Flying Swallow, Fist Martial, Blade Supremacy

On the day of Zhang Desheng's funeral.

All the disciples of Changle Martial Arts School had gathered.

Some had trained at the school for a few months, others had cultivated there continuously.

There were even those who had transferred to other schools midway.

From this, it was clear that Zhang Desheng was a man of good character—his disciples all held him in high regard.

The funeral procession, clad in white robes, numbered several hundred people.

The line stretched long.

Among them, nearly a hundred were Martial Artists at the Blood Tempering Realm.

The scene was grand beyond compare.

Lu Changfeng, Zhou Feng, and Liu Ye led the procession at the front, carrying the coffin toward the outskirts of the city.

The major powers of the Outer City also showed great respect.

Perhaps they thought of the day when they themselves would meet the same fate.

They voluntarily sent people to maintain order along the funeral route.

Thus, Zhang Desheng's body was smoothly laid to rest at Grave Mountain outside the city.

The funeral procession dispersed.

Only Lu Changfeng and the other two remained before the grave.

The school's land had been bought by a force from Qingshan Prefecture, rumored to be opening a martial school as well.

The school's servants, including Hua'er whom Lu Changfeng had brought back earlier, had all been dismissed.

With Zhang Desheng dead, the three of them truly had no place left to gather.

"I'm planning to make my way in Jiangnan Prefecture," Zhou Feng spoke first.

Lu Changfeng and Liu Ye heard this and wished Zhou Feng good luck.

Zhou Feng offered a toast to their master's grave, then shouldered his pack, led his horse, and departed.

With the Silkworm Seed in hand, he might yet break into the Muscle Tendon Realm in the future and restore the school's prestige.

"Junior Brother, how about coming to the Liu Family as a guest elder? The treatment will definitely be no issue," Liu Ye said, looking at Lu Changfeng and extending an invitation.

After swallowing up the Liu Family's assets.

The Liu Family could afford to hire another guest elder.

Especially since Lu Changfeng was his fellow disciple from the same master—someone he knew inside and out, with great talent and a bright future.

If Lu Changfeng could become a guest elder for the Liu Family, nothing could be better.

Lu Changfeng declined Liu Ye's kindness: "I have no such plans for now."

"I want to focus on secluded cultivation for a while."

Liu Ye nodded in understanding. Their master Zhang Desheng had no children or descendants, and the assets he left before his death were divided among his three Personal Disciples.

With those assets, given Lu Changfeng's talent, he might quickly advance to a higher level.

Thus, Lu Changfeng and Liu Ye parted ways at the grave as well.

Lu Changfeng returned to his small courtyard.

And began a life of secluded cultivation.

Spring passed, autumn arrived.

Lu Changfeng immersed himself in training.

In the blink of an eye.

A year and a half had gone by.

That year, Lu Changfeng turned eighteen.

It was another clear summer.

Fengcheng remained unexpectedly peaceful.

In the third month of Lu Changfeng's secluded cultivation.

The Xuanming Cult from neighboring Qingshan Prefecture suddenly organized an army to march south and launch a surprise attack on Jiangnan Prefecture's cities, capturing two in a row.

The Prefect of Jiangnan Prefecture, enraged, organized a counterattack but failed, instead losing another city to the Xuanming Cult.

Rumors spread that the Xuanming Cult's leader, Li Tianxing, had reached the strongest level of any cult leader in its history.

In a private duel with the Prefect of Jiangnan Prefecture, he severely wounded him!

The Prefect of Jiangnan Prefecture sent a messenger to Yunyang Prefecture for aid.

But the Prefect of Yunyang Prefecture was ambiguous in his stance, verbally agreeing to send troops but using the need to mobilize provisions as an excuse to stall.

Delaying until now, the Prefect of Jiangnan Prefecture had no choice but to hold the Jiangnan Martial Arts Gathering within Jiangnan Prefecture, summoning the willing and able from the Jiangnan region to stand together against the great enemy from Qingshan Prefecture.

But now, chaos reigns across the land.

The martial forces of Jiangnan, seeing the sect forces in other prefectures rise in rebellion, began to harbor their own ambitions.

Thus, despite the formidable martial strength of Jiangnan Prefecture, the Jiangnan Martial Arts Gathering seemed to have little effect.

The Royal Family in the Capital Region still appeared to watch the world descend into chaos with indifference, but everyone could see their waning power—they no longer had the strength to alter the course of events.

The Xuanming Cult declared war on Jiangnan Prefecture.

The greatest beneficiaries were the cities bordering Yunyang Prefecture and Qingshan Prefecture, including Fengcheng.

Earlier, there had been rumors that the Xuanming Cult would strike at Yunyang Prefecture.

Now that the two sides were at war, the shadow of conflict that had loomed over Fengcheng naturally dissipated.

Fengcheng even regained some vitality, with the inner city's wealthy mobilizing funds to recruit vagrants from the outer city into the City Guard.

After half a year of secluded cultivation, Lu Changfeng successfully broke through to Blood Tempering Fifth Level.

During this time, he also managed to master [Mount Le's Wrathful Vajra], further accelerating his cultivation speed.

Coupled with the supply of Silkworm Seeds.

Thus, a year later, Lu Changfeng broke through again, reaching Blood Tempering Sixth Level!

At this moment, the blood flowing through Lu Changfeng's body surged with the might of a mountain!

He could sense that the blood within him was beginning to coalesce into another power—Internal Energy!

However, the transition from Blood Tempering to the Muscle Tendon Realm was irreversible.

Lu Changfeng was only eighteen now, so he decided to continue elevating his Blood Tempering realm before breaking into the Muscle Tendon Realm.

It was common knowledge that the higher one's Blood Tempering realm, the stronger the foundation upon entering Muscle Tendon.

Additionally, although his master Zhang Desheng had left behind a cultivation technique for the Muscle Tendon Realm, Lu Changfeng felt that this technique was somewhat low in grade, making it urgent to find a suitable one.

Muscle Tendon techniques could be distinguished by the number of tendons altered during the initial breakthrough.

The human body contained countless tendons.

A Muscle Tendon technique selected specific tendons within the body to form a route, creating a cycle. Once the cycle was established, the breakthrough was complete.

Subsequent cultivation revolved around expanding the number of tendons within this cycle, improving the quality and quantity of Internal Energy.

His master's technique required tempering eighteen tendons to form the cycle upon the first breakthrough—a number considered mid-to-low grade.

This technique could be considered mid-grade.

However, from what Lu Changfeng understood, some high-grade Muscle Tendon techniques required twenty or thirty tendons to establish the initial cycle. While such techniques demanded high bone talent and were difficult to cultivate, Lu Changfeng had great confidence in his own bone talent and natural gifts.

Moreover, high-grade Muscle Tendon techniques produced stronger Internal Energy.

Thus, Lu Changfeng would not give up on his plan to obtain a high-grade Muscle Tendon technique.

Over the past year and a half, Lu Changfeng had not wasted his dozen or so replication opportunities.

His interface and personal strength had undergone earth-shattering changes.

Name: Lu Changfeng

Bone Talent: Grade A Upper

Talents: High-grade Talent [Swordsman], High-grade Talent [Flying Swallow], High-grade Talent [Fist Martial], High-grade Talent [Blade Supremacy], Low-grade Talent [Palm Techniques].

Realm: Blood Tempering Sixth Level

Blood Tempering Technique: [Mount Le's Wrathful Vajra] (Mastered)

Martial Arts: [Gale Sword Technique] (Mastered), [Blood Burst Steps] (Mastered), [Antelope Dodge Method] (Mastered), [Falling Leaf Saber Technique] (Mastered).

Martial Arts Insight: Fierce Wind Sword Intent (Primary Sword Intent) (Sword technique power increased by 50%)

Replication Interval: 31 days.

After Liu Hong, the human stump, was carefully tended to by Lu Changfeng and helped elevate his Blade Technique Talent to High-grade, Lu Changfeng finally let him return to his ancestors.

As for the remaining replication opportunities, Lu Changfeng was not picky. He directly copied from Chun Zhu and Black Ox, raising his Fist Technique Talent to [Fist Martial].

He also elevated his Lightness Skill Talent to [Flying Swallow].