Kill, Lion Blood Body Tempering

"Boss! The boss is dead!"

Only upon seeing their leader's corpse did the remaining Hunters come to their senses, crying out in alarm.

This Quasi-Martial Artist before them was the true hidden expert!

He had actually taken out their 3rd Rank Martial Artist leader in a single blow. Though it had been a sneak attack, his strength was at least comparable to a 3rd Rank Martial Artist.

"Who are you?"

At this moment, the four remaining Tier 2 martial artists were deeply wary of Chu Han. They looked at one another, none daring to make another move.

Chu Han's earlier strike had served as an excellent deterrent.

If their leader had not lost his reason to greed and focused solely on Zhao Feiyu, Chu Han would not have succeeded so easily with a sneak attack using Explosive Fist.

Now that the only 3rd Rank Martial Artist was dead, the four remaining Tier 2 martial artists could no longer threaten Chu Han.

"The man who'll kill you."

Chu Han answered blandly, no longer concealing his killing intent.

The four men instantly turned pale with fright and hurriedly shouted, "We're from the Night Owl Squad! Our people are nearby! If you kill us, our captain won't let you off! He's a 4th Rank Martial Artist!"

"Too noisy."

Chu Han's heart stirred slightly, but their threat did not affect him in the slightest.

The Blood Shadow Battle Saber flashed from its sheath. Chu Han turned into an afterimage and charged forward. Amid flickering saber light, the four Tier 2 Hunters all became souls beneath his blade.

"That's it?"

On the other side, Zhao Feiyu, who had watched the entire battle, had his understanding overturned once again.

This was his first time seeing Chu Han fight high-ranking martial artists. Although he had expected the outcome, he had not imagined it would be this easy.

Setting aside the 3rd Rank Martial Artist who had been ambushed, if those four Tier 2 martial artists worked together, they would not have been weaker than a 3rd Rank Martial Artist. Yet in Chu Han's hands, they had not even been given a chance to resist.

Moreover, Chu Han killed without the slightest hesitation, as though this was far from his first time taking a life.

Such a mentality was even rarer.

In truth, this was also Chu Han's first time killing someone, and he had killed five people in a row.

Yet he felt no discomfort at all. Instead, he was somewhat exhilarated, enjoying the thrill of battle amid life-and-death combat.

He even felt that perhaps he was a born battle maniac.

Chu Han then searched the bodies, but found nothing of value.

There were only a few weapons, and they did not seem worth much.

But even a mosquito's leg was still meat, so he put away the weapons as well.

"These people are Hunters. We can keep their heads and claim the bounty later. Do you want them?"

Chu Han asked Zhao Feiyu with a smile.

Zhao Feiyu looked at the bloody heads, a trace of disgust appearing in his eyes. He repeatedly waved his hands. "No, no. They're all yours."

Chu Han then stored their heads away as well.

Zhao Feiyu asked, "Brother Han, what do we do next? The Night Owl Squad they mentioned is probably nearby. If they come after us, we'll be in trouble."

Chu Han said gravely, "We can't stay here. We need to leave as soon as possible. I still can't deal with a 4th Rank Martial Artist. We need to quickly find another place to hide and raise our strength first."

A 4th Rank Martial Artist was someone Chu Han had no choice but to take seriously, because 4th Rank Martial Artists had another title: Beginner Martial Masters.

The 4th rank was a threshold for martial artists. Most martial artists could only stop at the 3rd rank for their entire lives, unable to become Martial Masters.

Martial artists of ranks 1 through 3 were known respectively as Beginner Martial Artists, Intermediate Martial Artists, and Advanced Martial Artists.

To become a 4th Rank Martial Artist, one's control over Elemental Power had to reach a new height. The sign of that was Origin Energy Armor.

By condensing all the Elemental Power in one's body into Origin Energy Armor, one's defense, strength, and many other attributes would receive a tremendous boost.

Their strength far surpassed that of 3rd Rank Martial Artists, which was why they were called Martial Masters.

Chu Han was not even a 1st Rank Martial Artist yet. All this time, he had relied on the advantages of his physical body.

But against a 4th Rank Martial Artist capable of forming armor, that advantage became very small. With his current strength, it would be difficult for him to break a 4th Rank Martial Artist's Origin Energy Armor.

Therefore, they had to avoid the sharp edge for now.

The two ignored the five corpses in the cave and left directly.

They departed from Redwood Forest and found a more secluded cave on a cliff face.

After entering the cave, Zhao Feiyu eagerly took out his specially made Lion Blood Potion.

By now, this special potion was completely finished. It occupied only one-tenth of the container, having been refined to its limit.

Zhao Feiyu took out several more potion bottles and carefully poured the Lion Blood Potion into them, filling more than three bottles in total.

"There's actually so much. It seems that Black Mane Lion's blood really did the heavy lifting."

Zhao Feiyu looked with great satisfaction at the potion in his hand, then looked to Chu Han and asked, "Brother Han, I definitely can't use all this potion. Do you really want to give it a try?"

"Of course." Chu Han answered without hesitation.

"Then you must be extremely careful. Don't use too much at once, or your life will be in danger!" Zhao Feiyu warned worriedly.

"Don't worry. I don't want to die yet." Chu Han smiled.

Zhao Feiyu smiled. "That's good. We can cultivate together, though my cultivation may take quite a while."

With that, Zhao Feiyu poured out some potion, smeared it over his chest, then sat cross-legged on the ground. He circulated his family's inherited Mad Lion Art and began absorbing the potion's energy.

Very quickly, Zhao Feiyu was enveloped in purple Elemental Power, and pain occasionally flashed across his face.

Following his example, Chu Han poured out some Lion Blood Potion and smeared it over his body.

The instant the potion touched his skin, waves of agonizing pain struck Chu Han.

It felt as though every inch of skin on his body had been thrown into a roaring inferno and fiercely scorched. The pain far surpassed when he had absorbed the Black Blood Stone and Red Scale Python blood, making him suck in a sharp breath.

"Hiss! This hurts way too much!"

Chu Han gritted his teeth and endured the agony without giving up.

He had not expected this pain to be even more violent than when cultivating the second level of the Nine Heavens Body Tempering Technique.

But since he had chosen to try, he would not give up easily. He immediately began circulating the second level of the Nine Heavens Body Tempering Technique, attempting to fight pain with pain.

As the two agonies piled atop each other, he immediately experienced a pain unlike anything before—a pain that seemed capable of tearing even his soul apart, leaving him in endless misery.

It seemed Zhao Feiyu truly had not lied. This specially made Lion Blood Potion was simply not something outsiders could use. This pain alone was more than anyone could endure.

However, ever since Chu Han began cultivating the Nine Heavens Body Tempering Technique, there had been no energy he could not absorb.

So he still gritted his teeth and persevered, desperately circulating the Nine Heavens Body Tempering Technique in an attempt to make his body absorb the lion blood's energy as quickly as possible.

As the Nine Heavens Body Tempering Technique circulated, it truly began to have an effect.

Chu Han discovered that the lion blood on his skin seemed to be drawn by some force, seeping into his body bit by bit.

As the lion blood was slowly absorbed, he could clearly feel his physical body rapidly strengthening. His muscles and bones were continuously reinforced, while his own strength constantly rose.

"It's working!"

Chu Han was overjoyed and immediately felt that the pain was not quite so unbearable.

He looked toward Zhao Feiyu and discovered that he was actually absorbing the lion blood even faster than Zhao Feiyu.

He could not help but marvel at the power of the Nine Heavens Body Tempering Technique.

Thus, Chu Han continued to persevere through the pain, enduring a long night.

By the following morning, Chu Han finally ended his cultivation.

After cultivating through the night, the bottle of Lion Blood Potion in his hand was nearly empty.

He felt that his physical body had become much stronger, while his strength had doubled. Every part of his body brimmed with explosive power!

"I wonder whether my current strength is enough to fight a 4th Rank Martial Artist. How great is the gap still?"

Chu Han pondered. After reaching this stage of cultivation, the lion blood's effects had greatly diminished, which was why he stopped cultivating.

Presumably, it was because he lacked Zhao Feiyu's inherited talent and cultivation technique, limiting the amount of lion blood energy he could absorb.

Even so, the gains from this single night were enough to leave him ecstatic.

On the other side, Zhao Feiyu's cultivation was still ongoing. He had used only two-thirds of a bottle of Lion Blood Potion, and his absorption efficiency was far inferior to Chu Han's.

However, Zhao Feiyu's strength was steadily increasing.

Chu Han estimated that Zhao Feiyu should have a chance to break through to a Tier 2 martial artist.