Crimson Extreme Golden Body

Outside the inn, night was as dark as ink.

Dozens of auras had already formed a tight encirclement. The scrape of weapons being drawn sounded especially piercing in the silent streets.

Yan Kui sat cross-legged on the bed, his expression remarkably calm.

"So they're here?"

He glanced at the tightly shut window. The Martial Arts Hall Alliance had reacted a little faster than he'd expected. It seemed that the so-called "Half-step Innate" leader really did have some tricks up his sleeve.

Still, that suited him just fine.

"System."

At Yan Kui's thought, the Crimson Semi-transparent Panel unfolded before his eyes.

[Crimson Modifier]

Host: Yan Kui

Status: Peak

Origin Power: 65.5

Cultivation Techniques and Skills:

Raging Bull Fist (Limit), Iron Cloth Shirt (Limit), Savage Boar Ramming Technique (Mastered), Golden Bell Shield (Complete Version), Iron Cloth Skill (Complete Version)...

Five hard skills.

These were all the resources he currently had for strengthening his body. Any one of them would be a secret manual Mortal Warriors would fight tooth and nail to obtain, but in Yan Kui's eyes, they were merely bricks for building a tower.

Without fusing them, those bricks would remain nothing more than a pile of bricks.

Only by smelting them together could he forge a true "golden body."

"Begin fusion and deduction."

Yan Kui pulled the Mysterious Bone Fragment from his robes.

The moment the fragment appeared, the text on the System Panel began to jump violently, as if it had sensed some higher-order power of the same origin.

[Detected high-dimensional energy carrier: "Heaven Shaking God-Demon Record fragment (bone patterns)."]

[Use it as the core catalyst to fuse all Mortal Hard Skills and deduce a higher-level cultivation technique?]

[Estimated Origin Power cost: 50.0]

"Fifty points..."

Yan Kui took a deep breath. This was nearly all the wealth he'd accumulated over the past few days by slaughtering cultivators and challenging martial arts halls.

But he didn't hesitate in the slightest.

"Fuse!"

As soon as the command was given, the bone fragment in his hand disintegrated, turning into countless streams of gray-white light that burrowed into his body through his seven apertures and pores.

A terrifying surge of heat beyond description erupted from within him.

This heat was unlike any previous enhancement. It carried an ancient, desolate, and overwhelmingly domineering will, as if an ancient God or Devil had awakened inside him and let out a roar that shook the soul.

"Ugh..."

Yan Kui couldn't help letting out a low growl.

The pain cut deep into his bones!

He felt the bones throughout his body being forcibly crushed by an immense force, then reassembled into a more perfect structure. His Muscle Fibers were torn, stretched, and compressed, becoming denser and tougher.

His once huge, ungainly body, filled with a wild aura, began to undergo a drastic transformation.

"Szzzz—"

First to go was the embarrassing coat of black hair covering his body.

Under the heat erupting from within, these demonic traits born of the Savage Boar Ramming Technique had no time to resist before they carbonized and fell away, revealing the new skin beneath.

His new skin was no longer black as iron. Instead, it was a dark crimson, like the color of cooled, flowing magma, with a faint metallic sheen.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

His heartbeat sounded like a war drum. With each beat, blood as heavy as mercury surged through every part of his body.

Crack—

Yan Kui grew taller once more.

From two meters thirty, he shot up to two meters fifty!

But this wasn't a simple swelling of his frame. On the contrary, his body lines became more streamlined and proportionate. The muscles that had once seemed ready to burst apart at any moment were now perfectly contained beneath his crimson skin, embodying an oppressive beauty of raw power.

If he'd once been a beast out of control, now he was a Demon God statue carved to perfection.

Terrifying heat spread outward from him.

The tables, chairs, and stools in the room began to curl and char under the heat. The air warped violently, crackling and popping as it grew hotter.

[Deduction successful!]

[Congratulations, host. You have obtained a new cultivation technique: Crimson Extreme Golden Body (First Layer).]

[Crimson Extreme Golden Body: Prototype of an ancient Body Cultivation secret method. At this stage, the body's surface maintains a constant high temperature; ordinary weapons cannot harm it, and it is impervious to water and fire. It has extremely strong resistance to low-level spells. Strength and constitution have increased dramatically.]

Yan Kui suddenly opened his eyes.

Two dark red flames seemed to burn in his pupils.

He slowly rose to his feet, feeling the terrifying power in his body, as if it could punch a hole through the heavens.

"This feeling..."

Yan Kui clenched his fist. The air burst in his palm with a sharp crack.

"Now this... is power."

Outside the inn.

More than a hundred people from the Martial Arts Hall Alliance had surrounded the entire establishment, leaving it no room to breathe.

At their head stood the masters of the Tiger Crane Twin Forms Sect and Crushing Stone Sect, along with the Martial Arts Hall Alliance's grand leader, Chen Bantian—a white-haired, white-bearded man seated in a grand chair, yet still radiating an astonishing aura.

A gleam flashed in Chen Bantian's slightly clouded eyes. He had one foot in the Innate Stage, and as a Body Cultivator, he'd developed the rudiments of inner energy. His senses far surpassed those of an ordinary person.

He could feel that a terrifying beast seemed to be lurking in that room.

The aura that had burst forth just moments ago had even made a seasoned veteran like him feel a pang of dread.

"If this man isn't eliminated, he'll become a great menace."

Chen Bantian spoke slowly, his voice low and forceful. "Attack. Start with the crossbowmen. Don't leave anyone alive."

The onlookers nearby heard every word.

A sizable crowd had already gathered around the inn. Tianwu City had been squeezed by the Martial Arts Hall Alliance for far too long, and hatred for the organization had long since taken root in everyone's hearts. Now that they finally had a chance to see the Alliance make its move, whispers rippled through the crowd.

"Have you heard? The Martial Arts Hall Alliance is really going to make a move this time."

"Serves them right. The Alliance has been bullying people with its power for years. Who knows how many small sects they've ruined?"

"Shh! Keep your voice down. Do you want to die?" A middle-aged man looked around in terror. "Wasn't Shopkeeper Wang on North Street beaten until his legs were broken and thrown into the moat last month, just for saying a couple of bad things about the Alliance?"

"Exactly. I heard the people behind those black-boxing rings are all from the Martial Arts Hall Alliance. They run the fights and make dirty money. Who's going to care about the slaves tortured to death?"

"And that's not all! That old fox Chen Bantian squeezes every martial arts hall dry, forcing them to hand over their manuals and silver. Anyone who refuses gets their whole family wiped out. My uncle's hall was forced to shut down..."

"Haven't you heard? Chen Bantian is in league with the Blood Saber Sect, too. They've treated Tianwu City like their own private backyard for ages. Any talented young person gets extorted at best—and disappears without a trace at worst."

The crowd's murmurs gradually swelled, though fear kept everyone's voices low.

This was the result of years of oppression under the Martial Arts Hall Alliance: public anger boiled over, yet everyone lived in fear.

"Yes, sir!"

At the command, thirty elite crossbowmen who had long been lying in ambush on the surrounding rooftops all pulled their triggers at once.

Thwang! Thwang! Thwang!

These were military-grade armor-piercing crossbows, powerful enough to punch through iron armor from a hundred paces. Thirty bolts shrieked through the air like a swarm of locusts, shooting toward the room on the second floor.

In an instant, every door and window was riddled with bolts.

Thuk-thuk-thuk-thuk!

A dense volley of impacts rang out.

"Hmph. Even if he's made of iron, this will turn him into a pincushion," the master of the Tiger Crane Twin Forms Sect sneered.

And yet.

The next moment.

The room remained utterly silent. There were no screams, no roars, not even the sound of breathing.

"Hm?"

Chen Bantian furrowed his brow.

As everyone stood puzzled—

BOOM!

The wall on the second floor suddenly exploded as if it were made of paper.

Amid a storm of flying stones and splintered wood, a massive dark red figure slowly emerged, so imposing it made the breath catch in their throats.

He was bare-chested, his skin gleaming crimson like metal, his black hair stirring despite the still air.

And the armor-piercing bolts that could pierce stone and metal were now densely stuck in his body.

But they weren't embedded in his flesh.

To their horror, everyone saw that the moment the wrought-iron arrowheads touched the monster's skin, they struck a surface as hard as the most unyielding diamond. Some snapped outright. Others, twisted by the immense rebound, crumpled into useless lumps of scrap metal, hanging limply against his skin without leaving so much as a scratch.

Worse still, the broken bolts hanging from his body began to glow red and soften under the heat pouring from within him.

"Is this your welcome gift?"

Yan Kui stood at the edge of the shattered wall, looking down at the people below.

His voice was no longer rough. It had grown low and heavy, with a metallic resonance that echoed down the entire street.

He raised a hand and casually brushed his chest.

Clatter—

The twisted crossbow bolts fell to the ground like garbage.

The crimson skin across his chest was smooth and pristine, without even a white mark.

"H-How is that possible?!"

The master of the Tiger Crane Twin Forms Sect stumbled back two steps, his eyes nearly popping out of his head. "Those were armor-piercing crossbows! They could even pierce an iron man!"

"Monster... He's a monster..."

The disciples of the martial arts halls below trembled so violently that they could barely hold on to their weapons.

Who—or what—was standing there? He wasn't a warrior at all. He was a crimson Asura that had crawled straight out of hell!

Even Chen Bantian could no longer remain seated.

He sprang up from his grand chair and stared fixedly at Yan Kui, his eyes filled with shock.

As a Half-step Innate, he knew that a "Grandmaster of External Refinement" could become impervious to blades and spears. But that kind of defense relied on inner energy. Once their true energy ran dry or their vital point was breached, they could still die.

But this man...

He hadn't circulated any inner energy at all!

He'd withstood the bolts with nothing but his flesh!

Was he even human?

"Black Iron Tower..." Chen Bantian took a deep breath, forcing down his shock. "What kind of demonic art did you cultivate?"

"Demonic art?"

Yan Kui's lips spread into a sinister smile.

"This is called... science."

Before his words had even faded, the floorboards beneath his feet shattered.

Yan Kui's two-meter-fifty frame leapt straight down from the second floor.

It was only a simple jump, but with his terrifying weight and strength, the instant he landed sent the entire ground shuddering as if struck by a minor earthquake.

Dust billowed everywhere.

He straightened and walked toward Chen Bantian, one step at a time.

Every step left a deep footprint in the earth, its edges charred black as if scorched by blazing fire.

"I was planning to come find you anyway. Since you've delivered yourselves to my door..."

"Then none of you are leaving."

[Crimson Modifier]

Host: Yan Kui

Status: Crimson Extreme Golden Body (First Rank)

Origin Power: 15.5

Strength: 10.5

Agility: 3.0

Constitution: 12.0

Notice: The host's Life Level has undergone a leap. Mortal martial arts have been completely mastered.