Iron Cloth Shirt

How did he lose?

Before continuing the fight, he had to know exactly where his shortcomings lay.

He clicked the [Battle Replay] button, and the recording of the fight he had just finished appeared before him.

In the footage, every swing of his sword was incredibly agile, as if it were second nature, covering the entire area including his opponent.

However, when played back at 0.25x speed, it was clear that while he covered a wide range, most of it was useless; Angry Haki-mi had simply guarded the area within a meter of himself.

During this process, his own blood-energy was constantly being depleted with every attack, until he was finally caught in a moment of vulnerability and his offense was pierced by a single spear thrust.

The moment he switched from offense to defense, his blood-energy was nearly exhausted, while Angry Haki-mi clearly still had plenty, which left him with absolutely no power to fight back in the ensuing struggle.

"So that's how it is." Xu Ziming muttered to himself, a realization dawning on him.

Although he didn't have any major flaws in his swordsmanship, he clearly hadn't learned how to better regulate his use of blood-energy.

The opponent obviously possessed a superior method for controlling blood-energy.

Thinking of this, Xu Ziming opened the battle record, clicked on the opponent's avatar, and scrolled down twice.

Seeing the [Add as Friend] button, he pressed it firmly.

He didn't want to beg for the technique; he simply wanted to spar frequently to improve his practical combat ability.

Soon, Angry Haki-mi accepted Xu Ziming's request and sent a question mark.

"Let's have another match another day, how about it?"

"Sure, anytime."

The exchange between the two was incredibly brief, but with that promise, Xu Ziming was satisfied.

Just as he was about to exit Battle Net, he saw that a "Battle Record" option had appeared under his name.

He tapped it gently.

[Name: Little Ming Who Can't Use a Sword]

[Win Rate: 80%]

[Rank: Black Iron I]

[Comprehensive Combat Power Index: 32]

Xu Ziming looked at Angry Haki-mi again, and on his entry, it clearly read: "Comprehensive Combat Power Index: 45."

The comprehensive combat power index, which hadn't been displayed for him on the leaderboard before, was now visible.

Beside Shen Xingyue, it clearly read: Comprehensive Combat Power Index: 139.

"Truly amazing."

He hadn't expected that someone of his own age would have already reached such a level.

From this, it was clear he wasn't anything special yet; he had to keep practicing!

Xu Ziming took a deep breath and clicked the button to exit Battle Net.

The pride he had felt after obtaining the equipment slot a while ago suddenly vanished; he hadn't become a genius, but rather, with the help of the equipment slot, he had barely managed to squeeze into the threshold of an ordinary person.

To completely cross the threshold of a genius, he still needed persistent and constant training.

After exiting Battle Net, Xu Ziming didn't immediately dive into cultivation, but instead opened a shopping app.

He still had some Blue Star Coin left, and before continuing his cultivation, he wanted to buy some different techniques.

They didn't necessarily have to be graded, formal techniques, as long as the equipment slot recognized them.

Opening the shopping app, he saw it was packed with a dazzling array of martial arts materials.

However, he quickly found the section for the techniques he needed.

As a high school student, his purchasing level only allowed him to buy some unrevised techniques.

What were unrevised techniques?

For example, the current Basic Body Forging Method was a version that had been modified by martial arts masters over the past 70 years so that it could be used by everyone.

Unrevised ones were techniques from the early days of martial arts that required special physiques to practice.

Such as the Shaolin Yijin Jing, the Taiyi Xiantian Skill, and various martial arts circulated in the pugilistic world; these methods were extremely damaging to the body and took a long time to master, so they had long been phased out by the era.

But luckily, he had a cheat; just like how he became a "Natural Sword Bone" upon holding a sword, he would surely gain the same benefits if he obtained these techniques.

The speed at which he practiced these techniques would also be greatly increased. By then, once he mastered a bunch of technique traits, how would those who only practiced the Basic Body Forging Method compete with him?

Thinking of this, he couldn't wait to buy a copy of Iron Cloth Shirt first, because he only had two hundred and some Blue Star Coin left, and only Iron Cloth Shirt was that cheap...

The moment he paid, a flash of light swept across his wristband, and the technique manual appeared before his eyes.

Modern technology was highly advanced; couriers had long been phased out. Merchants only needed to scan the goods with specialized equipment, and they would be teleported instantly.

The moment he saw the Iron Cloth Shirt technique appear before him, Xu Ziming reached out.

Just as he had expected, the moment he made contact with the Iron Cloth Shirt, the familiar electronic voice rang in his ears.

[Item Iron Cloth Shirt detected as equippable]

[Estimated equipment affix: Steel Skin]

[Equipment effect: Doubles the hardness of skin gained through cultivation, increases the cultivation speed of Iron Cloth Shirt by 100%, instantly grants the first layer of Iron Cloth Shirt, "Copper Skin," providing "invulnerability to blades and spears," increases the body's capacity to withstand Blood Qi Potion impact, and digitizes the cultivation progress of Iron Cloth Shirt]

[Permanent solidification condition: Cultivate Iron Cloth Shirt to the Iron Skin realm independently]

[Equipment slot 2/2, full, unable to equip]

As expected, it not only increases cultivation speed but also directly grants the effects of the first layer of Iron Cloth Shirt.

In other words, when this affix is equipped, even if one has never practiced this technique, they can immediately obtain a portion of its abilities.

Not to mention the ability to increase the body's capacity to withstand the impact of Blood Qi Potion; with this effect, perhaps he could practice the Basic Body Forging Method two more times every day.

Thinking of this, Xu Ziming unequipped the "Filter Charge" effect brought by the E-rank Blood Qi Potion.

He switched to equipping Iron Cloth Shirt, and as it was equipped, he felt an itch across his skin, which immediately became remarkably resilient.

Accompanying this was the entire set of cultivation memories for the Copper Skin realm, the Blood Qi circulation routes for Iron Cloth Shirt, the essential movements, and the key techniques for every form... All this information was deeply branded into his mind in an instant, as if he had practiced this technique countless times before.

He hadn't felt this way when equipping Basic Body Forging Method previously; it seemed that was because he had already practiced the Basic Body Forging Method to a high level of proficiency by then, which was why he felt nothing.

According to the cultivation essentials of Iron Cloth Shirt within his memory, the first realm was clearly Copper Skin; once this first realm was achieved, ordinary weapons would be unable to pierce his skin.