Chapter 196: Level Four!

A few more days have passed since the Rebel Army last reached out.

Time has also reached the end of the month.

Early in the morning, Jiang Cheng glanced at his phone calendar; tomorrow is the 1st, the opening day of the Black Market.

And on the Panel, the Experience Bar for the Broken Jade Technique is nearing completion.

If he refines a few thousand more Force Light Points, he can unlock the final Acupoint and become a Level 4 Original Force Warrior.

"Not easy,"

Jiang Cheng thought to himself.

To make money, for the past ten‑plus days he has been teaching people to handle guns at the Shooting Range almost every afternoon.

Fortunately, once he makes a trip to the Black Market, he won't have to go through this again.

Besides that, next month he will receive the second assignment from the Dawn Society, probably around the beginning of the month.

He isn't really worried about the difficulty of the mission.

After all, the higher‑ups inside the sect don't know his true strength; they only think he's a Second-level Force Warrior. Unless, like the last mission, he unexpectedly meets a Grandmaster, there shouldn't be any danger.

What he worries about is the nature of the mission.

If it were simply to kill villains, there wouldn't be so many complications.

Thinking that, Jiang Cheng shook his head.

Things like this can only be taken one step at a time.

Since he doesn't have to coach anyone in the afternoon, he simply cultivates at home.

Time passes.

Accompanied by the sound of glass shattering.

The twentieth Acupoint finally breaks.

A massive surge of Force floods his body.

After an unknown amount of time, Jiang Cheng slowly opened his eyes.

Level Four.

Upon reaching Level Four, his maximum punch force hits one ton, his speed reaches 30 meters per second, and his bodily defense undergoes a qualitative change; even if a Handgun bullet hits vital spots like the eyes, ears, mouth or nose at close range, he suffers no damage.

Even a Rifle, if it doesn't strike a vital area, won't cause fatal injury.

If he were a Fifth-level Force Warrior, his bodily defense could block Rifle fire, but being hit repeatedly in vital spots by a Heavy Machine Gun—whose firepower and rate exceed a Rifle—would still be deadly.

Being struck in a vital spot by a Heavy Sniper Rifle is even more self‑evident.

Because the Broken Jade Fist achieved Great Completion first, Jiang Cheng almost instantly, right after breaking through the Broken Jade Technique, fully adapted to this power.

If he were placed before a punch‑force tester, he could immediately deliver a one‑ton punch.

Jiang Cheng's gaze turned to the Panel.

【Broken Jade Technique: Great Completion (0/1000000)】

Compared with the previous stage, the Experience Bar has more than tripled.

According to the description of the Broken Jade Technique, the difficulty of unlocking the final eight Acupoints is several times that of the previous twenty combined—not just the required Force Light Points, which have risen from twenty‑thousand to fifty‑thousand, but also the sensed difficulty; it's common for an Acupoint to stall for two or three years.

The worse part is that the last one or two Acupoints still can't be sensed, so the bottleneck remains unbroken, preventing him from becoming a Fifth-level Force Warrior.

Jiang Cheng did a quick calculation.

For the eleventh Acupoint he unlocked, the Force Light Points automatically absorbed each day are still a hundred more than the previous one; following this pattern, unlocking the eleventh through twentieth Acupoints lets him refine an extra 16,500 Force Light Points daily.

Including the first ten Acupoints and the 4,000 Force Light Points he can actively absorb each day, the total reaches 27,000!

Refining all those Force Light Points each day yields over 40,000 Experience Value.

He needs only 25 days to accumulate one million Experience Value. "Less than a month, that's acceptable," he thought.

Jiang Cheng gave a slight nod.

If his Spiritual Power were further boosted—say, multiplied tenfold—he could refine sixty or seventy thousand Force Light Points daily, cutting the time by two‑thirds!

Of course, he also thinks this is unlikely; just as breaking the limits of the human body becomes harder, breaking the limits of Spiritual Power is increasingly difficult.

The reason his Spiritual Power could already be multiplied tenfold right after Entry is that his original Spiritual Power was so weak.

After mastering the Visualization Method, even a fivefold increase in Spiritual Power would be a miracle.

A smile appeared on Jiang Cheng's face.

After all, having just broken through, his mood is still good.

Once he fully cultivates the Broken Jade Technique, he can begin the second art—the Seven Star Palm he learned from Gao Songbai.

By then, the time required will likely be even less; perhaps less than half a day to achieve Entry, a day or two to advance a minor realm, and maybe half a month to reach completion.

Later, purchasing another Human Weapon will be like a snowball: initially he can refine few Force Light Points, but as it grows, the amount he can refine increases, perhaps allowing a whole cultivation method to be completed in three or four days.

The speed truly feels like cheating.

Of course, there's another approach: buying a higher‑grade Secret Martial Arts for cultivation.

After all, the higher the grade of Secret Martial Arts, the more human Acupoints it unlocks, and the greater the boost after breakthrough.

It's hard to say which of the two methods is better.

But the first method is definitely easier to implement, easier to replicate, and aligns better with his desire to conceal his strength.

"In any case, raising Spiritual Power first is definitely the right move,"

Jiang Cheng thought to himself.

With higher Spiritual Power, cultivation becomes twice as effective.

When Spiritual Power is strong enough, he can, like Ye Ying, use it to manipulate objects; enemies wouldn't even dream that beneath his Force Warrior façade lies a Spiritual Thought Master.

One day passes quickly.

Late at night, while his family sleeps, Jiang Cheng quietly slips into the living room and retrieves the bag he had hidden in the sofa.

After entering the bedroom, he looked at the bag full of money and fell into thought.

He really wants to spend the three million all at once, since that would boost his strength fastest; after all, what he needs isn't just pills to restore Spiritual Power, but also high‑grade Secret Martial Arts, Visualization Diagrams, and even high‑grade Secret Treasures—if he can buy them, he'd certainly do so.

But he has another concern.

What if his luck is bad this time and someone snatches it away? After all, he is only a Level 4 Original Force Warrior.

If he cannot win, he can only be a gallant who cuts off his own wrist, Sweep the three million and flee.

So, to play it safe, he can go in batches.

This time, he will take only half, just enough to buy sufficient spiritual pills and raise the proficiency of the Visualization Method.

Of course. In case of emergency, he can bring a little more.

If everything goes smoothly this time, he can wait until mid‑month and then go to the Auction to purchase what he wants.

After all, by then he should be a Level 5 Original Force Warrior, no matter how he describes himself.

Jiang Cheng ponders back and forth.

He still decides to use the second option.

Even if his luck is bad and someone snatches it, half remains, and he can make a comeback.

Unlike the first all‑in option, which could be gone in one go.

(End of chapter)