Power Aperture Furnace

Deep in the mountains, Fang Gang crashed down like a cannonball, breaking several massive trees before barely coming to a stop.

He dropped to one knee and coughed up another mouthful of clotted blood mixed with chunks of organs. Piercing pain shot through both arms; his bones had clearly cracked.

"Damn it... old bones..." he panted. Sweat had barely seeped from his bald head before the steaming qi and blood vaporized it.

On his left shoulder, a bizarre mark formed from ghastly white bone patterns radiated bone-chilling cold, like rot clinging to the bone—the mark of Elder Withered Bone!

Yet at this moment, Fang Gang's eyes held no despair. Instead, they burned with a nearly fanatical golden-red light!

At the instant his desperate strike had shattered the bone claw, it felt as though some solid barrier within him had been completely broken through!

Buzz—!

A brand-new torrent of power, more than ten times more vast than the late Marrow Cleansing Realm, erupted within him like a sleeping volcano!

This power no longer merely coursed through his muscles, bones, flesh, and blood. Instead, it gathered in a tiny "space" deep within his right arm, one that had just been opened and shone with chaotic light!

Aperture Condensing Realm! Opening the body's divine treasury!

Fang Gang sank his consciousness into his right arm. Within that tiny space, a blurred miniature furnace phantom woven from dark gold and golden-red light slowly rotated!

At the base of the furnace, the phantoms of a dragon and an elephant seemed to be suppressed within, letting out low roars!

With every rotation, an incomparably pure force of destruction flowed back out, nourishing and strengthening his right arm and even his entire body!

Power Aperture! Dragon Elephant Furnace!

"It worked!" Feeling the terrifying power flowing from the furnace phantom in his right arm's Power Aperture, power that seemed capable of shaking mountains, as well as the itchy numbness of his wounds rapidly healing under surging vitality, Fang Gang could not help but roar!

Dragon and elephant power surged and roared through his muscles and bones!

"Just wait..." He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, malice churning in his eyes. "I'll light the 'furnace' you gave me first!"

He no longer suppressed the cold, decaying energy radiating from the Withered Bone mark on his left shoulder!

Instead, he tried to guide the newborn, incomparably hard and yang Nine Yang Qi and Blood within him into the furnace phantom in his right arm's Power Aperture like fuel!

The furnace phantom trembled slightly, and its rotation suddenly accelerated! A faint suction force seemed to emerge from its mouth!

Sizzle—!

The Withered Bone mark on his left shoulder seemed to have been scorched by a red-hot branding iron. It abruptly erupted with an even fiercer ghastly white glow as it tried to resist!

That cold, decaying energy was like venomous snakes, madly corroding Fang Gang's flesh!

"Refine it for me...!" Fang Gang gritted his teeth and growled. Guided by the lingering effects of his hundredfold mental enhancement, his Nine Yang Qi and Blood transformed into a scorching torrent and slammed into the Power Aperture Furnace!

The furnace phantom abruptly swelled!

Golden-red true fire instantly rose within the furnace!

The strands of Withered Bone decay energy forcibly sucked inside were like ice cast into a smelter, producing piercing sizzling sounds as they burned beneath the supreme yang true fire!

Streams of strange energy, incomparably pure yet carrying a cold attribute, were forcibly refined and merged into the furnace phantom!

The furnace phantom visibly solidified by a fraction!

The power it fed back also became purer and heavier!

Fang Gang even felt as though his understanding of the law of decay had gained a faint, blurred sense of awareness!

Warning! Forcibly refining high-level law energy! Risk extremely high!

Power Aperture Furnace ignited! Refinement efficiency: 1%!

Constitution slightly increased! Resistance to the law of decay slightly increased!

Dragon Elephant Furnace phantom solidity increased!

System notifications flashed.

It worked! Though slow and painful, the energy contained within this Withered Bone mark could truly become "firewood" to ignite the furnace and temper his body!

"Roar—!!!"

Just as Fang Gang was attempting to refine the mark at this critical moment, a bloodthirsty, violent roar rang out from deep within the forest!

A crimson figure came charging over like an out-of-control locomotive, smashing through countless trees and carrying a nauseatingly thick stench of blood!

The newcomer was nearly three meters tall, with an extremely burly body. His bare upper torso was covered in knotted muscles and twisted scars, while his skin bore an unhealthy dark-red hue.

He dragged a terrifying serrated greatblade the size of a door panel, forged from countless bones and rusted metal!

Bits of flesh hung from its teeth, dripping thick black blood.

It was Blood Butcher Priest, the SS-Class member of the Nightmare Holy Cult's Twelve Priests known for his berserk bloodlust!

"Baldy! Found you!"

Blood Butcher's eyes were crimson like those of a crazed beast. He fixed his gaze on the Withered Bone mark on Fang Gang's left shoulder and let out a deafening roar. "The Elder wants your life! Your blood... belongs to me!"

He did not waste a single word. His massive body lunged forth with an aura that could crush everything. The Blood River Saw Blade dragged across the ground, plowing a deep trench as it swept toward Fang Gang's waist with a terrifying shriek that tore through the air!

The serrated teeth spun at high speed, buzzing harshly as if they could grind space itself to pieces!

Pure violence! SS-Class physical strength combined with that vicious weapon produced an appalling might!

"Get lost!"

A fierce light flashed through Fang Gang's eyes as the power of his freshly broken-through Aperture Condensing Realm erupted!

Rather than dodging, he clenched his right fist, whose furnace had just been ignited!

The miniature Dragon Elephant Furnace phantom within his Power Aperture spun madly!

Pure brute force mixed with the newly born dark-gold qi and blood created by the ignited furnace, carrying a trace of destructive properties, all poured into his right fist!

No longer merely a phantom, a tangible layer of dark-gold keratin condensed over his fist! Like a dragon claw covering it!

"World Shaking Dragon Fist—Mountain Shatter!"

He drove out a punch! There were no flourishes, only the purest violence capable of crushing everything!

Boom—!!!

The dark-gold fist collided head-on with the rapidly spinning serrated Blood River Saw Blade!

Clang—crack crack crack!!!

An indescribable metallic explosion rang out alongside harsh shattering sounds!

That seemingly indestructible serrated greatblade, which had shredded countless powerful foes, shattered inch by inch like fragile glass the instant it touched the dark-gold fist!

Countless shattered teeth and rusted metal fragments shot backward like a torrential downpour!

The violent fist force did not diminish, smashing viciously into Blood Butcher Priest's muscular chest!

Splat—!!!

Like a heavy hammer smashing a watermelon!

Blood Butcher Priest's proud SS-Class powerful body was as fragile as paper before the fist force containing the power of the Dragon Elephant Furnace!

His chest instantly caved in and exploded!

A massive bloody hole piercing straight through his body abruptly appeared!

Shattered bones and fragments of organs mixed with black blood sprayed more than ten meters behind him!

The fury on Blood Butcher Priest's face instantly froze, turning into boundless horror and disbelief!

His huge body stiffened in place. He lowered his head to look at the gaping hole in his chest, then looked at Fang Gang's utterly unharmed fist, still covered in dark-gold keratin.

"You... how..." he rasped out a few words. Then the light in his eyes completely faded. Like every bone in his body had been removed, he crashed to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust!

One punch! An SS-Class body-enhancement Priest killed instantly!

Fang Gang slowly withdrew his fist, and the dark-gold keratin covering it gradually faded away.

Without even looking at Blood Butcher's corpse, his gaze returned to the Withered Bone mark on his left shoulder, which flashed violently as if roaring in fury.

"The old bones' firewood... still has some kick." Feeling the Power Aperture Furnace rotate more actively after absorbing that strand of Withered Bone energy, a cold curve formed at the corner of his mouth.

He did not linger. His figure transformed into a blurred golden-red afterimage and instantly vanished into the depths of the dense forest.

All that remained was devastation across the ground and Blood Butcher's corpse, his eyes still wide in death.

Not long after he left, the skeletal figure within the dark-red clouds seemed to sense something. Its two ghostly green flames flickered violently, while the skull atop the Myriad Bone Wailing Staff released a silent shriek filled with utmost venom.

Host: Fang Gang

Realm: Aperture Condensing Realm (Early Stage)! (Power Aperture opened! Furnace ignited!)

Strength: 6,000,000↑↑! (Blood Butcher crushed with one punch!)

Constitution: 600,000↑! (Furnace body tempering!)

Agility: 350,000↑! (Afterimage evasion!)

Mental: 10,000! (Mind mirror stabilized!)

Cultivation Techniques:

Eightfold Dragon Elephant Art (Beginner): Power Aperture Furnace! Dragon Elephant Manifestation! (Furnace ignition 1%)

True Vajra Indestructible Body (Perfected): Golden body self-healing!

True Nine Yang Divine Skill (Perfected): Furnace core!

Void Contemplation Method (Beginner): Mind mirror turns void! Perceive the slightest detail!

Martial Skills:

World Shaking Dragon Fist (Grade A · Peak Mastery)! (Fist clad in dragon armor! Shatter the void!)

Great Sun Incinerating Demon Palm (Grade A): Major Mastery! True flame contained within!

Divine Treasury Apertures:

Power Aperture (Ignited): Dragon Elephant Furnace phantom (Solidity 1%)! Power core!

Available Evolution Points: 0!