In the first year, you severed your own sinews. Your originally formidable body seemed to turn into soft noodles, leaving you utterly weak. Your mangled sinews, skin, and flesh made cultivation unbearably grueling; every circulation of your technique brought pain like skin splitting and flesh tearing. Fortunately, during the Lifespan Deduction process, you felt neither pain nor sorrow, and only then did you cross the most difficult part.
You painstakingly cultivated the Dragon Transformation Body Tempering Art for five years and could finally walk with difficulty.
After twenty years of arduous cultivation, your originally tough skin actually shed a layer. Deep beneath your skin, the Kui Ox formed from thunder patterns became even clearer.
After fifty years of arduous cultivation, your physical strength grew even more terrifying. The 602 muscles throughout your body formed lines like strokes from a sage painter, creating a solemn Vajra Mingwang Demon Subduing Diagram!
After seventy years of arduous cultivation, you tempered all 588 of your great sinews. They changed from azure to purple-jade, faintly glowing with a hint of golden light.
You felt that this was not the limit of the Muscle Tendon Realm, so you continued cultivating with single-minded devotion.
After a hundred years of arduous cultivation, you comprehended the mysteries of perfecting the Muscle Tendon Realm through the technique. The great sinews throughout your body changed from purple to gold, densely covered in golden dragon scales and emanating profound fluctuations.
Remaining lifespan: 22 years.
The ultimate limit of the perfected Muscle Tendon Realm!
Dragon Tendons!
The great sinews were covered in dragon scales, golden from head to toe, resembling countless swimming dragons.
Chu Feng opened his eyes again, only to find that Li Zhenshan had already disappeared from the courtyard.
He saw that the sun in the sky was nearing its zenith and figured that Li Zhenshan must have gone to prepare the midday dishes at the restaurant.
Seeing that no one was around, Chu Feng's thoughts stirred, and his figure vanished from the reclining chair.
The next moment, he appeared in the center of the courtyard and casually performed a basic fist technique.
Gusts of fist wind whipped the courtyard's branches and leaves into the sky. A figure danced through the courtyard as lightly as a startled swan, resembling a swimming dragon.
His great sinews were like dragons, and his strength reached every limb and bone. Every movement combined hardness and softness, filled with the beauty of power.
"This punch carries 150,000 jin of force. I wonder if Fang Hanshan can withstand it!"
Chu Feng grinned, his heart surging with boundless exhilaration.
Yong'an City, the Fang Family estate.
Fang Hanshan sat in the principal seat of the main hall, looking haggard. Two rows of tables and chairs below him were occupied by the most prominent figures in Yong'an City.
There was Wang Chaosheng, head of the Wang Family, which sold illicit salt; Li Nantian, head of the Li Family, which controlled Yong'an City's water transport; and Lin Yuntian, leader of the Green Serpent Gang, the city's largest gang.
Even Yong'an City's County Magistrate, Yang Chenwu, had come.
Fang Hanshan had no time for pleasantries. Once he saw that everyone had arrived, he stood directly and said,
"I went into seclusion to cultivate, never expecting the Fang Family to suffer such a calamity! All seventy-two members of the family's main branch were brutally murdered."
"If anyone informs me of the culprit's whereabouts today, I am willing to hand over half the Fang Family's wealth!"
After Fang Hanshan finished speaking, everyone present wore different expressions.
The Fang Family was known as Yong'an City's foremost wealthy lineage. Half its wealth could be called an astronomical sum!
At the same time, they felt somewhat sympathetic toward Fang Hanshan. An entire family had been doing perfectly well, yet its main-branch descendants had been wiped out. They had heard that the culprit was even a family slave.
Everyone present sighed inwardly. At the same time, they resolved that once they returned, they would enforce their family laws strictly and prohibit the abuse of servants!
Everyone present was shrewd. The Fang Family possessed enormous wealth, and its martial strength was no small matter either.
Aside from Fang Hanshan, it had as many as five late Muscle Tendon Realm warriors. With such terrifying strength, the entire family had still been wiped out, meaning the murderer definitely possessed Bone Forging Realm strength.
This was murky water, and it would not be easy to wade into it. If they were careless, they might instead bring disaster upon themselves!
"Seeing that no one spoke, Fang Hanshan's expression grew increasingly gloomy. Did they think he was alone and that his fortune had run out?"
"If anyone finds the murderer, breaks both his hands and legs, and brings him here, I will teach him a Viscera Refining Breathing Technique!"
"What?"
"A Viscera Refining Breathing Technique? Is that really true?"
Everyone cried out in shock. Many of them even stood up at once, their faces filled with astonishment and uncertainty.
Viscera Refinement Warriors and Bone Forging Warriors were fundamentally different. The gap between them was even greater than that between the Skin Tempering Realm and the Bone Forging Realm.
If there might still be a possibility of fighting above one's level between the skin, flesh, sinew, and bone realms, then once one reached the Viscera Refinement Realm—
ten peak late-stage Bone Forging Realm warriors still could not defeat a single early-stage Viscera Refinement Warrior.
The gap was as vast as that between a sheep and a tiger, something that could not be made up simply through numbers.
"A gentleman's word is his bond!"
"With my bloodline severed, I am already alone in this world, and I am growing old. What use would I have for a Viscera Refining Breathing Technique?" Fang Hanshan said coldly.
No wonder the old fellow had stayed in seclusion cultivating all this time and never shown himself. It turned out he had obtained a Viscera Refining Breathing Technique.
Everyone's thoughts varied, but they all resolved to investigate the murderer's identity with all their might as soon as they returned!
Seeing their expressions, a trace of cold laughter appeared on Fang Hanshan's face.
With the Fang Family's abilities, they would find that man's hiding place sooner or later, but Fang Hanshan did not want to wait even a moment.
He would mobilize every wealthy family and major force in the city to search. No matter how capable that man was, he could not possibly hide for more than three days. Fang Hanshan had to find him before the seventh-day memorial for those who had died horribly in the Fang Family.
Then he would offer a blood sacrifice to his beloved son!
"The Viscera Refining Breathing Technique is right here with me. Now let us see who can get to him first."
After Fang Hanshan finished speaking, he stood up and adopted the posture of seeing his guests out.
Seeing this, everyone dispersed with their own thoughts.
After leaving the Fang Family, Li Family head Li Nantian said, "That Fang Hanshan is truly arrogant. He clearly treated every one of us as his subordinates."
"Then, Brother Li, does that mean you do not want the Viscera Refining Breathing Technique? Perfect—we have one fewer competitor..." said the burly leader of the Green Serpent Gang, Lin Yuntian, bluntly.
"I heard the murderer was merely a sparring slave of the Fang Family who happened upon some fortuitous opportunity and greatly increased his strength. While Fang Hanshan was in seclusion, he slaughtered the Fang Family until blood ran like a river..." Wang Family head Wang Chaosheng said, stroking his chin.
Yang Chenwu said, "That murderer was able to kill so many experts of the Fang Family, so he must be extremely powerful. We should only search for him and avoid provoking him..."
"What a coward. The ones he killed were merely Muscle Tendon Realm warriors. What is so powerful about that?"
Lin Yuntian shot Yang Chenwu a sidelong glance and strode away, completely disregarding him, the County Magistrate.
The other two family heads did not care either. They each departed as well, leaving only the County Magistrate and his party.
Yang Chenwu wore a smiling expression, as if he did not care in the slightest. Yet the fist hidden in his sleeve was clenched tightly, his nails digging into his flesh until blood flowed.
Yong'an City's public order was chaotic. The wealthy families and gangs held overwhelming power, while the county government was actually the weakest.
Even the common people knew that the constables of the county government were mere decorations. Whenever disputes arose, it was better to use connections and ask a wealthy family or gang to resolve them.
The Fang Family was especially arrogant. They had openly paraded criminals sentenced to death by the authorities through the city streets.
Yet he had dared only to seethe in silence, watching helplessly with no way to do anything.
The aide beside him was very perceptive. Knowing that his superior was angry, he kept his mouth shut and served him carefully, waiting for his superior to speak.
After a long while, Yang Chenwu spoke in a hoarse voice.
"Return. Tell the brothers under our command that anyone who knows anything will be rewarded with two hundred taels of silver and promoted three ranks in succession..."
"Yes, my lord. This lowly one understands."
Before you continue