The Path of the Brute is the True Path

"Roar!"

A tiger's roar that shook the soul didn't come from outside, but from within his spiritual world.

Within his body, a peerlessly sharp surge of energy erupted on its own, slicing through the surrounding air with a soft "chichichi" sound.

Fallen leaves in the courtyard moved without wind, ground to dust by this invisible surge of energy.

Shen Che slowly raised his hand, fingers together like a blade, and gently slashed forward.

A semi-transparent, visible surge of sharp energy shot out, leaving a half-inch deep scratch on the stone table three feet away.

"This is... Saber Intent?"

Shen Che himself was stunned.

Saber Intent was a realm countless saber users dreamed of, the crystallization of talent and arduous training.

For ordinary martial artists, even if they mastered a saber technique to perfection, they might not even touch the threshold of Saber Intent.

This thing was mysterious and profound, emphasizing "enlightenment."

But he, just by doing this a few times, had enlightened?

This system was just too unreasonable.

He opened his status panel.

[Host: Shen Che]
[Time Value: 480]
[Cultivation Arts:]
[Black Tiger Saber Technique (Level 6) (Currently cannot be upgraded)]
[Golden Bell Shield (Level 13) (Currently cannot be upgraded)]

As expected, both cultivation arts had "Currently cannot be upgraded" written after them.

It seemed that whether it was the Golden Bell Shield or the Black Tiger Saber Technique, at his current realm, he had reached their limits.

To advance further, he had to break through to the True Meridian Realm.

The key to breaking through to the True Meridian Realm lay in cultivating True Qi and using it to nurture and connect the twelve main meridians in his body.

He now possessed brute strength but lacked a method to cultivate True Qi.

"I need to find an internal cultivation art."

Shen Che made up his mind.

As the enforcement arm of the Great Jing Dynasty, the Demon Suppression Division must have a collection of cultivation techniques and secret manuals.

The next day, at Chen Shi.

Following the guidance of the division's map, Shen Che arrived at the Scripture Pavilion of the Demon Suppression Division.

It was an ancient, three-story pavilion. At the entrance sat a white-haired old man, who was slowly and methodically wiping a walnut with a soft cloth, making it gleam.

Shen Che stepped forward and presented his Probationary Demon Suppressor token.

The old man didn't even lift his eyelids and said hoarsely, "Probationary Demon Suppressors can only enter the first floor."

"You can choose one cultivation art to copy or memorize, but you are not allowed to take the original out of the pavilion."

"After you've chosen, come here to register."

"This is a rare opportunity, only once every three months, so think carefully."

With that, he stopped speaking and continued to focus on polishing his walnut.

Shen Che retrieved his token and pushed the door open.

The first floor of the Scripture Pavilion was spacious, with rows upon rows of bookshelves filled with various secret manuals.

He directly skipped the external martial arts techniques and walked to the internal cultivation art section.

There were hundreds of internal cultivation arts on these bookshelves.

Fire Devouring Art, Azure Wood Art, Frenzied Battle Art...

Shen Che casually flipped through a few of them.

These cultivation arts were mostly similar, all basic introductory methods. The True Qi cultivated was of low quality, and the efficiency was painfully slow.

According to the descriptions, even those with good talent would need three to five years to cultivate the first wisp of True Qi.

This?

By the time it was cultivated, he'd be long gone.

He didn't have that much time to waste.

Shen Che was somewhat disappointed and was about to leave to look around other areas when his movement suddenly stopped.

His gaze was drawn to a dusty secret manual in the corner of a bookshelf.

The book was thin, its cover made of some kind of animal hide, with three characters written in ancient script.

Iron Shirt.

He was far too familiar with this name.

Like the Golden Bell Shield, it was a renowned external martial art from his past life.

He took down the manual, blew off the dust, and began to read.

Unlike the Golden Bell Shield, which focused on internal organs and blood essence, following a vigorous and masculine path, the Iron Shirt followed a path of gentleness and subtlety.

It specifically trained the skin, muscles, and bones of the body. When cultivated to a high level, the bones would become as tough as iron, and the skin and muscles as pliable as cotton, capable of dispersing the force of heavy blows layer by layer.

One Yin, one Yang. One hard, one soft.

One focused inward, the other outward.

If he could cultivate both these external martial arts to perfection, his physical body...

Shen Che's heart couldn't help but beat faster.

What need was there for internal cultivation techniques?

Build his body into an impenetrable fortress, indestructible like a vajra, and then what did it matter if it was True Qi or demonic arts? Just crush it with a single punch!

The path of the brute was the true way.

He closed the manual, no longer hesitating, and walked out of the Scripture Pavilion with the Iron Shirt manual.

"Chosen?" The old man finally looked up, his cloudy eyes sweeping over the book in his hand.

"This one."

"Iron Shirt? Interesting." The old man's lips twitched, as if trying to smile but failing. He took out a brush, ink, paper, and inkstone. "Name, number."

Shen Che provided his information.

After the old man finished registering, he returned the token. "Remember the rules. You can only read the manual, not take it away. It will be burned after reading."

Shen Che nodded, found a spot nearby, and memorized the entire Iron Shirt verbatim before tossing the original into the brazier.

Returning to his small courtyard.

Shen Che closed the door and immediately opened his system panel.

Under the [Martial Arts] column, a new line of text had indeed appeared.

[Iron Shirt (Untrained)+]

"System, max it out for me!"

[Consume 30 Time Points to raise Iron Shirt to the first level?]

From beginner to perfection, there were ten levels.

Each level cost 30 points.

"Yes!"

[Consumed 30 Time Points, Iron Shirt raised to the second level.]

[Consumed 30 Time Points, Iron Shirt raised to the tenth level!]

A string of prompts flashed across the screen.

A total of three hundred Time Points were consumed.

The numbers on the panel finally stopped at 180.

A sense of power, completely different from the Golden Bell Shield, erupted from the depths of his marrow.

It was a tingling sensation, like billions of ants gnawing at his bones.

He could clearly "hear" his entire skeleton emitting crisp cracking sounds, as if being repeatedly hammered and compressed by an invisible giant hammer.

The density of his bones was increasing at a terrifying rate.

The original bone-white color gradually took on a metallic sheen, eventually turning a bright silver, indestructible.

At the same time, the skin and muscles on his body began to writhe, becoming denser and tougher.

Decades of arduous cultivation merged into his body in this instant.

When everything subsided.

Shen Che slowly opened his eyes.

He activated the now perfected Iron Shirt.

Beneath his black robe, his muscles bulged like molten steel, his entire body appearing a size larger, filled with explosive power.

He casually threw a punch forward into the empty air.

Without using any techniques, just pure physical strength.

A dull explosion sounded, the air in front of his fist was instantly shattered, forming a powerful airflow that slammed the distant door shut with a "clang."

Shen Che slowly retracted his fist, feeling the vast, ocean-like power within him.

With a shake of his arm, he possessed immense strength!

Currently, although his realm was still Body Tempering, and he hadn't even condensed a wisp of True Qi.

But in terms of pure physical strength, he was already comparable to those who had opened the twelve main meridians and reached the peak of the True Meridian Realm.