From a tuberculosis patient to a martial arts master

The forest was quiet for a moment, with only the cold wind and swirling snow remaining.

Lin Jizhi narrowed his eyes, his right hand dragging his goose-feather saber diagonally across the ground, the tip of the blade sinking into the shallow snow. "Zhu Hong, I'll block its movement. You focus on the white fur on its belly." The saber tip slowly rotated beneath the snow, his voice deep and cold: "This beast is slippery; if we drag it out too long, it'll escape. Today we—"

He curled his lips into a smirk, his smile cold and sharp, his eyes filled with a disdainful and arrogant air.

"Or, kill this beast and go back to claim credit."

"Or we should just strip off these constable's clothes now, to avoid being laughed at—two grown men who can't even handle a wild wolf."

Zhu Hong's hand holding the knife tightened subtly, and his eyes flashed with a sharp light:

"Today...it can't escape!"

Before the two had finished speaking, their self-absorbed attitude seemed to have thoroughly enraged the ground wolf.

It suddenly moved.

Its two front paws swung like two gray shadows, scattering snow everywhere. In the blink of an eye, most of its body was already submerged under the floating snow, and the soil surged and rolled like waves, rushing straight towards Lin Jizhi's feet.

"That's an old, tired trick!"

Lin Ji knew that instead of retreating, he advanced.

He didn't look at the surging waves of earth, but stomped his foot heavily on the ground the instant the loose soil rose up.

"You dog, how dare you burrow into the ground and act so arrogantly."

"Die!"

With a loud shout, the blade flashed like a bolt of lightning, neither slashing nor chopping, but rather channeling its power and thrusting fiercely into the snow.

"Aww—"

A mournful howl broke through the earth.

Immediately afterwards, the mound of earth beneath the snow burst open with a deafening roar, and the wolf, in pain, scrambled out in a sorry state, revealing a deep, bone-revealing wound on its right shoulder blade.

It panicked immediately, its ferocity vanished, and its courage turned to icy cold.

The few remaining bits of his brain told him that the two were ruthless and tough opponents, and if he didn't leave now, he would surely lose his life today. He immediately shrank back and leaped away, intending to use his speed to escape.

"run?"

Lin Jizhi flicked his wrist, and the spine of his blade slashed out horizontally, creating a sudden gust of wind, all to block its retreat.

This is only half a move.

The other half of the move:

"Zhu Hong!"

Before the cries had subsided, as the wolf leaped into the air, Zhu Hong's lips curled into a smile; this was the moment he had been waiting for.

Stepping,

Deliver the knife.

He swung the goose-feather saber horizontally in his hand, its arc of light like a half-moon, aiming straight for the vital point.

"Whoosh—"

The snow and the glint of swords intertwined.

Zhu Hong swept past the wolf, only stopping two steps away. He flicked his wrist, shaking off a string of blood droplets from the blade, and slowly sheathed it.

"Thump."

The wolf carcass crashed into the snowdrift, its head rolling three feet away because the knife was so sharp and swift.

Quiet.

Only the sound of pine trees remains between heaven and earth.

Lin Jizhi was startled, her gaze fixed on the clean cut on the wolf's head, remaining fixed for a long time. Finally, she hissed, as if in pain, and uttered a sentence:

"You little rascal, you've got...not bad" when it comes to knife skills.

The angle was so tricky, and the control was so perfect; if he hadn't actually been through the wringer, he would have found it hard to believe.

A newly recruited soldier?

How could he be so calm and composed? It's baffling.

"Compared to Brother Lin's stab just now, I'm still far behind."

Zhu Hong casually wiped the blade on his robe and smiled faintly: "If my elder brother hadn't driven it to such a desperate situation, I wouldn't have had the chance to seize that opening."

Don't give me that.

Lin Jizhi grinned, his fatigue mostly gone. He slung his sword over his shoulder and said gruffly, "Your strength is at least a stone and a half's worth. A few more years in the government, and you'll steadily reach the minor mastery level." He patted Zhu Hong on the shoulder and couldn't help but sigh, "Stronger than I was back then." He then sheathed his sword and gestured with his chin toward the wolf corpse.

"Take his head and head back home!"

He had barely finished speaking.

"Click—"

A loud crash, like a giant tree snapping, erupted from the depths of the dense forest without warning, and the snow beneath our feet trembled slightly twice in response to the immense force.

The two of them were startled and turned their heads in response to the sound.

All I saw was:

Birds in the forest took flight in fright, and snow fell like rain from the branches.

Thirty feet away, an ancient pine tree, so large that it takes two people to encircle it, was smashed in half by an unimaginable force, falling horizontally to the ground and stirring up a cloud of snow. As the snow dust slowly dissipated, a massive, suffocating black shadow slowly rose from the forest, standing upright.

It was a black bear.

No, it should be a black mountain of flesh.

The bear was enormous, extremely ugly, its coarse, black fur disheveled like grass, covered in grime and mud, tangled and matted. It raised its head, letting out muffled roars like thunder, each one more urgent than the last, its deep-set eyes filled with a ferocious rage from being disturbed.

Lower Rank 1?

"Something's not right," Lin Jizhi's expression changed instantly after examining him several times, "Although he's ten feet tall, this aura..."

Mid-grade, Tier 1!

It was a bear that had just reached adulthood.

"Fuck your mother!" His lips twitched violently, his face turning pale. He immediately cursed a very vulgar word, thinking:

"If only it had arrived a few days earlier."

The bear's hide was like iron armor, impervious to swords and spears. A single blow from its paw could shatter a millstone. He, a mere junior martial arts student, was no match for the black bear, let alone the other person who needed to be taken care of.

"Zhu Hong!"

Lin Jizhi stared intently at the slowly approaching behemoth, a ruthless glint in his eyes: "This beast is too tough; I can't handle it." He paused, without turning around.

"I'll stall it for a bit, you get out of here first!"

Just run out of the woods, don't look back at me. Once you're free, I'll find a way to escape later.

Zhu Hong stared at the black mountain bear charging towards him and shook his head.

Escape?

Although this beast was large, it ran with the speed of wind and rain, and every step it took made the ground tremble.

run,

How can a two-legged person outrun a furious, man-eating bear?

His eyes turned cold. Instead of retreating, he took a step forward, slightly flipped his wrist, and held the single-edged sword horizontally in front of his chest, the blade pointing diagonally towards the snow. He stood firmly beside Lin Jizhi, without leaning to one side. "I'm leaving. Can you really run away?" His voice was not loud, just a flat question, but it had an undeniable stubbornness.

"If you're going to leave, then let's leave together."

"Now you want me to abandon you and run away alone? What? If I go back to the yamen, do you expect me to be kicked out by the boss?"

"You...you little brat."

Lin Jizhi choked on his words, unsure whether to scold or praise, his blood boiling: "Good! You have guts!" He grinned.

"After this ordeal, we will be brothers in adversity."

They're all doing well!

Before the words were even finished, a bloody storm was already brewing.

The bear had no patience to listen to the conversation between these two ants. Now that its hibernation had been disturbed and it was burning with hunger, it had already unleashed its ferocity. With a deafening roar, it pushed off with its hind legs, and its massive body suddenly unleashed a terrifying speed that was completely disproportionate to its size.

It was like a collapsing black mountain, crashing down on you.

"Enter your ancestors!"

Lin Jizhi muttered under his breath, "Do you really think I'm a pushover?"

He steeled his resolve, crouched low, and slid forward—his fastest movement ever. With all his might, he wielded his goose-feather saber, aiming for the bear's soft spot under its armpit, and slashed out fiercely.

Seeing this, Zhu Hong was not about to back down.

"Look at the knife!"

He stepped forward, his body following closely behind, and slashed upwards with his single blade from the side, aiming straight for the bear's neck.