Name: Gu Qingfeng
Age: 29 / 80
Realm: Lianpi Late Stage
martial arts: Mountain Shattering Fist (Major Achievement), Iron Body Skill (Not yet initiated)
Upgrade Points: 1
Inside the bedroom, Gu Qingfeng glanced at his attribute panel, and saw that the martial arts column now included the words "Iron Body Skill."
At the same time,
the item bar now contained a thin Secret Manual, which was the Iron Body Skill.
This was another function of the item bar.
Any item that was a reward could be extracted from the item bar or put back into it, but non-reward items could not enter the item bar.
But even so,
it saved a lot of convenience.
Afterward,
Gu Qingfeng looked at the additional upgrade point and already had an idea.
“There’s no need to worry about the Iron Body Skill for now; I’ll focus on raising the Mountain Shattering Fist to Perfection first!”
Mountain Shattering Fist Perfection!
His own cultivation would then be able to Breakthrough to Refining Skin Perfection.
In Lin County’s current limited territory, Refining Skin Perfection was already quite remarkable.
To say it was top-tier,
wouldn't be far off.
Immediately,
Gu Qingfeng thought, and directly used the extra upgrade point on the Mountain Shattering Fist.
In an instant,
a vast amount of memories about the Mountain Shattering Fist surged into Gu Qingfeng’s mind, as if he had diligently Cultivated the Mountain Shattering Fist for decades, and his hands became much rougher and thicker.
His skin was tough.
Ordinary swords and blades struggled to injure him.
“Refining Skin Perfection, achieved!”
Gu Qingfeng let out a long breath, his eyes gleaming with sharp light.
With his Aptitude, normally reaching Refining Skin Perfection through regular Cultivation would take at least decades to even have a slight possibility.
But now,
his own Breakthrough to Refining Skin Perfection had only taken a little over ten years, all told.
Now,
having entered Refining Skin Perfection, Gu Qingfeng felt that his current strength was a completely different concept compared to before the Breakthrough.
Lian Pi (Skin Refinement) Martial Artist primarily focused on tempering the physique to the point where ordinary swords and blades were difficult to injure them.
However,
ordinary Lian Pi (Skin Refinement) Martial Artist, although their skin was much tougher than that of ordinary people, had not reached the level where swords and blades were difficult to injure them; only Refining Skin Perfection could reach this level.
“Refining Skin Perfection, next is the Breakthrough to the Refining Blood Realm!”
“However, a Breakthrough at this level, if there is no corresponding martial arts, I’m afraid it won’t be that simple to improve. It’s still unknown whether the Golden Bull Martial Arts School has intermediate martial arts for Breakthrough to Refining Blood.
But even if the Golden Bull Martial Arts School has such martial arts, it’s probably impossible for outsiders to Cultivate them!”
martial arts were the foundation of a faction; don't think that simply joining a martial arts school and paying some silver would allow one to learn martial arts. In reality, every martial arts school had its own ultimate secret martial arts.
Such ultimate martial arts could not be obtained by simply paying some silver.
Moreover,
it was still an unknown whether the Golden Bull Martial Arts School even had intermediate martial arts capable of Breakthrough to Refining Blood.
Ultimately,
the Golden Bull Martial Arts School hadn't seen the emergence of a Refining Blood Martial Artist.
Let alone the Golden Bull Martial Arts School.
Even in the entire Lin County, Gu Qingfeng had never heard of the existence of a Refining Blood Martial Artist.
…
The next day.
Gu Qingfeng left his home and walked towards the Golden Bull Martial Arts School. Along the way, he noticed many common people gathered in one place, discussing in low voices, their faces occasionally showing fear.
“Tsk, this family died so tragically!”
“Speaking of which, did they provoke some enemy?”
“Are you kidding? What kind of enemy could do something like this? In my opinion, it must be something unclean…”
Listening to the discussions of the other common people, Gu Qingfeng saw several constables with swords coming out, dispersing the onlookers.
“Go, go, go, everyone move away, don’t gather here!”
Seeing the constables driving them away, the other common people did not dare to oppose the government officials and quickly dispersed.
Just then,
several more constables came out carrying stretchers, covered with white cloths. Suddenly, a cold breeze blew, and the white cloth on one of the stretchers was blown open, revealing the corpse of a middle-aged male with a greenish face, wide-open pupils, and a stiff expression.
His chest was torn open with a bloody hole, his internal organs completely hollowed out, and the corpse emitted a putrid stench, making people instinctively want to vomit.
Upon seeing this corpse, Gu Qingfeng’s pupils also sharply contracted.
Especially when his gaze met the dead man's unseeing eyes, a strange, ominous, cold feeling emerged from the bottom of his heart, causing Gu Qingfeng to involuntarily quicken his steps to leave.
But even so, the deceased’s face and the surrounding common people’s discussions kept replaying in his mind.
Something unclean…
Gu Qingfeng shook his head, took a deep breath, and discarded all the distracting thoughts in his mind.
Arriving at the Golden Bull Martial Arts School,
Gu Qingfeng began his daily task of teaching apprentices. In his leisure time, he also listened to some apprentices’ discussions during breaks.
Most of these conversations were everyday chatter, but some particular words made Gu Qingfeng involuntarily listen closely.
Unclean!
Eerie!
…
Gu Qingfeng looked at the person speaking; it was a sixteen or seventeen-year-old youth, whose name he remembered.
Li Niu!
An ordinary name, and his Aptitude was equally ordinary. He had joined the martial arts school for over a year but had never managed to initiate into martial arts or enter the ranks of a Lian Pi (Skin Refinement) Martial Artist.
“Li Niu, come here for a moment.”
Gu Qingfeng’s voice made the few people who were conversing pause, and then the youth named Li Niu walked up to him, bowing respectfully.
“Senior Instructor Gu, are you looking for me for something?”
Li Niu asked cautiously.
As he spoke, he felt a faint excitement inside, wondering if he had caught the other person’s eye.
After all, in novels and storybooks, it was common for a poor boy to be noticed by a reclusive master, then taught martial arts and rise to prominence overnight.
Gu Qingfeng was a Senior Instructor at the Golden Bull Martial Arts School, and in the eyes of ordinary apprentices like Li Niu, he was no different from a reclusive master.
“I just heard you talking about something unclean and eerie, so I wanted to ask if you know anything about it?”
Upon hearing Gu Qingfeng’s question, Li Niu’s face showed clear disappointment, but he quickly recovered and spoke with enthusiasm.
“Senior Instructor Gu, you don’t know, but these past few days, several families in the county town have died mysteriously, and they died terribly, all disemboweled with their internal organs hollowed out.
We all suspect that these things weren’t done by people, but by some unclean entities.”
“With so many people dead, has the government found anything?”
“Heh, how could they find anything? My dad said this isn’t something a human could do, so the government investigating is just a waste of time!”
Hearing Li Niu’s words, Gu Qingfeng’s expression changed slightly.
As a Martial Artist, his keen perception instinctively made him realize that things were not simple.
After all, although Lin County was not large, there were government officials stationed there. If a madman was truly committing murders, the government would not be able to find absolutely no trace.
In that case,
the situation seemed to have become even more serious.