"Breakthrough Points - 30"
"Breakthrough Points - 70"
"Breakthrough Points - 30"
After three consecutive point allocations, the number on the system panel flickered rapidly before finally settling at a new value.
At the same time, surging torrents of scorching energy suddenly welled up inside his body!
[Body Realm: Third Refinement]
[Qi Realm: Blood Replacement Realm Mid-Stage]
The body was the foundation of everything.
Xu Feng preferred to improve his Body Realm first.
Even with the strength to split mountains and shatter rocks, a weak defense meant that a single surprise attack could be fatal.
A stronger physique not only offered greater protection for survival but could also withstand more intense and prolonged bursts of qi and blood, indirectly raising his upper limit of strength.
As the Breakthrough Points were spent, the torrents of energy began to sweep through his entire body.
They weren't gently nourishing him. They were like countless invisible hammers and furnaces, pounding and scorching every inch of his body at incredible speed and intensity!
His skin, muscles, fascia, organs, bones, bone marrow... even the deeper structures of his cells all trembled violently and underwent reconstruction.
An indescribable mix of pain, numbness, soreness, and swelling washed over him like a tide.
It was the inevitable reaction to his very level of existence being forcibly elevated!
As the heat spread, every inch of his body grew stronger.
His skin became tougher and more resilient, his muscles stronger, and the same was true of his bones, organs, and meridians.
However, the rapid strengthening of his body also caused a tremendous drain of energy.
A fierce hunger suddenly struck!
But Xu Feng had already prepared for this. Without hesitation, he grabbed the enormous leg of meat from the Bull Leader beside him.
He opened his mouth and took a huge bite!
His sharp teeth easily tore through the tough muscle fibers of the magical beast, ripping off a piece of raw meat as big as an adult's fist.
He barely chewed before swallowing it whole.
Faced with such intense hunger, even the strong stench of blood and the texture of raw meat seemed like the most exquisite delicacy.
As for the parasites or bacteria that might come from eating raw meat?
For him now, that was a complete joke.
Any harmful foreign substance that entered his digestive system would be broken down instantly and assimilated into pure energy to nourish his body.
Nearby, the Little Black Cat was daintily swallowing the piece of beef Xu Feng had given it.
Seeing its master once again eat like a starving ghost, it had grown used to it.
As it felt the terrifying aura rising from Xu Feng with every bite, deep admiration filled the Little Black Cat's amber eyes.
Half an hour later.
The searing currents within his body, like the heat of a forge, finally began to subside.
Wisps of visible white steam rose from Xu Feng's dilated pores.
The large muscles across his body twitched and rippled as if alive, then finally settled into place, their contours more perfect and imbued with explosive power.
Xu Feng set down the enormous bull leg bone, now stripped of all but a few scraps of meat.
He slowly exhaled a breath of stale air.
"Phew!"
The breath was so concentrated it seemed almost solid, shooting out in a straight white stream for three meters before slowly dissipating into the night.
"Strong... too strong!"
Xu Feng clenched his fists, feeling the power surging through him like a great river.
Every muscle and bone brimmed with unprecedented vitality and resilience, as if a light stomp could crack the earth and a casual punch could shatter stone.
"I feel like I could blow a Wild Bull's head off with one punch!"
He rose to his feet, his frame having unconsciously grown another few centimeters. He was now nearly 1.9 meters tall.
When he exerted himself, his muscles swelled like rugged rocks cast from solid iron, their sharply defined contours radiating raw strength and beauty.
Even compared with world-famous bodybuilding champions, the perfection of his physique and the terrifying energy within it far surpassed theirs.
Breaking through to the mid-stage of the Blood Replacement Realm had more than doubled his base strength.
The qi and blood he cultivated in his dantian had also grown from a single wisp to three.
And reaching the Third Refinement of the Body Realm had brought a qualitative change in his defensive power.
His skin and muscles were now tougher than ordinary steel.
Even if he faced the Bull Leader at full strength again, without wearing any extra armor,
he could take its charge with his bare body and would at most be knocked backward by the impact. He wouldn't suffer a single injury.
"But... this still isn't nearly enough."
After a brief rush of excitement, Xu Feng quickly composed himself, his gaze once again calm and keen.
"At best, I've only touched the threshold of C-Class Hunter strength. I'm still a long way from becoming a true powerhouse."
Unbidden, images from the manga in his fragmented memories surfaced in his mind.
Terrifying figures that blotted out the sky, capable of splitting mountains and shaking the earth with a wave of their hands, reducing cities to ruins... Monarch Level beings.
Faced with such world-destroying power, even the S-Class Hunters who stood at the pinnacle of human society today
could only struggle to survive like ants beneath a giant's feet.
"The revolution hasn't succeeded yet, comrades still need to work hard."
Xu Feng sighed softly, pressing that sense of urgency deep into his heart.
Just then, he suddenly sensed a familiar fluctuation of energy.
His eyebrows lifted slightly as he looked at the Little Black Cat beside him.
Little Black was sitting there, its belly round from eating magical beast meat, quietly licking its paws.
When it noticed Xu Feng looking over, it immediately stopped and obediently trotted closer, affectionately rubbing its furry head against the back of his hand.
Xu Feng gave its soft head a casual rub, but his palm clearly sensed that the faint energy within Little Black had grown slightly stronger.
It also carried a trace of the same quality as his own qi and blood.
"An embryonic form of qi and blood?"
Xu Feng's heart stirred, but after sensing it more carefully, he shook his head.
"No, it hasn't truly taken shape yet. It's probably because Breakthrough Points improved its constitution and the magical beast meat let it absorb magic power. I'd guess it's not far from condensing qi and blood."
He tore off the few remaining scraps of meat from the bull leg bone and offered them to Little Black.
Little Black's eyes lit up. It opened its mouth and took the scraps, trying hard to swallow them.
But its bulging belly was clearly already full. There wasn't room for another bite.
It tried several times, then finally gave up, reluctantly holding the scraps in its mouth.
The system panel seemed to have transformed Xu Feng's digestive system, allowing him to quickly digest high-energy substances.
Though Little Black had also benefited and could digest food far better than an ordinary cat, there was still no comparison between them.
The piece of beef it had already eaten would be enough to sustain it for a while.
"Meow~"
Little Black gave a soft meow and looked up at Xu Feng, its eyes questioning.
"Go on. Hide it somewhere safe."
Xu Feng understood what it meant and nodded.
At once, Little Black clamped the scraps in its mouth, darted up the old tree beside them, and disappeared into the dense canopy after a few nimble leaps.
Its secret little nest was up there, concealed beneath layer upon layer of leaves and branches, both hidden and safe.
"Little Black is already close to the threshold of the supernatural."
Feeling the faint energy inside Little Black gradually grow more active, Xu Feng pondered.
"Looks like this path is viable..."
He raised his head, his gaze seeming to pierce the layers of night and buildings as he looked toward home.
"S-Class... the people truly standing at the pinnacle of human power.
"Only at that level might I have the ability and standing to ensure this secret doesn't bring disaster, or even..."
Xu Feng silently set himself a goal.
The wonders of Breakthrough Points went far beyond helping him advance quickly through the realms.
With every point allocation, the torrent of energy that poured into his body and guided it through a qualitative transformation let him clearly sense the subtle changes in every part of his body as he broke through: the paths along which energy flowed, the way qi and blood condensed...
It was an understanding that reached straight to the essence.
Even without Breakthrough Points, as long as he kept consuming enough magical beast flesh and absorbing its abundant magic power,
he could steadily temper his qi and blood, strengthen his physique, and improve step by step.
In fact, with his current profound understanding of the essence of the Qi and Blood Martial Path,
he was already capable of creating an embryonic martial art for ordinary people to try, in the hope that they might eventually cultivate qi and blood and step into the supernatural.
This was completely different from the mainstream magic-powered Hunter system in the current world.
Magic-powered Hunters relied on special constitutions they were born with.
After awakening, their bodies were like valves being opened, naturally absorbing magic power from the air and storing it inside.
However, the capacity of this "container" was more or less set at the moment of awakening, and was almost impossible to expand afterward.
For the vast majority of Hunters, their level was decided the moment they awakened.
For their entire lives, they could only keep exploring and refining their techniques for using the magic power they had stored, trying to unleash one hundred and twenty percent of its potential.
Like Kuang Lei's astonishing Super Fireball, which required a long time to prepare.
But they had almost no way to bring about a qualitative leap in their own magic-power level.
The Qi and Blood Martial Path was a different road—a path of self-evolution.
It didn't rely on an innate constitution. Instead, it involved actively absorbing energy from the outside world,
whether the chemical energy in food or a more efficient source like magic power,
to generate a unique form of qi and blood energy within the body.
Qi and blood were both a source of strength and a tool for transforming the body.
They nourished and tempered the flesh, allowing the body—the container—to grow stronger and stronger, so it could store more qi and blood and absorb even greater amounts of external energy...
Thus, a virtuous cycle formed, with nearly limitless potential.
It was a supernatural path with a stronger foundation and a higher ceiling!
"Still, now isn't the time to think about all that."
Xu Feng pulled his wandering thoughts back and turned his sharp gaze toward the damaged opening leading into the sewer in the distance.
"Time to take care of that nuisance."
Before you continue