In gratitude for Feng Mu's psychological counseling, Wang Jian didn't take the Black Core Feng Mu handed over.

The reason being, he skipped work yesterday afternoon, so since they didn't burn the Calamity Corpses together, all the work was done by Feng Mu alone, thus the Black Core didn't need to be evenly split.

This is a good person, reasonable and doesn't just want to take advantage.

Feng Mu didn't like pushing back and forth, so he kept the Black Core and handed Wang Jian 200 yuan, considering it as if he bought it.

"We made the rules together, so we have to stick to them. If I have to go out next time and you burn stuff by yourself, would you take it all?" Feng Mu forcefully stuffed the money into Wang Jian's pocket.

Seeing Feng Mu was already insisting so much, Wang Jian had no choice but to accept the money, thinking to himself: "Indeed, Feng Mu is just like me, a very good person."

Wang Jian took out his wallet to find change; the black core in his hand, the size of a jujube seed, wasn't worth 200, at most 120 in the black market.

"No need." Feng Mu waved his hand to refuse and made a suggestion, "In the future, can you give me your share of the Black Cores from the corpses, and I'll buy them at an average of 200 each, regardless of size, so you don't have to go to the black market, how about it?"

"Why are you collecting Black Cores?" Wang Jian agreed. At 200 apiece, he wasn't at a loss and it saved him trouble, he was just a little puzzled.

"My dad is with the Patrol Office, I... cough cough." Feng Mu hesitated, with a difficult look on his face, he said, "In short, this is my little secret, can you keep it for me?"

The three words "Patrol Office" were enough for Wang Jian to imagine a few things, and since he wasn't at a loss, he stopped probing and agreed.

"I will keep your secret, not a word to anyone who asks." Wang Jian promised very seriously and then added for emphasis, "Even if the Cyan Wolf Gang interrogates me, I won't reveal a word of your secret, Feng Mu."

Feng Mu smiled and believed him.

During the day and afternoon, they burned a total of seven Calamity Corpses.

Feng Mu had one more Black Core in his pocket, and Wang Jian had 200 more yuan in his wallet, both satisfied.

Handling, burning, collecting ashes, sealing them, cleaning, and disinfecting the 7 Calamity Corpses took a total of 3 hours.

After deducting meal times, the remaining nearly 5 hours, Feng Mu spent on practicing Body Forging Exercise.

By the end of the day, the Edibility increased by 4 more points.

The speed increase was a bit slower than yesterday; probably the blood slot in his body had recovered a bit, but it was still significant.

Feng Mu did some mental calculations, even if he stopped self-harming to bleed later and only continued to train the Body Forging Exercise during work hours, it would take just ten more days to fill up the first stage of the Iron Eater.

At night, he prepared to free up time to practice [Crane Claw Skill], to enhance his immediate combat strength, dealing with the plots and unexpected problems brewing in the shadows.

Every day after finishing the Body Forging Exercise, Feng Mu would note down the day's result statistics, last week it was mostly around 4 a.m.; now, it was much earlier, and he found it a bit hard to get used to it.

[Iron Eater: First Stage]

[Consumable Iron Type: 1]

[Absorbable Metal Traits: 1]

[Current Consumable Iron Type detected—Ordinary Pig Iron, Edibility 56.7%.]

[Trait Absorbed: Molded Embryo (White)]

"The coolness inside the body hasn't increased; instead, there's a faint tingling sensation, like small ants crawling in the bones, but it's still within bearable range."

Feng Mu has strong endurance in both lifetimes, probably a racial gift from being born into the lower class, commonly referred to as bovine stamina.

Feng Mu flexed his wrist, muttering to himself, "Feels a bit like a scab forming over a wound, so, is it bone forming?"

Riding his bike to the grocery store, he spent a thousand yuan, buying 30 pounds of Iron Balls and a few bottles of mechanical lubricating oil; the shopkeeper threw in a burlap bag.

Because of the Cyan Wolf Gang's strange investigation attitude, Feng Mu's actions had become a bit less careful, not because he was less concerned, but because he realized concern was useless.

Since Ma Bin wasn't sincerely looking to catch the real culprit, whether or not he himself was the real culprit wasn't important.

What's important is who Ma Bin wanted as the scapegoat. If it were himself, then no matter how he concealed it, the blame would fall on him anyway.

If it wasn't himself, then what's the point of hiding?

This feeling of waiting for the judge's gavel is very unpleasant; although Feng Mu is indeed the real culprit, their attitude of clearly fabricating wrongful cases almost makes the real culprit want to claim innocence as well.

Carrying the burlap bag home, he took a metal basin from the bathroom and brought it to his bedroom.

Following the [Crane Claw Skill] instructions, Feng Mu spread out Iron Balls to fill the basin, then poured lubricating oil into it and stirred it evenly with both hands.

After about two minutes, the full basin of Iron Balls and his ten fingers were all extremely slippery.

"Fix your gaze on an Iron Ball on the surface of the basin, bend a single finger like a hook, and swipe across like the wind; if you can precisely hook the targeted Iron Ball without touching others, it's considered successful."

"If a single finger succeeds ten times in a row without error, it's considered a finger success."

"Switch fingers one after another, until all ten fingers succeed without fail; then Finger Force is considered entry-level, and the Crane Claw can be practiced."

Feng Mu recalled the essence of the [Crane Claw Skill] in his mind, took a slight breath, and hooked his right index finger, sweeping across the basin's surface.

Whoosh~

The surface took a hit, forming a dent, and the scattered Iron Balls made a rattling noise.

Feng Mu looked down; the hook of his finger was empty.

"The gesture was wrong just now, the hook missed the target, try again."

Feng Mu replayed the previous maneuver in his mind, summed up the experience and lesson, and took a deep breath.

His gaze was sharp as a hawk, taking a deep breath, imagining his finger as a crane's claw, the indented basin surface as a still lake, and the single Iron Ball as a fish hidden beneath the surface.

In the next instant, the hooked finger swept through like a crane skimming the water, hooking a blood-soaked fish?

Feng Mu believed this kind of imaginative substitution should align well with the true martial principle of [Crane Claw Skill].

Don't ask Feng Mu why he did it this way, just say it was the influence of martial arts films from his past life; as long as the protagonist in TV shows thinks of martial arts from nature, they have a sudden breakthrough.

Then,

Feng Mu looked at his fingernail, broken and bleeding from being struck by an Iron Ball, and fell into contemplation.

The hook of his finger contained nothing but his own blood and a cracked nail.

Feng Mu decided to switch fingers, smoothing the basin surface and repeatedly trying to hook with a finger.

Failed!

Failed!

Failed!

Failed!

Success!

...

An hour later, all five fingernails were shattered, fingertips swollen and bruised, full of blood clots, and muscles and tendons were trembling.

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

Feng Mu used a blade to pierce his fingers, squeezing out the clotted blood, and sighed internally,

"The boost from [Frenzy Blood] seems to have little effect on the [Crane Claw Skill]; is it because the [Crane Claw Skill] hasn't been mastered yet, or is this the result after assistance? Otherwise, would my success rate be even more dismal?"

Feng Mu was not discouraged, believing that through his efforts, he would eventually master the [Crane Claw Skill].

Although the Root Bone Recommendation for the [Crane Claw Skill] requires 65, he fell far short.

But Feng Mu didn't plan to master or achieve great success; he just wanted to unlock the skill icon.

Feng Mu was anxious: "Is 49 points of Root Bone enough, the question is just about the time, is it a day, a week, a month, or a year?"

It will definitely come about, but...

Thinking of the [Body Forging Exercise] icon that still hadn't been unlocked, Feng Mu realized he couldn't rely too much on himself, needing to be prepared for a drawn-out battle... like hell~

He was now racing against time, time is life!

"Forget it, I still have to cheat!"

Recognizing the reality, Feng Mu admitted that it wasn't just his Root Bone that was lacking, his perception might not be much better either; the orthodox martial path was probably not feasible for him, so fortunately, he had a Plan B for speedy success through unorthodox means.

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