Chapter 012: Beautiful Dreams

Su Jingxing pulled out his secondhand phone from his pocket and glanced down. Hm? Three minutes!? He had spent ten years in the “Martial Drill Card” space, yet only three minutes had passed in reality?

This… this was incredible.

After his initial shock, Su Jingxing was overwhelmed with joy. The Martial Drill Card’s ability was nothing short of miraculous, completely compensating for his lack of innate talent. What level could he reach after training the Seven-Step Fist for ten years? Taking a deep breath, he set his phone aside, walked a short distance away, and began practicing the Seven-Step Fist.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—

The moment he moved, the wind from his fists howled. His mastery of the techniques and footwork, the swift shifts and agile movements, all flowed with remarkable ease. Striding straight ahead—one step, two, three, four, five!

With a thunderous crack of air, Su Jingxing executed five consecutive steps before having to pause.

Five steps of the Seven-Step Fist, executed to near perfection!

After tirelessly practicing the Seven-Step Fist for ten years within the drill space, Su Jingxing had reached a level of mastery that was exceptional. While not the absolute pinnacle, it already surpassed the vast majority of practitioners. The technique originated from the Wei Family Martial Hall, and it had been over a decade since anyone there had attained this level.

Now, Su Jingxing’s strength approached three thousand jin. If he used the Seven-Step Fist to its fullest, taking five steps in a single burst, he could unleash a force exceeding thirteen to fourteen thousand jin! In terms of sheer strength alone, Su Jingxing was stronger than most Grade Seven martial artists.

With just one Martial Drill Card and mastery over the Seven-Step Fist, Su Jingxing now possessed some means to protect himself in Qinghe City. He was one step closer to avenging himself against Wan Rong!

Exhaling slowly, Su Jingxing calmed his mind and ended his practice.

The Martial Drill Card!

Compared to Skill Cards, these were far rarer and much more effective. He had obtained this one from a Corpse Puppet, and to get another, he’d likely have to find another Corpse Puppet. But Corpse Puppets weren’t common—they caused panic in the forestry town with just their presence, and eleven people had died because of one.

If Su Jingxing wanted another Corpse Puppet, he would have to “make” one himself.

First, steal a corpse, then leave it in the wild and wait for corpse-breeding parasites to infest it, transforming it into a Corpse Puppet. Before it became active, he would have to chop it to pieces and retrieve the card.

He would have to oversee every step of the process himself. Not to mention whether his martial arts could even break the terrifying body of a Corpse Puppet, the first step alone—stealing a corpse—was already extremely difficult.

From the moment corpses entered the crematorium, they were monitored until they were reduced to ashes. Even as a member of the corpse collection team, Su Jingxing couldn’t simply steal one.

As for finding bodies elsewhere… Forget it. The more he thought about it, the more frustrating it became. Shaking his head to dispel these thoughts, Su Jingxing steadied himself, picked up his phone, and left the back mountain.

First, he went to the canteen for dinner. Then he wandered around the facility, hoping to pick up a few more cards.

[Corpse found. Do you wish to retrieve the card?]

Hm?

Walking through the corridor, Su Jingxing suddenly paused and looked around. There were no bodies nearby—why did the prompt appear?

Puzzled, he took a few steps back, and the prompt vanished. Moving forward again—

[Corpse found. Do you wish to retrieve the card?]

The prompt reappeared!

Stepping forward, it disappeared again. Stepping back, it showed up. Going farther back, it vanished. After repeating this several times, Su Jingxing finally understood.

The prompt was limited to a certain range!

If he was outside or not within the range, there was no notification. And this range included the other side of the corridor wall.

Circling around, Su Jingxing reached the other side and indeed found a corpse lying in the corner.

This was the back entrance to the farewell ceremony hall, where bodies would rest briefly before being brought inside. The earlier prompt had clearly come from this corpse.

But there was a problem: the corpse was more than two meters away from the specific spot in the corridor where the prompt had appeared!

“Has the retrieval range increased?”

Delighted, Su Jingxing realized this was the only explanation—he now got prompts even without being right next to the body. Previously, the prompt only appeared within one meter of a corpse. How far had it expanded now?

Suppressing his excitement, Su Jingxing walked toward the body, carefully testing the distance.

Sure enough, the retrieval range had expanded! From one meter before, it was now three meters.

“Why did it increase?”

After his initial joy, Su Jingxing pondered, thinking back on the day’s events. The increase couldn’t be due to the Corpse Puppet, and the Martial Drill Card was only for martial arts training. The only possible reason was the Soul-Pacifying Card and the Soul-Nourishing Pellet he obtained by unlocking it!

Soul power?

“My soul power increased, so the retrieval range expanded?”

Understanding this, Su Jingxing was filled with indescribable joy.

This surprise was even more exciting than the Martial Drill Card.

The logic was simple. If the retrieval range grew with his soul power, then as long as he kept consuming Soul-Nourishing Pellets, one day he could cover the entire crematorium—perhaps even all of Qinghe City!

If that day came, he could lie at home in bed and collect cards at will.

Growing stronger while lying down—it was almost too good to be true.

Tsk!

Swallowing hard, Su Jingxing forced himself to calm down and left the corner. Only after walking some distance did he regain his composure.

The dream was beautiful, but achieving it would not be easy. Compared to Martial Drill Cards, Soul-Pacifying Cards were even harder to obtain. At least he knew Corpse Puppets could provide Martial Drill Cards, but as for Soul-Pacifying Cards, he had no clue how or why they appeared.

He had reviewed the information on all ten members of the patrol team whose bodies he’d worked with—none of them stood out. The only Grade Nine martial artist among them had yielded an Inner Strength Card.

So, which corpse had produced the Soul-Pacifying Card? Su Jingxing had no way of knowing.

Without knowing the source, acquiring another would depend entirely on luck.

Increasing soul power to expand the retrieval range and cover the crematorium would be a long and arduous journey!

After all the excitement, in the end, he still had to diligently move corpses, collect Vitality Cards, Strength Cards, and occasionally Inner Strength Cards.

He’d originally planned to visit the black market that night, but after all the fuss with these two cards, he’d lost interest.

Fortunately, he was only a few dozen Vitality Pills short of three hundred.

If he waited another two days, he’d probably have enough.

With that thought, Su Jingxing spent the next day diligently transporting corpses and helping with extra shifts.

Another day passed.

By evening, he had finally accumulated three hundred Vitality Pills.

After consuming all the Strength Pills he obtained, both of his arms now possessed over three thousand jin of strength.

Without even using the Seven-Step Fist, Su Jingxing’s strength was on par with an eighth-grade martial artist.

Of course, true eighth-grade martial artists were not defined by strength alone—the key was Inner Strength, and the ability to project it outward!

How was this done? When striking, the Inner Strength followed the punch into the opponent’s body, erupting then and there to rupture tendons, blood vessels, and bones, or lying in wait to destroy the internal organs later.

That was the essence of true outward projection!