A glimpse of opportunity: Start by marrying a mermaid bride.

Nothing happened that night. The next morning, Zheng Xuan stretched lazily and saw his wife already busy making breakfast. He didn't say anything, but went out to practice his boxing as usual.

After breakfast, Zheng Xuan went to the city, intending to see Song Jin'ao, but was told that Song Jin'ao had gone out and would be back in a month.

Upon learning this, Zheng Xuan thought it would be a good opportunity to improve his strength over the next month.

So he said goodbye to his senior brother Chen Shouyi and left.

In the world of martial arts, there's a saying: the master leads you through the door, but the rest is up to you. Your achievements depend entirely on your own understanding.

Song Jin'ao had already taught him all the training methods and stance exercises of Bajiquan. Except for the fighting techniques, he had learned everything else that was supposed to be taught.

As long as you work hard, you can advance to the Ming Jin level.

Zheng Xuan returned home and began his cultivation plan, taking pills and starting to practice his fist techniques underwater.

Time flies, and half a month has passed in the blink of an eye. On this day, Zheng Xuan was practicing his skills underwater. After refining the last bit of Qi and Blood Pill's medicinal power, he suddenly felt his blood and qi flow smoothly throughout his body. A powerful force of blood and qi gushed out from his dantian, then circulated through his limbs and bones, and finally returned to his dantian.

Zheng Xuan opened his eyes and his eyes lit up. Finally, he had advanced to the ninth level of martial artist!

It's not easy!

Thinking about it, he began to examine what changes had occurred to him and what abilities he had gained after entering the martial artist sequence.

After entering the ninth rank of martial artist, his strength improved significantly, and his muscles became more powerful. The ninth rank is called Ming Jin because it is a visible strength, which is the strength that we can see through the muscles and observe with the naked eye.

After his Ming Jin skill was improved, his strength increased by at least 60%, making him much stronger than an ordinary person.

Moreover, in terms of strength alone, Zheng Xuan should be stronger than an ordinary Ming Jin martial artist, because in addition to the 60% strength boost from a Ming Jin martial artist, he also has a 50% strength boost from his Mermaid Body.

These two improvements make him stand out among Ming Jin martial artists.

However, aside from strength, the abilities gained from sequence upgrades are actually the biggest benefit.

The abilities gained by Ming Jin martial artists after leveling up are generally physical attributes such as strength, endurance, and speed. Of course, there are also unique ones like Zhang Erbiao, whose ability is body hardening.

Zheng Xuan's newly awakened ability is called Stacking Force!

Its function is to stack forces together, like ocean waves, with each force stronger than the last. Zheng Xuan can currently stack up to three layers of force.

Furthermore, one can continue to accumulate strength as their martial arts level increases.

Upon seeing the skill description, Zheng Xuan immediately became excited. This was an amazing skill! It could stack power and upgrade as the sequence progressed.

If this force could be stacked a hundred times, I can't even imagine how powerful that punch would be.

Zheng Xuan was in a great mood, and at the same time, he seemed to have discovered that the direction of the abilities granted during sequence upgrades could be guided.

For example, he practiced his boxing in the water, constantly trying to understand the waves in the water, one after another, so the skill he was given was triple force.

Before he advanced to the ninth level as a corpse retriever, he had come into contact with the case of the female corpse in the morgue turning into a zombie, which awakened his skill: Soul Control.

Zhao Erbiao used to be a wandering swordsman who made a living by breaking large stones with his chest, so the skill he was given after entering the sequence was Hardening.

In the normal martial arts progression, before advancing to the next level, martial artists often spend time practicing martial arts, honing their strength, and refining their skills, which is why they awaken abilities such as strength, endurance, and destructive power.

Zheng Xuan was in a good mood as he advanced in his martial arts sequence. While in the river, he suddenly remembered that he seemed to have released Erdan, and had not been able to recall him for so many days.

So Zheng Xuan summoned Erdan back. Erdan had been having a blast these days, but when asked if he had found any trace of the spirit fish, Erdan shook his head.

Zheng Xuan looked at Erdan like this and felt helpless. Erdan was the weakest of the drowned souls. If only Erdan could be upgraded.

With this in mind, Zheng Xuan remained silent and let Erdan continue searching for the spirit fish.

Meanwhile, he continued to hone his martial arts skills in the water. Ming Jin was only the beginning of martial arts, and he must not slack off.

Thus, Zheng Xuan spent most of his time practicing martial arts and the other half practicing the visualization method of the corpse retriever.

Martial arts temper the body and bones, while the meditation of corpse retrievers strengthens the spirit. Before they knew it, nine months had passed. During these nine months, Zheng Xuan did nothing but practice martial arts and meditate. When he had free time, he would spend time with the fisherwoman to deepen their relationship. As they spent more time together, their feelings for each other grew stronger and stronger, reaching a state of deep affection.

And it was in this state that the martial arts examination, which had been the focus of attention throughout Tianjin, began.

The martial arts examination is the most anticipated event in Tianjin's martial arts community, and it's also the day that Song Jin'ao has been eagerly awaiting. Now, there are only ten days left until the examination, and Zheng Xuan has been summoned back to the city by Song Jin'ao.

Song Jin'ao had clearly lost a lot of weight. He had been extremely busy for the past nine months. In order to help Zhang Mingde break through to the Dark Force realm, he went out to protect a bodyguard. No one knew where he went. He returned covered in injuries, but he brought back the treasure, the Red Jade Lingzhi.

The effects of this red jade lingzhi are the same as those of the spirit fish; both can help Ming Jin martial artists upgrade their sequence and enter An Jin.

Song Jin'ao returned with great joy and gave the Red Jade Lingzhi to Zhang Mingde. However, for some unknown reason, Zhang Mingde failed when trying to break through to the Dark Force realm.

This was a huge blow to Song Jin'ao, but there was also good news: his junior brother Li Ziping actually advanced to the Ming Jin realm without the help of subsequent Qi and Blood Pills, and awakened the rare skill, Mountain Collapse!

When used, this skill can instantly increase the user's explosive power by 100% and enhance instantaneous critical strike power.

And what is this skill in the Baji Sect? It's a skill that only the sect's most outstanding talents can awaken. You should know that the Mountain Collapse skill is a perfect match for Baji Collapse, one of the three great killing moves of the Baji Sect.

The Eight Extremes Collapse is an instantaneous burst of power. Combined with the Mountain Collapse, Song Jin'ao's answer is that it would be very difficult for martial artists of the same rank to defeat him. Even if he encountered a martial artist with Dark Force, he could still go toe-to-toe with him.

Now that Li Ziping had awakened such a skill, Song Jin'ao was overjoyed. After recovering from his injuries, he went out again and brought back a Red Jade Lingzhi. However, the ownership of this Red Jade Lingzhi became a problem.

When Zhang Mingde came to ask for it, Song Jin'ao did not agree directly this time. After all, Zhang Mingde had already wasted a Red Jade Lingzhi. If this one was ruined, even if Song Jin'ao had great abilities, he would not be able to get another Red Jade Lingzhi.

It was precisely because of Song Jin'ao's hesitation that the Zhang Mingde brothers defected overnight, leaving their master's school and instead becoming disciples of Gong Ying of the Bagua School.