[339] Probing

Three months passed in the blink of an eye. Yu Xian and the others quietly played their respective roles, finally replacing their targets' identities completely. The main hurdle had been the extreme difficulty of Niman's role. Wang Xiaohua was exceptionally hard to impersonate; anyone else likely would not have pulled it off. Yet, relying on her superb acting skills and master-thief expertise, Niman had ultimately completed the identity usurpation. She had visited the hospital several times to seek treatment under Wang Xiaohua's identity, and had even stealthily eaten three months' worth of breakfasts, lunches, and dinners—the entire process going completely unnoticed. With their identities secured, the group's next objective was to grow stronger. And the method to grow stronger was simple: train. All abilities required training to improve. In fact, Yu Xian had already been training for a full three months. His improvement was dramatic, and when it came to head-on combat capability, he was without a doubt number one. When it came to lethality, however, Niman still held the top spot securely. After all, once she activated her ability, [Inconspicuous], whether by poisoning or striking vital points, she could kill in a single strike; not even Yu Xian was a match for her. Likely only enemies with exceptional defenses could withstand her attacks. …… …… One year later. Hydrochloric Acid Meadow. A corrosive-water bullet rabbit was nibbling on hydrochloric acid grass. Suddenly, a bullet flashed through the air. The corrosive-water bullet rabbit collapsed on the spot, followed immediately by another one behind it tumbling to the ground. Only then did the other corrosive-water bullet rabbits react, scattering in panic while spraying corrosive water wildly in all directions from their ears. Unfortunately, it was futile. The attack had come from atop a massive boulder three thousand meters away, where Nora held a sniper rifle forged through the joint efforts of Niman and Yu Xian, pulling the trigger as she lined up her sights on the next corrosive-water bullet rabbit. Mingzhu City had very few firearms, and whatever existed were antique models; genuinely good guns seemed to be strictly controlled. Fortunately, Niman knew how to manufacture all kinds of firearms. Merely renting a blacksmith shop, she had crafted a sniper rifle completely by hand, giving Nora a chance to put her skills to use. "Only three. That's nowhere near enough to eat." Nora lowered her muzzle and muttered to herself as she looked out over the distant Hydrochloric Acid Meadow. Just then, the sound of a heavy object being dragged echoed from the distance on her right. Turning her head, she saw Yu Xian walking over, dragging a colossal wild boar behind him. The wild boar was terrifyingly massive, yet Yu Xian dragged it with utter ease. "I'm here!" Spotting Nora, Little Nora, and Little Huangquan atop the giant boulder, Yu Xian let out a hearty laugh. He sprinted forward while dragging the massive boar, then leaped violently into the air, descending from the sky along with the beast. In truth, the effects of Diligence Compensates for Clumsiness were almost excessively good. As long as he exercised, his body grew progressively stronger, and even the simplest workouts yielded results. By now, his workout efficiency had reached 395%. Merely doing push-ups increased his strength and constitution; running every day made him faster and faster, raising his constitution in turn. As a result, in just one short year, his physical capabilities had undergone an earth-shattering transformation. Combined with the terrifying straight punch honed from his punch practice in the Sea of Flowers, few creatures in the wilderness could stand in his path. Half an hour later, the group sat atop the giant boulder, eating meat around a campfire. "Shuishui can already make rain fall over half of Mingzhu City. I'm thinking of finding an opportunity to test Feng Laixian's strength. What do you all think?" Niman asked, holding a bamboo skewer and looking around at everyone. Yu Xian nodded. "It really is time we tried." He had persisted in attending Beast King Martial Arts Hall for a whole year, yet Feng Laixian hadn't appeared even once. He was sick of it. After all, he couldn't learn anything at the martial arts hall, and he still had to hide his true strength—it was far too tedious. "Then let's set it for this weekend. Beast King Martial Arts Hall is closed on weekends, so our only enemies should just be Feng Laixian and Bai De," Niman said. Shui Yuetian raised a question: "The problem is, is Feng Laixian really inside Beast King Martial Arts Hall?" "It's not certain, but all current intelligence indicates he's inside," Nora said coolly. They had first learned from Zhang Buyao that Feng Laixian might be at Beast King Martial Arts Hall, and their subsequent investigations showed that most people in Mingzhu City also believed he was there. Whether Feng Laixian was there or not, they had to go and test the waters. Next, with everyone chiming in, they hammered out the details of the plan. Once each person's task was settled, they went back to eating, and after finishing their meal, they returned to Mingzhu City together. …… …… The weekend. A heavy downpour abruptly descended upon Mingzhu City. It wasn't Shui Yuetian using her ability; it just so happened that it was raining in Mingzhu City today. Yu Xian felt that even the heavens were on their side. As planned, they gathered at a cafe near Beast King Martial Arts Hall. After finishing their coffee and making their preparations, they stepped out into the torrential rain, vanishing into the gray expanse in the blink of an eye. "If our luck holds, we might be able to leave this godforsaken place today." Walking through the rain, Yu Xian simply stripped off his soaked shirt, exposing firm, defined muscles. Rolling his shoulders, he warmed up as he walked toward Beast King Martial Arts Hall. When he reached the entrance, he drew in a deep breath of the moisture-laden air, then blasted out a punch. BOOM! A clap of thunder sounded at that exact moment, masking the roar of his punch. In the heavy rain, raindrops turned into bullets, instantly piercing through the facade of Beast King Martial Arts Hall. Then, the terrifying force stirred up by his fist swept flat across the entire building, sending countless construction materials flying backward as if caught in a hurricane. "Who is it?!" Amid the countless building fragments, a furious roar rang out. Immediately, a white werewolf bounded across the rubble, launching a rapid assault toward Yu Xian. Yu Xian was actually in disguise to a degree—Niman had applied makeup to his face. The white werewolf clearly failed to recognize Yu Xian as Wang Jieming, opening with a punch the moment he closed in. "That punch earlier was just a greeting." "This one... I hope you have sweet dreams!" Yu Xian smiled as he watched the white werewolf close the distance. He didn't know whether the white werewolf had heard him, but he threw a crisp, clean punch. With this punch, heaven and earth seemed to invert. Raindrops surged back into the sky, and a vacuum formed around Beast King Martial Arts Hall, filled only by Yu Xian's unimaginably terrifying fist momentum. The aggressively charging white werewolf was struck through the empty air, sent flying backward in an instant. His body hung like a tattered ragdoll, his limbs snapped into multiple fractures. Upon hitting the ground, he coughed up a mouthful of blood, eyes bulging wide, and died right then and there. "Now that felt good." Seeing the white werewolf beaten to death, Yu Xian felt thoroughly invigorated. This white werewolf was Instructor Bai De of Beast King Martial Arts Hall. For the past year, Bai De had treated Yu Xian virtually like an idiot. While Yu Xian admitted his current learning ability really wasn't much better than an idiot's, being annoyed was still being annoyed. Killing Bai De could be said to be an obsession Yu Xian had accumulated over this past year. Now that he had one-shot Bai De, he felt as if he had been holding in his pee for an entire year and finally got to let it out. It felt incredible. However, after killing Bai De, he looked around. Feng Laixian wasn't inside Beast King Martial Arts Hall! "He's not here?" "Is he just away at the moment, or was he never here to begin with?" Yu Xian carefully inspected the surrounding wreckage, pondering silently. So the question was: if Feng Laixian wasn't at Beast King Martial Arts Hall, where on earth could he be?