Continuous Breakthroughs!

Inside the mountain cave.

Within five steps of the cave entrance lay piles of dead branches and fallen leaves, with more than a dozen animal traps set among them.

Deep inside the cave.

Su Que sat cross-legged on the ground, cultivating the Wedding Dress Divine Skill.

As true qi circulated through his body, wisps of steam rose from his Baihui Acupoint.

Name: Su Que (17 years old)
Lifespan: 83
Talent Value: 14
Martial Arts: Seven Injuries Fist (Peak Mastery 15%), Five Animal Frolics (Initial Glimpse 1%)
Internal Skill: Wedding Dress Divine Skill (Minor Accomplishment 2%)

After more than ten days of cultivation, his Wedding Dress Divine Skill had risen by one realm, reaching Minor Accomplishment.

His lifespan had increased by twelve years, while his Talent Value had risen by two points.

Seeing that his Wedding Dress Divine Skill had reached Minor Accomplishment, he used his true qi to circulate his blood and qi, seeking to raise his martial realm.

Over these past days, Su Que had frequently traveled to the gambling houses, taverns, and other places in Jade Water City, where he had gathered quite a bit of knowledge about martial cultivation.

He learned that one's martial realm represented a warrior's basic physical qualities—the very foundation of a warrior.

The higher a warrior's martial realm, the greater his strength, speed, reactions, and resistance to blows.

Naturally, when two warriors fought, victory or defeat was not determined solely by their martial realms.

After all, aside from one's martial realm, there was also one's mastery of martial arts.

Su Que had heard some wanderers in taverns discussing warriors who could fight across martial realms.

Rumor had it that one such warrior possessed only a modest martial realm, yet had mastered an exceptionally exquisite sword art and comprehended it to an extremely high level.

Thus, he had defeated many opponents whose martial realms surpassed his own.

In truth, Su Que knew that he himself was also an anomaly, and that his strength could not be judged purely by his martial realm.

He cultivated the Seven Injuries Fist and the Wedding Dress Divine Skill, and throughout his training, his five organs, meridians, flesh, and blood had all been strengthened.

The fundamental strength, speed, and defensive power of his body far exceeded those of warriors in the same realm.

Naturally, his true strength could not be measured by the martial realms commonly used to judge ordinary warriors.

He had heard in the gambling houses that advancing one's martial realm meant breaking the shackles of the body step by step, which could speed up the cultivation of martial arts and internal skills.

To make his progress in the Seven Injuries Fist and the Wedding Dress Divine Skill faster, he needed to raise his martial realm.

The first major realm of martial cultivation was the Blood and Qi Realm.

At this realm, one primarily practiced Blood and Qi Body Tempering.

The first step of the Blood and Qi Realm was First Blood Skin Refining.

Su Que stirred his true qi and fused it into his blood.

His blood had already been boiling and surging because of the medicinal effects of the Startling Blood Soup.

Now, stimulated by his true qi, it boiled and surged even more violently!

Then, with a thought, his blood and qi rolled forth and abruptly spread through his limbs and bones, washing toward his skin.

The next moment, the exposed flesh outside his clothes visibly turned bright red, like the shell of a boiled shrimp.

A burning sensation arose across the skin of his entire body, as though he were soaking in a scorching hot spring.

Using both hands, Su Que quickly tore off all his clothes.

He revealed a body of sinewy muscle, reddened by the burning blood and qi.

Wisps of heat gradually rose from his crimson skin, misting upward toward the cave ceiling.

This was First Blood Skin Refining: using blood and qi to temper the skin until it became tough and resilient.

Though a warrior's skin would become considerably tougher after First Blood Skin Refining,

it still could not withstand the sharpness of weapons.

However, once a weapon cut through the skin, that tough skin would delay the weapon from fully breaking through and entering the flesh.

Though that delay was very brief, perhaps only an instant,

that single instant was enough for many warriors to react in time and avoid being gravely wounded—or even dying beneath a blade.

The true qi generated by the Wedding Dress Divine Skill was exceedingly fierce and domineering.

The blood and qi formed after being infused with the Wedding Dress Divine Skill's true qi was far more violent than that produced by ordinary internal skills.

Furthermore, Su Que possessed a Talent Value of fourteen and the support of the Startling Blood Soup's medicinal effects.

Therefore, he completed First Blood Skin Refining in merely three days.

Such speed could only be achieved by the descendants of great lineages through extravagantly luxurious methods—borrowing another person's true qi, consuming vast quantities of medicine, and undergoing costly medicinal baths while cultivating.

After completing First Blood Skin Refining, his skin had become much brighter, and its previous dullness had completely vanished.

It had become exceptionally taut and resilient.

After First Blood Skin Refining came Second Blood Muscle Refining.

Like First Blood Skin Refining, Second Blood Muscle Refining involved using blood and qi to temper the body's flesh.

After undergoing Second Blood Muscle Refining, the physical body would become even stronger and tougher.

First, this showed in one's strength and speed.

A Two-Blood Warrior's strength and speed were often far greater than those of a One-Blood Warrior.

Moreover, as the body became tougher, a warrior's ability to withstand blows also became stronger.

If a weapon struck the body, after cutting through the tough skin, it would still be obstructed by solid muscle.

Thus, after undergoing Second Blood Muscle Refining, a warrior could more easily avoid fatal wounds.

Su Que continued to focus as he circulated his blood and qi, the scorching blood and qi permeating every inch of muscle throughout his body.

Since the blood and qi were not entering his skin at this moment, only a faint blood-red glow showed beneath it.

It was no longer as exaggerated as during First Blood Skin Refining.

For other people, progress in Second Blood Muscle Refining would be much slower than in First Blood Skin Refining.

However, the true qi of the Wedding Dress Divine Skill would inflict hidden injuries upon an ordinary warrior's muscles.

Yet for Su Que, cultivating the Wedding Dress Divine Skill itself nourished his flesh and blood.

Therefore, the strength of his muscles had already increased considerably while cultivating the Wedding Dress Divine Skill.

This minor realm of Second Blood Muscle Refining was, for him, simply a matter of water flowing into its channel.

He spent only one night completing Second Blood Muscle Refining and entered the stage of Third Blood Tendon Strengthening.

He felt that the muscles all over his body were taut and brimming with power.

He walked outside the cave, found a boulder as massive as a tiger, and threw a punch!

Boom!

Under the force of the Seven Injuries Fist, his physical strength, and the true qi of the Wedding Dress Divine Skill, the enormous boulder shattered at once!

Rubble the size of fingertips shot in every direction.

With several dull thuds, some fragments even embedded themselves in tree trunks.

Su Que looked at the fist that had smashed the boulder apart without suffering the slightest damage.

I wonder whether this punch of mine can pierce iron armor?

The ability to punch through iron armor was strength possessed by a Fourth Blood Bone Forging warrior.

Su Que reckoned that since he could shatter such an enormous boulder with one punch, he should be able to pierce iron armor as well.

If so, then although he had only completed Third Blood Tendon Strengthening, his actual strength had already caught up to that of a Fourth Blood Bone Forging warrior.