Martial Arts: Starting with Upgrading the Dilapidated Temple

Lower level of Cold Iron Island, abandoned mine area.

Sewage dripped from the cracks in the stones, and the air was filled with a nauseating musty smell.

Xu Hao walked ahead, his pace neither hurried nor slow.

Luo Meng followed behind, his hand always on the hilt of the knife, a thin layer of sweat beading on his forehead.

"Boss, there are more and more tails following us," Luo Meng said in a low voice. "There are at least twenty or thirty men, all ruthless bounty hunters and black market outlaws. Should I signal the brothers to come back?"

"Why call them back? To split the money?" Xu Hao didn't even turn his head. "I already told them to go back to the ship up there. These guys are after my ten thousand taels of gold. We have to give them a chance to make a fortune."

Luo Meng was stunned. Looking at Xu Hao's face, which was covered in bulging flesh, he swallowed hard.

Xu Hao felt a slight warmth from the listening talisman on his chest, and he could hear all the chaotic breathing sounds at the entrance of the mine.

He stopped and turned around.

"Alright, this is fine." Xu Hao leaned against the damp rock wall. Chong Luo raised his chin sharply. "You just ate two essence blood beads, so it's a good opportunity to practice on these people. Don't embarrass me."

As soon as he finished speaking, torches lit up at the entrance of the mine.

A group of desperate outlaws with gleaming green eyes swarmed in, carrying all sorts of weapons, blocking their escape route.

"That's him! Zhenshan from the portrait!"

"Ten thousand taels of gold! Charge!"

Twenty or thirty people rushed forward.

Luo Meng roared and drew his long sword to meet the attack.

His late-stage Bone Forging Realm energy and blood erupted without reservation, and the raging bull tattoo on his back burned red.

With a single slash, he cut down the two bounty hunters at the forefront, sword and all, leaving them broken and sprained.

"What incredible strength!" someone exclaimed.

Luo Meng charged left and right through the crowd, his swordsmanship sweeping and powerful.

But he was only one person. These desperados had been making a living on the sea for years and were best at gang fights.

Before long, Luo Meng had several bloody cuts on his body and was forced into a dead end in the mine.

"He's got some tough ideas. Let's all work together and kill him!"

A gaunt man seized an opening and thrust a poisoned dagger straight into Luo Meng's back.

Snapped.

A large hand appeared out of thin air and gripped the man's neck tightly.

Xu Hao had somehow appeared behind Luo Meng.

He didn't even draw his knife; he just lifted the skinny man with one hand, his eyes as cold as ice.

"A group fight?" Xu Hao asked casually.

Before the other party could answer, Xu Hao suddenly tightened his grip.

With a crisp snap, the man's neck was crushed into a puddle of mud, and his head slumped limply down.

Xu Hao casually threw the corpse on the ground, and his Qi and blood from the Yi Jin Jing realm erupted.

He took a step forward, his figure disappearing into the crowd like a ghost.

There are no techniques, only brute force.

Xu Hao punched a burly man who was charging towards him in the face.

puff.

A muffled sound like a watermelon shattering came from nearby, and red and white splattered all over the face of the person next to them.

The desperados who had been clamoring for 10,000 taels of gold froze instantly.

This isn't a fat sheep! This is a ferocious beast in human skin!

"Run! Run! He's at the Yi Jin realm!" Someone shouted, and the crowd erupted in chaos, dropping their weapons and scrambling to get out.

"Since you're already here, why are you in such a hurry to leave?" Xu Hao sneered, his figure flashing away.

The dull thuds of punches landing on flesh and the sounds of bones cracking echoed through the narrow mine shaft, accompanied by screams of agony, creating a scene resembling a living hell.

In the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea, the mine fell silent.

Xu Hao patted the blood off his hands, then skillfully squatted down and began to examine the corpse.

"You poor wretch, you don't even carry any money with you when you go out?" Xu Hao pulled two crumpled silver notes from the body of a corpse, stuffed them into his own pocket with disgust, and then casually took the blood crystal pouch from the waist of another dead man. "That's more like it. You always need to carry some money when you're out and about."

Luo Meng clutched the wound on his arm, staring at the corpses scattered on the ground, barely daring to breathe.

Suddenly, a series of rapid, audible ejection sounds came from deeper inside the mine.

This was followed by several screams and curses.

Luo Meng's ears twitched, and he lowered his voice, saying, "Boss, there's some noise inside."

Xu Hao stood up, dusted off his hands, and said, "Let's go see who's scouting ahead for us."

The two of them groped their way in along the damp rock wall.

Not far ahead, the mine tunnel suddenly opened up, turning into an abandoned mining site.

The torchlight flickered wildly, and a group of ruthless bandits in red leather armor were forced to retreat repeatedly by several crisscrossing beams of cold light.

A few whooshing sounds.

Several barbed steel darts grazed the rock wall and embedded themselves in the ground, their tails emitting a sharp whistling sound.

Luo gripped Xu Hao's arm tightly, his eyes instantly reddening. "Boss! That's a Wind-Chasing Dart! My Luo family's unique self-defense weapon! Yingzi is right ahead!"

In the arena, a man dressed in flashy red leather armor was wielding a long, black sword, parrying and slashing at the incoming projectiles.

It was the same person who had stolen Xu Hao's Devouring Sea Blade from the Hundred Refinements Pavilion before, Sea Wolf—the captain of the Blood Flag Patrol Team's Fifth Squad.

He's not as imposing as he was at the weapons shop now.

The Devouring Sea Sword in his hand was indeed sharp; it could cleave even a fine steel hidden weapon in two with a single strike, but the cost was also considerable.

Xu Hao narrowed his eyes.

The right arm of the sea wolf holding the knife had turned a strange bluish-black, and the skin and flesh were shriveled, as if all the moisture had been drained away.

At this moment, the evil blade, forged from the cold iron of the sunken sea, was greedily absorbing his life force.

The idiot didn't realize it yet, and instead became more and more excited as he chopped.

"This knife is eating people," Luo Meng said in a low voice.

Xu Hao crossed his arms and strolled out.

"Hey, isn't this the master from Hundred Refinements Pavilion? How's your sword handling going?"

The sea wolf paused, then turned its head.

Upon seeing Xu Hao's fleshy face, he was first stunned, then burst into wild laughter.

"Very easy!" The sea wolf tossed the Devouring Sea in his hand, his face full of smugness. "You're smart enough not to try and take it from me. But since we've run into each other here, consider yourself unlucky. I'll gladly accept your head, worth ten thousand taels of gold."

He pointed the tip of his knife at Xu Hao and Luo Meng, "Perfect, there are plenty of traps ahead of that little wench. You two, go ahead and scout. Step on all the traps, and I'll give you a quick death."

Luo Meng gripped the knife hilt tightly, his teeth grinding together.

Sea Wolf curled his lip. "What? Still want to resist? You didn't dare to make a move up there, and now you're acting tough here? I'm really lucky today. I captured a little wench to complete my mission, and I can also exchange your cowardly head for the bounty. A win-win situation."

Xu Hao chuckled.

"What are you laughing at?" Red Wolf's face darkened.

"I laugh at you for being such a dutiful scabbard." Xu Hao took a step forward. "You spent money to buy a knife, and you even used your own life force to nourish it. With this level of service, it would be unreasonable for me not to personally see you off."

Red Wolf looked down at his right arm and realized that his entire arm was numb and had lost all feeling. The bluish-black veins were bulging, making it look like a piece of dead wood.

"You... this knife is rigged!" Red Wolf's expression changed drastically. He tried to throw the knife away, but found that his fingers seemed to be rooted to the hilt and he couldn't let go no matter what he did.