[White Ape Boxing Minor Success Proficiency +1]
[White Ape Boxing Minor Success Proficiency +1]
...
The proficiency jumped once every second, and Wu Chen's White Ape Boxing cultivation progress increased at a visible rate.
What others would need months or even years of bitter practice to improve, was growing in Wu Chen with each breath.
It could truly be called advancing a thousand miles in a day.
But even with such rapid progress, for Wu Chen now, every second felt like a year.
Wu Chen shifted his gaze from the panel to his surroundings.
The crowd, a dark mass, was packed so tightly it was suffocating, making it difficult for him to breathe. Even the sunlight above his head seemed dim at this moment.
Wu Chen was about to say something to delay, holding out until White Ape Boxing reached Minor Success.
But the starving refugees would not listen to anything he had to say. In everyone's eyes, this was meat about to escape from their mouths!
Before Wu Chen could speak, someone opened their mouth wide, revealing a mouthful of cold, sharp teeth, and leaped at him, wanting to tear a piece of flesh from Wu Chen's body.
"Damn!"
Seeing this, Wu Chen couldn't help but curse, but his movements were not slow at all. He swung a big fist toward the face of the figure pouncing on him.
"Poof!"
With a dull sound, the person's cheek caved in, nose bleeding profusely, killed by a single punch, the light figure flying backward.
But there were simply too many people around. The flying body hit the human wall without creating even a small gap.
The corpse was even dragged into the refugee group in the blink of an eye, disappearing into fragments amid grating sounds.
Leaving Wu Chen without any possibility of escape.
Instead, his desperate resistance, injuring several people in succession, triggered the ferocity of the surrounding refugees.
A group of refugees, with eyes glowing green like ghost fires and throats emitting low growls, rushed madly toward Wu Chen, wanting to tear him apart.
Wu Chen knew these people had gone mad with hunger and could not communicate normally. Now, he could only place his hope on holding out until his boxing technique broke through.
[White Ape Boxing Proficiency +1]
[White Ape Boxing Proficiency +1]
[...]
[White Ape Boxing Minor Success (56/100)]
Wu Chen's gaze fell on the progress that had already passed the halfway mark. He gritted his teeth, swung his arms with all his might, and his tightly clenched fists struck hard at the refugees in front of him.
This time, the fist drew power from his waist, bringing a howling wind.
Crack!
This punch landed on the neck of the incoming person, breaking their neck bone with a sound that made one's teeth ache.
The fierce green light in that person's eyes instantly dissipated, their head drooping lifelessly, their whole body beginning to soften, sliding toward the ground.
But before they could completely fall, Wu Chen, quick-witted, grabbed them with one hand, holding them in front as a shield.
Meanwhile, he curled into a ball, hiding behind it.
The next moment, the sharp claws and teeth that should have grabbed Wu Chen all landed on the meat shield in front of him.
Wu Chen continuously changed positions, using the meat shield to avoid the tearing from all directions.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The meat shield made spine-chilling sounds.
The first few breaths were of clothes being torn to shreds, followed by the sound of flesh being torn.
Finally, it was the sound of chewing bones and flesh.
In the end, it took less than twenty breaths for the chest of the corpse in Wu Chen's hands to be hollowed out, a truly horrifying scene.
Wu Chen was somewhat grateful that he hadn't become arrogant due to his increased strength, trying to break through forcefully with just his fists.
Otherwise, the skeleton in his hand would have been his fate.
Throwing away the defenseless skeleton, Wu Chen glanced at the White Ape Boxing proficiency, which had already reached over seventy.
Without hesitation, he struck again, causing the head of a refugee who was licking their palm to cave in.
Following the same method, he carried the corpse, held it in front, shielding against the refugees squeezing in from the periphery.
This time, before the corpse was torn to shreds, Wu Chen's long-awaited progress finally maxed out:
[White Ape Boxing Minor Success (100/100)]→[White Ape Boxing Great Success (0/300)]
Martial Realm: Body Tempering Realm First Layer→Body Tempering Realm Second Layer
With the advancement in realm once again, came a warm current stronger than before.
This warm current flowed continuously within Wu Chen's body, replenishing his depleted blood energy and the strength he had almost exhausted.
Wu Chen felt the swelling in his arms, the suddenly increased strength, making him feel as if just a light strike with his fist could split bricks and stones.
Even with such strength, facing countless refugees around, Wu Chen dared not be careless, nor was he arrogant enough to kill his way into the crowd.
He still carefully held half a corpse as a shield with one hand, while clenching his fist with the other, occasionally punching out, occasionally swinging sideways.
With each punch, someone's chest would cave in, their brains would burst, and then they would fall down silently without even a struggle.
Having roughly understood his strength, Wu Chen finally discarded the cumbersome shield in his hand and charged left and right through the crowd.
In just a moment, Wu Chen's fists were covered with red and white sticky substances, and his tattered clothes were soaked with blood, his whole person emanating killing intent like a demon, looking extremely terrifying.
Wu Chen dared not spare his strength, his boxing technique accumulating fiercely before releasing, causing bone-breaking sounds one after another.
It didn't take long for him to kill his way out of the crowd.
"Huff, huff!"
Wu Chen panted heavily, with no time to look at the situation behind him, but hearing the crunching sounds of bones and flesh being chewed, he felt his hair stand on end.
"These people probably can't be considered human anymore."
He could see that these refugees had clearly undergone some sort of transformation.
There was no human rationality in their eyes, only a strong desire to devour flesh and blood.
Just like beasts!
Wu Chen didn't know what unexpected changes these refugees behind him would undergo after feeding, nor did he have time to investigate where these changes came from.
Even though the White Ape Boxing proficiency on the panel was still increasing rapidly, and it wouldn't take long for his boxing technique to reach Great Success.
But thinking that the refugees' transformation might not be something that a Great Success boxing technique could solve, Wu Chen didn't want to put his life in danger.
He quickly shook off the sticky blood stains on his fists, distancing himself from the refugee group.
Looking around, he found the direction to continue fleeing.
Just then, text appeared on the panel in his eyes:
[White Ape Boxing Great Success (300/300)]
[Body Tempering Realm Second Layer→Body Tempering Realm Third Layer]
His martial arts and realm had advanced once again.
Wu Chen's strength was also fully restored because of this.
Having found the direction to flee, he dared not linger, and ran off without looking back.
In a flash, three days passed.
Wu Chen's figure appeared on a raised mound of earth.
Looking out, the earth was cracked like a spider web, the grass leaves withered yellow, hardly showing any signs of life.
Countless dense figures, under the cover of the setting sun's afterglow, slowly moved toward the city hundreds of miles away.
Wu Chen withdrew his gaze, looking at the panel in his eyes:
[Crimson Host]Wu Chen
[Martial Realm]Body Tempering Realm Third Layer
[Martial Skills]White Ape Boxing Great Success
At this time, there were no more numbers jumping on the panel, but Wu Chen already understood the reason.
That was because White Ape Boxing, this ordinary martial art, had reached its limit at Great Success, and there was no more room for advancement.
To continue gaining points, he would need to find new martial arts.
Thinking of this, Wu Chen had a headache.
It was known that for his previous self to learn this White Ape Boxing, he had emptied what little wealth he had, not to mention serving the village's old master day and night for three years, before receiving the complete inheritance.
It was conceivable how difficult it was for an ordinary person to learn martial arts in this era.
There were other places to learn, such as the martial arts halls in towns, subordinate organizations of the imperial court, noble families, or sect gangs.
But these were too distant for Wu Chen now, and the threshold was extremely high.
"It's hard for poor people to get by anywhere."
Wu Chen sighed softly, bringing his thoughts back, continuing to walk in the direction of the fleeing crowd.
Just then, a sharp crying voice came, attracting his attention.
"Let me go!"
"Father, save me!"
Wu Chen paused, raising his eyes toward the source of the sound.
He saw two somewhat strong figures dragging a thin figure toward a pile of withered grass in the distance.
As they walked, they revealed lecherous smiles, wantonly appraising the girl's skinny body.
"Is he selling his daughter for food?"
Wu Chen thoughtfully pinched his chin.
Such scenes were not rare in these days, and in chaotic times, such scenes were not unusual.
Curious, he looked in the direction of the girl's cries for help, his gaze quickly locking onto a middle-aged man.
This middle-aged man was clearly injured, his face as white as paper, his clothes around the abdomen stained grayish-brown with fresh blood.
Watching his daughter being dragged away, he tried several times to stand up, but could only stagger and half-kneel on the ground, powerless to stop it.
"From the looks of it, he's not selling his daughter, but being taken advantage of by villains."
On the raised mound, Wu Chen quietly observed everything, saying to himself.
Then, his gaze locked onto the man.
Looking at the man's bulging muscles on his arms, his thick chest, and the steel blade scattered by his side.
Everything indicated that this person was a practitioner with martial arts skills!
"This person most likely has martial arts!"
At this thought, Wu Chen's eyes immediately lit up.
Then, without hesitation, he walked briskly toward the man.