Chapter 56

Scraping the red hover car, Ma Le gave a very ostentatious middle finger, then closed the hatch and sped off in a cloud of dust.

Using this brutal method, Ma Le finally made it to the finish line. Out of 457 participants, Ma Le ranked 372nd. Those behind him were, without a doubt, either scrapped or damaged. From this, it was clear that the race was indeed savage and thrilling; one would have to be as bold as Iron Man to dare participate.

The moment he reached the finish line, Ma Le disappeared from the cockpit and returned to the challenge space. This time, his harvest was better than in the jungle, earning him five reward chests. However, considering that Brad was only a regular-level character, his inventory was definitely not as good as Zhao Renfan's, so it was hard to say how valuable these rewards would be.

Storing the chests in his storage space, Ma Le returned to the Terminator world. In his mind, the racing world had ended, but the reality seemed to be different.

Ma Le's crazy actions during the race were all captured by surveillance robots. However, after the organizers reviewed the footage, this segment, which should have boosted ratings, was not made public. Instead, it was repeatedly played in the meeting room of the main organizer. The organizer, a middle-aged man in his fifties, was staring intently at the screen. In the video, Ma Le opened the hatch, pulled out a harpoon gun, and fired at the adjacent red racing car, all in one fluid motion, completely ignoring the high speed and strong wind pressure. Other company executives were also present, and they were all shocked by the non-human abilities displayed by the man in the video, exclaiming in amazement.

Suddenly, the meeting room door was forcibly opened, and the faint voice of a guard could be heard: "Miss, you can't... " This feeble attempt to stop her was clearly ineffective, as a girl in a racing power armor burst into the room and shouted at the president sitting in the middle: "Dad, what's going on? How can someone bring a weapon to the race!"

The president's face turned stern, and he angrily said, "Alicia, I haven't even dealt with you for secretly participating in the race, and now you're making a fuss here!"

Alicia, who was called Alicia, paid no attention to her father's threats and instead focused on the video being played on loop. She pointed at Ma Le in the video and shouted, "It's this guy! He opened the hatch and shot my car with a strange weapon, causing me to be eliminated!"

"Did you encounter him? Is this red car yours?" the president asked. Alicia shook her head and walked to the computer, operating it. "No, check other videos. My car is sky blue. Let me see... Yes, this one!" She clicked on another video, and the screen showed Ma Le engaging with a sky blue racing car. At a critical moment, he opened the hatch again, withstood the wind pressure, and fired at the blue car. This time, the harpoon gun seemed to have a thin wire attached. Ma Le pulled the other end of the wire, and the sky blue car was deflected, crashing heavily into the guardrail and being completely scrapped. Although the racing hover cars were small and light, almost just a single-person cockpit and two engines made of lightweight composite materials, weighing only about 200 kilograms, the kinetic energy at hundreds of kilometers per hour was terrifying. Ma Le's ability to deflect it was due not only to his superhuman strength but also to his terrifying physique and absolute defense talent!

Alicia's teeth were grinding in frustration, while the president sighed, "I used to think that mechanical power was the key to human strength, but I never imagined that physical strength could reach such a level!" He then instructed the secretary, "Susan, contact the military. I am willing to join the Alariz research project. Also, mobilize all resources to find the man in this video!"

The secretary and other company executives left the meeting room. The president patted his daughter's head and comforted her, "Losing this game is nothing. Promise me you won't touch such dangerous things again."

Alicia remained silent, still staring at the flashing screen, her eyes flashing with a hint of hatred.

...

Ma Le had no idea that he had been targeted by people in the challenge world. He was now sitting in his room, excitedly opening the treasure chests.

The first three chests didn't yield much; he got 700 credit points and 3 skill points in total. The fourth chest contained a bone-shaped object. Ma Le scanned it with the Miracle Badge and received the following information:

Name: Wolverine's Bone Claw

Quality: Silver

Category: Special Mission Item, World Key

Function: Can be used to enter the Wolverine world (Regular difficulty)

Usage Condition: The adventurer must reach the Regular level or above and pay 5000 credit points. (Adventurers above the Regular level may trigger higher difficulty missions and encounter hidden high-level combatants in the world)

Description: Upon learning of his lover's death, Wolverine, enraged, sought revenge on Sabretooth. Unfortunately, his strength was insufficient, and he not only failed to defeat Sabretooth but also had one of his bone claws broken. Using this bone claw, one can enter the Wolverine world at the point where their battle ends.

...

It turned out to be a key to enter the Wolverine world. Ma Le, who couldn't use it yet, stored it away. He then opened the last chest. This time, he didn't get credit points, equipment, or mission items, but... a notebook?

Ma Le opened the notebook, and on the first page, four large characters were written: "Nine Yang Manual!" Further down, it read, "Let him be strong, the breeze blows over the mountain. Let him be fierce, the moon shines on the river. Let him be cruel and evil, I have a full breath of true qi..."

Ma Le frowned and shook his head, wondering what this was. If it was a martial arts manual, why was it written in a modern notebook? If it was a regular notebook, why would it be given as a reward? Scanning it with the Miracle Badge, he received the following information:

Name: Nine Yang Manual (Handwritten Copy)

Quality: White

Category: Qi Gong Manual

Usage: Practice according to the instructions

Description: This manual was copied by an adventurer from the original "Nine Yang Manual" in a mission world. Although it cannot be used as a prop directly, the content is identical to the original. Practicing according to the instructions, one can eventually master the Nine Yang Divine Skill.

...

So, it was a handwritten copy. Ma Le understood. He knew about the Nine Yang Divine Skill; in novels and movies, mastering it meant unblocking the Ren and Du meridians, becoming an unparalleled master who could fly into the sky with a whoosh! To actually get such a good thing, and with the Miracle Badge confirming its authenticity, Ma Le couldn't wait to take a closer look.

Fortunately, although the manual was written by an ancient person, it was a martial arts manual, not a Confucian classic, so the language wasn't obscure. With Ma Le's half-decent ancient Chinese skills, he could understand it. As he read the manual, he unconsciously began to practice the breathing techniques described. Soon, he felt his qi flowing smoothly, and he felt refreshed. After a few cycles, he even felt a warm current rising from his abdomen, flowing through his meridians to his limbs.

Ma Le was amazed. Could this be the legendary qi sensation? He originally thought that the Nine Yang Divine Skill would be very difficult to practice, but now, it felt very smooth and natural. Ma Le began to wonder if he was a natural martial arts prodigy, a one-in-a-million master...

In fact, Ma Le was overthinking it. Although he hadn't practiced internal skills before, he had been tortured by Zhao Renfan's Cold Ice True Qi, which had wreaked havoc in his meridians, causing damage but also unblocking many acupoints. Moreover, while resisting the Cold Ice True Qi, Ma Le had discovered many techniques for controlling true qi. The Nine Yang Divine Skill was the nemesis of such cold internal energy, so many of Ma Le's techniques aligned with the Nine Yang Divine Skill's cultivation methods, making his practice more efficient and natural.

In reality, the Nine Yang Divine Skill was indeed very difficult to practice. Not just the Nine Yang Divine Skill, but almost all martial arts manuals required at least three to five years, and often ten to twenty years or more, to master. For the heroes in novels, spending decades to gain such skills was worth it. However, adventurers, who faced a crisis every week, didn't have the time to calmly practice martial arts manuals. They needed more direct and faster enhancements! Therefore, all official martial arts manuals in the city-states existed as consumable items. Adventurers could instantly learn the skills by paying credit points.

As for the usage method, taking the Nine Yang Divine Skill as an example, the manual had nine levels. After paying credit points, the adventurer would automatically learn the basics of the first level, and a separate Nine Yang Divine Skill proficiency would appear. As the adventurer used it more, when they accumulated enough experience to upgrade, they could pay credit points to advance to the second level, and so on. Each level required more proficiency and credit points than the previous one. Although this method was time-consuming, it was still faster than direct practice.

In contrast, Ma Le's copy, while containing the same content, was not recognized by the city-state system as a prop, so it couldn't be used with the quick method. He would have to practice diligently, and it was unknown when he would master it. Unfortunately, Ma Le didn't know this and was delighted, thinking he had found a treasure.

However, such practice had its benefits. The quick method provided a semi-false enhancement, which was much less effective in the real world unless the user practiced enough to truly understand the skills. Direct practice, although slow, provided a real and solid enhancement!

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