Ten-Thousand-Pound Strength

"Master Wei, please have a seat!"

Wei Fan stepped into a restaurant. He was a regular at Ma's Restaurant, and the waiter promptly ushered him to a table.

"The usual!"

His usual was a bowl of fried rice, half a jin of braised meat, and a vegetable soup.

After saying that, he sat down to wait. By now, the sky had begun to darken, and there were few pedestrians left on the streets.

Cloud City had no curfew, but with demons, monsters, and malevolent entities everywhere, ordinary people generally stopped going out at night.

Demons, monsters, and malevolent entities had always existed in this world. They simply could not be exterminated, so the yamen's policy was merely to maintain an appearance of peace.

The demons did not act too brazenly either. Rather than openly devouring people, they nurtured gang forces like the Fierce Tiger Gang and secretly sent people to them as food.

The yamen also knew about such matters. So long as things did not get too out of hand, they turned a blind eye.

Of course, this was also related to the governing policies of the local official. The current City Lord of Cloud City belonged to the sort who greatly feared demons and monsters.

Since he had taken office, the demon calamities in Cloud City had grown increasingly severe. Officials colluded with bandits, and the people were filled with bitter complaints.

"Master Wei, your food is here!"

Just as Wei Fan was lost in thought, the waiter began bringing out the dishes: crispy pork knuckle, sauced beef, steamed perch, roast chicken, and a jar of aged wine.

"This is wrong. These aren't what I ordered," Wei Fan said in surprise.

Hearing this, the waiter lowered his voice. "The proprietor is treating you to this. You killed that scourge Yang Jun, and the proprietor said you'll never be charged when you come here again.

"You don't know this, Master Wei. Our proprietor had a daughter who was violated by Yang Jun. A few days later, she hanged herself.

"Today, after you killed Yang Jun, who knows how many families on the nearby streets celebrated in secret. If not for fear of the Fierce Tiger Gang, they would have taken to the streets setting off firecrackers."

Since that was the case, Wei Fan no longer stood on ceremony and began eating heartily.

He served in the yamen and earned a decent monthly stipend, but even so, he could not afford such fine wine and food every day.

Half an hour later, Wei Fan was full and satisfied. With a faint trace of drunkenness, he headed home. Before he even reached it, that slight buzz had been expelled by the automatic circulation of his true qi.

The original owner had lived alone. His mother had passed away two or three years ago. His father had originally been a yamen runner, but after going on duty three months ago, only a few bloodstained clothes had returned. There had not even been a corpse.

It was said that he had encountered a great demon while handling a case and had been swallowed by it.

That was also why the original owner had been able to take over his father's position and enter the yamen as a street-patrolling runner.

Of course, the original owner was not an only child. He had an older sister who was already married, which was why he lived alone.

When he got home, Wei Fan immediately lay down on the bed and opened the panel.

Martial arts:

Golden Bell Shield (Ninth Level)

Blood Fiend Saber Technique (Mastery)

Flowing Cloud Chasing Wind Steps (Mastery)

Iron Body Skill (Not Initiated)

Current cultivation: 46 years

Of the four martial arts, three had reached their highest realm. Only the hard-body external art, Iron Body Skill, had not yet been initiated.

"Add ten years of cultivation to the Iron Body Skill!"

For the first time, Wei Fan directly used ten years of cultivation. Even the Golden Bell Shield had taken ten years of cultivation to reach its highest Ninth Level. A hard-body martial art would only take longer to cultivate to the Ninth Level!

Ten years of cultivation deducted!

You cultivate the internally and externally cultivated martial art Golden Bell Shield, giving you an excellent physical foundation. With one year of cultivation, the Iron Body Skill reaches the Third Level, granting three thousand pounds of strength in one arm.

Though the Golden Bell Shield was said to cultivate both internal and external aspects, it primarily cultivated true qi. Tempering the body was merely an additional effect of the martial art. Many true qi martial arts actually had some body-tempering effects as well; it was only a matter of degree.

At the Ninth Level of Golden Bell Shield, he possessed two thousand pounds of strength in one arm.

Yet with a hard-body martial art, merely reaching the Second Level gave one the pure physical strength of two thousand pounds in one arm. When it came to tempering the body, true qi martial arts and pure hard-body martial arts were simply not comparable.

At the same time, Wei Fan discovered another reason why so few people cultivated hard-body martial arts. It was not only because they had low lethality against demons and monsters without flesh-and-blood bodies, but also because of the pain.

Cultivating this kind of hard-body martial art was like being thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil and fried.

In an instant, pain that sank into his marrow spread throughout his entire body, nearly making him pass out.

Wei Fan clenched his teeth and silently endured it.

Two years of cultivation: through extreme training, your Iron Body Skill reaches the Fourth Level, granting four thousand pounds of strength in one arm.

Three years of cultivation: your Iron Body Skill breaks through to the Fifth Level, granting five thousand pounds of strength in one arm.

Four years of cultivation: your Iron Body Skill breaks through to the Sixth Level, granting six thousand pounds of strength in one arm.

This was where hard-body martial arts were more terrifying than true qi martial arts. With almost every breakthrough, one's strength increased by a thousand pounds.

At the Ninth Level of mastery, one could attain a frightening ten thousand pounds of strength in one arm.

If cultivating this kind of martial art did not mean that one could only burn one's life away in battle when facing demons and monsters without flesh-and-blood bodies, countless people would surely cultivate it.

Five years of cultivation: your Iron Body Skill has fallen into a bottleneck and has not broken through.

Six years of cultivation: your Iron Body Skill remains at the Sixth Level, but the bottleneck has begun to loosen!

Seven years of cultivation: drop by drop, water pierces stone. Your Iron Body Skill reaches the Seventh Level, granting seven thousand pounds of strength in one arm.

Ten years of cultivation: your Iron Body Skill has not broken through to the Ninth Level.

Iron Body Skill (Eighth Level)

Current cultivation: 36 years

Ten years of cultivation had actually been insufficient to bring the Iron Body Skill to the highest Ninth Level, even with the foundation of the Golden Bell Shield.

Had the Golden Bell Shield not tempered his body beforehand, it would likely have taken several more years just to reach the Eighth Level.

After resting for a while, Wei Fan added another three years of cultivation to the Iron Body Skill in one go.

Three years of cultivation deducted!

Eleven years of cultivation: your Iron Body Skill still cannot break through after a long time. You do not grow anxious and continue tempering your physique.

Twelve years of cultivation: the strength and power of your physique begin to increase slowly. You see the first light of a breakthrough.

Thirteen years of cultivation: through your unremitting persistence, you shatter the limits of the flesh in one stroke. Your Iron Body Skill reaches the perfected Ninth Level. Your body is as hard as iron, granting ten thousand pounds of strength in one arm.

Iron Body Skill (Ninth Level)

Current cultivation: 33 years

The final level had taken four years of cultivation.

"Creak!"

Wei Fan stretched lazily, and the bed beneath him immediately groaned under the unbearable burden.

The perfected Ninth Level Iron Body Skill had also greatly changed his weight.

Looking down, Wei Fan saw clearly defined muscle lines. The skin membrane covering them was more like polished metal, gleaming with a cold, dim luster. His entire body seemed forged from steel.

He flicked his skin with a finger, producing a ringing clang. When he lightly drew his saber across it, the blade actually slipped slightly.

"Thirteen years of cultivation—worth it!"

Joy appeared on Wei Fan's face.

A perfected hard-body martial art combined with a perfected true qi martial art was far from as simple as one plus one.

Ten thousand pounds of strength, coupled with the mighty true qi of the Ninth Level—when he slashed out with his saber, its power would be more than doubled. Not to mention the improvement to his defenses.

"There are still thirty-three years of cultivation left!"

After checking the panel, he did not continue adding cultivation to his other martial arts.

He had raised a hard-body martial art to mastery in one breath, concentrating over a decade of suffering into this brief span of time. His body had become powerful, but his mind was already exhausted.