Han Zheng truly faced an opponent in combat for the first time.
Normally, for someone as new to Martial Arts as he was, he should have been nervous, but Han Zheng was extremely calm.
He assumed the stance of the Vajra Fist, his arms' muscles and sinews surging as he crossed his arms in front of him to withstand Brother Xiong's hand-chop strike.
'Boom!'
A muffled sound echoed.
Han Zheng took a step back, and Brother Xiong's face instantly changed.
With that exchange, Han Zheng had a measure of their abilities.
In terms of strength, they were evenly matched, though the opponent was slightly stronger, likely having opened around seventy acupoints but not yet the second meridian.
A fight was possible!
His Qi Blood boiled and surged. Han Zheng's arms were bulging with muscles, like two Demon-Subduing Pestles smashing toward Brother Xiong with great force and weight.
Brother Xiong's skills were somewhat mixed, with punches, palm techniques, and grappling.
But at this moment, facing Han Zheng's counterattack, he could only defensively block the relentless onslaught.
The more Brother Xiong fought, the more something felt amiss.
His own Qi Blood roiled with each punch he received, but why did it seem like his opponent was unaffected?
Force should be mutual; logically, Han Zheng should also have felt discomfort.
Indeed, Han Zheng felt his Qi Blood surging from the rebounded force.
But he had sacrificed his sense of pain, which simply couldn't affect his fighting capabilities, and instead, it made Han Zheng fight even more fiercely.
A vicious look flashed in Brother Xiong's eyes.
His palms, like Spirit Snakes, entwined toward Han Zheng's arms.
He was a large man, but suddenly, he crouched down greatly, reducing his size severely.
Using the momentum from his arms, he managed to exert force mid-air, aiming a kick at Han Zheng's groin!
This move was quite unseemly, resembling a yellow dog urinating, yet it was a genuine killing strike.
Han Zheng rooted his feet to the ground, twisted his waist, and with a swift sway of his body, narrowly avoiding Brother Xiong's kick.
With Qi Blood surging, Han Zheng's right arm broke free from Brother Xiong's grapple, transformed his fist into a pestle, and smashed it down from mid-air!
Vajra Demon Suppression!
This was the result of cultivating the true intent of the Vajra Fist in the Taotie Furnace.
The punch that Han Zheng had just thrown in a life-and-death struggle was a genuine expression of the Martial Arts True Intent of the Vajra Fist.
Even if Li Jingzhong himself were to come, although his cultivation was far superior to Han Zheng's, he might not be able to execute such an essence-filled punch.
'Boom!'
Accompanied by a muffled sound, Brother Xiong, unable to find leverage after exerting force mid-air, couldn't dodge and was smashed in the head by the punch, violently smashing him to the ground.
His forehead was even indented from the punch, blood gushing instantly like a spring, and after convulsing on the ground for a moment, he lay still.
Han Zheng went over to check his breath; Brother Xiong was dead beyond any doubt.
In Martial Arts combat, it was better to advance a thought than to halt.
Han Zheng perfectly executed Li Jingzhong's teaching; he struck to kill without the slightest hesitation or mercy.
Whether it was his previous life or this one, this was Han Zheng's first kill.
But for some reason, he didn't feel the slightest discomfort.
In a life-and-death struggle, it's either you die, or I perish.
All he felt now was relief that the person lying there wasn't himself.
[After slaying a Postnatal Realm early-stage Martial Artist, acquired 1 Qi Blood Essence Pearl, which can be used for sacrifice.]
Han Zheng was slightly taken aback.
But without time to ponder, Han Zheng approached the nearly petrified Ma Gui, grasped his throat, and said calmly, "Now, are you ready to talk?"
Ma Gui had genuinely been scared silly.
He thought that with Brother Xiong's arrival, Han Zheng would quickly be dealt with.
But just after a few exchanges, Brother Xiong was actually beaten to death by the opponent!
The moment Brother Xiong died, it was too late for Ma Gui to run.
His leg was broken by Han Zheng; where could he possibly escape to?
"Don't kill me! I'll talk! I'll tell everything!"
Ma Gui just started to say something, then with a morose face, he stated, "I mean, I'd like to say, but I really don't know anything!"
"You don't know anything? Are you playing me?"
Han Zheng's expression suddenly darkened.
Having just killed a man, his aura of death was strong, his grip tightening ever more; Ma Gui's face immediately turned red.
Ma Gui hastened to say, "I'm not playing you! I'm not even a formal member of the Sanhe Gang; how could I know much?
The man you killed was the head of the Sanhe Gang, Wang Xiong. I've done a few jobs for him and also wanted to join the Sanhe Gang.
But Wang Xiong said I wasn't up to par yet and had to complete a task.
He needed a young man with strong Qi Blood, no matter if it was through trickery or persuasion, any method would do.
That day, when I met you, you had been practicing at the Martial Arts Hall for so long, you definitely fit the bill.
I offered you ten pieces of silver, lying that you were needed to help a caravan transport some prohibited goods, requiring you to leave the city at night.
In the evening, I handed you over to Wang Xiong, and you left the city, I truly didn't know anything else that happened afterward."
Having said that, Ma Gui cautiously glanced at Han Zheng.
Thinking to himself that he hadn't followed them out of the city, Han Zheng should clearly know; why come to ask him?
"You don't know? Then why were you so surprised to see me alive?"
"Because Wang Xiong himself said it.
Wang Xiong didn't just take you out of the city; there was another young man and two girls not yet twenty years old.
I carelessly asked Wang Xiong what he was doing taking you out so late, and I got slapped for it; he said not to ask what shouldn't be asked.
Afterward, Wang Xiong warned me not to be a busybody, saying you definitely weren't coming back, which meant you were supposed to be dead."
Han Zheng slightly furrowed his brow.
His appearance outside the city was indeed problematic.
Who knows what Wang Xiong was doing when he took him and the others out of the city? Was it merely to kill him?
It probably wasn't; the way Ma Gui was tasked to find someone seemed entirely random.
He had just been unlucky to encounter Ma Gui, and it was only because he was short on cash that he got tricked.
Unfortunately, Wang Xiong, the only person who knew everything, had been beaten to death by him.
"Do people from the Sanhe Gang know I am still alive?"
Now, the only thing Han Zheng wasn't sure about was whether the things Wang Xiong did were related to the Sanhe Gang. He wondered if they would come to kill him too if they found out he hadn't died.
Ma Gui shook his head, "I don't know either.
I was troubled all day after I met you yesterday, and I didn't tell Wang Xiong until this morning.
His face changed immediately when I told him, and he told me not to blabber about it.
If the other members, especially Gang Deputy Leader Gao Kaiyuan, heard about it—it would be all over.
He was supposed to meet me again in the evening to discuss what to do."
Hearing this, Han Zheng breathed a slight sigh of relief.
From Wang Xiong's reaction, it seemed that him still being alive signified a mistake made by Wang Xiong, thus the higher-ups of the Sanhe Gang hadn't been alerted.
"Do you know anything else?"
"I really don't! I'm just a runner. I was ignorant, please have mercy on me!"
Ma Gui begged with a mournful face.
However, he felt the hand clutching his neck tighten further. He wanted to plead and shout but was already unable to make a sound.
Watching as Ma Gui's body lay breathless, Han Zheng tossed it onto the ground like a dead dog.
"If you don't know anything else, then you are of no use alive."
When Han Zheng killed the first person, he didn't feel much.
Now, upon killing the second person, his mental state was even calmer.
He glanced at the two corpses on the ground, contemplating how to deal with them.
Suddenly, he heard footsteps from outside the alley.
The noise from his encounter with Wang Xiong had been quite loud, surely waking some of the neighboring residents.
But in the current state of the world, it was better to do less than more, and those commoners would certainly not dare to investigate.
Now, only after the commotion had died down did they come out to check the situation.
Without time to handle the bodies, Han Zheng directly made his way to the backyard.
Once sure that the alley behind the yard was empty, he scaled the wall and escaped.
When he got back home, Han Zheng immediately took a bath to wash off the bloodstains and pondered over the series of events that had occurred.
The Sanhe Gang held significant sway in Black Stone County. Conflicts resulting in deaths between gangs were common, and murder was nothing out of the ordinary.
With the power of the Sanhe Gang, even blatantly killing a few people on the street would go unchecked by the County Government.
Yet Wang Xiong, acting as the leader, covertly took two men and two women out of the city, convinced they would certainly die outside and not return. There had to be something much more serious involved; it wasn't as simple as killing a few people.
Moreover, Wang Xiong's fear of Gang Deputy Leader Gao Kaiyuan finding out about Han Zheng's survival also proved that the matter was definitely related to the higher echelons of the Sanhe Gang.
But the clues reaching a level like Gang Deputy Leader Gao Kaiyuan of the Sanhe Gang were beyond Han Zheng's ability to investigate.
The only good news now was that both Ma Gui and Wang Xiong were dead.
He was randomly picked by Ma Gui, and aside from Ma Gui and Wang Xiong, no one else knew his identity, so he should be safe in the short term.
Setting aside these issues for now, Han Zheng summoned the Taotie Furnace.
Below the Taotie Furnace, rows of small compartments appeared, resembling a backpack in a game.
Inside, there was only one item, seemingly a Blood Pearl, with a description above it
[Qi Blood Essence: Condensed by a Martial Artist's Qi and blood, offering grants 10 points of Hunger Level.]
This was the first time Han Zheng had received something apart from his own body parts to offer as a sacrifice.
But the problem was that this item could only be obtained by slaying a Martial Artist.
He had killed two people today, but Ma Gui didn't count as a Martial Artist, so no Qi Blood Essence was obtained.
Did the Taotie Furnace mean he had to keep killing to become stronger?
Han Zheng had long felt there was something sinister about this object, but now his suspicions were confirmed.
The Taotie Furnace's condition for activation was for Han Zheng to keep killing, gaining Hunger Level, or to offer himself up as a sacrifice to gain power.
Whether or not he could resist this temptation would rely on Han Zheng's own fortitude and willpower.
Han Zheng didn't waste the 10 points of Hunger Level, immediately offering it up to the Taotie Furnace to enter and cultivate.
The issue of the Sanhe Gang loomed like a hidden threat, so to protect himself, Han Zheng needed to accumulate power.
10 points of Hunger Level would allow him ten days of cultivation within the Taotie Furnace.
Han Zheng also noticed that this time his progress seemed faster.
In ten days, Han Zheng had opened up ten acupoints and reached through another meridian.
As his skill level with the Iron Elephant Skill grew higher, his pace of cultivation quickened.
Han Zheng pulled up his attribute panel to check his status.
[Name: Han Zheng
Cultivation: Postnatal Open Vein Realm (opened seventy acupoints and reached through two meridians)
Martial Arts Skills: Postnatal Realm Iron Elephant Skill skill level (35%), Postnatal Realm Vajra Fist skill level 50%
Current State: Absence of pain sensation, Qi blood healthy]
Han Zheng let out a slight "huh".
He had not cultivated the Vajra Fist in the Taotie Furnace this time, but his skill level in the Vajra Fist suddenly surged from 30% to 50%.
It must have been due to his life-and-death struggle with Wang Xiong, even delivering a punch that contained the true essence of the Vajra Fist, resulting in the sudden jump in skill level.
He was beginning to understand the rules of skill level.
The skill level of Internal Cultivation Methods would naturally rise with continuous practice.
However, skill levels in Martial Skills increased fastest during life-or-death combat.