From bone collectors to the supreme ruler of humanity

Chapter 56 [Black Tiger Fist Technique]

The two of them each took five or six steps back.

Lin Yan gripped the knife tightly again.

The blade is bent; it can no longer be called a blade.

He casually tossed the knife to the sidelines.

He struck Fang Dahai's fist with the first level of the Overlapping Wave Force.

The second strike is in the elbow.

Fang Dahai sneered and was about to say that his palm technique was still lacking in refinement when the third level arrived.

The palm struck his chest, denting his armor, and Fang Dahai was sent flying backward, crashing onto the bluestone slab.

He tried to stand up, but he knelt down again halfway up, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth.

"Again."

Lin Yan looked down at his hands.

My hands are trembling.

Looking at his trembling hands, Lin Yan didn't waste any words and walked directly towards Fang Dahai.

Fang Dahai stood up again, and the short halberd had somehow returned to his hand.

At this moment, the way he stared at Lin Yan had completely changed.

It wasn't anger, but the kind of expression you'd have when someone who's fought half their life suddenly encounters a reckless junior—a mixture of admiration and inexplicable frustration.

"You have a foundation in berserk mode."

Fang Dahai stood up, dragging his short halberd, wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand, and said to Lin Yan, "You've only been a captain for a few months, where did you learn all this from?"

"I learned it from the dead."

Fang Dahai didn't ask any more questions.

He forced out the last bit of true energy from his body, leaving a trail of sparks as the tip of his halberd dragged across the ground, and then lunged forward.

This halberd strike wasn't a thrust, it was a sweep.

The true energy enveloped the halberd's wind, blocking all of Lin Yan's escape routes.

Lin Yan used his Swift Steps to their fullest extent, dodging the first three gusts of wind in succession.

The fourth strike hit his right shoulder, and blood streamed down his sleeve, soaking half of his cuff red. But as he was hit, he immediately applied his stacked wave energy.

This time it's quadruple.

He never mastered the fourth level of power.

When he tried it himself on the cliff, he could only manage three hits at most. But at this moment, he didn't want to back down.

The fourth force originated from the dantian, passed through the broken ribs, through the still bleeding shoulder, and finally poured into the palm, slamming solidly onto the handle of Fang Dahai's short halberd.

Crack. The iron halberd shaft broke.

Fang Dahai's wrist bent at an unnatural angle, his true energy was scattered, and he fell backward.

Lin Yan stood in front of him.

He couldn't lift his right hand at all, so he used his left hand to pick up the badly bent knife from the ground and pressed the tip of the knife against Fang Dahai's chest.

"Are we still going to fight?"

Fang Dahai forced a smile that looked more like a grimace.

"You freak."

Before he could finish speaking, his head lolled to the side and he fainted.

The referee raised his flag, his voice trembling slightly: "The supply battalion—wins!"

The remaining less than twenty soldiers of the Left Vanguard Battalion who were still holding on were all stunned.

Fang Dahai was their backbone. This iron-willed commander was always the one who beat others into admitting defeat. Today, he fell on the training ground, his wrist broken and his halberd broken.

A squad leader from the Left Vanguard Battalion threw his wooden sword on the ground.

"We're not fighting anymore. The supply battalion won on their own merit."

The other soldiers looked at each other and also threw down their knives.

At the edge of the training ground, Xiong Kuo and Sun Dayong helped Lin Yan up.

His right shoulder was still bleeding, his right arm was hanging down, and his fingertips were still trembling.

But he used his left hand to lift the hundred-refined sword, which was bent beyond recognition, and showed it to all the brothers present.

At that moment, Cao Yan, who was in the stands, suddenly remembered someone.

Gu Changshan.

Twenty years ago, Gu Changshan, the commander of the Mountain Battalion, stood on the training ground in the same way, covered in wounds, his sword dulled, yet he still stood there.

Cao Yan stood up and nodded to Lin Yan.

This nod was seen by everyone present.

No one whispered anymore.

Lin Yan was helped back to the supply camp.

He had just stopped standing when a little girl suddenly appeared out of nowhere and threw herself into his arms.

Lin Xiu cried out urgently and hoarsely, "Brother! I saw you bleeding—"

"It's alright."

He raised his left hand and rubbed her head.

Several figures approached from behind at the same time. Ye Qingxue supported his shoulders, gently pressed him back into the chair, and took the wound medicine and strips of cloth handed to her by Lao Meng. Her hands moved quickly, and her face was paler than usual.

Xiong Kuo looked down at the curved sword. "This sword has been with you for a year, and today its service is complete."

"Let's switch to another one," Lin Yan said.

"Of course."

Xiong Kuo nodded. "Change to the best one."

After the Left Vanguard Battalion withdrew, the training ground was cleared.

Several servants scattered sand on the ground and roughly swept the bloodstains on the bluestone slab into the ditch.

Fang Dahai was carried to the sidelines by his personal guards. He woke up when Lao Meng set his bones, wincing in pain. When he saw Lao Meng's face, he thought he was a judge from the underworld.

"Who the hell are you?"

"The medic of the supply battalion."

Without looking up, Lao Meng spoke to Chongfang Dahai, "Don't move your broken hand, or it won't be able to be reattached."

Fang Dahai turned his head and saw Lin Yan sitting on a chair not far away, with a strip of cloth wrapped around his right shoulder. A little girl was squatting at his feet wiping away tears, and a woman in a blue shirt was applying medicine to him.

"Lin Yan," Fang Dahai called out, enduring the pain.

Lin Yan looked up.

I owe you a drink.

Fang Dahai said, "I'll treat you to drinks when my hand is healed."

Lin Yan didn't reply. He patted his sister's head with his left hand and then nodded to Fang Dahai.

After the drill ground was cleared, Cao Yan stood up.

"The supply battalion won two rounds in a row. According to the training regulations, they will receive a bye in the third round and will compete in the final against the winners of the other three battalions."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over Lin Yan, "But there are too many wounded in the supply battalion, so you'll have three days to rest."

It was already evening when they returned to the courtyard. When Chen saw Lin Xiu helping Lin Yan into the house, she put down her needlework and stood up.

"Mother, it's alright," Lin Yan said first.

Chen didn't say anything, and turned to go into the kitchen.

In the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea, a basin of hot water and a clean cloth were brought out.

She cut open Lin Yan's sleeve and saw the gash on his shoulder caused by the halberd's wind. Her fingers trembled slightly, but she continued to wash and apply medicine to the wound, her movements very gentle, without uttering a single word.

Lin Xiu clung to his left arm, refusing to let go.

"Brother, can you please stop letting people hit your shoulder in the future? Last time you broke a rib, and now it's your shoulder again—"

"Okay," Lin Yan said.

"You always agree so readily." Lin Xiu buried her face in his sleeve. "When Mother's health improves, when you don't have to go to the training ground every day—"

"Soon."

Lin Yan leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

Before I knew it, I had truly established myself in this world.

As long as I am in the Zhenbei Army, even the Eastern Palace wouldn't dare to easily touch me, right?

Finally, I can relax a little.

Since arriving in this world, he has been either being chased or on his way to be chased every day. If he hadn't met Ye Qingxue, he would probably be dead by now.

Lin Yan looked up at the sky.

His eyes were complicated, and it was impossible to tell what he was thinking.

Suddenly, the sound of horses' hooves came from outside the courtyard gate. A soldier jumped off his horse and walked up to Lin Yan.

"Deputy Commander Lin." A soldier handed over a wooden box. "Commander Cao ordered me to deliver this, saying it's a prize for today's martial arts exercise."

Lin Yan took it and opened it; there was only a thin booklet inside.

Black Tiger Fist Technique

"The commander said that your last palm strike today was quite interesting," the sergeant relayed. "This boxing manual was obtained by the commander in his early years. He said that if you practice it to a high level, you can tear apart tigers and leopards. He thinks you can master this skill."

Lin Yan turned to the first page. On it was a human figure in a lunge stance, throwing a punch, and several winding lines marked the path of true qi circulation.

The second and third pages contain two martial arts techniques: "Black Tiger Steals the Heart" and "Hungry Tiger Pounces on Its Prey".

Lin Yan turned the pages one by one, his brows furrowing more and more as he read.

This fist technique was completely different from any military fist techniques he had ever seen. Military fist techniques focused on head-on clashes, relying on physique and internal energy reserves. Black Tiger Fist, however, taught how to break through an opponent's defenses with minimal force—shoulder, elbow, wrist, fingers, every joint could become a weapon.

The last line of the boxing manual was written by Cao Yan in small characters:

"This fist technique does not cultivate internal energy; it trains the explosive power within the muscles and bones. Simply relying on internal energy may not necessarily make it more powerful."

Lin Yan closed the boxing manual and shut his eyes for a moment.

Just now on the training ground, he pushed the Stacking Waves Force to the fourth level. When he struck out with that palm, he could vaguely feel the true energy in his dantian flowing through his bones and unleashing power throughout his body.

It turns out that someone had walked that road before.

"Thank the governor for me," Lin Yan said to the soldier.

The soldier clasped his hands in a fist salute, mounted his horse, and rode away.