Chapter 157: Backing
Swish!
Liu Tianxiu's eyes shone brightly, joy blooming across his face.
That was right! This time, Grandmaster Hong had shown himself precisely to stand up for someone else!
Di Shuangshuang, Luo Zhi, Tang Mubai.
Di Shuangshuang already had Di Xiaochuan step forward on her behalf.
As for the remaining two, Luo Zhi and Tang Mubai, one of them was clearly connected to Grandmaster Hong!
This enigmatic Grandmaster Hong had finally slipped up and left a trace.
Come to think of it, Luo Zhi and Tang Mubai were both young geniuses who had risen to prominence quite suddenly.
Prior to that, they were obscure and possessed thoroughly ordinary innate talents.
Yet it was as if a switch had been flipped in them overnight.
One possessed peerless archery, while the other wielded invincible staff techniques.
Over the past few days, many people had been discussing them as geniuses. But if there were high-level experts secretly guiding and supporting them, it would fully explain why they had risen so abruptly!
The whereabouts of Grandmaster Hong were untraceable, but Tang Mubai and Luo Zhi both had definite addresses.
If one wanted to find Grandmaster Hong, all they had to do was keep a close eye on Tang Mubai and Luo Zhi at all times!
At this thought, Liu Tianxiu could not help but feel overjoyed.
He had finally found a clear direction!
...
Tang Mubai, having just descended from Monkey Mountain, had no inkling that Liu Tianxiu was currently brimming with excitement.
He had long been prepared for the possibility of being linked to Grandmaster Hong.
In fact, he was more than eager for outsiders to know of his association with Grandmaster Hong.
Because once that happened, Tang Mubai would openly have a Grandmaster backing him up!
Having a Grandmaster as a backing versus not having one were two completely different tiers.
The treatment received in everything one did would be VIP—the high-tier VIP kind.
Naturally, Tang Mubai still had to keep his lips sealed outwardly and could not explicitly declare it.
It required that tacit understanding where everyone knew, yet no one spoke of it aloud.
The more Tang Mubai denied it, the more authentic it seemed.
In this way, the alter ego of Grandmaster Hong could exist for that much longer.
If possible, Tang Mubai hoped that even after his true self was exposed as a Grandmaster, the persona of Grandmaster Hong could still remain usable.
After all, some things done by one's true self versus things done by an alter ego were two entirely different matters.
The benefits of Tang Mubai and Grandmaster Hong being perceived as two separate individuals vastly outweighed them being known as one and the same!
This incident with Han Pindao made Tang Mubai realize that Grandmasters practically possessed a "license to kill."
In the New World, there was no such thing as being locked away in a standard prison to serve time.
For minor thefts, getting caught meant an immediate fine—ten times the value of the stolen goods.
If someone committed murder and was caught, they were immediately conscripted into hard labor: mining outside the boundary walls and assigned to suicide squads.
The duration of hard labor varied depending on the circumstances, with a minimum of at least one year!
Whether it was delving deep underground to mine or exploring territories impassable to drones, the danger coefficient was exceedingly high.
Basically, out of every hundred people sent to hard labor, fewer than ten managed to survive and return to the city.
This resulted in very few people daring to engage in massive brawls or lethal fights in public spaces.
Most settled their mortal grudges behind closed doors.
Or they went outside the boundary walls, openly drew their weapons, and fought duels.
Even if the Martial Security Bureau learned of such private death duels, they would simply turn a blind eye.
This applied to Professional-tier martial artists, and the same held true for Master-tier martial artists.
However, once one reached the Grandmaster tier, things changed instantly.
Tang Mubai had beaten Han Pindao to the brink of death, leaving him completely immobile.
Di Xiaochuan had shattered Han Pindao with a single palm strike right in front of Wu Weilan.
Yet, the outcome was simply permitting the two of them and Kong Lingxia to have a "life-or-death duel."
Wu Weilan, the Director of the Martial Security Bureau, even personally stepped down to act as the referee!
Although Han Pindao had initiated the conflict in this event, the "punishments" received by Tang Mubai and Di Xiaochuan were virtually nonexistent.
Had this been replaced by a Professional-tier, or even a Master-tier martial artist, Wu Weilan wouldn't have cared who was right or wrong—he would have dragged them all off to custody first!
Kong Lingxia was acutely aware of this, which was why he had no choice but to retreat.
...
Han Pindao was dead, so the Winged Sword Sect was bound to disband, and there was no need to worry about no one taking over its assets and industries.
The only pity was that Tang Mubai could not take a bite out of this fat piece of meat.
However, Tang Mubai had not walked away empty-handed from tonight's battle.
The Flame Bone Saber!
During his previous clash with Han Pindao, Tang Mubai had completely exhausted the remaining energy within the Flame Bone Saber.
Right now, not only had the Flame Bone Saber avoided falling to the status of an ordinary combat weapon, but its abilities had also been reactivated, once again automatically absorbing the ambient energy of heaven and earth to replenish its losses!
In other words, the Flame Bone Saber would only recharge itself once its internal energy was completely depleted.
Prior to that, it would not absorb supplementary energy.
This unexpected discovery allowed Tang Mubai to breathe a sincere sigh of relief.
The specific capabilities of the Flame Bone Saber were unfathomable.
Tang Mubai had originally intended not to use it again, and even if he did, he wouldn't let it consume its internal fire energy, terrified of exhausting the very last bits of it.
As it turned out, however, the Flame Bone Saber required its fire energy to be completely depleted before it would replenish itself!
This characteristic was both speechless and rather amusing.
...
Returning home.
Tang Mubai lay on his bed and opened the system panel—
[Name]: Tang Mubai
[Physique]: 20
[Strength]: 20
[Agility]: 20
[Perception]: 20
[Willpower]: 20
[Vitality Blood]: 7000k (+)
[Martial Arts]: 《Golden Glow Skill》 (Consummate), 《Tiger Roaring Fist》 (Consummate), 《Wave-Breaking Saber Technique》 (Consummate), 《Tai Chi Fist》 (Consummate), 《Rolling Clouds Hand》 (Consummate), 《Tai Chi Heart Sutra》 (7th Layer), 《Soaring Sky Dance Art》 (7th Layer), 《Heaven-Rending Divine Arrow》 (3rd Layer)
[Mystic Arts]: Yin-Yang Sword Qi (2)
[Divine Powers]: Pressure Control (Intermediate), Poison Control (Novice), Temperature Control (Novice)
[Lifespan]: 5 Years
[Retainers]: 5
...
Aside from Vitality Blood, which could be increased, no other aspects could be upgraded at the moment.
Coincidentally, Tang Mubai had nearly finished digesting his existing seven thousand calories of Vitality Blood.
He immediately consumed 5,000 years of lifespan, exchanging it for Vitality Blood.
The remaining 5 years of lifespan were reserved for the future.
His movement techniques and archery skills had both been fused and derived into new, advanced martial arts through multiple manuals.
Internal energy arts, fist techniques, and saber techniques could obviously follow the same path.
However, the rewards for the first-place finishers in both the youth and adult divisions this time were extremely generous.
Whether it was the 《Fierce Heart Fist》 or the 《Nine Wolves Saber》, both were four-revolution martial arts.
Once he got his hands on them, his fist and saber techniques would temporarily be sufficient.
Therefore, if he were to fuse anything, it would be internal energy arts.
Yet, internal energy manuals were the fewest in number, and the Martial Dao online store had very few of them.
To make matters worse, their prices were exorbitant.
Compared to other martial arts, which only exceeded one million federal dollars starting from the third revolution, internal energy arts surpassed one million even at the second revolution.
When Tang Mubai woke up the next day and checked online, he found that the prices of these internal energy manuals were frighteningly high.
Although he did not need to rely on practicing internal energy to increase his Vitality Blood, the functions of internal energy went far beyond merely nourishing blood—it could also accelerate healing, refine blood, temper the physique, absorb energy, and more.
Setting everything else aside, the healing properties alone were enough to make Tang Mubai attempt to fuse and deduce a new, advanced internal energy art.
Consequently, he purchased a manual named 《Returning Origin Technique》 from the store.
The greatest feature of this internal energy art was its exceptionally fast healing and recovery speed!