Breaking Through to the Grade, Prospects for Blade Techniques!

"Combat Technique... worthy of the name combat indeed!!"

Liu Chu took several deep breaths. Excitement still lingered in his eyes, his heart pounding like a drum.

It was his first time killing someone—and he had killed two at once!

Liu Chu's adrenaline surged, leaving him indescribably exhilarated. He had actually pushed his Mastered Combat Technique to its absolute limit!

The Dragon-Tiger Combat Technique truly deserved to be called a combat art.

Once cultivated to mastery, it could practically subdue an enemy in a single move—a genuine killing technique!

"Combat, combat... so this is what combat means!"

Liu Chu's eyes gleamed sharply in the night. "No wonder the master said that when martial skills are cultivated to profound heights, it may even be possible to kill a martial artist of a higher realm!"

In the span of a few breaths, he had killed two bandits armed with blades and clubs. Liu Chu now understood the power of the Dragon-Tiger Combat Technique on a far deeper level!

One had to know that even graded martial artists could not withstand blades and swords head-on. Without combat skills, facing the two men's weapons, one careless misstep could have led to disaster.

Yet once Liu Chu unleashed his Mastered Combat Technique, their blades and clubs became as good as useless—utterly unable to withstand a single blow!

"I wonder just how powerful a Perfected Combat Technique would be!"

Liu Chu was so focused on the strength of the Combat Technique that he felt none of the discomfort one might expect from killing for the first time.

Only after his excitement gradually faded did he let out a breath of stale air and search the two bandits.

"Only thirteen taels of silver... Well, if they were well-off, who would come out to rob people?"

"Taking a step back, even if they had plundered plenty of valuables, they wouldn't carry them all on their person while robbing someone."

Liu Chu secretly shook his head, pocketed the silver, and swiftly left the place.

Over the following days, Liu Chu trained peacefully at the martial arts hall. He did not immediately return the remaining thirty taels of silver to Han Qi.

Instead, he kept it on himself for the time being. If he failed to break through and enter the grade this last month, he could still use it to pay his tuition and remain at the martial arts hall to train.

"A Qi does not need those thirty taels for now..."

Liu Chu had already asked around. Han Qi still had thirty taels in hand, enough to last a year or even half a year even with frequent purchases of medicinal meals for training.

There was currently no shortage of silver on Han Qi's side.

But Liu Chu himself was desperately short on money.

"Even if I break through and enter the grade, I'll still have to pay tuition. It's just that compared to before entering the grade, I'll have more ways to earn money. I can owe the tuition and repay it slowly..."

Liu Chu had roughly learned some of the ways of training at the martial arts hall.

Before entering the grade, one could not even be considered a martial artist and basically had no ability to earn money. Other than support from one's family, it was difficult to find any other source of income.

But once one successfully entered the grade, the ways to make money increased. As long as one did not continue pouring every coin earned into martial training, it would be enough to live comfortably.

"The next sacrifice requires ten Treasure Fish, equivalent to two or three hundred taels of silver... I must enter the grade as soon as possible!"

Liu Chu's gaze hardened as he diligently practiced the Nourishing Stake Practice.

He needed more money—for martial training, and for sacrifices!

And in this world of martial arts, whenever even a modestly large sum of silver was involved, it was impossible to escape the two words: "martial artist"!

Without martial arts to protect oneself, even if one luckily earned several hundred taels through sheer intellect, it would instead be highly likely to invite a fatal calamity!

Escort agencies, shops, gangs, sects, martial arts halls, families... without exception, each had martial artists standing guard behind them!

In truth, these industries were also where martial arts hall apprentices like Liu Chu would find employment after entering the grade in the future.

Therefore, if Liu Chu wanted to make money, he had to break through and enter the grade!

"After the Yanglian Technique reaches Minor Mastery, I can mobilize two strands of Blood Vitality to scour my skin membrane. My cultivation speed has roughly doubled!"

"Coupled with my current twofold boost in comprehension, which also significantly improves my cultivation speed for techniques, I suppose I can now be called a minor genius!"

Liu Chu sensed the improvement in his cultivation speed and was quite satisfied.

A smile could not help appearing at the corner of his lips.

After merely a dozen or so days of bitter training, he could already sense signs of a breakthrough!

His Combat Technique had also passed the halfway mark toward mastery, reaching 53% Mastery.

The Yanglian Technique had likewise reached 34% Minor Mastery. After breaking through to Minor Mastery, his cultivation speed had increased rather than decreased!

All of this came from the twofold boost in comprehension!

"Next, I'll devote everything to breaking through the skin membrane barrier!"

Liu Chu had already sensed that the opportunity for a breakthrough had arrived. He began focusing completely as he charged toward the Ninth Grade Skin Refining Realm!

Buzz, buzz, buzz!

For several days in a row, he mobilized Blood Vitality to scour his skin membrane, making it resemble a drumskin violently struck and shaken. It continuously gave off humming sounds, growing tougher by the day.

At a certain moment.

Boom!

A thunderous sound suddenly rang out within his body. Like a fence crushed apart by a raging flood, a sensation of boundless exhilaration instantly swept through his entire body!

The surging Blood Vitality merged with his toughened skin membrane, making the skin membrane across his body seem like raw iron tempered a thousand times, transformed into refined steel. Its toughness rose to another level!

"I broke through!"

A sharp gleam flashed in Liu Chu's eyes, and delight filled his face.

He could clearly feel that the skin membrane over his entire body had become as tough as stone and iron, now able to bear the impact of even greater force.

"So this is the Ninth Grade Skin Refining Realm? I can feel that both the resilience and hardness of my skin membrane have increased. Even if I took the fists and kicks of a grown man head-on, I might not be injured!"

Liu Chu felt out the changes after breaking through to Skin Refining, his eyes shining brightly.

Once the skin membrane had been strengthened, the fists and kicks of an ordinary grown man would not cause much damage when they landed on him. He would no longer be beaten bloody by a single punch from an ordinary person.

"Still, I can only take a few punches. If there are too many, I'll still get hurt..."

Liu Chu calculated inwardly, "And if a vital spot is hit, there is still a chance an ordinary grown man could kill me with one punch."

At this moment, he felt that he could fight four or five grown men. As long as they did not hit a vital spot or strike the same area several times, he could easily knock them down!

"But if the enemy is holding sharp blades or clubs, that's another matter entirely. Even Skin Refining martial artists cannot withstand blades, swords, and clubs head-on!"

Liu Chu once again sensed the toughness of his skin membrane. He realized that although his strength had increased considerably, he still could not resist blades and swords directly.

When faced with a crowd, he would still have to break out of their encirclement and defeat them one by one to stand a chance of winning.

"The Combat Technique really is important. But it would be best to cultivate a blade technique and movement technique too. Otherwise, if people surrounded me with blades, it would probably be difficult to carve a path through with only my fists..."

Liu Chu recalled his trip to the Black Market. His Mastered Combat Technique had been swift as thunder, and in the blink of an eye, he had killed two bandits.

At the time, he had relied on defeating them one by one, giving the two no chance to join forces before taking one of them down in an instant.

If they had joined up, he might still have been able to kill them, but it would never have been so easy.

And those had merely been two bandits armed with a blade and a club. If there had been more—four or five blade-wielding bandits, or even seven or eight...

Even with his Combat Technique at mastery and having broken through into the grade, Liu Chu would likely find it difficult to safely fight his way out bare-handed.

"Lower Three Grades martial artists are still flesh-and-blood mortals in the end. Even if their skin membrane is tough and their muscles and bones are strong, they still need to evade the cleaving of blades and swords!"

"If I cultivate a blade technique, I'll become much stronger. A blade is always cleaner and more decisive than a fist..."

Liu Chu thought to himself.

"No rush. I'll wait until my Combat Technique reaches Perfection. First, I should report my breakthrough into the grade to the master!"

Liu Chu gathered his thoughts and headed toward the Inner Court.

Nearby, Xu Haoran stared wide-eyed as he watched Liu Chu enter the Inner Court, uncertainty and astonishment rising in his heart. Did he just break through??

Xu Haoran was not entirely sure, but he had felt Liu Chu's imposing body tremble just now, as though his aura had undergone a transformation.

Combined with the fact that he was heading for the Inner Court, Xu Haoran could hardly stop himself from suspecting that Liu Chu had broken through and entered the grade!!