Martial Arts: My talent multiplier increased

Then slowly expel it.

Fang Yuan loosened his grip.

Tie Meng pulled his fist out of the soil. Fragments of mud and moss were stuck between his fingers. He looked down at his mud-covered hands, his Adam's apple bobbing twice.

Fang Yuan's attention was not on Tie Meng.

His brain was processing data.

Shi Potian.

Explosive power: Five times that of Fang Teng's Bone-Shattering Fist. Based on a conversion ratio of four times the bone structure, taking a direct hit is tantamount to suicide.

Speed: Not fast. The speed of his punch is even slower than that of an ordinary late-stage Bone Refining Realm cultivator. But in the face of power at that level, speed is of extremely low priority. You might dodge the first punch, but you can't dodge the area covered by the energy emanating from it.

Defense: Unknown. No one attacked him. The combined parry of three Cloud Smoke City warriors couldn't even last a moment. But that layer of grayish-white bone-like patterns—the outward appearance of the Earth-rank martial art "Mountain Rift Fist"—likely provided additional surface defense.

Battery life: Unknown. No signs of fatigue after a full-force punch. However, only one punch was observed. Insufficient sample size to extrapolate potential.

Personality: Arrogant. Facing three opponents at the Bone Refinement Realm working together, he only threw one punch and uttered one word from beginning to end. He took what he wanted and left. There was no follow-up attack, no threat, and he didn't even glance at them.

This arrogance is not bluffing. It is backed by absolute strength and stems from an innate sense of superiority.

Fang Yuan tapped his knee lightly with his fingers.

Arrogance implies underestimating the opponent. However, underestimating the opponent is only a exploitable weakness when the strength difference between the two sides is not significant. When the gap is too large, whether one underestimates the opponent or not makes no difference.

No matter how well you design tactics, utilize the terrain, or seize opportunities, if you can't catch a punch, you simply can't.

There is no chance of winning in a head-on confrontation.

Fang Yuan firmly set this conclusion in his mind.

The biggest variable is—how many people are still around you?

There were twelve people registered at the entrance. Yesterday at the bottom of the valley, Fang Yuan knocked one down, and Tie Meng injured one. Today, Shi Potian is accompanied by two bodyguards.

Twelve minus two equals ten. At least two of those ten are with you.

The remaining eight were scattered throughout the secret realm, scavenging for resources.

Fang Yuan wrote down the number.

"Let's go down and take a look."

Fang Yuan got up from the observation platform and slid down the side of the rock wall to the bottom of the valley.

Tie Meng followed behind. His face had returned to its usual ruggedness, but something burned deep in his eyes. It was simmering, not emitting smoke, but extremely hot.

Fang Qi and Fang Zheng were at the very end. They had witnessed the entire process of Shi Potian crippling three people with a single punch, and their expressions at this moment were somewhere between stiff and bewildered.

Fang Qi's mouth, which never spoke, finally moved.

Fang Zheng translated the lip movements for him.

"Not human."

The air at the bottom of the valley was filled with a mixture of the smell of blood and the resinous scent of broken wood.

The gun-wielding warrior was still lying in the rubble. Fang Yuan walked over and took a look. He was still breathing, but extremely weakly. His forearms were bent at an odd angle, and the fabric of his clothes at his chest was torn by the rubble, revealing large patches of purplish-black bruises underneath.

His internal organs weren't ruptured. But the muscle and bone damage would keep him in bed for two months.

Fang Yuan's gaze shifted to another one.

The one with a broken collarbone.

The man was still kneeling on the ground. Shi Potian had been gone for quite a while, but he had remained motionless in that position. It wasn't that he didn't want to move—he was terrified of being beaten. Faced with fear, his body made the most instinctive choice: don't move, don't attract attention.

Fang Yuan walked up to him.

"Can you speak?"

The man looked up abruptly. His pupils contracted sharply the instant he saw Fang Yuan. His right hand instinctively reached for his waist—his weapon had fallen, and he grasped at empty air.

Then he noticed the distinctive patterns on the gray-blue short brown fabric.

"From Liangshui City?" The voice was hoarse.

Fang Yuan did not answer his question.

What was Shi Potian looking for in the Beast Cave?

The man's lips trembled slightly. Pain and terror alternately crushed his nerves, and sweat dripped from his forehead onto the ground, turning into dark dots.

"I don't know... we just ran into them too..."

What were you looking for before you met him?

The man lowered his head and hesitated for a few moments.

His gaze lingered on Tie Meng behind Fang Yuan for a moment—Tie Meng's armor, with its size and dried bloodstains, didn't seem like the kind of equipment one would use to reason.

"Core area".

The man's voice became muffled, as if he had a wad of cotton in his mouth.

Fang Yuan crouched down. This action reduced the distance between their faces to less than a foot. At this distance, his twice-powered spiritual perception could precisely detect the subtle changes in the other person's pupil dilation frequency, carotid artery pulsation rhythm, and breathing intervals.

There was no sign of lying.

Where is the core area?

"We don't know the exact location." The man clutched his crippled left shoulder with his right hand, his fingers turning white. "But we inquired before we came in—the secret realm has three layers. The outer layer is this forest. No one has ever been to the middle layer. The innermost layer is the core area."

He swallowed a mouthful of bloody saliva.

"On the fifth day... the stone gate will open by itself... the essence of the Beast God is located at the deepest part..."

Fang Yuan's fingers paused on his knee for a moment.

The essence and blood of the Beast God.

He hadn't seen those four words in the intelligence booklet. The only known information about the Hundred Beast Cave was the news about the refined iron ore. Beast God's essence blood—this was internal intelligence that hadn't been made public during the joint exploration by the three cities.

Or, to put it another way, it is only open to a specific group of people.

These three warriors from Yunyan City were clearly not ordinary participants. They had known about the existence and opening time of the core area before entering the Hundred Beast Cave.

Shi Potian is also one.

He didn't come to collect ore. He came for the core area.

Day .

Today is the second day.

Fang Yuan had three days to prepare.

Fang Yuan stood up. He didn't look at the person kneeling on the ground again.

"Walk."

The four people left the valley.

Tie Meng followed Fang Yuan's pace. After taking a dozen steps, he finally couldn't hold back any longer.

"What is the essence blood of the Beast God?"

Fang Yuan walked through an area of ​​fallen, dead trees without changing his pace.

"Uncertain. But what would make the core members of the three cities risk their lives to venture into the deepest part of the city is no ordinary thing."

Tie Meng's brows furrowed. He thought for a moment, then grinned.

"Shi Potian will also go to the core area."

It's not a question. It's a statement.

Fang Yuan glanced at him sideways.

Tie Meng's fists clenched so tightly that his iron arm guards creaked. But this time, he didn't tremble.

"Then let's go. Wherever he is, I'll be there."

Fang Yuan's gaze lingered on Tie Meng's face for a moment before returning to his own.

Three days.

The core area will open on the fifth day. Shi Potian will go. The Zhao family twins will most likely go as well. The white-clad woman from the Lin family who is suppressing her cultivation level will also be present.

When the stone door at the deepest part of the Beast Cave opens, all the important people in the secret realm will crowd into the same place.

Fang Yuan's fingers touched the sealed leather bag attached to his chest.

The faint coolness emanating from the jade vine in the bag seeped into my skin through my clothes.

He has already obtained the Jade Vine, the Crimson Flame Flower, and the Ice Silkworm Grass during this trip.

Is it enough?

not enough.

The few lines of numbers on the panel flashed through his mind for a moment.

The threshold for the next level of increase is 10,000 taels.

Beast God's essence blood—I wonder how much it'll sell for. But anything that even Shi Potian, a late-stage peak Bone Refining Realm expert, is determined to obtain, will likely fetch no less than that price.

Fang Yuan quickened his pace by half a beat.

"Find a place to stay. Don't get into any conflicts with anyone for the next three days."

Tie Meng's mouth was half open.

Fang Yuan didn't give him a chance to speak.

"Shi Potian crippled three Bone Refining Realm cultivators with a single punch. If you rush in now, you won't even know how you died."

Tie Meng closed his mouth.

Fang Yuan continued walking forward.

Three days is enough.