The thin middle-aged man also carried an iron bow, dressed as a hunter. Upon seeing Lu Yan, he was visibly taken aback, but his attention was soon drawn to the fiery red Red Knife Leaf.
"So many Red Knife Leaves."
After seeing the Red Knife Leaves, the thin middle-aged man's eyes lit up with excitement, but it was quickly hidden away.
Lu Yan held his iron bow, eyeing the man and preparing to strike.
The man was thin but light on his feet, his presence veiled and unnoticeable, emanating a sense of danger more fierce than that of a wild tiger.
This was a Limit Breaking Warrior.
"Haha, young brother, there's no need to be tense, I have no ill intentions."
The thin man chuckled, lifted his hands in surrender, and stepped back, saying, "Little brother is really impressive, you managed to find these secluded Red Knife Leaves. Rest assured, there's a professional code, and we Leaf Seekers have our rules too. Whoever finds the Red Knife Leaf first can keep it, I'll leave now."
Having said that, he retreated more than ten meters, then turned to leave.
In the split second that the thin middle-aged man turned around, he quickly removed his iron bow, nocked an arrow, his movements smooth and fluid, prepared to shoot Lu Yan.
But before he could get his arrow off, he saw another arrow headed straight towards his throat.
The thin middle-aged man was taken aback and quickly dove aside, narrowly dodging the arrow's assault.
"You crafty lad."
The thin middle-aged man scolded unstably, a deadly gleam flashed in his eyes. He shot an arrow toward Lu Yan.
"Takes one to know one."
Lu Yan retorted, shooting an arrow as he spoke.
These Red Knife Leaves were worth at least three hundred silvers, a considerable value. Despite the man's undeniable strength as a Limit Breaking Warrior, the way he backed down so easily was suspicious.
Anything abnormal usually means trouble, so Lu Yan struck first.
The two arrows collided in mid-air, falling to the ground.
The two quickly released their second arrows, but Lu Yan was clearly faster. His arrow flew like a shooting star, targeting the man's throat and causing his second arrow to deviate significantly from its path.
The man could only use his iron bow to block Lu Yan's arrow.
"Impressive lad, your archery skills are not weak for someone so young."
The thin middle-aged man grumbled under his breath, then discarded his iron bow, leaping toward Lu Yan in a blur.
He moved with the agility of a cheetah.
Lu Yan had no change in expression as he nocked and shot three more arrows in rapid succession.
The three arrows were unleashed in one breath, each arrow following closely behind the other, like Chasing Wind and Moon, each one targeting the man's temples, throat, and heart.
"Blade and Axe Palm."
The thin middle-aged man shouted. His palm instantly turned a pitch black, like iron, and he struck out three continual palms.
Boom, boom, boom!
All three arrows were struck and shattered into pieces, falling to the ground.
"Ordinary archery is just ordinary archery, an arrow without infused Qi-blood, it's limited against a Limit Breaking Warrior."
Lu Yan sighed in his heart.
If it were an arrow from an archery Martial Arts, the effect would have been entirely different. He remembered the arrows shot by the Liu Family's Martial Army from last night. Those arrows pierced through the unfathomable Martial Spirit, their force capable of shattering rocks.
"Die, boy."
The thin middle-aged man who shattered the three arrows was now in front of Lu Yan. Leaping into the sky and striking from above, his palm slashed down toward Lu Yan's head.
He was entirely confident in this strike.
The Blade and Axe Palm, a third-rate martial art. Once mastered, the palm becomes hard as iron, just like a blade or axe.
He had practiced this method for thirty years. Although his talent was limited and unable to reach the peak, it had reached the stage of Mastery. He could not believe that a wet-behind-the-ears boy could stop it.
This palm aimed to cleave Lu Yan's skull open.
"Second limit-breaking."
Lu Yan's heart stirred.
With the man going all out, his Qi-blood bubbled up, revealing his cultivation level.
This was Lu Yan's first time clashing head-on with a Limit Breaking Warrior of the same level, so he dared not hold back. He fully mobilized his Qi-blood and activated the Iron Thread Fist.
His Qi-blood flowed rapidly, flowing into the 288 meridians in his hands. On Lu Yan's palms, lines of black emerged.
Bang!
With full force, Lu Yan threw a punch that collided with the man's Blade and Axe Palm.
Crack!
The moment of the collision, the man's Blade and Axe Palm distorted horrendously, twisting into a ball and his hand bones broke into many pieces.
The thin middle-aged man staggered back, the intense pain contorting his face.
Having pushed back his opponent with one move, Lu Yan sprang forward like a tiger leaving its mountain, throwing a punch with all his might at the man.
"You can't kill me, I am..."
The thin middle-aged man shouted in terror.
Splat!
Lu Yan's punch landed on his chest, his fist directly piercing through and coming out the other side, creating a bloody hole. Flesh, bone and blood were scattered all over.
The thin middle-aged man twitched a few times, and then stopped moving completely.
"I know, you're a dead man."
Lu Yan added coldly, pulling back his fist with a feeling of disgust.
I underestimated my opponent, I didn't expect he would go down that easily, I should have held back.
This made Lu Yan realize that even within the third-rate martial arts, the differences in the level of one's martial arts could have a huge impact on the power rendered.
Both of them were second limit-breaking warriors, similar in their Qi-blood levels, but the transcendent Iron Thread Fist completely overwhelmed the mastery of her Blade and Axe Palm.
It's not that Iron Thread Fist is stronger, it's just more refined.
Take Iron Thread Fist as an example, before reaching the peak of perfection, with Qi-blood unchanging, every increase in a level of Iron Thread Fist amplifies its power by about 20%.
And breaking through to the peak of perfection, the power directly increases by 30%, breaking through again to become transcendent, the power increases by another 30%.
So, the power of Lu Yan's Iron Thread Fist was more than 60% stronger than that of her opponent.
Lu Yan wiped the fresh blood from her hands on the grass, then began to search the emaciated middle-aged man's body.
Two silver tickets, each with a denomination of fifty taels, a total of a hundred taels, plus some small amounts of silver, adding up to one hundred and ten taels.
Lu Yan did not hesitate to pocket it.
In addition to this, there was also a thumb-sized gray sphere, neither gold nor jade, it was unclear what material it was made from.
When Lu Yan touched this sphere, the Dao Book in her mind began flashing intensely, suggesting a desire.
A desire... to devour the sphere.
That's right, to eat it.
Lu Yan was quite astonished.
It was the first time the Dao Book had shown such an anomaly.
Lu Yan tried to communicate with the Dao Book. The next moment, her brows lit up, a Dao Book Illusion emerged.
Whoosh!
The sphere in her hand turned into a beam of light and disappeared into the Dao Book Illusion, which then faded into nothingness.
At this moment, the long inactive Iron Thread Fist avatar, once again started to do its boxing routine.
"That sphere, it actually had this effect?"
Lu Yan was surprised, but then just as quickly overjoyed.
The Iron Thread Fist's avatar's movement signaled good things were coming.
"I'll do more research on it later, I need to pick the Red Knife Leaf now."
Lu Yan laid out a sack and began to harvest the Red Knife Leaf one by one and put them in the sack.
After all the Red Knife Leaves were harvested, Lu Yan estimated the weight. It was about a pound and a half, which would be worth around five hundred taels.
This was a huge sum of money.
After this, she wouldn't have to worry about buying a house anymore.
"What a pity, after the Red Knife Leaf is picked, the roots and stems will quickly wither. Otherwise, I could pick more here next year."
Lu Yan lamented to herself.
The Red Knife Leaf is very special, once its leaves are picked, its roots and stems quickly wither. In the same spot, it would be difficult to harvest Red Knife Leaf for two consecutive years.
After surveying the emaciated middle-aged man's body, Lu Yan began to contemplate whether to bury him, not out of kindness, but to obliterate any traces of his existence.
But at this moment, Lu Yan heard faint voices from outside the valley.
They were some distance from the valley, but judging by their voices, they were evidently heading towards the valley.
"Are these the deceased's companions? There's no time left."
Lu Yan had no choice but to abandon the idea of burying the body, and hastily left the valley in the direction opposite to the incoming voices.
Not long after Lu Yan left the valley, a few men dressed as hunters entered the valley and found the dead body of the emaciated man.
"Fang Rong is dead, killed by a punch to the chest. Such strong fist strength.
An elderly man bent down for a closer look.
"Can you tell what kind of martial arts was used?"
One of them, a burly man with robust mustache, asked.
"There are various kinds of boxing martial arts, and Fang Rong's chest has been severely damaged. It's hard to say, wait, his palm is severely broken, and there are imprints."
The older man picked up Fang Rong's right hand. Although the palm was severely distorted, one could vaguely see several imprints on it, as if it had been strangled by iron thread.
"These imprints are eerily similar to those left by the third-rate martial art, the Iron Thread Fist."
The older man concluded.
"Iron Thread Fist?"
The burly mustachioed man was puzzled and said, "As far as I know, there is no one in Changfeng City who practices the Iron Thread Fist."
"The Iron Thread Fist is widely spread, to my knowledge, there is a martial arts institute in Wo Ye City of Qingfeng County, which specializes in the Iron Thread Fist."
The elderly man said.
"Old Wu, you really are knowledgeable and experienced, I admire you. Given the current plight of Qingfeng County, with natural disasters occurring and bandits running amok, it's not uncommon for a warrior from there to come wandering into Changfeng City."
The burly mustachioed man said.
The men looked around and quickly discovered the roots and stems of the Red Knife Leaf.
"A murderer who steals treasures has targeted the Wu Family. He's looking for death."
The burly mustachioed man was filled with murderous intent.
"Fang Rong's body is still warm, his murderer would not be far away. Send out the word, blockade all routes, search for anyone carrying Red Knife Leaves. This clump of Red Knife Leaf should be about a pound and a half, it's not hard to find someone with this trait."
The elderly man said.