Stepping into the Perfected Circle Realm

As the tomb chamber doors slammed shut, everyone's hearts jolted violently!

Although Su Ti had warned them beforehand, only now did they truly confirm that there were other living creatures inside this tomb!

After the doors closed, the sound of nails scraping against the ground arose, a faint rustling that lingered all around them.

And it seemed to be getting closer and closer.

A black shadow suddenly flashed past. Everyone lowered their torches, their expressions changing drastically.

"Did anyone see it? What was that?!"

"I don't know, I didn't even see its shadow!"

"There's more than one of them, and they're getting closer!"

Everyone looked tense as they cautiously gathered together.

Whoosh!

At that moment, a black shadow suddenly leaped down from above. Black nails gleamed with icy light as they clawed toward Xu Lao, who was holding his gun and watching the surroundings warily.

Xu Lao noticed nothing. By the time he heard the sound of wind tearing through the air, it was too late. The claws were less than thirty centimeters from his face, leaving him no time to react.

Just then, a swollen fist exploded with a sharp crack. Before the claw could land on Xu Lao, it sent the creature flying with a single punch!

After a piercing shriek, the creature flew into the surrounding darkness and scampered away with rustling sounds.

Only then did Lao Li and Cao Man react, hurriedly asking in belated alarm.

"What was that?!"

"Did you kill it?!"

Xu Lao clutched his chest and panted heavily. He had been terrified out of his wits, nearly losing his life.

Su Ti withdrew his fist and shook his head grimly.

"That thing isn't large, but it's incredibly agile. My punch felt like it hit a sheet of paper. There was no resistance at all. It used my force to get away. But don't worry. It may be fast, but I can still react to it. Stay close to me."

Hearing this, everyone hurriedly huddled together again, standing back-to-back in defense.

"Xu Lao, can you tell what kind of Evil Spirit this is?"

Su Ti asked in a low voice.

Xu Lao trembled as he replied.

"I-I can't recognize it either. I don't know every kind of Evil Spirit. I only know some of the ones I've read about in books. If it's something I've never seen mentioned in a book before, then I don't know."

Xu Lao tried desperately to calm himself, but he still shook all over.

Su Ti nodded.

"Watch out for those things above us. They seem capable of climbing walls and attacking from overhead. Don't stray too far from me."

"Okay."

Holding their torches, the group stared intently into the darkness around them, filled with fear and unease.

Their current situation was far too unfavorable, especially since their field of vision only extended one and a half meters. They had no idea what might leap out of the darkness, or from which direction it would come.

"Should we retreat to the entrance?"

Lao Li's face was pale. Unable to withstand the pressure any longer, he made the suggestion.

But Su Ti rejected the idea.

"No. We can't go back anymore. We're too far from the entrance—at least twenty or thirty meters. We'll be ambushed before we even get halfway there."

Su Ti remained remarkably calm. The fifth layer of Bodhisattva Practice gave him exceptionally strong willpower. Even when facing unfamiliar monsters in the darkness, he could still think clearly.

"We'll head upward. With King Mu's coffin protecting our rear, we may still be able to fight them."

With someone to rely on, the group pressed their backs together and slowly climbed the stairs step by step.

There were nine steps in total. At the top was a small platform, upon which rested King Mu's enormous coffin.

As the group approached King Mu's coffin, the things in the darkness seemed to grow agitated, making faint, scattered noises.

Whoosh!

A monster lurking in the darkness seemed unable to endure any longer and suddenly charged at them!

Su Ti widened his eyes. Under the torchlight, he saw the monster's appearance clearly for the first time.

It was not large, only around 1.4 meters tall. Its entire body was covered in fine black scales, its nails protruded several centimeters, and it had vertical pupils, a forked tongue, a protruding face, and a long tail. It looked like a giant lizard standing upright!

Boom!

Before the lizard monster could get close, Su Ti threw a punch.

The power of the Inner Refinement Fifth Layer erupted. The air was visibly shoved aside by his fist, and the powerful gust from the punch even pressed the torch flames down against their handles, as if they were about to be extinguished.

Just as his punch was about to strike the lizard monster, it suddenly flipped in midair. With no leverage at all, it twisted its body through sheer muscular control, clinging directly to Su Ti's arm and avoiding the punch.

"It's actually this agile!"

Su Ti was startled. Just as he tried to pull back his arm, pain shot through it. The monster had already leaped away with equal agility.

When he looked at his arm again, several bloody gashes had appeared on it. Even his Copper Skin Skill had been breached.

And the lizard monster's attack was only the signal for the beginning.

Next, from the darkness, large numbers of lizard monsters surged toward them one after another!

Su Ti's expression changed as he faced the monsters' coordinated assault. Feeling the danger, he immediately unleashed his full strength.

He tossed aside his torch. In an instant, fists, palms, and legs filled the air as he launched a relentless barrage at the incoming lizard monsters.

Su Ti's all-out, frenzied assault brought down a storm of attacks that barely managed to hold the lizard monsters back.

But it only held them back. These lizard monsters were extremely fast and nimble. Most of Su Ti's attacks were evaded, and even when an occasional fist or kick struck one, their smooth scales and light bodies dispersed most of the force, making it impossible to inflict decisive damage.

Meanwhile, Su Ti himself was soon covered in wounds. Again and again, the monsters slashed him with their claws through gaps in his attacks. Although the defense of his mastered Copper Skin Skill kept the injuries from being too severe, they accumulated rapidly, and blood soon flowed freely.

The others were not merely standing by either. They also tried to help.

Cao Man swung her long whip and threw swallow darts coated in neurotoxin.

But against creatures this nimble, nine out of ten of her darts missed. The one or two that did hit were deflected by their scales.

As for her whip, it was even less effective. It could barely hit anything at all.

Even Cao Man, a Tongli Stage martial artist, was struggling like this. Xu Lao and Lao Li, both ordinary people, were in even worse shape. They could barely see the monsters' movements, much less attack them. They could only use King Mu's coffin to protect their rear and barely maintain their defense.

"This can't go on!"

After knocking away another lizard monster, Su Ti gained another bloody gash and shouted.

With his current physical condition and fighting style, he could only defend passively in an environment where these monsters held the advantage of terrain.

He needed energy. He needed energy to break through the limits of his martial arts.

His fighting style had already reached intermediate mastery. As long as he could break through to major mastery and reach the Perfected Circle Realm, Su Ti believed his combat power would undergo a qualitative leap!

"I'll cover you! Hurry and open King Mu's coffin! Take out the Cursed Antique inside and give it to me!"

Su Ti roared in a low voice.

Although he said this, he was not actually sure whether King Mu's coffin contained any Cursed Antiques. After all, the mysterious Snake Demon had taken the Cursed Antiques from King Mu's consorts in the Side Tomb Chamber and the sacrificial victims in the Secondary Tomb Chamber. There was a high chance that the Cursed Antiques in King Mu's coffin had been taken as well.

But at this point, Su Ti could only pin his hopes on the Cursed Antique inside the coffin. If there was none, he could only force his way out with his martial arts, but then he would be unable to protect Xu Lao and the others.

The result would be that he could escape alive, but Xu Lao and the others would certainly die in this tomb.

They had made it this far by helping one another. Although Su Ti had saved Xu Lao and the others several times during this expedition, Cao Man had also saved Su Ti's life when they encountered the Mountain Wraith on the cliff. They were no longer mere strangers who had met by chance, but comrades bound by life and death. Unless there was truly no other choice, Su Ti did not want to abandon them.

Although Xu Lao and the other two did not understand why Su Ti remained fixated on the Cursed Antique at such a critical moment, they could only trust him now.

The three of them pushed together, shoving open King Mu's massive stone coffin lid.

The sight inside the coffin made their eyes widen!

It was neither empty nor filled with only King Mu's corpse.

The coffin contained a large quantity of blood!

A dense, bloody stench rushed at them, nearly making them sick.

A red bead about the size of a pigeon egg floated atop the blood, giving off a faint red glow. It looked incredibly sinister!

They could not understand why King Mu's corpse had disappeared, why his coffin held so much blood, or why a bead floated atop that blood. But Xu Lao and the others had no time to think about such things!

The bead was soaked in the blood, inside King Mu's coffin, at the very source of this yin energy! There was an extremely high chance that it was a Cursed Antique!

Xu Lao reached out and scooped up the bead. A powerful chill and sense of misfortune flooded into his hand, making him shudder violently.

That feeling confirmed it for Xu Lao. A Cursed Antique—this was absolutely a Cursed Antique!

Moreover, even an ordinary old man like Xu Lao, whose senses were not particularly sharp, could feel the yin energy field within it. Among all the Cursed Antiques Xu Lao had ever seen, this one was an exceptionally vicious existence!

He picked up the bead. Su Ti was currently standing before them, constantly fending off the lizard monsters and unable to spare any attention for him, so Xu Lao directly stuffed the bead into Su Ti's pants pocket.

"Here!"

Although he did not know why Su Ti still cared about a mere Cursed Antique at such a moment, Xu Lao chose to trust him in this crisis.

As the blood-red bead entered his pocket, its energy flowed into Su Ti's body even through the thin layer of cloth.

Inside the pocket, a powerful icy aura began pouring steadily into Su Ti's body.

60%, 80%, 180%, 300%!

After reaching 300%, the plus sign beside Su Ti's Golden Python Four Forms glowed faintly. This was the modifier's energy prompt, indicating that it could be upgraded to the next level.

At this critical moment, Su Ti did not hesitate. His gaze sharpened as he poured in a massive amount of energy.

The proficiency of Golden Python Four Forms began rising frantically!

Intermediate mastery 30%, intermediate mastery 60%, intermediate mastery 99%, Golden Python Four Forms major mastery!

As Golden Python Four Forms reached major mastery, Su Ti felt a cool aura flow through his entire body. Countless memories flooded his mind, and it was as if he had experienced innumerable life-and-death battles in that instant, gaining new insights into combat on the very edge of death! His fighting style broke through into an entirely new realm!

Divine Light flickered in his eyes. With both his inner training and fighting style reaching major mastery, a new entry appeared after Golden Python Four Forms.

Martial Arts: Golden Python Four Forms (Major Mastery) Perfected Circle

The Perfected Circle Realm was a realm that could only be reached when both one's fighting style and training method had achieved major mastery.

At this realm, martial artists were not only highly sensitive to their bodies, but could use their major mastery of qi and blood combat techniques to control the movement of every muscle throughout their bodies, exerting force through any part of themselves to attack or defend.

Not a feather could be added, not even a fly could land—this described this realm.

Because of their extreme sensitivity to their bodies, they could sense many things ordinary people could not.

That was how Su Ti felt now. He could hear the heavy breathing and rapid heartbeats of Xu Lao and the other two behind him, and he could feel their fear.

He could also sense the cold gazes of the lizard monsters in the darkness, as well as the hissing sounds they made when they flicked out their tongues.

He could hear the sounds of their nails scraping the ground, the faint tearing sounds caused by their movements, and even the slight noises made by their breathing!

Just then! A lizard monster lunged at Su Ti from the side!

Su Ti had detected it before it even entered the range of the torchlight. Without a second thought, he threw a punch!

Seeing the punch coming, the lizard monster displayed astonishing agility in midair. It exerted force through its waist and abdomen, actually adjusting its posture in midair without any leverage as it prepared to grab Su Ti's arm.

But the instant its hands and feet grasped Su Ti's arm, they suddenly slipped. It lost its balance and fell.

A trace of humanlike shock and confusion appeared in the lizard monster's cold pupils.

It could climb across ceilings that were practically parallel to the ground, so why could it not grip a human arm?

If time had slowed and magnified the scene, one would have seen it clearly.

Every muscle in Su Ti's arm was rippling and undulating like smooth snake scales.

This was the Scaled Python Armor.

In the Perfected Circle Realm, one could unleash strength from every muscle in the body. Only after reaching the Perfected Circle Realm did the Scaled Python Armor truly reach major mastery.

Su Ti no longer needed to unleash the Scaled Python Armor across his entire body merely to defend against a localized attack. Now, wherever he was struck, he could activate the Scaled Python Armor over only that area for defense.

And the very next second after the monster fell, boom!

Su Ti fiercely kicked out. A black blur of a leg swept forth with a shrill howl, striking the monster squarely in the chest!

The monster gave a muffled groan and flew like a cannonball. After flying seven or eight meters, it crashed heavily to the ground, convulsing continuously as blood spilled from the corner of its mouth. It could no longer rise.

Its smooth scales and compact body had originally allowed it to disperse most of the impact from attacks, so even a direct hit could not harm it much.

But after reaching the Perfected Circle Realm, Su Ti's strength itself had not increased, yet it had become more focused and precise, and his instantaneous explosive force had grown stronger. Even when striking smooth scales, his attacks would no longer slide away so easily.

It was like using the same amount of strength to throw a punch versus drawing a bow and firing an arrow. Even with the same force behind them, their explosive power and concentration were worlds apart. Thus, Su Ti had directly beaten the monster to the brink of death!

But there was more than one monster in King Mu's Tomb!

Rather than being frightened by Su Ti's sudden burst of power, the lizard monsters all let out piercing shrieks. They displayed astonishing teamwork, charging at Su Ti simultaneously in an attempt to unleash their strongest force at once and eliminate him in an instant!

Sensing seven or eight monsters lunging at him from the darkness at the same time, a cold gleam flashed in Su Ti's eyes.

"Cover your ears and get down!"

In the midst of danger, the others obeyed without even thinking.

By then, a mass of monsters had already lunged toward Su Ti. The nearest one's claws were only twenty centimeters from his body.

At that critical moment, Su Ti raised both hands. His chest swelled high, his neck expanded by a full circle and flushed red, as though a giant python were about to spit something out.

The next second.

Boom!