48.

"Do it here or not?"

Looking at the screen the first thought that came to his mind was to upgrade to the sixth layer as soon as possible. But after thinking for a while, he barely managed to control his excitement. Every major power-up comes at the cost of him being asleep or falling unconscious. Right now, he was escorting his wife to her home, he didn't want to faint in the middle of it. Not to mention the changes that would take place in his body...

The journey back was rather peaceful. Cang Yue in front of him kept her eyes closed the entire time. Though she had her eyes closed, her entire attention was on the boy sitting in front of her.

Yang Ze, on the other hand, had a smile on his face the entire time. He can upgrade to the sixth layer anytime he wants and could get those martial arts that he was previously unable to afford. The more he thought about it, the more excited he got.

Reaching the Cang family, Yang Ze hopped out of the carriage, before moving his hand forward to Cang Yue. Looking at Yang Ze's hand that was in front of her to give support, Cang Yue snorted coldly before walking down the carriage herself.

"Young Miss." The servants who still had carefree looks on their faces suddenly rushed towards her in a hurry. One of the servants ran inside to pass the information of the arrival of the young miss of the family.

Yang Ze who was ignored smiled embarrassedly before shaking his head.

"Do you want me to accompany you further?"

Looking around, the decorations still seemed to be in place. Other than the lack of people, everything was the same as yesterday.

"No need." The reply was short yet full of coldness.

Without speaking another word, Cang Yue made her way toward the manor.

"Hey... Take care... Let's meet again someday."

With a loud shout, Yang Ze was waving his hands toward her.

Listening to his words, Cang Yue stopped in her tracks for a moment. The distance between the two of them was as vast as the distance between heaven and earth. Even if they both truly wanted to live with each other, it wouldn't be possible due to their identities. Not to mention, she had no intention of spending any further time with him. To her, this marriage was born out of convenience. One that was only there to act as her protective armour. As for the fate that will befall Yang Ze, she didn't seem to care. After all, she has much greater matters to take care of.

"Well... Guess it's time to head back."

Looking at the disappearing figure of Cang Yue, Yang Ze sighed in silence. In his two lives, this was the first time he got married. Even though it was a marriage born out of convenience, it was still a big event for him. For him, making friends, falling in love, and getting married was nothing but a distant dream in the past. Yet, in this life, he not only made some friends but even got married. Though the friends and the marriage were somewhat untrustworthy, it was nevertheless a start.

"Friends, huh!" He let out a mocking laugh as a figure flashed before his eyes but in the end, he just shook his head. There was no use dwelling over the past that had long been forgotten. He was given a second chance at life and he wanted to live freely without any worries.

In his daze, Yang Ze drifted alone for a long time before finding himself in front of the Numinous Pavilion.

Taking a deep breath, Yang Ze calmed down the turmoiling emotions inside his heart before walking inside the hall.

"Welcome to the Numinous Pavilion, how may I help you?"

Looking at the familiar figure greeting him, Yang Ze smiled slightly. Though he could remember the girl in front of him, the same couldn't be said for her too. The last time Yang Ze came here, he didn't buy anything and was overshadowed by Yang Che. It was no wonder the girl didn't seem to remember him. After all, she has to greet hundreds of people in a day. It would be truly impressive if she could even remember someone like him who didn't make any purchases.

"Martial Arts."

Yang Ze didn't want to get overly familiar with someone else too. So after stating his purpose, he went silent.

"Please follow me." Nodding her head, the receptionist signalled him to follow her before taking him to the room where the list was placed.

'Vajra Body: An exercise built especially for the defence.'

'Price: 25 Spirit Stones'

'Nomad Fighting Technique: A fighting technique involving fists and kicks.'

'Price: 20 Spirit Stones'

'Willow Walk: A movement technique.'

'Price: 25 Spirit stones.'

Looking at the familiar list, Yang Ze smiled. There were two more names under these three, but they seemed to be crossed out.

"I want these three please." Without any hesitation, Yang Ze pretended to reach inside his robe before taking out the bag of spirit stones from his personal space.

"Yes..."

The receptionist was stunned at first, but soon her eyes were filled with bright eyes. The total cost amounts to 70 spirit stones. With this figure of sales, she doesn't need to worry about the monthly quota anymore. Not to mention she will also gain a portion of the profit from making a sale.

....

Walking out of the pavilion under the adoring gaze of the receptionist, Yang Ze made his way back. However, this time, he didn't go to the room that was prepared for him and Cang Yue, instead made his way back to the small humble adobe he was living in.

Taking a deep breath, Yang Ze sat on the chair placed out in the garden before taking out the martial arts and started reading them.

Time seemed to pass in the blink of an eye. Seconds turned into minutes and minutes into hours. By the time, Yang Ze finished reading all three martial arts, it was already night. Perhaps it was because of the moonlight, perhaps because of his improved sight, or perhaps both, but Yang Ze didn't feel any problem reading even in the dark.

Closing the last book, Yang Ze took a deep breath and rubbed his temples. Reading those thousand pages in the morning and then these three books later was enough to give him a headache.

"Well, at least I generally get the idea of what these martial arts are."

Muttering to himself, Yang Ze summarized what he made out after reading the books.

"Vajra body is divided into three layers: - copper skin, bronze skin, and the true vajra.

In the realm of copper skin, one's skin will turn reddish-brown and the defence will increase drastically. Ordinary weapons can not harm the body.

In the realm of bronze skin, one's skin will turn dark brown, almost like mud and the defense will increase more than three times the previous realm. In this realm, even the practitioners of the Qi condensing realm can not harm the body.

The last realm is the realm of True Vajra. In this realm, one's skin will return to its original colour. It is said that once someone reaches this realm, even the middle stage Qi Condensing practitioner can not harm the body."

Yang Ze wasn't deeply impressed by this martial art, but nevertheless, it was better than nothing.

However, thinking about the second martial art, The Nomad Fighting technique, his disappointment was immeasurable. It was just normal martial art involving fists and kicks. There weren't even any realms in this martial arts.

"Fuck." Cursing in a low voice, he calmed himself after thinking about the third and the last martial art.

"The willow walk."

"Just like the Vajra Body, this martial art was divided into three realms:- Disappearing, Mirage, and Willow steps."

In the first realm, as the name suggested, one could become so fast that he would be able to disappear from the eyes of others. However, this was only applied to the eyes of normal people, not Qi condensing and above.

The second realm was called mirage. In this realm, one would be able to condense his mirage with extreme speed. Though the mirage will last for a fraction of a second. Nevertheless, it was something impressive.

As for the last realm, Willow steps, it was something truly extraordinary even for the current Yang Ze.

In this realm, One would be able to condense the willow leaf with each step. Once these leaves touch anything, they would explode immediately, causing a great deal of destruction. However, the scale of destruction and damage entirely depends on the user's Qi.

In this way, the more powerful the user, the more damage it will cause.

Yang Ze closed his eyes and meditated for a long time before opening them. Looking at the night sky that was filled with stars, he stood up slowly before jumping out of the Yang family. Right now, he wanted to find a place far away from the city for his breakthrough. Even though he didn't know what effects his breakthrough would have on the surroundings, he wasn't willing to risk it by staying in the city.

At the time when the entire night was asleep, the figure of Yang Ze was flashing throughout the city, slowly moving towards the forest outside the city in the distance.