Rumble—!
A muffled explosion rocked the underwater ruins, as if a sleeping giant had rolled over.
After Lu Chen poured in the Profound Nether Cold Qi with all his might, the long-sealed door to the secret chamber in the Profound Nether Sect ruins finally buckled and shattered. Countless points of light scattered like a broken river of stars, then vanished in a flash beneath the dark water.
The instant the barrier shattered, Lu Chen's body slipped forward like a slick mudfish. Riding the shockwave's recoil, he turned into a black blur and plunged into the depths of the secret chamber.
"Stop him! Hurry, stop him!"
Qian Tong's hysterical roar sounded distorted underwater, like the dying wail of some beast. He clutched his severed shoulder, blood staining the river around him. His eyes, once brimming with shrewd calculation, now held nothing but blood-red madness and venom.
The duck was cooked, and it had flown away!
He had gone to such lengths, even using the family's trump card for saving his life, only for that country bumpkin to reap all the rewards!
"After him! Whoever kills him gets twenty thousand taels! No—thirty thousand!"
A generous reward always brought out the brave.
The black-clad leader had been wary of the strength Lu Chen had just displayed, but seeing him flee with his back turned and a wound on it, greed swiftly overcame fear.
"He's injured! He's at the end of his rope!"
The black-clad leader barked an order. His dagger sliced through the water, and he shot forward like lightning, the first to charge into the secret chamber passage.
The three remaining Flying Horse Merchant Association guards had gone red-eyed, too. Thirty thousand taels of silver was enough to buy a grand house in the Prefectural City, marry a few lovely wives and concubines, and live worry-free for the rest of their lives.
"Kill!"
The three followed close behind, rushing after him like sharks scenting blood.
The secret chamber didn't end in a dead end.
The instant Lu Chen plunged inside, he felt a swift undercurrent.
The chamber's construction was exceptionally ingenious. It connected to an underground river branching off the Angry River. The Profound Nether Sect had chosen this site because of the Extreme Cold Yin Vein hidden in the underground river.
"Hah—"
Lu Chen gasped for breath. Although the Water Repelling Pearl's bubble had long since failed and he was underwater, the internal breathing technique granted by the Profound Nether Hand let him hold out for quite some time.
His situation was far from good.
The Iron Cloth Shirt had blocked most of the force behind the gash across his back, but the inner force that had burrowed into his body had still injured his organs. With every breath, it felt as if his chest were burning.
Worse still, he had nearly exhausted all the Profound Nether Cold Qi in his body breaking through the barrier.
Now he was like an emptied-out sack.
"These clingy bastards!"
Lu Chen glanced over his shoulder.
Four murderous figures were hot on his heels in the dark underwater passage. The black-clad leader was especially fast. He was a true half-step Meridian Connecting Realm expert, with inner qi coursing through his meridians; even underwater, he could burst forward at astonishing speed.
The distance between them was visibly shrinking.
Ten zhang.
Eight zhang.
Five zhang...
Lu Chen could even clearly see the black-clad leader's savage grin and the dagger glinting in his hand.
"Run? Let's see where you can run!"
The black-clad leader's voice reached him through the vibrations in the water, dripping with the taunt of a cat playing with a mouse. "Hand over the goods, and maybe I'll leave you with your whole corpse!"
Lu Chen ignored him.
He was gambling.
Gambling on the direction of the underground river—and on his own life.
But reality was often crueler than any wager.
Ahead lay a forest of rocks.
Enormous underwater stalactites jutted down like swords, tangled across the passage. The terrain was good for hiding, but it also meant he would have to slow down.
If he slowed, those four experts behind him would surround him. He would be dead for sure!
"I'll risk it!"
A ruthless glint flashed in Lu Chen's eyes.
He clenched his teeth and pulled the jade bottle he had just snatched from his chest.
Before he even opened the stopper, the bottle's jade walls released a refreshing medicinal fragrance that lifted Lu Chen's flagging spirits.
Marrow Cleansing Pill!
It was the Flying Horse Merchant Association's coveted treasure, a miraculous pill that could completely transform a martial artist and increase the odds of breaking through to the Meridian Connecting Realm!
Under normal circumstances, taking a pill of this grade required bathing and changing clothes, getting into the proper condition, and having an elder guard the user in a place of absolute safety while they refined its power bit by bit.
For Lu Chen to force it down while gravely wounded and fleeing, with his inner qi spent and his body in icy water, was practically suicide!
If its immense medicinal power ran wild, it could burst his meridians in an instant and blow him apart!
But Lu Chen had no choice.
If he didn't take it, he would die when they caught up.
If he did, he might still have a slim chance of survival!
"Fortune favors the bold!"
Lu Chen steeled himself and flicked the stopper off with his finger.
He tilted his head back and swallowed the pill, which was the size of a longan and radiated a milky-white glow.
"Gulp."
The pill slid down.
It wasn't gentle and soothing, as he'd imagined.
In an instant, Lu Chen felt as if he'd swallowed a ball of molten lava!
A terrifying wave of heat exploded in his stomach, then surged madly through his meridians and into every limb.
The pain was impossible to describe!
It was as if countless ants were gnawing at his bones, or as if someone were smashing every inch of his skeleton with a hammer before piecing it back together.
"Ugh—!"
Lu Chen clenched his teeth, a stifled groan escaping his throat.
His body suddenly stiffened. His swift swimming faltered, and he crashed into a stalactite like a stone.
Bang!
Shards of rock flew everywhere.
Lu Chen curled up on the riverbed, his whole body trembling violently. His skin turned bright red like a boiled shrimp, and the water sizzled when it touched him, sending up clouds of white steam.
The pill's raging power was venting through his pores!
"Ha ha ha ha!"
The black-clad leader saw what had happened and burst into wild laughter.
"This kid's gone crazy! He actually dared to swallow a Marrow Cleansing Pill at a time like this!"
"Heaven's on our side! He's asking for death!"
The black-clad leader was ecstatic. He knew all too well how domineering the Marrow Cleansing Pill's effects were. Even at full strength, he wouldn't dare swallow one like this. In Lu Chen's current condition, the pill's power would overwhelm his mind, if not snap his meridians outright!
"Surround him! Don't let him die! The goods are still on him!"
The black-clad leader waved his hand. The other three guards immediately spread out and closed in on Lu Chen in a fan formation.
In their eyes, Lu Chen was already a lamb waiting for slaughter, curled up and convulsing on the riverbed.
However—
They didn't know that, inside Lu Chen's body, a world-shaking transformation was taking place.
It really did hurt.
But for Lu Chen, who had cultivated the Iron Cloth Shirt and grown used to taking blows and training through self-inflicted pain, this was still within what he could endure!
His mind remained clear—clearer than it had ever been!
"So this is... marrow cleansing?"
Lu Chen could clearly feel the raging heat washing over his bones again and again.
Under the pill's influence, his once iron-hard bones began to soften. Impurities were expelled, and they became denser and tougher.
Deep within his bone marrow, a new power was beginning to stir.
It was the source of his vital energy!
"Not enough... just a little more!"
Lu Chen roared inwardly.
Though the Marrow Cleansing Pill's power was immense, his body was too strong. With the Iron Cloth Shirt mastered and the Profound Nether Hand's tempering, his body was like a sturdy fortress.
The pill's power alone wasn't enough to shatter that fortress and complete the ultimate transformation from "Flesh Refining" to "Bone Refining"!
He needed an outside force!
He needed pressure!
"Tiger Leopard Thunder Sound!"
A rudimentary bone-tempering method recorded in the advanced chapter of the Stone Crushing Palm flashed through Lu Chen's mind.
It used a special breathing technique and muscle vibrations to make the bones resonate, producing a sound like tigers and leopards roaring and thunder rolling. That resonance tempered the bone marrow.
But it had to be done in the air.
Underwater?
No one had ever tried it.
"I don't have time to worry about that!"
Lu Chen abruptly opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of murky bubbles.
Then he controlled every muscle in his body, making them vibrate wildly at a strange frequency.
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The vibrations stirred the water around him.
"Wum—"
At first, there was only a faint hum.
But as the pill's power erupted inside Lu Chen, the sound grew louder and more muffled.
Water was an excellent medium for carrying sound.
At that moment, Lu Chen's body seemed to become a massive source of vibration.
The river around him began to boil, and countless tiny bubbles burst beside him.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
The muffled sounds boomed like war drums beating beneath the water.
They weren't ordinary sounds.
They were the trembling of bones! The roar of vital energy!
The black-clad leader and the others, who had been about to charge, suddenly felt their eardrums sting and their chests tighten, as if a huge hammer had struck them in the heart.
"What is that sound?!"
One guard clapped his hands over his ears in terror. He felt his heart beating in time with the muffled rhythm, ready to leap out of his throat.
The black-clad leader's expression changed, too. Such force, such pressure—it was beyond anything a Body Tempering Realm martial artist should be able to unleash!
"Quick! Kill him! He's breaking through!"
The black-clad leader finally understood. The greed in his eyes turned to fear in an instant.
Breaking through in the middle of a fight!
That kid was trying to use the pressure of their pursuit to force his way through the barrier!
He absolutely couldn't be allowed to succeed!
"Die!"
The black-clad leader stopped holding back. His inner qi surged wildly, and the dagger in his hand became a streak of deadly black light as he thrust it straight at Lu Chen's brow.
He had put all his strength into that strike!
Even if there had been a steel plate in front of him, he would have pierced through it!
The dagger sliced through the water and reached Lu Chen in an instant.
Three inches!
Two inches!
One inch!
The sharp point was about to pierce Lu Chen's skin.
At that critical moment—
Lu Chen, who had been curled up all this time, suddenly opened his eyes.
What a pair of eyes they were!
There was no white—only utter blackness.
And in the deepest part of that blackness, a streak of blue lightning seemed to flash.
Crackling—!
A series of sharp pops, like beans sizzling in a pan, rang out from inside Lu Chen's body.
Then came a clear sound, like jade shattering.
The sound of a bottleneck breaking!
Boom!
A terrifying wave of energy burst outward from Lu Chen, surging in every direction!
Under its impact, the surrounding river water was forcibly driven back, creating a brief vacuum around him!
The black-clad leader's deadly strike stopped dead, less than half an inch from Lu Chen's brow.
He hadn't wanted to stop.
An invisible force had stopped him!
It was... Blood Qi Smoke!
Though he couldn't see the sight of the smoke soaring skyward underwater, that scorching, domineering blood qi—almost tangible in its intensity—had truly blocked his dagger!
"How is this possible...?"
The black-clad leader's eyes widened, his face full of disbelief.
This blood qi was so powerful, it was even more terrifying than that of a half-step Meridian Connecting Realm expert like him!
Was this really still Body Tempering Realm?!
Lu Chen slowly straightened up.
His height had somehow grown by three inches!
His already burly build had become even taller and more balanced. Every muscle looked like refined steel, tempered a thousand times, its lines sleek and brimming with explosive power.
His skin was no longer deathly pale. Its color had returned to normal, but beneath it, a faint jade-like sheen seemed to flow.
It was the sign that his Jade Bone had begun to form!
Bone Refining Realm!
Lu Chen lowered his gaze to the black-clad leader before him, who was aghast beyond words, and the corner of his mouth curled into a cold smile.
"Thanks to you."
Lu Chen's voice sounded somewhat muffled underwater, but every word was crystal clear.
"If you hadn't chased me so relentlessly, I wouldn't have made up my mind so quickly."
"As a reward..."
Lu Chen slowly raised his right hand.
At his movement, the surrounding currents seemed to fall under his control, surging wildly toward his palm.
"I'll send you on your way."
Before his words had even faded...
Lu Chen vanished.
It wasn't teleportation.
He was simply too fast!
So fast that he exceeded the black-clad leader's ability to track him with his eyes!
The Bone Refining Realm brought more than just a tremendous surge in strength. It was an all-around leap in physical ability!
Especially speed!
"Not good! Fall back!"
A chill shot straight through the black-clad leader's skull. Instinctively, he tried to retreat.
But it was too late.
A long, powerful hand radiating a faint chill had somehow pierced through the current and settled lightly against his chest.
There was nothing flashy about it.
Only absolute strength and absolute speed.
"Thud!"
A muffled impact.
The black-clad leader didn't even have time to scream. His whole body shot backward like a cannonball!
He carved a white wake through the water, smashed through three massive stalactites in succession, and finally slammed into the rock wall, embedded deep within it.
"Pfft—"
A mouthful of blood, flecked with chunks of his organs, stained the river red.
The black-clad leader's eyes were wide as he stared at Lu Chen in the distance. The light in them quickly faded.
His chest had caved in completely, bearing a clear palm print.
One palm strike.
A half-step Meridian Connecting Realm expert, killed instantly!
That was Lu Chen's strength now!
The whole scene fell silent.
The three remaining guards froze mid-charge.
They looked at their leader, embedded in the wall and showing no sign of life, then at Lu Chen, standing there like a demon god. Their legs turned to jelly, and they nearly dropped their weapons.
W-what kind of person was this?
The kid they'd chased like a dog just moments ago had turned into a man-eating tiger in the blink of an eye!
"Run! Hurry!"
Someone shouted.
At last, the three came to their senses and turned to flee.
The reward, the mission—none of it mattered anymore.
Staying alive was the only thing on their minds!
Lu Chen watched the three flee in panic but didn't hurry after them.
He rolled his neck, and it crackled sharply.
The feeling of power coursing through his body made him want to let out a long roar.
"Run?"
Lu Chen sneered and pushed off with one foot.
The hard rock beneath him was crushed into a deep pit.
Propelled by that terrifying force, Lu Chen shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow.
He was more than twice as fast as before!
Underwater, he was like a true black dragon, carrying an aura of destruction as he pounced on the three trembling prey.
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