Black Tiger Digging Heart Mastery

The dilapidated thatched cottage was filled with a pungent smell, thick black smoke constantly billowing out as though it were on fire.

Chen Luo crouched before the wood-burning stove, fanning the flames desperately with a palm-leaf fan. The choking smoke was mixed with the foul stench of medicine, so bad even dogs refused to come near.

The medicine in the stove had been left behind by that first "Brain," and Chen Luo had been using it all along.

The reason his martial training had been so effective was inseparable from the assistance of these medicinal plasters. None of the ingredients were particularly precious; a small sum of money could buy a huge batch. The most important thing was the proportions of the herbs and the refining method—those were the true core techniques.

A short while later, the medicinal plaster was done boiling.

Using tongs to grip the clay pot, Chen Luo removed it from the stove and set it aside. Beside it lay cloth specially prepared for medicinal plasters.

"This smell is far too strong."

Even though he had been using it for nearly a month, Chen Luo still could not stand the smell. Whenever he brewed medicine, he wrapped a towel around his nose, yet even that could not block it entirely. The fumes often stung tears from his eyes. Still, in order to improve his strength, he could endure this little discomfort.

After waiting a while for the clay pot to cool, Chen Luo picked up a bamboo strip from nearby and stirred the contents of the pot fiercely.

One circle, then two.

He kept stirring until the medicinal plaster solidified into a paste, then scooped it out and spread it over the plaster cloth.

More than ten minutes later, sheet after sheet of freshly made medicinal plaster was complete. After placing them on the rack at the side to dry, Chen Luo immediately left the yard. Only when he reached the riverbank did he finally let out a breath and gulp down mouthful after mouthful of fresh air.

"After another cycle of medicine, I should be able to break through."

Having caught his breath, Chen Luo sat on a rock and considered his progress over the past three days.

Five days had passed since Third Uncle left.

The rebellion in Qingya County had also been going on for a full week. There was now far less movement over there. According to news brought by traveling merchants, the rebellion in Qingya County had been suppressed, and quite a few people had died. The county town was now under military control, with people forbidden from entering or leaving freely.

Chen Luo's cultivation had also completely reached the peak of Internal Training. With the support of the Royal Family Brain, he could clearly sense that he was about to break through.

His sudden effort to brew medicine today was also so that his breakthrough would go more smoothly, with more medicinal power to support it.

Half an hour later, Chen Luo returned to the yard.

By then, the smell of the drying medicinal plasters was no longer so overpowering. Chen Luo walked over, removed two sticky sheets of plaster, gritted his teeth, and applied one each to his lower abdomen and back.

The medicinal power instantly spread through him, making Chen Luo feel a wave of warmth.

He swiftly assumed his stance and began practicing his punches.

Once.

Twice.

Along with the execution of the Fierce Tiger Fist, his entire body grew feverish, and the flow of his blood and qi became faster and faster. His method of circulating power unknowingly advanced toward a higher level.

Great mastery of the Black Tiger Fist could reach Bone Forging.

Crippled Ma had been at this realm in his prime. Back then, the Imperial Court had dispatched an expert at the level of a general in order to deal with him. Chen Luo had now touched upon this level as well.

This is the feeling.

Chen Luo immersed himself in that state and continued punching without pause. The Internal Qi inside his body circulated faster and faster. The Internal Qi that had originally been as thick as a thumb gradually became more robust without him realizing it. This change made his punches even more powerful; every strike produced a thunderous boom that split the air.

His fists rumbled like thunder, swift as lightning.

With every gesture, Chen Luo now resembled a true fierce tiger, Killing Intent spilling from him. Vaguely, he felt as though he had become a tiger leaping through the mountain forest, with everything around him his prey. The medicinal plasters on his lower abdomen and back transformed completely into energy, merging into his blood and qi and bringing him to the state of "Internal and External as One."

Just a little short.

Chen Luo could feel that he had reached his limit.

With his own aptitude, breaking through should have been basically impossible. Crippled Ma had called him trash in person, and that had not merely been something said on his lips.

Switch to the Royal Family Brain!

Knowing that he lacked that final spark of spirituality, Chen Luo decisively activated the "External Brain." He had used those Brains only last night while sleeping. Normally, they needed to rest during the day as well. But Chen Luo could not worry about that now. If he failed to break through this time, who knew how many more days he would waste afterward?

As the saying went, "With the first drumbeat, morale rises; with the second, it wanes; with the third, it is exhausted."

Roar!!

The moment he drew upon the Royal Family Brain, Chen Luo immediately found the source of the problem. In one stroke, he locked onto the point of breakthrough, then drove all the power inside his body toward it.

With a crisp crack, Chen Luo's entire aura changed. The bones within his body transformed at a visible speed, crisp sounds ringing from within him. His whole body shot upward by half a foot, while his muscles condensed and compressed like slabs of rock, reining in explosive power.

His entire body was reborn, entering the third realm of Martial Dao.

Bone Forging!

With a single breakthrough, his momentum surged like a rainbow.

Chen Luo could not help throwing back his head and shouting, his voice spreading outward like sound waves.

After all, the place where he lived was remote. There were few people around in broad daylight, and the village elder who had rented him the house lived far away. A few vagrants occasionally stayed in the thatched cottages nearby, and wild dogs had made nests inside them. Just that, when Chen Luo had brewed the medicinal plasters earlier, he had smoked all the dogs away. He had nothing to worry about if he let loose now.

After shouting, the blood and qi inside his body truly flowed much more smoothly.

The sense of oppression brought by the breakthrough lessened considerably, and the qi inside his body gradually subsided.

Standing in the yard, Chen Luo raised his hand and examined it.

He could sense the energy flowing within. Compared to the Internal Training realm, his Internal Qi after Bone Forging was far more surging. Not only that, the force of his fists had penetrated into his marrow. The power of his punches was several times greater than before.

Measured against the strength of his junior sister apprentice, He Min—

It was no longer easy to calculate.

As for Eunuch Wei, taking on fifty of him would not be a problem.

After thinking it over, Chen Luo walked to the withered tree at the edge of the yard and stopped, circulating the Internal Qi within his body. His strength flowed through his meridians like water before finally gathering in his fist.

Bang!!

With one punch, the withered tree before him snapped apart. Exploding wood shavings scattered everywhere, while the upper half of the trunk flew out and slammed into the stone mill behind it with a thunderous crash.

Chen Luo stepped forward, reached out to push aside the broken tree, and probed the tree's core with his fingers. He discovered that everything within had been shaken into powder by the force of his punch.

Black Tiger Digging Heart.

It could be considered great mastery now.

"I can go back."

Drawing in his strength, Chen Luo turned around and looked toward Qingya County.

He had fled in a miserable state before because his strength had been insufficient. Now that he had the strength, it was only natural that he would return to avenge his hatred.

First, he would settle accounts with the Qingya County Magistrate. Second, he would search for more precious Brains.

Ordinary people avoided chaotic places as though they were plague-stricken, but in Chen Luo's eyes, the more chaotic a place was, the better. Chaos meant people would die, and once people died, there would be no shortage of "Brains." If he was lucky, he might even pick up a few Genius Brains comparable to the Royal Family Brain.

He was going to cultivate immortality in the future. If he was not enough of a genius, then how was he supposed to cultivate immortality?