hands that cut like knives.

He was not only fast, but also terrifying-powerful too.

Skrrreeek! Skrrreeek! Skrrreeek!

His claw-like hands left deep scratch marks on the walls whenever he missed.

The space inside the office was limited, and Su Jingxing soon found himself forced into a corner.

Danger alert!

With his back to the wall, Su Jingxing realized that his life would be in danger if he didn't fight back!

When Chen Xiaodao pounced at him again with his sharp claw-like hands aimed at his throat and chest, Su Jingxing immediately stopped holding back and took a step forward. Facing Chen Xiaodao, he executed the Seven Steps Fist.

Thump!

"No!"

The cry sounded at the same time as a dull thud.

The blow instantly caused Chen Xiaodao's arms to snap and his chest to cave in completely. Following that, he flew backward and crashed into the wall with a loud bang.

Then, his body slid limply down the wall and to the ground. All was quiet again.

"Great, now we don't have to wait for the specialists to come. He's dead for real now," complained Wu Shouhan, throwing his hands up. He was giving Su Jingxing an odd look.

Qi Zhaochen, Huang Boyi, Wei Jiajia, and the others all stared at Su Jingxing with varying expressions.

Everything had happened too quickly.

Less than three seconds had elapsed from the moment Chen Xiaodao suddenly woke up and attacked Su Jingxing to when Su Jingxing's punch killed him.

In such a short amount of time, Qi Zhaochen and Huang Boyi couldn't have interfered even if they wanted to.

Truth be told, Chen Xiaodao's death would not have mattered much if not for his last words.

After waking up, he shouted the name "Duan Feihong" repeatedly as he attacked Su Jingxing madly.

From his expression and behavior, he clearly wanted to take revenge—revenge on Duan Feihong for wounding him and killing everyone in the Dagger Gang!

Did that mean…

Su Jingxing was the murderer?!

…

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Chapter 30: The Plot Thickens

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Or rather… Duan Feihong was the murderer!

However, it was unclear whether this Duan Feihong was the real deal, or just another imposter in a human skin mask.

All of a sudden, the plot had thickened.

First, it was the massacre of the Dagger Gang. Then it was Chen Xiaodao accusing Duan Feihong of the murder.

No one even knew whether the Duan Feihong in question was authentic.

What a mess!

Now, Su Jingxing was just as troubled as Wei Jiajia.

Of course—it wasn't that Su Jingxing was afraid. Neither did he regret killing Chen Xiaodao.

In the situation earlier, it was either him or Chen Xiaodao.

He wasn't even the real Duan Feihong, so why should take the fall for this mysterious man who may or may not be "Duan Feihong"?

Besides, if Chen Xiaodao played nice, Su Jingxing wouldn't have minded a conversation.

However, he was clearly out for his life, and Su Jingxing wasn't about to let him have his way.

If the situation allowed, he too would have preferred to immobilize Chen Xiaodao by crippling him instead of killing him. However, Chen Xiaodao was going at him with his final breath, and if Su Jingxing pulled punches, he would have sustained an injury himself.

Using too much strength, on the other hand, would disperse Chen Xiaodao's final breath; with his final breath dispersed, Chen Xiaodao would die beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Between himself and Chen Xiaodao, the choice was obvious for Su Jingxing.

Many people realized what was going on too, but being on different sides, they obviously refused to take Su Jingxing's stand.

Huang Boyi was the first to speak.

"Duan Feihong, do you have anything to say for yourself?" he asked coldly, poised to strike as he curled his hands into the shape of a claw.

Su Jingxing ignored him.

What was there to say?

He wasn't the culprit!

The Duan Feihong of dubious identity should be the one getting interrogated!

Su Jingxing looked at Wei Jiajia expressionlessly and covertly gave her an eye signal.

The first request had been fulfilled!

The conditions of the deal were three requests.

The first deal required him to kill Chen Xiaodao.

Su Jingxing had met the conditions!

The means did not matter as much as the end—which was Chen Xiaodao dying at Su Jingxing's hands.

Wei Jiajia wore a complex expression on her face. She received Su Jingxing's signal, but she couldn't find any words to say.

Right now, she was feeling even more troubled.

Eldest Senior Brother was the one who attacked the Dagger Gang?

Moreover, he almost killed Chen Xiaodao?

Was this mysterious figure really her Eldest Senior Brother?

With Su Jingxing as precedence, Wei Jiajia could no longer be certain if the "Duan Feihong" who annihilated Dagger Gang was real or fake!

One thing she was certain about, however, was that Su Jingxing was not behind this.

During their few encounters, she had gotten a good grasp of Su Jingxing's personality.

If she wanted to convince Su Jingxing to destroy the Dagger Gang, she would probably have to offer up the long-lost nine-steps martial arts!

…

Wei Jiajia remained taciturn as many thoughts flashed through her mind.

Su Jingxing wasn't bothered by the lack of reaction either.

As long as Wei Jiajia had no objections, he had no plans of exposing her.

As for Huang Boyi…

Su Jingxing darted a glance at him. Then, without saying a word, he walked towards Chen Xiaodao's corpse.

[Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?]

Yes!

"Don't try to run before you answer my question!"

Seeing that Su Jingxing was ignoring him, Huang Boyi let loose an angry roar. Forming claws with his hands, he charged at Su Jingxing like a fierce tiger descending the mountain.

Saw it coming from a mile away!

Su Jingxing snorted. Then, he held his hands up, clenched his fists, and threw a vicious punch.

Bam!

Fists and claws collided, producing a dull sound.

Before the others could see what was going on, they saw Huang Boyi reeling backward uncontrollably.

Tap tap tap!

His powerful stomps left imprints in the ground.

Boom!

With nowhere left to retreat, Huang Boyi crashed loudly into the wall.

At that instant, the entire wall visibly shook three times.

Dust and debris fell from the ceiling.

"Wha…" Wu Shouhan and the others were stunned.

Swish!

Quickly snapping out of his gaze, Qi Zhaochen darted at Su Jingxing.

"You are not allowed to leave yet!" threatened Qi Zhaochen. With a bellow, he unleashed his aura.

Thump!

Following suit, Su Jingxing unleashed his aura fully and launched a punch that burst through the air.

At the same time, he exuded his internal force, creating an air blast that fanned out in the office.

Qi Zhaochen blocked the blow. Immediately, he felt a tremendous force sweeping over him, neutralizing all of his attacks and pushing him back. He reeled backward uncontrollably.

Tap tap tap!

Similarly, his feet left deep prints on the floor.

Right before hitting the wall, Qi Zhaochen bellowed and leaped into the air in a swirling motion. Positioning his feet behind himself, he landed on the wall with two loud thuds, then rebounded off it to neutralize the remaining force. When he had stabilized himself on the ground, his hands were shaking uncontrollably.

He looked towards Su Jingxing, who had already leaped out from the window.

Using the Eight Steps Rising Dragon, Su Jingxing's body was enveloped by a layer of internal force. He traversed across the wall with Spiderman-like movement, making use of various structures along the way. Before long, he was a distance away from the building. Then, he hopped across some rooftops and disappeared into an alley.

"Impressive!" praised Wu Shouhan as he came back to his senses. He looked through the window in the direction where Su Jingxing had vanished."To think that Duan Feihong had become so powerful in the few years of absence."

"Agreed. It seems like he hasn't hit sixth-grade yet."

"If he's this strong at seventh-grade, wouldn't he become even stronger at sixth-grade?"

"Who knows. Duan Feihong is our prime suspect right now. He might not even have a chance to enter the sixth-grade."

"Oh, right! I nearly forgot he murdered Chen Xiaodao and massacred the Dagger Gang!"

"He did kill Chen Xiaodao, but we don't know for certain if he's behind the Dagger Gang's massacre yet."

"Heh. Why else would he be running away?"

…

The long-bearded old man and the others continued bickering about the topic.

"Hmph!" Huang Boyi, who had mostly recovered, harrumphed coldly in response.

His eyes were burning with hatred, and his flushed face was distorted with anger.

As a seventh-grade martial artist, he was actually forced back by a single punch!

If Duan Feihong had been a sixth-grade martial artist and used true energy on him, he would have found it easier to swallow.

However, at the moment of collision, he could clearly feel that his opponent was using a combination of internal energy and pure strength.

This was utterly humiliating for him!

In comparison, Qi Zhaochen fared better.

He clenched his fists tightly to stop the shaking. Then, he took a deep calming breath and looked at Wei Jiajia. "Is he really Duan Feihong?" he asked huskily.

Mhm?

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Wu Shouhan, raising his eyebrows as he turned his gaze to Wei Jiajia.

Huang Boyi, the long-bearded old man, and the others also turned to look at Wei Jiajia with curious eyes.

"He's…" Wei Jiajia froze up with her mouth open. At length, she admitted, "He's someone I hired to pretend to be my Eldest Senior Brother."

Wu Shouhan and the others were at a loss for words.

This was certainly an unexpected twist!

"What's his name? Where is he from? Where does he live?" grilled Huang Boyi when his initial shock had passed.

Wei Jiajia shook her head. "I don't know."

"Yeah, as if! Weren't you the one who hired him?" hissed Huang Boyi.

"I'm telling the truth," said Wei Jiajia with a helpless smile. "I only got to know him because he once stepped in to save me when I was in a pinch. Although I hired him, I have no idea what his name is, what he looks like, or where he stays. It's not like I had the courage to ask him either. Whenever we met up, he always wore a mask."

After the recent events, Wei Jiajia dared not conceal the truth, knowing that she couldn't possibly fool them for long.

Rather than being watched day and night by the Martial Suppression Office, it was better to come clean.

Of course, Wei Jiajia deliberately omitted the part about trading the Eight Steps Rising Dragon away.

"Hmph. Anyone who sneaks around with a mask on is clearly up to no good!" commented Huang Boyi sourly, his face stone-cold.

Qi Zhaochen fell silent.

After thinking for a moment, he said, "We can take our time with the matter regarding Duan Feihong. Would you and your younger brother be keen to stay at the Martial Suppression Office for a few days?"

"Sure!" replied Wei Jiajia delightfully.

Now that things had become more complicated, it would be safer for them to stay at the Martial Suppression Office…

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Chapter 31: Full of Talents

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

In the alley.

Su Jingxing walked briskly, looking around from time to time to check for security cameras on the walls and at corners.

He passed through seven to eight alleys, constantly keeping an eye out for security cameras.

Then, he went into an empty corner and dumped his wig in a trash bin.

He walked the length of two more alleys, still keeping a lookout for security cameras. When he made sure there were none, he took off his loose martial arts attire and tossed it in a trash bin too.

While he was at it, he also took off his human skin mask and slid it into the pockets of his casual wear. After that, he slowed down his pace and strolled out of the alley.

The impersonation of Duan Feihong was only a temporary strategy that was necessary for the deal.

Now that the first request had been fulfilled—not to mention Duan Feihong's connection to the Dagger Gang massacre case—he would doubtlessly not use this identity again.

Whether or not Duan Feihong was the one who wiped out the Dagger Gang had nothing to do with Su Jingxing.

At a leisurely pace, he took a bus and returned to the small courtyard.

After closing the door, Su Jingxing immediately took out the card he had extracted.

He started with the outermost one, which had been obtained from Chen Xiaodao's corpse.

A Skill Card!

Chen Xiaodao was a seventh-grade martial artist—it was natural to assume that his skills were nothing less than extraordinary.

Su Jingxing held the card to receive its descriptive information.

Colossal Divine Dagger!

At first glance, it seemed to be a dagger technique, but it was actually a hidden weapon technique.

Throwing daggers!

Throwing daggers were hidden weapons; a form of long-ranged attacks.

They were perfect for Su Jingxing—in fact, it even made up for one of his major weaknesses.

Why couldn't ten seventh-grade martial artists beat a sixth-grade martial artist?

Because sixth-grade martial artists possessed true energy, which they could manipulate and apply to their martial arts and weapons, and in doing so, release true energy from a distance away.

Sword energy, saber energy, fist imprints, palm imprints…

These attacks could be released externally from tens of meters away.

If a seventh-grade martial artist could not dodge or evade such attacks, they wouldn't be able to fight back, and would ultimately be killed!

Su Jingxing wasn't any different.

No matter how much strength he had, how could he hurt his enemy if he couldn't even hit them?

Colossal Divine Dagger perfectly compensated for this flaw.

The only fly in the ointment was that the card only contained partial content.

According to the description, Colossal Divine Dagger had three volumes.

They were correspondingly: Saber Control with Strength, Saber Control with Energy, and Saber Control with the Mind.

The card only documented the content of the first volume—Saber Control with Strength!

This wasn't to say that the extraction had been incomplete. Rather, it was because Chen Xiaodao only knew this part.

He had only obtained the first volume of the Colossal Divine Dagger.

Whether or not he had mastered it remained unknown.

Su Jingxing went back into the house and searched up Chen Xiaodao online.

From the results, he learned that he had never used a throwing dagger technique in public.

There were two possibilities to explain that.

The first was that Chen Xiaodao was good at covering his tracks, and left no survivors to tell the tale whenever he used throwing daggers.

And the second was, Chen Xiaodao had not yet cultivated Colossal Divine Dagger successfully!

Su Jingxing carefully read through the descriptive information of this hidden weapon and discovered that the cultivation of the Colossal Divine Dagger wasn't easy.

Colossal Divine Dagger.

The word "Colossal" alone signified its extraordinary nature.

Even the first condition to successfully cultivate it was something that wasn't within the reach of ordinary martial artists.

Great strength!

That's right—cultivating Colossal Divine Dagger required a lot of strength.

This did not refer to nourished strength generated from Internal Force, but raw physical strength.

Someone with Herculean strength!

The 1000, 3000, and 10,000 catties of strength of ninth-grade, eighth-grade, and seventh-grade martial artists respectively were all nourished and generated as a by-product when they tempered their bodies with Internal Force.

Every time they needed to generate power, they would need to use their internal energy to guide the process.

Under such circumstances, even if most martial artists obtained the Colossal Divine Dagger, it would be very difficult for them to successfully cultivate it.

Su Jingxing was different.

The Strength Pills he had been taking had given him pure physical strength, with each hand exceeding 7000 catties.

The Colossal Divine Dagger fit him like a glove.

That held true, even if he only had access to the first volume—Saber Control with Strength.

Once cultivated, every dagger thrown would be equivalent to a shell exploding.

This was the second layer of meaning of the word "Colossal".

Of course, if he wanted every dagger to have the same impact as a shell, he would also need high-quality throwing daggers.

Ordinary throwing daggers cast from iron wouldn't do.

Fortunately, Su Jingxing had obtained three of such daggers previously, which he had not had a chance to put to use.

As he had expected, his encounter with Chen Xiaodao had paid off.

It sure felt good to have obtained the Colossal Divine Dagger!

He unlocked the card and absorbed all the information in the first volume of the Colossal Divine Dagger.

After taking a short break, Su Jingxing took out the other cards and checked them one by one.

Essence Energy Card, Essence Energy Card, Strength Enhancement Card, Internal Force Card, Strength Enhancement Card…

Over a hundred Dagger Gang members had died at its headquarters.

Su Jingxing had extracted about 70 cards.

After checking them one by one, he realized that only some of the cards contained rewards like Essence Energy Cards, Strength Enhancement Cards, and Internal Force cards. Conversely, there were several Skill Cards.

Skill: Alcohol tolerance!

Skill: Motorcycle Riding, Car Repairing!

Skill: Mixology, Explosions, Make-up Skills, Beatboxing, Lock Picking!

What the… there was even a "Web Design" skill!

How… talented.

Seems like the Dagger Gang housed many talented individuals.

Su Jingxing's mouth twitched in mild amusement as he went through these cards.

Until…

Requiem Cards?

Two of them, no less?

Su Jingxing's eyes lit up. An astonished look came to his face.

Requiem Cards gave Spirit Accumulation Pills when unlocked.

Spirit Accumulation Pills were high-grade pills that could increase one's soul power.

Su Jingxing was already very surprised when he extracted a Requiem Card from the corpses of the ten-man patrol team in Forest Town. He did not expect to extract it again.

And two of them, no less!

What's going on here? Just what is the condition for extracting Requiem Cards?

Su Jingxing recalled the two incidents and discovered nothing out of the blues—other than the fact that they were all murdered.

But they weren't the only ones who got murdered.

The patrol team dying to a Corpse Puppet could still be considered a special event.

However, the members of the Dagger Gang were killed by the mysterious man who may or may not have been "Duan Feihong"!

This "Duan Feihong" couldn't have been a Corpse Puppet, could he?

The massacre didn't take place in the wild, and Corpse Puppets weren't so tamed that they would limit their targets to Dagger Gang members.

The one controlling the corpse puppet was the Corpse-raising Devil Insect egg!

So far, no one has been able to control the Corpse-raising Devil Insect.

He was at a loss…

Even after much thought, Su Jingxing couldn't figure out the key to the puzzle.

In the end, he had no choice but to give up.

In any case, acquiring Requiem Cards was a good thing.

He immediately unlocked them and received three Spirit Accumulation Pills.

Sweet. I didn't think Requiem Card could produce multiple pills.

Su Jingxing's face lit up. He popped a Spirit Accumulation Pill and stored away the remaining two.

After consuming the pill, the increase in soul power made Su Jingxing's mind clearer, sharper, and more analytical.

Unsurprisingly, his card extraction range had increased once again.

As to the exact amount increased, he would only know after verifying it back at the crematorium.

The crematorium would always be accessible to him.

Hence, Su Jingxing was not in a hurry to go. Instead, he stayed at home and unlocked all the cards. He absorbed all the Internal Force Pills and all the skills. As for the Strength Pills and Essence Energy Pills, he stored them away separately.

When all was done, he headed to the crematorium's canteen for chow.

After his meal, he found a corpse to experiment with. As expected, his extraction range had increased by yet another meter.

Although it wasn't as much as last time, Su Jingxing was still overjoyed.

His shift on that day didn't start until the latter part of midnight.

But Su Jingxing decided he might as well stay at the crematorium to help others.

When it was almost midnight, a call suddenly came in.

Then, both Corpse Collection Teams were deployed.

Su Jingxing included.

As he quickly got on the corpse transportation truck, he asked curiously, "Team Leader, what's the situation?"

"A Black Tiger Gang branch had been completely wiped out!"

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"Huh?"

"What in the devil?"

"Who did it?"

Kong Dabao, Feng Tiejian, and the others exclaimed in unison.

Su Jingxing was equally shocked.

The Dagger Gang had just been wiped out that afternoon—and now a branch in Black Tiger Gang suffered the same fate?

Could the murderer have been the same group of people?

If that was the case, then the murderer's target was most likely the Black Tiger Gang!

Dagger Gang was wiped out because of its affiliation to the Black Tiger Gang.

"Who did it? Do you know who's behind this, Team Leader?"

"Damn. They are something else to be messing with the Black Tiger Gang."

"Pfft. It's not like the Black Tiger Gang's invincible. In the western district alone, they have rivals like the Flying Cloud Sect."

"Do you guys think the Flying Cloud Sect did this?"

"…"

After recovering from their shock, Kong Dabao and the others began to discuss the matter excitedly.

Clashes between syndicates, or even an entire syndicate getting wiped out, was not so much a terrifying event as a sensational happening to the general public.

Even more so when the audience in question were Kong Dabao, Feng Tiejian, Gu Bo, and the other members of the Corpse Collection Team.

When one has seen enough corpses, dead men weren't much different from dead pigs.

Desensitized as they were, the group was more interested in the identity of the murderer.

Directing those questions at Gu Bo was more of a subconscious reaction.

Gu Bo brought his men to retrieve the corpses right after answering the call.

He was equally clueless when it came to the situation at the scene or the identity of the perpetrator.

A sudden thought came to Su Jingxing.

Duan Feihong!

Could the mysterious figure using the name of Duan Feihong be, once again, involved?

Harboring feelings of curiosity and doubt, the group advanced towards the Black Tiger Gang's branch.

Great Fortune Restaurant!

It was a restaurant situated in the downtown area.

Even though it was already well past midnight, the two sides of the street where the restaurant was located remained brightly lit, with many pedestrians milling around.

As a result of the incident at Great Fortune Restaurant, half the street was cordoned off.

Boisterous crowds had gathered at both ends of the cordon zone, accompanied by the occasional camera clicks from their phones.

The security team tried to clear them out but to no avail.

There was no helping it; the event was too sensational.

A branch of the Black Tiger Gang wiped out clean. A branch based in the downtown area, no less.

Not a single noise leaked out when the massacre took place. It was only when the incident was over that blood gushed onto the streets.

Even the thought of such an event happening was enough to shake someone up, not to mention it actually happened!

People who were up in the middle of the night tended to be troublemakers; now that they encountered such a situation, things got very heated up. Intoxicated as they were, their excitement was gradually increasing.

By the time Su Jingxing and his coworkers arrived outside the cordoned area, the crowd was on the verge of getting into a scuffle with the security team.

Fortunately, the sound of a gunshot managed to contain the rowdy throng.

Only then did the electrified crowd obediently retreat and open up a passage.

The corpse transportation truck smoothly passed through the crowd and entered the cordoned area, stopping before the entrance of Great Fortune Restaurant.

As soon as they got out of the car, Su Jingxing and the others smelled an overpowering scent of blood.

Looking up, the ground near the entrance of the restaurant was covered in a layer of blood.

A headless corpse lay against the threshold of the door.

Inside, incomplete corpses were strewn all over the floor.

"What the… just how many died?" gasped Feng Tiejian. He swallowed some spit and put on a face mask.

"Probably no less than in the afternoon," his partner replied in a throaty voice.

"The corpses of the Dagger Gang members that we moved to the crematorium haven't even been incinerated. With hundreds of new corpses, we might not even be able to fit all of them into the morgue. Jeez!" said Kong Dabao, shaking his head.

"Okay, enough talking. Hurry up and get down to work," ordered Gu Bo irritably. He divided his team into groups of two and ordered everyone to start moving the corpses.

[Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?]

Yes!

[Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?]

Yes!

…

Su Jingxing worked with Kong Dabao to move the corpses while extracting cards.

First the first-floor lobby, then the kitchen, second floor, third floor…

They worked their way up the building, moving corpses outside and into the truck as they progressed.

During this process, owing to the increase in extraction range, Su Jingxing managed to extract almost every corpse.

Fortunately, the cards were very thin, and not very conspicuous when stacked together.

At the scene, Su Jingxing also saw the Commissioner of Command of the Martial Suppression Division—Qi Zhaochen.

He also saw the director of the crematorium, Wu Shouhan, and the other big shots of the Western District who were at the Dagger Gang headquarters that afternoon.

These people had rushed to the scene after receiving the news in the middle of the night. They all wore grim expressions on their faces.

Except for Huang Boyi!

Black Tiger Gang's Branch Master, Huang Boyi—the man who Su Jingxing had met and fought that afternoon, had been reduced to an icy corpse. His head, along with half his upper torso, had been sliced clean off. He lay on the stairs that connected the second floor to the third, his eyes wide open.

This man had been the Black Tiger Gang's Branch Master. Unexpectedly, the branch that was massacred belonged to Huang Boyi.

When Su Jingxing saw his corpse, he couldn't help but feel sorry.

Getting done in was a common fate for those who joined syndicates. Even so, it was rare for someone to die in such an awful manner.

After a few months working at the crematorium and with Gu Bo's guidance, Su Jingxing could recognize most of the wounds on corpses by now.

It was the exact same!

The wounds on the corpses at Great Fortune Restaurant had the exact same marks like the ones at the Dagger Gang headquarters that afternoon.

It was done by the same group of people!

Wu Shouhan, Qi Zhaochen, and the others could tell as much.

However, at this moment, they didn't have attention to spare. They stood around a corpse with grim expressions on their faces.

Su Jingxing used the secret ability Advanced Hearing to listen in on their conversation.

"Commissioner Qi, you should report this to the ones above. This isn't something you can resolve."

"Already did. Chief Sun is on his way here."

"What about Head Ouyang? Has anyone informed him?"

"I did, but he's still cultivating in seclusion."

"Heh, in seclusion at this time like this. Will he only come out after the Black Tiger Gang is wiped out?"

"You can't pin it on him. Who would have thought that even Ouyang Feihu would get killed?"

"Yeah. Ouyang Feihu was a sixth-grade martial artist, and yet he was no match for the murderer!"

Sixth Grade?

Ouyang Feihu?

Su Jingxing, who was moving the corpses, felt a chill in his heart and nearly missed his footing.

If he heard right, Ouyang Feihu should be the deputy head of the Black Tiger Gang!

The head of the gang, Ouyang Qinhu, was his biological brother.

If they were able to kill a sixth-grade martial artist, "Duan Feihong" and his group must have been quite formidable.

They must have had a sixth-grade among them, to say the least.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to kill Ouyang Feihu.

Of course, rather than the assailant's grade, Su Jingxing was more interested in what cards he could extract from Ouyang Feihu's corpse.

An authentic sixth-grade martial artist; what kind of reward could be extracted from him?

Su Jingxing couldn't wait any longer. After moving another corpse to the truck, he deliberately walked at the front when returning to the restaurant and quickly made his way up to the fourth floor, where Qi Zhaochen and the others were.

[Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?]

Yes!

[Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?]

Yes!

…

Structures on the fourth floor were heavily damaged; the floor was dotted with holes and the walls were streaked with cracks.

There were many corpses on the ground, all of them badly damaged.

When Su Jingxing approached a big hole in the wall—

[Barbarian Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?]

Barbarian?

There were Barbarians here?!

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