Great Harvest, Late Skin Refining

That last lackey was one of the men who had kept beating Liu Er that morning.

Just that morning, he had been so vicious and ferocious, treating the lives of Liu Er's family of three as less than grass.

Yet now that his throat had been slit, his eyes held nothing but fear.

One hand clutched his throat, trying to stop the blood from flowing. Hoarse gurgles escaped his mouth, as though he were begging for mercy.

But it was all in vain.

Before long, he collapsed, his body twitching. At last, he went still!

Scar Brother was still struggling desperately.

As he watched his last underling fall, the terror of approaching death seemed to solidify into something real.

It crashed straight into his face!

It gave him tremendous strength and courage, and he clawed and struck wildly.

In his panic, he even tore off Lin Feng's black mask.

"Lin Feng, it's actually you!"

Scar Brother's jaw had been dislocated, but when he saw that cold, handsome face devoid of expression—

He let out garbled words and froze for a moment!

He clearly had never expected that obedient Lin Feng would be the one who had attacked them!

And that his methods would be so formidable!

But it was all over!

"You were so damn tough, weren't you? Still pretending to be fierce? Be fierce, then! Go on, be fierce again!"

Lin Feng snarled in a low voice. His left arm locked around Scar Brother's neck while his right hand drove the butcher's knife in again and again, pulling it out! Stabbing in, pulling out!

The bright butcher's knife brought out great splashes of blood, staining it vivid scarlet!

After more than a dozen stabs, Scar Brother had long since stopped breathing!

His eyes bulged wide. The knife scar on his face, which had been drawn tight by terror and tension, finally relaxed, no longer twisted into a knot!

Scar Brother, who had lorded it over this area and oppressed the common folk at the bottom for years, was dead!

"Phew, phew!"

After venting his rage, Lin Feng panted heavily. Only then did he realize that Scar Brother had already been stabbed beyond recognition!

Looking at the corpses strewn across the floor and the room where blood flowed like a river, nausea surged up in him, and he nearly vomited.

In the end, he held it down.

The candlelight still flickered, illuminating the food, gambling tools, and silver coins on the table!

Right, money!

Lin Feng found an ordinary strip of black cloth and swept up the few pieces of broken silver and the great pile of copper coins from the table.

Then he searched the five corpses. Only Scar Brother had a few more bits of loose silver on him!

"So little?"

Lin Feng made a rough estimate. Including the copper coins, there were only about three taels of silver!

"No, that's not right. They collected protection money today! There are dozens of households and over two hundred people in this little area.

There should have been quite a bit!

They probably hadn't handed it over yet. They hid it!"

He searched again, and eventually found a hidden compartment beneath the bed. Inside was a box containing ten taels of silver and a bottle that actually held a pill!

The scent and appearance of the pill filled Lin Feng with delight!

Without lingering any longer, he set fire to the main house and woodshed, then hurried home with the money and pill bundled up.

After putting everything away—

Lin Feng finally looked at his panel!

Name: Lin Feng

Cultivation method: Formation Breaking Art

Cultivation level: Outer Refinement Realm—Skin Tempering Realm (12/100)+

Supernatural Ability 1: Ingestion

Divine Ability 2: Avert Calamity

Techniques:

Tiger Roar Fist (1/20)+

Butcher Ding's Ox-Slicing (1/20)+

Upgrade Points: 15

"So I was right! People are living beings too, and they also possess Baleful Intent! After killing them, I can gain Upgrade Points through the Divine Ability Avert Calamity!"

Lin Feng was overjoyed!

These people had committed countless evil deeds. Their Baleful Intent was actually about the same as that great wild boar's. Scar Brother clearly had more, earning him five points!

Then, in the darkness, Lin Feng picked up that pill.

This was a pill that could raise one's martial cultivation. A single pill cost twenty taels of silver!

It was called a Tiger Essence Pill and carried a distinctive pungent smell!

That was why Lin Feng had recognized it at a glance.

Back then, his father had been fortunate enough to earn one through meritorious service. He had originally intended to save it for Lin Feng, to nourish his body.

To lay a foundation so that he could more easily break through into the early Skin Refining stage in the future.

But one pill would be more useful if it raised his father's strength instead.

In the end, Lin Feng's father had relied on that pill to advance from the late Skin Refining stage, where he had been stuck for many years, into Skin Refining Perfection. Only then had he become a squad leader!

It allowed the family to live relatively well for several years.

Yet in the end, becoming a squad leader had also led to his death in the jaws of Monsters.

It was a sigh-inducing turn of events.

Shaking off his thoughts, Lin Feng resolutely swallowed the pill.

Every deed left traces behind, and in this world, martial artists did not need evidence to kill someone.

If the Green Snake Gang ever grew suspicious of him, it would be an utter catastrophe!

But he did not regret it. If he had not gotten rid of Scar Brother today, his family might follow in Liu Er's family's footsteps tomorrow!

Since those people perched so high above them did not want his family to live, then he would climb upward step by step, until he reached the very top!

With the butcher's knife in his hand, he would slaughter those man-eating people and hack down those Monsters that stirred up evil!

Still, tonight he had discovered that using this butcher's knife to kill people was damnably handy!

Once the pill entered his stomach, it quickly dissolved, forming a violent current of heat that seemed about to rip all of Lin Feng's meridians apart in an instant! But soon, the violent energy within him was absorbed by the panel.

Before long, the sensation in his body had mostly faded!

Upgrade Points: 40

"Woohoo!!!"

Lin Feng felt so good inside that he could practically fly!

A single pill had actually given him twenty-five points in such a short time!

If he put them all into his Cultivation level, it would be equivalent to directly raising his Skin Tempering Realm by a minor stage!

Then Lin Feng rapidly tapped away, putting every Upgrade Point into his Cultivation level!

Name: Lin Feng

Cultivation method: Formation Breaking Art

Cultivation level: Outer Refinement Realm—Skin Tempering Realm (52/100)+

Supernatural Ability 1: Ingestion

Divine Ability 2: Avert Calamity

Techniques:

Tiger Roar Fist (1/20)+

Butcher Ding's Ox-Slicing (1/20)+

Upgrade Points: 0

As the points were added, Lin Feng felt as though his skin had undergone some changes!

He touched it. It had become sticky! Then he pinched it.

The impurities in his skin had been expelled! And his skin had become extraordinarily tough!

Though it was still not as tough as cowhide, both its self-healing and defensive capabilities would increase greatly!

This was the late Skin Refining stage!!!

Once he reached Skin Refining Perfection, his skin's self-healing ability would become even stronger. Ordinary people with no martial training would already find it hard to cut down a Skin Refining Perfection martial artist!

"(⊙o⊙)... It stinks!"

Lin Feng sniffed himself and could not help complaining. He hurriedly got to his feet, ran into the yard, and washed the black impurities off his body!

"Ah, Xiao Feng really has reached that age. Now that he has found a job, I need to hurry and find him a wife.

Otherwise, it's no good for him to have nowhere to vent it!

Silly child, of course that thing smells fishy!"

In the darkness, Mother Lin thought of this and sighed, feeling both heartache and embarrassment!

If Lin Feng knew what his mother was thinking, he would surely be speechless!

At that moment, the Shantytown truly began to stir!

"A monster is here! A monster is here! There's a fire?"

Voices came from outside!

Everyone was jolted awake. Lin Feng's body tensed, and he grabbed the butcher's knife!

He went to mother and Little Sister's side!