"Pow…"

Zhang Hanyu kicked Ou Yangming's hand hard.

"Humph—"

The two of them grunted at the same time. Ou Yangming even flew up and did a somersault in mid-air before he fell to the ground.

Nevertheless, the young fellow immediately got up again, then he scurried away like an agile rat to hide among the piles of abandoned weapons in the armory.

Their military camp was not at the frontline, so they would not face enemies right away. According to the division made by the dynasty, it was only a secondary camp for assistance and training. Furthermore, it also served an important purpose, which was gathering the eliminated and damaged armor from other camps or the battlefield.

Once there was a certain amount of armor collected, strong men would pick them up and bring them to the big workshop in the national capital for them to be melted for a second use.

However, the armor was piled up at the armory for the time being due to the insufficient amount and were left unbothered. As such, they became natural shelters for Ou Yangming to hide from being hunted.

A thud was heard when Zhang Hanyu fell butt first to the ground. He grabbed his foot with his hands tightly, and his handsome face was twisted as he was in immense pain.

He swore with his soul that the instant he saw the red light, he curbed his power as much as he could.

That was because he recognized the Military Fire, and only a moron would kick the fire directly with one's body.

Sadly, by the time he realized it, he had already kicked. Although he controlled his strength as he only wanted to make Ou Yangming spit blood and break a few of his ribs, he could not stop whenever he wanted to.

This was because he could not choose to hold back or to attack in a flash of thought as his martial art cultivation base was not profound enough.

Therefore, even when he decided to withdraw his kick, he could only watch as his irreversible action hit the red light.

Consequently, sharp pain was felt in his leg, and the pain was so extreme that he lost his footing. When he fell to the ground, he almost passed out too.

'Mm, the Military Fire is used to smith weapons, it's definitely not meant for fighting.'

There were plenty of Military Fire Blacksmiths in the past dynasties, but none of them were famous for fighting. This was because nobody would fight against them with bare hands.

If the Military Fire was used to forge weapons, one could imagine how high the temperature was.

Using one's body to compete with the Military Fire… It was Ou Yangming's first time encountering a fool like that.

As Zhang Hanyu breathed heavily, every breath he took felt like a severely injured creature was struggling desperately, and he felt like he would faint any time.

After a long time, he finally recovered from the discomfort that felt similar to death.

The only thing that made him glad was that his leg was not in contact with the Military Fire for a long time, and had only brushed it. Hence, while his leg was terribly hurt due to the burn, it was not crippled, so he gritted his teeth and endured it to get rid of the dizziness.

When he looked up again at the piles of armor, he heard an extremely soft sound.

It was Ou Yangming. He neither escaped when Zhang Hanyu was too occupied to look for him nor took the opportunity to attack him. Instead, he hid like a mouse.

Upon realizing that, Zhang Hanyu's face that was previously twisted due to the pain became even more terrifying.

He would have been helpless if Ou Yangming simply escaped, or if Ou Yangming had the courage to attack him.

A shiver ran down his body when he thought about it, so he quickly got rid of those thoughts. Nonetheless, he also negated the possibility of them actually happening because Ou Yangming, who was an orphan, was anything but brave.

'Since he didn't escape, he must die today!'

Zhang Hanyu was determined to not let Ou Yangming live because he stimulated the Military Fire. Whether it was the pain from his leg injury or his uncontainable jealousy of Ou Yangming, he could not allow him to live like a normal person.

Enduring the pain, he hopped over to where Ou Yangming was and picked up a broken short sword along the way. Though his injured leg was making things inconvenient for him, he was confident enough to kill.

He knew that Ou Yangming had never received any martial arts training, hence he could simply kill him if he had some strength left.

However, he was unaware that Ou Yangming, who was hiding behind a pile of discarded weapons, was not trembling in a corner, but was doing something within his power.

When Zhang Hanyu hit the back of Ou Yangming's neck at the smithing workshop, it was true that Ou Yangming had fainted, but he had only passed out for an extremely short period of time. That was because a purple light suddenly flashed in his mind.

The purple light appeared very abruptly and Ou Yangming changed at that instant.

He did not acquire power that could destroy Heaven and destruct Earth, but his consciousness seemed to have been withdrawn from his body. Though he could still control his body like normal, he felt like he was watching from the side.

In a way, his consciousness split into two due to the strange purple light.

Half of it remained in his body, whereas the other half became a spectator.

Perhaps the odd yet mysterious split of Ou Yangming consciousness made him feel exceptionally calm like never before.

He watched Zhang Hanyu's every move calmly, or in fact, a more objective explanation for that would be that he was sensing it.

Even when he closed his eyes, he was able to have full control of his surroundings, but it was only limited to slightly more than a ten-meter range.

Despite that, it was a wonderful experience for him.

By having the ability to cheat, he saw through Zhang Hanyu's every move and could make the right judgment calmly. In addition, he was able to pretend to be unconscious to let Zhang Hanyu drop his guard. Only when his body was in grave danger as he was being kicked did he attempt to defeat his enemy in one move.

After hiding behind a pile of abandoned armor, Ou Yangming's body and consciousness remained in the same state. He was like an ice-cold machine without any emotions.

Needless to say, he also knew that attacking Zhang Hanyu at this moment was one of the better options.

In spite of that, he had no idea if Zhang Hanyu had a trump card, and his consciousness was telling him to not let his opponent make a comeback.

Thus, he was going to use the most reliable method that he was most familiar with to save himself.

Without any hesitation, Ou Yangming pulled one of the weapons out from the pile behind him. It was a broken saber, missing half of its blade. Even so, he found by examining with Military Fire that its attributes were among the highest.

[Sharpness +2]

Ou Yangming did not stop after he was done with the broken saber, he picked up another dumped weapon.

As his Military Fire shone, the last bit of luster on the weapon disappeared, and it became completely worthless junk. If any craftsman were to forge a weapon of that standard, one would likely be beaten to death by the inspector in charge of inspecting them.

At this moment, Ou Yangming also knew that he was at one of the biggest obstacles in his life.

He would be doomed if he could not get through it, and he knew through Zhang Hanyu's sinister look how badly he would die if he was caught.

'Mm, it'll be a more pathetic end than his half-crippled leg.'

Therefore, Ou Yangming drove all the potential in his body and was like a machine that exerted all its energy without holding back at all.

His Military Fire kept burning, and weapon after weapon turned into scraps with zero worth.

Consequently, his physical power was consumed at a high speed, and even his mental power was becoming unstable. It was a sign that he was consuming too much in a short period of time.

Ou Yangming immediately stopped to take a deep breath, and when he focused again, he noticed something.

It was the cylinder that Zhang Hanyu used against him. Zhang Hanyu was in such extreme pain when he kicked the Military Fire that he accidentally threw the item away, and it landed right where Ou Yangming was at the moment.

Ou Yangming reached his hand out curiously and wrapped the item with Military Fire.

[Item: Fire-absorbing Badge]

[Equivalent Rank: Magic Tool]

[Attribute: Devouring +1]

'Fire-absorbing Badge, what's this?' Ou Yangming wondered but was unconcerned.

[Drawable composition found, draw?]

'Draw.'

Next, when his Military Fire dispersed, the only devouring attribute on the badge transformed into a purple light ball into his mind. The strangest thing was that when the attribute disappeared, the cylinder shattered.

It did not just break, but it turned into powder right in front of his eyes, then vanished into thin air.

Normally, Ou Yangming would have been quite dumbfounded, but he only glanced at it for a while, then forgot about it.

Feeling determined, he gritted his teeth as he used the Military Fire again.

[Upgradable composition found, upgrade?]

'Upgrade.'

With that, he released all the accumulated purple lights in his mind to the first broken saber that he picked.

As a result, a brand new saber appeared.

[Item: Super broken saber]

[Equivalent Rank: Ordinary Tool, Good Grade, Rank One]

[Attributes: Sharpness +6, Toughness +6, Devouring +1, Durability 6]