Chapter 3

The pharmacist had his own thoughts and said, "Make him drink the spirit blood, drink a lot, drink to the fullest! Each time he drinks, it will improve his physique a little. Drink more, and although it won't awaken his spirit body, his physical strength will definitely surpass any spirit body!"

"One punch to kill a dragon."

The village chief smiled and said, "It will surely scare the hell out of those bastards outside the Great Ruins."

The two of them exchanged a smile, and the pharmacist walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

The next day, the villagers brought several iron-boned tigers, green dragons, thunderbirds, and golden turtles. These old men and women, with a clear goal, were full of enthusiasm, but it provoked the pharmacist's anger: "If you make him drink too much spirit blood at once, you'll kill him!"

The mute blacksmith, who dragged in two thunderbirds, grinned, his mouth without a tongue.

"Mu'er can handle it!" Grandma Si was full of confidence in Qin Mu.

The pharmacist glared at them and said no more. He took out some insect eggs and continued to refine the blood, but something still went wrong. This time, the four spirit bloods were a bit too much. After Qin Mu drank them, his body swelled up like it was being inflated, making the old men and women extremely nervous, fearing he would burst.

The pharmacist took out several hollow silver needles and inserted them into Qin Mu's back and crown. The needle holes hissed, spewing out red, blue, and purple gas.

After a while, the silver needles stopped spewing gas. The pharmacist removed them and glared at the old men and women again: "Take it step by step, gradually. If you try to fatten him up in one go, you'll only kill him! Now he's still feeling the strain. You all have work to do. Butcher, practice your knife skills with him. Uncle Ma, practice your boxing. Lame, you practice your legwork with him to help him digest."

"Mu'er, come practice your knife skills!"

The Butcher, who was holding two pig-slaughtering knives, jumped up, landing on a single wooden stake. He had no lower body, but his upper body stood on the stake, almost as tall as Qin Mu.

The Butcher held two pig-slaughtering knives, which were different from ordinary ones. Ordinary pig-slaughtering knives were less than a foot long, with round wooden handles and curved blades, like three-quarters of a moon.

The Butcher's pig-slaughtering knives looked similar but were much larger, three feet and two inches long, with thick backs and thin, sharp blades. When the two knives were put together, they looked like two large arched doors, terrifyingly big.

Qin Mu's pig-slaughtering knife was the same size, but he only had one, which was quite heavy, about twenty pounds. Normally, he could only lift one knife, but after taking the four spirit bloods, his strength had increased significantly, and he didn't find it heavy to lift the knife with one hand.

"Grandpa Butcher, be careful!"

Qin Mu held the knife in one hand and charged at the Butcher on the wooden stake. The Butcher laughed heartily, his half-body still exuding a heroic aura.

"Night Battle in the Rain and Wind!"

Qin Mu's single knife moved up and down, his steps shifting as he slashed at the Butcher. The knife light grew faster, the wind howling, merging into a continuous stream.

"Too slow, too slow, you're too slow!"

The Butcher shouted, his two knives moving like rain, the clashing sounds like a heavy rain beating on pear blossoms. He roared, "Faster! Faster! Your pig-slaughtering knife can be even faster! The move 'Night Battle in the Rain and Wind' requires speed. Your knife should be as fast as the rain and wind in the night, covering the entire city! Faster!"

The knife light became even faster, like three silver dragons weaving around the wooden stake, the wind growing louder, the hissing sound of the blade mixed with the wind. When the knives landed, deep marks appeared on the ground.

Those were knife marks.

"Very good, that's the speed! The faster your knife, the stronger the blade energy. But you're still not fast enough. You need to make your blade intent burn, burn, and burn!"

The Butcher was like a madman, his hands wielding the knives, making Qin Mu's eyes dazzle. He shouted, "Burn! Burn! Make your knife burn, make your energy burn, make your spirit burn! After burning, comes the divine power!"

Whoosh—

His knife cut through the air, actually igniting, the two knives like two fire dragons darting back and forth, the momentum growing more astonishing.

The fire dragons charged straight at Qin Mu, who could not resist. Suddenly, the two fire dragons shot up into the sky, tearing through the night above the village, incredibly shocking.

Qin Mu was stunned; the Butcher's knife was too terrifying.

Above the village, darkness surged, swallowing the fire dragons and the knife light and blade energy.

The darkness seemed to have a life of its own, angry at the Butcher's knife cutting through it, pressing down on the village as if to swallow it.

However, the stone statues at the four corners of the village suddenly glowed brighter, forcing back the darkness.

"Damn heavens!"

The Butcher, holding his knives, stood on the wooden stake, shouting to the sky, somewhat mad: "I will split this darkness, I will fight my way back! I lost my waist and my legs, but not my head! I will kill..."

"Grandpa Butcher is crazy again. But his knife is really too fast. He has refined his knife skills into divine power. When will I be able to practice as fast as him?"

Qin Mu looked at the crazy Butcher with admiration, put down the pig-slaughtering knife, and went to find One-Armed Uncle Ma.

"The Butcher's knife must cut out flames to achieve divine power, while my fist must produce thunder to achieve divine power!"

Uncle Ma's face was serious, his one arm gripping a fist, his bones cracking. He said calmly, "Mu'er, when you can hold lightning in your hand, your fist will be considered a minor achievement. The Butcher's knife is very fast, but my fist breaks the sound barrier, breaking free from the air's constraints, unleashing incomparable power! One hand can also practice boxing; one hand is a thousand hands, and one hand can produce thunder!"

Boom—

A dull thunderclap echoed, the sound of Uncle Ma's punch, like a thunderclap.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A series of thunderclaps echoed, and Qin Mu could hardly see the speed of Uncle Ma's punches. The afterimages made it seem like One-Armed Uncle Ma had a thousand arms.

Uncle Ma's punches grew faster, and the thousand arms held lightning, crackling with electricity, each strike accompanied by rolling thunder and splashing lightning!

"This is the Thousand-Armed Buddha from the Eight Thunder Sounds! As long as your fist is faster than sound, you can control thunder. Each punch and strike can destroy the soul and body of your opponent, making them suffer eternal torment, never to be reborn!"

Uncle Ma retracted his fist and said solemnly, "Use the Eight Thunder Sounds to attack me, produce thunder, hold lightning, and control thunder!"

Qin Mu steadied himself. Today, what Grandpa Butcher and Grandpa Ma taught him was different from before. In the past, they taught him knife and boxing techniques, but this time, they both mentioned a word.

Divine Power!

This word was unfamiliar; it was the first time he had heard it.

Qin Mu performed the Eight Thunder Sounds, attacking Uncle Ma. Despite being one-armed, Uncle Ma easily deflected all of Qin Mu's attacks without any effort.

Unlike the Butcher, who, though seemingly mad, always had a sense of measure when practicing with Qin Mu and never hurt him, Uncle Ma was merciless. Whenever Qin Mu's moves had a flaw, he would punch him. Although the punches were not heavy, Qin Mu quickly became bruised and swollen.

Only when Qin Mu could no longer continue did Uncle Ma let him rest.

"Legs are the wind, the earth, and the root of strength."

Lame, leaning on a cane, had only one leg, but he was the one who taught Qin Mu legwork. In the past, Qin Mu thought Lame Grandpa was the most normal person in the village, always smiling warmly and giving a very reliable impression.

However, after Lame smiled warmly and stabbed the woman who crawled out of the cowhide by the river, Qin Mu was no longer so sure.

Lame's smile was a smile with a hidden knife; no one knew if his smile was real or fake.

He smiled at Qin Mu and said, "Mu'er, the Butcher boasts about his knife, and Uncle Ma boasts about his fist, but the true divine power is in the legs. If you can't kill the opponent or defeat them, what do you do? Of course, you run; life is the most important! Life is not just about poetry and distant places, but also about survival! So, living is victory! As long as you run fast enough, you can run on walls, on water, and even in the sky! Run fast enough, and everything is flat, even fire and air! When you can run so fast that sound can't catch up with you, then you will have initially achieved the divine power of legwork. Mu'er, come, get on the iron ingot."