Martial Arts: My talent multiplier increased

It's not a stop jumping.

It turned into continuous, uninterrupted, high-frequency jitter.

The token vibrated in Fang Yuan's palm, making his knuckles go numb.

Pulse direction—

Fang Yuan's face froze for a moment in the firelight.

It's not outside the city. It's not Green Herb Valley.

North of the city.

Fang Yuan's twice-sized divine soul perception network instantly covered the limit radius of twenty-five zhang.

North of the city. Beyond the range of perception.

But Fang Yuan didn't need to perceive the specific signal. The vibration frequency of the token already said it all. The last time he experienced this frequency was seven days ago—in the second alley in the north of the city. That scalding, thick, sticky fluctuation of qi and blood.

Blood Bat Dharma King.

He went into the city.

Fang Yuan's mind completed the route deduction within 0.3 breaths.

North of the city. The main residence of the Fang family. Inner courtyard.

Fang Ying.

Fang Lin.

Tie Meng.

Fang Yuan's pupils contracted to their limit in the firelight.

His body was already off the spot before his next heartbeat. His shoe soles scraped a mark on the gravel at the alley entrance. The eight-fold stance training channeled all his power into his lower limbs.

-

Tie Meng spotted Fang Yuan's figure behind the old locust tree.

The figure did not come in his direction.

It rushed from the depths of the alley towards its entrance. Speed—Tie Meng's eyes only caught a fleeting, gray-blue afterimage.

"Iron Fierce!"

Fang Yuan's voice boomed from the direction of the afterimage. It wasn't loud, but it was extremely clear.

"Main house! Quickly!"

At the same moment he received the order, Tie Meng's iron arm guard snapped into the blocking position. He pushed off with his legs from the roots of the old locust tree and chased after the enemy heading north of the city.

He couldn't catch up with Fang Yuan.

Far from it.

Just as Fang Yuan's afterimage passed through the first alleyway, Tie Meng had just stepped out of the old locust tree's range.

For the first time in his life, Tie Meng's brain short-circuited.

Fang Yuan was referring to the "main residence".

The main residence of the Fang family. Inner courtyard. Fang Ying's residence.

These heretical practitioners' target is not the west of the city—

Tie Meng's iron arm guards clanged loudly in the night wind. In that instant, his footsteps reached the limit that his forty-three-year-old frame could withstand.

-

Fang Yuan flew on the rooftop.

The eight-fold stance training optimizes jumping efficiency to the extreme. The toes touch the roof tile. The center of gravity is lowered to its lowest point. The body remains on the tile for no more than a fraction of a breath. Then spring up. Then land. Each jump covers a distance of approximately three zhang (about 10 meters).

From the west to the north of the city. The straight-line distance is approximately 800 zhang. The non-straight path along the rooftops—Fang Yuan's brain calculates in real time as he runs—is approximately 1,100 zhang.

At the current jumping speed, it will take approximately—

too long.

Fang Yuan reached into his pocket as he ran. His fingertips touched the dark gold fragment.

The panel appears.

Temporary increase in points: 17.

Fang Yuan's will triggered a temporary amplification on the thirtieth step of his run.

Option: Standing meditation.

"Temporary boost activated. Stance training talent: 8x → 9x. Duration: one hour."

The effects of the nine-fold standing meditation permeated Fang Yuan's limbs and bones in the very same breath it was activated.

Fang Yuan's control over his body has improved—but that's not what he wants.

speed.

The nine-fold training optimized muscle contraction speed, allowing Fang Yuan's jumping frequency to increase from one jump per breath to—

Fang Yuan's afterimage on the roof changed from a line to a series of discontinuous dots.

The distance between the west and north of the city is decreasing rapidly.

The token was throbbing hot in my pocket.

Fang Yuan's twice-sized divine soul perception network continued to extend forward as he ran.

Fifteen breaths later.

What did the edge of the sensor network touch?

The direction of the Fang family's main residence. At a distance of twenty-three zhang.

A signal of blood and qi.

It's not Fang Ying's. It's not Fang Lin's. It's not Tie Meng's.

concentrated.

hot.

The moment Fang Yuan's sensory network touched the edge of that signal—just like last time—the sensation was burned and caused it to recoil.

But this time Fang Yuan didn't let it shrink.

His twice-strong soul endured the scorching heat, pinning the sensory touchpoints to the edge of the signal.

The outline of the signal gradually becomes clear in perception.

Humanoid. Not tall. About five feet six inches. But the concentration of qi and blood made the entire humanoid shape appear larger—the volume presented on the perception network was at least three times larger than the actual body. Like a person wrapped in a three-foot-thick layer of scalding fog.

Blood Bat Dharma King.

He stood outside the courtyard wall of the Fang family's main residence.

I didn't go in.

Fang Yuan didn't stop. The distance was still shrinking.

Twenty zhang (approximately 33 meters).

Eighteen zhang (approximately 33 meters).

At fifteen zhang—

The blood and qi signal was activated.

It's not heading in the direction of the Fang family's main residence.

It turned towards Fang Yuan's direction.

Fang Yuan's doubled spiritual perception caught a detail the instant the signal changed direction—a chill.

It wasn't a matter of temperature. It was that the blood and qi signals themselves suddenly switched from "scalding hot" to "icy cold." The switch happened so fast that Fang Yuan's sensory network couldn't adjust its sensitivity threshold in time.

One moment it was boiling blood. The next it turned into stagnant water in an ice cellar.

Fang Yuan had read about this extreme switching ability of Qi and blood fluctuations in Gu Qingluo's notes.

Page 44.

"One of the hallmark features of the Blood Bat Dharma King's core evil technique, the 'Blood Bat Soul Devouring Technique,' is the dual state of Qi and Blood. In its normal state, it is hot—the violent nature of the essence and blood. In its battle state, it is cold—converting the energy of the essence and blood into a corrosive and cold evil Qi. The hot state allows for recovery. The cold state allows for attack. The two states can switch without interval."

He switched to combat mode.

Fang Yuan stopped at the twelfth zhang mark.

Rooftop. Below me is the roof ridge of a fabric shop in the northern commercial district of the city. The blue tiles exude a coolness in the night breeze.

Fang Yuan stood on the roof ridge.

On the ground twelve zhang away. Beside the wall of the Fang family's main residence.

The moon finally peeked out from behind the clouds.

The moonlight shone down.

Fang Yuan saw the Blood Bat Dharma King.

A short man. He wore a dark red robe. The robe was much longer than the short tunics worn by ordinary heretics—the hem dragged on the ground. The trailing part was covered in mud and grass.

face.

Fang Yuan's eight-fold stance training—no, nine-fold stance training—pushed visual precision to its limit.

The features of that face were indistinct.

It wasn't that the distance was too far. It wasn't that the light was too dim. It was that a layer of flowing, dark red film covered that face—like a liquid mask. The film was slowly writhing. Sometimes it revealed the outline of the nose beneath, sometimes it filled in the hollows of the eye sockets.

Only the mouth is exposed.

The corners of his mouth split open to both sides. The extent of the split exceeded the limits of normal human facial muscles. It stretched almost to the base of his ears.

There are no teeth in its mouth.

Two rows of dark red spurs grew where the teeth should have been. They were of varying lengths. The longest one extended from the upper jaw, beyond the lower lip.

That mouth is smiling.

Fang Yuan could confirm that it was a smile—the corners of the mouth were pointing upwards.

The Blood Bat Dharma King's voice came from that mouth.

"Twelve."

The sound wasn't loud. But Fang Yuan's nine-fold stance training pushed his hearing sensitivity to the limit, so he could hear it clearly.

The voice—it didn't sound like a human voice. It was like two voices layered together. One layer was a deep, bubbly hum with the texture of bursting bubbles. The other layer was a sharp, screeching vibrato.

The two voices were saying the same thing.

"Twelve good-for-nothings, not even enough for an incense stick to burn."

His mouth split even wider.

"Your essence must taste delicious."

Fang Yuan stood on the rooftop. He pulled his right hand out of his pocket. His fingers weren't clenched into a fist; they were open, palm down.

The blood-red token vibrated wildly in his pocket.

A short sword at the waist. A black porcelain jar at the lower back. Breakthrough pills in the inner pocket. Seventeen temporary boost points on the panel.

All are here.

Fang Yuan shifted his gaze from the Blood Bat Dharma King's face to the direction behind him.

The walls surrounding the Fang family's main residence. Inside the walls is the inner courtyard. In the inner courtyard—

Fang Yuan's twice-strong spiritual perception penetrated the Blood Bat Dharma King's icy blood barrier and struggled to probe a short distance towards the wall.

Three signals related to Qi and blood.

A very faint line. Thin as a layer of gauze. Four years old. Two little pigtails.

A slightly stronger one. At the Flesh Refining Realm. He clutched a short dagger in his hand. His knuckles were blue.

One of them was a guard arranged by Fang Yuanshan. He was in the late stage of the Bone Refining Realm. However, compared to Fang Yuan's late stage of the Bone Refining Realm, he was two levels below him.

Fang Ying is inside.

Fang Yuan's right hand changed from being open to being clenched into a fist.

The knuckles on his fist bulged in the moonlight.

Fang Yuan reached his left hand into his inner pocket. His fingertips touched the surface of the dark gold Breakthrough Pill. A pulse every three breaths, like a heartbeat.

The pill with a heartbeat was pressed against Fang Yuan's chest.

The Blood Bat King's mouth closed. Then it opened again.

Aren't you going in?

He tilted his head slightly. The dark red membrane on his face rippled, revealing one eye underneath.

Dark red pupils.

Right in the center of the pupil—Fang Yuan's nine-fold stance training captured a detail—a tiny, bat-shaped shadow.

"Then I'll go in."

The Blood Bat King's figure disappeared from Fang Yuan's sight.

It's not invisibility. It's speed.

Fang Yuan's twice-strong spiritual perception locked onto the direction of the cold signal's displacement the instant he disappeared—

Wall.

Fang Yuan pulled his left hand out of the inner pocket.

He held the dark golden Breakthrough Pill between his fingers.

The golden light pulsed one last time in the night breeze.

Fang Yuan put the pill into his mouth.