"You can dream on! Ah... You... just kill me!"
Yin Tianxing was covered in frost from head to toe. He glared at Qin Shuang with venomous hatred and cursed without letup!
At that moment,
all he wanted was a quick death.
Three of his limbs were shattered, his right hand had been cut off, and Ice Cold Energy had invaded his body. Even if he survived, he would be worse than dead. He might as well beg for a swift end.
"Hall Master, leave him to me. I'll interrogate him."
Liu Hao stood to one side, looking at the stubborn Yin Tianxing. He respectfully cupped his fists toward Qin Shuang.
"Mm!"
Qin Shuang nodded. He could leave such matters to Liu Hao; he still had martial arts to grind.
Jin Yang led thirty-eight members in clearing away and burying the remaining bodies.
In Qingzhou City's southern district, within a manor nestled among Nan bamboo,
an old man with a short beard sat in the manor's main hall. He looked at the Black-robed Man before him and asked, "Jin Shisan, how many Martial Arts School disciples have we still not found?"
"Gang Master, there are sixty left. However, I just learned that more than forty Golden Tiger Martial Arts School disciples have gathered in Hualing Village outside the city!"
The Black-robed Man respectfully cupped his fists and reported.
"Gather everyone. Tomorrow, follow me outside the city. We'll take those people's heads and bury them with Zhen'er!"
At this, Ding Dian's eyes flashed with murderous intent.
This time, he had come to take the Tiger Roar Divine Intent Diagram from Jin Yihang. Not only had he failed to get it, but his precious grandson, Ding Zhen, had also died at the hands of Fierce Tiger Fist. He wanted to grind every last person from the Martial Arts School to dust—only then could he ease the hatred in his heart!
"Yes, Gang Master!"
The Black-robed Man bowed and took his leave.
The next day.
Early morning.
In a stream that wound past Hualing Village, Qin Shuang stood in water half a foot deep, barefoot, with the Yellow Springs Saber on his back. He held a pill in his left hand and a bag in his right, with earthworms inside. Grass was bound to the soles of his feet, and a low tiger's roar rumbled from his mouth.
[Step on Grass +1 time!] [Spin a pill +1 time!] [Imitate a tiger's roar +1 time!] [Stand in the stream and let the water wash over you for one minute!] [Bedrock Iron Body Skill (Beginner)] [Simplification: Stand in the stream and let the water wash over you for one hour, take 10 Tiger Blood Pills, and you can reach proficiency]
As Qin Shuang stood in the stream, a string of system notifications sounded in his mind.
Buzz—
The instant Bedrock Iron Body Skill reached the beginner stage, some cultivation techniques for the skill appeared in Qin Shuang's mind. At the same time, warmth flooded his body, and he felt as if he had been filled with strength.
"Hall Master, Yin Tianxing couldn't withstand the Ice Cold Energy. I failed to get the Flying Eagle Six Forms out of him. Please punish me!"
Just then, Liu Hao hurried over and bowed deeply to Qin Shuang, his face filled with guilt.
"Forget it. He's dead. I don't blame you."
Qin Shuang sighed when he heard this. It seemed he was destined to miss out on the Flying Eagle Six Forms.
But there were countless martial arts in the world. There was no need to fixate on the Flying Eagle Six Forms. It seemed he had underestimated the Yellow Springs Saber's icy blade energy.
Still,
one thing puzzled Qin Shuang.
After Nangong Wan'er used the Yellow Springs Saber, Ice Cold Energy had invaded her body, and she'd needed to drive out the cold. But Qin Shuang had used the Yellow Springs Saber last night to defeat Yin Tianxing, and nothing had happened to him.
"Hall Master, the two Flying Eagle Gang hall leaders have surrendered. They say they can take us to the Flying Eagle Gang's storehouse and to Yin Tianxing's estate to look for secret manuals."
Liu Hao spoke respectfully again.
"The Flying Eagle Gang's storehouse? Yin Tianxing's estate?"
"Good. Have them lead the way. Go take a look!"
Qin Shuang's thoughts stirred. These gangs had all made fortunes, and every one of them had an estate. There were even a thousand taels of silver at Liang Chang's estate that he still hadn't collected.
"Yes, I'll go right away!"
Liu Hao respectfully cupped his fists, turned, and left.
Xiangzhou was one of the Tianchu Dynasty's Sixteen Prefectures, bordering Yanzhou.
In terms of prosperity, it ranked among the top ten in Tianchu.
The Divine Saber Sect was the foremost sect in Xiangzhou. Everyone in the sect practiced the saber, and all were experts in the saber path.
In particular, the sect's Grand Supreme Elder, Divine Saber Song Yang; its Sect Master, Heavenly Saber Li Hongxue; and the younger generation's foremost saber expert, Overlord Saber Xiao Jiulang, were renowned throughout Jianghu.
Towering and treacherous Tianlu Mountain stretched fifty li in every direction, sprawling across eastern Xiangzhou and shrouded in spiritual mist all year round.
On a training ground in a quiet courtyard halfway up the mountain, an old man sat cross-legged. He wore brocade robes, had a large nose and a wide mouth, and bore an embroidered long saber on his chest. A vortex a zhang across appeared above his head, drawing in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth from all around.
"Chirp!"
Just then, a bird cried out in the sky above the courtyard. A Divine Eagle, three chi in size and golden-feathered along its back, circled down. A wax-sealed scroll was tied to its left claw.
The instant the Divine Eagle landed, it trembled and collapsed to the ground. Clearly, it had exhausted itself in flight.
"Rui'er's message?"
The big-nosed old man reached out and pulled the Divine Eagle through the air to him. He untied the wax scroll, crushed it, and read it for a moment. Then he abruptly stood, his face fierce, and said in a deep voice, "You little bastard! If even a hair on my son's head has been harmed, I, Situ Zhan, will hunt you to the ends of the earth and kill you!"
Situ Zhan flashed into the room inside the courtyard and grabbed a few things. The next moment, he vanished from the courtyard.
An hour later.
Qin Shuang stood in the stream.
[Ding! Your Bedrock Iron Body Skill has advanced to Proficient!] [Simplification: Stand in the stream and let the water wash over you for one day, take 100 Tiger Blood Pills, and you can reach mastery]
A system notification sounded in his mind.
A stream of information poured into Qin Shuang's Sea of Consciousness: the cultivation methods and techniques for the proficient Bedrock Iron Body Skill!
At that moment,
Qin Shuang felt all kinds of scenes of tempering his body come flooding into his mind, as if he had already practiced Bedrock Iron Body Skill for seven or eight years.
At the same time,
he felt a warm current surge within his body, spreading everywhere and slowly strengthening his bones, muscles, and skin!
As time passed,
Qin Shuang noticed that beneath the warm current, a thick layer of hard callus had appeared on his skin. It felt hard to the touch.
But after only a little while, cracks appeared in the callused layer. It turned into dead skin, which came right off when he rubbed it, revealing the fair skin beneath.
"After shedding this layer of skin, my body's defenses have actually grown much stronger?"
"How powerful will my body be when Bedrock Iron Body Skill reaches perfection?"
Qin Shuang touched his freshly shed skin, his eyes filled with shock and anticipation.
He noticed that the skin had peeled only from his limbs, chest, back, and face. The more delicate areas, such as his crotch and armpits, hadn't shed any skin.
"Time to head back and catch dragonflies."
Qin Shuang glanced at his status panel and leaped out of the stream.
When the villagers heard they'd be paid one tael of silver for catching two hundred dragonflies, they'd thrown themselves into it with great enthusiasm. He wondered how many they'd caught so far. Once he'd stepped on grass a million times and caught ten thousand dragonflies, Grass on Flying would advance. Qin Shuang was eager to see what it would become.
What sort of divine art would Grass on Flying turn into?
After all, Fierce Tiger Fist had become Tiger Roar Divine Fist when it advanced, its power multiplying many times over!
"Hall Master, the villagers have brought back a whole lot of dragonflies. There must be at least three thousand... and they're still catching more..."
Qin Shuang returned to the tiled house in Hualing Village with the Yellow Springs Saber on his back. Chen Wang came forward and pointed to the pile of bamboo cages in the main room as he spoke.
"Not bad!"
Qin Shuang looked at the dragonflies piled in the main room, his eyes full of anticipation. He picked up a cage and reached inside, lightly catching a handful of dragonflies.
[Dragonflies caught +1!] [Dragonflies caught +1!] [Dragonflies caught +1!]
"..."
Just then, a string of mechanical system sounds rang out in Qin Shuang's mind.
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