C61 Back to the Village!

Outside the Purple Cloud Mountains:

After Zhan Tianming killed Zhang Yong, he obtained the antidote to treat Liu Yu. Finally, Liu Yu recovered and could speak again.

"Tianming, you brat, you're too awesome! Haha!"

Liu Yu was ecstatic.

After laughing, he looked at Zhang Yong's carcass.

"Humph!"

"This damned bastard, he is definitely not the real Zhang Yong. He was pretending to be Zhang Yong all this time."

"What?" Zhan Tianming was startled.

Liu Yu immediately told Zhan Tianming what he and Mu Hai saw back then.

"Originally, I hoped that you could leave his corpse intact so that we could expose the truth in front of the villagers. Unexpectedly, you straight up blasted his head. Now, we won't be able to expose the truth, but..."

"That palm strike was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!"

After witnessing Zhan Tianming's strength, Liu Yu was very happy for him.

Zhan Tianming grinned.

'Forget it. Zhang Yong's head is already in chunks, and it's not like I can revive him or go back in time.'

"Oh right, Dogegg, this is for you."

With that, Zhan Tianming took out two secret manuals and handed them to Liu Yu.

"What is this?" Liu Yu couldn't understand the complex manuals.

"A secret manual," Zhan Tianming said.

"Secret manual?"

Liu Yu was startled. He stared straight at Zhan Tianming; it took him a moment to regain his senses.

"Tianming, where did you get this?"

Zhan Tianming just smiled.

One of two secret manuals was dropped by Zhang Yong after his death. The other was dropped by Zhang Kaiqian.

Coincidentally, one of them was a Low-Rank Psyche Cultivation Technique, and the other was a Middle-Rank Sword Skill.

"Tianming, it seems like the expert you met is truly an amazing person. He even gave you a secret manual." Thinking back to what Zhan Tianming had told him, Liu Yu thought the manuals were gifts from the mysterious expert Zhan Tianming met.

Zhan Tianming laughed and did not explain.

Zhan Tianming being his bro, Liu Yu no longer hesitated in taking the manuals happily.

With the help of the manuals, Liu Yu could also cultivate.

An opportunity like this could cause riots in the Nanqing Village. People there could only dream about such an opportunity.

Owing to all these happy events, Liu Yu had a broad smile on his face.

Without further delay, the two walked back together.

On the way, Zhan Tianming added the system points he obtained from killing Zhang Yong to Sword from the East.

Proud Dragon Repents was already at Level-3, so he decided to focus on something else.

Right now, each palm strike consumed 300 true qi points. If he were to upgrade it once more, each strike would probably absorb 400 true qi points.

It was a price Zhan Tianming couldn't afford with his current true qi upper limit.

As for Dragon Flying in the Sky, the chances of triggering additional effects were low for it.

Therefore, he chose Sword from the East.

Despite Sword from the East being a mere God-Ranked technique, it could be used with the Divine Punisher Sword to deliver a powerful attack. As long as enough demonic beats could be gathered, he could display its full power and keep it as a trump card.

"Ding dong!"

"Congratulations! Host Zhan Tianming, you have upgraded Sword from the East. It's now a Level-2 technique."

He opened the system interface and took a look.

"Not bad."

Zhan Tianming laughed inwardly.

After its upgrade, the true qi consumption for Sword from the East went from 400 to 800.

This consumption rate was a bit high.

On the flip side, increased consumption meant that the output power would be stronger than ever.

After all, common sense dictated it. With each upgrade, the true qi consumption would increase, and so would the base damage value.

Just like the time he upgraded Proud Dragon Repents.

At Level-1, Proud Dragon Repents' base damage value wasn't that impressive. However, when it reached Level-2, the damage value increased by leaps and bounds. Once he upgraded it to Level-3, its might was—simply put—astonishing.

Reason?

Level-1 and Level-2 were the entry-level.

Level-3 and Level-4 were proficiency-level.

Level-5 and Level-6 were minor-level.

Level-7 and Level-8 were major-level.

Level-9 was the state of Grand Perfection.

As a skill's level increased, its consumption and output also increased.

And the effect would definitely be astonishing.

After adding the points, Zhan Tianming opened up the system space.

Item: Dragon Gate Flying Armor.

Rank: Earth Grade.

Description: An armor that can provide the wearer with additional 3,000 points of defense. It can be invisible once worn.

'Invisibility?' Zhan Tianming thought.

Immediately, he made the decision and wore the armor.

Unfortunately, there was only one piece of armor.

Then again, it did look somewhat exquisite and precious.

Of course, he could only see the armor through the system interface. With the help of the system, he had thoroughly hidden the armor from anyone's prying eyes.

Due to the armor, Zhan Tianming's defense went from 91 points to 3091 points. Before, his attack attribute was far ahead of his defense attribute; now, it was the opposite.

This defense was astounding.

Zhan Tianming estimated that as long as they didn't use a powerful martial skill, not even Martial Spirit cultivators could harm him.

Of course, that was only true for the parts that the armor covered.

"The Dragon Gate Flying Armor is indeed a good item! As expected of something dropped by a Hidden Boss. Awesome!"

"Eh? Wait, wait..."

Suddenly, Zhan Tianming was startled.

"Holy mother of... Is this the truth?"

Zhan Tianming laughed.

Once he wore the Dragon Gate Flying Armor, it was listed as a system item. Despite wearing the new armor, the defense points that his previous leather armor provided were still there. Apparently, as long as he wore that leather armor, he would get those defense points.

At the start, his defense was at a measly 13 points. After the leather armor, it reached 91 points as the armor proved an additional 78 points. Now, with the new armor, his defense points were at an all-time high: 3091 points.

The defense points of both armors were stacked. It meant he could keep on stacking defense points of all his future armors.

'Hahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!! In the future, if I could get enough Supreme Grade armors, won't I become a walking, talking tank? DAMN! I could just stand there, let my enemies attack me, but they still won't be able to defeat me.'

He fantasized about a future where he would stand on the stage laughing at his opponent while they tried their best to defeat him.

Zhan Tianming was extremely happy.

After that, he looked at the substitute puppet.

"So that's how it is."

Zhan Tianming finally understood why Zhang Yong could teleport 50 meters away from him after leaving behind a lifelike dummy.

All of this was thanks to the substitute puppet.

Without wasting any words, Zhan Tianming immediately bound the Substitute Puppet.

"Damn! Isn't this like having two lives?"

Zhan Tianming was very happy. He was a good kid, easy to please.

Blasting Zhang Yong's head into pieces was too rewarding! Hidden Boss, indeed.

One day later:

Zhan Tianming and Liu Yu finally neared the Nanqing Village.

Before leaving the mountain range, Zhan Tianming used the Hundred Beasts Extermination to kill the Arrowwolf.

"Ding dong!"

"Congratulations! Host Zhan Tianming, you have killed the Arrowwolf. You are rewarded with 9,000 experience points. You have obtained wolf head (x1) (Quest Item), Special Grade wolf meat (x1), Special Grade wolf fur (x1), and Arrowwolf blood essence (x1)."

"Congratulations! Host Zhan Tianming, you have obtained a first-grade Fire Attribute demon core. Would you like to absorb it?"

"Absorb!"

"Absorption complete. Fire Attribute leveled up."

Zhan Tianming did not care about the Arrowwolf that had collapsed on the ground. Just as he was about to leave, he was stopped by Liu Yu.

"Wait a minute, Tianming."

"What's wrong?" Zhan Tianming turned his head around with a puzzled look.

"I've wanted to ask you this question for a while now," Liu Yu said.

"Just go ahead." Zhan Tianming laughed.

"Along the way, I was captured by that bastard Zhang Yong, and I personally saw you kill a few demonic beasts. However, you didn't take a single head with you, so how will you prove that you've completed the assessment?"

"Is this intentional? Are you trying to fail the assessment?"

Liu Yu looked puzzled.