The Kidney King

For martial artists, a cultivator's protective spiritual power and defensive spells were as solid as a boulder, almost impossible to shake.

To break through them, one needed a vast amount of blood qi at the very least.

In other words, only a martial artist several levels above a cultivator could use "quantity" to crush "quality," relying on absolutely thick and abundant blood qi to possibly break open a cultivator's defenses.

At its core, the quality of blood qi was still far, far inferior to spiritual power.

But these arrows could condense blood qi and pierce a cultivator's protective spells. That gave martial artists the capital to threaten cultivators.

"This arrow is called the Spirit-Breaking Arrow. Junior Brother Lu, if you have time, you should practice archery more. At a crucial moment, it may produce a miraculous effect," Lan Zhu instructed him seriously.

"Senior Brother, Senior Sister, does the sect have any martial inheritance specialized in archery?" Lu Lin pressed.

He thought back carefully. Earlier, in the Ten Thousand Scroll Pavilion, he did not seem to have seen any archery-type martial arts techniques.

"There is no martial art specifically for archery." Lan Zhu shook her head and explained, "The path of archery values the joining of mind, eye, and hand, with accuracy as the key. With Junior Brother's aptitude, you'll certainly master it with a little practice."

"Junior Brother Lu, familiarize yourself with the weapons first. We won't disturb you any longer."

Fang Hong and Lan Zhu cupped their hands and took their leave.

After seeing the two of them off, Lu Lin closed the courtyard gate, then first took out the set of Blood Demon Battle Armor and put it on.

The battle armor fit him surprisingly well. The dark-red armor plates felt faintly cool to the touch. With a slight movement of his thoughts, he circulated his blood qi and unexpectedly found that his own blood qi could slowly seep into the armor.

As his blood qi seeped in, the dark-red flowing light across the surface of the armor seemed to grow faintly stronger.

He took out the dagger he had previously obtained from Goatee Steward and slashed hard across the armor's surface, yet it did not even leave a single white mark.

"As expected, it's extraordinary." Lu Lin nodded inwardly, then took off the battle armor.

He did not store it in the Martial Dao Melting Furnace's inner space. Someone could visit at any time here; if the armor was nowhere to be seen, it would inevitably arouse suspicion.

After that, he also tried out the Blood Demon Blade and the Spirit-Breaking Arrows.

When the long blade swung, it carried a faint sharpness that seemed to tear the wind. The arrows were heavy and cold in his hand, with baleful qi faintly seeping through.

Though they might not compare to true magic tools, for a martial artist, they were already divine weapons one could only dream of.

"To grant such precious treasures as soon as I arrive... Looks like this job as a personal guard definitely won't be easy."

Lu Lin was not dazzled by the sharp weapons before him. His mind remained clear. There was never any such thing as taking what an immortal master bestowed for free. The heavier the reward, the more dangerous the missions he would have to face in the future.

"Only continuing to improve my strength is the proper path."

No longer dwelling on it, he took out a handful of Bone Refining Pills and swallowed them, then activated the Martial Dao Melting Furnace again, pouring cultivation time into the Demonic Ape Blood Qi Art.

Seven years passed like flowing water. More than two hundred and fifty Bone Refining Pills were refined one after another, and the Demonic Ape Blood Qi Art successfully broke through to the ninth layer, increasing his strength by another eight hundred jin.

At this point, Lu Lin's bodily strength had already broken through the great threshold of twenty-three thousand jin.

"I don't have enough Bone Refining Pills again..."

He sighed softly.

At present, he only had around ninety Bone Refining Pills left, far from enough to support his cultivation to the peak of the ninth layer. And if he could not reach the peak of the ninth layer, he would not be able to use the Essence-Solidifying Organ-Protecting Pill to assault the tenth layer of Body Tempering.

"I still have to make a few more trips to Lingyuan Pavilion," he planned inwardly.

In truth, it was not as though Lu Lin had not visited Lingyuan Pavilion during this period, but the previous times, he had purchased large quantities of pills and had already delayed their regular pill deliveries to the Blood Baleful Demon Sect, resulting in Lingyuan Pavilion being sternly reprimanded by the sect's stewards.

Naturally, they did not dare offend a colossal entity like the Demon Sect, so recently they had been working at full strength to prioritize fulfilling the sect's orders. For the time being, they had little spare capacity to supply Lu Lin.

Blood Qi Pills could still be gathered, but Tendon Refining Pills and Bone Refining Pills had long been in short supply; even a single pill was hard to obtain.

In the blink of an eye, two months passed.

These two months, Lu Lin was bored out of his mind.

The key was that, to prevent others from noticing anything abnormal, he still had to pretend to bury himself in martial training every day. Yet his aptitude really was not much to speak of. Whether tempering his tendons, bones, and flesh or cultivating killing moves, his progress was extremely slow.

Let alone compared with the Martial Dao Melting Furnace.

It was easy to go from frugality to luxury, but hard to go from luxury back to frugality.

After tasting the Martial Dao Melting Furnace's rocket-like speed, he truly had no patience for slow, grinding effort.

But he did not have enough cultivation time either, so he could not directly pour it in.

I really miss the days of mining.

Lu Lin was even thinking about whether he should find some excuse and apply to Luo Siqing to return to the Black Iron Vein to mine.

Or being transferred to another vein would also do.

As long as he could dig up Spirit Stones.

Fortunately, at this time, Lingyuan Pavilion finally recovered and had pills to provide Lu Lin.

Without the slightest hesitation, Lu Lin bought four hundred Tendon Refining Pills and four hundred Bone Refining Pills in one go.

The price was that thirty-two Low-grade Spirit Stones left his pouch in an instant, leaving him with only thirty-nine in total.

"Spirit Stones are simply never enough..." he sighed inwardly.

His Spirit Stones were about to hit rock bottom, and he did not have much cultivation time left. What was he supposed to do from now on?

"Pour it into me!"

The two months of silent cultivation time boiled up once more. As great handfuls of Bone Refining Pills entered his stomach, they surged like a flood into the Demonic Ape Blood Qi Art.

The realm of the art rose rapidly once again.

This time, it took twelve years and consumed more than four hundred and thirty Bone Refining Pills before he finally pushed the Demonic Ape Blood Qi Art to the limit of the ninth layer.

Next was sending qi and blood into the internal organs and attacking the tenth layer of Body Refining!

This step was ten times, a hundred times more dangerous than sending qi and blood into the bones.

The internal organs were fragile, far from comparable to bones, while qi and blood were blazing and tyrannical. The slightest carelessness would cause the organs to rupture, killing him on the spot.

Thus, without the protection of an Essence-Solidifying Organ-Protecting Pill, breaking through was absolutely impossible.

Even with spirit pills assisting him, he still had to be cautious upon cautious. It was the work of water grinding stone, and usually required years of bitter effort, advancing slowly and carefully.

However, once it succeeded, the benefits were also tremendous.

Once he broke through to the tenth layer of Body Refining, not only would his strength increase greatly, his lifespan would also grow by a large margin, and his level of life would rise slightly as well.

In addition, his vitality would also be enhanced by quite a bit.

Before the tenth layer, if a martial artist injured his five organs, he would either die or be crippled, and recovery would be extremely difficult. After the tenth layer, however, as long as it was not a fatal heavy injury, he could keep his life, and recover far faster than before.

"Let's begin."

Lu Lin drew in a deep breath, placed three Essence-Solidifying Organ-Protecting Pills into his mouth, and once again drew upon his cultivation time, launching an assault at the final pass.

[Qi and blood are entering the internal organs. Because the internal organs are fragile, you must be careful and cautious, advancing slowly. Qi and blood turn into fine threads, slowly entering within and gradually tempering them.]

A line of prompt text appeared above the Martial Dao Melting Furnace.

In an instant, Lu Lin only felt as if countless insects and ants were crawling, biting, and tearing through his five organs and six bowels. Waves of stabbing pain came, making him suffer to the extreme. He clenched his teeth and endured with all his might.

[First year: qi and blood enter the lungs and liver.]

[Second year: qi and blood enter the spleen and kidneys!]

[Third year: qi and blood enter the heart!]

[Fourth year: qi and blood enter the six bowels. After four years of bitter cultivation and slow tempering, Heaven does not disappoint the determined; your cultivation finally breaks through once again, stepping into the tenth layer of Body Refining. Your five organs and six bowels are tough and powerful, and the Demonic Ape Blood Qi Art reaches perfect completion in Body Refining.]

"I broke through!"

Lu Lin abruptly opened his eyes, his gaze bright and clear, his expression brimming with vitality.

Although his strength had not increased much this time, only by around sixteen hundred jin, he felt that the state of his entire body had never been better.

His whole body was comfortable, his energy vigorous, his heartbeat deep and powerful.

With the slightest inhalation, air poured into his lungs like a stream. With a gentle exhale, a condensed plume of white qi shot from his mouth, flying several meters away.

It was as if he had shed his mortal body and exchanged his bones.

Not only his heart and lungs—all his internal organs had been strengthened.

Lu Lin had a feeling that now, he could piss thirty feet away and break the Guinness World Record...

If he returned to his previous life, he would be the "Kidney King."