When Squad Leader Zhang led a squad of blood-drenched, murderous veteran soldiers to this area, what they saw was such a scene.
The tents were still smoldering, and the stench of burning mingled with the thick reek of blood, forming a nauseating foul odor. Northern Barbarian Soldier corpses carpeted the ground, their deaths horribly gruesome; scarcely one body remained whole. In the heart of that wreckage, a figure stood motionless with his back to them, leaning on a charred, bloodstained wooden staff.
The leather armor on that person had long since been shredded beyond recognition. The exposed skin bore a strange, dark hue, and faint black-red wisps, almost visible to the naked eye, seemed to coil around it. Simply looking at that back sent chills down their spines, as though they faced not a man, but a savage creature that had just crawled from a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.
"Chen... Chen Qing?" Squad Leader Zhang called out tentatively, his voice dry in a way even he had not noticed. He tightened his grip on his ring-pommel saber, while the veteran soldiers behind him instinctively assumed guarded stances.
The figure slowly turned around.
It was indeed Chen Qing. Yet a layer of inextinguishable ferocity now shrouded that young face, and in the depths of his eyes lingered an inhuman coldness and dead stillness utterly at odds with his age. The wounds on his shoulder blade and thigh were savage and terrifying, but strangely, little blood flowed from them. Instead, threads of black-red Killing Intent coiled around them, seeming to writhe slowly.
At the sight of Squad Leader Zhang, the coldness in Chen Qing's eyes faded slightly. He rasped, "Squad Leader."
His voice sounded like a torn bellows being dragged, dry and grating.
Squad Leader Zhang's heart eased, only for even deeper shock to take its place. He strode forward, his sharp gaze sweeping across the corpses on the ground before settling on the clearly unnatural changes in Chen Qing.
"You did all this?" Squad Leader Zhang's voice carried utter disbelief. At a rough glance, there were no fewer than twenty Northern Barbarian Soldier corpses in this area, and quite a few had clearly been skilled fighters. Not to mention Chen Qing's current state—he had obviously used some incomparably domineering secret art, perhaps even one that damaged his foundation, or... something else.
Chen Qing nodded without offering further explanation. He felt hollow inside, yet at the same time filled with the remnants of a violent energy. The two sensations intertwined, making him deeply uncomfortable. The Black Tiger Fist intent he had mastered completely seemed to have undergone some indescribable change, while the newly comprehended Fierce Tiger Iron Body was more like a savage beast lurking within him, ready to devour its master at any moment.
"Shi Tou and the others..." Chen Qing asked.
"Don't worry. Those four brats have tough lives. They broke out, took a few injuries, but they won't die." Squad Leader Zhang waved a hand, his gaze still fixed firmly on Chen Qing. "You... are you all right?"
Chen Qing fell silent for a moment, then shook his head. "I can still hold on."
Squad Leader Zhang looked at his pallid face tinged with blue-black, as well as the faint Killing Intent surrounding him, and frowned deeply. He had roamed the army and the martial world for many years, and had seen certain sinister arts that traded lifespan for power. Chen Qing's current condition resembled that, yet was also different. That Killing Intent was far too pure, far too strange.
"This is no place to stay. The Northern Barbarians have retreated for now, but they may return at any moment. Come back to the temporary camp with me." Squad Leader Zhang suppressed his doubts and spoke in a low voice. No matter what, Chen Qing was alive—and he had slain so many enemies. That alone was a great merit.
The makeshift camp for the wounded was packed to the brim, with wails of pain everywhere. The air was thick with the smell of wound medicine and blood.
The military physician examined the wounds on Chen Qing's shoulder blade and thigh, especially the black-red Killing Intent that refused to disperse, and his brows twisted into a knot.
"What... what the hell is this?" The old physician tried probing with a silver needle. When the needle approached the Killing Intent, it actually dimmed slightly. "Killing Intent has entered the bones, corroding the meridians... Boy, what life-risking method did you use? These injuries are terribly troublesome!"
Chen Qing closed his eyes without speaking, silently circulating the altered remnant manual of the Fierce Tiger Iron Body. He discovered that this method, which had mutated from the Iron Body Skill, was domineering and perilous, yet exceptionally effective at refining and controlling the Killing Intent that had invaded his body. The process, however, was agonizing beyond measure, like countless tiny steel needles scraping across his bones.
Squad Leader Zhang stood nearby with a grave expression. "Can he be treated?"
The old physician shook his head. "Ordinary medicines and wound salves will have little effect on injuries like his. Unless this Killing Intent is removed, the wounds will be difficult to heal, and it may even continue eroding his life force. Unless... there is an expert who cultivates pure yang righteous energy or Buddhist meditation arts, willing to expend true essence to purge the Killing Intent for him, or... he can refine it himself."
Refine Killing Intent? Squad Leader Zhang looked toward Chen Qing. His brows were tightly furrowed, fine beads of cold sweat covered his forehead, and his body trembled faintly. He was clearly enduring immense pain, yet the unsettling Killing Intent around him really did seem to be thinning bit by bit.
This kid... was he truly refining it?
Squad Leader Zhang was horrified. Killing Intent was a mixture of battlefield death energy, resentment, and murderous aura—chaotic and violent, something ordinary people avoided like the plague. Yet Chen Qing could refine it for his own use? What kind of monstrous cultivation method and willpower was this?
"Bandage him first. Use the best wound medicine. As for the rest... it depends on his own fate." Squad Leader Zhang sighed and instructed the physician.
Over the following days, the camp sank into a brief period of rest and even deeper panic. Though the Northern Barbarians had retreated for the moment, everyone knew their next assault would only be more brutal.
Chen Qing was assigned a small tent of his own. Squad Leader Zhang publicly claimed that his injuries were too severe and that he needed rest, but in truth, it was also a form of protection and observation.
Inside the tent, Chen Qing sat cross-legged and circulated the Fierce Tiger Iron Body with all his strength.
The process was like torture. The Killing Intent that had invaded his marrow was both poison and nourishment. Every attempt to guide his blood and qi against it, merge with it, felt as if he were grinding his own bones with a file. The pain pierced straight into his heart. But his will had long been tempered into iron and stone through countless struggles between life and death.
He recalled the indomitable, all-devouring savagery within the Black Tiger Fist intent, merged it with the method of the Fierce Tiger Iron Body, and actively guided the Killing Intent to temper the bones throughout his body.
Crack... crack...
Fine, teeth-gritting sounds continuously came from within his body. That was the sound of his bones becoming denser and tougher beneath the scouring of Killing Intent. His newly formed bones were no longer ordinary white, but faintly revealed a dark metallic sheen, threaded with extremely faint black-red patterns.
[Refining Battlefield Malevolent Energy, *Fierce Tiger Iron Body* proficiency +20] [Blood and qi temper the bones. Black Tiger Fist intent merges with Killing Intent, producing a subtle change...] [Realm advanced: Bone Forging Realm (Early Stage)!]
After an unknown amount of time, Chen Qing opened his eyes again. Most of the ferocity in them had dissipated. Though they remained cold, their clarity had returned. He moved his body, and a series of crackling sounds came from within, filling him with an unprecedented sense of strength. The savage wounds on his shoulder blade and thigh had yet to fully heal, but they had already scabbed over. The black-red Killing Intent had also been mostly suppressed and no longer leaked outward.
Bone Forging Realm!
And not an ordinary Bone Forging Realm, either. It was Savage Bone—tempered by Battlefield Malevolent Energy and forged through the mutated cultivation method of the Fierce Tiger Iron Body!
He lightly clenched his fist, and the air itself burst with a sonic boom. He felt that his bones were several times harder than refined iron!
He looked toward the system screen.
[Host: Chen Qing] [Realm: Bone Forging Realm (Early Stage)] [Martial Art: *Black Tiger Fist* (Mastered Completely, Proficiency: 1250/5000)—(Mutation: contains the true intent of the fierce tiger)] [Martial Art: *Black Tiger Saber Technique* (Slight Accomplishment, Proficiency: 980/2000)] [Martial Art: *Fierce Tiger Iron Body* (Initial Glimpse, Proficiency: 350/1000)—(mutated from the *Iron Body Skill*, mortal-tier supreme grade?)]
Sure enough, an additional notation had appeared after the Black Tiger Fist, while the Iron Body Skill had completely transformed into the Fierce Tiger Iron Body. Though it had only reached Initial Glimpse, its grade was shockingly marked as "mortal-tier supreme grade?" with a question mark after it. Clearly, even the system could not fully determine the true level of this mutated cultivation method.
Chen Qing could feel that the Fierce Tiger Iron Body possessed enormous potential and was far from limited to this. It seemed capable of growing by continuously absorbing and refining Killing Intent and blood and qi.
Just then, the tent flap was lifted, and Squad Leader Zhang walked inside. He saw that Chen Qing's injuries had not only stabilized, but his aura had become even deeper and more fierce. Especially those eyes—when they opened and closed, sharp light flashed within them, carrying an invisible pressure. He could not help but freeze.
"You... broke through?" Squad Leader Zhang could hardly believe it. Not only had Chen Qing not died from such grave injuries, he had even turned misfortune into fortune and broken through?
Chen Qing nodded. "By luck."
Squad Leader Zhang looked deeply at him and did not press for details. He merely placed a half-new suit of iron armor and a better-quality standard military ring-pommel saber before him.
"Put these on. I've kept your position as Squad Leader for you. Shi Tou and the other four have mostly recovered from their injuries. They'll still be your men from now on." Squad Leader Zhang's tone was calm. "Also, you earned merit for killing enemies before, especially that centurion. The higher-ups have issued a reward: fifty taels of silver and three Blood Strengthening Pills. They're better than Blood Qi Pills and will help stabilize your realm."
Chen Qing looked at the iron armor, the ring-pommel saber, and the silver and pills beside them. After a moment of silence, he said, "Thank you, Squad Leader."
"Don't thank me. You earned this." Squad Leader Zhang waved a hand and walked to the tent entrance. Then he stopped, his back to Chen Qing, and spoke in a low voice. "Chen Qing, I don't know what happened to you, and I don't want to ask. But remember: power is a blade. It can kill enemies, and it can also wound its wielder. Take care of yourself."
With that, he lifted the flap and left.
Chen Qing watched the swaying tent flap, then lowered his gaze to his own hand. Beneath his skin, his bones faintly radiated a cold, hard sensation of power.
Fierce Tiger Iron Body, Savage Bone initially formed.
This chaotic age seemed to have become a little more interesting.
He picked up the standard ring-pommel saber, his fingers brushing over its cold edge.
Next, it was time to test this newborn power. Northern Barbarian brats, don't make me wait too long.
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