Chapter 28: What Is the Orthodox Martial Dao

To thank Feng Mu for his psychological counseling, Wang Jian did not ask for the Black Core Feng Mu handed over.

The reason was that he had skipped work yesterday afternoon; since it wasn't an E Corpse burned together, the work was done by Feng Mu alone, so the Black Core that dropped didn't need to be split.

This is what a good person is like — lecturing on reason, wanting face but also wanting a bargain.

Feng Mu disliked pushing back and forth, so he accepted the Black Core and handed Wang Jian 200 yuan, treating it as his own purchase.

"We agreed on the rules together, so we must abide by them. If I have business next time and you burn something alone, would you swallow it all yourself?" Feng Mu forcibly stuffed the money into Wang Jian's pocket.

Seeing Feng Mu put it so firmly, Wang Jian could only accept the money, while thinking to himself: "As expected, Feng Mu is just like me — both very good good people."

Wang Jian took out his wallet to make change; this jujube-pit-sized Black Core wasn't worth 200 — Black Market merchants would give 120 at most.

"No need." Feng Mu waved his hand in refusal and made another proposal: "From now on, for Black Cores from burning corpses, can you give me your share? I'll buy at a flat 200 each, regardless of size, and it saves you a trip to the Black Market. How about it?"

"What do you collect Black Cores for?" Wang Jian agreed — 200 each he didn't lose out and it saved trouble; he was just a bit puzzled.

"My dad is in the Patrol Bureau, I... cough cough." Feng Mu stopped mid-sentence, a difficult expression on his face. "Anyway, this is my little secret. Can you keep it for me?"

The three words "Patrol Bureau" were enough for Wang Jian to conjure several associations. Since he wasn't losing out, he didn't dig further and agreed.

"I'll keep your secret. Whoever asks, I won't say a word." Wang Jian promised extremely seriously. To strengthen his credibility, he added: "Even if the Green Wolf Gang interrogates me, I won't leak a single word of your secret, Feng Mu."

Feng Mu smiled and believed him.

Daytime plus afternoon, a total of 7 E Corpses were burned.

Feng Mu's pocket gained one more Black Core; Wang Jian's wallet gained 200 yuan. Both were very satisfied.

7 E Corpses — including transport, burning, ash collection and sealing, plus cleaning and disinfection — took 3 hours total.

Subtracting mealtime, the remaining nearly 5 hours were all used by Feng Mu to practice the Body Forging Exercise.

By the time he got off work, the Edibility had risen another 4 points.

The growth rate was a bit slower than yesterday; it should be because the blood bar in his body recovered a bit, but it was still considerable.

Feng Mu calculated: even if he didn't self-harm and bleed later, just maintaining this growth rate and only cultivating the Body Forging Exercise during daytime work hours, he would only need 10 more days to fill the Iron Eater First Rank phase.

He planned to free up the evening time to practice 【Crane Claw Technique】, to make up his Real-time Combat Power against the conspiracy and accidents fermenting in the dark.

Every day after finishing the Body Forging Exercise, Feng Mu would record the day's Settlement data. Last week it was basically 4 AM; now it was greatly advanced, and he still felt a bit unaccustomed.

【Iron Eater: First Rank】

【Edible Iron Types: 1】

【Extractable Metal Properties: 1】

【Current Detected Edible Iron Type — Ordinary Pig Iron, Edibility 56.7%.】

【Absorbed Properties: Mold Embryo (White)】

"The coolness inside the body did not increase further; replacing it is a faint numb itch, as if tiny ants are crawling inside the bones. Fortunately, it's still within the tolerable range."

Feng Mu's endurance was quite strong in both lives. This might be a racial talent brought from the womb by bottom-rung people, commonly known as the ox-horse constitution.

Feng Mu moved his wrist, muttering inwardly: "Feels a bit like a wound scabbing over. So, is it growing bone?"

He rode his bike to the grocery store, spent a thousand yuan lavishly, bought 30 jin of Iron Beads and several bottles of Mechanical Lubricant; the shopkeeper threw in a hemp bag.

Because of the Green Wolf Gang's bizarre investigative attitude, Feng Mu's actions also became three parts less concealed — not because he had fewer scruples, but because he realized scruples were useless.

Since Ma Bin wasn't sincerely hunting the real culprit, whether he himself was the real culprit didn't matter anymore.

What mattered was who Ma Bin wanted to make the culprit. If it was himself, then no matter how he concealed it, it would be useless — the black pot would definitely be smashed onto his own head.

If it wasn't himself, then what was he bothering to conceal for?

This feeling of waiting for the judge to bring down the gavel was extremely unpleasant. Although Feng Mu was indeed the real culprit, your open attitude of framing an innocent case makes even the real culprit want to cry injustice.

Carrying the hemp bag home, he fetched an iron basin from the Restroom back to the Bedroom.

Following the 【Crane Claw Technique】 instructions, Feng Mu covered the basin with Iron Beads, then poured in Lubricant, and stirred evenly with both hands inserted.

After two minutes like this, the basin full of Iron Beads and his ten fingers were all incomparably slippery.

"Fix your gaze casually on one Iron Bead on the basin surface, bend a single finger into a hook, let it sweep past like wind brushing the face, able to precisely hook away the locked-on Iron Bead without touching the surroundings — that counts as success."

"One finger succeeds continuously ten times, no mistakes in between — counts as one finger achieved."

"Switch fingers in turn, until all ten fingers achieved, not a single error — then finger strength enters the gate, and you can practice Crane Claw."

Feng Mu recalled the essentials of 【Crane Claw Technique】 entry in his Nao Hai, held his breath slightly, right index finger hooked singly, swept swiftly across the basin surface.

Huala~

The basin surface was struck, denting a hollow; scattered Iron Beads clattered noisily.

Feng Mu lowered his head; the finger hook was empty inside.

"Just now the gesture was wrong; when bending the hook at the landing point, it was too slow. Again."

Feng Mu replayed the action just now in his mind, finished summarizing the lesson, took a deep breath.

His gaze like a hawk's, he took a deep breath, imagined his finger as a crane claw in his Nao Hai, the uneven basin surface turned into a still lake surface, that one Iron Bead became a fish hiding under the lake surface.

The next instant, the hooked finger swept past, like an immortal crane skimming the water, the finger hook caught a bloody fish?

Feng Mu felt this imaginative immersion should be very much in line with the 【Crane Claw Technique】's Martial Dao true meaning.

Don't ask why Feng Mu does this; ask and it's because of the influence of martial arts movies in his past life. On TV, as long as the protagonist associates martial arts with nature, it's a sudden enlightenment and meteoric progress.

Then,

Feng Mu looked at his fingernails smashed and bleeding from the Iron Beads, and fell into contemplation.

Inside the finger hook, besides air, was only his own blood and split fingernails.

Feng Mu decided to switch fingers. He smoothed the basin surface and began attempting the hook finger again and again.

Failure!

Failure!

Failure!

Failure!

Success!

……

One hour later, all five fingernails shattered simultaneously, the fingertips swollen and bruised, covered in bruises, skin, flesh, and tendons all trembling.

"A total of 411 attempts, 370 failures, 41 successes, success rate 9.9%."

Feng Mu used a blade to prick his fingers, squeezing out the bruised blood, sighing inwardly,

"The 【Blood Frenzy】 buff doesn't seem to affect 【Crane Claw Technique】 much; is it because 【Crane Claw Technique】 hasn't been initiated yet, or is this already the assisted result? Otherwise, my success rate would be even more dismal?"

Feng Mu wasn't discouraged, believing that with his own effort, he would eventually be able to initiate 【Crane Claw Technique】.

Although 【Crane Claw Technique】's recommended Bone Quality requirement is 65, he falls far short of the standard.

But Feng Mu also didn't plan to cultivate it to mastery or grand completion; he just wanted to light up the skill icon.

Feng Mu felt apprehensive: "49 points of Bone Quality should also be no problem; the problem lies only in the length of time — whether it's one day, one week, one month, or one year?"

It will succeed, it will inevitably succeed, but...

Associating with the 【Body Forging Exercise】 that still hasn't lit up its icon to this day, Feng Mu felt he couldn't trust himself too much, and had to prepare for a war of attrition... my ass~

He is now a person racing against time; time is life!

"Forget it, I still have to cheat!"

Feng Mu faced reality; not only is his Bone Quality poor, his comprehension is probably not much better; he's afraid he can't walk the Martial Dao Righteous Path, so he might as well use the evil path speedrun Plan B he still has.

End of Chapter