Blood Tempering Third Level

Master and disciple began cleaning up the battlefield.

They found over five hundred taels of cash, along with goods that had not been sold off in time.

The goods would naturally be returned to the Merchant Houses. They only needed to notify them to send people to the valley to collect them.

The cash belonged entirely to Zhang Desheng. Zhang Desheng was exceedingly generous, giving Lu Changfeng two hundred taels of silver.

Lu Changfeng did not refuse and accepted it.

The Rebel Army's weapons were gathered up as well. They naturally belonged to Zhang Desheng and could later be collected by the Merchant Houses and sold for silver.

Additionally, Zhang Desheng found two cultivation manuals on the Bandit Leader.

One was a Blood Tempering Realm cultivation technique, while the other was a Muscle Tendon Realm cultivation technique. Both belonged to a sect called the Thousand Blades Sect.

This Bandit Leader had originally been a member of the Thousand Blades Sect.

When the Thousand Blades Sect raised troops in rebellion in Qingshan Prefecture, he naturally became a minor officer in its army.

After failing to seize a city, the Thousand Blades Sect's main force was wiped out, and its army scattered.

The Bandit Leader then fled with the Rebel Army to the vicinity of Fengcheng.

In the end, after repeatedly robbing merchant caravans, he was killed by Zhang Desheng, whom the Merchant Houses had jointly hired.

Autumn.

An autumn breeze swept past, sending withered yellow leaves spinning into the air across the Training Ground.

More than four months had passed since Lu Changfeng first spilled blood.

"Ha! Ha!"

The cries of Changle Martial Arts School disciples rose and fell across the Training Ground.

It was plainly visible that there were fewer disciples in the martial arts school.

There were reasons for this.

First, the other three major martial arts schools were squeezing them out. Second, as times grew harder, more and more disciples could no longer afford the semiannual Tuition Fee.

Among those who left was Li Youtian, who had copied the [Swordsmanship] talent for Lu Changfeng.

Encouraged by Lu Changfeng, Li Youtian had persevered for several more months.

Unfortunately, he still could not break through to Blood Tempering First Level and ultimately chose to leave without saying goodbye.

Li Youtian's family had never been wealthy, and they could no longer scrape together the Tuition Fee.

After leaving the martial arts school, he found work. It was said that he had gone to drive Horse Carriages for an escort agency.

The entire Changle Martial Arts School had sunk into a listless decline.

Yet in one corner of the Training Ground, a tall figure stood utterly at odds with the school's atmosphere, brimming with youthful vigor!

Bare-chested, the young man was practicing a Blood Tempering Cultivation Technique. With every breath, he seemed like a colossal beast lunging forth.

It was none other than the Head of the Martial Arts School's Final Disciple, Lu Changfeng!

Suddenly, Lu Changfeng's breathing surged like thunder! Ridges of muscle bulged all over his body! In an instant, he drew the attention of every disciple on the Training Ground!

Lu Changfeng's movements grew faster and faster.

"Ha!!"

With his final explosive roar, Lu Changfeng felt his entire body ease as he shattered through a shackle within himself!

Blood Tempering Third Level, achieved!

Thus, Lu Changfeng had entered the martial arts school in the third month of spring and, in only eight months, advanced to Blood Tempering Third Level at a terrifying pace.

The disciples on the Training Ground cast him looks of envy and admiration.

Zhou Feng, who was teaching the disciples that day, knew even more of Lu Changfeng's background. His eyes slowly filled with amazement. This Junior Brother's bone structure and talent were simply too terrifying.

Perhaps in another year or two, Junior Brother's cultivation would catch up to his own.

Lu Changfeng had already grown accustomed to his rate of breakthroughs.

With Grade A Mid Bone Structure and his Master's ample supply of Exotic Beast Meat, it would truly be inexcusable if he still could not break through quickly.

Lu Changfeng put on his outer robe, planning to spend several days recuperating. Once he had stabilized his realm, he would take on a martial arts school mission to relax a little.

Ever since his last experience with bloodshed, Lu Changfeng had taken on missions from the martial arts school every ten days or half a month.

First, to maintain his sharpness in combat. Second, Lu Changfeng wanted to share some of his Master's burden.

His Master had been taking on missions with great frequency lately. Even missions that the heads of other martial arts schools could not bring themselves to accept, he would take.

Naturally, it was all to provide Lu Changfeng with Exotic Beast Meat for cultivation. He knew that as Lu Changfeng's cultivation rose, his demand for Exotic Beast Meat would only increase.

But all of it was worth it. The sooner he completed his Blood Tempering Realm cultivation, the farther he would be able to go in the future.

Whenever Zhang Desheng assessed Lu Changfeng's rapidly growing progress, he felt that every bit of effort had been worthwhile.

"Junior Brother, you broke through again. Congratulations."

Zhou Feng walked over and offered his congratulations.

Lu Changfeng smiled. "It is all thanks to Master's guidance. Still, breaking through to Blood Tempering Fourth Level probably will not be so fast."

Zhou Feng replied, "With Junior Brother's talent, I believe it will not take long for you to break through to Blood Tempering Fourth Level and catch up to my realm."

"Then I'll borrow Senior Brother's auspicious words!"

That evening, Zhang Desheng returned from outside and, upon hearing that Lu Changfeng had advanced again, summoned him before him.

When he saw that Lu Changfeng truly had broken through, he was immensely delighted and drank an extra cup after dinner.

Of course, without a word, Zhang Desheng raised Lu Changfeng's monthly supply of Exotic Beast Meat to two hundred and forty strips.

Lu Changfeng opened his mouth, but in the end accepted the Exotic Beast Meat handed to him.

Upon returning to his bedroom, hot water had already been prepared for Lu Changfeng to wipe himself down and wash his feet.

Lu Changfeng considered his Copy Interface.

Name: Lu Changfeng

Bone Structure: Grade A Mid, Grade A Lower x5

Talent: Mid-grade Talent [Swordsmanship]

Realm: Blood Tempering Third Level

Blood Tempering Cultivation Technique: [Mount Le's Wrathful Vajra] Minor Mastery

Martial Arts: [Gale Sword Technique] Perfection

Replication Interval: Twenty days.

Over these four-odd months, aside from advancing to Blood Tempering Third Level, Lu Changfeng's [Gale Sword Technique] had also broken through again, reaching Perfection.

With swordsmanship at the Perfection level, fighting above his realm was not impossible.

Furthermore, in another twenty days, Lu Changfeng could replicate once more. He would then gather the next Grade A Lower Bone Structure, allowing his Grade A Mid Bone Structure to fuse and advance to Grade A Upper.

At that time, as his bone structure improved, his consumption would certainly rise again.

The Exotic Beast Meat provided by his Master would probably need to at least double once more before it would be enough.

Lu Changfeng's realm and strength made it impossible for him to take missions like his Master's, which casually paid several hundred taels of silver. The rewards for the martial arts school missions he took could only reach a few dozen taels at most.

Do I still have to trouble Master?

Won't I drag the martial arts school down?

As Lu Changfeng pondered, Chun Zhu had already washed his feet. Her face slightly flushed, she informed Lu Changfeng before carrying the foot-washing basin out.

Lu Changfeng looked up and saw that perhaps because she practiced martial arts, Chun Zhu's figure had become increasingly beautiful.

Shaking his head, Lu Changfeng closed his eyes, sat cross-legged, and began regulating his breath.

Ten days later.

With the aid of Exotic Beast Meat and copious food, Lu Changfeng quickly stabilized his Blood Tempering Third Level realm.

His strength, speed, and reaction ability had already far surpassed those of ordinary people.

A casual punch from him could truly kill an ordinary person outright.

That was the strength of Blood Tempering Third Level.

Out in the world, he could already become the leader of a small gang.

In terms of realm alone, he had already surpassed Liu Jinwen's Uncle, who served as a constable chief.

In the Jianghu of the Song Kingdom, Blood Tempering Third Level could be considered a second-rate Martial Artist.

Blood Tempering First and Second Levels were third-rate Martial Artists; Blood Tempering Third and Fourth Levels were second-rate Martial Artists; Blood Tempering Fifth and Sixth Levels were first-rate Martial Artists.

The Muscle Tendon Realm could be called Martial Master Realm.

Based on the depth of their Internal Energy, Martial Masters could be divided into lower, middle, and upper grades, as well as Great Martial Masters.

The top experts of the Outer City were basically Martial Masters.

The heads of the four major martial arts schools were all in the Martial Master Realm, though Lu Changfeng did not know their exact grades.

However, Lu Changfeng had once heard Zhang Desheng mention that the leader of the Mang Gang, the largest gang in the Outer City, was a Great Martial Master and the strongest person in the Outer City.