Martial Dao: Peace by Force

Chapter 229: Chapter 164: Intelligence Increase! Advent of a Ferocious Creature

With that, he stood up and leaned forward slightly.

”Just focus on getting better. Don’t worry about anything else. I’m still counting on you to help me gather Martial Skills. I wouldn’t trust anyone else with the job.”

Tie Qingyang froze.

Staring at Wan Ze’s face, he suddenly felt the suffocating tightness in his chest loosen a bit.

The sunlight outside was just right.

It warmed the heart.

...

Night fell. The evening wind poured through the crack in the window, whining with a bone-chilling cold.

Inside the room, a desk lamp was on.

Three teetering stacks of books were piled on the desk, and another fifty or so were scattered on the floor. Some were lying open face-down, while others had been stacked up to be used as a stool.

The entire room seemed to be drowning in books.

Wan Ze finished the last page, closed the book, and rubbed his eyes with a yawn.

Just then, a cool sensation suddenly surfaced in his mind.

The feeling was hard to describe.

It was like a cool breeze on a muggy summer night, instantly turning the murky air crystal clear.

All his fatigue and muddled thoughts were swept away in that instant.

Wan Ze felt his mind become clearer than ever before. Everything he had read seemed to be sorted and categorized by an invisible hand, neatly arranged in his head.

He paused for a moment, then smiled.

After coming back from the hospital today, he had passed by a bookstore and bought over a hundred professional books in one go.

Philosophy, history, logic, semiotics... anything he could get his hands on, he brought back.

And now...

’Hard work pays off.’

Wan Ze immediately looked at his Attribute panel.

...

[Intelligence: 2.49]

...

’Finally... it went up by another 0.02.’

’I’m just one final push away from 2.5.’

Wan Ze gave a huge stretch. Just as he was about to grab the next book, there was a knock on the door.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK...

CREAK!

The door opened a crack, and a head poked in.

Xiaoyu, her hair in a ponytail and her eyes sparkling, wore an expression that screamed, ”I need a favor.” When she saw Wan Ze was reading one of those massive books thick enough to kill someone with, her mouth fell open. She tiptoed inside.

”Brother—”

The moment she opened her mouth, Wan Ze knew what she was about to ask. ”No.”

Xiaoyu grew anxious and scrambled over to him. ”Brother! I haven’t even said anything yet!”

”Good. I don’t want to hear it.”

”Brother!!!!”

Xiaoyu drew out the word, yanking his sleeve back and forth. She twisted her body like a pretzel, shamelessly trying to wheedle him.

She shook him so much that he could barely hold his book steady. He put it down with a sigh of resignation. ”Alright, spit it out. What is it?”

Xiaoyu’s face immediately lit up with a smile. She leaned in and lowered her voice. ”Brother, after school today, I ran into my classmate’s mom. She kept asking about our family...”

”About what?”

”You know... how we suddenly moved into a big house, why Dad’s work is suddenly treating him so well, and she also asked what you’re doing every day instead of going to school...”

She blinked. ”Brother, are you up to something big?”

Wan Ze looked at his sister’s curious face and smiled.

’The changes in our family really can’t be hidden from observant people.’ Of course, he hadn’t tried to hide it intentionally, but it wasn’t the right time to explain everything to Xiaoyu. She didn’t yet understand the meaning of ”keeping a low profile.”

Wan Ze patted her head, avoiding the question. He pulled a workbook from a pile of books and handed it to her. ”You seem to have a lot of energy. Take this back and finish it. I’ll check it tomorrow.”

Xiaoyu looked down, and her face instantly fell.

It was a copy of ”Selected Real Questions from Elementary School Math Competitions,” thick enough to be used as a pillow.

”Brother!!!”

She let out a wail, pushed the workbook away, and bolted. At the door, she shot him a glare before SLAMMING it shut.

Wan Ze shook his head and chuckled.

He had just picked up his book again when his communicator rang.

He picked it up.

”Brother Jia.”

”Ah Ze!” Zhai Jia’s excited voice immediately boomed from the other end, loud enough to pierce through the communicator. ”Hard work pays off! We really found something this time!”

Wan Ze’s spirits lifted. ”Tell me.”

”It’s a good thing you gave us that new info the other day! For the past two days, Brother Yu and I have been digging through all the case files from the last six months, and we finally locked onto an old boss!” Zhai Jia slapped his thigh, speaking excitedly. ”This guy’s a veteran tomb raider who’s been in the business for over thirty years. His nickname is ’Earth Rat.’ He was the one leading the team during that explosion on the east side of Holy City six months ago. Three people died at the scene, but he got lucky and only lost a leg... He’s locked up in the maximum-security prison in South City right now.”

”South City? I’ll go with you,” Wan Ze said.

”No, no!” Zhai Jia refused immediately, laughing. ”Brother Yu and I will go directly. A veteran kingpin like him won’t be easy to crack. Brother Yu and I have experience; we know how to deal with these wily old birds. You just wait for our news at home.”

Wan Ze paused for a moment. ”Be careful, then.”

”Don’t worry!” Zhai Jia hung up with a laugh.

Wan Ze put down the communicator and let out a soft breath.

’As long as there’s progress.’

He went back to his book for a while.

Then he got up, washed his face, and lay down on his bed.

He closed his eyes and activated his Spiritual Form.

BUZZ!!!

The feeling of being pulled washed over him.

When he opened his eyes again, Wan Ze had already landed steadily on his feet.

He could feel solid ground beneath him.

He looked around.

He froze for a second.

It was the ruined temple.

To be precise, it was the place where the Faceless True Monarch Statue was supposed to be.

Wan Ze instinctively looked up at where the statue should have been.

”Huh???”

It was empty.

The twenty-foot-tall stone statue was gone.

Wan Ze raised an eyebrow slightly.

’Did I come to the wrong place?’

But the structure of this ruined temple was clearly the one that housed the Faceless True Monarch Statue.

Wan Ze gave it a quick glance and didn’t dwell on it.

He was just about to begin his Cultivation when, in the next instant, a deafening rumble echoed from the distance.

It sounded like the world was collapsing.

The tremors caused the entire ruined temple to tremble slightly.