Steel Tendons and Iron Bones

Once Beast Intent Demon Claw and Blood Soaked Sinking Heart had come into being, a wealth of detailed information about them suddenly surged into the depths of Li Hai's mind.

His understanding of the two skills felt as though he had possessed it for ages, profound and crystal-clear.

First was Blood Soaked Sinking Heart.

In broad terms, the ability's effects were much the same as those of its predecessor, Blood Devouring Burning Heart.

The difference was that Blood Devouring Burning Heart could temporarily boost Li Hai's combat strength by only fifty to seventy percent, at the cost of consuming blood and placing extra strain on his heart.

Blood Soaked Sinking Heart, however, could increase his physique and combat strength by as much as one and a half times after he paid the same price.

That degree of improvement was enough to give Li Hai an absolute advantage when facing someone of the same cultivation level.

Once he had studied the ability, he turned to the real main event—Beast Intent Demon Claw.

A martial art descended from Tiger Claw Blade Fist, it had perfectly inherited its predecessor's exceptionally solid foundations.

Building upon those foundations, it had successfully reached toward a higher level of martial skill.

This was a breakthrough in its foundational training method.

In terms of combat techniques, Beast Intent Demon Claw had already inherited the brutal force-application techniques of its predecessor. On top of that, it had innovatively developed three domineering techniques that could bring out a martial artist's physical power to the fullest.

They were Spinning Claw Force, Shocking Wave Force, and Mountain Shaking Force.

The specific killing power of these three techniques could be set aside for now. What mattered was that beyond its combat and training methods, the most important aspect of Beast Intent Demon Claw was its immense breakthrough in the mysterious realm of the mind and spirit.

Upon reaching the art's pinnacle, practitioners could nurture within their consciousness a frenzied beast intent, pure and profound to the utmost degree, flowing from within to without and linking together all their qi, force, and body.

This was what was known as martial true intent.

A beast hidden in the heart, like a demon, like a fiend.

Empowered by such pure martial intent as Wild Beast Intent, the force behind Li Hai's fists and kicks was no longer ordinary. It had become Formless True Force, completely infused with and unified by his own true intent.

Against this kind of force, ordinary little ghosts, monsters, and spells were nothing but garbage, wiped out at the slightest touch.

In short, true force possessed a certain ability to break through magic.

"Good. Very good."

Li Hai smiled with satisfaction, then willed the two skills to their peak in an instant.

Boom!

It was as though a great surge of celestial essence had descended from the heavens and poured into Li Hai's body. The aura around him abruptly soared.

At the same time, countless wisps of hazy airflow appeared beneath his skin, flesh, and bones. Each was as thick as a thumb, like a little snake, coiling, surging, and darting from head to toe.

These indistinct currents of air were Formless True Force.

"Phew~~"

Li Hai pursed his lips and exhaled deeply. A stream of pure white breath, three feet long, shot from his mouth.

Needless to say, such a shocking feat was impossible without extraordinarily powerful lungs.

A martial artist like Gu Huaijin, at the Force-Body Circulation Realm, would be entirely incapable of it.

Only upon reaching the higher Steel Tendons and Iron Bones Realm could one manage it.

That was right. Having reached the end of Beast Intent Demon Claw in an instant, Li Hai had now attained the fourth realm of this world's Orthodox Martial Arts system: Steel Tendons and Iron Bones.

As the name suggested, martial artists who reached this realm had tempered every muscle, tendon, and bone in their bodies until they were as tough and flexible as forged iron. They were practically impervious to blades, spears, fire, and water. Even when struck by ordinary firearms, they would feel pain but suffer no injury.

Their internal organs were far stronger than those of ordinary people, too. They could digest and expel even ordinary poisons or stones swallowed whole.

Such a powerful physique, achieved only through marrow cleansing, blood replacement, and endless tempering, naturally possessed equally terrifying strength. Its raw physical power was more than ten times that of someone at the Force-Body Circulation Realm.

In other words, every casual movement carried tens of thousands of jin of force.

Now that he had reached the fourth realm of Orthodox Martial Arts, Li Hai's personal interface had naturally changed considerably.

His current interface was as follows—

Master: Li Hai

Rank: Orthodox Martial Arts → Steel Tendons and Iron Bones; Bloodline Divine Ability → Middle Grade; Ghost Path → Fierce Soul

Skills: Five Animals Qigong Beast Intent Demon Claw Blood Soaked Sinking Heart Ghost Body Soul Remains <Evil Spirit Earth Yin Absorption Method (Incomplete)> Evil Sha Yin Descent Resentful Sha Yang Extinguishing

Traits: [Soul Strengthening Lv. 2] [Finger Claw Lv. 2] [Berserk Lv. 2] [Wildness Lv. 2] [Ghost Body Lv. 2] [Ghostly Image Lv. 2] [Twin Sha Lv. 2]

Stronger Fragment: None

"Time to put it through its paces."

Newly empowered, Li Hai was naturally itching to stretch his muscles and test his physique.

The next moment, he dug his feet into the ground, leaving a row of ragged gouges as he shot forward like a divine tiger taking flight. In a flash, he crossed dozens of zhang and landed on a branch of a towering tree outside the courtyard.

He knocked on the broad trunk before him, nearly a zhang thick, and was about to give it a couple of punches when his ears twitched. He thought he heard something.

"Hm?"

He moved slowly into a spot where the branches and leaves were thick. "Sounds like someone's coming. Mm—not just one person, either. And... they're all drenched in the bloody stench of vengeful ghosts."

After mastering Beast Intent Demon Claw, Li Hai had gained more than a body of Steel Tendons and Iron Bones. He also possessed an almost supernatural beast-like sense.

This mysterious sense, which could be represented in data as Wildness Lv. 2, allowed him to faintly perceive whether others were kind, devious, false, or violent, even before he saw or heard them. That let him avoid all manner of unnecessary danger.

Crack~ Crack~

After waiting a little while, Li Hai heard the sound of dead leaves being crushed below.

Following the sound with his gaze, he saw two unfamiliar men, one thin and one fat, slowly passing beneath the tree.

They looked ordinary enough in both dress and appearance, but strangely, both wore black headscarves bearing the same blood-dripping wolf-head emblem.

"Could those two be from the same faction?"

Li Hai watched in silence, continuing to look down.

Judging by their route, the two men were heading straight for Old Dog Guo's courtyard.

As luck would have it, the courtyard gate stood wide open.

They only had to come a little closer to get a clear view of Guo Huaijin, already dead and bound to a stump, the bronze tube thrust into his chest, and the ground before him drenched in blood.

When the two men caught sight of it from afar, their faces changed at once, and they cried out in shock:

"Grand Elder Guo is dead!"

"Second Master's father was actually killed?!"