Dark Strength Realm, True Martial Palm's Second Move: Armor Shatter!

Boom! Zhang Chu struck out with his palm, and the child-sized stone bench before him instantly shattered.

Even the air trembled with a resonant hum.

The force of his palm had increased by far more than double!

"Just a little more—just a little more, and I'll break through to the Dark Strength Realm!" Zhang Chu said as he looked at the wreckage before him.

At that moment, he felt as though he had inexhaustible strength throughout his body. The inner strength in his dantian flowed ceaselessly through him, as if the slightest movement could unleash the force to overturn rivers and seas!

"My inner strength may be powerful now, but it hasn't transformed into Gang Qi. It seems I need to keep strengthening it!"

Strong inner strength did not equal Hidden Force.

This was not a sign of the Dark Strength Realm.

The requirement for the Dark Strength Realm was to transform a thread of inner strength into Gang Qi. One overt, one hidden—this was called Hidden Force!

Do not underestimate that tiny thread of Gang Qi. That single thread had stumped countless heroes of the Jianghu.

Most famed elders of the Martial World trained from their youth until their hair and beards turned white, yet still failed to transform even a single thread of Gang Qi.

"The key is that cultivating Yellow Court Inner Strength hurts like hell. If Junior Brother Wang Yuan found out that after the Third Layer, he'd have to suffer treatment worse than inhuman, he'd probably pack up overnight and defect to another sect. That kid fears pain the most."

Zhang Chu finally understood why no one had ever cultivated Yellow Court Inner Strength to completion.

They had probably all died of pain halfway through...

Moreover, he had originally thought that the nine layers of Yellow Court Inner Strength corresponded respectively to the upper, middle, and lower three realms. Now, it seemed that was not the case.

"If I'm not mistaken, this Internal Skill can at most be cultivated to the completion of the Middle Three Realms—the Jade Liquid Realm!"

"My Yellow Court Inner Strength has already completed strengthening through the Fourth Layer, and I've entered the Fifth Layer, yet my realm is still at the peak of the First-rate Realm. I haven't entered the Dark Strength Realm."

"By that reckoning, I'll only enter the Dark Strength Realm after the Fifth Layer is fully strengthened. Once the Sixth and Seventh Layers are mastered, I'll enter the True Gang Realm, while the Eighth and Ninth Layers correspond to the Jade Liquid Realm!"

"No wonder Master said that Yellow Court Inner Strength was not considered a top-tier Internal Skill within the Daoist Sect Ancestral Court. Its only advantage is its peculiarity."

"An Internal Skill that can only be cultivated to the completion of the Middle Three Realms truly cannot be called top-tier."

Zhang Chu gradually came to understand what his master had said before.

Though martial arts could not lead directly to the Great Dao,

Zhang Chu was still delighted.

This Internal Skill was truly extraordinary. After four reconstructions of his sinews and bones, his inner strength had become vast and surging, giving him the feeling that he could fight even someone in the Dark Strength Realm!

"Next, I'll keep strengthening."

"And break through to the Dark Strength Realm in one go!"

He was only one step from the threshold. How could Zhang Chu hesitate?

At merely the completion of the Fourth Layer, his inner strength already rivaled Hidden Force. Once he truly stepped into the Dark Strength Realm and successfully transformed a thread of Gang Qi, he would immediately stand at the peak of the Dark Strength Realm!

"Shenlan, continue strengthening!"

Zhang Chu roared inwardly.

He had already prepared himself for the immense pain to come.

[Strengthening Yellow Court Inner Strength Fifth Layer requires 2000 Merit Points. Confirmed. Strengthening in progress!]

The system prompt sounded.

Immediately afterward, a vast surge of inner strength like mountains roaring and seas crashing burst from his dantian, rushing wildly through the sinews and meridians across his body.

Pain! Pain beyond description!

It was as though a giant hand were crushing every bone in his body, then piecing them back together bit by bit.

Crackle!

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The sinews and bones throughout Zhang Chu's body rang out. Every inch of his meridians, every bone, was being rapidly reconstructed.

Though his flesh suffered agonizing pain,

Zhang Chu was exhilarated.

Because he could sense a thread of Gang Qi slowly gathering within him. It only needed to stabilize at last!

Buzz!

In an instant, a thin layer of mist appeared over Zhang Chu's body, looking like a transparent membrane!

That membrane, churning with fierce and powerful currents of energy, was the Gang Qi that countless people of the Jianghu dreamed of obtaining.

"Gang Qi protecting the body—the Dark Strength Realm is achieved!"

Zhang Chu abruptly opened his eyes.

He examined his body after breaking through to the Dark Strength Realm.

His muscles had become incomparably refined, every inch containing astonishing explosive power.

It felt as though he could casually slap ten of his former selves to death. Supported by the Gang Qi of Dark Strength, First-rate Realm experts were as fragile as tofu before him.

And this was only a single thread of Gang Qi.

If he transformed all his inner strength,

and entered the True Gang Realm,

his strength would become unimaginable!

"Now, I should count as an expert in all of Linjiang County, right?" Zhang Chu clenched his fists excitedly.

The masked man who had ambushed him, as well as the Boat Gang secretly cultivating demonic arts, had once left Zhang Chu unable to eat or sleep in peace.

Now that his strength had reached the Dark Strength Realm, that feeling of constant dread vanished like smoke in the wind.

But Zhang Chu also knew

that entering Dark Strength was only the beginning.

Hadn't the old man been a Lesser Grandmaster of Dark Strength back then? Yet after making a trip to Mobei, not even his corpse could be found.

If he wanted to live peacefully in this world, he would probably need at least the strength of a Jade Liquid Grandmaster!

"Let's see how many Merit Points I have left."

Somewhat addicted to strengthening, Zhang Chu opened the panel.

[Zhang Chu]

[Realm: Dark Strength]

[Martial Arts: True Martial Palm (Second Layer), Yellow Court Inner Strength (Sixth Layer), can continue strengthening]

[Merit Points: 1500]

[Consume Merit Points to strengthen martial arts?]

"Only 1500 Merit Points left?" Looking at his reserves, Zhang Chu gradually calmed down and began to think.

"Yellow Court Inner Strength has now completed strengthening through the Fifth Layer, and the Sixth Layer has appeared on the panel. As long as more Merit Points come in later, I can continue strengthening it."

"But the Fifth Layer already required 2000 Merit Points. The Sixth Layer will probably double again. I'm short by quite a lot!"

Going by the previous pattern, the Merit Points required for the next strengthening would definitely double. Trying to save up with his current amount meant he still had a long road ahead.

"Then I'll strengthen an attacking method first. Only stronger methods will let me obtain more Merit Points!"

His realm had reached the Dark Strength Realm, but True Martial Palm remained at the First Layer, with the Second Layer only barely mastered.

It was greatly holding Zhang Chu back.

And the newly acquired Bitter Gourd Palm had not even appeared on the panel yet. He needed to hurry and cultivate it to the entry level as well.

"Continue strengthening True Martial Palm!"

After sorting out his thoughts, Zhang Chu gave the command.

He still had 1500 Merit Points, enough to strengthen all three moves of True Martial Palm to completion.

If any remained, he would save them for Bitter Gourd Palm.

He thought highly of this palm technique created by Ascetic Monks. It could work perfectly with True Martial Palm!

[Strengthening True Martial Palm Second Layer requires 300 Merit Points. Confirm strengthening?]

True Martial Palm was even more vicious than Yellow Court Inner Strength.

The Second Layer already cost three times as much!

Fortunately, Zhang Chu was wealthy now. Otherwise, he simply could not withstand the absurdly terrifying consumption of martial arts.

"Confirm!"

Zhang Chu immediately chose to strengthen it.

Boom!

Three hundred Merit Points were deducted, and a familiar set of scenes once more emerged in Zhang Chu's mind.

It was still that old man who trained without rest, still that utterly ordinary grove. As the old man's palms sped up, the second move of True Martial Palm gradually emerged.

Gradually, Zhang Chu's palm began to heat up.

A powerful surge of inner strength gathered in his palm, forming a layer of silver radiance over its surface. From afar, it looked as though his hand had become a glove that emitted silver light.

"True Martial Palm's Second Move—Armor Shatter!"