Blood Reorganization!

[Current entry: Smooth Breath (White)]

[Status: Rapidly calming the shock to internal organs and firmly holding a single breath of Qi Mechanism.]

Rather than retreat, Jiang Yue took a sudden half step forward and met Shen Qing's steel-whip kick with his left ribs, which had yet to be tempered!

**Bang!!!**

A sickening, muffled impact rang out.

Jiang Yue was sent flying again. He slammed into a steel pillar several meters away with a dull thud, then slid to the ground.

Pain.

Agonizing pain that tore through him.

Jiang Yue felt as if his left ribs were about to split and his organs had shifted out of place.

At the same time, the panel on his retina flickered frantically.

"Cough, cough..."

Jiang Yue coughed violently and spat out a large mouthful of dark blood.

Under Smooth Breath's regulation, his breathing, on the verge of collapse, was forced back into a steady rhythm.

Meanwhile, the Food Digestion entry in his stomach was working beyond its limits.

His stomach acid wrung the last trace of energy from the two tubes of cold Nutrient Paste he had swallowed that morning. It became a steady flow of warmth, repairing the tiny muscle fibers Shen Qing had torn apart.

Jiang Yue stood up again.

His left leg trembled slightly, and his left ribs were badly swollen. Still, he raised his guard.

"Other side," Jiang Yue said, staring at Shen Qing.

The Skin Membrane on his left side had absorbed all the force it could. More blows there would damage him at his core. He needed Shen Qing to temper his right side.

Shen Qing froze.

For the first time, disbelief appeared in his eyes, usually as cold as a lone wolf's.

"Aren't you afraid of dying?"

Shen Qing's voice dropped. He could sense that Jiang Yue's Blood Energy remained feeble, with no sign of a surge. Only a near-mad will kept him on his feet.

"Come on." Jiang Yue offered no further answer.

"Then I'll oblige!"

The fervor in Shen Qing's eyes blazed.

He no longer saw Jiang Yue as an insect he could crush at will, but as an opponent worth striking down with all his strength.

Blood Energy surged around Shen Qing, and his fists rained down like a storm.

**"Stele-Splitting Hand!"**

**"Rock-Crushing Charge!"**

**"Eight City-Destroying Strikes!"**

Military killing techniques, mixed with the martial principles passed down through Shen Qing's family, hammered Jiang Yue without mercy.

**Bang! Bang! Bang!**

One corner of the square became the scene of a chilling, one-sided slaughter.

Under Shen Qing's relentless assault, Jiang Yue's defensive stance was like a rag caught in a gale.

Again and again, he was knocked flying and smashed into the ground.

And again and again, he staggered back to his feet, his face covered in blood.

In the distance, Li Tai stared in shock.

He was not alone. The recruits who had been sparring nearby gradually stopped and watched the slight figure rise again and again at the center of the storm, as if he were a monster.

"Is he... insane?" A young man who had made progress in cultivating his Blood Energy swallowed, a chill running down his spine. If he had taken that combination from Shen Qing, he knew he would already have crushed his Distress Beacon and waited to die.

Atop the raised platform.

The one-eyed instructor fixed his remaining eye on Jiang Yue.

The instructor's brows drew tight. As far as he could see, Jiang Yue still showed no aptitude in his movements. He was taking blows in that same rigid, lifeless way.

But the instructor noticed something.

*Is this kid... using the blows to temper his skin?!* The one-eyed instructor was shaken.

Using external force to temper the skin was an advanced method of the Basic Body Forging Technique.

But it required extraordinary coordination between the striker and the recipient. The striker had to control his force precisely, while the recipient had to know how to guide his Blood Energy.

And Shen Qing was attacking with everything he had, aiming to kill!

Jiang Yue had no instinct for guiding Blood Energy. He was using the clumsiest possible method: taking the blows with his body.

He was like a piece of unblemished raw iron. Shen Qing's hammer could pound him out of shape, but he stubbornly guarded the last undying spark within.

*He's taking Shen Qing's Hidden Power through sheer physical endurance and will...* The instructor drew a deep breath, admiration rising in his eyes.

*He's got grit!*

In the square.

Fine beads of sweat had appeared on Shen Qing's forehead.

The heavy drain on his Blood Energy had made his breathing rough. Though he was the one dealing the blows, even he felt a trace of fatigue.

Jiang Yue, by contrast...

Blood and sweat had soaked his Training Uniform, plastering it to his body. His face was mottled with bruises, yet his eyes shone like cold stars in the night.

Far from fading, they grew brighter!

Because Jiang Yue could clearly feel that, under Shen Qing's countless heavy blows, the Skin Membrane across his entire body had completely torn under the terrifying external pressure.

Cells that had once lain dormant were forced apart by the pain, then rebuilt with the essence supplied by Food Digestion.

His muscles were no longer soft and weak. Through repeated tearing and healing, they had developed a fine, resilient Keratin Membrane.

With every blow he took, less of the shock traveled through his Skin Membrane to his organs.