Chapter 58: Six Directions Unified, A Tremendous Harvest

The eighteen hammer blows finished like a raging wind.

Qin Xiong's face caved in and he dropped rigidly to the ground; even at this moment, he still didn't know who the killer was, or who wanted him dead…

He really killed him?!

In the night rain, Li Yuan gasped for breath, feeling only his heart pounding like a war drum, his qi and blood surging.

His mouth and nose were filled with a thick stench of blood—most of it from Qin Xiong, a little from himself.

A thousand-jin force combined with a heavy, explosive burst caused enormous damage to the body, especially the arms and thighs—more painful than having a fascia knife scraped across them for half a day.

But compared to the preparations he had made before coming, this was nothing.

Before coming, he had already prepared himself—if the first strike missed, he would flee by commanding the Six Directions Boots…

He hadn't expected that with one ambush and a set of Cloak Hammers, this man he had once regarded as a formidable foe—good enough to rank in the top five within the Weapon-Forging Shop—would be beaten to death by him.

What Wu Gong, what internal force—he saw none of it at all.

"No one knew he was hiding a horizontal-training Wu Gong, but he couldn't have imagined I'd dare come kill him!"

After holding in a stale breath for a long time, Li Yuan exhaled and felt the oppressive clouds weighing on his heart for so long completely disperse; for a moment, an indescribable sense of relief washed over him.

Without delay, Li Yuan quickly tidied the battlefield; after making sure nothing was left behind, he turned and stepped back inside the house, taking down the thick-backed greatsword hanging on the wall,

then turned and vanished into the curtain of rain.

A long while later, Niu Gui inside the house groaned and woke, fumbling to light the lamp.

Before long, a terrified scream rang out through the night rain.

"Brother-in-law! Someone's been killed!!"

"Someone's been killed!"

……

"There are traces—Qin Xiong really did come!"

The heavy rain had washed away the smell of blood; Li Yuan dried himself, changed his clothes, and swept his gaze over the place by candlelight, and indeed found signs of someone coming and going.

If he hadn't been prepared, the one caught off guard would have been him…

"The environment really does change a person."

By candlelight, Li Yuan was silent.

From cautious and timid to now daring to strike first, killing a man on a rainy night—it had taken him only a little over eight months; this change could not be called anything but drastic.

"If not for that ambush strike, would it still have been a bitter fight?"

During the five days of waiting for this rain, Li Yuan had schemed at length, which was why his strike had been so swift; now, the only one who knew he had gone out that night

was the little field mouse in the corner, shivering and squeaking.

"Real combat is really important—Qin Xiong probably didn't have much experience in bitter fights either; otherwise, he wouldn't have been beaten to death by my wild hammers."

Li Yuan adjusted his breathing, calming the agitation in his heart, while reviewing today's actions, and felt there were no oversights.

The only regret was probably not getting to witness Qin Xiong's Tiger Roar Saber and Cloak Hammers, but that was clearly not a bad thing.

"Going out to commit murder without even bringing a saber—truly, great skill gives great courage."

Once the stinging in his body eased, Li Yuan swallowed a Zeng Xue Dan, slowly took up the Bai Yuan stance, and starting from the first form, slowly pushed forward.

He closed his eyes slightly, recalling the moment he had leapt down from the second floor and swung the hammer with all his might.

"Six Directions Unified!"

Breaking through to internal force requires two conditions.

The first is the great completion of qi and blood—accumulating qi and blood can be ground out bit by bit even without pills or medicinal baths; most martial artists are held back by the second condition.

Six Directions Unified—there is no other path, only grueling practice over and over, letting every technique of force issuance become instinct.

"The Second Shopkeeper wasn't wrong—fighting people really is a shortcut. Under the huge emotional upheaval, that hammer of mine had already broken through the inner-outer three unions and entered Six Directions Unified!"

Li Yuan flipped his wrist; the long-handled practice hammer was already gripped in his hand, Xu Tui's striking method, and the qi and blood throughout his body rose and fell and flowed accordingly—compared to yesterday, there was now an added touch of harmonious roundness.

A light hammer swing seemed capable of unleashing the full force of his entire body.

"I've commanded the Grand Craftsman's Hammer for a long time now; my body has been slowly digesting and adapting to the 'Perfect-tier Hammer Technique'—perhaps I won't need much longer to reach perfection?"

Joy welled up in Li Yuan's heart.

This feeling of being able to constantly improve and progress was intoxicating, and gave him a deeper appreciation of the mysteries of the Soldier-Commanding Register.

The Sickle had been replaced by the Jade Essence Copper Hammer, yet it seemed the Long Weapon Mastery hadn't completely vanished?

"Perhaps making it one's own is the true meaning of commanding?"

Li Yuan swung the long hammer lightly, lost in thought.

Outside, the rain poured down in torrents; inside the house all was quiet, with only the occasional sound of breathing and squeaking.

Li Yuan digested the night's gains, standing for nearly half the night; only after being certain he had thoroughly entered Six Directions Unified and it wasn't just a flash of inspiration did he finally let out a long breath of stale air.

"If I don't need the great qi-and-blood circulation, at most I'll be familiar with it in ten days to half a month before I can attempt to break through to internal force, right?"

Wiping the sweat from his body, Li Yuan was very satisfied—and expectant.

Internal force—even the gang leaders of several houses in the inner and outer cities of Gao Liu County were only at this level.

Tonight's battle had certainly gone more smoothly than imagined, but he did not dare look down on internal force.

A thousand-jin force, heavy and explosive, combined with a Perfect-tier Hammer Technique and a surprise ambush—and he still needed eighteen hammer blows to crush Qin Xiong to death.

With such force and hammer strikes, he could pound an iron ingot into an iron cake…

"Within a year of learning martial arts, I'll be able to break through to internal force!"

Qin Xiong, with his superior root bone, had spent over twenty years to break through to internal force; even accounting for his mid-way switch to cultivating the Tiger Roar Saber cutting the time in half, that was still ten years!

"Still, Qin Xiong's family circumstances weren't much better than mine; he also wasted many years, and his medicinal baths and pills couldn't compare to mine—superior root bone, indeed…"

Superior root bone meant more than just being suited to a certain Wu Gong; it also came with endowments ordinary people lacked—like Qin Xiong's 'tiger back and bear waist,' with thick, sturdy sinews and bones, and strength far greater than other martial artists.

After tidying up and washing, Li Yuan blew out the candle, lay down, closed his eyes, and sensed the Soldier-Commanding Register.

Hum~

Inside the Weapon Space, just as before, it was deep and mysterious.

On the small grey stone platform, various weapon items were piled up, stuffed full; the Liuhe Boots were the most eye-catching.

"The stone platform is too small, the Liuhe Boots can hold too few things; if only there were a big cauldron..."

Muttering to himself, Li Yuan could no longer wait to tally up his harvest.

Three silver notes, one with a face value of a hundred taels, the other two fifty taels each—not as extravagant as Li Yuan had imagined.

"Not much cash on hand, well, it's likely the silver was all spent on pills. They say internal force still needs to be 'nurtured,' which requires a lot of pills, a lot of silver..."

Silver notes, two hundred taels; broken silver, thirty-four taels; sixteen pearls; two agates; two gold necklaces; three bottles of unnamed pills.

Soon, having finished tallying the loot, Li Yuan calculated that, added to his previous gains, the materials to advance the Wu Gong Lu by three ranks seemed to be nearly enough?

Truly, a windfall—sudden wealth.

With a hint of anticipation, Li Yuan looked at the last three items.

For him, these were the greatest harvest.

"Second-rank Tiger Head Door-Breaking Blade, Bai Yuan Fundamental Diagram, Seven Star Horizontal Training Body!"

Compared to striking methods, training methods, and breathing methods, the fundamental diagram was the true untransmitted secret of the Forging Soldier Shop.

Without the fundamental diagram, even if the complete Bai Yuan Cloak Hammer were leaked, without a heaven-gifted talent, one would only dawdle for a long time after achieving Great Success in blood qi.

At best, like Zhang Ben, one could endure until the hammer technique was perfected, but by then, qi and blood would be in decline, and there would be no possibility of striking at internal force.

A single scroll of fundamental diagram could nurture a small faction; the several families inside and outside Gao Liu County all rose to prominence this way.

"The Soldier's Path Combat Killing Hammer is about the same, isn't it?"

Looking at the sheepskin scroll emanating white light, Li Yuan could not help but sigh at how strictly these factions and sects controlled their Wu Gong.

Perhaps this too was part of "governing the world through sects"?

"Bai Yuan Cloak Great Perfection, Ape Arms and Bee Waist, Bai Yuan Force—truly a top-tier among first-rank. This Ape Arms and Bee Waist, does it refer to innate bone structure?"

Li Yuan felt a surge of eagerness.

Superior innate bone structure, compared to mid- or lower-grade, had many hidden benefits; taking the same pill, the former could digest two or three tenths more of its medicinal power than the latter.

What was saved was all silver!

"That Bai Yuan Force—could it be 'internal force'?"

Suppressing the agitation in his heart, Li Yuan continued tallying. The Tiger Head Blade used by Qin Xiong was also second-rank, but far inferior to the several in the warehouse.

The final surprise came from a Wu Gong secret manual that looked as if it had been transcribed not long ago.

"Seven Star Horizontal Training Body—a horizontal-training Wu Gong!"

(End of this chapter)