Urgency

With Zhou Yang as his inside man, Zhang San quickly located Chen Chong's dwelling.

Staring at the room where a faint light still glowed in the distance, Zhang San fixed his gaze on Zhou Yang and said, "Are you certain?"

"Sir, I'm certain. I've been here a long time, and I usually do odd jobs for those people. I know everything about the irrelevant details like the back of my hand."

"Just two days ago, I even cleaned Senior Brother Chen Chong's room!" Zhou Yang's face brimmed with smugness, unaware that this very expression made him even more loathsome in Zhang San's eyes.

"Enough. Wait here. I'll be back soon."

Zhang San crept stealthily toward Chen Chong's room.

Only Zhou Yang remained in place.

Just then, Shen Fan, having finished his training, happened to pass by. His own room was also in this area.

Spotting a figure skulking suspiciously, Shen Fan couldn't help but feel curious.

"Who's that, wandering around in the dead of night instead of sleeping?" Shen Fan walked over slowly.

Because of his martial arts training, Shen Fan's steps were extremely light, almost soundless.

By the time he stood behind Zhou Yang, Zhou Yang still hadn't noticed him.

Drawing close, Shen Fan finally made out the man's face.

"Oh, it's him!"

Shen Fan frowned. He naturally recognized Zhou Yang—after all, this brat had once offended him.

"But isn't this guy an apprentice? Why is he here? And with such a malicious look!"

Shen Fan was about to speak up and question him when, unexpectedly, a scream rang out from the room not far away.

"Got it. This expert from the City Lord's Mansion is truly formidable!" Zhou Yang couldn't help muttering to himself.

But Shen Fan, standing behind him, heard every word.

"This guy... is a traitor?" Shen Fan's expression turned extremely grim. He glanced at the commotion in the nearby house, then at the gleefully gesticulating figure before him.

Finally, he steeled himself, clenched his fist, gathered all his strength, and struck Zhou Yang square in the back.

Zhou Yang, still reveling in his triumph, only felt a sharp pain in his chest before gradually losing consciousness.

Shen Fan's full-force blow had pierced straight through Zhou Yang's body. How could he possibly survive?

Pulling out his bloodstained hand, Shen Fan leaped away several times, vanishing without a trace.

When Zhang San returned to the spot and saw Zhou Yang's mangled corpse, he didn't hesitate—he turned and bolted.

"Damn it! This idiot actually died! Have the people from the Ox Demon Martial Arts School already found me out? No, I have to run fast! If I get surrounded, I'm finished!"

At the thought, Zhang San's pace quickened. Having memorized the route he'd taken, he soon fled the martial arts school.

But the commotion had already been heard by some nearby disciples, and soon someone noticed something was wrong.

By the time the crowd arrived, all they could see was Chen Chong's severed head and body, his eyes wide open in death, refusing to close.

"Damn it! Someone came to assassinate him! Poor Junior Brother Chen Chong—such talent, gone just like that!"

"Yeah, what do we do now? The villain got away. Who knows if he'll come back? Even Chen Chong, with his Muscle Refining strength, couldn't put up a fight. What chance do we have?"

At these words, the surrounding disciples' pupils contracted, their faces turning a spectacular shade of alarm.

Shen Fan was among them, hiding in the crowd. Hearing this, a sudden sense of urgency surged within him.

"No. Begging others is worse than relying on myself. I need to speed up my progress. But fortunately, several of my cultivation methods are at their breaking point. I should be able to break through soon!"

With that thought, Shen Fan immediately left and returned to his room, training through the night.

Seeing the faint glow flickering from each of his cultivation methods on the panel, Shen Fan knew he was about to make another leap forward.

Whether it was the pressure of death that had unlocked his potential, by dawn the next day, Shen Fan sensed the opportunity for a breakthrough.

First was the Thousand Mechanisms Hand. This third-rate cultivation method broke through as naturally as water flowing into a channel—from Minor Accomplishment to Major Accomplishment. Shen Fan felt his fingers become extraordinarily nimble and powerful. A surge of formidable blood energy spread from his fingertips through his entire body.

The blood energy grew stronger and stronger, tempering his bones.

Then came the other two methods. Iron Shirt advanced from Initiation to Minor Accomplishment, and the Startling Swan Art also reached Minor Accomplishment. Two different streams of blood energy once again refined his bones, their unique properties slowly absorbed by Shen Fan's skeleton.

After both streams of blood energy finished their tempering, Shen Fan suddenly felt that his bones had begun to undergo some change.

Unfortunately, Shen Fan couldn't see inside his own body. Otherwise, he would have witnessed his bones taking on a faint luster, impurities within them being vaporized by the fierce blood energy. Their color grew lighter and lighter until they became like white jade—translucent and crystalline.

Ice-crystal skin and jade bones—nothing less than that.

Shen Fan felt that his body was somehow different, though he couldn't quite articulate how. But the lightness and ease it brought him was deeply comforting.

He pulled up his panel and smiled.

Host: Shen Fan Talent: 23 (Martial Dao Prodigy) Lifespan: 180 Martial Arts: Savage Bull Fist (Major Accomplishment), True Combined Strength (Major Accomplishment), Three Yuan Art (Major Accomplishment), Ape Strike Technique (Major Accomplishment), Thousand Mechanisms Hand (Major Accomplishment), Iron Shirt (Minor Accomplishment), Startling Swan Art (Minor Accomplishment), Evergreen Cultivation Method (Not Yet Initiated)

Realm: Bone Forging

Having broken through the Thousand Mechanisms Hand and Iron Shirt at the third-rate level, as well as the Startling Swan Art at the second-rate level, Shen Fan's lifespan increased by another twenty years, and his aptitude rose slightly as well.

His cultivation speed increased once more.

Although his realm remained Bone Forging, Shen Fan felt that he could now take on ten of his former self. As for whether he could clash with a Blood Condensation expert, he was still somewhat uncertain.

But it didn't matter much. He could already sense that his Bone Forging had essentially reached its limit, and he could faintly feel the power of the next level. The qi and blood contained within his bones were constantly surging; once released, he could project his qi and blood outward and achieve Blood Condensation!

"Still, for the time being, I shouldn't split my focus on other techniques. I'll devote myself to training the Startling Swan Art. Once I reach Blood Condensation, I'll go find a better technique!"

Shen Fan had planned out his next steps. Low-level techniques he could already master quickly, and it wouldn't take long to bring them to great completion.

But the returns from doing so were no longer significant. The improvements brought by breakthroughs in low-level techniques had become negligible to the point of being ignorable.

In this breakthrough, the boost from a third-rate technique was far inferior to that of a second-rate one, even when both reached great completion.

Shen Fan speculated that in the later stages, the gap between techniques of different grades would only widen, and the improvements they brought would be incomparable.

At the very least, spending the same amount of time training, a high-grade technique was far more worthwhile than a low-grade one!

Just as he was deep in thought, Shen Fan suddenly sensed someone approaching his room. He quickly calmed his surging qi and blood.

With the Three Yuan Art, Shen Fan easily concealed his aura.

This Health Cultivation Method was bringing him more and more surprises.

"Is Shen Fan here?" a disciple called out from outside the door.

"I'm here. Is something the matter?"

"Junior Brother Shen, Steward Zhang has something to announce. He's called everyone to gather!"

"Alright, I understand. I'll be right there."

"Good, then I won't disturb you." The footsteps outside gradually faded away.

Shen Fan stood aside, pondering carefully. Finally, he shook his head and chose to go take a look.