The Martial Saint begins by collecting corpses.

County government office.

A man dressed as a waiter at the Lion Tower, carrying a food box, hurried to the side door with his head down.

"Stop right there, what are you doing?" the doorman shouted.

The waiter said with a smile, "Manager Li just went to Lion Tower for drinks and found the Black River Fish delicious, so he asked the kitchen to make a few more and sent them over to Da Hu."

"I have a few words to pass on to Da Hu. I don't know who Da Hu is, so please inform him, brother."

Upon hearing this, the doorman's expression changed, and he immediately laughed:

"I see. You wait here, I'll go and fetch Tiger."

"Tiger Master?" The waiter was taken aback upon hearing this, then smiled faintly.

Soon, Da Hu walked out of the side door with some confusion.

Seeing that the waiter wanted to talk to Da Hu, the doorman wisely said, "You two talk, I'll go inside and wait."

"What are you talking about?" Da Hu looked blank, but when his gaze fell on Xiao Er's face, his eyes immediately sharpened.

"Ah Lang? What brings you here?"

Ah Lang smiled and said, "I've been waiting outside for two days. I finally got the chance to come find you after Li Xiu left. Listen to me, my brother is about to leave. He asked me to come find you and ask what you think."

"Big brother is leaving? Why is he leaving?" Da Hu asked in shock.

"Have you guys been having a hard time lately? I overheard that Big Brother has already joined the Night Guard, hasn't he?"

Ah Lang said, "Brother senses something big is about to happen in Blackwater County, and it's very dangerous to stay here any longer. I've found a way to leave quietly. Are you coming?"

Upon hearing this, Da Hu hurriedly said:

"Of course I'll listen to what my elder brother says, but... but now..."

He hesitated for a long time, unable to speak.

Seeing this, Ah Lang's heart sank. Just as he was becoming impatient, he suddenly heard footsteps coming from inside the county magistrate's mansion, accompanied by faint voices:

"Who dares to impersonate me and deliver this message? Arrest him!"

Ah Lang's expression changed slightly, and he shouted, "Big Tiger, are you coming or not? Give me a straight answer."

Big Tiger said, "Wolf, listen to me..."

"Hmph, it seems you're having a good time at the county magistrate's mansion and don't want to leave. Well then, you can stay here."

Ah Lang glared at Da Hu and said, but hearing the footsteps approaching, he dared not stay any longer and turned to leave quickly.

Through the side door, Li Xiu, leading several guards and the pale-faced doorman, arrived at the gate. Seeing that Da Hu was still there, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief and said:

"Big Tiger, who was that just now? They actually impersonated me to send you a message and summoned you out. They're incredibly audacious. Go after them, I want to see..."

"Steward Li, let's go back," Da Hu suddenly said.

Upon hearing this, several guards immediately looked at Li Xiu with hesitation, and Li Xiu himself seemed somewhat unsure.

Da Hu said, "It's alright, let's go back." He stood still, blocking their way.

Li Xiu and the others exchanged glances, their eyes flickering as they vaguely guessed something. They then nodded and said:

"Let's go back to the manor."

Before entering the room, Da Hu turned his head and glanced in the direction Ah Lang had left, his face scrunched up like a bun.

……

"Brother, Da Hu isn't leaving! He must have been bribed by the county government and doesn't want to stay with us poor friends anymore."

Ah Lang returned to the Lu residence and said indignantly to Lu Ming.

Lu Ming frowned, remained silent for a moment, then took a deep breath and said:

"Perhaps he has other plans. Since he's not leaving, we have to go too. How's the contact with you going?"

Ah Lang sneered, "What could he possibly be planning? Forget it, let's just pretend he's not our brother. I'm having a quick talk over there, mainly because my brother said we can't reveal our identities, so we have to be careful."

Lu Ming nodded: "The monkey broke through to the martial artist level a few days ago, and you should be close to it too. Practice more in your spare time these few days and try to break through before we set off."

Upon hearing this, Ah Lang's eyes showed a mixture of trepidation and anticipation, and he nodded emphatically:

"I will try my best."

With his inferior aptitude, it would have been difficult for him to become a martial artist. However, Lu Ming gave him a packet of Qi-replenishing powder every day, and after more than a month of hard training, he finally showed signs of a breakthrough.

As the saying goes, martial arts are three parts training and seven parts nurturing. In the early stages of training, resources are actually the most important thing.

Aptitude primarily determines the success rate of overcoming bottlenecks in internal training.

After Ah Lang left, Lu Ming also brewed a dose of internal cultivation medicine and began to cultivate.

As expected, Shen Mo delivered ten doses of internal cultivation medicine a few days ago. He has already consumed two doses, and today is the third dose. The effects are remarkable!

Inside the room, Lu Ming stood on the Canglang Stake, his eyes gleaming.

Over the course of four days, his vital energy gradually became stronger and more stable.

Now, in addition to practicing Canglang Stance Technique every day, he also sets aside some time to practice the martial arts techniques he acquired before, such as Kaishan Fist, Zhao Family Fist, and Paiyun Palm.

These martial arts techniques train different parts of the body. When he first gained experience, he reached the minor mastery level. As he practiced, he quickly reached the major mastery level that the corpse had reached in life.

In this way, the blood and qi in all parts of his body will be rapidly enhanced, many times faster than that of an ordinary person.

This speed might slow down after internal training, but right now, his cultivation level is increasing visibly every day.

Moreover, he was constantly coming to understand the insights about communicating Yin and Yang provided by Yan Pengfei and the scaly fleshy ghost, and his control over Qi and blood was getting stronger day by day.

Finally, after another ten days or so, Lu Ming was standing in the Canglang stance when he suddenly felt his blood and qi flowing like ocean waves, connecting his entire body into one whole.

He suddenly opened his eyes wide, a thought bursting forth in his mind. He stood up and threw a punch.

Rumble! The faint sound of waves could be heard coming from inside the room.

Lu Ming's blood surged, and he threw a punch, causing six waves to surge within his body. The terrifying power seemed to have shattered some kind of shackle in that instant!

Lu Ming felt his blood and qi boiling, and a deep, stable, and warm sense of power emanated from within.

"The true essence of Canglang Fist!"

As Lu Ming unleashed his punch, he was overjoyed. "Was that the true essence of the Canglang Fist? It must be the true essence of the Canglang Fist!"

Unexpectedly, he comprehended the true meaning of the Canglang Fist without relying on it.

This is entirely due to his understanding of the connection between Yin and Yang. Although he has not yet grasped how to manifest the true meaning, he has a premonition that once he grasps the true meaning of the fist technique, it may be soon!

More importantly, the moment he grasped the true meaning of the Canglang Fist, he also broke through to the Great Perfection of Muscle Refinement.

Feeling his power surge several times over, Lu Ming was excited for a long time before calming down and thinking to himself that his strength should be stronger than that of a typical master of Body Refinement.

After all, he possessed so many advanced martial arts techniques, and his refinement of every part of his body was unmatched by others.

Moreover, there aren't many martial artists who can grasp the true meaning of boxing techniques while training outside; he had inquired about this beforehand.

"Brother, the craftsmen on Qingyun Street and several other streets said that this year the imperial court is conscripting laborers and they are not allowed to escape by paying the labor service fee."

"Although we were escorted by soldiers all the way to the prefectural city, it was still a journey of several months. We are all ordinary people and we were afraid of something going wrong, so we asked our elder brother for protection."

"Big brother, should we do something about it?"

After resting for a while, it was already night. Ah Lang needed to see him, so he met Ah Lang in the lobby.

At this time, Ah Lang had successfully broken through to the Skin Refining Martial Artist realm a few days ago. His muscles were well-proportioned and powerful, his eyes were bright, and his overall spirit was completely different from before.

After reporting what he was doing, he stood in the middle of the hall, waiting for Lu Ming's instructions.

"Oh? Is that so?" Lu Ming's eyes lit up upon hearing this.

"This year is so different, perhaps it's also related to the recruitment order."

"There are also soldiers escorting them... In that case, it must be very safe."

"In this way, you and the monkey, in the name of protecting them, will escort them all the way to the prefectural city first."

"Once we get there, we'll gather information, see what business opportunities are available, find a place to settle down, and wait for me to arrive."

Ah Lang thought for a moment and nodded, "Alright. They're leaving tomorrow, so how about the three of us get together tonight and have a drink?"

Lu Ming said, "Okay, but since we're leaving, there are some things that need to be settled. We still need to kill someone tonight."

A wolf was taken aback, then a fierce glint flashed in its eyes:

"Then I'll quickly prepare some snacks to go with the drinks, and we'll finish eating as soon as possible. Monkey and I will go with Big Brother."

Lu Ming waved his hand: "How can we delay the drinking? Let's keep the wine warm, I'll be right back."