"Xiaohei, let's go."

Donning heavy armor, Lin Zheyu called to Xiaohei and leaped out the window.

Even carrying five hundred kilograms, Lin Zheyu landed without making a sound.

Man and beast moved quickly, soon charging into the forest.

Lai Mao waited outside the inn for a long time, just as he expected, Lin Zheyu indeed left the inn and entered the deep mountains.

"Every few days, he enters the deep mountains and returns in a weakened state."

"Should I take a gamble?"

Lai Mao murmured.

In the past, he wouldn't have had this thought.

But now things were different.

His life was in the hands of the other party, and if he didn't think of a solution, there was a high probability the other party wouldn't spare him.

Thinking from another perspective, if he was the other person, in such a situation, he would definitely eradicate the threat, leaving no chance for harm in the future.

"No."

"He might be hiding somewhere, waiting for me to come."

Lai Mao was meticulous, or rather, very suspicious.

He always liked to put himself in someone else's position, thinking about how he would respond if it were him.

He pondered for a moment, still not daring to follow.

Lai Mao planned to wait for Lin Zheyu to return and observe his condition before making a move.

Now poisoned, he definitely couldn't kill him, and must capture the other alive to find the antidote.

At the forest's edge.

The moonlight softly spilled through the gaps in the leaves.

A shadow leaped down from a tree, accompanied by a somewhat plump fierce beast.

"No fun, thought he would follow."

Lin Zheyu saw Lai Mao hadn't followed, and murmured softly.

Tapping his toes lightly, he vanished from the forest perimeter.

In the dense forest deep in the mountains.

A campfire rose.

The aroma of roasted meat filled the air.

Lin Zheyu's face was somewhat pale, sitting cross-legged by the fire, gulping down the medicinal soup from his water pouch.

"Phew~"

"Better return by noon tomorrow, after working hard to harvest a unit of source power, it can't be wasted because of that guy."

Lin Zheyu muttered under his breath.

Lai Mao clearly harbored malicious intent, and in his current state, returning might provoke an attack.

By noon tomorrow, Lin Zheyu would have recovered about forty to fifty percent of his Qi blood, enough to handle Lai Mao.

"Heavenly Dao rewards diligence"

Name: Lin Zheyu

Source Power: 40

Skills:

Gale Slash (Perfection)

Blood Boiling Secret Skill (Perfection)

Golden Swan Skill (10th Layer 100%)

Hundred Refinements Treasure Canon (3rd Layer 100%)

Turtle Breath Skill (3rd Layer 100%)

"Over several months, only managed to accumulate 40 units of source power."

"At this rate, working all year would only gather a bit more than 130 units."

"As strength increases, the source power needed for improvement will likely grow."

"Must quickly advance in the Martial Arts Realm."

Lin Zheyu mused internally.

Source power acquisition was related to the strength of essence, qi, and spirit.

Only by increasing the Martial Arts Realm, synchronizing enhancements of essence, qi, and spirit, would breaking limits produce more source power.

Morning.

Mist enveloped the forest.

Lin Zheyu rested through the night, recovering about twenty percent of Qi blood.

Xiaohei had eaten roasted meat all night and now comfortably leaned against Lin Zheyu, dozing.

During months on the road, it developed the habit of staying up all night for roasting meat and catching up on sleep during the day.

Lin Zheyu stood up, stretched, and fetched another water pouch from his pack, drinking the medicinal decoction.

The Blood-Nourishing and Bone-Strengthening Soup was potent, especially concentrated with the power of three sets of herbs.

But his physique compared to a Bone Marrow Refining Realm beast; this level of potency was negligible to him.

After drinking the medicinal soup, Lin Zheyu didn't hurry to return, continuing to meditate and recover.

By the time he returned to the inn, it was close to noon.

Liang Yuhan and her daughter were not there, probably out.

Not seeing them, Lin Zheyu encountered Lai Mao eating on the inn's ground floor.

"How is the cultivation technique copying going?"

Lin Zheyu sat opposite him casually asking.

Lai Mao's face seemed unchanged, but inside, he felt a heavy realization.

'Can't discern his strength, didn't show any weakness like before.'

'Was he pretending before?'

'Or did he purposely wait to recover before returning?'

Lai Mao pondered quickly.

His expression remained unchanged, shaking his head said, "Not that fast, it'll take at least five days to copy all the cultivation techniques."

"When fighting your companion, he used a few interesting cultivation techniques, you must know them, right?"

Lin Zheyu spoke blandly.

He was intrigued by the secret skill Lai Chang used, hoping to gain insight to find a way to stop the Blood Boiling Secret Skill.

"Yes."

Lai Mao replied steadily.

Since there's no escape, he could only cooperate as much as possible.

While delaying, praying for Lin Zheyu to show mercy, and truly spare him in the end.

"Very well."

"Write them meticulously, as long as the cultivation techniques satisfy me, I promise to give you the antidote and won't pursue your friend's matter."

Lin Zheyu stood up, smiling and patted his shoulder.

"Whew..."

After Lin Zheyu left, Lai Mao exhaled deeply.

Facing Lin Zheyu, he felt immense pressure.

Returning to the inn yesterday, he found the manager, and viewed Lai Chang's corpse.

The marks left on the corpse showed that Lai Chang had died from a punch to the chest, killed instantly.

Apart from the right wrist and the fatal chest wound, Lai Chang's body had few signs of struggle.

Meaning, the opponent killed Lai Chang almost effortlessly.

Even their enemy in Bafang City couldn't manage such clean precision.

"A Bone Marrow Refining Realm expert..."

Lai Mao murmured, his heart losing any thoughts of resistance.

Facing the enemy in Bafang City, a Bone Marrow Refining Realm foe, they could only flee; not to mention Lin Zheyu, even stronger.

Before seeing Lin Zheyu, he still harbored a bit of hope.

His hope was if Lin Zheyu appeared weak, he'd have a chance to resist.

But none.

Lai Mao's hope was utterly crushed.

"Speaking of which, I haven't harbored any enmity or shown any hostility towards him."

"All this stemmed from Lai Chang."

"If I'm cooperative, he might actually spare me."

Lai Mao whispered to himself.

He could only think this way.

After a few bites, Lai Mao climbed upstairs.

Returning to his room, pulled out pen and paper, began to copy down the cultivation techniques he learned.

He truly mastered only four cultivation techniques.

After all, a martial artist had limited energy, couldn't study every technique, only choose the most suitable for cultivation.

Besides these four techniques, Lai Mao knew nine other techniques.

These nine techniques he only briefly touched upon, used as a reference, having not deeply researched or cultivated.

Previously, Lai Mao hadn't planned on copying all techniques, just trying to delay and then take action.

Now seeing the opponent's strength exceeded expectations, knowing he had no chance.

Lai Mao changed his mind.

He began to regret not memorizing more techniques.

'What if these techniques don't satisfy him?'

'Should I go to the black market and buy more techniques?'

While copying the techniques, Lai Mao's thoughts wandered...

...

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.