Breakthrough! True Gang Realm, Grandmaster!

[Enhancing Yellow Court Inner Strength to the Seventh Layer requires 15,000 Merit Points. Enhance? Please confirm.]

The system prompt came. As always, the Merit Points had doubled, but his reserves were still enough.

He had 21,200 Merit Points. After subtracting the 5,000 he had just used, he had a little over 16,200 left.

Enough to enhance the Seventh Layer in one go!

"Confirm enhancement!"

The moment Zhang Chu finished speaking, the Gang Qi within him suddenly began spinning at high speed. Unlike the previous few times, the commotion this time was especially violent, as though it wanted to tear him apart.

At the same time, the pores across his skin rapidly opened, as if breathing in and out the essence of the sun and moon!

Yellow Court Nine Revolutions! Utmost hardness, utmost yang—it first had to thoroughly remake the fleshly body and construct new meridians.

It was now afternoon.

The time when the sun's heat was at its most vicious.

The instant his pores opened, that terrifying heat surged into him, its temperature horrifyingly high.

Under sun essence of this level, his sinews and bones were remade once more. An indescribable agony spread through him, already reaching the limit of what he could endure.

It felt as if he would be incinerated on the spot the very next second.

"Hot! So hot!"

That was Zhang Chu's first sensation!

It was as if he were about to burn from the inside out.

This was only the Seventh Layer, yet it was already so terrifying. How dreadful would the Eighth and Ninth Layers be?

He had no time to think. Zhang Chu circulated his cultivation method, and the Gang Qi in his body surged. Under the effect of the sun essence, the remaining thirty percent of his inner strength was being converted at tremendous speed.

The true strength of Yellow Court Inner Strength had never been its Gang Qi, but the remaking of sinews and bones that came with the conversion!

At this moment, his sinews and bones were constantly being severed, then rapidly reassembled. Gang Qi flooded toward every part of his body.

The seventh remaking had begun with a thunderous crash!

Throughout this process, the sun essence was the key. Only by borrowing this powerful, scorching force could he complete the final crucial step.

This was a secret that countless Daoist Sect patriarchs had summarized over several centuries. Only by completing this step could one forge Gang Qi of utmost hardness and utmost yang.

Zhang Chu furrowed his brow.

To be honest, the pain was somewhat beyond his expectations.

Every inch of his body felt as though it were being scorched.

But he could clearly feel that his fleshly body and meridians were rapidly improving. Especially after gaining the sun essence, the impurities buried deep within his flesh, skin, membranes, and Bones were all being burned away, vanishing completely.

In merely a dozen breaths.

His body was already giving off a luster like gold and stone.

Its toughness had risen another level!

The sun essence absorbed into his body through his pores was finally digested by every part of his fleshly body.

"Hah!"

Zhang Chu opened his mouth.

He actually exhaled a dense stream of hot air.

Even the air before his eyes warped slightly.

"Yellow Court Nine Revolutions, utmost yang and utmost hardness. This martial art surpasses even the Nine Yang Divine Skill by several levels!"

"This is only the Seventh Layer, yet it feels as though a blazing sun lives inside me. If I reached the Ninth Layer, wouldn't that be unbelievable?!"

A look of shock surfaced in Zhang Chu's heart.

With Merit Points providing one-click enhancement, the cultivation process of Yellow Court Inner Strength was far simpler than he had imagined.

Of course, that was mainly because Zhang Chu could endure it. Even beneath immense agony, his will did not waver in the slightest.

Thus, everything progressed smoothly.

"But this is only the beginning. The real bulk is still to come—next is the conversion of inner qi into Gang Qi!"

The seventh remaking of his sinews and bones had been preliminarily completed.

To step into the True Gang Realm, he had to convert all of his inner strength into Gang Qi, commonly known as converting inner qi into Gang Qi!

The instant his words fell.

Zhang Chu felt his dantian erupt into turmoil.

An unprecedentedly powerful Gang Qi burst forth within him, like a world inside a volcanic crater!

The Gang Qi roared and howled like lava in his dantian, flowing through his meridians and Bones as it rapidly condensed.

At this very moment.

His inner strength had completely vanished.

In its place was silver-white Gang Qi!

"It worked! This is the True Gang Realm!"

Zhang Chu snapped his eyes open.

In an instant, fierce gang winds howled!

His inner strength had completely transformed into Gang Qi—how terrifying was that!

With but a thought, he could wound people without form!

A terrifying gang wind unlike any before emerged from the depths of his eyes. That was the unique mark of a True Gang Grandmaster!

From the outside in, Gang Qi greatly strengthened not only his muscles and Bones, but even his internal organs. With a single glance, Gang Qi arose on its own!

"Even if Jin Kui came back to life right now, and I stood still and let him strike me, he would still find it hard to inflict internal injuries on me!

"This ability for Gang Qi to arise on its own has made the Bones, muscles, and internal organs of my body unimaginably strong. A qi that enhances bodily functions has already formed.

"Under the effect of this qi, my body has become immensely powerful, impervious to blades and spears!"

Delight appeared between Zhang Chu's brows.

True Gang Realm experts could shatter mountains and crush rocks, establish sects and found schools. Every person who reached this realm had undergone ten years of bitter cultivation, or even several decades of it.

In the Martial World, no one did not yearn for it.

Yet in merely a few breaths.

Zhang Chu had already reached it!

"Let's test the toughness first!"

Zhang Chu casually pulled out a long saber from the weapon rack in the courtyard and slashed it at his own arm.

Clang!!

It actually rang with the sound of metal striking metal!

Seeing this, Zhang Chu increased his strength.

He directly used thirty percent of his power.

Crack!...

This time, the long saber snapped in two, while not a single mark was left on his arm.

Zhang Chu was extremely satisfied. Just as he had guessed, the strength of his fleshly body had become impervious to blades and spears!

This trip to the Boat Gang had been more than worthwhile.

Thanks for the gift, Gang Leader Jin!

"Let's test my strength too. Let's see the power of my palm!"

With that thought.

Zhang Chu leaped several times and arrived at the back mountain.

With the experience from last time, he no longer dared test martial arts inside the temple, afraid that one palm strike would destroy the Daoist temple.

After reaching the uninhabited area behind the mountain.

Zhang Chu looked around and spotted an incomparably heavy boulder, weighing at least over a hundred thousand jin.

Zhang Chu stepped forward and grabbed the middle of the massive rock with one hand.

The boulder that several oxen could scarcely drag was actually lifted by Zhang Chu with one hand.

"Hah!"

Not only that, Zhang Chu exerted force with one arm and actually tossed the boulder upward, nearly ten meters into the air!

Then, as the boulder fell, Zhang Chu caught it again with one hand and lightly set it back onto the ground.

If anyone else had seen this scene, their eyes would certainly have widened. What horrifying strength was this!

"Not bad. After entering the True Gang Realm, my strength has increased by at least several times. A single swing of one arm carries over a hundred thousand jin!"

Zhang Chu nodded in satisfaction. This was purely the strength of his fleshly body, without the slightest trace of Gang Qi.

If he used Gang Qi as well, his strength would likely increase severalfold more!

Boom!!...

Zhang Chu threw a punch.

The boulder from before, nearly twenty meters wide, instantly exploded apart, and the entire ground sank beneath it!

He then raised his palm and gathered True Martial Demon Purge in his hand, striking toward the depths of the mountain the next second!

Rumble!!...

Dust flew everywhere as the mountain peak split apart!

The mountainside before him, unchanged for thousands of years, was forcibly smashed open by a single palm.

A massive pit the size of a house lay exposed before his eyes, filled with hard stone!

"This power..."

Zhang Chu could not help drawing in a cold breath.

Compared to before, his strength had increased by far more than tenfold. With the enhancement of Gang Qi, it was likely more than thirtyfold. They were no longer comparable at all!

Simply put.

If his Gang Qi had been one before, it was now a hundred. Every movement carried explosively increased might!

And this was only the Seventh Layer.

Yet its power was already so outrageous!

"If I had enough Merit Points to enhance Yellow Court Inner Strength straight to the Ninth Layer in one go, how terrifying would it be?"

Zhang Chu found it difficult to imagine.

No one in history had ever accomplished such a thing.

"With my current strength, even if every Jianghu sect in Linjiang County attacked together, I would not fear them!"

"Even against those famed great sects, so long as no ancient monsters emerge, I should be able to fight them, right?"

Zhang Chu made a comparison in his heart.

Whether Yellow Court Inner Strength or the True Martial Palm, both were among the martial arts that demanded the most bitter cultivation.

Thus, once they reached completion.

Their power was so astonishingly exaggerated!

"Advancing into the True Gang Realm consumed 20,000 Merit Points. I have a little over 1,200 left now."

"It is time to get started with the Bitter Gourd Palm. Once this palm technique reaches completion, it will definitely be no worse than the True Martial Palm!"

"Ascetic Monks measure heaven and earth with their feet and walk the world. The cultivation method they created must surely be extraordinary!"

"That fool Li Yuanhe would rather abandon such a divine art and run off to rely on the Demonic Cult. Calling him deserving of death is already the greatest respect for his intelligence."

And for some reason.

Zhang Chu faintly had a feeling.

If he could truly enhance the Bitter Gourd Palm to great completion, something unexpected would very likely happen!...