The Crane Claw Skill: Limit-Breaking after thirty years of cold and heat.

Another twenty years passed, and the basic punches and kicks reached Great Success and Perfection.

Then after thirty more years, the Heart Shattering Palm achieved Great Success and Perfection.

Eighty years of time slowly passed by. It can be said to be a painstaking endeavor, continuously devoted to martial arts.

Though Feng Mu appeared to be only twenty-two years old, his "actual age" was already that of a centenarian.

Even if these eighty years were filled with monotonous repetition, his state of mind inevitably grew. At the very least, in enduring loneliness and solitude, Feng Mu attained extreme psychological resistance in his solitary dedication.

Commonly known as: Perseverance.

This is probably the hidden benefit brought by leveling up skills.

No matter how crude and inferior a piece of raw iron is, after continuous hammering for 80 years, even if it remains a piece of raw iron, it is vastly different compared to the original piece.

In any case, in past nights of intense training, Feng Mu would find it tedious and difficult to endure, solely driven by the incremental growth of his "experience bar."

Now, Feng Mu no longer needed it. Staying up late and training intensely was nothing to him. Although his body could still feel fatigue, his mind seemed to have been hammered into a piece of raw iron, unable to stir any ripples.

After achieving Perfection in the Heart Shattering Palm, Feng Mu pressed on without pause, immediately starting to practice the Ox Demon Force.

The Ox Demon Force is not a martial art that trains a specific part of the body alone; rather, it is a Pile Skill that integrates the strength of the entire body. In other words, the Ox Demon Force trains a set of whole-body Power.

It requires coordination with breathing techniques and sensing the movement of Power throughout the body. The difficulty of training suddenly rises by several levels.

It's roughly equivalent to jumping from plane geometry to solid geometry.

The difficulty of the moves rises from two-dimensional to three-dimensional; martial arts moves are no longer rigid but involve a somewhat mystical feeling of Power.

From the concrete to the abstract—if you don't know it, you really don't know it.

Three hours passed.

Feng Mu held a strange pose, constantly paying attention to his breathing rhythm, inhaling deeply and shallowly, circulating nine times in one round, almost vomiting his meal from holding his breath, and his thighs feeling sore and numb from squatting.

He didn't feel any heat in his chest, nor did he feel any Power like a small snake moving along his back.

Sweat drenched his entire body, and he truly felt the stiffness of his waist and back.

"How can I cheat to get started on feeling Power?"

This time, Feng Mu truly encountered a challenge. None of the skills, traits, or entries he possessed could be of use—he simply could not do it.

Thinking yielded nothing, and pondering bore no fruit.

Feng Mu lay on his bed, drifting off to sleep.

The next day.

Burn 7 Calamity Corpses, four above and three below.

For some reason, perhaps by coincidence, the crematorium received an obvious increase in both the frequency and number of Calamity Corpses this week, increasing the workload for both Feng Mu and Wang Jian.

While working, Wang Jian complained, "Why are there so many Calamity Corpses lately? Have the martial artists all been mutating one by one?"

Feng Mu frowned, sensing something odd.

The main source of Calamity Corpses is human mutation, and after mutating, the Calamity Corpses follow their instincts, mindlessly attacking the living beings around them.

But when Feng Mu thought carefully, despite burning sev​en to eight Calamity Corpses a day recently, no reports of disasters caused by Calamity Corpses have emerged in the city to indicate casualties.

It's not just recent; since his first day as a body burner, such news or rumors have been scarce.

At the time, Feng Mu thought Zone 9 was trying to prevent panic by concealing the information.

But after experiencing the "Black Pillar" incident, Feng Mu gained a further understanding of Zone 9's straightforward and crude law enforcement.

It's not that he looks down on the officials of Zone 9, but he just doesn't think the Executive Government of Zone 9 is capable of completely sealing the news.

In terms of both capability and attitude, they couldn't be that meticulous and thorough.

Unless... there really haven't been many catastrophic mutation events within the city.

"Then where did these Calamity Corpses come from?"

Limited by the scarcity of known information, Feng Mu couldn't guess the truth, but he felt a chill in his heart.

Fortunately, this story behind the scenes likely has nothing to do with him...right.

Feng Mu simply decided to put it out of his mind and focused on his daily routine, clocking in and out, burning bodies, and collecting Black Cores, completely absorbed in his work.

Incidentally, Feng Mu's Black Core collection business had extended beyond just Wang Jian; he had also recruited two other body burners from another crematorium.

The business expansion doubled its size.

This week's Black Core acquisitions have tripled compared to before.

Feng Mu no longer held back; he again spread some backchannel news through Wang Jian at the factory.

One backchannel rumor was that Feng Mu had connections in the Patrol Office and was collecting for them, just making some hard-earned money on the side.

Another backchannel rumor suggested Feng Mu struck it lucky, catching the attention of the Cyan Wolf Gang's new leader, who gave him this job to earn some pocket money.

Blah blah blah...

After being passed around multiple times, the rumors had evolved into several different versions.

Feng Mu's reputation suffered a bit, with workers in the factory sometimes looking at him oddly, but Feng Mu paid no mind, continuing to collect Black Cores with his usual expression.

As such, within just a week, these rumors seemed to have been cemented as perceived truths.

As for the remaining two black market traders, whose lives and whereabouts remain uncertain — whether they would believe these rumors or cause trouble for Feng Mu again.

That was inevitable.

But Feng Mu's mindset had shifted; now he didn't hide, even acting boldly as bait, hoping to draw them back out.

Feng Mu didn't fear their return; he feared they wouldn't come.

Yet another peaceful day passed.

Feng Mu, with a few Black Cores in his satchel, swaggered out of the factory zone without sensing any malice or surveillance.

"The fool playing with ants and that farmer with a smile like a blooming chrysanthemum, could they really be dead, all three brothers having met their end that night?"

Feng Mu sighed, feeling somewhat concerned for them.

An hour later.

Feng Mu appeared at the entrance of the Douqiong Martial Arts Hall.

"I am Feng Mu now, not Mask; I don't know Crane Claw Skill, nor Heart Shattering Palm, only basic punches and kicks. I am here to accumulate combat experience."

Feng Mu told himself in his heart, to prevent himself from inadvertently revealing his abilities during sparring.

This is easy to understand, a person's growth follows a trajectory. Mask and Feng Mu are like two separate game accounts, and switching accounts means the skills definitely can't be shared.

Otherwise, in the eyes of a skilled observer, it would be like merging the accounts.

Feng Mu came to Douqiong Martial Arts Hall with multiple goals and plans, the most important being to develop a set of demonstrable skills for the openly acting account, Feng Mu.

"I can't always hide behind Mask like a waste; the Feng Mu identity also needs to be showcased once in a while; otherwise, I'll eventually expose myself."

"Mask can stir up chaos in the shadows, and Feng Mu must breathe under the light; only then can the two identities support each other, covering for each other, and together reap more rewards."

"Hmm, the Feng Mu identity can gradually reveal some martial talent. Hmm, this talent can't be too obvious; it needs to be hidden deeply, needing someone with discerning eyes to dig it out."

"This way, the transition won't be abrupt, and it fits the original waste appearance of low root bone."

"If after all this, someone still scrutinizes me under a magnifying glass, causing trouble and framing me, it wouldn't be my fault."

"Yes, that's right, just like that!"

Feng Mu ran through the [persona change] thought process in his mind again, took a deep breath, put on a slightly dull expression, and stepped into the martial arts hall.

Bang—

Just as Feng Mu stepped into the martial arts hall, the plaque inexplicably swung loose, falling to the ground with an explosive crash, a glaring crack appearing between the words [Dou] and [Qiong].

Feng Mu's expression froze, the foot he had just stepped in with quietly stepping back out: "….."

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