Inner Strength! Two Thousand Jin of Gigantic Strength!

Before long, Lu Yun reached the mountaintop and searched several buildings, including the Hall of Brotherhood.

Yet he found nothing at all, which left him rather puzzled.

Only one final building remained on the mountaintop, one that looked like a storage shed.

Lu Yun pushed open the door and walked inside.

The space was small, dark, and damp, with a faint smell of mold in the air.

Seven or eight women had their hands and feet tied, huddled weakly in the corner.

When they saw a stranger enter, every one of them looked terrified.

Lu Yun swept his gaze over the women but did not find Chen Qing'er.

Moreover, these women were clearly unfortunate souls from the farming villages below the mountain, captured and brought up here by the bandits.

"Black Wind Stronghold has been wiped out by me. You're free now."

His tone was gentle, and a faint smile appeared on his face.

"Sniff... sniff..."

The women's emotions instantly collapsed, and they began to weep bitterly.

"Thank you, my lord, for saving our lives. Those beasts are finally dead..."

Lu Yun stepped forward and untied their ropes.

Then he asked with a smile, "Does any of you know where the bandits' treasury is?"

If he searched the whole mountain himself, he would likely waste a day or two.

"My lord, I know where it is. I heard them mention it when they were drunk... It's in a cave at the back of the mountain..."

At that moment, a woman in green at the far right spoke timidly.

She was around twenty years old, with bruises still visible at the corners of her eyes.

"Once I find the treasury, each of you can take three taels of silver and head down the mountain."

Lu Yun said this with a smile.

It wasn't that he didn't want to give them more. Three taels were already enough to last them a long time.

Giving them too much would only harm them instead.

"Thank you, my lord."

The women wept tears of joy and fell to their knees.

"Please follow me, my lord. My name is Lin Xue."

After leaving the room, Lin Xue headed straight toward the back of the mountain.

Lu Yun followed closely behind.

Before long, the two arrived before a cave at the back of the mountain.

A huge boulder blocked the cave entrance.

Lu Yun approached the boulder and gave it a fierce shove with both hands, revealing an opening large enough for one person to pass through.

He strode inside, while Lin Xue remained outside.

After passing through a long, narrow passage, Lu Yun arrived in a spacious cavern.

It was filled with all sorts of items, with gold, silver, and medicinal herbs piled up in the corners.

On the shelves in the middle sat a small pile of milky-white stones and several books.

"These are origin stones?"

As he looked at the strange stones, Lu Yun's gaze shifted slightly.

Origin stones were the common currency used for transactions between martial artists.

They were generally divided into low-grade, middle-grade, high-grade, and top-grade origin stones. This small pile contained a little over three hundred, all of them low-grade origin stones.

As for gold and silver, though they could also buy a small number of low-grade origin stones, the price was extremely high.

"Energy response detected. Absorb?"

When Lu Yun picked up an origin stone, a crisp notification suddenly sounded beside his ear.

"Absorb."

With a thought, the origin stone in his hand instantly vanished.

[Lifespan increased by one month]

"One low-grade origin stone increases my lifespan by one month?"

Lu Yun thought to himself.

That ratio wasn't low at all. Absorbing twelve stones would increase his lifespan by a year.

He hesitated no longer and immediately began absorbing the remaining origin stones.

[Lifespan increased by one month.]

[Lifespan increased by one month.]

The lifespan on the panel began to rise rapidly.

Before long, after absorbing every last origin stone, Lu Yun began absorbing the spirit herbs on the shelves as well.

A single low-grade mortal spirit herb could increase his lifespan by half a month.

Soon, every spiritual item in the room vanished, transformed into nourishment for him.

Lu Yun looked at the lifespan displayed on the panel.

Remaining Lifespan: 67 years.

The origin stones and herbs had added over fifty years in total. It was truly a bumper harvest.

"Gold belts come from murder and arson. The ancients truly did not deceive me."

He could not help but sigh.

Honestly gathering spiritual items could never compare to the rewards of killing and plundering.

Of course, the risks involved were immense as well.

If his strength had not utterly crushed theirs, it would have been nearly impossible for martial artists of the same level to breach the mountain stronghold.

Next, Lu Yun walked over to the bookshelf and spread open all the manuals on it.

After just one glance, he recorded them all onto the panel.

There were two cultivation methods and several martial skills, though all of them were merely low-grade.

The two cultivation methods were Savage Bull Force and the Fierce Tiger Boxing Manual.

The martial skills were a more miscellaneous assortment.

Iron Shirt, Wind-Chasing Saber Art, Life-Seizing Chain Sword, Bone-Shrinking Art, Turtle Breath Art, and Spirit Crane Step.

There was no need to say much about the four ordinary martial skills. Lu Yun turned his attention to the two special techniques among them.

Bone-Shrinking Art and Turtle Breath Art were clearly different from the other martial skills; they were auxiliary secret arts.

Once mastered, Bone-Shrinking Art could drastically alter its user's appearance, while Turtle Breath Art could greatly slow one's breathing rate.

Such secret arts often played a crucial role at certain moments.

Since Guangning Prefecture lay along the coast, and Clear Distance City was the city in Guangning Prefecture closest to the sea, its waterways were exceptionally well developed.

The Cang River ran through Clear Distance City before flowing straight into the sea.

Thinking of this, a novel idea suddenly occurred to Lu Yun.

Once this Turtle Breath Art had been deduced to perfection, could it perhaps bring about some miraculous change?

The resources at the bottom of rivers and seas were immensely abundant, yet ordinary martial artists found them extremely difficult to gather.

If the experiment succeeded, it would undoubtedly be tremendous news for him.

But that would have to be verified later. His most urgent task was to raise his cultivation first.

He gathered his thoughts and simultaneously tapped the two cultivation methods.

"Add all points."

Lifespan -1 year. Lifespan -1 year...

His remaining lifespan began to burn away madly.

Lu Yun seemed to enter an ethereal state. Boundless inspiration surged through his mind, causing his understanding of martial arts to soar by a great margin.

Strength: 1100.

Strength: 1300.

As the two cultivation methods improved, his qi and blood immediately surged, and his strength began climbing rapidly, as though it had no limit.

[Savage Bull Force] and [Fierce Tiger Boxing Manual] have reached perfection. Begin fusion deduction with [White Ape Stance]?

At that moment, a crisp notification sounded by Lu Yun's ear.

Note: The fused cultivation method is an intermediate cultivation method. Please rename it.

"Name it Primal Chaos Art."

Recording...

The instant the three cultivation methods fused into Primal Chaos Art, Lu Yun felt as if some barrier within his body had been pierced through.

"Crack..."

With a soft sound, the power within him suddenly surged by a great deal, and his qi and blood began to rush wildly.

Lu Yun glanced over the changes in his realm and strength.

Realm: Mid Inner Strengthening.

Cultivation Method: [Primal Chaos Art] (Mid-Grade Cultivation Method) (Minor Mastery).

Strength: 2,000 jin.

His realm had crossed from the original peak of Qi Nurturing, skipped past early Inner Strengthening, and entered directly into mid Inner Strengthening.

His strength had doubled from one thousand jin, an utterly terrifying surge.

After giving it some thought, Lu Yun found it fairly normal.

After three low-grade cultivation methods at Perfection fused together, reaching Minor Mastery was only reasonable.

Otherwise, if he had to start from the Beginner stage every time, wouldn't he be regressing the more he cultivated?

A mid-grade cultivation method at the Beginner stage might not necessarily defeat a low-grade cultivation method at Perfection.

But Minor Mastery in a mid-grade cultivation method was different; its power could surpass that of a low-grade cultivation method by quite a bit.

This time, raising the two cultivation methods to Perfection before fusing them had consumed a total of thirty years of lifespan.