C4

Hundreds of bamboo tubes, each cut in half, stood upright on an open space. At about 30 centimeters tall and spaced half a meter apart, they formed an intricate pattern of plum blossom stakes.

Mu Yueqi's face was ashen as she balanced atop them, filled with regret. What kind of karma had led her to rush here and endure such torment?

Suddenly, Xu Renli's voice thundered.

"Watch the sword! To the left!"

Startled, Mu Yueqi instinctively swung her sword leftward to block, shielding herself.

Bang!

A sharp pain struck her right waist.

Rolling her eyes in frustration, Mu Yueqi grumbled, "Master, that's playing dirty!"

"Fool! There are no sparring matches for a Martial Cultivator, only real combat. That means... I am your enemy now! If you ever trust an enemy on the battlefield, my job will be all too easy. I'll just need to bring along a sack to carry your body."

"Master, you..."

Anger drained the color from Mu Yueqi's face as she pointed at Xu Renli, her eyes brimming with tears.

What kind of master curses their disciple to die in battle? It was downright malicious.

As another day came to a close, Mu Yueqi's vital energy had grown by 6cal, reaching 91cal. Xu Renli, in turn, received a feedback of 60cal, his vital energy soaring to 870cal, nearing the Martial Cultivator's threshold of 1000cal.

Come dinner time, Mu Yueqi's once delicate hands, now swollen like doughy buns, fumbled with her chopsticks. In a huff, she tossed them aside and dabbed at her tears.

"You can't skip a meal. Here, let me give you a proper utensil for eating."

Staring in disbelief, Mu Yueqi was handed an oversized bamboo spoon, its mouth wider than her bowl, capable of scooping up half the serving in one go.

That night, Mu Yueqi sat on her bamboo bed, brandishing the enormous spoon as she vented into her phone.

"Jiaojiao, do you think Hei Tieta used to be a professional pig farmer?"

"It's quite possible, haha."

Jiaojiao's laughter was uncontrollable.

"Boss Qi, hang in there! Keep pushing through! Once you become a Martial Cultivator, you'll be the one calling the shots! Then you can use your powerful Qi and blood to give that vile man the thrashing he deserves... Revenge is just around the corner. Charge!"

Mu Yueqi raised her arms in excitement and bellowed, "Charge!"

Over the next couple of days, her progress was astonishingly rapid. Her vitality surged past 100cal, hitting an impressive 104cal! At this point, an average Martial Disciple might consider advancing to a Low-Level Martial Cultivator. But for Yueqi, she hadn't yet reached her body's limit; she needed to keep building her strength.

On the training ground, atop the plum blossom stakes, Yueqi brandished her wooden sword with elegant poise, darting left and right. Out of ten strikes, she could block seven or eight. And the few that did hit her barely caused any pain anymore. She chuckled to herself.

"Master, I've been training with you for several days, and I've improved so much. Isn't it time you taught me some powerful combat techniques?" she asked.

"Wait until your vitality reaches 200cal and you become a Junior Martial Cultivator," he replied.

"So stingy!" Yueqi pouted, her red lips forming a mutinous pout. She grumbled under her breath, "Old Antique, just keep your secrets to gather dust, hmph!"

But within seconds, her smile returned, radiant as ever. "Master, have you gotten too old to cut it? Try a little harder..."

"Hmph!" Xu Renli's expression hardened.

The girl had potential, but her underestimation of him and her overconfidence could lead to trouble down the line.

In a flash, Xu Renli's foot slipped, his tall frame tilting backward at a ninety-degree angle, and like a specter, he appeared behind Yueqi, thrusting his wooden sword fiercely.

Thud!

Yueqi let out a muffled groan as a sharp pain shot through her waist, bringing tears to her eyes. She dropped her wooden sword to the ground.

"Master, you promised to use only the strength of a Limit Martial Disciple, but you moved with the skill beyond that limit. That's cheating!" she accused.

"Fool!" Xu Renli scowled, his lecture stern. "Tell me, if your enemy conceals his true strength, will you still rush in and flail about blindly?"

"I..." Yueqi's mouth hung open, at a loss for words.

Wait a minute, wasn't it Master who had broken his word?

"Yueqi, this is me giving you a head start with some early practice! Alas, all my well-intentioned efforts seem to have been in vain—you've taken them for granted. This batch of disciples is proving quite the challenge to mentor."

Xu Renli let out a forlorn sigh, the picture of wounded pride, and retreated to a corner to rest.

"Did I misjudge Master once again?"

Mu Yueqi cocked her head, nibbling on her red lips, her pretty face flushed with deep embarrassment. She wished she could just disappear into a crack in the ground.

Later that afternoon, following a half-hour break,

Xu Renli, inside the bamboo house, glanced at the information screen and saw that his vital energy had surged to 1000 calories!

[Beep. Host's vital energy has reached the peak for a Martial Cultivator. You have two options: One, expend your vital energy to temper the flesh beneath your skin in an attempt to advance to a Low-Level Martial Master.]

"Or two, unlock a vital energy secret technique."

Xu Renli's expression flickered with astonishment.

A secret technique?

These were even more uncommon than standard combat skills, typically serving as support, providing enhancements, altering states, and the like, with stringent usage requirements.

Take, for instance, the time Xu Renli and his close friend Yang Jin hunted a Martial Ancestor-level golden line fish king from the Sea Clan. They left it gravely wounded, its tail nearly severed.

But just as they were about to capture it, the fish king unleashed a secret technique of its kind. Its scales shed, and from the golden line along its spine, it ejected a jet of golden blood. In an instant... it transformed into a massive golden dart, its speed increasing more than tenfold, and it managed to escape!

They had let a fish king worth over five hundred million slip through their fingers, like a duck that flies off just before you're about to dine. The regret Xu Renli and Yang Jin felt was profound.

Xu Renli had some understanding of human secret techniques, but he had never learned any, not having found one that suited him.

Now, his curiosity was piqued.

"Activate the Vital Energy Secret Technique!"

Three seconds later, a chilling, synthetic metallic voice responded.

"According to the host's Martial Dao Stage, only one Vital Energy Secret Technique is available for activation: Blood Explosion Finger. Within the span of three breaths, it unleashes a ferocious burst of vital energy, capable of killing from a distance within a five-meter radius!"

A flash of insight suddenly emerged in his mind.

An aggressive secret art?

Xu Renli was even more astonished. Such aggressive secret arts were exceedingly rare, with a prevalence of less than one percent.

Half an hour later, deep within the bamboo grove.

A streak of crimson light burst forth from Xu Renli's fingertip with incredible speed, piercing straight through a bamboo stalk as thick as a bowl!

The power of the attack was astounding!

Xu Renli's heart raced with shock as he quickly approached and saw that the hole in the bamboo was perfectly round. Peering through it, he realized that the residual force had also penetrated three other bamboo stalks nearby!

His keen eyes assessed the destructive force of the Blood Explosion Finger, gauging it to be on par with the full-strength blow of a low-level Martial Master.

"Incredible! The burst of power from this Qi and Blood Secret Art is immensely potent!"

Xu Renli was thrilled beyond measure.

The sole drawback of the Blood Explosion Finger was its consumption of 10cal of Qi and Blood Power with each use. But for Xu Renli, blessed with a steady source of Qi and Blood Power, this was no issue at all.

As the evening approached, his phone rang.

"Xu, how have you been lately?"