Chapter 60 - 61: Ultimate Thunderbolt Leg, Iron Cloth Shirt 3rd Layer

Chapter 60: Chapter 61: Ultimate Thunderbolt Leg, Iron Cloth Shirt 3rd Layer

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.

Su Chen was already used to Tao Wenxuan’s bureaucratic tone. Thus, the moment the magistrate walked in, Su Chen didn’t waste any time and directly presented Wei Jie’s severed head.

"Ah!"

The head tumbled onto the floor with a heavy THUD. Wei Jie’s dead, fish-like eyes stared blankly upward as a foul stench of blood and rot rapidly permeated the air.

A maidservant standing nearby shrieked in terror, immediately covering her mouth and nose, her face pale with fright.

The advisor, who had just been sitting and chatting with Su Chen, shot up from his chair the instant he saw the head. His expression shifted rapidly before finally settling into a tense grimace.

Tao Wenxuan handled it slightly better. He stared at Wei Jie’s decapitated head for a long while before looking back at Su Chen with a light chuckle. "Yang the Warrior, you are truly formidable! To think even a figure like Wei Jie would meet his end at your hands. This is a joyous occasion for the County Magistrate’s Office!"

"Men!"

After his praise, Tao Wenxuan summoned a servant to bring out the prepared 300 taels. However, instead of heavy silver this time, it was provided in silver notes.

Su Chen inspected the payment before stuffing the silver notes into his robes. He then bid his farewell. "Magistrate Tao, I have urgent matters to attend to, so I won’t intrude any longer. If you ever have similar assignments in the future, as long as the price is right, you can always seek me out."

taels for a single job was a price that genuinely moved Su Chen, so he offered these slightly insincere words to Tao Wenxuan. Hearing this, a smile bloomed on Tao Wenxuan’s face. "Easy to arrange. Advisor, please see Yang the Warrior out!"

"Yes!" The advisor nodded.

Su Chen paid it no mind. Just as he stepped forward to leave, he suddenly paused and turned back to Tao Wenxuan.

"Yang the Warrior, is there something else?" Tao Wenxuan asked upon seeing this.

Su Chen replied, "While killing Wei Jie, I inadvertently stumbled upon some information. I wonder if Magistrate Tao would be interested in hearing it?"

"What information?" Tao Wenxuan blurted out. He quickly caught himself and chuckled lightly. "I am willing to pay ten taels of silver to purchase this information from you. Would that suffice?"

"This news is related to the Rebirth Sect."

"Twenty taels!" Tao Wenxuan pursed his lips and held up two fingers.

Su Chen smiled. Hiding the exact details of his battle with Wei Jie, he told Tao Wenxuan about the meeting between Wei Jie and the two men in black.

Upon hearing this, Tao Wenxuan fell into deep thought, his expression gradually growing solemn. However, he didn’t press for finer details. Instead, he said to Su Chen, "Thank you, Yang the Warrior. This information is highly important to me. I shall personally see you out."

With that, he walked out alongside Su Chen, while the advisor followed closely behind in silence.

As the three stepped out of the County Magistrate’s Office, Su Chen waved his hand. "There’s no need to see me any further!"

Then, under the watchful eyes of the two officials, he turned and left. Staring at Su Chen’s retreating back, Tao Wenxuan spoke in a hushed tone, "Send someone clever to follow him. I want to know his true background."

"Understood!"

Not long after leaving the County Magistrate’s Office, Su Chen sensed someone trailing him.

This pursuer’s tracking skills were far superior to those of the gang from Lanye Town. They maintained a constant distance, making themselves incredibly difficult to detect. Had Su Chen not been naturally vigilant, even he might not have noticed them.

After leading his tail on a winding route through the streets, the presence suddenly vanished. This puzzled Su Chen. "Did they give up so quickly?" he wondered.

Fortunately, Su Chen kept his guard up and didn’t immediately head back. It wasn’t long before he noticed a different stranger tailing him.

"It seems the tracker guessed I’d spotted him, so he changed his disguise to continue following me," he mused.

Su Chen shook his head, secretly clicking his tongue in amazement. With tracking methods like these, anyone else would have undoubtedly fallen for the trick.

However, he didn’t mind. He simply found an inn, treated himself to a hearty meal and plenty of drinks, and then got up to leave.

After spending the time it took an incense stick to burn to completely lose his pursuer, Su Chen changed his clothes, blended into the bustling crowd, and returned home.

On the table sat a pile of silver—his entire harvest from the past half-month.

"300 taels for Wei Jie’s head, twenty taels for the information, thirty-nine taels looted from his corpse... Added to the silver I already had, that makes exactly 377 taels!"

After counting the silver taels, Su Chen shifted his gaze to the newly acquired manual. Calling it a manual was generous; in truth, it was merely a few loose pages.

After studying it for a while, Su Chen finally figured out its name: Thunderbolt Leg.

This name wasn’t explicitly written; rather, Su Chen deduced it from the contents and coined the title himself. Even if it wasn’t the exact original name, it had to be close. After all, he had personally experienced Wei Jie’s kicking techniques, and they were undeniably powerful!

"The order of these pages seems jumbled. Wei Jie probably shuffled them on purpose," Su Chen concluded after flipping through them several times. Fortunately, they were merely out of order, not missing. He spent an hour meticulously organizing the manual, only breathing a sigh of relief when it finally appeared on his system interface.

"This Cultivation Technique perfectly compensates for my lack of leg skills. Not only will it improve my travel speed, but it will also enhance my offensive kicking power. For me, this is an excellent Cultivation Technique!" Su Chen thought to himself. With his current level of insight, he could naturally distinguish the quality of a Cultivation Technique. Once mastered, his strength would surge significantly.

"I’ll upgrade the Iron Cloth Shirt first. If I have any silver left over, I’ll upgrade the Thunderbolt Leg," he decided.

After brief consideration, Su Chen finalized his plan. He deposited two hundred taels and activated the simple mode. After soaking in warm water for half an hour, he successfully elevated the Iron Cloth Shirt to the third layer.

The interface refreshed: [Martial Arts: Iron Cloth Shirt - Incomplete, 0 times (Extreme Turtle Shell Skill + 20 portions of Qi and Blood Powder / time)]

This sudden change took Su Chen by surprise. He hadn’t expected the requirements for the next Iron Cloth Shirt upgrade to revert to Qi and Blood Powder and an Extreme Technique. After his initial shock passed, a wave of annoyance washed over him. Had he known, he would have bought more Red Blood Grass.

"I only have six stalks of Red Blood Grass left, which means I can only brew six portions of medicine at most. I’m still short by fourteen portions. Sigh, it seems I’ll have to make another trip to Medicine Town."

Su Chen felt a bit helpless but eventually accepted his reality. He had already been there once, so a second trip wouldn’t hurt. As long as it allowed him to grow stronger, what did it matter if he went a few more times?

"I still have plenty in my balance. I might as well use Krypton Gold to push the Thunderbolt Leg to its limit," he muttered.

Looking at the remaining silver on the table, Su Chen began to use Krypton Gold on the Thunderbolt Leg. The simple mode for the Thunderbolt Leg simply required kicking: fifty, one hundred, and then one hundred and fifty kicks. For someone like Su Chen, this was as effortless as drinking water, and he completed it in no time.

Pushing the Thunderbolt Leg to its absolute limit required gold. Su Chen made a quick trip to the Money Shop to exchange for ten taels of gold, which he then used to Krypton Gold the Thunderbolt Leg to its peak.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH.

In the courtyard.

Su Chen was currently testing the power of the Thunderbolt Leg. With a single kick, the sound of tearing air echoed. A mere afterimage blurred past his eyes before he swiftly retracted his leg.

He was highly satisfied with the results of the Thunderbolt Leg test. In terms of raw power alone, the Thunderbolt Leg was comparable to the combined might of the Iron Sand Palm and the Iron Wire Fist. However, when it came to speed, the Thunderbolt Leg was clearly vastly superior.

"Next, let’s test the power of the third layer of the Iron Cloth Shirt!" Sensing the surging strength within his body, Su Chen spoke with eager anticipation.