Strengthen! Yellow Court Inner Strength, Dragon Elephant Power!

Ever since crossing over into this world,

Zhang Chu had been on guard against this assassin.

He had even suspected his fellow disciples.

Yet he had never imagined that the killer he could never find would appear before him like this!

And judging by Jin Mu and the others' expressions, they seemed to greatly admire Yuan Hui. He did not look like a bad person at all.

But only Zhang Chu knew that there could never be two completely identical scars in this world. The masked man who had tried to assassinate him that day was Yuan Hui of Jinguang Temple!

"I don't know him. Take him away."

Zhang Chu did not reveal the slightest flaw. With a wave of his hand, he had the soldiers carry the corpse away.

Then he said, "Since all the leaders of the Sky Patrol Guard are here, Zhang will take his leave first."

There was no more Merit Points left on the island.

Zhang Chu did not linger.

He immediately set off back to True Martial Temple.

After returning to the temple and briefly explaining what had happened on the island to his senior brother, Zhang Chu went alone to the rear courtyard.

"Boat Gang, Refining Corpse Sect, Jinguang Temple!" Zhang Chu pieced together everything that had happened over the past few days.

He discovered that an invisible net had, without his noticing, tightly ensnared him!

"Yuan Hui, at the First-rate Realm, tried to assassinate the original owner, who was only in the Third-rate Realm, yet failed to kill him on the spot. And when I boarded the ship, he still remained utterly unruffled. So was it Jin Mu who invited me, or was it him?"

"Or perhaps he had intended to use this Boat Gang trip as cover for another assassination attempt?"

He truly could not understand why Yuan Hui wanted to kill the original owner. The two had no connection whatsoever.

It gave Zhang Chu the feeling that the mountain rain was coming, and the winds had already filled the tower.

First, his master had died violently in Mobei, with not even a corpse to be found. The news had been brought back by people of the Jianghu.

Then, even a tiny Boat Gang had drawn the attention of the Demonic Cult's Refining Corpse Sect, which had even spared no expense in nurturing it!

This gave Zhang Chu an illusion.

Had the Demonic Cult truly been wiped out?

If not, then what roles were these so-called Righteous Path figures, including the Sky Patrol Guard, playing?

How many layers of masks did they still wear on their faces?

"Looks like I'm still not strong enough. If I were strong enough, why would I need to think about any of this!"

Earlier, he had been somewhat smug about entering the Dark Strength Realm. Now, it seemed he was still far too weak.

If he were strong enough, then human or ghost, demon or fiend—anyone who dared make trouble would be slapped to death with a single palm!

"Shenlan, add points!"

Zhang Chu issued the command in his heart.

Since he could not make sense of these schemes and intrigues, then he would smash through them with his fists until they submitted!

Before absolute strength, all calculations were a joke. What he lacked now was nothing but strength!

"My Yellow Court Inner Strength has already been strengthened through the Fifth Layer. Now that I have the vast sum of over twenty thousand Merit Points, I wonder which layer I can strengthen it to this time?"

"Can I enter the True Gang Grandmaster Realm?"

As the most special kind of Internal Skill, Yellow Court Inner Strength was certainly Zhang Chu's first choice for strengthening.

Only when his realm rose could he unleash the full might of his martial arts. Otherwise, he would be like Jin Kui—impressive to look at but useless in practice, with Gang Qi so weak it might as well not exist.

[Strengthening Yellow Court Inner Strength to the Sixth Layer requires 5,000 Merit Points. Strengthen? Please confirm.]

Seeing the system prompt, Zhang Chu inwardly thought that was fortunate.

"Compared with the 2,000 Merit Points for the Fifth Layer, it has only increased by a little more than double. That is still within an acceptable range."

With the sense of crisis pressing upon him, Zhang Chu did not begrudge the Merit Points and directly chose to strengthen his Internal Skill.

As his intent confirmed it, a small silvery-white vortex suddenly appeared in Zhang Chu's dantian. As the vortex spun, it spewed out wave after wave of Gang Qi!

Zhang Chu knew that this was his internal force transforming into Gang Qi, and the pain of being remade from the bones up would soon strike again!

Crack, crack, crack!

Sure enough, as the silvery-white vortex spun faster and faster, a tyrannical force immediately surged up within Zhang Chu's body.

At the same time, the pain of reconstruction came crashing down!

His tendons, bones, skin, and flesh were all transforming, all strengthening. A faint silvery-white sheen even spread across his Bones, as though Gang Qi were being born within them.

A membrane of qi gradually formed around his internal organs, especially around his heart. Gang Qi formed a barrier there, capable of blocking tremendous impacts.

"Strength! Such powerful strength!"

Zhang Chu felt that every piece of flesh in his body contained terrifying explosive force, as though dragons and elephants lay dormant within him.

The Dark Strength Realm emphasized gradual progress.

Its purpose was to convert all internal force into Gang Qi.

This allowed Gang Qi not only to form barriers outside the body, but also to weave a powerful protective net within the body!

Protecting the fragile internal organs from harm.

And once all internal force had been converted, it meant entering the next stage of martial cultivation—

The True Gang Realm!

Known in the Jianghu as the Grandmaster Realm!

Upon reaching this realm, no matter where one stood in the Jianghu, one could be called an expert!

Rumble!!

At that moment, violent roaring erupted within Zhang Chu's body. Streams of Gang Qi surged through him, their quantity increasing dozens of times over compared to before.

Crack, crack, crack!

Another burst of piercing reconstruction sounds rang out.

Yellow Court Inner Strength remade his tendons and bones once at every layer. Nine layers meant nine reconstructions in total!

As the sixth reconstruction, this one was far more violent than the previous ones, so painful that he could barely breathe.

Under this immense agony,

Every inch of Zhang Chu's tendons and bones grew stronger.

Gradually, they even developed a metallic texture!

At the same time, even his height, which had long been fixed, increased by several centimeters.

Crack!

Zhang Chu did not open his eyes. He merely clenched his five fingers, yet the air erupted with firecracker-like explosions!

If anyone saw that terrifying power, they would likely be frightened into collapsing on the ground.

That was not strength a human could possess.

It was as though dragons and elephants had been reborn!

Whoosh! Zhang Chu opened his eyes. Feeling the formidable power within his body, he was both awed and alarmed.

"What terrifying strength! Even without using the True Martial Palm, with physical strength alone, I could beat Jin Kui to death and turn him into a lump of minced flesh!"

The completion of Yellow Court Inner Strength's Sixth Layer allowed Zhang Chu to unleash tens of thousands of jin of force with a single swing of one arm.

With such immense strength supporting him, against Jin Kui, who had entered the Dark Strength Realm only by cultivating evil arts and eating people, Zhang Chu would not need to waste a shred of internal force. His fists alone could blast Jin Kui to death. There would absolutely be no second possibility!

And this was only the Sixth Layer!

"Soon! With only the last thirty percent of my internal force left to convert, I can complete the transformation into Gang Qi. Then, I will enter the True Gang Realm in one stroke and become a Grandmaster Realm expert!"

Just as Zhang Chu had predicted before,

The Fourth and Fifth Layers of Yellow Court Inner Strength corresponded to the Dark Strength Realm. Once the Sixth and Seventh Layers were strengthened, he would reach the True Gang Realm!

"No time to lose. Continue strengthening!"

"Once I enter the True Gang Realm, let me see exactly which blind fool has been plotting against me!"

He had sixteen thousand two hundred Merit Points remaining, enough to strengthen Yellow Court Inner Strength one more time.

Next came the moment of breakthrough!