"Unless someone brought him here on purpose?"
Su Jingxing's mind went to the burly man's sewn lips and how he was attacked by the young man and his party.
From these two facts, it would be logical to assume that the burly man had been subjected to abuse. His appearance here told of a successful escape; however, whoever had captured him clearly didn't intend to let him off and sent out a group of assailants to go after his life.
It looked like he was at a disadvantage at the beginning of the fight, but in hindsight, it was apparent that he was only playing dead earlier.
His sham death served more than to bid time for a surprise attack; it also had something to do with an innate power held by barbarians.
Just like how human martial artists had internal force, the barbarians also cultivated their own power.
To unleash this power, they needed to first play possum and charge up.
Had Su Jingxing not happened to pass by, the burly man's plan could have worked out!
After charging up, he would have wiped out the young man and his party, then escaped Qinghe City.
Unfortunately…
"Whoever captured these barbarians and sewed their mouths shut… Just what are they plotting?"
Su Jingxing was troubled.
He just wanted to take a shortcut home, but unexpectedly, he got tangled up in some large organization's conspiracy.
Ordinary people would neither have the guts nor the ability to capture barbarians and smuggle them into Qinghe City.
And if they were bringing in barbarians, they must be up to something!
Just what on Earth Star are they trying to do?
Oh well, whatever.
Shaking his head, Su Jingxing contained his racing thoughts and focused his attention on something else.
If he was dealing with organized trafficking and not a barbarian invasion, Su Jingxing didn't want to get involved further.
In any case, no one could know that this matter was related to him.
There were no security cameras installed along this path.
In fact, in all the major cities of Yu Nation, only the main roads had security cameras.
It wasn't that the government didn't have enough funds to install them; the reason for the dearth of security cameras was because martial artists valued their privacies, and would destroy them on sight.
In time, the government no longer bothered.
Therefore, no one could possibly link the murder of the burly man to Su Jingxing.
There was little Su Jingxing could do to cover up the scene given the scale of destruction, so he decided to simply leave that job to someone else.
A barbarian corpse found within the city, huh? Looks like things are about to get lively in Qinghe City.
No matter what the intentions the secret organization harbored, they would have a lot of cleaning up to do thanks to this unforeseen event.
Having processed these thoughts, Su Jingxing replied "Yes" to the notification in his mind and extracted a card from the barbarian corpse.
He subconsciously took it out of his pockets to take a look.
"A Martial Arts Practice Card?"
Su Jingxing was taken aback at first, then a wave of ecstasy swept over him.
"It's a Martial Arts Practice Card! With 14 years of practice time, no less! Sweet!"
As to how he was able to extract a Martial Arts Practice Card from a barbarian corpse, Su Jingxing decided to put that line of thought aside for now.
He briskly walked towards the young man's corpse—
[Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?]
"Yes!"
A card materialized in his pocket.
As Su Jingxing strolled past the other corpses, he took out the cards in his pocket and inspected them.
A Skill Card!
It's definitely my lucky day. What's the deal with this 'Advanced Hearing' though?
Su Jingxing frowned.
The Skill Card extracted from the young man's corpse was not a secret martial arts manual, nor was it a professional skill—like hacking, singing, or dancing. Instead, It was an odd ability.
Advanced Hearing!
He held the card up to receive its corresponding information.
So that's how it works!
Having figured things out, Su Jingxing's face lit up with joy.
Advanced Hearing was actually a secret ability!
Unlike martial arts, secret techniques were more straightforward and convenient.
It was like a superpower, so to speak.
Once mastered, the ability would always stay with him.
Advanced Hearing, for example, repetitively stimulated one's ear apertures with internal force to strengthen their hearing, hence allowing them to receive various sound waves
Within a certain radius, any sound waves could be detected.
Then, by analyzing these sound waves, one could deduce where they came from.
Be it the rustling of grass, the whistling of the wind, the chirping of birds and insects, or the breathing and heartbeats of human beings.
Earlier, the young man had discovered Su Jingxing because of this secret ability.
What a pleasant surprise!
Taking the shortcut had led him to run into some danger, but the ending was full of pleasant surprises.
[Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?]
"Yes!"
[Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?]
"Yes!"
…
From the remaining corpses, he managed to extract more than ten cards.
Then, Su Jingxing quickly fled the scene on his bike.
When he was back at his residence, he took out a dozen or so cards and examined them one by one.
Internal Force Card, Internal Force Card, Strength Enhancement Card, Strength Enhancement Card, Essence Energy Card…
When he was done, he did not find any new cards.
It was only the same old Internal Force Cards, Strength Enhancement Cards, and Essence Energy Cards.
This didn't dampen Su Jingxing's spirits though.
He unlocked the Internal Force Cards immediately and absorbed them. The Essence Energy Cards produced a few Essence Energy Pills, which he added to his stockpile. As for the Strength Pills he received, he consumed them promptly.
When all was said and done, Su Jingxing took out the Martial Arts Practice Card and pondered on why he was able to extract it from a barbarian corpse.
The first martial arts card had come from a corpse puppet, and the second from a barbarian corpse puppet.
What was the connection between the two?
After pondering for a while, Su Jingxing couldn't arrive at an answer and decided to move on.
In any case, corpse puppets and barbarians were both beyond Su Jingxing's reach.
The odds of him encountering their corpses again were extremely low.
Su Jingxing was never one to aim for the sky; he was a firm believer in seizing the day.
With that in mind, Su Jingxing unlocked the Martial Arts Practice Card. The card transformed into a ray of brilliance that enveloped Su Jingxing entirely.
His consciousness entered the white space once again.
As though something was driving him, he began to practice the Seven Steps Fist on his own.
He did the same moves over and over again.
There was no fatigue, no hunger, no thirst, and no soreness.
As though he had forgotten about all other matters, he just kept practicing.
He did the same moves over and over again.
Time flew by.
After an unknown amount of time, Su Jingxing regained consciousness.
However, unlike the last time, the white space did not collapse like last time.
What's going on? Why am I still here?
Su Jingxing was confused.
He perceived his surroundings—sure enough, he was still within the space.
However, he was no longer practicing the Seven Steps Fist.
Wait, I think I know!
Suddenly, Su Jingxing thought of something and tried to execute the Seven Steps Fist.
And lo and behold, he realized that he had reached the highest level of mastery in Seven Steps Fist.
In other words, it was the realm where he could take all seven steps in one go—Godlike Mastery!
"There must have been time to spare after I reached the highest level in Seven Steps Fists. Is that why this space still exists?"
Su Jingxing remembered that the Martial Arts Practice Card contained a period of 14 years—4 more than the previous one.
Once he reached the highest level in Seven Steps Fist, time stopped within the space.
Su Jingxing could direct his consciousness back to his physical body at any time he wanted, but that would mean wasting the remaining time in this space.
Martial Arts Practice Cards weren't easy to come by, and it would be a shame to waste them.
At the thought of this, Su Jingxing switched to another skill to practice—Advanced Hearing!
As soon as he made the decision, the internal force in his body uncontrollably surged and converged at his ear apertures, stimulating them in a slow and orderly manner…
…