Great Demon

"Qi and blood—two more strands of quasi-martial artist qi and blood."

Su Bo examined himself internally. His quasi-martial artist qi and blood surged like the tides, thoroughly stabilizing his realm and becoming noticeably more condensed.

Most notably, beyond his existing qi and blood, two additional strands of quasi-martial artist qi and blood had appeared.

The nourishing essence from the martial meal he had eaten for dinner had been squeezed dry, condensing into two strands of qi and blood. Even so, this was not Su Bo's limit.

According to Teacher Wu, the Fleshly Body Realm had three passes: skin and flesh, sinews and bones, and organs and marrow. Each pass required three refinements of the body.

The first refinement was especially important. Ideally, one had to push their qi and blood to its limit, until their essence overflowed and not even a single additional strand of qi and blood could be refined.

Then, naturally and without effort, one could guide qi and blood to refine the skin and flesh, breaking through the first pass of the Fleshly Body Realm.

Breaking through the first realm of martial arts—the Fleshly Body Realm.

Refining two strands of qi and blood in a single night, Su Bo nodded in satisfaction. He withdrew from his stance and, almost instinctively, looked at the proficiency panel.

Just now, he had felt as though divine aid was guiding his cultivation. The mysteries of the [Baxia Coiling Dragon Stance] had continuously flooded into his mind.

It was practically cheating...

Martial Art: [Baxia Coiling Dragon Stance (Minor Accomplishment 1328/4000) Practice ten times daily, and Great Accomplishment can be attained in ten years]

"Minor Accomplishment?" Su Bo glanced at the panel. Minor Accomplishment was within his expectations.

Then a look of disdain crossed his face.

What kind of trash cheat was this, with its "practice ten times daily, and Minor Accomplishment can be attained in five years..."

Just one night had passed, and he had already pushed the Baxia Coiling Dragon Stance to the realm of Minor Accomplishment. Even Great Accomplishment would take, he figured, no more than half a month.

The Baxia Coiling Dragon Stance would definitely reach Great Accomplishment.

Su Bo had absolute confidence in his extraordinary comprehension.

It was precisely because of this martial arts comprehension and talent that surpassed ordinary people that he had managed to break through to the quasi-martial artist realm in just one year, relying solely on Third High School's basic martial meals.

Looks like my martial arts talent is far more powerful than this damned proficiency cheat.

Su Bo secretly basked in self-satisfaction...

He would never believe that the stance art's Minor Accomplishment had come from the proficiency panel. One look was enough to tell that his cheat was meant for the "useless underdog" protagonist who cultivated diligently and believed that hard work would never be wasted.

It required endless repetition and painstaking practice, accumulating results bit by bit in order to advance one's realm.

But Su Bo's martial arts comprehension was nothing short of heaven-defying. Any martial art that passed through his hands would yield a hundred realizations from a single insight, allowing him to swiftly grasp its mysteries.

One had to know that, throughout the years, among the Third High School students who had cultivated the Eight Mountain-Shaking Fists to become quasi-martial artists,

most had only reached the Proficient realm. Those who reached Minor Accomplishment were rare, let alone Great Accomplishment.

But he, Su Bo...

had entered the quasi-martial artist realm with the Eight Mountain-Shaking Fists at Perfection, all thanks to his peerless talent!

Still, this cheat was not bad. Perhaps in the distant future, when he was someday stuck at a realm bottleneck, it might come in handy.

In any case, Su Bo did not mind having it.

Cultivation over, he washed up and went to sleep...

The next day...

"Xiao Bo, eat more. Scarlet-Sky Chicken eggs help martial artists nourish their qi and blood..." His mother brought over a plate of shelled eggs, red as flames.

Without another word, she stuffed two eggs into Su Bo's hand and two into his bowl.

"Your father got these from the breeding farm where his old classmate, your Uncle Liu, works."

Scarlet-Sky Chickens...

Spiritually endowed poultry unique to Red River Star. Their meat helped martial apprentices nourish qi and blood, while their eggs could serve as the most basic martial meal.

One Scarlet-Sky Chicken egg was roughly equivalent to half a serving of martial meal from the Third High School cafeteria.

However, Scarlet-Sky Chickens were difficult to raise and laid few eggs. It seemed that only one breeding farm in all of Crimson Glow City had spent an enormous price to raise several hundred of them.

Its chickens and eggs were in such short supply throughout Crimson Glow City that demand always outstripped supply.

Su Zhiqing, who was eating breakfast nearby, nodded slightly in strong agreement with his wife. Then, calm as ever, he took two eggs and put them into the bowls of the two little brats, Su Feng and Su Tong.

The two little ones had long been craving them and immediately began wolfing them down.

"Old Dad, awesome~" Su Bo said with a grin, raising a thumbs-up.

"But these eggs should be saved for Xiao Feng and Tongtong to build their foundations. I'm already a quasi-martial artist, so martial meals meant for martial apprentices don't do much for me."

Su Bo ate one egg. The wisps of essence that had just spread from his stomach were refined completely by his qi and blood in an instant.

These were Scarlet-Sky Chicken eggs capable of nourishing a martial apprentice's qi and blood.

They no longer had any effect on him... at most, they made him feel a little full.

He gave the extra eggs to the two little ones, grabbed his backpack, bade his parents farewell, and shot toward Third High School in a blur.

He was already a little slack today.

At this hour normally, he would already be at school, practicing his stance and fists.

But he had cultivated until late last night and refined two strands of qi and blood. He would treat today as two hours of relaxation—a balance between work and rest.

"Ring..."

He dashed into the school with the bell, but before he could reach the martial arts grounds, Wu Bin dragged him away.

Wu Bin led Su Bo toward the back mountain...

Watching the route grow increasingly familiar, Su Bo's heart began pounding wildly. "Old Wu, are we going to the Savage Beast Park?"

"Oh, pretty smart, aren't you~" Wu Bin turned back and raised his brows at him.

"Don't worry. You're not qualified to challenge savage beasts yet. At most, you'll just look around outside."

"Just look?" Su Bo's face was written all over with disbelief.

"Of course, it won't be just looking..."

"Roar roar~~"

Before Wu Bin, who was walking ahead, could finish speaking, the two had just passed through a crimson qi-and-blood barrier when an earthshaking roar, savage and violent to the extreme, rang out.

The violent Sha Qi of savage beasts and the stench of blood rushed straight at them.

Even though Su Bo had been prepared, that ferocious roar still stunned him for an instant.

Standing at the barrier's exit, Su Bo felt his mind sway, as if he had been transported into a primitive wilderness forest. Not far ahead of him crouched an illusory savage beast.

Auras of brutality, savagery, and bloodlust, mixed with the air of primeval wilderness, charged straight at his face.

"An illusion?"

In just an instant, Su Bo realized that he had been pulled into an illusion.

Before he could circulate his qi and blood, the exposed illusion shattered like broken glass, bursting apart into fragments in an instant.

Su Bo broke free of the illusion.

"Tsk, impressive, Su Bo..." Wu Bin stood not far away, arms folded before his chest as he looked Su Bo over with great interest.

"Breaking free from the Sha Qi illusion of a Great Demon in the Divine Ability Realm so quickly... tsk, worthy indeed of being the number one quasi-martial artist!"

"A Great Demon in the Divine Ability Realm?" Su Bo swallowed.

"Teacher, is it really okay to keep something that huge inside the school?"

"Relax, relax~" Wu Bin waved a hand, his face utterly casual. "A half-crippled Divine Ability Realm beast can't stir up any trouble before your principal."

"Even one at the peak of the Divine Ability Realm... heh heh~"

"Enough. This isn't something you should be worrying about. Follow me first."

Wu Bin flicked his hand and walked ahead, inwardly astonished. Damn it, is this kid trying to defy the heavens or what?

He broke free from the vicious Sha Qi of a Great Demon in the Divine Ability Realm in less than two breaths?

Damn, could the boss have gone easy on him? Wu Bin cursed quietly to himself.

Thinking of the first time he had faced that Great Demon in the Divine Ability Realm, when the Sha Qi had clouded his mind and it had taken him nearly three minutes to break free,

his face filled with resentment and helplessness. I hate talent monsters... Wu Bin roared inwardly.

One had to know that he had already completed the third refinement of the skin-and-flesh pass back then.

Su Bo silently followed behind his teacher through the Savage Beast Park, but he could not help asking, "Teacher, where exactly are we going?"

"A good place!" Wu Bin said sullenly.

"You remember the Ten-Thousand-Jun Martial Room I mentioned yesterday, right?"

"Today, I'll take you in to experience it. Just don't be too shocked."