Flesh Refinement Mastery, Wolf Pack Slaughter!

At noon, clouds curled lightly, leaves tinged faintly.

A gentle breeze teased the grass, flowers, and leaves among the mountain forest.

Amid a soft rustling sound, Fang Hong stood in a Horse Stance beside a small mountain stream.

Not far behind him, a fire crackled, with two rabbits roasting on a spit above it.

The aroma of meat wafted, and dripping oil hissed softly as it hit the flames.

Fang Hong held his Horse Stance, building up his blood and qi.

Three days had passed since he first entered the mountains.

His skin would occasionally bulge, as if several small snakes were slithering beneath it.

From time to time, a flicker of pain crossed his face.

The perfected Horse Stance maximized the efficiency of his blood and qi refinement.

Streams of blood and qi churned continuously within him.

Endlessly cycling, tempering, and strengthening.

And with the condensation of blood and qi, strands of force gradually emerged inside his body.

This force was fierce and powerful.

This was inner force!

According to what Father Fang had taught the original owner when passing down his martial arts.

The path of martial arts all began with building blood and qi, condensing inner force, and tempering the physical body.

The first hurdle was Flesh Refinement.

Temper every muscle in the body, increase strength and power, enough to contend with a dozen men.

After Flesh Refinement came Skin Refining.

Temper the skin and membrane, making them tough and resilient, enhancing defense to withstand blades.

At Skin Refining Mastery, one could even control pore closure, lock in blood and qi to prevent leakage, and amplify inner force bursts.

Next was Sinew Refinement, toughening the tendons to unleash terrifying explosive strength.

After Sinew Refinement came Bone Refinement, Organ Refinement, Marrow Refinement, and Blood Replacement realms.

And even beyond Blood Replacement, there were still deeper realms.

But such realms, Father Fang had never heard of even in the army.

So he never mentioned them to the original owner.

"Thanks to perfecting the Military Formation Saber Art and archery, my Flesh Refinement training has gone smoothly."

"I've actually reached Mastery this fast."

After a long moment, Fang Hong suddenly opened his eyes, his gaze sharp and piercing!

Then his whole body shook, every muscle tensing abruptly.

Bulging veins spread like tree roots.

After another moment, as the muscles across his body gradually relaxed, Fang Hong slowly let out a breath.

When he perfected the Military Formation Saber Art and archery, the golden finger had consumed his internal energy, continuously remodeling parts of his muscles.

So now, tempering his entire musculature came naturally and smoothly.

With the foundation laid by the saber art and archery, and after days and nights of relentless training, he had finally reached the level of Flesh Refinement Mastery.

His entire appearance had grown taller compared to before.

His height had shot up from around 1.6 meters to 1.7 meters.

His muscles were knotted and sharply defined.

Just looking at them, one could feel the power they contained, far beyond what he had possessed before.

Beyond the changes in appearance and strength, the more significant shift was in his temperament.

Over these three days, aside from training, he had been frantically fighting and slaughtering the beasts in these mountains.

On one hand, he saw blood and underwent the baptism of gore.

On the other, he harvested blood-rich food to replenish the blood and qi consumed in training.

After days of battling beasts, his demeanor now carried a distinct aura of danger.

A wildness tinged with a hint of brutality.

But this level... still wasn't enough!

Through constant slaughter, his mindset had indeed become far more resolute, ruthless, and decisive than before.

But it still hadn't reached the level Fang Hong had envisioned.

Fang Hong strode over to the fire, grabbed a roasted rabbit, and tore into it with big, ravenous bites.

His mindset had shifted somewhat.

But he was also well aware that deep inside, a part of him still clung to softness, complacency, and a go-with-the-flow attitude.

That was a trait rooted in decades of peaceful living and humanistic education from his past life.

Stubborn to the extreme.

How could he possibly overturn it in just a few short days?

"To straighten a bent rod, you must bend it past straight!"

"Danger—I need even stronger danger to spur me on, to truly reshape my mindset!"

Fang Hong chewed and swallowed the rabbit meat in big mouthfuls, silently pondering.

These past days, he had experienced no shortage of fights and clashes.

But thanks to his rapid growth in strength, he had rarely faced real peril.

As for life-threatening danger, he had almost never encountered it.

So his mindset still hadn't undergone a fundamental transformation.

"But if I want to encounter stronger danger, I have to push deeper into the mountains."

"Yet I'm already far enough from the outside, and the salt I brought is used up."

"If I go deeper, there are too many variables..."

Fang Hong mused silently.

Rustle, rustle~~

"Hm?!"

Just as Fang Hong was lost in thought, a faint noise came from the dense forest around him.

His gaze sharpened instantly, and with a snap, he fixed his eyes on his surroundings.

He sensed a feeling of danger.

And that feeling was rapidly growing stronger.

"Awooo--!!"

Then, accompanied by a desolate wolf howl, the danger around him suddenly became like needles pricking his back.

Fang Hong tossed aside the roasted rabbit in his hand and grabbed the bow and arrows beside him.

He drew the bow, nocked an arrow, and aimed straight ahead to his right, where the danger was thickest.

Awooo--

Amid low, guttural wolf howls, over twenty drooling, green-eyed wolves, snarling continuously, appeared around Fang Hong.

And to his right front, exactly where he was aiming, a white wolf, half a meter tall, with thick limbs and sharp claws and fangs, exuded a cruel, savage aura.

It slowly stepped out from the forest.

This wolf, larger and fiercer than the others in the pack, was clearly the pack's king.

And with the wolf king's appearance, the entire pack rapidly tightened its encirclement, surrounding Fang Hong in the middle, snarling and closing in on him.

By now, the danger Fang Hong felt had nearly become tangible.

Swish, swish, swish!!

In an instant, before the wolves could press any closer, Fang Hong's eyes sharpened.

His bowstring snapped like thunder!

In a single breath, he had already loosed several arrows.

The few wolves in front were struck straight through the eye sockets into their brains, dropping to the ground with a thud.

"Awooo!!"

At that, the White Wolf King let out a roar.

The surrounding wolves all lunged at Fang Hong at once.

Seeing this, Fang Hong's heart tightened. He kept drawing his bow, firing off several more arrows in rapid succession.

Whoosh--!

A streak of white light swept across the air.

Draw the blade to cut the water!

Pfft pfft~

A massive wound split open on the four wolves charging from his front left.

Blood sprayed!!

Before the flying blood could even fall, Fang Hong twisted and slashed diagonally again.

A wolf leaping toward him had its skull cleaved clean open by that single strike, brains and blood splattering everywhere.

But at the same time, with a tearing sound—

The two wolves behind him had already pounced onto Fang Hong's back.

Sharp claws ripped straight through his back.

One wolf sank its fangs into his arm, while the other lunged for his neck.

"Get off me!"

Feeling the wet, rank breath at his neck, Fang Hong twisted violently and flung them off.

He shook the wolf off his back while swinging his blade in a backhand strike.

He cleaved apart the other wolf that still had its jaws locked around his arm, dangling and thrashing in the air.

But as blood scattered, the wolf's head still clung stubbornly to his arm.

Frowning, Fang Hong pried the head off with his bare hands.

He looked around.

Blood everywhere. The nearby stream was slowly staining red.

Mangled wolf carcasses littered the ground, the stench of fresh blood saturating the air.

The wolves' low growls grew deeper, hoarser.

Their eyes, driven wild by the scent of blood, turned more ferocious by the second.

Blood streamed steadily from the wounds on his back and arm.

Pain—and the deathly crisis, sharp as a blade—

Made Fang Hong's heart pound wildly, thumping in his chest.

He could almost hear his own frantic heartbeat in his ears.

Thump... thump...

In the midst of that pounding rhythm, something else began to creep into Fang Hong's grim gaze.

Brutality. Savagery. Bloodlust.

He wiped the splattered wolf blood from his face, his eyes slowly burning hot.

"This feeling..."

"Yeah, this is what I wanted. This feeling of life and death hanging by a thread!"

His blood seemed to boil in that moment.

His eyes reddened, and he licked his lips with a feral grin.

"Unlike the comfort of my past life—this is the beast awakened by survival."

"The beast within!!"

It was lit!

"Hahaha! Come on! Come on!!"

Every muscle, every ounce of blood and inner force, pushed to its limit.

Laughing loudly, Fang Hong charged forward instead of retreating, plunging straight into the wolf pack.

Abandon all delusions. Prepare for battle!

"KILL!!!"

His eyes bloodshot, like a demon possessed, he tore into the wolves in a frenzied slaughter.

In that moment, he finally let go completely.

With every swing of his blade, he vented his fear of death, his anxiety for the future, his fantasies of an easy life.

All mercy, all pity, all kindness...

Gone.

In that moment, only one thought remained in his mind.

Kill!!!