Chapter 57: Chapter 57: Fusing a New Martial Art

"Eleven Flesh Refining Realm martial arts manuals, and twenty-three basic ones!"

"Including the one from Xue Hongling, that makes a total of two Meridian Passage Realm martial arts manuals!"

"And five hundred taels in silver banknotes!"

"Awesome!"

A moment later, Wu Chen walked out of the quarry, completely satisfied, his arms piled high with his rewards.

He had scavenged all these martial arts manuals from the houses built around the quarry.

Perhaps because no one ever dared to cause trouble here, the manuals were left right on the shelves of the small houses. It hadn’t taken Wu Chen much effort to find them.

As for the silver banknotes, four hundred taels had been looted from Qian Fugui, while the other hundred came from his father.

’Such a huge quarry, and this is all the money they had?’

Wu Chen grumbled internally but quickly understood the reason.

Qian Sanjin was just an employee of the Blood Slaughter Sect. All profits were surely handed over to the sect, so it was already quite something for him to have any silver on him at all.

Qian Fugui, on the other hand, was clearly skimming off the top. He’d managed to pocket a hefty four hundred taels for himself.

As he walked out of the quarry, Wu Chen saw Xue Hongling standing gracefully under a distant tree. Her brow was furrowed in frustration as she flipped through the pages of ’Bone-Eroding Wind Blade: Momentum’.

She was clearly stumped by the profound and complex blade techniques within the manual.

Her figure was still developing, her expression a mix of cool detachment and vexation.

’Learning martial arts is a fine, fine thing.’

Knowing it wasn’t safe to linger, he called out to Xue Hongling,

"Miss Hongling, let’s find another place to study."

With that, Wu Chen turned and headed into the mountains, planning to lie low for a couple of hours until things blew over.

This was in case Xue Hongling’s information was wrong and there were other, more powerful fiends from the Blood Slaughter Sect still in Black Stone City.

Xue Hongling had just managed to focus on studying the blade technique when Wu Chen’s voice shattered her concentration. Her thoughts were thrown into disarray as she was reminded of the embarrassing scene from earlier.

Her Qi and Blood surged, and a blush once again crept up her cheeks.

Watching Wu Chen head deeper into the mountains without a backward glance, she stomped her foot in frustration but had no choice but to hurry after him.

「In the depths of the mountains.」

This time, it took a full two hours for Wu Chen to read through all thirty-six martial arts manuals before Deep Red began to allocate points.

Most of that time was spent on the two Meridian Passage Realm manuals, which were written in much greater detail.

"Haaah!"

He let out a long breath and stood up, stretching his stiff, numb limbs. His gaze swept over to Xue Hongling in the distance.

Xue Hongling was still deep in thought, her brow furrowed. She had barely made it halfway through the ’Bone-Eroding Wind Blade: Momentum’ manual.

Wu Chen walked over, stopping at a comfortable distance.

"Miss Hongling, if there’s anything you don’t understand, I can explain it to you."

Without waiting for her to agree, Wu Chen pointed to the blade techniques in the manual and began to explain them to her, line by line.

For some of the more indecipherable illustrations, he would even tirelessly demonstrate the moves in the forest with his Ink Blade.

He wouldn’t move on to the next technique until she understood the current one.

His customer service, so to speak, was top-notch.

The more she listened, the brighter Xue Hongling’s eyes became. After two hours of Wu Chen’s patient guidance, she finally understood the manual and gained a basic mastery of the blade technique.

Xue Hongling closed the manual and looked at Wu Chen with gratitude.

"In that case, should I explain my Body Technique to you?"

Staring at the lovely, flawless face before him, Wu Chen shook his head. "I’m good."

"Huh? What was that?" Xue Hongling asked, a confused look on her face.

"I mean, it’s getting late."

Wu Chen shrugged. "Let’s save it for another day."

With that, he started heading down the mountain.

His eyes then focused on his status panel.

Perhaps it was a case of all his efforts finally paying off, because the improvements were exceptional:

[Deep Red Host] Wu Chen

[Martial Arts Realm] Meridian Passage Realm, Three Meridians

(Qi Power: Earth-Shaking Brute Bull)

[Martial Arts & Cultivation Techniques] Bone-Eroding Wind Blade: Momentum...

Not only had his realm jumped two minor stages, from the First Meridian to the Third Meridian.

His Qi Power trait had also finally evolved, becoming a green-colored trait called ’Earth-Shaking Brute Bull’.

But that wasn’t all. Perhaps thanks to the Meridian Passage Realm Body Technique Xue Hongling had given him, called Swallow Body,

when this technique reached the rare Perfection level, another martial arts fusion became available:

[Swallow Body, Spiritual Snake Step, Yin Wind Leg, Leaf-Sweeping Leg, Wind-Kicking Leg...]

The above martial arts can be fused into a new martial art: [Spiritual Swallow Leaf-Plucking Step: Momentum]

’Yes!’

Wu Chen chose to fuse them without a moment’s hesitation. A martial art that combined the strengths of so many others was bound to be superior in every way.

He’d already seen as much with his previously fused blade technique.

Xue Hongling walked at Wu Chen’s side, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. Her lips parted a few times as if to speak, and finally, she worked up the courage to say,

"Actually... if you want something from me in the future, or if you have something to say, you can just tell me directly. You don’t have to go to such trouble."

"If you don’t tell me, how am I supposed to know what you want?"

"If you’d asked, I would have given it to you..."

The young woman mumbled, clearly still dwelling on what had happened earlier.

Her voice trailed off, growing quieter and quieter until it was inaudible.

Wu Chen gave an awkward laugh. Of course, he would have preferred to ask directly, but he had been afraid that being so blunt would annoy her.

That’s why he’d had a flash of inspiration after killing the fiends and put on that little show.

"I just figured you wouldn’t easily show such an important item to anyone!"

Wu Chen scratched his head, feeling a bit sheepish himself.

’Besides, if I’d really let her kiss me... what would become of my innocence?’

"That said,"

there was something Wu Chen really wanted to ask. "Miss Hongling, how did you escape from the Blood Slaughter Sect?"

He glanced curiously at Xue Hongling, whose cheeks were still faintly flushed. She looked to be only sixteen or seventeen, after all.

To have reached the Meridian Passage Realm One Lineage at her age... with such talent, even if she wasn’t one in ten thousand among her peers, she was definitely one in a thousand.

The Blood Slaughter Sect wouldn’t just let someone like that go.

Besides, the Blood Slaughter Sect was a dragon’s pool and a tiger’s den. How could she possibly have escaped?

"Although I was in the Blood Slaughter Sect, I had long since wanted to leave."

Xue Hongling thought Wu Chen was questioning her story, suspecting she still had ties to the Blood Slaughter Sect.

After all, the sect’s quarry was right outside Black Stone City. For someone who came from the Blood Slaughter Sect to claim she didn’t know about it would make anyone suspicious.

She quickly explained,

"I was always looking for an opportunity. Then, a few months ago, my master had to go into seclusion to break through to a new realm, which finally gave me a chance to escape."

"On the day my master went into seclusion, she left a roster with portraits of the sect’s fiends in Black Stone City on her table. After seeing it, I headed straight for Black Stone City."

Having explained the whole story, she looked at Wu Chen anxiously, hoping he would believe her.

But as he listened, Wu Chen’s eyelid twitched. He suddenly felt this matter wasn’t so simple.

His tone grew tense as he asked cautiously, "Miss Hongling, what realm is your master at?"

Xue Hongling answered truthfully, "The Organ Refining Realm."

"???"

Hearing that realm, it felt like Wu Chen’s scalp was about to explode.

He was no longer a fledgling Martial Artist; he now knew the general progression of the Martial Arts realms:

Quenching Body, Flesh Refining Realm, Meridian Passage Realm, Jade Bone, Organ Refining Realm, Blood Coagulation, Flawless Body, Armor Forging, and Dragon Transformation.

An expert in the Organ Refining Realm was already considered a third-rate master in the martial world.

One shouldn’t underestimate the term ’third-rate’; it still meant they were on the cusp of being a true master.

They might not be able to dominate an entire region, but they could easily occupy a mountain as their own and collect tolls from passersby.

He didn’t know what kind of mountain stronghold Xue Hongling had run away from, but Wu Chen felt that if it was just a medicinal herb farm or a place like the quarry, it might have been possible for her to escape.

But there was no way she could have escaped from the grasp of an Organ Refining Realm expert.

And yet, the fact remained that Xue Hongling was standing right in front of him, completely unharmed.

A bold thought formed in Wu Chen’s mind.

’This so-called escape was probably just wishful thinking on her part.’

’From the very beginning, she had been under the control of her master from the Blood Slaughter Sect.’

’As for the roster of fiends in Black Stone City, it was nothing more than a designated training ground, set aside for her to practice her blade techniques on her own sect’s members.’

’The Blood Slaughter Sect fiends in Black Stone City would never have dreamed that one of their own Elders would use them as a whetstone for her disciple!’

’And from what Wu Chen knew of the Blood Slaughter Sect, it was exactly the kind of thing they would do!’

"What’s wrong?"

Xue Hongling looked at Wu Chen, who had suddenly stopped walking, his expression growing darker by the second. She felt the atmosphere turn heavy and had no idea what was happening.

"Are you really trying to escape the Blood Slaughter Sect? You’re not lying to me, are you?"

Wu Chen’s eyes narrowed, his hand drifting to the hilt of his black Ink Blade. Another possibility surfaced in his mind.

’That Xue Hongling had been deceiving him from the very beginning.’

’She’s playing me!’

’This whole story about escaping the Blood Slaughter Sect, killing fiends, and slaying evil gang members was all bullshit.’

’She came here just to practice her blade skills. Once she finished off the Blood Slaughter Sect members here and perfected her technique, she would return to her master and report her success!’

"I..."

Seeing Wu Chen’s suddenly suspicious gaze, looking as if he might draw his blade and cut her down at any moment, Xue Hongling choked up, unable to speak. She couldn’t understand why he was suddenly questioning her.

’If I wasn’t trying to escape the Blood Slaughter Sect, why would I have suffered through sleepless nights, exposed to the elements, just to get to Black Stone City?’

’Why would I have gone through so much hardship, even getting injured, just to kill those fiends!’

Wu Chen saw the hurt and indignation in her eyes at being so misunderstood.

’Whether you’re faking it or not...’

’I have to get out of here!’

He knew this was bad. He had no time to figure out if Xue Hongling was telling the truth or not. For all he knew, her master could be nearby.

An Organ Refining Realm expert!

The mere thought was enough to make his legs go weak.

"Aren’t you going back to Black Stone City?"

"Aren’t there still evil gang members there left to kill...?"

Xue Hongling was bewildered as she watched Wu Chen turn to run back into the deep mountains.

"Black Stone City? We’ll see if I’m still alive to go back!"

Wu Chen muttered, his ears pricked for any sound from their surroundings. He shook his head and sighed.

"I have a feeling you never escaped your master’s control. Everything you’ve done has been within her grasp."

"Impossible. Master’s seclusions always last a very long time..."

Xue Hongling, of course, refused to believe it and immediately retorted.

She’d been on the run for so long and had traveled so far—a journey of at least eight hundred to a thousand li.

She had never once stayed at an inn, terrified of leaving any trace that would lead to her capture and return to the Blood Slaughter Sect.

How could she possibly believe Wu Chen when he said she was still under her master’s watch and had never truly escaped?

But in the next moment.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

A malevolent wind swept through the forest, making the trees and grass rustle and moan.

The wind was so sudden, so sinister, that it silenced Xue Hongling in an instant, and her heart sank.

The gust of wind came and went in a flash.

The moment it vanished, a figure in a dark red robe suddenly appeared, blocking Wu Chen’s path.

Seeing the figure that had suddenly appeared in the forest, and recognizing her familiar clothes and face, Xue Hongling’s fingers clenched around her scabbard. Her pretty face seemed to freeze over with frost.

In that moment, she finally believed Wu Chen’s words. Her every move had indeed been under her master’s watch.

But the bewitching woman didn’t spare her disciple a single glance. Her eyes were fixed on Wu Chen, a radiant smile on her face as she spoke,

"You’re a clever one, aren’t you!"

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