CHAPTER 98: CHAPTER 96: MARTIAL ARTIST

Tai City, Heavy Sword Sect.

Although the sect was located within the main city, it occupied a vast area, with three small mountains and two large lakes. An ordinary person might walk an entire day without reaching the end.

The residences of the elder high-ups were located on the highest of these mountains, on the inner side.

Each courtyard was made with red bricks and green tiles, showcasing fly eaves and pavilions, with rock gardens and flowing water. They were meticulously constructed, exuding the sect’s opulence.

At the mountain summit was where the Sect Leader resided, and there were always several masters guarding it, as if wary of something.

At a certain moment, a sharp aura suddenly erupted from the summit, causing the elders in the other courtyards to open their eyes in unison.

"Is this... the feel of momentum?"

"Is the Sect Leader about to break through?"

"Let’s go have a look!"

They all headed to the mountain summit, gazing at the Sect Leader’s compound, their eyes tinged with anticipation.

Most of these elders were elderly men with half-white hair, but their complexions were rosy, and their Qi-Blood was as vigorous as a blazing furnace, making wrinkles almost invisible.

"No need to be nervous, I was just making an attempt."

Noticing the arrival of the sect’s masters, the robust voice of the Heavy Sword Sect’s Sect Leader carried out.

Upon hearing this, a trace of disappointment involuntarily flashed in the eyes of all the old men.

Yet, unexpectedly, the Sect Leader shifted his tone.

"Although I haven’t broken through yet, the odds of success are about sixty percent. But to be absolutely certain, some more time needs to be accumulated."

Upon hearing this, each elder’s face lit up with delight.

"Since there’s no pressing matter in the sect, no need to rush, no hurry!"

"Excellent, once a Martial Artist emerges in our sect, it will be time to settle accounts with the Extreme Fist Sect and those in the Spirit Sword lineage!"

"We must guard against their mischief, which might sabotage the Sect Leader’s chance!"

The elders, not daring to disturb the Sect Leader, descended from the mountain summit to begin discussions on important matters.

"Why not take the initiative and divert their attention?"

"Great idea, I’ve heard next month the Extreme Fist Sect..."

...

Suburban district west of Tai City, in a certain courtyard.

Lou Yi was slowly throwing punches in the courtyard, his moves strong and powerful, while his chest rhythmically rose and fell.

The prolonged sound of breathing was like a bellows blowing air.

On the exposed parts of his skin, there was a constant flush of red, indicating the rapid circulation of Qi-Blood.

A moment later, he felt a sense of swelling pain in his meridians.

Lou Yi looked at the Realm section of his Attribute Panel: Aspiring Martial Artist (264/600)→Aspiring Martial Artist (270/600).

The Energy section showed a value of 80.

During this period, he had been silently accumulating energy.

He regularly visited three cemeteries every few days for stable output.

Additionally, he occasionally followed Daoist priests from Qingfeng Temple for ceremonies and collected leaks, and traveled to places occasionally brought up in messages from Liu Yuan and Lu Yang about deceased individuals.

Energy finally exceeded eighty points yesterday, meeting one of the prerequisites for a breakthrough in the Breathing Technique.

And just now, Xiao Qian delivered to him the two Heart-Eroding Grass he needed, without asking for any silver taels.

With three Heart-Eroding Grass in hand, the Breathing Technique could break through at any time.

Lou Yi no longer hesitated and focused on the faintly discernible + sign behind the Breathing Technique, imagining a force pressing it.

The Heart-Eroding Grass instantly turned into a black liquid, seeping into his palm.

Yellow Extreme Breathing Technique (First Segment, Proficiency 0/80+Three Heart-Eroding Grass)→Yellow Extreme Breathing Technique (First Segment, Mastery 0/100+Seven Heart-Eroding Grass+One Bone-piercing Orchid)

Unfamiliar memories emerged deep within his mind, continuing to expand upon the foundation of the previous segment.

The iron cavalry of foreign tribes could invade his home at any moment.

The young man, in order to enhance his martial arts speed, did not hesitate to ask the Clan Leader to obtain a specially-prepared secret medicine, applying it all over his body, enduring inhuman pain.

In the end, his cultivation speed increased significantly.

In less than three years, he became the top expert of his clan. Leading his people, he successfully repelled two invasions from the foreign tribes.

However, as the foreign tribes turned more and more attention towards this small village, the young man began to feel powerless.

Sustaining injuries on his body was nothing, but seeing his familiar clan members, with whom he used to laugh and chat, fall one by one before his eyes was unbearable for him.

He sought out the old Clan Leader once more, asking him to find a faster way to cultivate.

"Your progress speed is already several times that of normal people. In a few more years, surpassing your father’s level back then isn’t impossible..." the Clan Leader advised.

"There’s not a few years left. If we don’t come up with a solution, the village will be broken into, and everyone will die..." the young man’s attitude was resolute.

Helpless, the old Clan Leader scoured through ancient texts and finally found a method even more aggressive and dangerous than before.

Take a large cauldron, put in many rare secret medicines, put the person inside the cauldron, and light a fire underneath, slowly cooking.

The heat was hard to control; a slight mistake would result in being boiled to death.

The young man was fearless, asking the old Clan Leader to be in charge of adding fuel and began a terrifyingly harsh training.

The secret medicine was already unbearably spicy, and the pain of boiling was a hundred times that of being rubbed and sun-dried. His flesh was continually corroded and regenerated...

Yet the young man, even biting his gums, kept enduring with great difficulty.

As days passed by, the young man finally endured the most trying times.

His flesh, forcibly transformed by secret medicine, became very different from before.

His meridians were significantly reinforced, large amounts of impurities were refined out from his flesh, numerous unseen bottlenecks were cleared, and the speed of Qi-Blood circulation increased by several times...

In reality, a substantial amount of Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi entered Lou Yi’s body, crazily transforming his flesh and meridians.

Every moment, gray turbid liquid seeped out from his pores, emitting an intoxicating smell.

After an unknown amount of time, the transformation was complete, and Lou Yi had completely become a ’wild man,’ entirely covered in gray mud.

He drew water in the courtyard to bathe, using two large barrels of water to clean his body.

His skin appeared bronze without a single flaw, looking even healthier and more radiant than those models who spent their days on cosmetic treatments in his past life.

Running the Yellow Extreme Breathing Technique, Qi-Blood circulated smoothly within his body as if lubricated, with no more hindrances.

However, occasionally when passing through the midpoint connecting the back and the abdomen, Lou Yi could still feel an obvious resistance, unable to make progress.

’So this is the Xuan Gate.’

The Xuan Gate naturally obstructs the flow of Qi-Blood.

Lou Yi knew that opening it would further enhance the speed of his Qi-Blood circulation.

He looked at the Attribute Panel, and since his Breathing Technique reached mastery level, the Realm section could gain twelve points of progress each day.

At this rate, Lou Yi would soon accumulate full progress.

Over the next twenty days or so,

This morning, after Lou Yi finished his boxing practice, the Realm: Aspiring Martial Artist (588/600)→Aspiring Martial Artist (600/600)

Has it finally come?

Lou Yi felt thrilled, went back inside, sat on the bed, and prepared to break through.

Bang!

As he pressed the + sign behind the Realm, the Qi-Blood inside his body rushed ahead like an unbridled steed.

Its speed increased rapidly, and Lou Yi could even distinctly hear the ’whoosh whoosh’ of blood circulation.

His body temperature rose rapidly, and the skin on his body turned a vivid orange-red, like a boiled lobster, with billowing steam even emerging from his head.

His face contorted fiercely, his whole body trembled, clearly indicating that such high-speed Qi-Blood circulation was placing a huge burden on his body.

At its limit, the surface of his skin even slightly burst, causing blood to seep out.

And at this moment, all the Qi-Blood within surged towards where the Xuan Gate was located!

’Thud thud thud!’

’Thud thud thud!’

Lou Yi’s Xuan Gate stood like a mountain between his waist and abdomen, blocking the flow of the river of Qi-Blood.

But the momentum of the river of Qi-Blood was determined, roaring like a dragon and flowing continuously, eventually breaking a hole in the mountain.

Once the hole forms, its expansion is unstoppable.

The mountain began to collapse and disintegrate, turning into countless rubble that merged into the river, instead reinforcing the river.

As the Xuan Gate shattered, Lou Yi could faintly hear a ’crackle’.

The Qi-Blood from his limbs, organs, head and neck finally merged without hindrance.

Ultimately, this quantity change led to a qualitative change, forming a strand of viscous and peculiar blood tuft.

This blood tuft, as if alive, ceaselessly wandered throughout his body.

It absorbed various heats, cellular remnants, energies from food decomposition, and latent energies in acupoints, constantly growing and expanding. It nurtured his meridians at unimaginable speeds, fortified his internal organs, and washed and flushed his blood.

At the same time, large amounts of black impurities were squeezed out of his body by the blood tufts, emanating a strong foul odor.

In just a moment, Lou Yi felt his body become lighter, more agile, more tenacious, and stronger, as if he’d shed a burden of ten thousand pounds.

Breaking the Xuan Gate, generating Secret Blood, today at last he became a Martial Artist!

...