Reversal! The Might of Bone Refining!

Underwater, the stone forest was dim and cold.

It had once been a paradise for fish and shrimp, but now it had become a slaughterhouse.

The three Flying Horse Merchant Association guards swam for their lives, wishing their parents had given them two fewer legs—or rather, two fewer fins.

Fear was like an invisible pair of hands, gripping their hearts in a death hold.

The scene just now had been utterly shocking.

That black-clad leader was one of the top five experts in the association! His Splitting Light Sword Technique was so masterful that he could hold his own for a while even against a genuine Meridian Connecting Realm expert.

Yet a man like that had been smashed into a pulp with a single palm strike from Lu Chen!

What the hell was the point of fighting?!

"Split up! If one of us gets away, that's one more than none!"

One of the guards roared, trying to distract Lu Chen.

The three immediately scattered, fleeing in three different directions.

It was the wisest choice.

But before overwhelming strength, every tactic was futile.

Lu Chen's figure drew a long white streak through the water.

His gaze locked onto the guard on the far left.

He was the one who had shouted the loudest just now.

"Since you came here, you can all stay."

Lu Chen murmured inwardly.

The qi and blood in his body surged like a mighty river, flowing ceaselessly into his limbs.

Bone Refining did not just temper the hardness of one's bones; it also strengthened the marrow's ability to produce blood.

At that moment, the vigor of Lu Chen's qi and blood was downright astonishing.

He swept both arms through the water, and the current around him seemed to become a propelling force.

"Whoosh!"

In just two breaths,

he caught up with the guard.

The guard felt the water shift behind him. When he looked back, terror nearly ripped his soul from his body.

That fiend was less than three feet behind him!

The man's stern face held not the slightest trace of emotion. Only his dark eyes remained, cold as ice.

"D-don't kill me! I have money! I have silver!"

The guard shrieked in terror, fumbling inside his clothes for a stack of banknotes to buy his life.

But underwater, the banknotes soaked through at once and came apart, scattering around him in bitterly ironic fashion.

Lu Chen did not spare them a glance.

He reached out and grabbed the guard by the ankle.

"Down you go."

Lu Chen tensed his arm and yanked hard.

"Ahhh—!"

The guard felt an irresistible force seize him. He instantly lost his balance, and Lu Chen swung him like a sledgehammer, smashing him hard into a jagged rock below.

"Bang!"

Blood sprayed everywhere.

The guard's head slammed into the rock, bursting open at once. Red and white matter spilled across the ground.

His body twitched twice, then went still.

A one-hit kill!

Another one-hit kill!

Lu Chen let go and watched the corpse sink slowly to the bottom.

He did not pause. He tapped a rock with his toe, twisted his body through the water at an unbelievable angle, and charged toward his second target.

The second guard was skilled with a saber.

He heard his companion's scream and knew there was no escape.

Despair only stirred up his ferocity.

"I'll fight you to the death!"

He spun around, gripped his saber with both hands, and brought it down hard at Lu Chen.

The strike contained every ounce of skill he had accumulated over his life. Its force was steady, and he had clearly mastered the technique to a respectable degree.

If this had been the old Lu Chen, he might have had to avoid the strike.

But now...

Lu Chen neither dodged nor retreated.

He met the blade with a direct punch!

His fist bore no weapon, only a faint halo of black light.

It was Profound Nether Cold Qi!

He had expended most of it breaking through the formation just now, but with his breakthrough, his control of the cold qi had reached a new level. He compressed what little remained to its absolute limit and coated his fist with it.

"Clang!"

Fist met steel saber.

The sound was not of flesh being cut, but of metal striking metal!

Then—

"Crack!"

The long saber, forged from Hundred Refinements Fine Steel, snapped in two beneath Lu Chen's punch!

His fist kept going, carrying terrifying momentum, and slammed into the guard's chest.

"Thud!"

A muffled impact.

The guard's chest caved in beneath a fist-shaped imprint. The clothes on his back exploded, revealing a raised fist-shaped bulge!

Penetrating Force!

The blow had gone straight through his body!

The guard's eyes bulged. A mouthful of mangled organs spewed from his mouth, and his body crumpled to the ground.

Lu Chen withdrew his fist and glanced at the back of his hand.

There was only a faint white mark on it. His skin had not even broken.

"So this is the defensive power of the Bone Refining Realm..."

Lu Chen nodded inwardly.

His bones were now as hard as fine iron. Combined with the Iron Cloth Shirt's skin defense, ordinary blades and swords were no different from fire pokers to him.

Now there was only one left.

The guard was already too terrified to move.

He had watched two companions be brutally killed in the span of a few breaths. His mental defenses had completely collapsed.

He stopped trying to flee and knelt on the bottom of the water, kowtowing frantically to Lu Chen.

"Spare me! Master Lu, spare me! I was forced into this! It was all Qian Tong! Qian Tong forced us to do it!"

The guard cried so hard that snot ran down his face, a ridiculous sight underwater.

Lu Chen swam up to him and looked down from above.

"Qian Tong?"

Lu Chen spoke calmly. "Where is he?"

"O-outside! Right outside the secret chamber!"

The guard spoke hurriedly, as if he had seized a lifeline. "He was injured, so he didn't dare come in! Master Lu, if you let me go, I'll testify against him! I'll work like an ox or a horse for you!"

Lu Chen nodded.

"Very good."

A flicker of joy crossed the guard's face. He thought he had escaped death.

"But..."

Lu Chen's tone shifted, and a cold glint flashed in his eyes.

"I don't need oxen or horses."

"I only need the dead."

Before the words had even faded, Lu Chen struck with his palm.

"Smack!"

The guard's head exploded like a rotten watermelon.

Lu Chen withdrew his hand, showing no trace of pity.

He had never been softhearted toward his enemies.

If you failed to pull up the grass by its roots, the spring breeze would bring it back to life.

Now that they were enemies, he would wipe them all out!

Lu Chen quickly searched the corpses.

Apart from a fine dagger and a few bottles of pills on the black-clad leader, the others carried only some loose silver.

As for Qian Tong...

Lu Chen looked toward the way he had come.

Since that man had not entered, he must be waiting outside.

"Perfect. I'll settle the old score and the new one at once."

Lu Chen gripped the Hundred Refinements Steel Saber in his hand and swam toward the secret chamber's exit.

Outside the secret chamber,

Qian Tong paced back and forth anxiously.

His shoulder had been bandaged in a hurry, but the pain still stabbed deep.

The commotion inside had been enormous. There had been loud crashes and tremors, leaving him on tenterhooks.

"Why haven't they come out yet?"

Qian Tong gritted his teeth. "Is that kid really so difficult to handle? Four experts can't take him down?"

Just then,

a figure slowly appeared in the waterway ahead.

Qian Tong's eyes lit up.

"Did they do it?"

He assumed at once that the black-clad leader had returned.

But as the figure drew closer, Qian Tong's expression slowly changed.

The man was broad-shouldered, carrying a long saber that was still dripping with blood. The blood dispersed in the water, but the murderous aura was impossible to hide.

That was not the black-clad leader.

It was... Lu Chen!

"W-why is it you?!"

Qian Tong's eyes widened as if he had seen a ghost. His voice trembled. "Where are the others?!"

Lu Chen stopped three zhang away from Qian Tong, the corner of his mouth curling into a cruel smile.

"The others?"

Lu Chen pointed behind himself. "They're all waiting down there for Manager Qian."

"Family should stay together."

"Y-you killed them?!"

A chill shot from the soles of Qian Tong's feet straight to the crown of his head.

Four experts! One of them had even been a half-step into the Meridian Connecting Realm!

And this kid had killed every last one of them?!

And he barely seemed injured—his clothes were a little torn, but there wasn't a single fresh wound on him!

Even worse... his aura was stronger than before!

So strong that Qian Tong could hardly breathe!

"You broke through?!"

Qian Tong knew his stuff. Feeling the surging qi and blood in Lu Chen, he shrieked, "You took the Marrow Cleansing Pill?! And you didn't die?!"

"I have you to thank for it, Manager Qian."

Lu Chen replied calmly. "It tasted good."

"You..."

Qian Tong trembled with rage. That had been his Marrow Cleansing Pill! His hope of advancing to the Meridian Connecting Realm!

And this country bumpkin had eaten it like a handful of candy beans!

"I'll kill you! I'll tear you limb from limb!"

Qian Tong had completely lost his reason.

He pulled a black cylinder from inside his clothes. It was a Hidden Weapon specially made by the Flying Horse Merchant Association—the Rainstorm Pear Blossom Needles!

"Die!"

Qian Tong triggered the mechanism.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—!"

Countless poison needles, fine as ox hairs, shot toward Lu Chen like a torrential downpour.

At this distance, with the needles packed so densely, even a Meridian Connecting Realm expert would have a hard time dodging them all!

But Lu Chen didn't dodge at all.

He simply raised a hand and held it in front of his face.

"Cling, cling, cling, cling..."

A rapid series of sharp clinks rang out.

The poisoned needles, powerful enough to pierce iron plates, struck Lu Chen's arms and body. They merely showered sparks before bouncing away!

Only a few pierced his clothes and sank halfway into his flesh. The rest couldn't even break through his defenses!

The hardness of his Bone Refining Realm bones, the protective layer of his Iron Cloth Shirt, and the protective qi formed by his Profound Nether Cold Qi—

At that moment, Lu Chen was a human-shaped tank!

"Th-this... this is impossible..."

The cylinder fell from Qian Tong's hand. He was utterly overcome with despair.

If even the Rainstorm Pear Blossom Needles were useless, what else could he possibly fight with?

"Had enough fun?"

Lu Chen lowered his hand, pulled the few shallowly embedded poisoned needles from his arm, and tossed them onto the ground.

"Then it's my turn."

Lu Chen took one step forward.

That single step carried him three zhang, bringing him instantly before Qian Tong.

Qian Tong tried to run, but his legs felt as if they were filled with lead. He couldn't move at all.

Lu Chen's killing intent had locked onto him!

"D-don't kill me!"

Qian Tong dropped to his knees with a thud, tears and snot streaming down his face. "I'm with the Ye Family! I'm an officer of the Flying Horse Merchant Association! If you kill me, the Ye Family won't let you get away with it!"

"The Ye Family?"

Lu Chen gave a cold laugh and slowly raised the steel saber in his hand.

"If the Ye Family finds out you lost the Marrow Cleansing Pill, do you think they'll let you off?"

Qian Tong shuddered, his face ashen.

That was right.

The mission had failed, the treasure was lost, and his men had been killed.

Even if Lu Chen didn't kill him, the Ye Family would skin him alive when he got back!

"Rather than go back and suffer, I might as well send Officer Qian on his way."

Lu Chen said no more.

He raised his saber and brought it down.

"Pfft!"

A fine head shot into the air.

Qian Tong's headless body swayed, then toppled into the dust.

Blood stained the ground red.

Lu Chen slid his saber back into its sheath.

The half-day pursuit and counterattack had finally come to an end.

Lu Chen crouched down and expertly searched Qian Tong's body.

Several large-denomination banknotes, wrapped in oiled paper and still dry; a jade token that identified its owner; and a few bottles of healing pills.

"What a pauper."

Lu Chen curled his lip and put the things away.

He stood and surveyed the wreckage of the battlefield.

The fight had been perilous, but the rewards had been immense.

Not only had he dealt with the thorn in his side that had plagued him for so long, he had also obtained the complete inheritance of the Profound Nether Hand and used the opportunity to break through to the Bone Refining Realm.

Now, within Nujiang County, unless he encountered a true Meridian Connecting Realm expert, he could more or less do as he pleased.

"Time to head back."

Lu Chen looked up.

A faint glimmer of light filtered down from above.

That was the exit.

Lu Chen took a deep breath and bent his knees, then pushed off with all his might.

"Boom!"

His whole body shot toward the surface like a torpedo.

"Splash!"

Water flew in every direction across the Angry River.

Lu Chen burst through the surface and landed steadily on a reef.

The long-missed sunlight spilled over him, making him feel as if he'd passed into another world.

He looked around.

The Flying Horse Merchant Association's ship was long gone.

They had probably seen that something was wrong below, or the black-clad leader had signaled them to flee.

Lu Chen didn't care.

A monk could run away, but his temple couldn't.

He straightened his tattered clothes and stowed his spoils close to his body.

Then he looked toward Nujiang County in the distance.

There, cooking smoke curled into the air, and all seemed peaceful.

But Lu Chen knew this was only the calm before the storm.

He had killed so many people from the Flying Horse Merchant Association, including one of its officers.

The feud between them was now beyond mending.

And then there was that Signal Flare...

Lu Chen narrowed his eyes, recalling the object Qian Tong had crushed just before he died.

That was no ordinary distress signal.

It looked more like... a marker.

Or perhaps some kind of summons.

"The Ye Family..."

Lu Chen murmured, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

"Since we've already torn off the mask, bring it on."

"I want to see just how high the sky over Canglan Prefecture really is."

Lu Chen blurred and vanished into the reeds along the riverbank.

He didn't go straight back to the dock. Instead, he chose a secluded path and quietly made his way back into the county town.

Right now, he needed time to consolidate his realm and absorb what he'd gained from this fight.