Chapter 372: Is Your Judgment of Stronger Aura Off?
Chapter 372: Is Your Judgment of Stronger Aura Off?
Three days had passed, and Qin Muye, who was just scraping by at the bottom, was quite calm. However, the upper echelons of Qingwu City were far from peaceful.
Someone had challenged the Pan Gui Martial Hall, and the old hall master was severely injured, barely clinging to life.
This sudden incident turned the once peaceful Qingwu City into a place of hidden turmoil. Even if the old hall master recovered, he would never return to his prime.
Without this formidable combatant, the once powerful faction had become a juicy target.
The provincial governor wanted to eliminate the martial hall to gain political capital, the chief of police desired the martial hall's resources to strengthen himself, and the financial tycoons wanted the Pan Gui Martial Hall's legacy, the Pan Gui martial arts, as a foundation.
However, everyone was still civilized and wouldn't act too crudely. They would at least wipe their mouths clean before showing their fangs.
They estimated that they could hold out for about ten more days, waiting until after the old hall master's death and the completion of the seven-day mourning period before making their move.
Qin Muye scratched his head. This had come quite suddenly. He hadn't expected the Pan Gui Martial Hall to collapse before he could fully obtain what he needed.
"Hmm, wait a moment. According to the usual process, 'I' should go to learn martial arts, and then 'I' would save the day?"
"No, that doesn't fit the timeline. No matter how fast I learn, I can't possibly become strong enough to fight a 4th-stage opponent in just one day."
"Or is it because I lack the protagonist's aura, so the situation has come ahead of time?"
"Strangely, that's a real possibility."
Qin Muye thought about it. He had previously planned to infiltrate the Pan Gui Martial Hall. If he had done so, that man in the windbreaker would have challenged him, not the hall master, because he had the aura of a strong person.
Just as he was thinking this, the towering man in the windbreaker visited his small shop again.
"Boss, you should understand the loneliness of being invincible, right?" The man handed over a 10-cent coin, clearly wanting a bottle of soda.
Qin Muye quickly opened a bottle of soda and included a straw, then said, "I don't know. How would I know about that?"
Invincible? Invincible my ass. He had never been invincible, whether in the Magic Continent server or the Sorcerer Dynasty server. There were always various powerful enemies, and while he had managed to overcome them, it didn't mean he was invincible.
The man drank the soda in one gulp, then put down the empty bottle and bowed, saying, "I am Li Xiang, a true disciple of the Northern Secret Martial Arts, the Mad Lion School. I hope you will grant me your guidance."
"..." Qin Muye felt a wave of WTF. He realized that his temporary skill, "Stronger Aura," was taking effect.
But a martial artist seeking guidance from a convenience store owner was just too out of place.
"What are you talking about? I don't understand," Qin Muye said with a puzzled expression.
"Boss, don't pretend. Your distinctive and outstanding aura, your unyielding gaze of a strong person, made it clear to me from the first meeting that the strongest person in all of Qingwu City is not those useless drunkards, but you, the owner hiding in this convenience store!" Li Xiang said with determination.
"Ah, this... Are you misunderstanding something? I'm just a weak, ordinary person, not a strong person. If you want to fight, you should go to the Pan Gui Martial Hall," Qin Muye said, feigning helplessness.
Li Xiang was a bit suspicious, but then he decided that Qin Muye was just unwilling to act. He confidently struck out, but his fist stopped right in front of Qin Muye's nose.
'No reaction? Did I guess wrong?' Li Xiang quickly withdrew his hand, which had moved so fast it seemed like a blur.
His punch was both an attack and a test. When he saw that Qin Muye had no martial instincts, he didn't hit him. Otherwise, Qin Muye would have definitely counterattacked. For a martial artist, his previous move was not just a provocation but an insult.
"What did you just do? My vision went dark for a moment," Qin Muye suppressed all his instincts. If he hadn't, this guy would have ended up as minced meat, the kind that couldn't even fight back.
"Cough, maybe it was a fly. I was talking nonsense because I drank too much. Boss, do you have anything to sober up? Give me something," Li Xiang said awkwardly.
"Sorry, I run a small convenience store. I don't have that kind of thing," Qin Muye said, shrugging.
"Alright, I'll leave then. Please keep what happened just now a secret. It would be too embarrassing to say this..."
"I understand. It would be too shameful to say, wouldn't it? You're a grown man, and you're acting so childish."
Qin Muye continued, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Boss, give me two more bags of the bread from the day before yesterday. I’ll take it with me."
Li Xiang also breathed a sigh of relief, feeling grateful that the other party had helped him cover up the lie. What a good person!
After paying, he grabbed the bread and hurriedly left. He found it a bit strange that he had misjudged the situation.
As a martial artist, one naturally wants to challenge stronger opponents to improve their own strength, not to bully ordinary people. If one were to do that, they probably wouldn't progress far in the martial arts.
Martial artists are driven by their spirit and determination. If they only bullied the weak, they would likely reach a dead end in their martial journey.
"Phew~ I managed to bluff him away. It seems my aura of strength has upgraded. What the heck is this?"
Qin Muye suddenly noticed a "+1" symbol had appeared after his aura of strength, indicating that he had gained an upgrade by winning.
"What kind of ridiculous aura of strength is this? He was bluffed away, so shouldn't it be considered a loss? I chickened out, how can this count as a win?"
He then carefully examined the temporary skill and realized that victory didn't necessarily mean winning a fight. This meant that Qin Muye could win through bluffing, deception, gambling, or even verbal persuasion.
Thus, when Li Xiang was bluffed, it was counted as a win for Qin Muye.
"What a stupid skill. If all strong people were like this, it would be a disaster," Qin Muye complained.
"If this keeps upgrading, I’m in trouble."
He shuddered. At +1, the influence of his aura of strength was already significant. If it reached +999, he would truly become a walking taunt.
The original taunt aura only targeted characters related to the plot, but this aura of strength targeted all extraordinary beings, and it was a growing skill.
"Damn~ I absolutely cannot let this ridiculous temporary skill grow!"
This temporary skill had hidden benefits that Qin Muye hadn't yet discovered. As the skill grew, so would the hidden benefits, but he didn't enjoy the trouble it brought.
Fortunately, the skill only targeted extraordinary beings, and while there were many of them, he didn't often interact with them.
After all, only Li Xiang, who had come to inquire, had encountered him. Other martial artists rarely passed by his small shop.
"However, extraordinary beings are not necessarily martial artists. It seems there are other systems of extraordinary beings. Otherwise, the temporary skill would have directly used 'martial artist' instead of 'extraordinary being.'"
Qin Muye deduced from this that there were indeed other systems of extraordinary beings. The spirits were already investigating, but most of the extraordinary beings discovered so far were martial artists.
This was because martial artists who opened schools to recruit apprentices left various traces, making them easier to track.
As for why they opened martial schools, it was simple: they needed money.
In Qingwu City, the gangs were not only connected to the provincial governor but also to the Pan Gui Martial Hall. Moreover, the Pan Gui Martial Hall had its fingers in various industries such as transportation, salt, and iron, and collaborated with major financial tycoons for money laundering and other activities.
The Pan Gui Martial Hall itself represented a massive web of interests.
The martial hall and the government and financial tycoons in Qingwu City formed a mutually beneficial relationship, allowing the martial hall to remain above the fray.
However, all this was predicated on the presence of a 4th-stage hall master. Now that the hall master was gone, why would the government and financial tycoons share the rich spoils with the martial hall?
"I’ll worry about that later. Let me focus on my current tasks first." He had a lot of experiments to conduct, and he hadn't even finished with the divine artifacts yet.
Moreover, he still needed to process the insect gene bank. By the time he finished all this, who knew when it would be.
As for the extraordinary systems in the Secret Martial World, Qin Muye didn't need to worry about them. The spirits would handle everything for him, even capturing various samples. He only needed to find time to study and research; there was no need to micromanage these small matters.
His Endless Abyss was now a major force, not a minor one.
(End of Chapter)
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