Longevity by Grinding Skills-Chapter 44: Disposal

He moved stealthily, slipping back to the inn without a sound.

’Now that I’ve killed Qin Bo, leaving this girl, Fei Yao, alive is just asking for trouble.’

’If I don’t deal with her now, she’ll send a message, and the Thunderous Waves Sect will send people after me. I’d have to find another place and change my identity all over again. It’s too much of a hassle.’

Beiye City was on the frontier, a place where the central government’s authority was weak. This was why the buying and selling of identities could happen so openly at brokerages.

In any other city, you’d need high-level connections to get away with bribing officials for something like that.

...

...

"Why isn’t Senior Brother back yet?"

Sitting at the table, Fei Yao, who had been staring blankly with her chin in her hand, straightened up and muttered to herself.

Qin Bo had said he was going to visit that Martial Master who’d taken over his ancestral home. He told her not to wander off and to wait for him. But a whole day had already passed.

She slowly rose, walked to the window, and pushed it open to look outside.

Before she could react, a large face suddenly appeared in front of her, so close it was only three inches away. Fei Yao could even clearly feel the person’s breath.

She instinctively started to scream, but a large hand shot out like lightning and clamped firmly over her mouth.

Immediately after, she felt a heavy impact on the back of her head, followed by a sickening thud. A sharp pain shot through her skull, her vision went black, and she lost consciousness completely.

Xu Yunfan glanced at the bloodstains on the Iron Hammer. His gaze fell upon the back of Fei Yao’s head, which had been caved in by the blow. She was utterly lifeless.

He moved silently, sweeping his gaze around the room. Rummaging through their bags, he finally found a Martial Arts Manual.

"Thunderous Waves Palm."

Xu Yunfan stared at the three bold, calligraphic words on the manual’s cover, a flash of excitement in his eyes. ’My first time looting someone,’ he thought. Without another moment’s hesitation, he acted.

Carrying their bags in one hand and Fei Yao’s body in the other, he agilely vaulted out the window again.

The night was black as ink and utterly silent. Aided by his Hunting Skill, he moved without a sound, returning swiftly and unimpeded to Qinghe Courtyard.

Xu Yunfan found nothing else of value on Fei Yao. Aside from a bag of golden leaves he’d found in their luggage, he came up empty-handed.

Drawing on his experience from disposing of Qin Bo, he worked efficiently. He tied several heavy stones to Fei Yao’s corpse and, using a drainage tunnel he had prepared earlier, sank it to the bottom of the Clear Water River. The fish and shrimp on the riverbed would naturally take care of the evidence.

He then gathered all of their clothing and burned it to ashes.

After finishing all this, Xu Yunfan straightened up, dusted off his hands, and drew several buckets of water from the nearby well. He washed himself thoroughly from head to toe before finally heading inside.

He gently placed the wooden statue of the Powerful Awakening Bodhisattva, which he had wrapped in coarse cloth, onto the table.

As for the Thunderous Waves Palm, he briefly flipped through it. After discovering it was a Kung Fu for training the tendons, he set it aside for now, deciding to study it seriously after his Flying Leg skill reached the Great Success stage.

Under the flickering candlelight, the statue’s shadow was cast upon the wall, seeming to magnify it dozens of times until it nearly enveloped half the room.

As the candlelight danced, the shadow of the Powerful Awakening Bodhisattva statue seemed to come alive, twisting and contorting in a bone-chilling display.

Xu Yunfan’s expression was calm, showing not a trace of fear.

He slowly formed the Linn Character Hand Seal in front of his chest and silently chanted the Supreme Kindness Heart Spell.

Gradually, as time passed, his Heart and Spirit were drawn in by the flowing scripture, and he entered a wondrous state that was both empty and not-empty.

Deep within his mind, the figure he had spent immense mental energy to gradually form was now clearer than ever before.

Although its facial features were still blurry, its form and the corners of its robes were gradually showing clear outlines.

As Xu Yunfan chanted the scripture with his eyes closed, the three faces of the wooden Bodhisattva statue before him looked increasingly sinister and malevolent in the dim candlelight.

In a realm imperceptible to the naked eye, Xu Yunfan faintly heard waves of roars. The sound was immense and powerful, like rolling thunder, shaking his mental world.

However, the revered image visualized through his Linn Character Technique was like the Stabilizing Needle, firmly guarding his Sea of Consciousness.

No matter how chaotic the external shocks and tremors, upon reaching it, they were like a gentle breeze across a lake, unable to stir the slightest ripple.

"You have been afflicted by an ominous aura."

"While cultivating the Linn Character Technique, you have unexpectedly discovered it can absorb the ominous aura. You feel your spirit has grown slightly stronger. Your Skill Level in the Linn Character Technique has increased."

"By chanting the Supreme Kindness Heart Spell, you have cleansed all the ominous aura surrounding you. This consumed a great deal of mental energy, but in return, you feel your spirit has become visibly more resilient. Your Skill Level in the Linn Character Technique has increased."

’...’

An hour later, Xu Yunfan slowly opened his eyes. They were filled with exhaustion, but deep within them was an irrepressible excitement.

This was the first time since he began practicing the Linn Character Technique that his cultivation session had lasted for a full hour.

His gaze fell upon the Powerful Awakening Bodhisattva statue on the table. He understood in his heart that it was this wooden statue that had nearly doubled his cultivation time.

Normally, after about half an hour of cultivation, his spirit would be utterly exhausted. But today, he had managed to push through to the one-hour mark.

"Hm?"

Xu Yunfan suddenly noticed a fine crack had appeared on the wooden statue on the table.

’Was this caused by my cultivation of the Linn Character Technique?’

Xu Yunfan pondered this and began to understand the reason.

This Powerful Awakening Bodhisattva statue clearly didn’t just have an ominous aura clinging to it; it also possessed some miraculous quality he couldn’t perceive. He even suspected that a spirit might reside within the wooden statue.

’Jiyun Mountain, Thousand Buddha Temple... I’ll have to go take a look when I have the chance. I might find something unexpected there.’

With this thought in mind, Xu Yunfan could no longer fight his exhaustion. He walked straight to the bed, lay down, and immediately fell into a deep sleep.

On the table opposite the bed, the Powerful Awakening Bodhisattva statue sat quietly in the center.

In the candlelight, the shadow that had once taken up half the room had now visibly receded, and even the sinister, eerie aura on its three faces had dissipated somewhat.

The next morning, sunlight streamed through the window, bathing Qinghe Courtyard in light.

Xu Yunfan had already eaten several large bowls of noodles at the morning market. He now stood in the courtyard, wearing only a pair of shorts, revealing an extremely robust physique. His muscles bulged like mountain peaks, each one clearly defined.

His Flying Leg skill was just over thirty Skill Level points away from reaching Great Success. Today was the day it would all come together.

He took a deep breath and tensed every muscle in his body.

From the outside, one could see the muscles all over Xu Yunfan’s body ripple and surge like a powerful tide, filled with a sense of strength. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Then, he bent forward slightly, lowering his body into a crouch as he slowly gathered power in his legs.

One could clearly see the muscles in his legs, distinct and pulled taut like steel cables. Every fiber was accumulating astonishing power.

"HUMMM!"

His Great Tendons twanged with a loud SNAP, like a thunderous bowstring breaking the courtyard’s silence. This was immediately followed by a continuous, whistling WHOOSH of displaced air.

As a Light Body Skill, Flying Leg had no offensive moves. Once mastered, its greatest strengths were long-distance running and incredible Endurance.