Chapter 4: Within Seven Steps, None Can Defeat Me!

This could be incredibly significant!

Everyone possesses vital energy and strength. Martial artists, compared to ordinary people, have the added advantage of inner force and martial techniques. If inner force can be extracted, then martial techniques should, in theory, be extractable as well!

With this realization, Su Jingxing’s breathing quickened. If he could acquire a martial arts manual or two directly from a corpse, how many troubles would that save? Move the bodies—keep moving the bodies! From now on, he would have to focus on the corpses of martial artists; that was the key.

Indeed, martial artists enjoyed prestige in life, and even after death, they remained valuable!

The plan was flawless.

Yet reality did not unfold as Su Jingxing had hoped. Over the next week, he toiled diligently at the task of transporting corpses, never missing a single day. The cards he retrieved from the bodies continued to be mostly Vitality Cards and Strength-enhancing Cards. Vitality Pills and Power Pills—Su Jingxing harvested them daily. Yet the martial arts manuals he desired most remained elusive.

There was no sign of them, not that no corpses of martial artists had been brought in. During that week, Su Jingxing paid special attention to the bodies of martial artists. Whenever one was delivered to the crematorium, he would seize the opportunity to approach and collect any cards.

Of the three martial artist corpses, two yielded Strength-enhancing Cards, which, when unlocked, gave him seven Power Pills. The third body finally produced an Inner Force Card, but it contained only three months’ worth of cultivation—far less than the first Inner Force Card he had obtained, which held two years’ worth.

As for martial arts manuals, there wasn’t even a trace.

Afterward, Su Jingxing reflected on the matter. From these three martial artist corpses, he came to understand that not every martial artist’s body would yield an Inner Force Card. One could only say that Inner Force Cards surely came from martial artist corpses, but not every martial artist’s corpse would produce one!

If this was the case for Inner Force Cards, how much rarer would martial arts manuals be?

Once he grasped this, the restlessness in his heart gradually subsided. As always, he continued his diligent work at the crematorium.

It wasn’t until one afternoon, during a shift change, that he overheard someone lamenting the unfortunate death of an eighth-grade martial artist. Instinctively, he followed his curiosity to the farewell ceremony hall, circled near the eighth-grade martial artist’s corpse, and retrieved a new card.

A Skill Card!

Leaving the farewell hall, he retreated to a quiet corner, took out the card, and the instant he read its information, Su Jingxing nearly swooned with excitement.

"Seven Steps Fist."

A martial arts manual—this Skill Card actually contained a martial arts manual!

He had finally obtained one!

Surprises always arrive unexpectedly, leaping out before your very eyes.

"Seven Steps Fist"—a style of boxing paired with intricate footwork. Although not particularly advanced, once mastered its power was formidable. Its distinguishing feature was, as the name implied—seven steps! Each step was a new level, each step a new height. At its peak, within seven steps, one would be invincible.

It was a technique of ever-increasing force.

Take Su Jingxing for example: his hands now each possessed strength surpassing two thousand catties. If he mastered the Seven Steps Fist to its highest level and completed all seven steps, he could unleash a staggering fourteen thousand catties of force! Such strength could easily cripple or kill even a seventh-grade martial artist, let alone those of the ninth grade.

A ninth-grade martial artist, upon awakening inner force, has each hand exceeding a thousand catties. Eighth grade, with force projecting outward, breaks three thousand. Seventh grade, gathering inner force into one and opening the dantian, breaks ten thousand. Against a sudden blow of fourteen thousand catties, even a seventh-grade martial artist would be maimed if not killed outright.

Such is the might of the Seven Steps Fist.

Su Jingxing took a deep breath, barely suppressing the excitement in his heart, and pressed the card to his brow. In an instant, all the knowledge of the Seven Steps Fist rushed into his mind.

No need to worry about learning incorrectly, no need to worry about failing to comprehend. The special nature of the Skill Card meant that upon absorbing the information, Su Jingxing immediately knew how to train, how to progress.

Although he could not instantly master this boxing style as he had with inner force, it did bypass many initial hurdles and allowed him to begin directly.

As the saying goes: "A master leads you in the door, but cultivation is up to the individual."

The Skill Card had shown Su Jingxing the way; how far he could go depended entirely on his own efforts.

Would he give up midway, finding the training too arduous, too tedious, too exhausting? Or would he persist, unwavering to the end?

Su Jingxing, who had long yearned for a martial arts manual, would of course choose the latter.

Wan Rong, that "enemy," was still waiting for him to settle the score.

But before that, he would first investigate the origins of the Seven Steps Fist. An eighth-grade martial artist was a person of some influence in Qinghe City. If his death had been accidental, it would indeed have been a pity.

Naturally, Su Jingxing wanted to know who he was, to understand the roots of the Seven Steps Fist.

On Earthstar, most martial arts manuals had traceable origins. For various reasons, these manuals were controlled by only a few, who guarded them jealously. If anyone was discovered secretly learning such techniques, the lightest punishment would be crippling their cultivation, the worst—death.

Thus, understanding the roots of the Seven Steps Fist was crucial!

Returning to the farewell ceremony hall, Su Jingxing, in his capacity as a crematorium worker, looked up the deceased’s identity.

Wei Zhongting! That was the name of the eighth-grade martial artist.

He quickly skimmed the information, then left with a calm expression, feeling greatly relieved inside.

Wei Zhongting, just forty years old, came from a family that ran a martial arts school. The Seven Steps Fist was a family legacy. Over a decade ago, the Wei family’s school enjoyed a period of renown, thanks to Wei Zhongting’s father, who, in his lifetime, was a sixth-grade martial artist. In Qinghe City’s western district, he was something of a local power, widely respected. With his mastery of the Seven Steps Fist, he was unrivaled throughout half the city.

Sadly, he eventually died of illness, and with his passing, the prestige of the Wei family’s school was lost. The successor, Wei Zhongting, possessed only average martial talent. He expended vast energy and resources just to barely achieve the eighth grade; the family’s Seven Steps Fist legacy he managed to cultivate only to a competent level, just enough to keep the school afloat.

His death, it turned out, was caused by reckless haste, which led to a fatal deviation in his training.

From those attending the farewell, Su Jingxing picked up some gossip. The Wei family’s martial arts school was in dire straits, with others both openly and covertly coveting their assets. The pressure drove Wei Zhongting to make fatal mistakes, resulting in his untimely death. Now, with him gone, the Wei family’s situation was even more precarious.

Of course, none of this concerned Su Jingxing.

If he were a sixth-grade martial artist, he might have offered some secret help for the sake of the Seven Steps Fist. Alas, he wasn’t even eighth grade. The Seven Steps Fist’s origins were clean—many had learned it at the Wei family’s school. There would be no trouble in Su Jingxing taking it for himself.

That evening after work, Su Jingxing made an excuse to go out and headed straight to the crematorium’s back hill. He popped a Vitality Pill to dispel fatigue and slowly began to practice the Seven Steps Fist.

Tap!

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