Chapter 9

These books, no, these secret manuals, except for the *Bear Hug Technique* and the *Bear King Fist*, which are family-inherited techniques, all other techniques were collected over many years by the Zheng Gongxuan lineage.

The *Bear King Fist*, a tenth-grade lower-level martial art, when cultivated to its peak, can deliver a punch with the strength of three bears!

The *Gale Leg*, a tenth-grade lower-level martial art, with legs like a gale, sweeping away everything in its path, can surpass the speed of the wind at its peak!

The *Meteor Blade*, a ninth-grade mid-level martial art, with a blade like a meteor, each strike is lethal, but unfortunately, it lacks the cultivation heart method...

Unlike the thirteen grades of martial cultivation, martial arts manuals in this world are divided into ten grades. Occasionally, Zheng Ming's father, Zheng Gongxuan, would tell Zheng Ming that in ancient times, martial artists were also divided into ten grades, but due to the significant difference between the tenth grade and below, it eventually evolved into the current thirteen grades.

In fact, below the tenth grade, in some major sects, they are still not recognized as graded.

After scanning through all the names of the manuals, Zheng Ming first took out the *Bear King Fist*. This fist technique was created by studying the bear's pouncing method and is in line with the *Bear Hug Technique*.

Zheng Ming's Blue Bear Body made his cultivation of the *Bear Hug Technique* advance rapidly, so naturally, his first choice was the *Bear King Fist*!

The thirty-six moves of the *Bear King Fist*, after flipping through them, Zheng Ming felt that this set of fist techniques was already imprinted in his mind.

He carefully performed the *Bear King Fist* in the small secret room and found that he had already reached the minor accomplishment stage of the *Bear King Fist*.

What a great Blue Bear Body, it has such a wonderful effect on the cultivation of suitable techniques!

The *Gale Leg* can be used both as a stepping method and for attacks, which would be very useful for the current Zheng Ming, but after carefully observing the *Gale Leg* technique, he put the *Gale Leg* manual aside.

The *Gale Leg* technique emphasizes flexibility, which conflicts with the *Bear Hug Technique* of the Zheng family. After observing the *Gale Leg* technique, although Zheng Ming roughly remembered the leg technique, he felt extremely uncomfortable after kicking a few times!

However, at this point, Zheng Ming had already decided on the card from Li Zhong.

Given his familiarity with the *Bear King Fist*, the minor accomplishment of the basic fist technique was actually a chicken rib, so Zheng Ming decided to choose the herbal medicine.

Among the dozen or so manuals, besides the *Bear King Fist*, only two remained in front of Zheng Ming!

The *Meteor Blade* and the *Soul-Cutting Spear*!

The *Soul-Cutting Spear*, a tenth-grade lower-level martial art, with broad and sweeping movements, each spear strike is lethal, and when cultivated to the major accomplishment stage, it can create five shadows with one spear, each shadow pursuing the soul.

Zheng Gongxuan chose the *Soul-Cutting Spear*, and Zheng Ming's brother, Zheng Heng, also practiced the *Soul-Cutting Spear*. However, after thirty years of practice, Zheng Gongxuan's *Soul-Cutting Spear* was still at the minor accomplishment stage.

But Zheng Ming was confident in his cultivation of the *Soul-Cutting Spear*.

Because he still had one card left to choose!

Xiang Chong, the basic spear technique and the basic throwing knife technique, he could choose one of these two skills.

Although he didn't know how useful the basic spear technique was, based on his understanding of the Blue Bear Body, Zheng Ming felt that with this basic spear technique, he could definitely quickly cultivate the *Soul-Cutting Spear* to the subtle and even the intuitive stage.

Each of the five stages of martial techniques increases the power by a factor of two.

However, the level of the *Soul-Cutting Spear* was a bit low. This "low" is naturally compared to the *Meteor Blade*.

A tenth-grade lower-level technique is three levels lower than a ninth-grade mid-level technique, meaning that in terms of power, the *Meteor Blade* at the same stage is more than twice as strong as the *Soul-Cutting Spear*.

If the *Meteor Blade* did not lack the cultivation heart method, Zheng Ming would have chosen the *Meteor Blade* without hesitation.

However, if the *Meteor Blade* did not lack the heart method, this technique probably wouldn't have fallen into the hands of the Zheng family.

*Chasing the Moon with a Meteor*, *Three Stars Accompanying the Moon*, *Seven Stars Chasing the Moon*, *A Host of Stars Holding the Moon*.

In the incomplete *Meteor Blade* technique, the heart method section was torn off by someone, leaving only four moves.

Without the heart method, the possibility of successfully cultivating a technique is really small.

If he used Xiang Chong's basic throwing knife technique as a foundation, could he successfully cultivate the *Meteor Blade*?

Zheng Ming hesitated for a moment, then bit his teeth and chose the basic throwing knife technique on the only remaining card of Xiang Chong.

Although the *Soul-Cutting Spear* was good, it was just an embellishment to the *Bear King Fist*. However, once he mastered the *Meteor Blade*, it would greatly enhance his strength.

After the card of Xiang Chong turned into a golden light and merged into his body, when Zheng Ming's gaze fell on the *Meteor Blade* manual again, he felt that the originally unfamiliar images suddenly became incredibly familiar. His fingers casually picked up a small paperweight from the desk and threw it out.

*Chasing the Moon with a Meteor*!

Although it was different from the *Chasing the Moon with a Meteor* described in the *Meteor Blade* manual, it was indeed *Chasing the Moon with a Meteor*!

A familiar-level *Chasing the Moon with a Meteor*!

The paperweight was not a throwing knife, and with the urge to practice, Zheng Ming thought of the ten throwing knives stored in his family's warehouse.

These throwing knives were probably specially made by his ancestors after obtaining the *Meteor Blade* technique, intending to practice it.

With the urge to practice, Zheng Ming quickly ran to the warehouse. He wanted to use these throwing knives to test how far he could cultivate the *Meteor Blade* with the minor accomplishment throwing knife technique he obtained from Xiang Chong.

...

*Thud, thud, thud*

Three light sounds, three half-foot-long throwing knives embedded in the trunk of a tree in a triangular formation.

*Three Stars Accompanying the Moon*, at the subtle stage.

Zheng Ming stood on a tree stump ten feet away, his eyes showing a hint of dissatisfaction. He leaped to the tree, struck the trunk with his palm, and the three throwing knives flew out of the trunk.

Putting the three throwing knives into a specially made throwing knife pouch, Zheng Ming shook his head lightly.

He was a bit dissatisfied with his current progress. This was already the third day of practicing the *Meteor Blade*, but there was no significant improvement compared to the first two days.

If the first day's practice of the *Meteor Blade* could be described as rapid progress, then today, his *Meteor Blade* could only be described as stagnant.

He had already reached the intuitive stage of the entire *Meteor Blade* technique. In just three days, no, after absorbing Xiang Chong's basic throwing knife technique, he only needed one day to reach this stage.

This stage was actually not low. For many people, they might not be able to cultivate a martial technique to this stage in their entire lives.

However, the rapid progress on the first day made Zheng Ming eager to push his *Meteor Blade* to the subtle stage, but reality gave him a harsh blow.

There was a slight improvement on the second day, but no progress on the third day. If this continued, it would take him ten years to cultivate the *Meteor Blade* to the subtle stage.

Xiang Chong's basic throwing knife technique seemed to only support him in cultivating the *Meteor Blade* to the subtle stage.

Xiang Chong, this guy, is really not very helpful!

During these three days, Zheng Ming was practicing intensely. His *Bear Hug Technique* and *Bear King Fist* were advancing at a visible speed.

Especially the *Bear King Fist*, which reached the subtle stage yesterday. As for his *Bear Hug Technique*, he began to feel a faint sense of breaking through the fourth layer and advancing to the fifth layer.

Now, Zheng Ming estimated that if he were to compete with his brother, Zheng Heng, using the *Meteor Blade*, he could definitely defeat Zheng Heng. Without using the *Meteor Blade*, he could at least fight Zheng Heng to a draw.

Although Zheng Heng's cultivation was one grade higher than Zheng Ming, his *Bear King Fist* was far inferior to Zheng Ming's.

He would have to find a time to compete with his brother.

Compared to the progress of the *Meteor Blade*, what troubled Zheng Ming more was his reputation points. Currently, his reputation points were 135.

In the past three days, his reputation points increased very slowly. On the first day, they increased by 71, on the second day by 50, and today only by 4.

Having tasted the benefits of drawing random cards, Zheng Ming was eager for his reputation points to reach 1,000 so he could draw again.

This rate of increase also made Zheng Ming realize a harsh fact: once someone provided him with reputation points, they would be permanently consumed.

After activating the card on his body and drawing two random cards, the reputation points he gained from upholding justice for Li Xiaoduo were almost all consumed.

He didn't know when that guy would come, but his fists were already itching!

Swinging his fist, Zheng Ming's mind flickered with a thought. Should he find a few people in Luming Town to beat up and increase his reputation a bit?

Luming Town was still bustling. After finishing his practice in the small forest, Zheng Ming smiled and nodded at the townspeople who greeted him.

At this moment, he could see a hint of respect in the eyes of most of the townspeople.

"Hmm, Jingxiang's Shop!" Zheng Ming looked up at the sign of the shop where he had beaten Wu Banshan and found that the general store had changed its sign.

There were only so many shops in the town, and Zheng Ming knew what each one sold with his eyes closed.

However, the person busy outside the shop made Zheng Ming pause.

Li Xiaoduo, the pretty girl in a simple dress, was loudly shouting, "Buns, porridge, steaming hot meat buns!"

Her clear voice echoed on the street, giving a strange feeling.

What made it even harder for Zheng Ming to accept was Fu Yuxin, standing next to Li Xiaoduo, wearing a common floral dress and holding a large ladle with her delicate hands.

This ordinary village girl attire made Fu Yuxin seem less ethereal but more like a beautiful bird in the mountains.

What was going on here?

The small shop was bustling. Although Fu Yuxin's movements were stiff, her appearance itself was a huge attraction. The small shop with only a few tables was almost full.

With a change in his expression, Zheng Ming strolled over, picked up a long bench, and sat down, then loudly said, "Give me two buns and a bowl of porridge, sir."

Seeing Zheng Ming, Li Xiaoduo's eyes lit up. She hesitated for a moment, then quickly ran to Zheng Ming and said, "Second Young Master, why are you here?"

"Of course, to eat." Smiling at Li Xiaoduo, Zheng Ming whispered, "Why did you open a shop?"

Li Xiaoduo's head immediately lowered, and she said in a voice so low it could only be heard by mosquitoes, "The young lady asked what I usually do at home, and I said I help my mother with needlework to earn money for the family."

"The young lady decided to help me with the needlework to support the family. But... the young lady's needlework is really not good, so... the young lady said she had learned to cook porridge before, so... she opened this restaurant."

Thinking of the first time he met Fu Yuxin, the noble and dignified woman, Zheng Ming couldn't help but slap his head.

At this moment, he felt a bit mischievous and slapped the table hard, saying, "Hey, boss, why haven't you brought my food yet?"

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