Martial Arts Sainthood Begins with the Tiger-Taming Fist

The sword light swept towards the scaled fox's head.

The opponent reacted extremely quickly, its blade and claws immediately blocking the crane's path.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

In the blink of an eye, the sword blade and the fox claws clashed more than a dozen times, the ear-piercing sound like fine raindrops.

Chen Mo felt a tingling and numb sensation in his arm, and his internal energy was constantly fluctuating.

The other side fared no better; its fox claws were slashed with several cracks by the crane's cry, and its tail was driven into the ground by Chen Mo's immense force.

Strike while the iron is hot and kill him!

Chen Mo bent his knees to gather strength, then suddenly leaped over his opponent's head with a somersault.

During the fall, he struck a pose of looking back at the moon, holding a crane's cry, and thrust it through the air.

This sword.

It precisely pierced the right eye of the Scaled Fox.

Upon landing, he flicked his sword and plucked the opponent's eyeball out of its socket, instantly driving the opponent into a frenzy.

Faced with the frenzied swinging of the scaled fox, Chen Mo remained calm and used the Luo Yan Step to dodge and weave, always maintaining a distance of more than ten feet from his opponent.

A short while later.

Under such frenzy, the Scaled Fox slowly showed signs of fatigue, with both its speed and strength decreasing.

A cold glint flashed in Chen Mo's eyes. Seizing the opportunity, he suddenly exerted force with his waist and hips, taking a step forward.

He aimed his longsword at the scaled fox's head and pierced it like a shuttle.

puff!

The sword tip pierced through the entire skull.

When it was pulled out, crimson blood mixed with foul-smelling brain matter spurted out.

thump!

The Scaled Fox lay in a pool of blood, its body twitching slightly without its will.

After a moment, the convulsions stopped, and he showed no signs of life.

Chen Mo held the crane's cry tightly, cut off its head, and threw it into the weeds. Then, dragging its heavy body, he slowly walked towards the old mine.

……

Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.

For the past two weeks, Chen Mo has made time to go to the vicinity of the entrance to Wind and Thunder Valley every day, and has killed a total of seven Scaled Foxes.

He fought six or seven battles, big and small, and was covered in several wounds, but none of them were serious; they were just superficial injuries.

He scraped off the scales of each scaly fox, roasted the meat, and ate it.

After consuming seven scaled foxes, he clearly felt his physique improve, a change that could not be compared to the effects of consuming ordinary meat.

In addition, Chen Mo wove all the scale armor into an inner lining armor and attached it to the soft armor given to him by Wu Zhi'ai.

With this double-layered defensive inner armor, coupled with the Iron Light Technique, his current defense is already top-tier among those of the same cultivation level.

Besides slaying the Scaled Fox, Chen Mo forged three precious swords in the past half month, completing the Sword Forging Pavilion's tasks for the month.

In his spare time, he never forgets to go into the mountains to search for cicada shells, help refine medicine in the herb garden, and return to the Fangyuan to ask his senior brothers and sisters for advice on swordsmanship, practice martial arts and skills, and temper his skills by immersing himself in the mountains and rivers.

Not one was missed.

And he discovered it too.

Fang Liang was quite lenient in managing his disciples, rarely asking about their progress in martial arts training. He would only ask his disciples for help when they didn't understand something.

However, Fang Liang did not ignore his disciples. Instead, he secretly assessed their progress in martial arts training, observed whether they encountered any obstacles, and corrected them in a timely manner if necessary.

Just three days ago.

Fang Liang called Chen Mo over and asked him about the situation of the Tai Chen Ying Huo chapter.

Chen Mo did not admit it directly, but said he wanted to try again.

Fang Liang did not force him to change his cultivation method, but sighed slightly and then left.

……

That day, Chen Mo entered the valley again.

As usual, a piece of iron billet is placed upwind, and the scaled foxes downwind will smell the scent and come following it.

The scaled fox eats iron, which it digests and transforms into hard scales for self-protection.

Therefore, among the spirits near Nine Swords Mountain, the Scaled Fox is considered a superior species.

Chen Mo waited for a moment and then heard a sound slowly approaching from not far away.

And this voice didn't sound like a scaled fox, but rather like...

The sound of human footsteps!

His alarm bells rang immediately. He gripped the Crane Cry Sword, leaning forward slightly, ready to unleash his inner energy without reservation should there be the slightest danger.

A few breaths later.

A pair of hands parted the grass, revealing a man's face.

When the other party saw Chen Mo, he was taken aback at first, then smiled and clasped his hands in greeting.

"You must be a disciple of Nine Swords Mountain?"

Chen Mo glanced at the other person and quickly determined their identity: a member of Su Yuan from Linzhi Peak.

Because the disciples of Su Academy wear uniform attire.

This person did not attend the battle between Chen Mo and Cao Tai, so he did not recognize Chen Mo.

After making this judgment, Chen Mo slightly loosened his grip on the sword hilt, straightened his body, and nodded. "Hmm, you are one too?"

The other party replied, "Of course, besides the disciples of Nine Swords Mountain, there would be no one else here. Oh, by the way, my name is Xiao Ming. May I ask your name?"

After a moment's thought, Chen Mo replied, "My name is Chen Liang."

The fact that the other party is here makes it hard to say whether they have discovered that he killed the Scaled Fox. If they have, then he cannot reveal his name.

And the name Xiao Ming may not be the other party's real name.

But his Suzhou Academy attire was unmistakable.

Now that Chen Mo and Su Yuan have a slight rift, he needs to be extremely careful when dealing with their people.

Xiao Ming said, "Brother Chen, monsters often appear near Nine Swords Mountain. If you encounter danger while you are here alone, I'm afraid there will be no one to help you. Perhaps..."

At this point, his gaze drifted intentionally or unintentionally to the iron billet on the ground, but he tried to conceal it somewhat clumsily. "How about I go with you?"

Chen Mo was wary and shook his head slightly, "No need for that. I'll just wander around and go back in a bit."

Xiao Ming was still not giving up. "I saw a burrow of scaled foxes nearby, and I even found their heads, but I don't know where their bodies went."

"Perhaps someone hunted it," Chen Mo said calmly.

The other party deliberately brought up the scaled fox as a test.

Xiao Ming paused for a moment, then continued, "How about this: Brother Chen and I will hunt scaled foxes together and split the spoils fifty-fifty, what do you say?"

Chen Mo pretended to be deep in thought.

While he was deep in thought, Xiao Ming added, "My cousin is Xiao Chi from Linzhi Peak. If you ever encounter any difficulties in the future, Brother Chen, I can ask my cousin for help."

Upon hearing the name "Xiao Chi," a cold glint flashed in Chen Mo's eyes.

He vaguely remembered that Jiang Xiaoyun later mentioned that one of the three people from Su Yuan who besieged Shen Qi was Xiao Chi.

What a coincidence that I ran into Xiao Chi's cousin, Xiao Ming, today.

This Xiao Ming doesn't seem like a good person at all; he even tries to win over Xiao Chi by using Xiao Chi's name.

Moreover, now that this person has discovered the scaled fox's tracks, if this news gets back to the Su Academy, Chen Mo will inevitably face a series of troubles.

After pondering for a few moments, Chen Mo forced a smile and replied:

"So your brother is the renowned Xiao Chi. I am more than happy to cooperate with you."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Ming laughed and said:

"Haha, very good. I wonder if Brother Chen has discovered anything about the scaled foxes in the vicinity? Or rather... has he already made any discoveries?"

Chen Mo feigned hesitation for a moment, a look of struggle appearing on his face, before nodding. "I've already made some gains. Come with me."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Ming's face lit up with joy.

At the same time, a sinister smile curled at the corner of his mouth, a detail that Chen Mo caught in his peripheral vision.