Chapter 050: The Threefold Blade Technique
Not a Martial Arts Card!
He had miscalculated.
The card picked up from the barbarian’s corpse this time was not a Martial Arts Card as he had expected.
Instead—
It was an Invisibility Card!
For a moment, after finishing reading its information, Su Jingxing was stunned.
It seemed that, in fact, the Invisibility Card was not inferior to the Martial Arts Card at all.
As its name implied, once activated, the Invisibility Card could render Su Jingxing’s entire body, including his clothing, invisible.
The effect lasted for fifteen minutes!
If used cleverly, this ability was indeed as valuable as the Martial Arts Card.
Of course, each card had its own unique qualities.
All things considered, finding an Invisibility Card was hardly a loss and certainly not a disappointment.
Su Jingxing smacked his lips, pleased, and tucked the Invisibility Card away.
Next, he took out the card from the corpse of the Black Tiger Gang’s enforcer and read its information.
A True Qi Card!
This one was just like the one he had obtained from Ouyang Feihu—a True Qi Card.
However, Ouyang Feihu’s card contained three years of cultivation, while this one held only two.
Two years of cultivation was still a considerable gain.
Su Jingxing stored the card away and returned home to check the rest of his spoils.
Having worked overtime last night, he was granted special leave to rest during the day.
Back at his small courtyard residence, he ate a Vitality Pill to clear away fatigue and replenish his energy, then laid out the remaining cards to examine them one by one.
Vitality Cards, Strength Cards, more Strength Cards, Internal Force Cards, Skill Cards...
Most were Strength Cards, a few Internal Force Cards, and the Skill Cards comprised several martial arts techniques, but all were rather ordinary. They couldn’t compare to the “Eight-Steps Rising Dragon,” and were even inferior to the “Seven-Step Fist.”
After reading their information, Su Jingxing simply set them aside, not even bothering to activate them.
As for the Internal Force Cards, he absorbed them all to replenish what he had consumed while opening his dantian.
The Great Strength Pills from the Strength Cards were stored for future use. The Vitality Pills likewise went into storage.
Compared to the True Qi Card and the Invisibility Card, these cards had far less immediate value.
This outcome was something Su Jingxing had already anticipated, so he felt no disappointment.
After all, he took a Great Strength Pill every day, and his physical strength increased daily.
Vitality Pills could be sold for money, and also cleared away fatigue and restored energy.
Even after opening his dantian, Internal Force Cards remained useful; the more internal force he accumulated, the greater his chances of successfully advancing from Seventh to Sixth Grade.
As for the specific method, Su Jingxing was still uncertain.
So, for now, he simply set them aside. In any case, there was no harm in accumulating them.
As his strength grew, only the corpses of high-level martial artists or exotic beasts would yield cards truly useful to him.
This much, Su Jingxing understood perfectly.
...
Considering he would be on duty again that night, after checking through the cards, Su Jingxing took out a human-skin mask, quickly disguised himself as “Yang Jian,” put on his mask, and headed to the house where Fan Chungan had hidden his cash.
Fan Chungan owned ten properties and had seven lovers.
Each lover had been given one house.
The remaining three properties consisted of his public family residence and two secret chambers.
The three million in cash and the manual for “Three-Element Blade Technique” were hidden separately in these two secret chambers.
Only Fan Chungan knew the locations of these two chambers; no one else had any idea.
The first chamber was in an ordinary residential complex.
That was where Su Jingxing headed first. In broad daylight, he was unafraid of drawing suspicion.
In his memories, whenever Fan Chungan visited this secret chamber, he wore a mask, a high-collared coat, and a hat.
Before entering the complex, Su Jingxing made sure to buy a matching coat and hat.
Disguised in this way, even though his appearance drew a few curious glances from residents, no one paid him much real attention.
He reached the correct floor with ease, used his lock-picking skills to open the door, and entered.
He found the three million in cash without much effort.
Along with the cash were some confidential documents.
Su Jingxing leafed through them but found nothing of use, so he tossed them back.
He carried the cash out, returned briefly to his own courtyard to stash it safely, and then headed straight for the next location.
This was the second secret chamber.
This time, it was in a residential area near University Town.
Who knew what Fan Chungan was thinking, hiding a secret room near a university?
The apartment with the chamber was on the top floor.
Su Jingxing repeated the process: picked the lock, entered, and stood on the living room balcony, from where he could see the campus of Qinghe City University of Science and Technology in the distance.
While not as prestigious as Xuanyuan University, Qinghe University of Science and Technology was still one of the top five institutions in the city.
Su Jingxing gazed from the balcony for a moment before turning back inside, where he found the manual for the “Three-Element Blade Technique” hidden in a false compartment.
Neither Chen Xiaodao nor Fan Chungan had succeeded in mastering this blade technique—clear proof of its difficulty.
Su Jingxing opened the manual and read through it carefully.
When he finished, his expression grew just as grave.
Not because there was anything different from what Fan Chungan had discovered—Fan Chungan simply hadn’t finished reading it—but because the “Three-Element Blade Technique” actually provided two training methods.
The first required wielding a blade in each hand—meaning, to fully master it, one needed three hands.
That was absurd. Perhaps someone might be born with three hands, but such a person would certainly be deformed. Who among normal people would possess three hands?
The second method required only one hand.
However, the difficulty was even greater; one needed to control three blades with a single hand.
Both methods, at their core, demanded incredible speed.
To master this technique, the practitioner’s blade speed had to be extraordinarily fast.
Indeed, the “Three-Element Blade Technique” was a school of speed—its essence lay in that single word: speed!
The faster the strike, the greater the destructive force.
If successfully mastered, its power would be immense.
According to the manual, the technique was divided into three sections:
Heaven Element, Earth Element, and Human Element.
The “Human Element” referred to harnessing all the energy within the body and unleashing it through the blade techniques.
This energy could take the form of blood vitality, physical strength, internal force, or even true qi.
As long as it was energy, it could be transformed into devastating offensive power.
The “Earth Element” referred to drawing upon external energies through true qi, harnessing the environment for one’s own use.
For example, moisture, fire, wind, toxic gases—these could all be channeled through the blade technique for tremendous effect.
The final “Heaven Element” was even more formidable—it dealt with spiritual attacks.
Of course, the “Heaven Element” section was lost and not recorded at all.
Even the “Earth Element” portion was only half complete.
This meant that both “Heaven” and “Earth” Elements were beyond Su Jingxing’s reach.
With only half the content, it was better not to attempt them.
The sole practical value lay in the “Human Element,” but its training requirements were exceedingly harsh.
One hand, three blades; one hand, one blade.
Either way, both were difficult to the extreme.
Great speed was easy to talk about, but those who could truly achieve it were exceedingly rare.
Without exception, such individuals were all masters of body refinement.
Yes, Su Jingxing finally understood.
To master the “Three-Element Blade Technique,” the practitioner’s physique had to be extraordinarily powerful.
Otherwise, the arms simply couldn’t withstand the strain of swinging blades at such speed for long.
Before the technique was mastered, both arms would likely be ruined.
Unless one possessed a “Qilin Arm”...
“Wait a moment!”
Suddenly, a thought struck Su Jingxing.
“Perhaps... even without a Qilin Arm, it might still be possible to master this technique!”
...
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