The Martial Saint, starting with daily intelligence.

"Master Yang, you are also a martial artist, so you should be able to tell."

"Your nephew and the two students all died at the hands of a master of grappling. Judging from the force used to break bones and rupture meridians, their skill must have been considerable!"

Zhang Putou spoke slowly.

"This morning we found the bodies of your nephew and two other people in a rarely visited alley in the South District."

"His death was extremely gruesome. If it weren't for some deep-seated hatred, I really couldn't understand why someone would torture your nephew like that."

As Zhang Putou spoke, he observed Yang Yezhong's expressions and actions, trying to glean something from them.

Yang Yezhong clenched his fists, filled with hatred for the murderer.

"Killing someone is just a matter of beheading them, why be so cruel? It's worse than being an animal."

"Shoudao, your second uncle will definitely find the murderer and avenge you!"

Yang Yezhong took a deep breath, slowly closed his eyes, and silently made a vow in his heart.

Yang Shoudao is a genius who has mastered stance training. If he grows up normally, he will definitely become the pillar of the martial arts school in the future, and it is not impossible for him to reach the heights of his ancestors.

He was the true prodigy of the Yang family, but now, everything is gone!

The more Yang Yezhong thought about these things, the more insanely he became with hatred.

"Master Yang, has your Yang Family Martial Arts School or your nephew offended anyone recently?"

"Zhang Shopkeeper, you should know that it's too difficult for people like us from the underworld to avoid offending others."

"But who have you offended recently?"

Yang Yezhong pondered for a moment and then shook his head.

"No!"

"Even if there were any, they would only be minor conflicts, and there's no need to be so cruel to my nephew."

Zhang Putou sighed.

"The crime scene was in that alley. Almost all the signs of the fight had been deliberately erased, and no large traces of gravel, vegetation, or residual internal energy were found."

"This means that your nephew and the two trainees were subdued with almost no resistance."

  

"The fact that they were able to take down three Marrow Cleansing Martial Artists at the same time without causing a disturbance shows that the difference in strength between the two sides is enormous."

"The murderer is likely a powerful expert at the Qi Refining level or above."

Zhang Putou analyzed, "In terms of technique, it's more like the work of a martial artist, but the strength is also immense, like the strength of a Westerner."

"Director Yang, please look. Your nephew and the other two students' bones are almost crushed. To crush the bones of a Marrow Cleansing Martial Artist, the force required must be no less than ten thousand jin, yet there is no trace of true qi left!"

"Westerners may have a special ability to crush a person's bones with brute force alone."

"It is also possible that he is a Qi Refining martial artist who is well-versed in body tempering, has cultivated body tempering techniques, and has extremely high cultivation level."

Yang Yezhong simply nodded, his face grim.

Since everyone here practices martial arts, he can see through most of these superficial things.

"Zhang Putou, when can I take my nephew's body back for burial?"

Yang Yezhong asked.

"The coroner has verified your identity, and you can take it at any time."

Zhang Putou responded.

Thank you.

After saying this, Yang Yezhong picked up Yang Shoudao's body and prepared to leave.

"Isn't Director Yang going to take the other two bodies with him?"

Zhang asked.

Yang Yezhong stopped and said, "I'll go back and inform their families, and they'll come to pick it up then."

"Then I won't see you off."

"By the way, if Director Yang recalls any clues, he can report them to the authorities at any time. The authorities will do their best to seek justice for your nephew."

Zhang Putou added.

Yang Yezhong paused, having already grasped the implication in Zhang Putou's words.

The government has no intention of getting involved in this matter.

Even if we had clues, we might not be willing to take action.

When it comes to cases involving people from the underworld, the government has always been like this: they don't want to get involved, and they dare not get involved!

To seek revenge, Yang Yezhong could only rely on his own skills and the intelligence network of his martial arts school.

···

The next day on the street.

"Newspapers for sale! Newspapers for sale! The Zhang family of Tianjin and the 'dish gang' will be negotiating at Yingxianlou Restaurant in three days..."

"Newspapers for sale! Newspapers for sale!"

"Kid, have a newspaper."

Zhong Ming took the newspaper from the newspaper boy and handed him a copper coin.

This is one of Zhong Ming's habits; whenever he encounters a newspaper boy on the street, he will buy a newspaper.

Since there is no Internet in this world, the fastest and least cost-effective way to obtain information is through newspapers.

Zhong Ming's understanding of the world situation mainly comes from information in newspapers.

The intelligence refreshed by the system every day is too random. Local intelligence is somewhat useful, as it can reveal some secrets of local forces.

International and domestic intelligence rely entirely on luck; if you're lucky, you might pick up some scraps, but most of the time it's ineffective intelligence and can only be used as a record.

Zhong Ming was walking and reading the newspaper when he suddenly stopped.

In the vertical GG section, there appeared a message that was a bounty.

"Yang Shoudao, the young master of the Yang Family Martial Arts School, and two of his fellow disciples have been murdered. All three were Marrow Cleansing martial artists. The killer is unknown, but it is speculated that they are likely a martial artist who also cultivates extraordinary powers. The Yang Family Martial Arts School is willing to offer one thousand silver dollars to anyone who knows information about the killer..."

"That's pretty fast."

"You're talking about me, aren't you? A thousand silver dollars, that's tempting! Maybe I'll sell myself someday if I ever need money?"

Zhong Ming smiled.

Since a bounty has been offered, it means the other party is unaware that they were the ones who did it.

Moreover, after repeated inquiries yesterday, no one knew that the three of them had come to cause trouble for him.

Zhong Ming was not worried about the reward.

After killing the three men, Zhong Ming also checked the information about Yang's Martial Arts School. It was just a dilapidated little martial arts school, and the only Qi Refining Peak expert was an old man with one foot in the ground.

It poses little threat to oneself.

Zhong Ming casually tossed the newspaper into the trash can and continued walking towards the Steel Bone Extraordinary Club in the concession area.

Today is the day I made a promise with Mundo, to have a first-tier transcendent inscription engraved, and to officially become a first-tier transcendent!

Inside the Steel Bone Club, it's the same room, the same smell.

Mondo looked at Zhong Ming's body with the same lustful gaze he would show to a priceless treasure.

"Let it go."

Mundo said directly.

Zhong Ming nodded.

This test platform was different from the usual one; the bed on it had been replaced with a huge circular stone slab, which was engraved with obvious rune restrictions.

Zhong Ming, familiar with the process, quickly took off his shirt and was thinking about which position to lie down in.

Then Mondo's voice rang out.

"No need to lie down. Sit in the middle, following the Five Hearts Converging to the Origin method of martial artists."

"Today is not just about engraving extraordinary inscriptions, but also about a prayer ceremony."

Zhong Ming did as instructed, while Mondo stood at the edge of the stone slab, near Zhong Ming's left arm.

Mondo said solemnly, "As I inscribe the extraordinary inscriptions for you, you will need to pray. Once I begin, I will recite one line, and then you will recite one line."

"When you perform a prayer ritual, you are actively exposing your coordinates to an unknown entity in the void. The other party will pay attention to you, and when you are being watched, your body will be slowly eroded."

"I must complete the inscription of the extraordinary runes before your body is completely corrupted, otherwise you will be corrupted and mutated, becoming a bizarre being!"

Mundo continued, "The stone slab beneath you contains Void Stone, which can increase the probability and intensity of being watched by strange and unknown entities in the Void. As a result, the upper limit of the extraordinary power you can contain will also increase."

"At the same time, this stone slab was blessed by a certain cardinal of the Holy See, and it contains divine power that can greatly increase resistance to strange corrosive forces."

"At the same time, there are also extraordinary runes that I have engraved on it, all of which are spiritual and purifying, and can also help you resist corruption."

Mundo explained, "The two most common ways to die during the transcendent advancement are, firstly, being unable to withstand the power of the transcendent reagent."

"The second possibility is that during ritual prayers, one is corrupted by an unknown entity and becomes a monster!"

"In the fight against the strange corruption, a strong physical body is meaningless. On the contrary, a strong physical body will attract even stronger covetousness. Therefore, when performing ritual prayers, your perfect body will not only fail to help you, but may even attract a stronger being."

"I hope these arrangements I made will be useful!"

"This is why I had you choose Unyielding Will when advancing to the third tier. The best way to resist the strange corruption is through powerful mental strength!"

"Mundo exclaimed."

After hearing this, Zhong Ming began to feel nervous.

This is the first time I've ever heard of ritual prayers attracting the attention of strange entities, and the more powerful the physical body, the higher the probability of being observed.

After all, knowledge about the extraordinary is difficult to record on paper and cannot be disseminated on a large scale.

Especially regarding information about the supernatural or corrosive, unless someone tells you personally, outsiders would never know these things.

Moreover, when others share this knowledge with you, they are inherently taking on the risk of having their knowledge eroded.

"Begin engraving!"

The engraving tools include steel needles, knives, and special potions, similar to tattoo tools, but each of these items has a unique energy fluctuation.

Mondo first applied a green potion to Zhongming's left arm before he began engraving.

"Repeat after me~"

Zhong Ming followed Mondo in the ritual prayer.

"Great forces of nature, heed the call of your followers!"

"Great forces of nature, heed the call of the believers..."

With focused expression, Mondo inscribed extraordinary inscriptions on the bell while guiding it through a ritual prayer.

I felt a sharp pain in my left arm. During the prayer ritual, I experienced hallucinations and visions, and I could hear many strange noises.

Zhong Ming quickly glanced at the proficiency panel.

It was discovered that the erosion level did not actually increase much.

Moreover, the illusion before his eyes was almost obviously fake and could not have much effect on Zhong Ming at all. The constant whispering in his ear only felt noisy and did not attract him.

Dr. Mondo was very quick and efficient, and it didn't take him long at all. The engraving of the extraordinary inscription and the ritual prayer were carried out simultaneously in less than twenty minutes.

"Phew~"

"It's finally over. Fortunately, it didn't cause any strange disturbances. It was worth the great cost of transporting this stone slab here."

Mundo appeared calm, but he was actually extremely nervous inside, fearing that Zhong Ming would be corrupted by the strange power, and that the perfect body he had painstakingly found over the years would be wasted.

Mondo glanced at Zhong Ming, who seemed completely unaffected.

Unable to resist asking, "Didn't you summon any strange power?"

"Impossible! The extraordinary inscription has been successfully engraved. Without the watchful eye of a strange power, the extraordinary inscription could not have been successfully engraved."

"Ming, didn't you see an illusion? Like the mental demon illusions that you people in Chu talk about. At this point, you should be completely immersed in it. And there's that very familiar voice that's supposed to be immersing you in it. Didn't you feel any of that?"

Mundo was very confused.

"Yes, the fantasy is right in front of me, but it looks fake at first glance, and the sounds around me just seem noisy to me, I don't feel anything else."

Zhong Ming said innocently.

I feel that the erosion and hallucinations aren't as serious as Mundo described.

Moreover, the erosion level displayed on the proficiency panel did not increase by even 0.1 percentage points.

"That shouldn't be the case. Although this stone slab can indeed greatly reduce erosion, your physique is the strongest I've ever seen, bar none."

"Given that the degree of erosion is directly proportional to physical strength, even with the stone slab helping to weaken the strange erosion, it should still be more difficult for you than for an ordinary person!"

Mundo touched the stone slab, and when he touched the inscribed restrictions on it, he felt that it was still hot, and his expression immediately changed.

This is an example of the restrictions and inscriptions being pushed to their limits.

Immediately afterwards, Mundo used his mental power to probe the surroundings.

Mondo swallowed hard, completely stunned.

An almost tangible, eerie power permeated the entire space, even within Mundo himself.

During the prayer ceremony, Mondo dared not unleash his spiritual power, otherwise he would surely be corrupted by the strange force.

Once mental strength is eroded, it is extremely difficult to resolve.

"Are you really alright? The eerie force around us is almost tangible!"

Mundo looked shocked.

Zhong Ming was even more puzzled.

"Yes, is there a problem?"

"I feel pretty good."

"I heard the illusory sounds and so on, and I can still use the extraordinary runes on my left arm!"

"Should this be considered a success?"

Zhong Ming asked uncertainly.

"Very successful, extremely successful. In all the time I've been officiating ceremonies for others, I can't find many examples as effortless as yours."

"I can't believe it," Mundo said through gritted teeth, his face filled with disbelief and doubt.

Even though the eerie, corrosive power was about to materialize, the ritual went very smoothly without any incident.

This is not extraordinary at all!

Mondo sighed and wrote down everything that had happened.

When encountering taboo knowledge, it is either erased or modified.

This is his daily routine. Whenever he records extraordinary events, he has to cut some content, just like many ancient books that have been passed down from antiquity.

It cannot be written in too much detail. The more taboo or detailed the subject matter, the less it should be written.

"The ceremony is over, you can leave now."

Mundo started kicking people out.

Zhong Ming shrugged, already used to his manner.

"When should I come to see you again? I feel that there is still a lot of room for my extraordinary power to grow."

"It will take some time. Last time, I didn't know you had a perfect body, so I just used the extraordinary reagents I had on hand on you."

"Next, I will prepare a more perfect and suitable super reagent for you."

Mundo said calmly, "But that will take time."