Five days later, in a martial arts hall somewhere in the city.
Bang!
Shi Li fell heavily to the ground.
"Get up and continue."
Except for Thirteen's voice, it was unusually stern.
"Although you have a natural magic weapon, your basics are really poor."
"If you don't have enough skills, you can't get rid of the monster just by strength."
They have done a lot in the past five days.
The first was to continue investigating the monster incident at the market. The daytime investigation was handed over to the yamen runners. Except for Thirteen, who took Shi Li to perform the Moon Shadow Technique to search when the moon was highest every night.
However, the Moon Shadow Technique is short-lived and can only be used for a few minutes each night, and it also depends on the weather.
The situation with the Beast Hound was similar. It could no longer smell any evil spirits on the second night. It was probably that after the Iron-Feathered Bird was killed, the mastermind returned to the scene and did something to hide the scent.
In short, they basically gained nothing in the past few days.
Therefore, the main thing Thirteen did these days was to conduct a series of surveys on Shi Li.
If one wants to teach the art of exorcising demons, one must first understand the person being taught, and that is what he does.
The conclusion drawn from the result is that what Shi Li needs to improve most now is basic combat skills.
The basic skills of combat, to put it more bluntly, are things like kung fu and body movements.
“…”
Shi Li got up and rubbed his joints that were hurt from the fall.
As someone who grew up in peacetime on Blue Star, he also knew that he had great shortcomings in combat.
As the saying goes, once you master one, you will master a hundred. If you can lay down some basic skills here, it will definitely be of great help in your future dungeons.
Therefore, knowing this, he did not allow the [Kung Fu Sheep Rabbit] to possess him, but instead planned to receive training seriously.
"In fact, you may not know that this martial arts school is run by the demon race."
"So I found a demon tribe member to be your sparring partner. It's just right for you to practice with him."
Chu Shisan said this while wiping the sweat from his forehead.
The guy in front of me was very strong, and it took me a lot of effort to knock him down.
Train him personally?
What a joke.
It's okay to try occasionally, but Shisan thinks he can't handle long-term training.
When it comes to physique, the demon race is definitely stronger than the human race.
At this time, a tall man walked into the venue.
This man has thick eyebrows, big eyes and a square face.
He walked steadily and looked quite heavy.
If it were normal times, Shi Li wouldn't pay too much attention to it.
But knowing in advance that the other party was a demon, he felt that there was something strange about this person that did not belong to a human.
"This is the curator here, Master Shi, you two should get to know each other."
Chu Shisan patted Master Shi on the shoulder.
"You can practice with him here today, and I will pick you up at dinner time."
"Master Shi, be careful. This kid is not easy to deal with."
After leaving two words, he left.
"Hehe, hello."
After Shisan left, Master Shi extended his hand to Shi Li.
Shi Li held the other person's hand and felt like he was holding a stone.
"I heard you're very strong."
Master Shi smiled and tightened his handshake.
He actually didn't really believe what Thirteen said.
When it comes to strength, the Stone Demon Clan is afraid of no one.
Being able to open a martial arts school in the city is not something that just anyone can do.
What's more, he is not a human, but a monster.
It is absolutely impossible for a demon to open a martial arts school in a human city without the approval of the Demon Extermination House.
The recognition from the Demon-Exterminating House itself is a symbol of strength.
As the owner of this martial arts school, Master Shi naturally has the corresponding strength and face.
Many young demon hunters would greet him respectfully when they saw him because of his strength and face.
However, Shi Li did not know the other party, so his face was invalid today.
He just felt provoked, so he exerted force with his hands.
(!)
The corner of Master Shi's mouth twitched suddenly, and he felt his hand was pinched in pain.
"Alright, alright."
He smiled stiffly and quickly pulled his hand back, wondering, "Are you sure you are human?"
This time, I began to believe what Chu Shisan said.
"Of course."
Shi Li spread his hands.
Not only am I a human being, I am also a noble poker player.
How can you little monsters compare to me?
"Okay, okay."
Master Shi took two steps back and began to look at the other person carefully.
"But having strong hands doesn't mean other things are great."
As he said this, he began to take off his clothes.
Revealing his muscular upper body.
"Come on, let's arm wrestle."
"?"
10 seconds later.
Bang!
Master Shi's expression looked a little confused.
I clearly tried my best, but why did it feel like I couldn't resist the opponent's strength at all?
Suddenly, he realized that today might be a big day.
No wonder Chu Shisan entrusted himself to train this guy.
An ordinary person, oh no, an ordinary monster probably can't do anything to him!
"Yeah, okay, you're pretty good."
After controlling his expression, Master Shi pretended to be calm and natural: "It seems that I have to show you the true form of the stone demon tribe."
"oh?"
This sentence aroused Shi Li's curiosity to a certain extent.
Since entering the dungeon, not counting the Lust|Spark Demon that he had watched from afar, he had only come into close contact with the Iron-Feathered Bird, and most of those times were at the card table.
So he was still somewhat interested in being able to get close to the monster again.
"The Stone Demon Clan are all natural born warriors."
"But disguising ourselves as human beings limits our performance."
Master Shi said this, rubbing his hand across the center of his chest.
The illusion was removed, revealing a yellow talisman stuck on the skin.
"Next, I will go all out to face you."
He tore off the yellow talisman.
Crack...
Then Shi Li saw that, starting from the place where the yellow talisman was pasted, Master Shi's skin began to turn into stone inch by inch.
In the blink of an eye, petrification color spread all over his body.
"Is this your true form?"
"Yeah, I hope you weren't scared."
"..., isn't it just that the skin of the whole body has turned into stone color?"
Shi Li originally thought that the opponent's appearance would undergo some changes, but now he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.
This guy looks much inferior to the Desire Spark Demon and the Iron-Feathered Bird.
However, Master Shi's next move did not disappoint him.
He just raised his left foot and stomped it on the ground.
Bang!
The stone floor of the martial arts hall began to crack under his footsteps.
"Wow, that's pretty impressive."
Shi Li discovered that this so-called true form was indeed something.
If I were to do it myself, regardless of whether I would have enough strength to crack the stone slab, at least my feet would undoubtedly not be that hard.
So both sides got ready to start.
"Can I use a magic weapon?"
Shi Li wanted to practice his stick skills.
"Haha, go ahead."
Master Shi disagrees.
This young man seemed to be an apprentice of Shisan. As a mere apprentice, he could probably only control some magical instruments of the most elementary level.
When the plain black iron rod was taken out, he completely relaxed and said to himself, "As expected."
"Don't blame me for not reminding you in advance. This kind of magic weapon is of little use to us stone demons."
" The stone skin is thick and hard, and swords, guns, sticks and clubs cannot break it."
"If you want to deal with monsters like us, magic is more practical than magic weapons."
"If you don't believe me, you can give it a try."
As he spoke, he stretched out his head.
When the signal comes, don't hesitate, just smash it.
Since the other party had said this, Shi Li certainly couldn't refuse.
Apart from anything else, he is quite skilled at hitting people on the head with a stick.
I looked at the other person's size and appearance, and then compared it with the previous contact.
To make an inappropriate horizontal comparison, the guy in front of me might be about the same level as a strengthened zombie beast.
Maybe a little stronger than the enhanced Zombie, but not much.
If he were allowed to strike again with a stick now, he was confident that he could smash the heads of the strengthened zombie beasts into pieces.
Master Shi seems to have very strong physical defense. If he holds back a little, there shouldn't be any problem.
So after thinking about it, Shi Li decided to use the same force as that used to smash the head of an ordinary zombie beast.
"Just smash it with confidence, but be careful not to let the recoil force hurt your hands."
At this time, Master Shi grinned again.
"Okay, then be careful."
Shi Li complied with his wish and raised his hand to hit him with a stick.
clang!
As expected, this feels even harder than the enhanced zombie beast.
Shi Li secretly thought to himself that this was amazing.
But he had no idea that at this moment, Master Shi's heart was filled with turmoil from the moment he was hit.
You should know that the body structure of some monsters is similar to that of humans. For example, humans have a blood circulatory system, and they have a monster qi circulatory system.
It’s just that blood is liquid, while the demonic energy circulation is gas.
The effects are also very similar, the demonic energy circulation will flow to every inch of the demon's body, delivering energy to them.
Therefore, it can be said that the importance of demonic energy to the demon race is comparable to the importance of blood to humans.
However, now, Master Shi felt that an inexplicable force was forcibly pouring in from the top of his head, and then pushing back against his own demonic energy.
As the director of a martial arts school, he often practices with others on a daily basis.
There are many demon hunters among them.
He has faced many magical weapons and spells head-on.
But this is the first time I have encountered such a strange and terrifying situation!
"Master Shi?"
Seeing that the other party did not move, Shi Li wondered if he had been too harsh.
Then he saw that in response to his call, Master Shi raised his head with a look of horror.
Crack!
But just as Master Shi was about to speak, a stone crack spread out from the corner of his mouth.
One, two, three...
More and more cracks appeared on his body like a spider web, and they were constantly extending and deepening.
Bang!
In just a few seconds, Shi Li saw the other person's body cracking, and finally turned into pieces of rubble that fell to the ground.
"??!!"
He never expected that the iron rod with fairy energy would be so powerful.
Now I have accidentally killed a spirit monster with my first move. How is this going to end?
Just when Shi Li was confused, he didn't expect that the pile of stones on the ground actually started talking.
"You, you, you, what kind of magic weapon is this?"
A closer look revealed that Master Shi's mouth was clearly preserved on one of the pieces.
"Are you okay?"
Shi Li couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
"Do you think I'm okay?!"
Master Shi spoke in a bad tone.
Fortunately, the stone demons are born with special physiques. When their lives are in danger, they can offset the damage by disintegrating into pieces.
Otherwise, he suspected that the stick just now might really have killed him!
"Then... shall I go get you a doctor?"
Shi Li hesitated.
"This is not something a doctor can cure!"
"Then... the bricklayer?"
"No, we can't just expose ourselves in front of ordinary people."
Master Shi was unable to move at all, so he could only say, "Well, I'll give you a recipe, and you go ask the servant in my martial arts gym to prepare ten kilograms of potion."
Two hours later, Shi Li returned with a large bucket of special brown mud.
The fragments of Master Shi's body were still scattered everywhere. He did not move at all during the whole process, waiting for his return quietly.
"What is going on..."
Looking at this scene, he shook his head helplessly.
"Are you back? Come on, come and stick me back together!"
Hearing the footsteps approaching, Master Shi couldn't wait any longer.
"We searched all over the city for the herbs in your recipe, but there were few stores selling them."
"After all the looting, there is only this much in one bucket."
Shi Li determined that the piece of gravel was the other party's eye, and shook the bucket in his hand towards him.
"This amount should be enough."
"Come on, listen to my instructions. Put me together on the ground first, and then pour the potion on me to glue me together after confirming that everything is correct."
So, at the instruction of Master Shi, Shi Li began to compare and piece together the body like playing a jigsaw puzzle.
It took half an hour to finally piece together this stone thing.
"Perfect."
Looking at the stone puzzle man on the ground, Shi Li expressed his satisfaction with his masterpiece.
"You must check carefully and don't miss any piece."
Master Shi warned with some concern.
Hearing his words, Shi Li glanced to the side.
There were still a dozen or so pieces of stone fragments that had not been used, piled up in the shape of a small pyramid.
"No wonder I always felt like something was missing. It turns out you've become shorter."
He snapped his fingers.
“…”
Master Shi thought to himself that it was a good thing that he had reminded him, otherwise the consequences would have been disastrous.
This time, Shi Li added all the remaining stones in.
"OK, no ingredients were omitted this time, it's absolutely perfect."
"Are you sure?"
"Well, no more, no less."
"???"
After repeated negotiations between the two sides, Master Shi’s remastered version was finally finalized.
"Remember, you have to be fast and accurate. The potion will take effect and solidify quickly after being poured on me, so every crack must be taken care of."
"And there's only one chance."
Master Shi still remembered that Shi Li said that there were no more medicinal herbs in the city.
This means that in the short term, it will be impossible to prepare a second bucket of potion.
"I'll do the work, don't worry."
Shi Li looked serious and nodded.
Then he picked up the bucket and poured it on the other person.
Crash!
Brown mud poured out, spilling over Jigsaw Man and completely covering him.
"Ahhhh, my body is itchy, I need to grow!!!"
Along with Master Shi's strange shouts, Shi Li saw a faint light beginning to emanate from the cracks between the stones.
After about 3 minutes, the light began to gradually fade.
When they completely retreated, Shi Li saw that the gaps had really disappeared.
A complete stone man appeared before him.
"Huh, I'm finally recovered."
Master Shi climbed up feeling relieved.
"No, why do I feel like I've become shorter?"
But he noticed something strange at the first moment.
"I did exactly as you said. Not a single stone was missing."
Shi Li quickly distanced himself from the matter.
“Why are my hands so long!”
Master Shi exclaimed again.
My arms were hanging down and almost touching the ground!
"When you put it that way, it seems a little long."
Shi Li scratched his cheek.
“Ouch, that hurts!”
Then Master Shi knelt on the ground, holding his waist.
The piercing pain caused beads of sweat the size of beans to appear on his stone forehead.
This symptom was very familiar to him as he was a stone demon.
Some are similar to those of humans - kidney stones.
Fortunately, I am a stone demon and have an excellent ability to control stones.
Master Shi urged the evil spirit to treat himself quickly.
Ten seconds later, he opened his mouth.
Crash.
Several finger-sized pieces of floor tile fell out of his mouth.
"What is this, can you explain it to me?"
"Didn't I tell you to use just as much material as possible? Um... I'm sorry, ahahaha..."
"Forget it, at least I didn't misspell the eyes or mouth."
Master Shi shook his head helplessly.
"We've wasted so much time, let's start sparring."
"But your magic weapon is too powerful, so you have to put it away for the time being."
He clenched his fists until they made a crackling sound and moved closer to Shi Li step by step.
…
Twenty days passed just like that.
During these twenty days, Shi Li's daily rhythm of life was the same.
He slept in the morning, went to the martial arts gym for sparring in the afternoon, and then went to the gambling house with Chu Shisan at night. After coming out of the gambling house, he began to search for traces of monsters.
It’s a pity that the incident of the Iron-Feathered Sparrow aroused the vigilance and precautions of the mastermind behind the incident, and they did not find any clues during this period of time.
However, Shi Li made considerable progress in his martial arts.
Master Shi seemed to be particularly enthusiastic about him and tried his best every time they practiced together.
From being beaten to a pulp in the beginning to now being able to hold on for a while before running away in fear, he seems to have some talent in this area.
As for such a result, except for Thirteen, it was actually very good.
He was able to fight off more than ten moves from the Stone Demon Clan with his bare hands. Even among demon hunters, not every one can reach this level.
It was a normal day, and Shi Li had just finished his sparring session.
After Master Shi, whose body had been reorganized and restored to its original state, applied medicine to him, Chu Shisan came to pick him up on time.
"Master, your training results may be tested tonight."
This time, the route he took Shi Li was not the usual route to the casino.
"Oh? Have you found the source of the recent monsters?"
Shi Li raised his eyebrows.
I have been stuck on stage 6 of this mission for more than 20 days, but now I finally see some progress.
"uncertain."
Chu Shisan did not comment, and said with a serious expression: "Anyway, tonight, we will get rid of the monster."