Three Thousand Jin of Immense Strength! Blood Qi Furnace!

Lu Yun walked to a secluded corner.

With a thought, he tapped the plus sign after [Primal Chaos Art].

"Buzz..."

It was as though a mysterious ripple descended into his mind, and in an instant, countless profound martial truths flooded in.

[Lifespan -1, Lifespan -1...]

The lifespan on the panel began to burn away rapidly, while his own vital energy and blood surged upward at breakneck speed.

Lu Yun's blood energy boiled within him, like a raging, surging river roaring through his meridians.

Strength: 2100.

Strength: 2200.

His strength soared along with it.

In the blink of an eye, he completed this transformation.

[Primal Chaos Art] had successfully risen from minor mastery to the perfected realm.

His strength had also reached a terrifying 3,000 jin.

"Is this the completion of Internal Fortification?"

Feeling the abundant blood energy filling his body, Lu Yun clenched his fists, his heart greatly stirred.

With a single punch, he could probably easily kill a fierce tiger.

He was gradually beginning to transform toward becoming "inhuman," and the increase in his strength was growing ever more terrifying.

At that moment, Lu Yun somewhat understood a saying he had read in a book: the path of martial arts was a transformation from man to god.

He looked at his remaining lifespan. He still had 58 years left.

But that would probably still be far from enough to deduce and step into Bone Forging, and there was no need to save it.

It was also the perfect time to raise all of his martial arts together.

After all, true strength was strength in every aspect.

He no longer hesitated and immediately tapped several martial arts skills at once.

"Buzz..."

A new round of enhancement began once more.

[Windbreaking Spear], [Shadow Following], and [Iron Shirt]—all three martial arts advanced at the same time.

Lu Yun only felt as though a torrent of knowledge had crammed itself into his mind.

Within a mysterious space, a figure rapidly practiced the three martial techniques, its proficiency skyrocketing.

[Windbreaking Spear] (Perfected), [Shadow Following] (Perfected).

"[Iron Shirt] has been deduced into a mid-grade martial technique. Please rename it."

"Copper Skin Iron Bones."

Lu Yun directly named it [Copper Skin Iron Bones].

[Copper Skin Iron Bones] (Minor Mastery).

[Copper Skin Iron Bones] (Major Mastery).

[Copper Skin Iron Bones] (Perfected).

As his lifespan burned away madly, this external training technique instantly reached perfection.

Remaining lifespan: 8 years.

"Powerful—powerful in every aspect. This was the state he had always pursued."

At that moment, Lu Yun suddenly felt that there was no equal to him among all Internal Fortification martial artists under heaven.

He had clearly reached the end of this realm.

From blood energy, to defense, to speed, everything had reached perfection. He was a true all-rounder, without a single weakness.

Lu Yun gently stirred his blood energy.

"Boom..."

An illusory furnace instantly appeared around him, firmly enveloping his entire body.

"A Blood Energy Furnace?"

Could this be the limit that Nourishing Qi and Internal Fortification could attain in martial arts?

Even a peerless genius piled high with countless resources could only reach this point in this realm.

Lu Yun lowered his head and looked at his own body.

Bronze light covered the skin across his entire body, deeper and richer than before.

He raised the spear tip and thrust hard at his arm.

"Scrape..."

A harsh sound rang out. He felt no pain at all, and not even the faintest scratch was left behind.

"Terrifying. Such terrifying defensive power."

Even if he stood still, ordinary Internal Strengthening martial artists would be unable to break through his defenses.

It also had an immensely weakening effect on the attacks of Bone-Forging martial artists.

Did this count as a weaker version of an indestructible diamond body?

Next, Lu Yun tested the changes in his speed.

With a light push of his feet, his entire body vanished into the darkness.

"Whoosh, whoosh..."

Afterimages rapidly shifted through the night, each foothold utterly silent, as though he were a ghost.

"From minor accomplishment to perfection, my speed has roughly doubled."

Lu Yun came to a stop.

The countless afterimages around him returned to his true body one after another.

This was a visual effect caused by his extreme speed.

Even few Bone-Forging martial artists possessed such speed.

Only Bone-Forging martial artists at perfection who specialized in speed might have a slight chance of achieving it.

Generally speaking, bringing a mid-grade skill to perfection was also extremely difficult.

Those with mediocre talent might never attain it in their lives, forever lingering at the minor accomplishment stage.

Even martial artists with decent talent would need ten or so years of bitter training.

But who would spend ten years cultivating a martial skill? Did one not need to temper one's qi and blood and strength as well?

Thus, a hexagon warrior could only exist in theory.

He opened the panel.

Host: Lu Yun.

Age: 21.

Remaining Lifespan: 8 years.

Realm: Internal Strengthening Perfection.

Cultivation Method: [Primal Chaos Art] (Perfection).

Martial Skills: [Windbreaking Spear] (Perfection), Shadow Following (Perfection), [Copper Skin Iron Bones] (Perfection), [Bone-Shrinking Art] (Major Accomplishment), [Turtle Breath Art] (Major Accomplishment).

Strength: 3,000 jin.

Status: Good.

This surge in strength was immense.

"In the centurion selection over twenty days from now, I wonder if there'll be a few opponents with enough weight to them?"

Lu Yun thought to himself.

The next morning.

Canal Gang, Combat Hall.

Zhou Haichen sat in his chair with a vicious expression, killing intent laid bare in his eyes.

"You're saying you found the culprit behind the sneak attack? It was Cao Dahai of the Black Tiger Gang?"

Below him, a gang member dressed in black trembled as he spoke. "We found bloodstained night clothes in the other party's courtyard. According to our intelligence, this man wasn't home that night, so there's a strong possibility he was involved..."

"Could someone else have framed him?"

Zhou Haichen's gaze sharpened.

Night clothes appearing in one's own courtyard did seem somewhat illogical.

"This... that possibility can't be ruled out. But it's also possible that Cao Dahai was playing tricks..."

"After committing the crime, he didn't have time to clean up afterward..."

"We investigated that night. He didn't return until the latter half of the night. His actions were extremely suspicious..."

The black-clad gang member analyzed the matter cautiously.

He was terrified of angering his hall master, that baleful fiend.

"Enough. I'll handle this matter."

Zhou Haichen gave a cold laugh and waved his subordinates away.

"Hmph... those Black Tiger Gang scum..."

Black Tiger Gang, Main Hall.

Six hall masters sat in the seats of honor, while a tall, thin middle-aged man stood below them.

The atmosphere was somewhat grim.

"Cao Dahai, how many spirit treasures did you steal from the Canal Gang?"

At the far left of the seats of honor, a burly man wore an intrigued expression.

"I've been wronged! I really didn't do it—I swear to heaven."

Cao Dahai's heart was filled with hatred, and his face was utterly miserable.

If he caught the thief who had framed him, he would definitely strip his tendons and skin him alive.

"Then where did you go during the first half of the night?"

None of the six hall masters believed him.

He had vanished for half a day without explanation. It clearly made no sense.

Cao Dahai's expression stiffened.

In his heart, he cursed that thief countless more times.

During the first half of last night, he had gone to the deputy gang leader's concubine's room to study martial arts theory.

But could he possibly say that?

If the deputy gang leader returned and found out, wouldn't he skin Cao Dahai alive?

"It's all that slut's fault. Now I've got yellow mud smeared in my pants—whether it's shit or not, it's become shit."

"Enough. If you won't talk, then face the Canal Gang's retaliation yourself. We won't interfere."

Several hall masters looked displeased.

Without any profit to be had, who would care whether Cao Dahai lived or died?

And he was still being so stubborn—did he really think they were pushovers?

Soon afterward, Cao Dahai left the main hall with a bitter expression.

Just as he returned to the mouth of an alley before his own small courtyard, a cold gleam suddenly shot straight toward him.

"Not good."

Cao Dahai's eyes split wide with fury as he hurriedly dodged.

Unfortunately, he was still one step too slow.

"Ah..."

A miserable scream burst from Cao Dahai's mouth as half his body was severed.

Endless agony instantly swallowed him whole.

"Heavens! What exactly did I, Cao Dahai, do wrong?"

With boundless resentment toward a certain thief, his consciousness gradually sank into eternal darkness.

"Done."

At the mouth of the alley, a black-clad, masked man wiped his blade, his expression calm.