Chapter 5

A dull thud echoed, and Li Mo's body swayed heavily, but beyond that, he did not take even half a step back, let alone be sent flying.

The crowd was greatly surprised, each one staring with wide eyes.

Zhang Shijiu was also taken aback. A punch with three-tenths of his strength could not even knock down this Li family's waste of space?

At this moment, Li Mo suddenly moved, delivering a straightforward right hook that struck Zhang Shijiu's face.

Caught completely off guard, Zhang Shijiu fell on his buttocks, his face instantly streaming with two lines of nosebleed.

Seeing Li Mo counterattack, the crowd's mouths opened even wider.

Zhang Shijiu was stunned by the punch and took a while to react, shouting in a fit of rage, "You... you dare to hit me?"

Li Mo looked at him coldly and said calmly, "You said to let you punch me, but you didn't say I couldn't hit back."

He, the first-class Earth-grade alchemist of the Shangtian Kingdom, had never suffered a loss. This mere rich brat wanting to take advantage of him was a mere fantasy.

"This..."

Zhang Shijiu was momentarily speechless, his eyes darting around, wanting to attack but unable to find a reason. The two lines of nosebleed on his face made the onlookers unable to hold back their laughter, and many covered their mouths to giggle.

The Zhang family's shop assistants looked at each other, their faces frozen in a mocking expression.

Who would have thought that this well-calculated plan would result in their young master suffering a loss.

By this time, Li Mo had already taken the Flame Ash Stone from the shopkeeper and left with a leisurely stride.

Only then did Zhang Shijiu realize he was still on the ground. He quickly got up, staring viciously at Li Mo's back, gritting his teeth and cursing, "Li Mo, you wait, one day I will surely avenge this punch!"

Back at home, Li Mo immediately began refining the Three Profound Fire Pill.

By noon, the pills were refined, six in total, including one supreme-grade pill.

Li Mo took the supreme-grade pill and placed it in his mouth, then activated the Dao Tian Fire Refinement Technique.

The pill, once in his mouth, instantly turned into a gushing lava, surging through his meridians and spreading throughout his body. In an instant, Li Mo felt as if he had fallen into a volcanic crater, enveloped by the rolling lava.

It felt as if his flesh was rotting and his bones were disintegrating, his body enduring a pain that no ordinary person could bear.

Every pore was open, emitting a fiery red glow, and Li Mo seemed to be immersed in flames.

The intense heat of the Three Profound Fire Pill scorched his entire body, and as time passed, the pain did not diminish but repeatedly reached new limits.

Compared to the pain Li Mo endured as a Fourth Realm martial artist when refining his meridians, this time the pain was a hundred times more intense.

But Li Mo, the first-class Earth-grade alchemist of the Shangtian Kingdom, had endured hardships beyond what ordinary people could imagine. Even though the pain felt like a billion tsunamis trying to knock him down, he stood firm like a rock, his eyes burning with indomitable will.

No matter how much pain, he would never fall!

Time slowly passed, and his body's meridians began to adapt to the effects of the pill, gradually absorbing them.

The red glow on Li Mo's body gradually faded until it completely disappeared, at which point his meridians had undergone a qualitative change, entering the first level of the Dao Tian Fire Refinement Technique, "Meridian Refinement."

The meridians, infused with fierce fire energy, underwent a qualitative change, increasing his physical strength tenfold, and his physique, blood, and true qi all saw a qualitative improvement.

Even though he was only at the early stage of the Qi Condensation Realm, he was now capable of fighting a mid-stage martial disciple, and even challenging a late-stage martial disciple!

Entering the Meridian Refinement stage, and with the help of the cultivation pills, Li Mo's cultivation advanced rapidly, and two months later, he had reached the mid-stage of the Qi Condensation Realm.

"Bang—Bang—"

In the morning courtyard, the green bamboo swayed in the wind.

The three-foot iron sword in Li Mo's hand seemed to weigh a hundred pounds, slashing horizontally and vertically, destroying the wooden stakes wherever it went.

The Twelve Forms of the Spirit Snake Sword Technique were executed like flowing clouds, graceful and elegant, yet hidden with a dominant force, forming a unique school, and the martial technique reached the peak level!

In just a short while, all the wooden stakes in the courtyard were reduced to fragments.

Li Wendeng pushed the door open and saw Li Mo destroy the last wooden stake with a sword, exclaiming in surprise, "Mo'er, I didn't expect your sword technique to have such power."

Li Mo's expression was calm. Given his physical condition, achieving such results in just a few months was indeed remarkable, and it was rare for Li Wendeng to be surprised. However, thinking of the Spirit Realm expert who had killed him, the gap between them was vast.

Therefore, he could not afford to be proud or complacent.

He sheathed his sword and asked, "Father, what brings you here so early?"

Li Wendeng smiled and said, "You are now fourteen years old. At this age, most of our Li family's descendants are sent to the county city to study. Since you have the level of a third-grade Yellow-grade alchemist, why don't you enroll in the Alchemy Academy?"

This made Li Mo's heart stir. The county city had more cultivation resources, and going there would naturally accelerate his cultivation progress.

However, he did not want to go to the Alchemy Academy.

He was already an Earth-grade alchemist, and with the improvement of the Dao Tian Fire Refinement Technique, his alchemy skills would improve sooner or later. Instead, cultivating martial techniques was the top priority.

He said, "I don't want to go to the Alchemy Academy; I want to go to the Martial Academy."

"Martial Academy? But I think you have a higher talent for alchemy," Li Wendeng was somewhat surprised.

Li Mo explained, "But if I encounter danger, the meager skills of an alchemist can hardly save my life. Once my martial cultivation improves, I can still refine pills."

Li Wendeng nodded and said, "If that's the case, then go and study martial arts."

In the afternoon, Li Gaoyuan came over and also talked about going to the county city. Hearing that Li Mo wanted to enter the Martial Academy, he was delighted.

A few days later, Li Mo bid farewell to his parents and set off for the county city with Li Bo and his son.

After several days of travel, the group finally arrived at Wuxing County City.

The scale of the county city was ten times that of Green Mountain City, with a population of a million, making it a bustling and prosperous place.

Entering the city, the streets were crowded with vehicles and shops, and all kinds of goods were available, causing Li Gaoyuan to exclaim frequently.

Naturally, Li Mo was much calmer. Compared to the imperial city, this county city was just a small town.

Soon, the group arrived at the Martial Academy.

The majestic Martial Academy was located in the eastern part of the city, with buildings arranged in a neat and solemn manner.

The place where the group was enrolled belonged to the lower academy of the Martial Academy. After completing the enrollment, they arrived at their assigned residence.

Several people shared a courtyard, with two people per room. Li Mo and Li Gaoyuan were assigned to the same room.

Once the adults left, some of the Li family's descendants suggested going to the county city to see the sights.

Li Mo had no interest in this. He called Li Gaoyuan and they went to the True Martial Tower together.

The True Martial Tower was the library of the Martial Academy, with six floors and thousands of books, all containing various martial techniques and secret manuals.

According to the rules, upon enrollment, students could go to the True Martial Tower to select martial techniques for cultivation. After each advancement in cultivation, they could also choose techniques from the corresponding floor.

The nine realms of martial cultivation each had three levels of martial arts: basic, intermediate, and advanced.

Any martial technique could be divided into three stages based on the level of proficiency: minor, major, and peak.

Of course, some martial techniques required crossing several realms to reach the peak, and obtaining one such technique could take a decade to study, making them much more valuable than ordinary techniques.

Techniques like the Dao Tian Fire Refinement Technique, which could span a realm and reach the peak of the ninth realm, were extremely rare.

Having entered the mid-stage of the Qi Condensation Realm, Li Mo had already refined the Spirit Snake Technique to its peak. Further refinement was unnecessary.

For him, with the Dao Tian Fire Refinement Technique entering the Meridian Refinement stage, he needed to cultivate higher-level martial techniques to fully utilize the power of the Fire Refinement Technique.

At the same time, by cultivating these techniques, he could also improve the level of the Fire Refinement Technique.

The six-story True Martial Tower was majestic, and at the entrance of the first floor, a middle-aged martial master stood solemnly, like a guardian deity. As the two approached, he did not even raise an eyelid.

After the two handed over their identity cards, he glanced at them and said to Li Gaoyuan, "You have the cultivation of the mid-stage Rock Firmness Realm, so you can enter the second floor of the True Martial Tower and choose three martial techniques. The time limit is half an hour."

Then, he glanced at Li Mo indifferently and said with a hint of disdain, "At fourteen, you are only at the mid-stage of the Qi Condensation Realm. Even for a branch family, this is unacceptable. You are still a member of the Li family. Go to the first floor of the True Martial Tower and choose two martial techniques. The time limit is one hour."

Li Mo did not take his mockery to heart, took the identity card, and walked into the True Martial Tower.

In the hexagonal first-floor space, hundreds of bookshelves lined up, filled with various martial technique manuals. At the entrance to the second floor, a martial master stood guard.

Although Li Mo was an alchemist, his status allowed him to freely enter even the ninth floor of the True Martial Tower in the imperial city.

Compared to that, this small county city's True Martial Tower seemed quite shabby.

He glanced around, and although it was early, he still saw many newly enrolled students selecting their desired martial techniques, each one looking flustered and tense.

These young people were of average talent, with only the cultivation of the Qi Condensation Realm, and most of the techniques they chose were intermediate-level.

Li Mo, however, went directly to the advanced martial technique section at the back. Seeing this, some of the young people sneered, mocking him for aiming too high.

At the back, there were several dozen shelves filled with various advanced martial techniques, neatly arranged, including swords, spears, axes, fists, and light movement techniques.

For ordinary people, selecting a suitable intermediate-level martial technique required careful consideration, and selecting an advanced one was even more difficult.

But Li Mo's approach was simple and direct: he only chose the most difficult ones!

The most difficult martial techniques were on the last row of the advanced section.

Compared to the other densely packed shelves, the last row had only a few dozen books.

With limited time, Li Mo did not waste any, and quickly began selecting.

The first page of each book contained an introduction to the martial technique:

*Stone Crushing Palm*, an advanced palm technique, powerful and dominant, capable of shattering stones and splitting rocks.

*Dragon Ascending Sword*, a sword like a rising dragon, a person like a swift swallow, moving to defeat the enemy.

*Meteor Slash*, a sword like a meteor, fast as lightning.

Li Mo was looking for two types of manuals: one, a dominant sword technique that could kill with one strike; and two, a light movement technique.

However, after flipping through dozens of books, none of them met his criteria.

Closing the last book, Li Mo frowned. For him, cultivating these realm-specific advanced martial techniques was a step down.

Since the most difficult ones were not suitable, should he choose those with lower difficulty?

...