Grade A Upper Follow-Up, Heroic Bone Structure

Wang Hu rolled like a lazy donkey and dodged Zhou Feng's palm strike.

Yet more than one person had come to kill him this time.

Lu Changfeng, who had long been waiting in readiness, darted in. His sword flashed, swift and precise, severing one of Wang Hu's arms cleanly at the shoulder.

Zhou Feng followed up with another palm to Wang Hu's chest, making him spit blood.

"Spare me! You two heroes!" Clutching his severed arm, Wang Hu collapsed helplessly to the ground, having lost all ability to resist as he wailed and begged for mercy.

"Whatever you want, I'll give it to you!"

Zhou Feng exchanged a glance with Lu Changfeng, then stepped forward to ask, "Where have you hidden the money and valuables you extorted?"

Seeing that his life was safe for the moment, Wang Hu gasped for breath. "In the Hidden Box beneath the bed. All my money is there! Take the money, heroes, but spare my life!"

Zhou Feng kept watch over Wang Hu while Lu Changfeng strode swiftly to the bed.

The Young Girl on the bed had been stripped bare, tears shimmering in her eyes like pear blossoms in the rain. Unable to bear the sight, Lu Changfeng flicked his sword and cut the ropes binding her, then lifted the quilt with the blade to cover her body.

Lu Changfeng then felt around beneath the bed. Before long, he indeed found a Hidden Box.

With a slight exertion of force, he pulled the Hidden Box free.

Fearing concealed weapons inside, Lu Changfeng set it on the ground, cut off its small lock with his sword, and pried open the lid.

Fortunately, there was nothing wrong with the Hidden Box.

Inside the opened Hidden Box lay a thick stack of Silver Notes.

Each Silver Note was worth one hundred taels. Lu Changfeng counted them and found twenty-two in total.

This haul would be enough to support Lu Changfeng's cultivation for quite some time.

"Is this all?"

Lu Changfeng raised his sword and pressed its tip against Wang Hu's brow as he asked coldly.

"Hero, that really is all! We've only been in Fengcheng for half a year, and my brothers need money for expenses too. It wasn't easy to save this much!"

"Take all the money. Please, spare my life!"

Lu Changfeng slowly withdrew his sword. Then, in an instant, the blade shot back out and severed Wang Hu's head with one stroke.

He crouched and searched Wang Hu's body. Apart from several dozen taels of Loose Silver, he found a booklet.

Lu Changfeng looked it over and saw that it recorded a fairly good saber technique. If sold, it could fetch quite a bit of silver.

"Miss, leave through the side door quickly. Remember not to get caught again."

After giving her that instruction, the two martial brothers left the house and climbed over the wall out of the courtyard.

Before long, they returned to the martial arts school.

Inside Lu Changfeng's bedroom, the two martial brothers began dividing the spoils.

Zhou Feng was very interested in the saber technique, so the manual went to him.

In exchange, Lu Changfeng took thirteen hundred taels of silver, while Zhou Feng took nine hundred taels along with the Loose Silver.

"Killing and burning really does bring a golden belt!" Zhou Feng said, his face full of delight.

This round of murder and plunder had gone rather smoothly.

That was partly because Lu Changfeng had investigated Wang Hu's strength beforehand.

Moreover, both martial brothers were quite strong. With a surprise attack and two against one, Wang Hu, at the Blood Tempering Third Level, had no chance to fight back.

Had Lu Changfeng acted alone, he might have caused quite a commotion.

Bringing along a trustworthy Senior Brother and sharing the risks was still extremely worthwhile.

The next day, Lu Changfeng took last night's gains together with his usual savings, a total of two thousand taels, and went to the largest apothecary in the Outer City to purchase Exotic Beast Meat.

This apothecary had been opened by a Noble from the Inner City, and it sold Exotic Beast Meat.

After he explained his purpose,

the Shop Assistant led the two martial brothers upstairs to meet the Manager.

The Manager was a plump middle-aged man. After hearing the Shop Assistant's explanation, he spoke bluntly.

"You two are new customers. Our shop does indeed sell Earth Dragon Meat, but prices have soared lately. Earth Dragon Head has risen to four taels of silver per strip. There is a small discount for bundles: one bundle contains one hundred strips and costs three hundred eighty-five taels. Can you two accept that?"

Prices had indeed risen far too quickly lately.

More and more people could no longer afford rice.

Some shops outside had already stopped accepting copper coins and would only take silver.

Lu Changfeng calculated that after his Bone Structure improved in a few days, he would likely consume five hundred Meat Strips each month.

By that count, the Silver Money he had brought would be just enough for one month's cultivation needs, leaving almost nothing behind.

However, Lu Changfeng still had the substantial subsidy from his Master, Zhang Desheng.

Together, it would be enough for two months of cultivation.

Although Zhou Feng's cultivation level was higher than Lu Changfeng's, his Bone Structure was only Grade B Upper.

As a result, he only needed a little over one hundred strips of Exotic Beast Meat per month.

Lu Changfeng bought five bundles.

Zhou Feng gritted his teeth and used his savings to buy five bundles as well, intending to use this Exotic Beast Meat to break through to the Blood Tempering Fourth Level in one stroke and reach the Blood Tempering Fifth Level!

Seeing that major customers had arrived, the Manager also grew enthusiastic.

He gathered the goods at the fastest possible speed and handed them over to Lu Changfeng and Zhou Feng.

After paying, Lu Changfeng and Zhou Feng left the apothecary, returned to the martial arts school, and began cultivating in seclusion.

In the Outer City, Wang Hu's Gang had merely been a small gang, at most one particularly skilled at stirring up trouble among small gangs.

When word spread that Wang Hu had been beheaded in his home at night, it did not cause much of a stir in the Outer City.

His small gang, however, was quickly swallowed up by another force.

And so, several days passed in the blink of an eye.

Once the copying cooldown had ended, Lu Changfeng decisively found another opportunity to copy his Master Zhang Desheng's Bone Structure again.

After Copy Success, Lu Changfeng returned to his bedroom.

"Interface, begin fusion!"

"Fusion successful. You have obtained Three Grade A Mid Bone Structures!"

"Continue fusion!"

"Fusion successful. You have obtained One Grade A Upper Bone Structure!"

Boom!

Lu Changfeng's body began transforming once more.

It had taken four Grade A Mid Bone Structures to complete this fusion, and the effects of this transformation seemed even greater than the previous ones.

Lu Changfeng could even clearly sense the flow of blood within his body, something he had never experienced before.

After the fusion was complete, Lu Changfeng immediately took out ten strips of Earth Dragon Meat, stuffed them into his mouth, and gulped them down in a muddle.

Any ordinary Martial Artist would be stunned by Lu Changfeng's eating speed. Only Lu Changfeng's Bone Structure could absorb the energy of Exotic Beast Meat so rapidly.

Lu Changfeng practiced a round of Mount Le's Wrathful Vajra in his room.

He experienced the effects brought by the Grade A Upper Bone Structure.

Lu Changfeng discovered that the Grade A Upper Bone Structure not only increased how much Exotic Beast Meat he could absorb, but also greatly improved his absorption efficiency.

As long as he maintained his supply of Exotic Beast Meat, Lu Changfeng was confident he could advance to the Blood Tempering Fourth Level within half a year.

In half a year, Lu Changfeng would only be sixteen. A sixteen-year-old at the Blood Tempering Fourth Level was rare, but such people had appeared in Fengcheng.

But with the additional condition that he had only begun cultivating at fifteen, there were scarcely any such monsters to be found.

Perhaps only genius disciples from those great sects could compare with Lu Changfeng.

"Looks like I'll have to kill and burn a few more times."

"When the time comes, I'll bring Senior Brother Zhou Feng along again."

"Right, is there an even higher talent beyond Grade A Upper?"

The Interface displayed the next stage: eight Grade A Upper Bone Structures could be fused into one Heroic Bone Structure.

Sixteen Heroic Bone Structures could be fused into one Earth Spirit Bone Structure.

Heroic Bone Structure—just hearing the name made it sound formidable.

In ancient times, someone with this kind of Bone Structure might have been one of those legendary figures who created cultivation arts.

But it took eight Grade A Upper Bone Structures to complete the fusion. If he continued copying Zhang Desheng's Grade A Lower Bone Structure, he would need to copy it fifty-six times before gathering enough.

That would take more than seven years.

That meant the Copy Interface would serve no purpose for more than seven years.

The loss outweighed the gain.

It would be better to wait for an opportunity to directly find someone with a Grade A Mid or Grade A Upper Bone Structure—or, if luck favored him, a Heroic Bone Structure—and copy that instead.

For now, it would be better to seek more chances to copy talents and strengthen his martial prowess.