Chapter Seventeen: The Art of Appraising Precious Treasures!
At noon in Z City, on the hillside behind Central High School, a solitary figure moved continuously through the woods. After a morning of classes, Fang Can had gone straight to a secluded spot after school to diligently practice the Tiger Sha Eighty-Eight Forms.
Originally, the arsenic he could obtain from the otherworld was limited to one pill per day, but upon his return, the supply became abundant, with his stockpile swelling to over seventy pills, achieving arsenic freedom. Moreover, with the real world serving as his base, as long as he could afford it, he could produce these low-value substances at will.
Over the next three days, unless forcibly transported elsewhere, he would have enough arsenic to treat it like a staple.
Within the small grove, as Fang Can repeatedly practiced his martial arts, his mind also pondered.
“One pill of arsenic only sustains the genius mode for an hour. In theory, the remaining seventy-two pills are enough to last me three days of trial.”
“But as my strength increases, the lethal threshold of arsenic on my body lowers, meaning the effect of genius mode will gradually wane until my body develops immunity.”
“At the same time, as my physical condition improves, so does my digestive system.”
“What used to take an hour to digest may soon shorten, until one day the arsenic melts instantly upon ingestion. I’ll definitely need to find something stronger and deadlier in the future.”
As these thoughts raced through his mind, Fang Can maintained his movements, cycling through his cultivation method repeatedly, striving to raise his strength by any margin possible.
Meanwhile, on the other side of Z City, inside a small room, a stunning young woman dressed in ancient attire held a sword in hand, pointed at a modern man with a bruised and battered face.
Having just arrived in the present world, she had run into a would-be robber in a narrow alley and promptly dealt with him, hoping to extract information.
The man trembled in terror, repeatedly kowtowing and begging, “Great one with supernatural powers, please have mercy and spare me. I won’t dare do it again.”
Seeing his pitiful state, the young woman furrowed her brows and questioned, “Spare your life? That’s not what I asked for. Also, I am not some supernatural being. Now tell me, where is this place?”
“Where is this place?” The man hesitated for a moment before answering, “This is my home.”
“Don’t play dumb.” The woman lightly raised her arm, and a sharp sword qi sliced through the wooden table before them, splitting it in two.
“What I want to know is which country this is, who the strongest martial artist is and their realm, and why these mechanical contraptions are so… novel?”
She glanced around the room’s furnishings—things even she had never encountered before.
Suddenly, her expression grew cold as she sensed a large number of people stealthily approaching from several dozen meters away.
“When was I exposed?” she thought.
But now was clearly not the time to dwell on that, for with a thunderous crash, the fully steel-reinforced security door burst open, and a young man wearing a law enforcement body camera on his shoulder stepped inside.
“Let me introduce myself. My name is Li Qing’an, a prefecture-level supernatural operative of the New Nation Dragon Unit. I suggest you—”
Before he finished, a terrifying pressure radiated from the young woman.
“Did I ask you to speak?”
It was a pure and overwhelming oppression that could drive an ordinary person mad instantly.
If Fang Can were here, he would immediately recognize this pressure as similar to that of the ancient steward he had encountered before.
Only this presence was dozens or even hundreds of times more terrifying in magnitude, far beyond what any normal mind could withstand.
In an instant, all the guards who had been sneaking in nearby lost consciousness under the crushing aura.
The self-proclaimed prefecture-level supernatural operative fared slightly better, only collapsing to his knees in a daze.
In the blink of an eye, everyone present lay incapacitated.
The law enforcement camera recorded everything in real time, causing panic among the headquarters staff monitoring the operation.
The analysts’ expressions tightened as they quickly reported:
“The prefecture-level ability user ‘Flame God’ has lost combat capability. The target exhibits multiple abilities including enhanced physical traits, reactive force fields, energy, and mental attacks. Dispatch reinforcements immediately.”
Information was relayed upward rapidly. At the Dragon Unit headquarters, the scar-faced man before the screen had heard the report within half a minute.
“Oh? So this is what otherworldly martial arts look like? This performance… is it the Transcendent Mortal Body or the Ascension Path?”
“This kind of martial arts training is much more balanced than supernatural powers, which tend to develop only within their own domains.”
The scar-faced man, Ji Donglai, pondered for a moment and then asked slowly, “Who are the prefecture-level supernatural operatives stationed near Z City?”
“There’s Cloud Hidden Hero, Rotten King, and the Holy Separator. Oh, and the Patchwork Monster is there too!” the operator responded.
“Let the Patchwork Monster handle this. It’s just the right fit for the situation. Remember, capture him alive,” Ji Donglai said nonchalantly, only to be met with silence from the other end.
“What’s wrong?”
The operator replied cautiously, “Just received word that Rotten King is already en route.”
“Let him go then. It’s manageable anyway.”
Cutting the line, a screen before Ji Donglai lit up, revealing the face of an elderly man from the Dragon Hidden Base.
“Old Yang, what’s the matter?” Ji Donglai folded his hands.
“Director Ji, I have a research report on the otherworldly individual that requires your review,” the elder said gravely, careful not to show any disrespect.
The Dragon Unit was the largest supernatural organization in the New Nation, and Ji Donglai was its supreme leader—one of the most powerful figures in the entire country.
Furthermore, no one outside knew what his abilities were, for those who had seen him in action were basically dead.
“Oh, the report is ready so soon?” Ji Donglai showed a hint of surprise.
“Yes. We used the Precious Item Identification Technique on that Transcendent Mortal Body martial artist,” Old Yang explained.
The so-called Precious Item Identification Technique is a special supernatural ability usable only once per day, capable of directly analyzing the composition of others.
Like examining a vase, it reveals its components, origin, structure, and even the maker.
The more ordinary the object, the more detailed the information; the rarer or more abstract, the more vague the results.
As Old Yang transmitted the document, Ji Donglai calmly opened the file to browse.
At the beginning was a photo of a long-haired man bound tightly by thick titanium alloy chains, trapped inside a pristine white chamber.
Name: Pei Xing
Realm: Transcendent Mortal Body
Flesh Mutation Degree: 52.76%
Cultivation Method: Five Elements Intercalation Skill
Martial Art: Myriad Forms Xingyi Fist
Composition: Flesh Meme, Human-Shaped Wish Machine