13: Chapter 13 Second Life, First Glimpse into Martial Arts (The End)

This punch was his life-or-death strike, so fast that only a blurred afterimage remained.

With a crisp "crack," Lin Shi's fist slammed solidly into his temple.

That disciple who ignored martial ethics had his skull cave in directly; his eyes widened, he couldn't even let out a scream, his body went limp and collapsed heavily to the ground, dying on the spot.

Lin Shi's vision went black again, his body swayed, and the short blade stuck in his body tugged at his wound, causing excruciating pain. He gritted his teeth, leaned against the cliff wall to sit down, breathing heavily as his consciousness gradually faded.

The other Liegu Martial Arts Hall disciple recovered, and just as he wanted to make a move, he was intercepted by other Houshan Martial Arts Hall disciples.

Over this period, relying on the advantage Lin Shi had helped expand earlier, Houshan Martial Arts Hall had now completely taken the upper hand on the battlefield.

Seeing that the situation was lost, Head Instructor Zhang Shan could only roar unwillingly: "Retreat! Old Dog Wang, this isn't over."

He immediately took the remaining six or seven disciples and fled outward. The two disciples who went to pick the "iron thread vine" couldn't care about it anymore, so they quickly jumped down and fled with them.

Houshan Martial Arts Hall also suffered heavy casualties, with everyone covered in blood, both their own and their enemies'.

But no one cared about their own injuries, nor did they bother to pursue the remnants of Liegu Martial Arts Hall; they all surrounded Lin Shi.

"Lin Shi! Lin Shi, hold on!"

Lin Shi's face was now as pale as paper, his lips were devoid of color, the wound on his abdomen kept bleeding, and his breath was weak; he was only holding on by a single breath to keep from passing out.

He looked at the crowd gathered around him, just twitched the corners of his mouth, but couldn't speak.

But his heart calmed down; he knew that with this injury and this amount of blood loss, he likely wouldn't survive.

He only hoped he could hold on until he returned to the Martial Arts Hall to see his family one last time, thinking that the points he could obtain in this life should be quite a lot, allowing him to get a higher starting point in the next life.

Instructor Wang Zhong gritted his teeth, suppressing the panic in his heart. He first took a linen cloth and tied a layer around Lin Shi's abdomen to stop the bleeding, then said in a deep voice to the two disciples beside him: "Go up quickly, pick the 'iron thread vine' intact, and don't damage even a single root."

The two disciples immediately responded, quickly went up to take down the "iron thread vine," carefully placed it in a pre-prepared jade box, and handed it to Instructor Wang Zhong.

Instructor Wang Zhong took the jade box and gripped it tightly. The mission for this trip was completed, but Lin Shi...

He dared not think any further, quickly squatted down, carefully avoided Lin Shi's wound, and half-lifted him up.

"Shi'er, hold on, we are going back to the Martial Arts Hall now, the Hall Master must have a way to save you!"

After speaking, Instructor Wang Zhong did not delay at all, immediately arranged for the two least injured disciples to carefully take turns carrying Lin Shi on their backs.

Others guarded the perimeter, supporting injured brothers, stepping on the blood and corpses covering the ground, rushing toward the town with all their might.

At this moment, everyone had only one thought: faster, even faster. As long as they were fast enough, there would be a chance to save Lin Shi, and they wouldn't give other factions a chance to intervene.

Without incident, the group soon rushed back to Hansha Town.

From afar, Instructor Wang Zhong saw Zhao Hu; today, he was leading the team on duty at the town entrance.

Instructor Wang Zhong had an impression of him; Zhao Hu was also a disciple of Houshan Martial Arts Hall and had a deep friendship with Shi'er.

Time was urgent, and they didn't stop much as they passed by. After Instructor Wang Zhong quickly spoke with Zhao Hu and gave a few instructions, he led the people in a mad dash toward Houshan Martial Arts Hall.

Zhao Hu stood stunned for half a minute; he hadn't expected that just after going on a mission, the next time he saw his good brother, he would be critically injured and dying.

After realizing what happened, he unhesitatingly gave a few orders to his subordinates, abandoned his own duties, and quickly ran to the best medical clinic in town.

However, the injury was ultimately too severe, and he had lost too much blood.

Just as they reached the entrance of the Martial Arts Hall, before they could even enter, Lin Shi breathed his last.

He passed away, and his second life ended.

As a beam of light flashed by, when Lin Shi's consciousness recovered, he found himself back in the mysterious high-dimensional space, seeing his golden finger, the "True Spirit Descent Simulator," once again.

Past memories quickly faded, like a dream, but those realistic scenes told him that it was indeed his second life.

"Sigh! In the end, I couldn't see my family one last time. I hope that when the next life begins, not too much time will have passed, and I will still be within the scope of Pantie City."

Lin Shi sighed and lamented a few words, quickly adjusted his mood, and reopened the simulator interface.

At this moment, the simulator was displaying his second life settlement interface.

[Second Life: The family background you went all-in on was not in vain; compared to your previous life, your start this time was several times better.

However, limited by your bone structure, your martial arts potential was determined early on.

You were not panicked, as you had expected this; you successfully stepped into the martial arts in this life and initially understood the surrounding world.

Following routine, you lived through a peaceful and beautiful first half of your life, but suddenly encountered a mishap in middle age.

During a mission to compete for resources, you didn't expect someone to ignore martial ethics and use a weapon to ambush you.

At the moment of your death, you did not panic, as you knew you could come back again, but you felt regret that you couldn't hold on to see your family one last time.]

Evaluation: White Seven Stars

Reward: 70 Points

Lin Shi was quite speechless; who would have thought that someone would ignore martial ethics? Otherwise, in that situation, even if he had been ambushed, he wouldn't have died.

After returning, Instructor Wang Zhong would have a great chance to use this to break through to the Iron Skin Realm, and then he would be a direct disciple of the Iron Skin Realm.

Perhaps he would have a chance to forcibly break through the bone structure limitations and allow himself to break through the Stone Skin Realm.

Furthermore, after Hall Master Zhou Yue breaks through to the mid-stage of the Iron Skin Realm, he will return to Pantie City. By then, Instructor Wang Zhong, who would have just broken through to the Iron Skin Realm, would very likely be the new Hall Master.

The more Lin Shi thought about it, the angrier he became; his beautiful life was all shattered.

Liegu Martial Arts Hall, damn it, in the next life, just wait and see if I don't finish you off.

These 70 points are quite luxurious. All-in! Must go all-in again!

In the last life, 20 points were enough to initially step into the martial arts; with 70 points all-in this life, it will surely be even more glorious.

Perhaps there will be a chance to break through to the Iron Skin Realm and complete the first leap in life.

Bone Structure: 0 (+)

Comprehension: 0 (+)

Family Background: 0 (+)

Willpower: 9

Originally, his willpower might have been 12 points, but in the end, the many years of peaceful life in the previous life wore down his willpower, causing him to have no defenses and be ambushed by a dog who ignored martial ethics.

Lin Shi thought for a moment and continued with the point-allocation strategy from the previous life.

Add 40 points to Family Background; 10 points in the previous life allowed him to be born into an upper-middle-class family in town. This time, with four times that, it should at least be a Brahmin family in a county city.

Add 20 points to Bone Structure; if the bone structure is insufficient, it's easy to have the upper limit locked, which would be too uncomfortable.

Adding 10 points to Comprehension is enough for now; after all, in martial arts, you don't need too high of a comprehension in the early stages; just go hard and that's it.

After adding the points, Lin Shi decisively started the next life.