Chapter 43: Counting the Gains, Supreme Killing Move, Dou Sha Hammer (Thanks to Ni De Yi Fu...)

Crack!

At night, electric snakes slashed across the long sky.

Before long, a drizzle began, extinguishing the campfires one by one at the foot of the mountain.

The apprentices and gang members from various families waiting at the mountain foot had already packed up and sought shelter from the rain as soon as the sky grew dark.

Wu Zhiren do not easily catch colds, but they are not immune to all illnesses; no one wants to get soaked in the rain.

"Ahead is Jia Family Village; I remember there's a ruined temple before the village where we can take shelter!"

From afar, a member of the Sanhe Gang shouted, and the apprentices from each family rushed toward that direction with their bundles on their heads, while a few weary men leading horses lagged behind.

"The sky has grown completely dark; why haven't Master and the others come down the mountain yet?"

Letting the drizzle soak his body, Yue Yue Yunjin's face was full of worry.

"Was Nian Jiu really that formidable back then? Didn't Qiu Da say his injuries were extremely severe, that he was blinded and had lost an arm?"

Wu Ming and the others were also quite worried.

Of the twelve apprentices from the Weapon Forge, only eight remain now, and their spirits are extremely low.

"Let's take shelter from the rain first."

Li Yuan held his hammer and looked back.

In the night rain, the Fa Jiu Mountain was pitch black, making one's heart feel eerie.

Still hunting Nian Jiu?

Nian Jiu has already turned to mud!

If before Li Yuan only suspected it, now he can almost be certain that those old fellows were merely using Nian Jiu as an excuse to leave the city.

"The storm is coming—no, perhaps it has already arrived!"

Li Yuan felt a vague unease in his heart, knowing that something major must be happening; this feeling of having to wait passively made him very uncomfortable.

Clenching the hammer tightly, he finally felt somewhat steadier in his heart.

This is the foundation of his livelihood and survival.

Those who rely on mountains live off mountains; those who rely on water live off water. There are many villages at the foot of Fa Jiu Mountain, and in the rainy night, some lights could faintly be seen.

The ruined temple outside the village lay beyond the wheat fields; it was clearly abandoned long ago, with weeds over a person's height scattered everywhere.

Not only did it leak wind from all four sides, but the roof also had a huge hole; the originally placed deity statues had collapsed halfway, yet it could still barely shelter from the rain.

Apprentices from several families lit a campfire, took off their soaked clothes, wrung them out, and warmed themselves by the fire; the atmosphere was extremely oppressive, with occasional low sobs.

Miserable!

Squatting in a corner, Li Yuan also felt somewhat sorrowful in his heart.

More than fifty people entered the mountain, but fewer than forty came out; one-third died, and they were all acquaintances, many with close relationships.

The fact that everyone did not collapse was already quite remarkable.

In a normal army, a casualty rate of two-tenths would already cause a rout.

By the campfire in the ruined temple, only the crackling sound of wet wood burning could be heard; no one spoke, and everyone silently processed the events.

Li Yuan wore only his close-fitting short jacket, gnawed on a few pieces of dry rations, and leaned against the earthen wall with his eyes half-closed.

"The Blood Qi level represents a martial artist's physical strength and power, but how much can actually be unleashed depends on the level of Wu Gong techniques!"

"Without activating the Hand-Controlled Soldiers, limited by my Blood Qi not yet reaching Great Perfection, even if I have comprehended the Inner Three Harmonies, I might not be able to defeat Yue Yue Yunjin,

but by activating the 'Grand Artisan's Hammer' and the 'Blade and Sickle', I can mobilize all my Blood Qi and strength; he cannot withstand a few of my hammer strikes!"

"The physique of an Inner Force martial artist is too strong, and their skills will not be too poor either; relying on the Perfect-level Hammer Technique, I might be able to Zhou Shan Xuan for a while, but I'm afraid I cannot win a fight..."

"Hmm, I must find a way to learn a Quan Zhang Wu Gong; when fighting people, if I can palm out a hammer with one strike, perhaps I can turn defeat into victory!"

Li Yuan was conducting a post-battle summary in his heart, weighing gains and losses.

This journey into the dense forest was overall quite satisfactory for him; not only did he learn exactly what his current strength was, but he also eliminated Nian Jiu, this lingering threat.

"Afterwards, as long as I temper my physique and hammer my Blood Qi to Great Perfection, and join the Divine Weapon Valley step by step, the hidden danger of the Martial Dao's Dou Sha Hammer will be completely eliminated!"

With his heart slightly settled, Li Yuan began to count his gains.

"Over sixty taels of broken silver, two long boots were almost too full to stuff them in, plus a silver note worth one hundred taels; this was on Zhang Zhang Yuanfang's body. That fake Daoist Priest really had money...

Those two porcelain bottles should be pills? They were searched from Nian Jiu's body; they shouldn't be too bad, right? I've struck it rich, truly struck it rich!"

Li Yuan rubbed his hands together in his heart.

These gains already exceeded the previous time he looted money and treasures; not only was it enough for him to repay the silver owed to Sun Fatty, but the medicine money to build his Blood Qi to Great Perfection was also secured.

A sudden windfall!

Besides the cash silver, there were two bottles of unknown pills, and three weapons that had entered the ranked tier, among which was one 'hidden weapon' he had long coveted.

【Cold Iron Flying Dagger (Tier One)】

【A flying dagger forged by Cold Iron through a thousand fire refinements, stained with the blood of over a dozen people...】

【Hand-Control Requirement: Flying Dagger Technique at Entry Level】

【Hand-Control Effect: Flying Dagger at Minor Success, Eyesight】

"Someone in Gao Liu County must know the Flying Dagger Technique, right? Could this Hand-Control effect also enhance eyesight, allowing one to see farther?"

Li Yuan muttered to himself in his heart.

With his Weapon-class talent and the Hundred Weapons attribute bonus, he could quickly master any weapon; the Flying Dagger was naturally no exception.

Besides the Flying Daggers, there were some scattered copper coins, and finally, the lost-and-found Six-Heaven Boots, now complete as a pair.

【Black Leather Six-Heaven Boots (Tier One)】

【Control Effect: Lightfoot Steps (Right), As if Walking on Flat Ground (Left)】

"No wonder Nian Jiu escaped a thousand li that year — truly a fine treasure!"

On the gray stone platform, Li Yuan carefully picked up the less ruined left boot, taking care not to let the broken silver inside fall out.

The space within the Weapon Registry could only store weapons and armament of the armed rank or unranked; he had tried putting other things in, and ended up losing a copper coin.

"As expected, the Killing Section of the Soldier's Path Fighting-Killing Hammer is here too!"

Tearing off the sole, the 'Black Line Spirit Snake' hide was densely covered with tiny characters and drawings. Li Yuan examined it closely, his brow easing:

"These are the training method, the stance work, and the killing move!"

The White Ape Cloak-Shaking Hammer was subdivided into four parts: stance work, training method, breathing method, and combat method. Stance work and training method were the foundation; the essence was the combat method; the core was the breathing method.

The Soldier's Path Fighting-Killing Hammer, however, was divided into even more. The Soldier Section's breathing method, the Fighting Section's combat method, and the Killing Section included combat method, stance work, as well as the killing move of this superior Wu Gong!

The combat method had a full eighty-one forms; the killing move, however, had only one.

Like the White Ape Hammer Strike, this was a killing move that required the combat method, training method, and breathing method all to be mobilized together, and could only be unleashed after reaching great completion.

"Fighting-Killing Hammer — the name is simple and blunt. A pity, I'm missing the 'Soldier Section Breathing Method' passed down orally, but still, it's enough."

Li Yuan was rather loath to put it down.

In these times, even a single carpenter's trade was enough to settle one's life; the preciousness of a superior Wu Gong could well be imagined — no one in the entire Gao Liu County could possess one.

Even missing the breathing method, it was still precious enough.

He felt some regret, but was not surprised.

The combat method and breathing method of the White Ape Cloak-Shaking Hammer were also only taught after entering the inner courtyard — this was a measure to prevent leakage.

Every Weapon-Forging Shop had it, and Divine Weapon Valley naturally had it too.

"Good heavens, eighty-one variations of stance work? The training method is no different from the combat method, unfortunately. A pity, missing the breathing method…"

This feeling of tallying up gains was simply too delightful.

Still, Li Yuan kept his eyes half-closed, keeping a measure of vigilance toward the outside, silently reciting word by word the entire Soldier's Path Fighting-Killing Hammer in his heart.

This superior Wu Gong, several thousand characters in total, was written very small, and with over a dozen small drawings, Li Yuan found it quite strenuous to read, let alone memorize it.

If it could be memorized so easily, Nian Jiu would never have carried it on his person.

Sleeping rough in a wild temple, most apprentices had not slept a wink all night. Li Yuan, with eyes half-closed, had read Wu Gong manuals for a full night.

"Worthy of being a secret transmission ranked eighteenth in the entire Zhe Long Prefecture — the transformations of the moves are far too complex. Difficult to learn and difficult to master in the true sense, but the power is genuinely immense!"

When the sky was just faintly bright, Li Yuan finally opened his eyes:

"With the matching stance work and training method, my progress should be much faster!"

Having not slept all night, Li Yuan's spirit was nevertheless excellent. The enormous gains left him very excited. After stretching his limbs a little, he took up his hammer and went out the door.