Practice combat skills

"Snap!"

A very loud slap landed hard on that black face, cutting off his words. The powerful force sent him flying directly, and over a dozen long teeth rolled onto the ground.

"Sorry, this young master's hand felt itchy." Long Chen looked at the black-faced man, who had been stunned by the slap, and said politely.

This slap was extremely loud and echoed in every corner of the Combat Skill Pavilion. Everyone who had been hurriedly flipping through combat skills put them down and looked over, faces full of shock.

"Who is being presumptuous in the Combat Skill Pavilion?" Suddenly, a cold shout came. A man in black appeared in the pavilion, looking coldly at Long Chen and the black-faced man.

As soon as that man appeared, his blood energy surged like a high mountain pressing down on people, making it hard to breathe. Long Chen couldn't help but narrow his eyes slightly.

"A Blood Condensation Realm expert."

He hadn't expected a Blood Condensation Realm expert to be hiding here. But thinking about how this was the important Combat Skill Pavilion, it made sense for an expert to be guarding it.

The Combat Skill Pavilion was a no-combat zone. Anyone who fought here would be locked in solitary confinement; everyone knew this rule.

"Speak, what is going on?" the Blood Condensation Realm expert roared angrily.

"You'll have to ask him about that." Long Chen didn't have the slightest fear. He spread his hands slightly and said innocently.

The black-faced man was furious. He was clearly the one who had been slapped, so why ask him? "Sir…"

"Sir!"

Just then, Zhou Yaoyang, who had been hiding in the distance, rushed over and said to the Blood Condensation Realm expert, "It's like this. Wang Mang's face suddenly became unbearably itchy, so he slapped himself. It wasn't fighting. Please investigate, sir."

The black-faced man named Wang Mang looked surprised and wanted to say something, but when he saw Li Hao in the distance frantically signaling to him, he swallowed his words.

"You are the son of the Barbarian Marquis, aren't you?" The man looked at Zhou Yaoyang and said.

"Exactly," Zhou Yaoyang said hurriedly.

The man nodded, glanced at Wang Mang on the ground, and said, "If your face is itchy, just scratch it. Don't make people think you have an itch in your teeth. I don't want to see this kind of thing a second time. Clean up the garbage you left behind."

After the man finished speaking, he turned and left, leaving the crowd stunned. They hadn't expected Zhou Yaoyang to actually help Long Chen.

"Heh heh, did you hear that? You're such a big person, why are you doing your business everywhere? Clean up the poop you left behind." Long Chen gave a chuckle, as if he had anticipated this scene, then turned and walked away to continue leisurely picking out combat skills.

"Damn it!"

Looking at Long Chen's arrogant figure, Wang Mang's eyes seemed to be spitting fire. This slap was too humiliating.

"Wang Mang, bear with it. If you accuse Long Chen of hitting you, Long Chen will be locked up for a month, and he will come out unscathed after a month. But if you swallow this insult, Li Hao will help you get revenge tomorrow. So, you must endure it," said Zhou Yaoyang.

Wang Mang nodded. He knew about the duel between Li Hao and Long Chen, but he was used to bullying Long Chen and hadn't thought about it much—he was just messing around.

As a result, he messed up today, got slapped hard, and had nowhere to complain. It was a classic case of swallowing one's teeth along with the blood.

The group hurriedly picked up the scattered teeth and wiped the blood off the floor. Zhou Yaoyang suddenly said, "Your face isn't that swollen. It looks like Long Chen's strength wasn't that great, so why did he knock out so many of your teeth?"

The others were also very confused. Logically, only strength reaching the extreme would knock out such sturdy teeth.

"Who knows? It's hellish," Wang Mang said, also looking depressed. What he didn't know was that Long Chen was proficient in alchemy and knew the structure of the human body like the back of his hand.

That slap just now used a clever force that loosened his gums, causing half his teeth to fall out.

Long Chen's move was very ruthless. Teeth are things that are difficult to regenerate, unlike other injuries that can be treated with medicine. From now on, Wang Mang would only be able to eat with one side of his teeth.

After Wang Mang's cautionary tale, everyone became much more honest, and no one dared to provoke Long Chen again.

Long Chen was happy to be left alone and carefully browsed the books here. The combat skills and Cultivation Techniques here could only be read here and could not be taken away.

"Bull Strength."

That was a combat skill. In this world, all combat skills were divided into three Ranks: Heaven, Earth, and Mortal. All the Cultivation Techniques and combat skills placed here were Mortal Low Grade combat skills, meaning they were the lowest-tier combat skills.

However, even though they were the lowest-tier combat skills, they were still extremely precious. Even when facing a noble prince, an expert of the Blood Condensation Realm needed to be there to supervise, which showed how much the Phoenix Empire valued combat skills.

"Although it's a Low Grade combat skill, the path of Spiritual Qi circulation is simple, clear, direct, and effective. Very good." Long Chen finished reading the combat skill in his hand and nodded. This combat skill was very suitable for him, especially since he knew the body's meridians like the back of his hand; he could master it quickly.

After reading it carefully again, his Soul power was now incomparably strong, which was a great help for memory, almost equivalent to photographic memory.

After thoroughly memorizing "Bull Strength," he put it back in its original place. Long Chen then saw an auxiliary combat skill— "Wind Chasing Steps."

"Wind Chasing Steps" was a footwork technique. By channeling Spiritual Qi along specific meridians and focusing it on the feet, one could improve their speed and explosive power. Whether for long-distance running or short-distance dodging, it was very effective.

"Very good, another practical thing."

Long Chen smiled slightly and hurriedly memorized the Spiritual Qi circulation path and specific activation methods described above.

"Time is up. All princes, put down the Secret Manuals in your hands. Anyone who dares to hide them privately will be executed without mercy!"

At this moment, the Blood Condensation Realm expert appeared, his cold voice entering everyone's ears. Everyone hurriedly put down the Secret Manuals in their hands.

Some people shook their heads, feeling unsatisfied. The Phoenix Empire managed combat skills extremely strictly; they only had half a day a month to come here to study.

Many people needed to spend several months to thoroughly study a combat skill. However, although they were dissatisfied, no one dared to complain.

Long Chen was stunned for a moment; he hadn't expected time to pass so quickly. However, if others knew that he had memorized two combat skills in just over two hours, they would probably have their jaws drop to the floor.

Many records in combat skills were obscure and difficult to understand, especially the terminology regarding Spiritual Qi circulation and Qi moving through meridians, which easily confused people. It required studying while simultaneously circulating Spiritual Qi to verify it.

After leaving the Imperial College, Long Chen greeted Fatty Yu and the others, then whispered a few words to Shi Feng.

Shi Feng was surprised at first, but quickly suppressed his emotions. Still, the shock was unmistakable in his eyes.

After returning home, Long Chen saw that the house that had been shattered earlier had been cleaned up. However, it was no longer habitable. Fortunately, there were many rooms in the house, so they cleared another one for him.

He first went to his mother's room to pay his respects. The events of the past few days had made Lady Long restless.

Ever since Long Chen woke up, he seemed to have changed completely, making her feel a trace of strangeness.

Fortunately, Long Chen had adjusted now. He accompanied his mother for a while, which made her feel much more at ease, though he didn't mention a word about the life-and-death duel with Li Hao.

After returning from his mother's place, Long Chen went back to his room, locked the door, and directly took the second Fengfu Pill.

As the second Fengfu Pill was refined, the Fengfu Star under Long Chen's feet grew a little stronger.

With the growth of the Fengfu Star, it could store more Spiritual Qi, just like a Dantian.

However, this Fengfu Star was currently only a prototype. To fully form it, countless Fengfu Pills would be needed to fill it.

This was why Long Chen was shocked when he first learned about the cultivation method of the "Nine Star Hegemon Body Art."

Now, with two Fengfu Pills worth tens of thousands of gold coins in his stomach, the Fengfu Star was still a prototype. He didn't know how far away it was from the three true stages of forming, gathering, and transforming into a star. And he didn't even know what the legendary "Nine Transformations of Star Transformation" were. This Fengfu Star was simply a bottomless pit.

However, Long Chen knew that this "Nine Star Hegemon Body Art" was his only way out. Otherwise, he could only live a mediocre life, or perhaps not even that, and would only end up as fish meat to be slaughtered by others.

He spent two hours refining the Fengfu Pill. The Fengfu Star prototype grew a bit larger, and his own usable Spiritual Qi increased by a fraction.

It was already midnight. Long Chen quietly walked out of his room and came to the woodshed. He took a deep breath and slowly circulated "Bull Strength." For Long Chen, who knew his own meridians like the back of his hand, a Mortal Low Grade combat skill could be learned as soon as he studied it; there was no pressure at all.

He walked to a stone mill. This stone mill was a tool usually used for husking rice and weighed over a thousand catties.

He hugged the stone mill with both hands and exerted force with his arms.

"Rise!"

The huge stone mill rose in response. Long Chen carefully sensed it and felt that he should have some spare strength. Now, his strength should be around 1,500 catties.

He had to know that before he was defeated by Zhou Yaoyang, his strength was only 150 catties. Now, it had skyrocketed tenfold.

"Very good. Not to mention anything else, just by my current strength, I am already comparable to a guy at the fifth level of Qi Gathering."

Long Chen couldn't help but feel excited in his heart, and at the same time, he looked forward to the "Nine Star Hegemon Body Art" even more. It was just a prototype, and it had already brought such a huge improvement. He wondered what level he would reach when he truly condensed the Fengfu Star?

He hesitated for a long time, but still couldn't suppress the itch in his heart. He sank his waist and braced his stance, the Qi under his feet slowly surging. A scorching force pressed through his meridians and flowed slowly into his fist.

"Bull Fist!"

"Bang!"

Long Chen smashed his fist onto the stone mill in front of him, emitting a loud explosion. The huge stone mill was sent flying by the punch and slammed hard into the wall in front, causing the entire wall to collapse.

Long Chen couldn't help but be stunned. Such powerful strength! He originally just wanted to test its power; he didn't expect to cause such a big commotion.

Looking out, he found that many rooms in the mansion had lights on. He immediately knew that his actions had disturbed everyone, so he hurriedly turned around and sneaked back into his room, falling asleep immediately.

However, his heart was so excited he could almost dance. "Nine Star Hegemon Body Art," what level of Cultivation Technique are you exactly? If the nine stars gathered, what kind of power would that be?

That night, Long Chen couldn't fall asleep for a long time due to endless excitement. When the sun sent its first ray of light into his room the next day, Long Chen slowly opened his eyes.

"Heh heh, you want the parts on my body? That's a great ideal, but it seems you won't be able to achieve it."

After getting up and washing, he could still hear the servants talking about the strange event that happened in the woodshed last night. Facing the rising sun, a phrase couldn't help but surface in Long Chen's heart:

"Today is a good day; everything I wish for can come true."