If I let you practice martial arts, you'll compress your vital energy ten thousand times?

Even after school, Gaowu No. 1 Middle School remained immersed in the fervent praise of Zhang Kuang.

Lin Yuan ignored the undisguised mockery and ridicule from those lackeys, and walked out of the school gate alone, carrying his faded schoolbag.

He didn't go straight home.

Instead, they made a series of twists and turns, eventually entering the edge of the Seventh Safety Zone, a slum and shantytown where all sorts of people mingled.

There's a shady internet cafe here without even a sign, filled with the smell of cheap tobacco and moldy instant noodles.

Lin Yuan paid fifty yuan in cash and turned on a machine located in the corner with no blind spots in the surveillance.

He pulled out the anonymous metal black card he had looted from the assassin in the Xuanhai Realm from his pocket.

Insert the card reader.

A very basic password input box popped up on the screen.

Cults like the Dark Spirit Society, which operate in the shadows, typically do not use complex retinal or genetic locks to facilitate the flow of funds. Instead, they employ the most primitive, yet most difficult-to-trace, digital keys.

Lin Yuan recalled the meaningless, indistinct syllable that came from the black-robed man's throat when he killed him.

His fingers tapped rapidly on the greasy keyboard.

Press Enter.

The screen flickered and then I was taken directly to a dark web money account.

[Current available balance: 3,000,000 Federal Coins]

Looking at that long string of zeros, a ripple finally appeared in Lin Yuan's calm eyes.

Three million.

With the pile of second and third-tier beast cores in his backpack, his current net worth has even surpassed that of most teachers at Gaowu No. 1 High School.

"The cult's top assassins are indeed rolling in money."

Without hesitation, Lin Yuan pulled out the black card, cleared the browsing history, and turned to walk out of the internet cafe.

With this huge sum of money, he could finally go to that place and make a thorough "big purchase".

……

It was late at night, at 2 a.m.

The seventh security zone, deep within the underground sewage pipe network.

This is a gray area that neither the military nor the financial powers bother to touch, and it is also the location of the largest underground black market in the entire safe zone—Night Owl Ghost Market.

Lin Yuan stood in an abandoned pumping station, two kilometers away from the entrance to the Ghost Market.

He took off his school uniform and put on a large black hooded windbreaker.

Then, he took a deep breath.

"If I don't change my body shape, it's easy for people to recognize me by my height and gait."

Lin Yuan closed his eyes and focused his mind into his body.

He carefully guided that wisp of violent, extreme qi and blood to his limbs and bones.

Click click click...!

The sickening sound of bones dislocating echoed repeatedly in the empty pumping station.

Lin Yuan's originally 1.75-meter-tall, slightly thin body began to expand and grow taller at a visible speed at this moment!

His spine was stretched by a powerful physical force, and every muscle fiber bulged high like a engorged steel cable, completely filling the large black trench coat.

Less than ten seconds.

Lin Yuan transformed himself into a burly man with a height of nearly 1.9 meters and broad shoulders and a thick back.

This is neither a bone-shrinking technique nor a disguise.

This is a terrifying manifestation of his absolute control over his muscles and bones after compressing his qi and blood 100,000 times!

Click.

Lin Yuan put the pale, faceless plastic mask on his face.

Put on the hood.

At this moment, even if he were standing in front of his best friend Zhao Hai, he would never recognize that this was the good-for-nothing who was only at the first level of the Qi and Blood Realm.

Lin Yuan took heavy steps toward the entrance of Night Owl Ghost Market.

thump.

thump.

thump.

Due to his increased size and muscle density, Lin Yuan's current weight has reached an extremely alarming level.

With each step he took, a clear footprint, about half an inch deep, was left on the hard cement ground.

A dozen minutes later.

Lin Yuan passed through the heavily guarded steel gate and officially entered Night Owl Ghost Market.

This place is like a cyberpunk black city built underground.

The glaring neon signs are intertwined and scattered, and the streets are filled with all kinds of shady contraband, smuggled weapons, and strange beast materials that exude a strong bloody smell.

Desperados, mercenaries, and fugitives are a common sight here.

Lin Yuan, dressed in black and wearing a pale mask, walked down the crowded street.

He clearly didn't release any internal energy.

But the mercenaries around him, who were used to risking their lives, would feel a chill inexplicably when they got within three meters of Lin Yuan.

It was a tremor stemming from a biological instinct.

It was as if the person walking towards them wasn't a person, but a moving mountain that could collapse at any moment.

Like Moses parting the sea, the crowd instinctively made way for Lin Yuan, creating a wide path for him.

Lin Yuan ignored the terrified looks around him.

He walked straight across the long street and stopped in front of a large, luxuriously decorated antique-style building.

Wanbaolou.

Night Owl Ghost Market's largest materials purchasing agency.

Lin Yuan pushed open the heavy brass door and went inside.

The hall was brightly lit.

Behind the counter sat a thin old man with a monocle and a mustache.

This is Mr. Liu, the chief appraiser of Wanbaolou.

Despite his unassuming appearance, he was a true early-stage Grandmaster-level martial artist, and countless double-crossing robbers had died at his hands.

Hearing the door open, Old Liu didn't even look up, continuing to slowly wipe the short sword in his hand.

"Go to the left to buy things, go to the right to sell trash."

"If it's a defective product below grade one, don't bother showing it to my eyes. Wanbaolou doesn't accept junk."

Old Liu's voice carried an air of superior arrogance.

How sharp are his perceptions as a Grandmaster?

From the moment this person entered the room, he sensed that there wasn't even the slightest fluctuation of true energy on the other person.

Without true qi, he's just an ordinary mortal who hasn't even broken through to the Qi and Blood Realm.

It's probably some desperate scavenger who picked up some alien beast bones on the edge of the safe zone and came here to try their luck.

Lin Yuan remained silent.

He strode to the VIP reception table, which was made entirely of deep-sea submerged wood and was said to be indestructible.

boom!

Lin Yuan took off the cheap backpack from his back and casually threw it onto the expensive tabletop like trash.

The dark wooden table emitted a dull, mournful groan as it was struck by the force, which actually caused a tiny crack to appear.

Old Liu frowned suddenly.

A murderous glint flashed in his eyes as he coldly raised his head: "Kid, you're asking for death? Daring to smash a table in Wanbaolou..."

His words were abruptly cut off before he could finish speaking.

Because Lin Yuan had already unzipped his backpack.

Splash!

It was accompanied by a crisp collision sound.

Dozens of crystal cores, emitting various colored halos, poured out of the schoolbag like worthless glass marbles, piling up into a small mountain on the table.

The pungent, nauseating stench of violent blood instantly filled the entire hall.

The crystal core of a second-tier wind blade wolf!

The crystal nucleus of a second-order split-earth pig!

There were even three... third-tier Bloodthirsty Demon Ape crystal cores radiating intense malevolent energy!

"hiss--!"

Old Liu gasped, his half-closed eyes widening instantly like copper bells.

He suddenly stood up from the armchair, placed his hands on the table, and stared intently at the pile of priceless treasures.

Dozens of high-order crystal cores?!

This is the kind of harvest a fully-staffed elite military squad would have to fight in the wilderness for a whole month to achieve!

Where did this black-robed, masked man, who doesn't even possess any true qi, get so many high-end items?!

"Honorable guest...honored guest!"

Old Liu's expression changed faster than turning the pages of a book; his arrogance instantly transformed into extreme flattery.

He quickly took out a professional magnifying glass and tweezers, and carefully picked up a second-tier wind blade wolf crystal core.

"Distinguished guest, you have quite the skills. To bring out so many high-level crystal cores at once, there are very few people in the entire Seventh Security Zone who have such boldness."

While flattering him, Old Liu carefully examined the quality of the crystal core with a magnifying glass.

however.

I only looked at it for three seconds.

The fawning expression on Old Liu's face froze completely.

His pupils contracted sharply, and his hand holding the tweezers trembled uncontrollably.

pat.

The second-order crystal core fell onto the table.

"This...this wound..."

Old Liu seemed to see a terrifying scene, and his breathing instantly became extremely rapid.

According to common sense.

When human warriors hunt alien beasts, the crystal cores will more or less bear the marks of weapon cuts, or the residual aura of true qi burning or supernatural power freezing.

but.

There's nothing on this crystal core!

There was no sword aura! No sword intent!

The surface of the crystal core was covered with tiny, terrifying cracks, like a spider web.

It was a kind of internal structural damage caused by a violent, unreasonable, purely physical force that struck from the outside!

Unconvinced, Old Liu picked up another crystal core of a third-tier Bloodthirsty Demon Ape with trembling hands.

same!

They're all the same!

The owners of these dozens of crystal cores were all killed by an extremely terrifying physical force, which used physical shock to blast them to death!

boom!

A terrifying piece of information that had just circulated in the black market of the Seventh Security Zone today exploded in Old Liu's mind like a thunderbolt.

[A deep crater in the ruins...no trace of true energy remaining...a miniature beast horde crushed underfoot...]

A grandmaster of external martial arts...

[Wearing a pale, faceless mask...]

Old Liu stiffly raised his head.

His gaze slowly moved upwards.

Finally, the image was fixed on Lin Yuan's face—a pale mask without any patterns.

thump.

This usually aloof and ruthless Grandmaster-level appraiser suddenly felt his legs go weak.

He slid off the chair and collapsed onto the floor.

Cold sweat instantly soaked his back.

"S-senpai..."

Old Liu's teeth chattered wildly, and his voice became sharp and hoarse from extreme fear.

"You...you are...?"