Chapter 3: Divine Abilities

The pharmacist had his own ideas and said, "Give him more spirit blood to drink, as much as possible! Each time he drinks spirit blood, it will slightly enhance his physique. If he drinks enough of it, even though it won't awaken his spiritual body, his physical abilities will surpass any spiritual body!"

"One punch to kill a dragon," the village chief laughed. "He will definitely scare those bastards outside of Da Xu."

The two exchanged a smile, and the pharmacist walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

The next day, the villagers brought several Ironbone Tigers, Azure Pythons, Thunderbirds, and Golden Turtles. With these targets in mind, the old men and women were full of enthusiasm. However, the pharmacist became angry and said, "If he drinks too much spirit blood at once, he might explode!"

The dumb blacksmith, who had dragged two Thunderbirds, grinned with his tongue missing.

"Qin Mule can handle it!" Aunt Si was full of confidence in Qin Mule.

The pharmacist glared at them and remained silent. He took out some insect eggs to continue refining blood, but trouble arose again. This time, there was a large amount of the Four Spirit Blood, and after Qin Mule drank it, his body inflated like a balloon, making the old men and women extremely nervous, fearing that he would explode with a bang.

The pharmacist took out several hollow silver needles and inserted them into Qin Mule's back and the crown of his head. The needle holes emitted streams of red, blue, and purple gas.

After a moment, the silver needles stopped emitting gas, and the pharmacist removed them. He then glared at the old men and women and said, "Take it step by step. You want to stuff him with food and make him fat, but that will only kill him! He's still feeling bloated right now, so all of you will have something to do. Butcher, practice knife techniques with him. Ma, practice boxing with him. Lame, accompany him in leg exercises and help him digest."

"Mule, let's practice with the knives!"

The butcher pushed himself up with his hands and surprisingly jumped onto a wooden stake. He had no lower body, only his upper body standing on the stake, reaching a height similar to Qin Mule.

The butcher held two pig-killing knives, different from ordinary ones. Ordinary pig-killing knives were less than a foot long, with a round wooden handle and a blade shaped like a three-quarter moon.

The pig-killing knives in the butcher's hands looked similar to ordinary ones, but several sizes larger. They were three feet and two inches long, with a thick back and a thin, shining blade. When the two knives were put together, they resembled two arched doors, incredibly large.

Qin Mule's pig-killing knife was of the same size, but there was only one blade. It was very heavy, weighing around twenty catties. In his ordinary days, he could only lift one pig-killing knife, but since he had taken the Four Spirit Blood, his strength had increased significantly. He could now effortlessly wield the pig-killing knife in one hand without feeling its weight.

"Grandpa Butcher, be careful!" Qin Mule shouted as he charged toward the butcher on the wooden stake, wielding his knife with one hand. The butcher laughed heartily, exuding an air of grandeur despite only having half a body.

Night battle, wind and rain fill the city!

Qin Mule's knife danced up and down, his footsteps shifting as he slashed at the butcher. The knife movements became faster and faster, the sound of the wind whistling along with the rapid flashes of the blade, creating a seamless flurry of motion.

"Too slow, too slow! You're too slow!" The butcher shouted, his two knives spinning and striking like raindrops, creating a clanging sound reminiscent of a torrential downpour. He sternly commanded, "Faster! Faster! Your pig-killing knife can be even faster! The Night Battle, Wind, and Rain technique require speed. Your pig-killing knife should be as fast as the wind and rain in the dark, spreading throughout the city! Faster!"

The knife movements accelerated, resembling three silver dragons swirling and darting around the wooden stake. The wind grew stronger, and the sound of the knife's Qi mingled with the whistling wind. As the blades struck the ground, deep marks were left behind.

Those were knife marks.

"Very good, just this kind of speed! The faster your knife, the stronger your knife's Qi. But you're still not fast enough. You must be fast enough to make your knife's intent burn, ignite, and burn again!" The butcher went wild, his hands skillfully maneuvering the knives, bewildering Qin Mule. He shouted, "Burn! Burn! Let your knife burn, let your Qi burn, let your spirit burn! After burning, you will manifest divine abilities!"

His knives cut through the air, causing them to ignite with a whooshing sound. The two blades moved like two fire dragons, increasingly spectacular in their momentum.

The fire dragons charged directly at Qin Mule, seemingly unstoppable, but suddenly, the two fire dragons soared into the sky, tearing apart the darkness that shrouded the remnants of the old village, creating a breathtaking sight.

Qin Mule was stunned. The butcher's knives were truly terrifying.

Darkness surged over the village, swallowing the fire dragons, the gleaming blades, and the knife Qi.

The darkness seemed alive, as if it was angry at the butcher's defiance, and it pressed down on the village, threatening to consume it entirely.

However, the stone statues at the corners of the village suddenly emitted a brighter light, pushing back the darkness.

"Damn it all!"

The butcher stood on the wooden stake, holding his knives with both hands, and shouted to the sky, sounding somewhat insane: "I will split this darkness open, I will kill my way back! I may have lost my waist and my legs, but not my head! I will kill..."

"Grandpa Butcher has gone mad again. But his knife is truly fast, he has refined his knife technique into divine abilities. When will I be able to practice as fast as him?" Qin Mule admired the frenzied butcher and put down his pig-killing knife, going to find One-Armed Ma.

"The butcher's knife manifests flames as his divine abilities, while my fists manifest the sound of thunder as mine!" One-Armed Ma's face turned serious, clenching his fist. The bones made a crackling sound, and he calmly said, "Mule, when you can grasp thunder and lightning in your hand, your fists will be considered accomplished. The butcher's knife is fast, but my fists transcend the limitations of sound, break free from the constraints of the air, and unleash unparalleled power! A single hand can also practice boxing, a single hand is equivalent to a thousand hands, and a single hand can produce the sound of thunder!"

Boom!

A muffled thunderclap resounded as Ma threw a punch, echoing like thunder.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A series of thunderous sounds followed, and Qin Mule's naked eye couldn't capture the speed at which One-Armed Ma threw his punches. The residual image of his fist made him see not just One-Armed Ma but a multitude of arms.

One-Armed Ma's punches became faster and faster, and those myriad arms within his palms seemed to hold thunder and lightning, crackling with electric light. Each strike was accompanied by thunderous roars, with sparks of electricity flying around.

"This is the Thousand-Hand Buddha from the Eight Thunderous Sounds! As long as your fists are faster than the sound, you can control thunder and lightning, every punch can destroy the opponent's soul and body, preventing them from reincarnating for eternity!"

One-Armed Ma retracted his fist and said in a deep voice, "Attack me using the Thunderous Sounds I taught you, make the sound of thunder, grasp thunder and lightning, and control the thunderstorm with your fists!"

Qin Mule focused his mind. Today, both Ma and Grandpa Butcher had taught him something different from before. Previously, they had only taught him knife and fist techniques, but this time, they both mentioned a word.

Divine abilities!

This word sounded unfamiliar to him. It was the first time he had heard it.

Qin Mu, having displayed the Eight Thunderous Sounds, attacked One-Armed Ma. Despite having only one arm, Ma effortlessly blocked all of Qin Mule's attacks without any effort.

Unlike the butcher, who seemed insane but always handled his swordplay with precision, never harming Qin Mule, Ma showed no mercy. Whenever Qin Mule left an opening in his moves, Ma would strike with a punch. Although the punches weren't heavy, Qin Mule quickly ended up battered and bruised.

It wasn't until Qin Mule couldn't continue that Ma allowed him to rest.

"Legs are wind, they are the earth, the root of strength."

Limping on his crutch, the one-legged man taught Qin Mule leg techniques. Previously, Qin Mule thought of the one-legged grandfather as the most normal person in the village, always smiling in a simple and reliable manner.

However, since the one-legged man, with his simple smile, stabbed the woman who crawled out of a cowhide by the river, Qin Mule had become somewhat uncertain.

The one-legged man's smile concealed a knife, and no one knew if his smile was genuine or fake.

Smiling, he said to Qin Mule, "Mule, the butcher boasts about his knife, Ma praises his fists, but true divine abilities lie in the legs. When you can't kill or defeat your opponent, what do you do? Of course, you run! Life is not just about poetry and distant lands, but also about survival! Being alive is the real victory! As long as you can run fast enough, you can sprint on walls, on water surfaces, and even in the sky! Run fast enough, and everything becomes level ground, flames and air alike! When the sound can't catch up to you and lingers behind your ears, then you can consider that you have achieved the initial stage of leg techniques as divine abilities. Mule, come, let's train with iron ingots."