Wu Anxun!
The Team Leader of the Security Team of Forestry Town, the man who slaughtered the Corpse Puppet, turned out to be the landlord of this place.
According to the agent's explanation, this small courtyard near the foot of the mountain was Wu Anxun's parents' inheritance, as well as his former home.
But after Wu Anxun's parents passed away, it became vacant.
The house had never been the same ever since he became its sole occupant.
Plus, Wu Anxun stayed in Forestry Town all year round and rarely returned to Qinghe City.
Even during his trips back, he opted to stay in his house in the city, and hardly visited this small courtyard.
Not wanting to let the space go to waste, Wu Anxun hired an agent to put it on rent.
The previous tenant ended his tenancy since he had to leave Qinghe City due to work arrangements.
Su Jingxing's visit was less than half a month from when the previous tenant left.
Eager to close the deal, the agent wagged his tongue non-stop.
"Mr. Su, this is the place you are looking for. There are a few other places, but they don't entirely match your requirements. Feel free to look around this place more."
Su Jingxing kept silent.
The whole idea of renting a house was to avoid contact with acquaintances, so that they don't find out what he was up to.
Even though Wu Anxun had only met him once, a seventh-grade martial artist like him might be able to tell that something was amiss.
Still, the small courtyard did meet all of his expectations.
It was at the foot of the mountain, the furthest corner of the Western District, and had walls all around it. The walls were only about two meters tall, but that sufficed for Su Jingxing.
It was remote, quiet, and secluded—exactly what Su Jingxing needed.
After weighing the pros and cons, Su Jingxing gave a nod. "This place will do."
"Excellent choice, Mr. Su. Please hold on while I get the keys and the contract," said the agent happily. He was practically bouncing as he went out of the small courtyard.
Su Jingxing agreeing to rent the place had saved him a lot of trouble.
On the other hand, Su Jingxing had his own considerations.
If the landlord was Wu Anxun, there was always the risk that he might notice something was off.
However, this risk did not come with serious implications.
Plus, by the time Su Jingxing gets stronger than Wu Anxun, the risk would be negligible.
Besides, Su Jingxing had no intention of staying here for long.
He was collecting Essence Energy Pills on a daily basis; he would buy his own house as soon as he accumulated enough money from the sale of these pills.
Wu Anxun's old house was nothing but a temporary shelter.
…
After concluding the contract with the agent, Su Jingxing received the key to the place.
That night, Su Jingxing moved from the crematorium dormitory to the small courtyard.
The furniture in the house had seen little use and was in good condition.
The place was inhabitable after some brief clean-up and replacing of old beddings and daily necessities.
For the sake of getting to work, Su Jingxing bought a bicycle.
This reduced the travel time to the crematorium to less than five minutes.
It had been a while since his transmigration, and he was finally a proud owner of his own ride and housing.
Without having to worry about inconveniencing others, Su Jingxing got down to practicing the fist technique right away on the first night.
After taking an Essence Energy Pill, he could feel energy welling up within him, and his fatigue going away.
He began executing the Seven Steps Fist while channeling his internal force. As he punched, internal force was being exuded.
He did the same moves over and over again.
When the night was over, Su Jingxing had learned the ropes of exuding internal force
Seeing that it was about time, he stopped practicing. After taking a shower in the bathroom and changing into clean clothes, he traveled to the crematorium by bike.
After breakfast in the canteen, he met up with Kong Dabao to get ready for a day's work.
"How was last night? Must have been hard to get out of bed this morning, eh? How's your waist holding up?"
Along the way, Kong Dabao kept winking and smiling suggestively at Su Jingxing.
Huh?
Puzzled, Su Jingxing asked, "What are you talking about? Why would moving to a new place affect my waist in any way?"
"Yeah, keep up the act!" said Kong Dabao disdainfully.
"What act?" asked Su Jingxing, unsure of what to make out of that.
"Tsk…" said Kong Dabao in contempt. "Yeah, keep acting innocent. You think I don't know you moved out to shack up with your sweetheart, Wanrong?"
Su Jingxing was speechless.
He almost lost it!
Him, shacking up with Wan Rong?
I…
Huff…
Su Jingxing took a deep steadying breath. Resisting the urge to complain, he said irritably, "What Wanrong? I already said it was nothing like that. Big Brother Dabao, can you not be so gossipy?"
"I get it, I get it," said Kong Dabao, raising his eyebrows suggestively. "Don't worry, I won't tell a soul. I'm just here to give you some advice. You are a young man, so I understand that you have urges that need to be satisfied."
Su Jingxing was speechless.
He could not be bothered with him and simply ignored him.
"Haha, there's no need to be shy," continued Kong Dabao. "I was once your age too, so I know how addictive 'doing the deed' can get at the start. With time, the magic will wear off by itself. But remember, kid, always use protection."
"After all, you're only in your teens. You don't want to be a father at this age, do you?"
"Besides, with kids… Hey, hey, slow down!"
Kong Dabao was lagging behind and trying to catch up, but Su Jingxing pretended not to hear him.
There was nothing he could say to this fellow.
Come to think of it, everyone on the Corpse Collection Team treated him quite well; just that they loved poking fun at him.
Su Jingxing understood that it was because he was young.
Whenever Kong Dabao, Feng Tiejian, Gu Bo, and the others made fun of him, Su Jingxing would change the topic or fade out of the conversation. Of course, sometimes he did strike back.
Fortunately, Kong Dabao, Feng Tiejian, Gu Bo, and the others never went overboard.
After the teasing, they still behaved like brotherly figures to him.
…
Moving corpses, cultivating, moving corpses, cultivating.
In the days that followed, Su Jingxing resumed his usual life: Extracting cards as he moved corpses at work.
Most of the cards he extracted were Essence Energy Cards, Strength Enhancement Cards, and occasionally Internal Force Cards.
Skill cards never showed up during this time.
Neither were there any Requiem Cards or Martial Arts Practice Cards.
Soon, he had accumulated 200 Essence Energy Pills again.
As for the Strength Pills, he gobbled them down like jellybeans, so his strength increased steadily day by day.
Half a month later…
Bam!
Swish! Swish! Swish!
With a dull thud, the numbers on the dial of the Strength Measuring Device began refreshing rapidly.
It stopped at the number "5223".
Su Jingxing took a glance, switched to his other hand, and punched again.
Bam!
Swish! Swish! Swish!
The numbers on the dial flickered rapidly, stopping at the number "5108".
"Nice!"
"5223 catties on the left, and 5108 on the right. Both of my hands have exceeded 5,000 catties. Onwards to 10,000 catties!"
Liking what he saw, Su Jingxing retracted his fist in satisfaction.
With 10,000 catties of strength on each hand and the Seven Steps Fist, he would no longer be afraid of seventh-grade martial artists.
From there, the goal of defeating sixth-grade martial artists wouldn't be too out of reach either.
Su Jingxing had made up his mind; once both of his hands exceeded 100,000 catties of strength, he would seek revenge on Wan Rong!
With 100,000 catties of strength and the Seven Steps Fist, even if he could only take five steps, he could still release 500,000 catties of accumulated strength at once!
He supposed that should be more than enough to take care of Wan Rong.
Su Jingxing narrowed his eyes.
Half a month had passed, and he was only a step away from being able to exude internal force.
Once he crosses this hurdle, he would be a bonafide eighth-grade martial artist!