Chapter 81: Rotten Brothers
“Endure it, just endure it a little longer—it’ll be over soon.”
Inside Zhou Ming’s living room, he looked no different from some uncle abducting little girls.
He held an alloy syringe in one hand and a strip of black ink-colored band in the other, preparing to draw blood from his own contracted beast, Inkband.
Looking at that syringe thicker than Inkband’s body, Zhou Ming couldn’t help but worry that a single injection might just kill it outright.
However, facing its master’s actions, Inkband could only show a pitiful expression and quietly endure Zhou Ming’s “torment.”
In truth, Zhou Ming drawing Inkband’s snake blood wasn’t torment—it was for cultivating the Beast King Body, a New Martial Arts Manual.
Among the resources required to practice the Beast King Body, one happened to be the fresh blood of a Ferocious Beast. To uphold the spirit of thrift and self-sufficiency, Zhou Ming naturally set his sights on his own beast.
As Zhou Ming’s first contracted beast, Inkband naturally had to take the lead and set an example.
When the needle pierced into the gap between its scales, Zhou Ming comforted it as he slowly pulled back the syringe. When the crimson serpent blood filled one-third of it, he stopped.
He was using his beast’s blood to cultivate the Beast King Body, not to kill it. Drawing any more might harm Inkband.
“Here, have a Spirit Nurturing Pill.”
Seeing Inkband’s listless state, Zhou Ming took a Spirit Nurturing Pill from a small bottle and placed it into the serpent’s mouth as consolation.
“Don’t worry, tomorrow it’ll be Vermilion Jade’s turn. I won’t neglect either of you, my two generals.”
Seeing Inkband’s pitiful gaze, Zhou Ming smiled as he spoke, as if telling it not to worry—it wouldn’t be suffering alone.
Whether it was the promise of a pill or hearing that Vermilion Jade would share its fate, Inkband instantly regained its spirit, coiling around Zhou Ming’s arm and hissing, seemingly urging him to hurry and deal with Vermilion Jade next.
“Haha, you little rascal—can’t stand suffering alone, can you?”
After teasing Inkband for a while, Zhou Ming left it to rest on the sofa and went into his bedroom carrying the syringe.
His bedroom served multiple purposes—bedroom, study, and meditation chamber.
Now, it even doubled as his laboratory.
Fortunately, the room was spacious enough; otherwise, it would have been too cramped for his tinkering.
Aside from purchasing the resources for practicing the Beast King Body from shops near the Hunter Guild, Zhou Ming had also bought some laboratory instruments, including the alloy syringe he had just used.
There weren’t many tools, but they were sufficient—after all, he was only mixing the basic potion required for Beast King Body, not crafting complex elixirs.
The manual contained detailed parameters and steps, so creating the potion wasn’t difficult for him.
A short while later, a tube of crimson liquid appeared in his hand—the main ingredient being Inkband’s snake blood, supplemented with several auxiliary materials.
The potion’s effect was to allow the drinker to absorb the bloodline genes of the Ferocious Beast within the serpent blood, thereby strengthening the martial artist’s body who practiced the New Martial Arts.
“Let’s hope nothing goes wrong.”
Looking at the scarlet potion, Zhou Ming couldn’t help feeling uneasy.
But after recalling how many times he had confirmed the viability of the New Martial Arts—and how its flaws matched exactly what the Stall Owner had described—he no longer hesitated.
He downed it in one gulp, as though savoring fine wine.
The moment he swallowed it, Zhou Ming felt a wave of heat surge through his body, along with a violent restlessness in his heart.
Following the method to overcome the New Martial Arts’ defect, he used his Spiritual Power to suppress his agitation, then began performing the body-tempering movements detailed in the Beast King Body Manual.
Having already trained in the Mad Python Martial Way, Zhou Ming could easily understand the techniques and energy control described within the manual without needing further instruction.
Soon, his skin turned a flushed red, and faint wisps of crimson steam seemed to rise from its surface.
Enduring the burning sensation within, Zhou Ming practiced his punches in the open area of his room, continuously absorbing the bloodline gene power from the snake blood.
After over an hour of practice, the internal heat and agitation gradually faded away.
Boom.
As Zhou Ming finished his set, he suddenly threw a punch into the air—causing a deep, muffled sound to reverberate in the room.
“I didn’t expect the New Martial Arts to be this efficient.”
Feeling the new strength coursing through his body, Zhou Ming marveled at how quickly one could grow stronger through Ferocious Beast Gene cultivation.
Yet, thinking of the cost of materials and the physical and mental strain it caused, he finally understood why few were willing to learn the New Martial Arts despite its power.
Poor people lacked the money; rich people had no need to risk madness.
The risk was too great, the price too high—better to buy a gun and a high-grade combat suit.
After all, anyone strong enough to ignore gunfire already possessed Spiritual Power on par with a professional Beast Tamer, rendering the New Martial Arts unnecessary.
Perhaps only those with iron wills could truly master its strength.
Zhou Ming trained not only because he couldn’t quickly increase his strength through his beasts, but also because his Spiritual Power had already reached its current limit.
Unless he advanced to a professional Beast Tamer, it couldn’t improve further.
So he might as well train the New Martial Arts. Once his Beast Tamer rank rose, he could always stop practicing the Beast King Body.
Moreover, Zhou Ming’s decision to use his beasts’ blood came with a faint instinctual reasoning—something he himself couldn’t fully explain.
After his first Beast King Body practice session, he found his physical attributes had improved by roughly ten percent, which satisfied him greatly.
As usual, he went to the bathroom to soak in a hot bath—a habit he’d developed during his days at the Mad Python Martial Hall.
After every martial practice, he would take a medicinal soak. It had become his way to relax.
As his tired body sank into the steaming water, an indescribable sense of comfort enveloped him.
In the days that followed, Zhou Ming spent his time waiting for the Black Market to reopen while continuing his Beast King Body training, though he didn’t neglect the Mad Python Martial Way either.
The Beast King Body only enhanced physical fitness, but body control required the Mad Python Martial Way for refinement.
For instance, to wield the Thunder Type-2 Revolver, one needed not just physical strength but also mastery over its powerful recoil—otherwise, even hitting a target would be difficult.
That was why the Scorpion-Lion once mistook Zhou Ming for a Gunfighter—mere brute strength couldn’t handle a weapon hailed as the King of Close-Combat Revolvers.
Zhou Ming also kept his promise to Inkband—on the second day, it was Vermilion Jade’s turn to “enjoy” the syringe.
The two “rotten brothers” had fallen from their once blissful days into miserable suffering.
Fortunately, Zhou Ming always fed them Spirit Nurturing Pills afterward, or they’d have been constantly anemic.
Lately, however, both snakes looked at Zhou Ming with changed eyes. If not for the pills—and the restraint imposed by their Spiritual Seeds—they would have already given him a dose of venom… followed by a lash of their tails.
Snake venom to paralyze, tail strike for a painless finish.