Iron Shirt, Black Python Wyrm

Iron Shirt.

A body-tempering martial art focused on physical strength. It was considered an exceptionally fine technique, and it was said to have six full layers.

Once mastered, it could lead straight to the peak of the Furnace Realm!

Chu He did not know why the group of blacksmiths at the Armor Forging Hall had chosen a body-tempering technique like Iron Shirt as the hall's inherited martial art.

But that was not what Chu He needed to consider right now.

What he needed to think about was how to get his hands on this technique. As long as he obtained it, the gap in his defenses would basically be filled.

By then, the Golden Bell Shield formed from his qi and blood would serve as the first layer of defense, while his body-tempered flesh would become the second.

At the thought, Chu He could not help smiling.

In the future, when an enemy had exhausted every effort and spent vast amounts of qi and blood to finally grind away his Golden Bell Shield, believing victory was within reach, only to discover that their blade struck his skin and sent sparks flying with a clang—

Their expression would surely be quite a sight.

With that in mind, Chu He made his decision at once and joined the selection!

No matter what, he had to learn Iron Shirt!

As Chu He pondered how to sign up, his ears twitched. He heard bursts of hurried footsteps coming from outside the inn's entrance.

The first person to appear in the doorway was a young man in his twenties. He had neat short hair, thick brows and sharp eyes, a tough face, and chest muscles piled like rocks, stretching his thin black martial outfit taut.

Before the burly youth even entered, he threw back his throat and shouted crudely, "Waiter, have our rooms been cleaned? If I see even a speck of dust again—"

Smack!

Before he could finish, a folded fan knocked him on the head.

Then, a gentle voice slowly drifted in from outside.

"Mo Qi, speak properly. Do not frighten them."

A handsome and refined young gentleman in white stepped through the door, rolling the folded fan in his hand as he mildly rebuked him.

"Yes, Young Master."

Mo Qi immediately lost his temper and lowered his head in reply.

"Enough, it is nothing. What is there to scold him for?"

A sweet, innocent female voice rang out. A girl with a fit figure, dressed in a blue skirt and carrying a longsword, appeared at the entrance. Her bearing was elegant and tranquil.

"Xiao Die, you cannot keep indulging them."

The man in white gave a bitter laugh and led the girl into the inn.

Behind the two of them, several men in martial outfits filed in. Their gazes were sharp as blades as they swept over the room. Everyone they looked at instinctively lowered their eyes, not daring to meet their stares. Only Chu He remained calm, leisurely sipping tea and occasionally glancing at them.

This aura...

The moment this group entered the inn, Chu He noticed that none of them had weak qi and blood cultivation. Every one of them was at least in the Blood Condensation Realm.

Most importantly, he could not see through Mo Qi.

Anyone who could use Blood Condensation Realm martial artists as guards was likely the young master or young lady of some family. Yet they had stopped at Black River Town for food and lodging, so this group was probably not local to Black River Town.

"Honored guests, this way, please, this way." The fat shopkeeper immediately abandoned Chu He and turned to welcome the more distinguished guests.

Once the entire group had entered the inn, the fat shopkeeper ushered the young man and woman to a spacious table. Several burly men in black stood guard beside them with their arms folded, as though they had formed an iron wall of human bodies.

Looking at the row of men surrounding them, Xiao Die raised a hand to her forehead and said helplessly, "Mo Qi, tell them to relax. This is not the wilderness. There will not be some strange thing launching a sudden attack here. Everyone, loosen up."

"Yes, Miss."

Mo Qi nodded, dismissed several guards, and sat at another table.

At that moment, one of the burly guards beside him hesitated slightly. In the end, he still leaned close to Mo Qi's ear and said without shifting his gaze, "Commander, that man at the second row by the window has a very strange aura. He seems to be at the peak of the Blood Condensation Realm, yet he does not quite seem to be..."

"Heh, I noticed him long ago."

Mo Qi inconspicuously glanced at Chu He, who was calmly eating and drinking, and said quietly, "I think he is most likely also a Furnace Realm martial cultivator. But in such a poor backwater, both resources and techniques are abysmal. Even if he broke through to the Furnace Realm, he is probably far weaker than those in a normal realm."

"What should we do, then?" the guard asked solemnly.

"There is no need to pay him much attention. A person like that is no cause for concern."

After speaking, Mo Qi calmly lowered his head and drank his tea.

"Mo Qi, come over here."

The man in white suddenly ordered.

Mo Qi immediately walked to his side and bent down to listen.

"Later, go to the Martial Tower and post a bounty. Ask around about the whereabouts of the Black Python Wyrm. If there is any news, return and report to me immediately."

The man in white spoke calmly, without deliberately lowering his voice.

"Yes, Young Master."

Mo Qi readily agreed and prepared to send someone over.

Far away at the other side, Chu He, who was casually eating and drinking, naturally heard every word the man in white had said without missing a single one.

As for the Martial Tower he mentioned, it was one of the three great powers of Black River City. The other two were the undisputed number one, the Military Hall, and the Armor Forging Hall, which controlled the economic lifeline of Black River Town.

Compared with the uniqueness and strength of the other two powers, the Martial Tower was far looser, with internal relationships tangled as knotted roots.

The Martial Tower had actually been founded by the unaffiliated independent cultivators in town. Anyone who practiced martial arts could join. Because its members were a mixed bag, with all sorts of people among them, years of development had turned the Martial Tower into the main place for posting bounties and taking on missions.

Whether one belonged to the Martial Tower or not, anyone could post a bounty or accept a mission there, eventually receiving the corresponding results and rewards.

Even things that the Military Hall and Armor Forging Hall found inconvenient to handle were sometimes posted in the Martial Tower as bounties or commissions.

That was precisely why the relationships among the three powers had grown increasingly close.

Below these three great powers were forces like Liu Yiyang's—small local tyrants who gathered a group of people and caused minor trouble.

"Black Python Wyrm..."

Chu He took a mouthful of strong liquor, and his throat burned faintly.

He murmured the name under his breath.

This thing was likely the purpose of this group's journey. Yet for some reason, the moment that name arose in his mind, Chu He linked it with the colossal creature he had seen amidst the clouds that night.

Could the beast they sought be that giant monster?

But was this group enough to fill the gaps between its teeth?

Without realizing it, Chu He found that he had encountered quite a few outsiders lately. Yao Yuzhi was one, and this group was another.

In the past, Black River Town had almost never seen outsiders. Those who came were all from nearby towns and villages, or people from the faraway Jianye City.

"Brother, do you know of the Black Python Wyrm, this blood beast?"

Hearing the voice, Chu He raised his head.

At some point, Mo Qi had already reached the inn's entrance. Perhaps he had heard Chu He's murmur and turned back to Chu He's table.

Facing the other man's questioning gaze, Chu He replied calmly.

"Black Python Wyrm? Of course I know it."