Chapter 127: Chapter 125: Saving Her (Part 1) The remaining eggs were all taken by Lou Yi for experiments. He found out that Armor-Piercing could only be used once every half an hour. This determined that the skill could only serve as a trump card and not a common technique. Through testing, Lou Yi discovered that when the distance was more than two steps, the eggs would at most have some cracks. It seems that the damage of the advanced skill Armor-Piercing decreased geometrically with the increase in distance. Which means, to inflict the greatest damage on the enemy, there must be zero-distance physical contact. As for the so-called belief effect, Lou Yi also tried using the control variable method. The controlled distance was two steps. With the first axe strike, he emptied his mind, thinking of nothing, and a barely noticeable crack appeared on the egg’s surface. With the second axe strike, a strong desire for the egg to shatter arose in his heart, as if it were his mortal enemy. ’Crack!’ The egg actually shattered. And Lou Yi felt a dizziness in his brain, akin to the fatigue after staying up for two nights. ’A backlash, huh...’ Lou Yi wasn’t worried about harming himself, as long as he had enough energy, the Attribute Panel could instantly heal him. Next, Lou Yi started testing the maximum damage level of Armor-Piercing in zero-distance meat-to-meat contact. He bought several live chickens and sheep from the market, and even had Liu Yuan bring him an old cow. In meat-to-meat contact situations, the live chickens and sheep were instantly killed, and when dissected, their organs were all smashed into mush. As for the old cow, it was only killed by Armor-Piercing on the third attempt. After all, the output and strength of a cow’s heart is more than five times that of an ordinary human. And a martial artist’s heart, at least a high-level martial artist’s heart, is surely stronger than an ordinary cow’s. However, even if it can’t cause instant death, inflicting massive damage on the opponent, causing them to lose certain mobility, can still achieve the effect of turning the tide of battle. Furthermore, the power of Armor-Piercing increases as one’s strength continues to grow. Axe skill advanced to Minor Achievement, gaining a third advanced axe skill. The skill improvement stops here for now. Lou Yi decided that moving forward, he would focus entirely on talents and the Breathing Technique. ... A week later. The day had arrived to retrieve the Heart-Eroding Grass from the Beast Hunting Bureau. Lou Yi stepped into the main district, frowning. "Here again?" Above the few residential homes around the Beast Hunting Bureau’s residence. Silhouettes silently lay prone. They wore blue clothes, blending almost seamlessly with the blue tiles, not noticeable unless one looked closely. Judging from their aura, they were very similar to the two who had previously ambushed Lou Yi. "The Xu Family really is relentless." Lou Yi took out the slingshot, swung it in an eight-character formation, and the stone followed the line of the rope’s tangent, being rapidly hurled out, faster than a regular arrow. ’Whoosh!’ It hit a bird flying low in the sky. The bird free-fell from the air and landed squarely on one person. "Damn, what the hell!" The man exclaimed in shock, nearly falling off the roof. The other lurking individuals rushed over to check. Taking this opportunity, Lou Yi’s figure flickered as he entered the Beast Hunting Bureau. The Beast Hunting Bureau was under the City Lord’s Mansion, related to the government’s reputation. No matter how much power the Xu Family had, they couldn’t make a move inside. This time, the guard was replaced by a young man with a shadowy countenance. He had three conspicuous moles on the right side of his cheek, dressed in a white scholar’s robe, and he was the only one present on site. "May I ask what you need?" The scholar was quite polite. "I’m here to collect seven stalks of Heart-Eroding Grass." Lou Yi handed over his token. "Oh, you’re Liu Shu, right?" The scholar raised his head to confirm, a flicker of oddity in his eyes, "Please wait a moment while I get it." After waiting for a moment without any movement, Lou Yi sensed something was amiss. He jumped over the counter and went straight to the inner room. There, he could see black wooden cabinets closely aligned against the walls, with many drawers hanging atop, similar to a pharmacy. However, the scholar who had just gone inside was nowhere to be seen, and the wooden door at the back of the inner room was wide open. Without hesitation, Lou Yi rushed towards the wooden door, swiftly navigating through twisting passages, and exited through another door of the Beast Hunting Bureau. ’Whoosh!’ Executing his Light Body Technique, he blended like a phantom into the crowd on the distant street. Lou Yi looked towards the east, squinting his eyes. There, several powerful auras were rapidly approaching, each with a cultivation level above Minor Circulation. ’The Beast Hunting Bureau won’t be so easy to visit from now on,’ thought Lou Yi. The Xu Family wouldn’t dare to act inside the bureau, as that would insult the City Lord’s Mansion. But placing spies to report information is definitely something they can do. After all, the guards of the Beast Hunting Bureau do not have an official rank; they are all regular Beast Hunter Guards working for task contributions. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎 Thinking of that scholarly man in white with three moles on his face, Lou Yi felt a surge of murderous intent. If people don’t provoke him, he doesn’t provoke them; if anyone ever provokes him, he will certainly repay them when he gets the chance. Lou Yi left the area and returned to the southern part of the city. When he passed through a familiar alleyway, he suddenly stopped. At chest-height on the seventh tree in this alleyway was a shallow symbol carved. This was an agreement he had made with Shi Qingde; if either needed help, this was how they would notify each other. "I was just thinking about finding Shi Qingde to have him get the Heart-Eroding Grass for me," Lou Yi thought, "and I could also ask Shi Caifeng about those rare treasures we can’t get. Perhaps she has the privilege to look at the top-grade exchange register." Without hesitation, Lou Yi changed his direction of movement and soon arrived in front of the ’Shi Family Pawnshop’. Just as he was about to go in, a voice called out from behind. "Liu brother, over here!" Lou Yi turned around and saw Shi Qingde sneakily waving to him from an alley entryway. Walking over, he found Jiang Chenyu, Yan Ze, and a few other familiar faces there. However, they were not in good shape, each sporting bruises and covered in injuries. "What happened?" Lou Yi asked. "Oh, don’t even mention it." Shi Qingde looked gloomy, "My sister can’t get out, and the Caifeng Squad is likely on the brink of disbandment." As he listened to the story, Lou Yi’s expression slowly turned strange. The reason being the eternal topic: marriage. Shi Caifeng liked women, he knew, and her family was naturally even more aware. But she was already in her twenties, which in this world certainly made her a late-blooming young lady. She had often been away from home, so her family couldn’t do much about her. But this time, her father seized the opportunity and locked her up at home. And he issued a tough threat, say she could never leave if she doesn’t get married. Shi Qingde and his team went to rescue her but were beaten out, each with some flesh wounds. "Liu brother, this time we have to rely on you," Shi Qingde looked at Lou Yi pitiably. The other teammates also cast hopeful looks. "What do you want me to do, storm in and kidnap her?" "Exactly, my dad said I could call for help," Shi Qingde said excitedly, "At that time, you just keep my dad busy so he can’t attend to everything. We will go and rescue my sister, right?" "What’s your dad’s cultivation?" "Seven Blood only," Shi Qingde said sheepishly. "Full Cycle? You’re overestimating me," Lou Yi was speechless. If it weren’t Shi Caifeng who was trapped, he would probably turn around and leave immediately. As he was now, he could match against Great Circulation, but he was still quite far from a Full Cycle peak martial artist. Full Cycle martial artists represent nearly perfect physical strength, each having a force of ten thousand pounds, even if they advance to the Martial Artist level, they wouldn’t improve much. Moreover, his skills were mainly in some lethal techniques. Facing Shi Qingde’s dad, his hands would be tied, and he would be less capable than usual. "Don’t worry, I have a clever plan," Shi Qingde said slyly, "My dad is a heavy drinker, and I’ve already put ’Mongolian Powder’ in his drinks. He’ll definitely get wasted soon, without suspicion. Maybe you won’t even need to do a thing!" Lou Yi couldn’t help but laugh and cry. Giving knockout drugs to his own dad, Shi Qingde was indeed a character. "Will it work?" Shi Qingde looked at him pitifully, the other team members also cast their gazes, putting pressure on Lou Yi. "Let’s give it a try." Lou Yi pondered slightly and replied. Anyway, it’s not dangerous, so he might as well join in their nonsense once. He could also take the opportunity to witness Full Cycle’s abilities. ... Inside the inner courtyard of the Shi Family Pawnshop. An elderly man in black with slightly greying temples but hardly any wrinkles on his face lay ungracefully on a bamboo cot. His clothes were half undone, barefoot on the ground, holding a wine gourd, and pouring it into his mouth, oblivious to the wet stain spreading on his chest. "Ah, troublesome!" The barefoot elder was worried about his daughter’s life decisions, feeling troubled. As he drank, a sense of drowsiness seemed to be creeping up. With a ’clatter’, the wine gourd dropped to the ground. In a room next to the courtyard, a few people were nervously observing the situation through a crack in the door. Seeing this scene, they were all overjoyed. "Liu brother, go and test it out. My sister’s happiness depends entirely on you!" Shi Qingde said shamelessly, handing Lou Yi a key. Lou Yi was speechless but still walked up and found that the elder indeed had no reaction, even snoring had started. Behind him, there was a white stone slab exposed on the ground, about the size of an ordinary door panel. This was the entrance to the cellar where Shi Caifeng was trapped. Lou Yi took out the key, just about to go forward and unlock the door. "Who are you?" a voice suddenly sounded behind his ear. ...