Chapter 55: Is it All a Lie?

"What?"

"The Meteor Arrow Method?"

Upon hearing this, the people around them were puzzled. They examined the booklet and found themselves filled with question marks.

"Hey, why does this seem familiar?"

Liu Yong scratched his bald head, deep in thought. Suddenly, he slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "I remember now! Isn't there a guy selling this stuff at the Songjiabao market?"

"The Songjiabao market?" Chen Fan said, surprised.

Chen Guodong and the others furrowed their brows. There was someone selling this in the market? Why didn't they remember?

"Oh, I recall now," Gao Yang nodded. "It's an old man, looks shifty, with a sly look in his eyes."

"Yes, that's him!" Liu Yong chimed in enthusiastically. "I've been keeping an eye on him for a while. Every time I visit, he has a stall with over ten books like this. No wonder it seems familiar."

"Over ten books?" Chen Fan was taken aback.

"Yes, more than ten, with titles like 'Nine Suns Magic,' 'The Great Shift of the Universe,' 'Shen Zhao Jing,' 'Longevity,' 'Eighteen Palms of the Dragon,' and many more I can't recall," Liu Yong explained. Chen Fan was bewildered. "Nine Suns Divine Art? The Great Shift of the Universe? Aren't these martial arts manuals from martial arts novels? Why are they here?"

In his time, he would have dismissed this as nonsense. But here, with Awakened Ones and True Qi cultivators, it didn't seem impossible to possess martial arts like "Nine Suns Divine Art."

"When you mention it, I remember now," Qin Ming added. "That old man was a swindler. The last time I saw him, someone was demanding a refund, but the old man refused and caused a scene."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, now that you mention it, I remember too," another chimed in. "The old man was rolling on the ground, causing quite a commotion. Eventually, the matter was resolved."

"So, did the people in Lijiazhai buy this thing from that old man?" Everyone looked at the thin booklet in Chen Fan's hands with skeptical eyes.

Chen Fan felt somewhat embarrassed. Had he been fooled?

"Sorry, Xiao Fan," Gao Yang said with an awkward smile. "I thought it might be something good."

"It's okay, Uncle Gao. Don't worry about it," Chen Fan reassured him.

As they continued walking, Chen Fan decided to give it a read anyway. He couldn't lose anything by reading it.

But as he turned the pages, his eyebrows furrowed. Who wrote this? The handwriting was atrocious, and it seemed like the author was overly proud of each stroke.

"Is this thing even reliable?" he wondered inwardly.

Suppressing his discomfort, Chen Fan read the first page. Slowly, his frown began to ease.

What was this "Meteor Arrow Technique"? It looked rather impressive. The bow was drawn like a full moon, and the arrow was released like a shooting star. This archery technique emphasized speed, utilizing a unique method of exerting force to increase arrow velocity.

It was said that at a certain level, it could even stimulate the blood within the body, enabling the use of a secret technique called the "Chained Meteor Arrow."

The "Chained Meteor Arrow" involved shooting several arrows consecutively, each faster than the last, creating a stunning effect where the next arrow hit the previous one. The more arrows used, the greater the spectacle.

To aid comprehension, the author had thoughtfully included sketches that spanned two pages.

Chen Fan's attention was drawn to the phrase "inspire qi and blood." He recalled his recent encounter with an antelope. It had required minimal effort to draw the bow, yet it had left him feeling physically drained.

Could this be the so-called stimulation of Qi and blood? The more he pondered, the more he considered asking Uncle Zhang about it when he returned.

He turned back two pages to delve into how to practice this archery technique. The instructions were straightforward, and some of the content aligned with his recent experiences.

"Is this archery legitimate?" he wondered, his excitement growing as he turned a page back. But to his shock, it was missing. Apart from some basic training methods, there was nothing related to stimulating Qi and blood or the Lianzhu Meteor Arrow.

Flipping back once more, his gaze fell on the hand-drawn illustrations spanning two pages. He couldn't help but feel annoyed. Wasn't this a bit too simplistic? And people actually bought this?

Chen Fan tucked the booklet into his pocket. He hadn't expected much from it in the first place, so he couldn't say he was disappointed.

Never mind. While he still had some distance to cover on his way back to the village, he might as well assess his gains.

With a thought, the attribute panel appeared before him.

He had already strengthened his attributes once, and this time, they had all increased by 10%.

Realm: Body Tempering Triple Layer

Grade: 7 (0/64)

Physique: 51.34

Strength: 35.38

Agility: 22.80

Spirit: 11.79

Potential Points: 30 (7 points/1 day)

Experience Points: 162

Experience points had soared, with most coming from the people of Lijiazhai. Killing a person provided 7-10 experience points, while antelopes yielded only 6-7 experience points each.

Additionally, there was now a plus sign next to the Body Tempering Triple Layer.

"It's reached the breakthrough threshold?" Chen Fan exclaimed in surprise as he clicked on it, but his smile quickly faded.

While he had met the physical fitness standard with a physique over 50 points, the success rate of breaking through was less than 30%. To achieve a 100% success rate, the average of physique, strength, and agility had to reach 45 points.

Unfortunately, aside from meeting the physical fitness standard, his strength was only 35 points, and his agility attribute was less than 23 points—far from the required average.

Chen Fan sighed wryly, understanding that advancing through a major realm wasn't that simple.

Uncle Zhang had mentioned that even in a village as large as Zhaojiabao, only one or two people had reached the Meat Refining level.

"It's not bad, though. A few more attribute reinforcements should get me there," he thought, sensing that the current breakthrough required the average of the three attributes but might factor in mental attributes in the future.

"Not only does my body need strengthening, but I also need to improve my skill level," he concluded. His gaze moved downward to check the proficiency of [Basic Archery], expecting substantial growth after shooting so many arrows in succession.

But when he looked down, he was taken aback.

Something was amiss.

The skill column, which usually had [Zhang's Taijiquan] at the top, now displayed an additional line of small text next to it.