Ultimate True Lord

The sky had just darkened, and the evening clouds hung low.

The gate of the Red Sand Martial Arts School was gently pushed open, and Jiang Ming walked in slowly.

In the courtyard, the fourth senior brother was tidying up his equipment with his head down. He carried several stone locks back to the base of the wall and stacked them neatly.

He was holding a rag soaked in tung oil, which he used to maintain the wooden stake, making its surface slightly shiny.

Hearing the sound of the courtyard gate, the fourth senior brother stopped what he was doing, looked up at Jiang Ming, and casually asked, "Junior Brother Jiang, you're back so late?"

Jiang Ming remained calm, slightly raising his right hand to reveal a small jar wrapped in oil paper. He said, "The oil lamp in the room ran out, so I went out to buy some lamp oil and some other odds and ends."

After saying that, he said no more and walked towards the inner courtyard.

As soon as Jiang Ming stepped into the inner courtyard, he saw an old tree with lush foliage. Under the tree was a bamboo rocking chair, where Old Man Liu was half-lying, his belly protruding, his eyes slightly closed, looking relaxed and lazy.

Beside him was a low wooden table with a pot of strong tea and several plates of fragrant pastries on it.

Jiang Ming paused, stepped forward, bowed slightly, and greeted him with clasped hands: "Elder Liu."

Old Man Liu slowly opened his eyes, his eyelids drooping. He glanced at him casually, gave a faint "hmm," and then closed his eyes again.

In his eyes, Jiang Ming was just an ordinary outer disciple with mediocre talent, not worth his time.

Jiang Ming didn't say anything more. He lowered his head, turned to the side, and quietly walked past the rocking chair, continuing towards the backyard.

Just as he took a step and was about to walk away, Old Man Liu's nose suddenly twitched slightly.

He picked up a pastry from the table and glanced at Jiang Ming's receding figure.

That night.

Inside the small tent hut, a dim oil lamp flickered, casting long, narrow shadows.

Jiang Ming sat at the table, pen in hand, copying and calculating today's accounts by the light of the lamp. Each stroke was neat and upright, with clear horizontal and vertical lines, without the slightest crookedness, and his expression was so calm that it showed no ripples.

As he was writing, his pen suddenly paused slightly.

A strange thought inexplicably crossed my mind:

Strange, I just killed someone with my own hands, why am I not scared at all?

He frowned slightly, but quickly regained his composure. Jiang Ming continued to write steadily, as if that fleeting thought had never occurred to him.

The next morning, just as dawn was breaking.

As usual, Jiang Ming arrived at the outer courtyard to begin his morning exercise.

The martial arts school disciples arrived one after another, standing in their respective training areas. Old Man Liu strolled over leisurely, having come to retrieve yesterday's account book.

Jiang Ming stepped forward, holding the account book in both hands, and handed it over: "Old Liu."

Old Liu took it, casually flipped through the pages, and quickly turned them one by one. When he reached the page about last night, his gaze paused slightly, lingering for a moment on the neat lines of handwriting.

The black ink was written with steady strokes and each character was neat and upright, showing that the person keeping the accounts was calm and composed, without any panic or fluctuation in their mind.

Old Man Liu remained silent for a moment, then closed the account book, slowly raised his head, and gave Jiang Ming another deep look. His eyes were unfathomable, revealing neither joy nor anger.

The fourth senior brother, Liu Mao, glanced at it casually and said with a smile, "Junior Brother Jiang's handwriting is getting better and better. It's neat and tidy, and looks very refreshing."

Jiang Ming remained calm, nodding slightly without any extra emotion, still displaying his usual ordinary talent and taciturn demeanor.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

While practicing Red Sand Palm, Jiang Ming began to try out the basics of Bone-Entangling Claw.

The Bone-Entangling Claw is far inferior to the Red Sand Palm; its basic requirements and entry requirements are obviously much simpler. Furthermore, Jiang Ming already has experience learning the Red Sand Palm and has honed a strong and capable physique.

He's making rapid progress these past few days, and I estimate he'll be able to get the basics down in about ten days.

If Jiang Ming hadn't had to focus on practicing the Red Sand Palm and could only spare some time to practice the Bone-Entangling Claw, he could probably have practiced it for five or six days if he did it all day.

For the past three days, Jiang Ming had been secretly keeping an eye on the Gray Clothes Gang's movements. Just as he had expected, the Gray Clothes Gang had failed to find out who the real killer of Zhang Hu was, and instead insisted that it was the work of a rival gang.

Suddenly, gang conflicts erupted in Fenghepu. The Gray-Clad Gang provoked trouble everywhere, fighting with several other gangs for territory and engaging in street brawls.

Previously, the Gray Clothes Gang, the Clear Water Gang, and the Black Tile Gang were evenly matched, with none able to gain the upper hand.

However, after this struggle, the Gray-Clad Gang gained momentum and even dealt a heavy blow to the Clear Water Gang, seizing most of their territory.

The leaders and thugs of the Gray Clothes Gang are much more skilled than they were a few months ago. Their punches and kicks are more precise, and they are more ruthless. They are a step ahead of the others, which gives them a significant advantage in gang fights.

"Could it be that Zhang Hu got the Bone-Entangling Claw from the Gray-Clad Gang? But how could a low-level gang possibly acquire so many real martial arts techniques? Perhaps someone is supporting him behind the scenes?"

Jiang Ming sat on the wall and watched from the shadows.

……

……

The fourth day after Zhang Hu was killed.

The Red Sand Palm outer academy welcomed a new disciple today, named Fang Heng. He was the playmate Lin Lei had mentioned before, the one who wanted to learn martial arts.

The boy was about fifteen or sixteen years old, rather thin, with a slightly immature face, but his eyebrows and eyes were quite handsome. His skin was much fairer than average, exuding a youthful and energetic vigor.

Perhaps Lin Lei had told Fang Heng beforehand, because as soon as he entered the courtyard and saw Jiang Ming, he quickly stepped forward and greeted him warmly, "Brother Jiang!"

In the entire outer courtyard, Fang Heng only knew two people: Lin Lei, his childhood friend, and Jiang Ming, whom Lin Lei had often mentioned to him in the past few months. Jiang Ming was tall and strong, so calling him "brother" wouldn't be too much of a stretch.

Upon his arrival, his eyes were filled with unfamiliarity and curiosity, and he looked like he was seeking guidance everywhere.

It just so happened that Old Man Liu was away on business and wouldn't be back at the academy for four or five days, so Fang Heng was directly taught by his fourth senior brother. Jiang Ming and Lin Lei also helped take care of this newly initiated junior brother.

"Lei Zi, Brother Jiang, how do we start training?"

Fang Heng asked, looking completely bewildered.

"Squat in a horse stance and lift the stone weights." Jiang Ming and his companion led Fang Heng to a corner of the outer courtyard. There were five rows of stone weights of different sizes in front of them.

"Start with the smallest ones to build strength and strengthen your arms."

Jiang Ming pointed to the stone lock in the front row and said to Fang Heng.

"Take it one step at a time. Once you have a solid foundation, you can move on to more advanced techniques later."

Before long, the three of them began to practice. Fang Heng repeatedly raised the small stone lock with both hands, but after only a short while, his arms became sore and numb, and he was sweating under his armpits, so he couldn't help but stop and rest.

He looked up and saw Jiang Ming beside him steadily lifting the stone lock, which was as big as a watermelon and weighed sixty or seventy pounds, in the middle of the third row. His movements were steady and powerful.

As Fang Heng watched this scene, a hint of admiration and longing unconsciously rose in his eyes.

For the next four or five days, the teaching was mainly handled by the fourth senior brother. When Fang Heng encountered something he didn't understand during practice, he would occasionally come to ask Jiang Ming for help, and Jiang Ming would give him simple answers and help him resolve his doubts.

One afternoon, Old Man Liu, who had been away for a long time, finally returned to the Red Sand Martial Arts School. He first glanced at everyone's training progress, and then helped Fang Heng examine his physical constitution.

Unexpectedly, this examination revealed that his aptitude was exceptional, far surpassing that of all the disciples of the year. Old Man Liu was overjoyed.

In the afternoon, Fang Heng, who used to follow Jiang Ming and Lin Lei around every day, disappeared. It wasn't until dusk that Jiang Ming learned that Fang Heng had become an inner courtyard disciple.

The tuition fees for the ten months that were originally paid were all refunded. The martial arts school also covered Fang Heng's room and board expenses, allowing him to have meat at every meal.

It is said that even the blood-nourishing medicinal soup that Old Man Liu specially prepared for the inner court disciples was given to be doubled to four bowls a day.

The outer disciples were all envious upon hearing the news. Lin Lei, on the other hand, was quite excited, feeling that his brother was about to take off, and he might be able to benefit from it as well.

Jiang Ming, as usual, struck and retracted his palm against the wooden stake.

"Bang bang bang... bang bang bang..."

Two days have passed.

Nighttime, Red Sand Palm, an open space outside the tent hut.

Using the moonlight, Jiang Ming repeatedly practiced the Bone-Entangling Claw technique in the empty space, moving his feet and swinging his arms. His overall movements already looked quite professional, with his five fingers subtly conveying the sharpness of claw techniques.

He doesn't need to delve deeply into this martial art; just getting the basics is enough.

"Whoosh..."

With another swing, Jiang Ming's movement froze instantly.

"It's done!"

He looked at the back of his left hand with surprise, and on the mysterious primitive furnace, a row of characters quietly appeared, shimmering slightly.

[Technique: Bone-Entangling Claw - Beginner Level (Can be Enhanced)]

Look downwards.

[Technique: Red Sand Palm (Beginner Level) - Can Be Enhanced]

"Finally, the Red Sand Palm can be strengthened."

Jiang Ming was slightly excited and thought to himself.

This was truly difficult, mainly because two genuine martial arts techniques were extremely hard to find. If Zhang Hu hadn't offered him a manual on the Bone-Entangling Claw, he probably would have had to continue waiting.

"Primitive furnace".

Jiang Ming gently called out the name of his talent and said it without hesitation.

"Merge the Red Sand Palm and the Bone-Entangling Claw."

"Primarily using Red Sand Palm, supplemented by Bone-Entangling Claw."

Instantly, the primordial furnace on the back of his hand shone brightly, and the dense Taotie patterns emerged in a black-gold hue. He seemed to see a mysterious treasure furnace floating in mid-air, with several black holes appearing on its surface.

Suddenly, two of the holes lit up.

The words "Red Sand Palm" and "Bone-Entangling Claw" appeared respectively.

He took a deep breath and quickly chanted in his mind, "Strengthen!"

In an instant, the Taotie patterns covering the furnace body ignited into raging flames. The flames, black and gold, formed twisted and greedy fire serpents, fiercely scorching the primordial furnace and emanating a mysterious aura.

At this moment, Jiang Ming felt as if something extremely essential and fundamental had been drawn from his body, continuously transforming into wisps of black-gold flames beneath the primordial furnace.

He knew that it must be semen.

After examining his entire body, Jiang Ming felt no discomfort, nor did he show any signs of weakness or exhaustion. His strength remained abundant, clearly indicating that essence and vital energy were two different things.

And so, Jiang Ming waited for two or three breaths, and the distorted flames quickly dissipated. Inside the primordial furnace, new power was being nurtured.

"Click."

The furnace lid was lifted, and a black and gold light appeared on the back of my hand.

[The following Red Palm Enhancement Options are available]

Firstly: Increases the speed of practicing the Red Sand Palm by 50%! (Success rate: 99%)

Secondly: When breaking through the bottleneck of the Red Sand Palm realm, the difficulty is reduced to 60% of the original! (Success rate: 100%)

Thirdly: The hardness of the palm increases by 40% when using the Red Sand Palm! (Success rate: 90%)