Huajin, Body Without Leaks

Day after day passed.

On the evening of the sixth day of his journey to Tiannan Prefecture.

The sun sank, vanishing completely beyond the horizon.

[Zhaoxi Value +1]

The text prompt flashed before his eyes.

Without hesitation, Chen Xuan spent points on the Giant Whale Body Refining Technique.

He had yet to use the Zhaoxi Value gained on the fourth and fifth days. Together with this one, he had three points in total.

Three points of Zhaoxi Value meant three years of tireless, day-and-night cultivation.

A vast, surging energy poured into Chen Xuan's body. Within his dantian, an elusive aura utterly unlike Mingjin or Anjin emerged.

This aura gathered without dispersing, clear enough to be distinctly felt.

And as this aura was born in his dantian, it ran through his meridians like a wild horse that had slipped its reins, roaring and surging through his limbs and bones in an endless circulation.

At the same time.

The mental method of the ninth layer of the Giant Whale Body Refining Technique, the secrets of exerting force, the essence of the cultivation art... all were branded deeply into his mind.

"Huajin, this is Huajin!"

Chen Xuan felt the current flowing through his limbs and bones. Not only was his force energy more condensed, its abundance had increased by more than tenfold.

Ninth Stage of Body Tempering.

Before it was further divided, it was actually split into three levels.

They were Mingjin, Anjin, and Huajin.

Beginners in martial arts had to strengthen their blood and vitality, temper their physical strength, and connect the power of their entire body. Only then could they generate Mingjin, capable of splitting steles and shattering stones.

Next came using Mingjin to temper the skin and flesh, forge the tendons and bones, and precisely control every muscle and pore throughout the body. Opening and closing the pores to lock in all force without letting it leak away was Anjin.

Anjin was superior to Mingjin. It could leave the body, penetrate armor and injure the organs, harming a person's viscera without leaving a trace.

Moreover, after cultivating Anjin, one could nourish the five viscera and six bowels, temper and strengthen them, allowing the internal organs to brim with renewed vitality. The fleshly body would become tough and resilient, possessing four or five times the strength of an ordinary person at their peak.

Above Anjin was Huajin.

The marvels of Huajin were far beyond what Mingjin and Anjin could compare to.

Martial artists who reached this realm were perfectly rounded and without leaks throughout their bodies, their force energy spread across every limb and bone. Even if they stood still and let ordinary people hack at them with swords, they would not be harmed in the slightest. Furthermore, a Huajin martial artist's force energy was solid and substantial, capable of leaving the body for several meters to kill an enemy from afar.

Chen Xuan raised his right hand. Without gathering force, without even any noticeable swelling of his muscles, he casually threw a punch at a large tree some distance away.

Bang!

A low but piercing blast rang out. The struck tree snapped in half at its middle and crashed to the ground.

Chen Xuan withdrew his fist, satisfaction flashing through his eyes.

That had merely been a casual strike.

If he used a martial skill, its power would only become more terrifying.

In battles between martial artists, cultivation aside, martial skills also played an immensely important role. They could allow a martial artist to bring their strength to its utmost limit, even erupting with power beyond their own limits.

Chen Xuan cultivated two martial arts.

The Giant Whale Body Refining Technique was a cultivation art, used to raise his cultivation realm.

The Mountain Crushing Fist was a martial skill.

"Now that I have reached the Ninth Stage of Body Tempering, my next step is to improve my martial skills, increase my combat strength, and then seek out a cultivation art for the Zhuqi Realm."

Chen Xuan thought to himself.

He withdrew his thoughts and urged his horse onward.

The seventh day.

Chen Xuan arrived in Tiannan Prefecture.

There were seven prefectures under the rule of the Guiyuan Sect.

Traveling south from the sect, Chen Xuan had passed through two prefectures, yet Tiannan Prefecture appeared far more desolate than either of the ones he had seen.

Large swathes of farmland along both sides of the official road lay abandoned. From time to time, he could see the ruins of burned villages, weeds growing thick amid broken walls and crumbling remnants.

There were few travelers on the road. Even when he occasionally encountered a few, they were sallow-faced and emaciated, hurrying along. Upon seeing Chen Xuan on horseback, they all kept their distance.

Tiannan Prefecture lay at the intersection of the Guiyuan Sect, the Blood Fiend Devil Sect, and Ten Thousand Sword Villa. After discussion, the three sects had agreed to govern it jointly.

Yet the higher-ups of all three sects knew this was only a temporary expedient. Undercurrents churned between them, and each wanted sole possession of this land.

The disciples of the three sects fought without end as well.

This made Tiannan Prefecture even more chaotic than other places. Within its cities, the various factions openly and secretly struggled against one another, conflicts large and small playing out nearly every day. Outside the cities, bandits ran rampant with no one to rein them in.

Even disciples of the three sects could fall victim to bandit ambushes.

Of course, they were not necessarily real bandits. Disciples of the three sects sometimes disguised themselves as bandits to ambush and kill disciples from the other two sects.

No one could say for certain whether they were true bandits or not.

After traveling for another half day.

Chen Xuan entered a hilly region.

On both sides of the official road were vast stretches of wasteland and scrub forest, with scarcely any sign of human habitation.

"Another thirty li, and I'll reach Lianshan City."

Chen Xuan rode his horse with a map in hand, calculating the remaining distance.

He understood that this journey would not be peaceful, so he had to remain vigilant at all times.

Within the territory ruled by the Guiyuan Sect, the status of an outer disciple could still intimidate some petty scoundrels and keep bandits along the way from targeting him.

But in Tiannan Prefecture, it might not work.

Suddenly, Chen Xuan frowned.

Having reached the Ninth Stage of Body Tempering, the Huajin Realm, his senses had improved as well. He caught the faint scent of blood carried on the wind, along with the sounds of shouting and killing ahead.

Chen Xuan pulled on the reins and listened closely.

The sounds of battle came from a bend in the official road ahead, mixed with the crisp clang of weapons striking each other and several shrill screams.

"Bandits?"

A thoughtful look appeared on Chen Xuan's face.

Fighting on an official road was usually bandits plundering a merchant caravan.

But the cries of battle soon came to a stop.

"Is it over?"

Chen Xuan's brow creased slightly. He did not know whether the caravan had driven off the bandits, or the bandits had wiped out the caravan.

"Should I take a detour?"

The thought flashed through Chen Xuan's mind.

Though he was now at the Ninth Stage of Body Tempering, in the Huajin Realm, making him a top expert among ordinary people, he was unfamiliar with Tiannan Prefecture. Rashly becoming embroiled in a dispute would be exceedingly unwise.

"Big Brother, there's someone here."

Just as Chen Xuan hesitated, a rough voice came from ahead.

Chen Xuan looked up and saw more than a dozen men carrying weapons emerge from around the bend. Leading them was a burly man with a face full of flesh, holding a bloodied machete. Blood still stained his body; clearly, he had only just finished killing and had not yet had time to clean himself up.

"He's an outer disciple of the Guiyuan Sect."

A skinny, monkey-like man beside the bald brute said quietly.

"What's there to fear? The Liu Family caravan we robbed has also pledged itself to the Guiyuan Sect. If word gets out, the Guiyuan Sect won't spare us either. We might as well kill him too."

The fleshy-faced brute said indifferently.

"Big Brother's right. Since we've acted, we can't leave any survivors."

"No survivors means no evidence. So many people die in Tiannan Prefecture every day—who can possibly keep track? If we let this brat leave, our whereabouts will be exposed instead."

"He's only an outer disciple. Kill him, and that's that. In Tiannan Prefecture, the Guiyuan Sect can't cover the sky with one hand."

"Even if the Guiyuan Sect really finds out we did it, so what? At worst, we can join Ten Thousand Sword Villa or the Blood Fiend Devil Sect."

Every one of these men was a desperate outlaw.

Had this been one of the seven prefectures under the Guiyuan Sect's rule, they might have shown some restraint. But this was Tiannan Prefecture, where the Guiyuan Sect's name did not carry quite so much weight.