Chapter 030: "It's You!" (Request for Recommendation Votes)

Escape? No! There’s still a chance!

Tang Mubai leapt back more than ten meters in a single bound, tapped his toes, and sprang onto a large tree nearby.

“Trying to run?” The middle-aged woman, her head that of a savage wolf, bellowed hoarsely, her bloodthirsty eyes locked on Tang Mubai. Her thick limbs pressed against the earth for leverage, and her massive body shot high into the air.

At the same moment, Tang Mubai opened his system panel to check how much accumulated lifespan he had. When he saw he had 131 years stored, joy surged through him. Without hesitation, he pressed the “+” symbol behind “Divine Ability: Suppression.”

A tremor ran through his body. The mysterious sensation representing his aura of dominance was suddenly magnified, and in an instant, the oppressive force he could wield multiplied several times over.

On the system panel, “Divine Ability: Suppression (Beginner+)” changed to “Intermediate.”

Intermediate Divine Ability!

Meanwhile, his accumulated lifespan dropped from 131 years to 31.

He had consumed a hundred years of life to upgrade his beginner-level divine ability to intermediate!

Tang Mubai didn’t have time to wonder why there was no “+” sign after “Intermediate” now. The middle-aged woman was already airborne, her ferocious and bloodthirsty aura bearing down on him. Without delay, Tang Mubai unleashed his enhanced intermediate divine ability, releasing a strengthened pressure that descended upon her like a shroud.

With a dull thud, the woman was caught midair by the intensified pressure, forced straight down to the ground, and crashed heavily, slamming into the earth.

She landed face-first, prostrate and rigid, unable to move a muscle.

“A M... Master-level aura?! How... How is this possible! How can it be?!” she shrieked, her voice hoarse with terror.

The viciousness and malice on her wolfish face were gone, replaced by horror and disbelief. Deep in her heart, she could not accept that her target was a “Master-level powerhouse.”

Yet her stiff, tense body, on the verge of shattering at any moment, told her the truth.

Tang Mubai—this youth who looked no older than a high schooler—was actually a Master-level expert!

The woman could not believe it. She lay on the ground, howling in despair.

But her cries hadn’t lasted long—

A flash of silvery-white steel suddenly sliced down from above.

With a wet, slicing sound, blood spurted, and the savage wolf’s head flew up through the air.

"Detected loss of life force. Recycle?"

“Yes!”

"Life force +158."

The prompt flickered through Tang Mubai’s mind.

Clutching his alloy battle blade, Tang Mubai crouched on the ground, gasping for breath.

That fight had been far too dangerous!

The middle-aged woman had actually carried a spiritual artifact that could neutralize the shock of his “Beginner Suppression”!

Spiritual artifacts were wondrous things in the New World—born of fortuitous coincidence, they were extraordinary treasures with all manner of strange abilities. Neutralizing oppressive force was merely one of the more inconspicuous effects.

Tang Mubai had heard his father say that some spiritual artifacts could conjure giants of flame, move hundred-meter mountains, or even reverse the flow of mighty rivers...

Compared to those, the bone bead around the woman’s neck seemed insignificant.

But to Tang Mubai at this moment, that bone bead was a precious prize.

After resting for a while, he took the bone bead from the woman’s neck without ceremony.

“If it can neutralize beginner-level suppression, this ‘bone bead’ worn on the body might let me fake ‘Bodyguard Qi’!” Tang Mubai’s eyes gleamed.

Though this bone bead couldn’t resist the pressure of a Master-level expert, it could ignore the aura of a Grandmaster-level one! Such a spiritual artifact would make it almost impossible for anyone to tell whether he was using “Bodyguard Qi.”

After all, only those with qi and blood surpassing 100 units could condense and manifest “Bodyguard Qi.”

The only drawback was that the bead required fresh blood to activate. Each use demanded a blood sacrifice, which Tang Mubai found distasteful—if only it could be triggered by qi and blood instead!

Perhaps, with enough nurturing by his own qi and blood, he could alter the activation method?

Tang Mubai pondered and decided to give it a try.

This brutal encounter had given Tang Mubai a clearer understanding of his own strength.

Before, faced with the woman’s savage onslaught and desperate, he’d wagered everything by burning a hundred years of lifespan to upgrade his divine ability—and had unexpectedly succeeded!

Now, his intermediate-level “Suppression” was equivalent to a Master-level martial artist!

In other words, in terms of blood energy he was at the Professional level; in combat strength, at Practitioner; in physical fortitude, at Grandmaster; but in oppressive aura, at the level of a Master!

Just by releasing his aura, he could convincingly pose as a Master-level powerhouse.

Of course, aura alone was not invincible.

Who knew how many spiritual artifacts like the bone bead existed?

To truly become powerful, he still needed martial arts.

Of the arts his father had left behind—“Golden Glow Technique,” “Tiger Roar Fist,” “Wave-Cleaving Blade,” “Nine Arrows Over the Mountain,” and “Grass Step Flight”—only the “Golden Glow Technique” and “Nine Arrows Over the Mountain” were Second Cycle martial arts. The rest were First Cycle.

The distinction between First and Second Cycle was based on how many full circulations of energy the art could achieve. If blood energy was gasoline, then martial arts were the turbine engine: First Cycle had one turbine, Second Cycle two, Third Cycle three, and so on. The higher the grade, the more turbines, and the greater the power unleashed!

“Tiger Roar Fist” and “Wave-Cleaving Blade” were only First Cycle arts. Even if Tang Mubai mastered them perfectly, their power would remain limited.

To grow stronger, he needed higher-grade martial arts!

But such arts were not easy to come by.

The mall on the “Martial Way Network” sold them, but the prices were staggering—a single Second Cycle art cost over five hundred thousand federal credits! Third Cycle ones were all over a million!

“Did Miracle Restaurant even make a million last month?” Tang Mubai doubted it.

As he mused—

“What’s going on? Even killing a professional brat takes this long, you’re not...”

The voice cut off abruptly.

Tang Mubai turned to see a burly middle-aged man standing on the hillside, eyes wide, face frozen in terror as he stared at him.

“Well, long time no see!” Tang Mubai stood up and waved.

This man was none other than the beastified, wolf-headed brute Tang Mubai had encountered in an alley a few days earlier.

“It’s you!” the man shouted in shock, recognizing Tang Mubai. He spun around and tried to flee.

He’d escaped last time, but this time he was too late.

A hum filled the air—Intermediate Suppression activated.

A formless yet dreadful pressure fell from the heavens, pinning the man flat to the ground, unable to move a muscle.