Chapter 6: Sneak attack

Li Qi also seemed like a Shaman, muttering incantations and striking strange poses.

But it had to be said, doing this really worked!

Water, flowing from an unknown source, began to gather into Li Qi's body.

The water was like melting icicles in winter, amounting to no more than twenty milliliters, as thin as a thread.

However, this water made Li Qi feel utterly comfortable.

He felt his Spirit Soul being cleansed and his body purified.

His core, limbs, and head were like corners washed by a flowing stream, with the trickling water rinsing away all impurities.

The flowing water also brought a rich life force, causing his body, which wasn't very strong due to a lack of meat, to gradually swell.

Li Qi felt a surge of comfort, and as he looked at his own body, he suddenly saw two progress bars.

Ritual Enhancement: 92%.

Ox Strength Technique Progress: 100%.

For some unknown reason, the progress of the Ox Strength Technique's Spirit Soul Legacy learning suddenly filled up.

Perhaps it was the effect of the ritual's distribution, but no matter what, Li Qi's mind boomed, and he suddenly learned all the key points of the Ox Strength Technique!

It was truly a memory that appeared out of thin air, as if he had suddenly gained ten years of cultivation.

It was like playing a game, clicking on a skill book, and once the progress bar finished reading, he instantly mastered it.

Could a Spirit Soul Legacy achieve such a level?

However, judging by Uncle Liu's appearance, he definitely didn't have this effect.

Why was he so sure? Because Uncle Liu's Wave-Breaking Force was far inferior to his, and according to Uncle Liu himself, his Wave-Breaking Force came from a Spirit Soul Legacy.

Uncle Liu also received a Spirit Soul Legacy, but his Wave-Breaking Force was not as good as Li Qi's own two years of practice.

It's clear that a Spirit Soul Legacy shouldn't allow someone to directly master a technique.

But now, for some unknown reason, he clearly knew in his heart that he had already mastered the Ox Strength Technique!

"The effect of the progress bar? When the progress bar fills up, you directly learn it?" He couldn't help but guess.

The sample size is still too small to confirm; it could also be the effect of the ritual.

However, he was still delighted in his heart; this gamble paid off!

He quickly got up and scurried away, wanting to leave.

People would be driven away after the ritual, and he had snuck in. Although the defenses weren't strict, there were watchmen patrolling at night, so he had to slip away before anyone saw him.

Passing through alleys and turning corners, he cautiously made his way home.

Turning another corner, suddenly, a shadowy stick appeared before Li Qi.

He lacked experience and was ambushed. Although he reacted due to his caution, he only managed to dodge halfway, and the stick struck his shoulder hard!

With a dull thud, the wooden stick actually broke, and Li Qi groaned in pain, half of his body going limp!

Moreover, the person didn't hesitate and swung the stick again!

Li Qi even felt as if someone was behind him!

Half of his body was numb with pain, and he was half-crouched on the ground, almost losing the ability to resist.

A normal person, when struck hard with a stick, would only react this way. If Li Qi hadn't reacted and dodged a little, this blow to the head would have surely resulted in instant unconsciousness.

Even with Wave-Breaking Force training, his body wasn't that fragile, but the opponent's strength was incredibly immense. That wooden stick was clearly a leftover scrap from shipbuilding ironwood, hard as metal, yet it broke with one strike!

But it wasn't over. In the darkness, another stick, swung with full force, whistled through the air, heading directly for Li Qi.

At the same time, Li Qi clearly saw two progress bars in the darkness, both displaying 'Attack'.

There really were two people!

Then, his body seemed to no longer belong to him.

His skin began to harden, becoming like tanned leather. Not only did it lose its elasticity, but even his perception seemed dulled; he couldn't even feel it when he pinched himself hard.

His muscles began to bulge, and a surge of heat rushed to his head!

Bang! The wooden stick struck him hard, and this time, only the wooden stick shattered.

When this blow landed, his body didn't feel pain, but as the force surged in, Li Qi couldn't help but gasp.

Two white columns of air shot out from his nostrils, and a large amount of white gas was released from his body, directly enveloping the attacker's body and momentarily startling his eyes.

The white columns of air were quite strong, even blowing away the residual ash in the corner of the wall with their heat.

Li Qi suddenly felt so strong, as if he could punch through a wall.

With the Ox Strength Technique activated, his body seemed to have a wild ox crammed inside it, visibly swelling up.

Then came a punch!

The person in front, holding the wooden stick, had just been blinded by the exhaled white gas and couldn't react for a moment, completely unprepared, and was hit squarely by a punch.

A crack was heard, and the person's eyes widened!

There were no advanced machines in this world, but if there were, he would definitely describe his current feeling with one sentence—

It was like being hit by a dump truck.

Blood gushed uncontrollably from his mouth, his vision went black, and his entire body was instantly shattered!

As Li Qi threw this punch, the attack from the person behind him arrived as expected.

Li Qi watched the opponent's "Attack" progress bar fill up, but his body's reaction was too slow, so he could only helplessly wait for the attack to stab through.

There was a thud, like the sound of a blunt knife scraping against tough leather armor.

The person was stunned.

This was a knife!

How could there be a person who couldn't be killed by a knife?

No, this person... how did he suddenly grow taller?

Meanwhile, Li Qi's height suddenly increased by a foot, and his entire body volume expanded by one-third.

White smoke billowed from his nose, and his skin turned red, truly a human-shaped wild ox!

He grabbed the attacker and slammed him to the ground.

He originally wanted to restrain the opponent, but with a bang, the back of the person's head directly caved in, and he stopped breathing after a few leg twitches.

This left Li Qi stunned on the spot.

From when he was ambushed until now, it had been less than two seconds.

In less than two seconds, he had dealt with two enemies? And he had even tried to hold back with one of them, but still crushed him instantly.

"Strongmen Gang people... before I could only fight two, but now I can take them down one by one, killing two in two seconds?" Li Qi looked at his hands, somewhat incredulous.

He was already certain they were members of the Strongmen Gang.

Among those who held a grudge against him, only the Strongmen Gang had the strength to break an ironwood stick.

He just didn't know why the Strongmen Gang knew it was him?

Although he had killed someone, he didn't feel any problem with it at all, nor did he feel any disgust, unlike what he had seen before.

After all, the Strongmen Gang people wanted to kill him first. He was forced to kill in self-defense. Even if it went to court, it would be self-defense, so what was there to be disgusted about?

Compared to killing, his attention was now more focused on himself.

The effect of the Ox Strength Technique far exceeded his expectations!

Truly worthy of being a technique!

But now was not the time for surprise. He quickly grabbed the two corpses, one in each hand, lifted them, thought for a moment, and threw them into the water. Then he himself submerged, swam to the bottom using Wave-Breaking Force, dug up silt, found stones, buried both of them, then pressed them down with stones to ensure they wouldn't float up. After that, he washed himself clean and cleared the crime scene.

While he was clearing the scene, he suddenly felt a stifling sensation.

Paying attention to his body again, he saw that a progress bar for the Ox Strength Technique had appeared on him.

"Ox Strength Technique, Duration 95%."

Calculating the time, it was probably around ten minutes?

He immediately deactivated the Ox Strength Technique, and his body shrunk down like a deflated balloon.

Adapting to that powerful strength made him a bit uncomfortable, but according to the memory's description... the Ox Strength Technique could be used three times a day, and if each use lasted ten minutes, that would be very powerful.

"And... the third function of the progress bar is also here," he thought to himself.

The first was to check the situation.

The second, perhaps, was that once the learning progress bar filled up, one could directly master the skill.

The third was this: it could even check the remaining duration of his technique!

With this, plus the Ox Strength Technique, Li Qi clenched his fists.

Give him some time, and he wouldn't have to be a Lifter anymore!