“Certain death? What about those residents of Hope City who were broken and crushed? They were the same,” Yu Hong said calmly. “Rather than placing my fate in the hands of the united forces and relying on others for protection, I would rather depend on myself. At least if I die, I won’t be filled with fear.”
“Straightforward!” Li Runshan clapped his thigh.
After confirming the subsequent orders and postal services, Yu Hong stepped out of the stone house, and it was already past four in the afternoon.
The sky was beginning to darken, slowly dimming.
Furrowing his brow, Yu Hong quickened his pace and returned to the cave.
A few minutes later, he dashed into his yard and felt the comforting glow of the Radiant Grass surrounding him, instantly feeling a surge of security.
Looking up at the sky, he didn’t enter the house this time.
Instead, he stood outside, staring at the Radiant Grass in his yard.
‘Since the Radiant Grass can restore its energy by itself, can I use it directly to set up a large talisman formation? That way, this large talisman can benefit from the Grass’s self-restoration capability and enhance its radiation field.’
With this thought in mind, Yu Hong quickly went into the cave.
Before long, he pulled out some large radiant powder and began to bury it around the cave entrance.
In no time, a massive and intricate talisman formation was set up.
The cost was that Yu Hong’s newly stocked large radiant powder was completely used up.
If some parts didn’t have enough lines, he dismantled a previous ordinary talisman board and buried the radiant powder inside the soil.
After he finished, another half hour passed, and the sky was on the verge of being completely dark.
Wiping the sweat from his brow, he put his hands on his hips, standing at the center of the yard’s formation.
Then he stretched out his hand and pressed it down on the ground at the formation's center.
‘Strengthen the large talisman formation, aiming to combine the Radiant Grass’s automatic energy-recovery feature within the formation.’
With a whoosh, a black line flashed across the back of his hand and flowed into the ground.
‘Do you wish to strengthen the large talisman formation?’ A voice from the black imprint resonated in his ear.
Success!
Yu Hong gazed at the enormous countdown appearing on the ground.
‘19 days 21 hours 30 minutes.’
‘Nineteen days is expected, but if I can truly strengthen the combination, the shelter’s resistance to the shadow creatures will definitely improve by another level!’
Every encounter with the shadow creature consumed a large amount of black imprint time to restore the talisman formation, causing him great trouble.
If he could save this time, then he could use the black imprint elsewhere without being stuck recovering the talisman formation.
‘Begin strengthening.’
Yu Hong firmly responded to the black imprint, feeling hopeful as he entered the cave to start a fire and cook some soup.
In the time that followed, he planned to be cautious, taking no risks or sudden movements; with no means to replenish the silver talisman and large radiant powder, he had to conserve the talismans as much as possible.
Fortunately, the other Radiant Grass in the yard saved him a lot of talisman energy, avoiding daily consumption by the shadow creature.
As daily training continued, time flowed away, marked by Yu Hong’s relentless practice of the Heavy Leg Technique.
After condensing his eighth inner energy point, he felt a strong sense of crisis from the recent attacks by the shadow creatures.
Thus, in accordance with the characteristics of the Heavy Leg Technique, he began increasing his weight to the limit, then adapted to it before often seeking out Old Li to spar.
In the blink of an eye, two weeks passed.
Outside the postal stone house, in the yard.
The cool sunlight cast down onto the grass and illuminated two figures facing each other.
On the left stood a tall and robust man dressed in a camouflage protective suit, appearing strong and muscular.
On the right was a sturdily built man, but his protective suit was rather exaggerated, at least twice as thick as the one on the left.
Particularly his lower body, with legs that resembled tree stumps, firmly planted in place, unmoving like a mountain.
Even more surprising was the rough, enormous wooden shield this man was holding.
Standing over a meter tall, over ten centimeters thick, the triangular wooden shield was anchored into the ground, looking extraordinarily stable.
The shield was a pale yellow, emitting a fresh wood scent, with plenty of splinters along the edges, indicating it had been haphazardly carved without much polishing.
“Xiao Yu, did you make that shield yourself?” the man on the left couldn’t help but ask.
“Yeah, I just finished it a while ago. I was just getting used to it in the house before bringing it out to practice now,” replied Yu Hong, who had become sturdier after two weeks of training.
He had thought a lot about how to increase his weight and improve the efficiency of the Heavy Leg Technique, and his final method was to craft shields and weapons.
The shield had been completed first; a weapon was still in the works, chosen from the heavy Yin Ironwood.
Yin Ironwood was a type of hardwood in the nearby forest, light yellow with straight and neat grain, and it had a scent similar to camphor.
“How heavy is this shield?” asked Li Runshan, one of the three nearby residents.
Wearing an advanced Lynx suit, he looked at the thick wooden shield capable of blocking most of the other man’s body, feeling a bit envious.
“Ah, I don’t really know, but it feels about the same weight as that white stone you have outside, Li Ge,” Yu Hong honestly answered.
Li Runshan’s envy turned to pain at that moment.
He knew the weight of that large white stone; if the wooden shield was the same weight, then Yu Hong must have gained strength too quickly.
“Are you tired?” he wondered if they should pause their sparring to avoid causing any injuries.
“Not really, I can handle it for a short time,” Yu Hong replied.
Now, he was holding a wolf tooth club and the giant wooden shield, plus the reinforced White Bear suit, with a total weight exceeding one hundred sixty jin.
This load consumed his stamina quickly; based on previous tests, with such a load, every minute of action cost one inner energy point.
But it didn’t matter; he simply used it for training.
Since he increased the weight, he felt the condensation of his inner energy was much faster than before.
Clearly, the instructions for the Heavy Leg Technique stated that the heavier the weight, the higher the efficiency — it was not just for show.
“Come on, Li Ge, let’s have a round,” Yu Hong said, holding up his giant wooden shield for the first time.
He felt eager to test it out.
Originally, he planned to wait for the butcher Xu Fan and others to come take their gear before asking to spar.
But it seemed the recent attacks had delayed the butcher’s arrival to fetch the Blue Whale suit.
“Alright, but be careful,” Li Runshan replied.
He would never let go of the imposing image of a father while his daughter was nearby.
He pulled out a short knife from his thigh, but upon seeing the thick armor-like suit across from him, he put it back with a sigh.
“With your weight, an average person can’t handle you directly, but the trade-off is that your agility goes way down. So defeating you is quite easy.”
As soon as Li Runshan finished, he dashed forward, stamping his left leg on the ground.
With a burst of momentum, he combined his waist and leg strength, pivoting sideways to kick!
The kick gathered all his power into one point, utilizing the inertia from his sprint, striking swiftly at the upper half of Yu Hong’s shield.
However, Yu Hong, weighed down as he was, couldn’t react in time, only managing to raise his wolf tooth club.
In the air, the shield was hit square on.
Bang!!
A heavy, muffled sound echoed as Yu Hong felt a jolt throughout his body.
With the shield weighing three hundred jin, he was nearly knocked off balance by that one kick!
Yu Hong tightened his back leg, shaking slightly before bringing the club down in retaliation.
His speed may have been slower, but what did it matter if his opponent was quick? They couldn’t break through his defenses!
Whoosh!
That swing missed entirely.
The wolf tooth club smashed into the ground, creating a deep black soil pit.
Yu Hong’s vision blurred, and before he could retract the club, he noticed Old Li had vanished.
In the next moment, he heard a slight whoosh from his right side.
Bang!
He raised his shield, merely shifting its direction a bit, blocking the right side completely.
The heavy whip kick struck the shield fiercely, generating palpable force.
But unfortunately, it was of no use.
Over ninety jin of solid wood plus Yu Hong’s thick armor didn’t even let a scratch through.
Then, Yu Hong constantly moved the giant wooden shield, guarding against attacks from all directions.
He remained in place, like a fortress, as Li Runshan flanked him with fast strikes.
His heavily armored suit and his shield, firmly anchored in the earth, stood like an unmovable mountain all while Yu Hong remained unaffected by Li Runshan’s vigorous assaults.
Two minutes later...
Puff, puff, puff!
Li Runshan leaned against his knees, drenched in sweat and red-faced, exhausted to the point where he could hardly speak, only staring helplessly at Yu Hong.
What on earth was that shell? He’d been using his strongest leg techniques to move around for two minutes.
And yet Yu Hong merely swayed a little, as if it were all a joke.
Not only had he sustained no injuries, but he hadn’t even moved an inch!
“You can’t keep doing this,” Li Runshan finally managed to catch his breath to speak. “Your defense is indeed strong; no one can damage you in close combat. But what about firearms? You can’t keep up with my speed. If I toss you a grenade, you won’t even have time to dodge, and it would be certain death.”
“I think it’s fine. For firearms, I can use weapons to make up for it. Just deal with opponents from a distance, right?” Yu Hong’s voice came through the thick helmet.
He felt unprecedentedly good.
His ninth inner energy point in his abdomen had mysteriously condensed to near completion during his sparring with Li Runshan, and it seemed it would soon fully form.
“How about armor-piercing rounds? How would you dodge? No matter how thick your armor is, it won’t compare to a tank’s.” Li Runshan rebutted. “Your strategy makes you a target. Sacrificing agility is not worth it.”
“Li Ge makes a point, but even against heavy armor-piercing rounds, if you’re singled out, how can you dodge? Can a human outrun a bullet?” Yu Hong countered.
He didn’t take it to heart; his training followed the Heavy Leg Technique method where heavier loads meant faster cultivation.
He just wasn’t able to share that.
“If your leg technique makes progress, you might not outrun a gun, but you could outperform the person shooting it,” Li Runshan chuckled.
“No worries, I’m not likely to be targeted by armor-piercing rounds anyway. I'm just an ordinary citizen, not stealing or robbing, living clean without any criminal record. Who would go out of their way to hit me with heavy armor-piercing rounds?” Yu Hong scoffed.
He felt entirely secure practicing this way.
“Alright then, as long as you’re happy,” Li Runshan sighed. “But you need to change your weapon; a wolf tooth club is useless against distant foes. You need some long-range means to expand your attacking range.”
“Any suggestions?” Yu Hong asked.
“I recommend a long chain meteor hammer and a gun mount fixed to your suit; your armor is thick, and there’s plenty of room to attach it. You could get a grenade launcher or a poison spray system to tackle distances — it would be quite convenient,” Li Runshan advised with a smile, offering his valuable suggestions.
(End of Chapter)