「Half a month later, in the Fu Family’s training hall.」

Wooden poles and stone locks, along with all sorts of martial arts training equipment, were scattered around the room. In the center, two figures were sparring, exchanging blows.

The two were sparring with the same fist technique. One of them seemed to be intentionally guiding the other, always delivering his punches to the easiest positions for his partner to counter.

After a while, the flurry of fists and feet suddenly ceased, and the two sparring partners separated.

One was a skinny young man in his early twenties, dressed in practical martial arts attire. His features were plain, but his expression held a hint of tenacity. The other was fair-skinned and handsome with a well-proportioned build. The moment they stopped, someone rushed to his side to wipe his sweat and fan him.

"Young Master Fu, you’ve thoroughly grasped the basics of the Tongbei Fist. Now, you just need to keep practicing to familiarize yourself with the combinations and variations between the moves."

"In that case, have your Black Shark Gang send over a few more Red Sticks. They can join you in sparring with me every day."

Fu Juemin took the warm water a servant handed him and rinsed his mouth. Then, he switched to a cup of ginseng tea and spoke casually as he drank.

Cao Tian fell silent for a moment before replying, "Alright. I’ll mention it to Steward Chen when I get back."

Fu Juemin smiled.

’The Cao Tian from half a month ago would never have said something like that.’

Fu Juemin finished his ginseng tea, thought for a moment, and said,

"When you leave today, go to the accounting office and withdraw two hundred silver coins."

"Thank..."

Cao Tian habitually started to cup his fist in a salute but froze, then said slowly, "Young Master Fu, this is too much."

"It’s not."

Fu Juemin handed the cup to a nearby servant and said lightly, "From now on, you’ll work for me."

Cao Tian didn’t speak, but a flicker of emotion passed through his eyes.

"I’ll allow you to remain a Red Stick in the Black Shark Gang, but privately, you must be my man first—Fu Lingjun’s man."

Fu Juemin stood up and said slowly, "You’ve been stuck at the Bone Forging Realm for a while now, haven’t you? You can’t break through without money. And then there’s the Blood Refining stage to think about...

If you agree, I can arrange for people to take care of your father’s gambling debts and your mother’s illness.

What do you say?"

Fu Juemin watched Cao Tian. The latter remained silent for several breaths before speaking slowly, "Allow me to consider it."

Fu Juemin just smiled, unconcerned, and turned away from Cao Tian.

Cao Tian thanked him and left.

Only after Cao Tian’s back had disappeared from the training hall’s entrance did Fu Juemin slowly turn his head back.

He wasn’t worried that Cao Tian would refuse.

Cao Tian needed money.

A gambling-addicted father, a seriously ill mother, and an unmarried sister... Everyone around him needed money, and his martial arts training needed it even more.

Cao Tian was ambitious and talented. If he wanted to climb the ranks, there was no way he would pass up the opportunity he was being offered.

Fu Juemin valued Cao Tian’s character and skill. He didn’t even have a single person he could order around right now, and he desperately needed a trusted subordinate like Cao Tian.

Besides, he planned to build his own team for hunting Demon Fiends in the future, and those people wouldn’t just fall from the sky.

’Even a skyscraper starts from the ground up. One step at a time.’

Waving away the servants, Fu Juemin was left alone in the vast training hall.

Fu Juemin ambled over to a training pole in the northwest corner of the room and slowly began to strike it.

He was using the moves of Tongbei Fist.

He called up his game-like character panel—

[Fu Juemin]

[Attack: 10 | Defense: 6 | Life: 3 | Mana: 0]

[Cultivation Technique: Mixed Element Stance (Mastery: Life +1), Ming Fist (Entry Level: Attack +1), Eight Extremes Bone Forging Skill (Mastery: Attack +3, Defense +3), Five Elements Tongbei Fist (Entry Level: Attack +2)]

[Talent: Soft Bone]

The full name of the Tongbei taught by Cao Tian was the "Five Elements Tongbei Fist." Upon reaching Entry Level, it granted an additional 2 points to the Attack attribute.

However, his [Attack] in the Basic Attribute Bar had only increased by 1 point.

Fu Juemin guessed that some of the techniques from the "Five Elements Tongbei Fist" had overwritten those from the "Ming Fist," which was why his total Attack had only increased by 1 point.

A higher-level Martial Art of the same category overwriting a lower-level one was reasonable. After all, there were bound to be some shared techniques between different Fist Techniques.

Then, his Life Attribute had increased by 1 point, reaching 3.

This extra point came from the accumulation of Blue Energy. Fu Juemin had observed that he could now consistently gain 1 free Attribute Point every 15 to 20 days.

The 3 points in Life brought some subtle physical changes, allowing Fu Juemin to gradually figure out what the Life Attribute represented.

’Endurance, physical recovery speed, and... innate constitution?’

He wasn’t sure about the last one, but it seemed possible.

After reaching 3 Life, Fu Juemin noticed that his comprehension of Fist Techniques seemed to have improved slightly.

’Did my brain get smarter?’

"If Life really is linked to aptitude, and I keep adding points to it, maybe one day I could become a true martial arts genius..."

Fu Juemin thought to himself as he practiced his punches.

Over the past half-month, his Bone Forging progress hadn’t changed much.

After all, according to Li Tong, it would take him half a year at the fastest to pass the Bone Forging Stage. Unless he used his remaining Skill Points now, which might allow him to reach Great Success directly.

BANG!

Fu Juemin landed a heavy punch on the wooden pole, making the entire thing sway slightly.

He narrowed his eyes, casually took off his training shirt, and assumed a new stance before the pole.

Finally, what was perhaps his greatest improvement and gain over the past half-month was the further exploration and application of his Talent.

From the moment he obtained the [Soft Bone] Talent, Fu Juemin had thought about combining it with Martial Arts.

And the power generation techniques of the "Five Elements Tongbei Fist" had finally allowed him to achieve a preliminary version of this idea.

"[Soft Bone]!"

Fu Juemin took a deep breath and activated his [Soft Bone] Talent. His entire figure and aura immediately underwent a subtle transformation.

His body grew supple, and his handsome face took on a strangely alluring, almost bewitching quality.

CRACK-CRACK—

Accompanied by a series of crisp, dense cracks, Fu Juemin’s entire spine, along with the bones in his back and shoulders, began to bulge and ripple upward, section by section.

The associated muscles rippled along with them.

It was as if a living creature was rapidly slithering beneath his skin.

Finally, the upper half of Fu Juemin’s body swelled, then abruptly tensed. A faint blackish sheen spread across the skin of his shoulders, back, and arms as he viciously slammed his body into the wooden pole before him.

BOOM!

With a SNAP, the pole, as thick as a water bucket, broke on impact. It was sent flying, smashing directly into a wall seven or eight meters away and scattering black iron sand all over the floor.

Han Yue!

This was the terrifying move "Han Yue," unleashed by using the [Soft Bone] Talent as its core and combining it with the power generation techniques of the Five Elements Tongbei!

Fu Juemin stood in place, panting heavily. He stared at the broken training pole, his eyes frighteningly bright.

With his Life Attribute at 3, activating [Soft Bone] once no longer caused a deficit in his Qi Blood; he only felt a massive drain on his stamina.

"This Han Yue... if a Blood Refining Realm Martial Artist were hit by it, they’d probably suffer broken bones and torn ligaments, dying on the spot..."

Fu Juemin was very satisfied with the move’s power. It was the fruit of combining a Demon Evil Talent with Martial Arts, proving that his line of thinking was correct. If he continued down this path, he might just be able to forge an unprecedented path of Demon Martial Arts!

"This improved move... I’ll call it—Wuling Han Yue."

Fu Juemin decided.

The "Wuling" was a homophone for "Wulin," taken from the Black-Scaled Python, the source of his [Soft Bone] Talent.