"Found out, Sister Duan."

"It's definitely the Alien God believers, but whether they belong to the Pantheon is still unclear."

28th floor of the Divine Management Bureau, Duan Ling was holding the latest intelligence delivered by the staff, furrowing her brows tightly.

"This is too brutal, burned to almost nothing but ashes, how deep must the hatred be?"

Qu Zhe leaned over beside her.

He clicked his tongue as he looked at the pictures in the files.

Three Divine Cultists.

All died by the same method.

Burned alive.

But there's something odd they all have in common.

Each corpse had a tiny bit left, allowing them to test these Alien God believers' extraordinary systems.

It's like someone is specifically targeting these Alien God believers.

Doing it for them, the Divine Management Bureau, to see.

"So, Sister Duan, are we taking this case?"

Qu Zhe asked as he watched from the side.

Smack—

Duan Ling, not one for many words, slapped the back of Qu Zhe's head.

"Do we care about this? Are you just looking for trouble? Just check if these people are from the Pantheon, nothing else."

"Hiss..."

Qu Zhe squatted on the ground, clutching his head.

Others were already used to it.

A day without Duan Ling hitting Qu Zhe would be rare indeed.

After hitting him, Duan Ling looked seriously at everyone.

"In the coming days, aside from duty hours, everyone needs to put in extra effort. We can't keep letting Fang Qingyu get harassed by the Pantheon every day."

"Where would that leave the face of our squad!!"

"Yes!!"

Everyone responded promptly.

Fang Qingyu being unharmed so far was due to his own strong abilities.

But...

As Duan Ling said.

It's also their negligence.

...

Thus, Fang Qingyu looked helplessly at Qu Zhe beside him.

"Brother Qu, do you really need to follow me even when I'm eating?"

"You think I want to?"

Qu Zhe rolled his eyes.

"Everyone else is out looking for Pantheon members, and I'm the one stuck with protecting you..."

"..."

Upon hearing this, Fang Qingyu couldn't say much more.

Though Qu Zhe seemed a bit unreliable, he was indeed a genuine Micro Martial Artist.

He was considered above average in the squad.

The fact that he could keep following Fang Qingyu meant he was truly committed.

So it didn't feel right to refuse the team's goodwill.

After finishing their meal.

Qu Zhe picked his teeth while returning to the Divine Management Bureau with Fang Qingyu.

Watching him press the button for the 8th underground floor.

Qu Zhe's expression froze.

"Weren't you already training this morning?"

"I can do an extra two hours in the afternoon," Fang Qingyu replied with a smile.

Qu Zhe appeared a bit surprised, "Can your body handle that?"

"I can."

Fang Qingyu nodded.

"... You really are a monster, huh?"

Qu Zhe sat nearby, watching Fang Qingyu practice Martial Technique as if he would never tire.

If it weren't for the fact that Fang Qingyu was constantly sweating.

He would have doubted if Fang Qingyu was a robot.

At 2 o'clock in the afternoon.

Qu Zhe lay on a chair, almost falling asleep while playing a farming game.

A figure quietly stood beside him at some point.

"Lin... Captain Lin!?"

Qu Zhe raised his head, showing a look of joy upon seeing the familiar figure.

"Why are you watching him?"

Lin Kang curiously pointed at Fang Qingyu, who was training.

Qu Zhe hurriedly reported what had happened over the past few days.

Lin Kang listened without expression.

"I understand."

Then he looked at Fang Qingyu: "Stop for a moment."

The voice wasn't loud, but it was clear and precise.

Fang Qingyu immediately stopped, turning to the long-absent Lin Kang.

"Captain Lin."

He walked over to greet him.

"Take a shower, then come with me."

Lin Kang cut straight to the point, leaving no room for small talk.

Fang Qingyu glanced at Qu Zhe, nodded.

He quickly took a shower in the training room, changed into clean clothes.

Lin Kang led the way out.

This time, Qu Zhe didn't follow but gave Fang Qingyu a look of 'good luck' instead.

Sitting in the car.

Lin Kang drove silently forward.

Neither of them spoke until they stopped at a traffic light.

Only then did Lin Kang speak flatly: "I heard you killed a Pilgrim Proxy?"

"Yes."

Fang Qingyu nodded, a bit taken aback.

"Did you use the Dragon Sparrow Calamity Slash effect?"

"No."

Fang Qingyu shook his head.

He actually wasn't very clear on the two traits of Dragon Sparrow.

Thunder Strike can paralyze the enemy for three breaths...

But so far, no one could withstand a single slash.

When facing Zeng Jing, he also used the Candlebearer's methods to settle the fight.

As for Thunder Storage, it wasn't even worth mentioning.

He hadn't encountered a battle enduring long enough to trigger it.

Listening, Lin Kang thought for a moment and said, "You will start official patrol duty tomorrow. Try to familiarize yourself with Dragon Sparrow's functions."

"But I haven't yet..."

"It's okay, I'll have Qu Zhe take you, and you two will form a temporary squad."

Lin Kang waved his hand, decisively making the decision.

Fang Qingyu listened and didn't say more.

This decision was actually beneficial for him.

The car eventually stopped in front of a military camp on the outskirts.

Lin Kang took out an ID.

The car was soon cleared.

"All warriors who receive the Candlelight Medal have one chance to enter the Martial Arts Innate Wall."

After getting off the car, Lin Kang began to explain to Fang Qingyu.

"The function is to greatly increase the speed of your Martial Technique training, it generally can elevate the Martial Technique by a level."

"You only have 3 hours."

"Remember, just focus on practicing the Thunder Strike Eight Slashes. The more difficult the Martial Technique you practice, the more you earn."

"Alright."

Fang Qingyu nodded.

So the hidden rewards Ji Yang mentioned in the elevator before... are this.

Unexpectedly hidden so deep.

The two walked into a three-story building.

The elevator descended for nearly ten minutes before it slowly stopped.

Lin Kang led the way out.

Here was a corridor bridge, with warriors holding guns standing on both sides, and a bottomless abyss beside them.

In front of the heavy metal door.

Ji Yang pressed his eye against the iris lock.

The door slowly opened.

"You go in by yourself. Just practice Martial Techniques, it will automatically have effects, you don't need to do anything."

"Of course, remember not to destroy the walls!"

"Okay."

Being suddenly brought to such a place, Fang Qingyu now adapted quite well.

If all that's needed is Martial Technique practice.

Then indeed there's nothing much to pay attention to.

Stepping inside the room.

The space inside was even larger than imagined.

About the size of a football field, the dome was semi-transparent amber, flowing with liquid light.

The floor was a solid piece of dark cyan metal.

When he raised his head.

The wall directly in front made Fang Qingyu hold his breath.

It was a gigantic relief occupying the entire wall.

The material seemed like bronze, yet also like obsidian, with fine golden threads floating on the surface.

Thousands of martial artists either punching or palming, or wielding weapons leaping, each move frozen at the moment the Martial Technique bloomed.

In the upper left corner, a red-haired martial artist punched and triggered a volcanic eruption, lava flowing realistically within the mural.

A white-clothed swordsman on the right walked on waves, each wave tip forming into an ice sword.

In the center, a giant holding a halberd extinguished stars with a wave, carving galaxy-like rifts wherever the halberd's edge passed.

This mural... is alive!?

Fang Qingyu instinctively leaned closer to observe, discovering one bladed martial artist's technique suddenly accelerating, the blade light gouging burnt marks on the mural.

When he stepped back two paces, all shadows returned to their initial positions.

Just as he was about to look closely.

The mural suddenly overflowed with a tidal wave of the True Meaning of Martial Arts.

Before Fang Qingyu's eyes, ten thousand points of light exploded, countless sounds of weapon clashes echoed in his ears, in his nose flooded with the mixed breath of iron rust and gunpowder from bloody battles.

The Dragon Sparrow Calamity Slash trembled suddenly in the scabbard.

Fang Qingyu just grasped the sword handle.

A certain bladed martial artist's eyes on the relief suddenly lit up blood-red.

In an instant, the mural came to life, those martial artists transformed into flowing ink-like illusions, their technique trajectories weaving into golden threads in the air.

When the first ray of golden light touched Fang Qingyu.

The entire space suddenly resonated with a clear bell chime.

"Dang——"

The world in front of Fang Qingyu suddenly twisted.

A martial artist on the mural suddenly leaped out from the stone wall.

Turned into a semi-transparent illusion, grasping his wrist.

The Dragon Sparrow Calamity Slash unsheathed uncontrollably, resonating with the thunder patterns on the blade and the long sword in the illusion's hand.

Fang Qingyu felt an ancient will seemingly pouring into his meridians through the sword handle.

His legs automatically assumed the starting posture of Thunder Strike Eight Slashes.

"Boom!"

At the moment the first slash Shocking Dome was executed.

The blade brought forth a thunderstorm three zhang long.

Fang Qingyu was astonished to find his movements now ten times faster than usual.

Muscle memory forcibly rewritten.

The rush slash requiring half a second to gather strength now needed only a slight toe touch to complete.

Continually, new illusions from the mural integrated into his body, when he executed the fourth style "Instant Thunder," multiple phantom blades emerged behind him.

The sword hum and bell chime gradually synchronized.

Fang Qingyu's pupils transformed into brilliant silver-white, the sword guard of Dragon Sparrow Calamity Slash opened an eye formed of condensed thunder.

The final slash.

The moment the fifth slash "Tribulation Ashes" was released.

The whole blade seemingly turned into a thunder pillar piercing Heaven and Earth, illuminating the space like daylight.

Fang Qingyu also reopened his eyes at this moment.

His pupils returned to black.

Looking at the chart.

[Congratulations! Your profession advanced skill "Thunder Strike Eight Slashes" has risen to Level 3 (334/800)]

Before the three hours ended, the chart prompted Thunder Strike Eight Slashes reaching Great Success.

In the final time cusp.

A huge surge of experience again.

Probably equivalent to...

10 Skill Points!?

Awesome!!!

Fang Qingyu never expected this reward to be so powerful...

Had he practiced on his own, without adding Skill Points, it would have taken at least almost 2 months.

The privilege reward from the Candlelight Medal directly saved a lot of time and resources.

So...

The medal must be upgraded.

Though, this reward was quite challenging.

If it weren't for the Earth Palace incident at that time... not knowing how many Life Ghosts he'd have to kill to accumulate 2000 Merit Points.

Fang Qingyu thought while walking out of the room.

"How was it?"

Lin Kang leaned against the room, upon seeing Fang Qingyu coming out, immediately asked.

"Great Success."

Fang Qingyu succinctly replied.

But these words made Lin Kang's eyes light up.

"Good, good, good."

This isn't some street trash.

But a Martial Technique at the Great Sun Level in the Martial Artist stage, everyone's trump card!!

"Sign the confidentiality agreement, how do you feel?"

Lin Kang didn't expect Fang Qingyu to be so impressive, his usually calm lips couldn't help but curve a bit.

"A very wondrous experience."

Fang Qingyu signed his name truthfully.

Like countless predecessors gathered around, personally teaching him.

Though silent, it was an all-out instruction.

"Do you know who made this wall?"

Lin Kang teasingly asked.

"Who?"

Fang Qingyu raised his head, showing curiosity.

"The thirteenth Martial God of the Human Race."

"Jiang Shang."

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