True Martial Palm First Form: Demon Purge!

"Rise!"

The stone lock, as large as a water vat, spun in Zhang Chu's hands.

He even deliberately bounced it a few times, as though it were not a thousand-pound stone lock, but a mere brick.

This was the measure of Zhang Chu's current strength.

"Let's test its power again!" As he spoke, Zhang Chu's arm suddenly exerted force, tossing the stone lock several meters into the air.

Just as the stone lock was about to fall, Zhang Chu's palm abruptly turned, and the True Martial Palm shot forth.

"Screech, screech, screech!"

Driven by inner strength, the True Martial Palm tore through the air with a piercing whistle. Zhang Chu's strike was swift as lightning and incomparably fierce, landing squarely on the center of the stone lock.

"Boom!!"

Amid the violent crash, the thousand-pound stone lock shattered into pieces on the spot and scattered across the ground!

Zhang Chu stared at the scene in shock.

When his master had still been alive, he had once said—

Though Yellow Court Inner Strength was not considered a top-tier Internal Skill within the Daoist Sect Ancestral Court, the circulation of its inner strength was utterly unique.

It was the Internal Skill with the greatest Daoist charm among the Daoist Sect.

This Internal Skill had nine layers in total. Every breakthrough reforged one's tendons and bones, making it something rarely seen in the world.

Yet this was also its greatest flaw!

Like the Buddhist Sect's Dragon Elephant Prajna Skill, people had only heard that it could be cultivated to perfection, but no one had ever been seen accomplishing it.

Even so, Yellow Court Inner Strength was not to be underestimated. If cultivated to the later stages, its Daoist-charm inner strength would cycle back nine times, refining gang into liquid and forging a body of gold and bones of iron!

"If I can raise Yellow Court Inner Strength by another layer, my internal injuries will probably heal completely, and my strength will advance another step. Then, I'll have the ability to protect myself!"

Zhang Chu's thoughts were clear. He immediately decided to continue strengthening his Internal Skill and maximize his strength in one go.

The masked man who had ambushed him today remained a hidden threat. If that person discovered he was not dead, would he come to assassinate him again? He had to raise his strength as quickly as possible!

"Continue strengthening Internal Skill!"

"To strengthen Yellow Court Inner Strength to the Third Layer requires 500 Merit Points. Continue strengthening? Please confirm."

After Yellow Court Inner Strength reached the Third Layer, the Merit Points required had increased by more than double.

"Confirm!"

Without hesitation, Zhang Chu chose to strengthen it. This was the only lifeline he could grasp right now.

The next instant, Zhang Chu's body changed once more. Daoist-charm inner strength flowed through him, his tendons and bones were reforged again, and the inner strength in his dantian surged like a flood, racing throughout his body.

The sensation was like being enveloped in a hot spring—at times gentle, at times flowing—while Daoist charm swirled without end.

His inner strength also began to soar rapidly, rising almost every moment, while his muscles became firmer and more solid.

The internal injuries he had suffered quickly faded away.

Before he knew it, the strengthening of Yellow Court Inner Strength was complete, and Zhang Chu's inner strength had become ever more vast and majestic.

From afar, he looked like a Warrior who had immersed himself in martial arts for decades, carrying an ethereal yet dangerous aura!

"I've... reached the First-rate Realm!"

Feeling the surging inner strength rushing through his body, Zhang Chu's eyes filled with disbelief.

In such a short time, he had gone from the Third-rate Realm to the First-rate Realm!

In the Jianghu, if a Warrior wished to cultivate inner strength comparable to the First-rate Realm, he would need at least ten years of bitter training. The hardships in between were beyond the understanding of outsiders.

Yet Zhang Chu had reached it in an instant!

"The old man once said that the martial realms of the Jianghu could roughly be divided into three major tiers and nine great realms."

"They were the Upper Three Realms, the Middle Three Realms, and the Lower Three Realms—nine martial realms altogether."

"Of them, the Middle Three Realms and Lower Three Realms were the most talked about in the Jianghu. As for those above them, very few knew of them, so naturally they drew little attention."

"These six realms, in order, are: Third-rate Realm, Second-rate Realm, First-rate Realm, Dark Strength Realm, True Gang, and Jade Liquid."

"I'm already at the peak of the First-rate Realm. Above that, I'll touch upon the Dark Strength Realm! That was the Middle Three Realms, which the old man only reached after more than thirty years of bitter cultivation!"

There were countless Warriors in the Jianghu, yet martial arts experts who could reach the Dark Strength Realm were few and far between.

Once one reached the Dark Strength Realm, every strike could carry the force to shatter rocks and sever gold. It was a kind of force that simply could not be defended against, far beyond the imagination of the Lower Three Realms.

Let alone a First-rate expert—even ten First-rate experts tied together could not withstand the power of a single palm from the Dark Strength Realm.

As far as Zhang Chu knew, even in a prosperous county like Linjiang County, with roads leading in all directions, there would not be more than ten Dark Strength Realm experts—and that count included the old man.

And now, Zhang Chu had actually touched the threshold. One step further, and he would be a fish leaping through the dragon gate!

"Unfortunately, I don't have enough Merit Points..."

Looking at the mere two hundred Merit Points remaining on the panel, Zhang Chu's burning excitement cooled somewhat.

Killing that group of bandits had earned him a total of one thousand Merit Points. Strengthening his Internal Skill three times had already consumed most of them, and the remaining two hundred were certainly not enough to strengthen it again.

"Then I'll strengthen the True Martial Palm. Now that I've reached the First-rate Realm, my offensive methods haven't caught up yet!"

His realm had reached the First-rate Realm, but his offensive techniques remained at their previous level. Only his inner strength had grown stronger.

That would not do. What Warrior wandering the Jianghu did not have some trump card hidden at the bottom of the chest? Inner strength alone was far from enough—unless it had become monstrously powerful.

"Strengthen True Martial Palm!"

Zhang Chu swiftly gave the command to strengthen the palm technique.

He used up every last bit of his resources.

In these chaotic times, where war raged and martial arts ran rampant, every extra bit of strength meant an extra chance of surviving.

"To strengthen the First Layer of True Martial Palm requires 100 Merit Points. Continue strengthening? Please confirm."

Just as when he had strengthened his Internal Skill earlier, strengthening the First Layer of True Martial Palm required only one hundred Merit Points.

"Strengthen it!" Zhang Chu confirmed without another word. His two hundred Merit Points instantly became one hundred.

At the same time, unfamiliar yet incomparably clear fragments of memory began merging into his mind.

An elderly Daoist with snow-white hair and focused eyes stood in an empty mountain forest, repeatedly practicing an ordinary palm technique toward the air ahead.

There was no fixed rhythm, only an ultimate exploration of "True Martial" and an ever-changing contemplation of the "palm."

The sound of his palm wind slicing through the air went from sluggish, to smooth, to nearly inaudible...

Ten years of solitude, ten years of palm practice, ten years of seeking that palm strike which, in theory, could make "True Martial descend into the world."

"So this is the true essence of the True Martial Palm!"

The instant the memories finished merging, Zhang Chu seemed to realize something. His figure leaped swiftly across the training ground.

"Demon Purge!" The First Form of the True Martial Palm erupted.

This palm technique, with only three short forms, now unfolded countless transformations in Zhang Chu's hands.

The air itself howled beneath its blows.

"Dao gave birth to One, One gave birth to Two, Two gave birth to Three, and Three gave birth to all things. This is the true essence of the True Martial Palm. Let you have a thousand transformations—I will sweep away all the demon bandits in the world with one palm."

"Rumble!!"

Zhang Chu leaped into the air and struck downward with his palm. Ahead of him, a century-old tree snapped like rotten wood.

It looked as though one gust of wind would make it crash to the ground.

One could well imagine the gruesome fate of a person struck by such a fierce palm.

"If I meet that ambusher again, I'm completely certain I can slap him to death beneath my feet with one palm!"