Blood Rushing Nine Apertures Breakthrough Method

The two of them were deadlocked, Chen Xu landing a hit on Lu Long roughly once for every several dozen attacks he took, yet the damage he dealt was infinitely greater than Lu Long's feeble scratching.

Wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, Lu Long's momentum changed dramatically.

In Chen Xu's eyes, a giant python vaguely materialized and reared up behind Lu Long, its hissing sound endless.

Yet apart from its neck and head, the rest of its body appeared utterly illusory, as if it might fade away at any moment.

"Stepping through the realm of narrow escapes from death to comprehend the ultimate principles of martial arts."

Lu Long's raspy voice sounded like a giant python flicking its tongue: "When my [Giant Python Swallowing the Sky Form] is no longer illusory, that will be the day I achieve the rank of Martial Artist."

Today, I shall use you to test my martial arts!

The giant python's blood-red maw opened wide, gradually merging with Lu Long.

Chen Xu felt the surrounding air grow viscous, binding him in place.

Tiger Might erupted, forcefully carving out a tiny, exclusive realm of his own amidst Lu Long's erupting [Giant Python Swallowing the Sky Form].

"Oh? The Tiger Form, eh? I underestimated you. I didn't expect you to be so close to stepping into the realm of manifestation."

This was the first time Chen Xu's momentum had been completely suppressed and placed at a disadvantage; the opponent began frantically disrupting his state of mind even before striking.

At every single moment, flashes of imagery where he was crushed by various attacks flickered through his mind, and the hissing noise left him irritable and unsettled.

Oddly enough, he could clearly sense Tiger Might growing steadily under the opponent's suppression.

Lu Long moved with every step as if a python were slithering close to the ground, then suddenly launched into a violent strike.

"Blood Python Ultimate Kill!"

Amidst the hissing, a tiger's roar echoed through the cave.

Boom!

The cave trembled slightly, the ground cracking in a small radius centered on the two of them, countless rock fragments ricocheting everywhere inside the cavern.

Lu Long managed to lower his head slightly, glancing at the exploded bloody hole in his chest, the corners of his mouth curving upward as if he wanted to say something.

"Fine martial arts. Among the future Martial Artists, there will surely be a place for you."

Withdrawing his blood-soaked fist, Chen Xu unstrapped [Assault Glory] from Millya and walked into the stone room where Lu Long had originally been.

The side wall of the stone room was covered in character marks, clearly used to record the time he had spent living here.

As for the directly facing wall, the very first moment Chen Xu saw it, his entire person froze in place.

Looking around left and right, there were no cave stone walls anywhere in sight, only three or five students and two thatched huts.

The students chatted and laughed, and though they were clearly not very far away, Chen Xu could not hear what they were saying at all.

"Tianwu."

Chen Xu thought to himself, and after the interface surfaced at the lower edge of his vision, it let his heart relax slightly.

"Please enter, young friend." The kind voice of an old man came from inside the thatched hut.

The world spun, and Chen Xu appeared directly inside the thatched hut.

The old man put down a scroll and turned around: "Young friend of the future."

His gaze seemed to pierce through time, landing on Chen Xu.

Chen Xu subconsciously edged a bit closer to the side, and seeing that the old man's gaze remained unchanged, he muttered inwardly: This wouldn't be some pre-set program, would it?

Chen Xu walked around behind the old man, who suddenly spoke: "Young friend, there is no need to panic. Old man, I merely used text to leave behind a trace of my imprint."

He glanced at the scroll on the old man's desk, but alas, he could not recognize a single word, suffering for his lack of culture.

"Presumably, young friend, you have yet to attain the realm of [Martial Form].

Since we meet, it is also a matter of fate. I possess a style of breakthrough method; let it serve as a greeting gift."

Having spoken, the old man began to practice it on his own.

"A person possesses nine apertures: the four apertures of the limbs, the four apertures of the torso, and the Heavenly Gate aperture between the eyebrows.

Among them, as long as one opens the Heavenly Gate aperture, one is considered to have opened the spiritual nature of martial arts, and can evolve the forms of martial arts.

Yet old man, I believe that taking shortcuts by any means to directly open the Heavenly Gate aperture is definitely not the right path. Only by opening all nine apertures together can one hope to reach the peak of martial arts."

Chen Xu summoned Tianwu, the interface blurring for a moment, and under the martial arts column, the characters for Blood Rushing Nine Apertures (Uninitiated) appeared.

With his hands behind his back, the old man gazed up at the firmament, his figure gradually dissolving, his final words echoing in Chen Xu's ears.

"The nine apertures attain spirit, spirit illuminates divine form, form evolves heavenly momentum, momentum gathers condensed phase.

I hope you will take care, young friend!"

The uneven texture once again traveled from the soles of his feet, and snapping out of it, Chen Xu reappeared in the cave, his position completely unchanged.

The handwriting on the stone wall before him could no longer give Chen Xu any special feeling; it was no different from meaningless scrawls, and the experience just now was like a fleeting, illusory dream.

Rubbing his head, Chen Xu was unsure whether Lu Long had also witnessed the scene just now, but since Lu Long was already dead, he had no way of going to the netherworld to verify it.

"Martial arts attain spirit, spirit illuminates divine form, form evolves heavenly momentum, momentum gathers condensed phase," Chen Xu muttered to himself. The first two sentences were very easy to understand when combined with the information he already knew, describing the breakthrough to Martial Form. As for the subsequent evolving momentum and gathering condensed phase, he could not understand them, and made a preliminary guess that they were the paths beyond Martial Form.

"I wonder if Lu Long used this breakthrough method to step into Martial Form. He said the breakthrough was a narrow escape from death—I wonder if my [Tianwu] can avoid these problems."

His inner doubts grew increasingly numerous, and Chen Xu temporarily dispelled these thoughts, earnestly investigating the stone chamber.

"Huh, it's the texture of clothing."

Chen Xu crouched down, pulling out blue-and-white tattered cloth fragments from the corner, upon which there were also dark red bloodstains that had long since dried.

"Written in Great Abyss characters, a blood-written letter?" Chen Xu struggled to decipher it.

"Blood Heart Saint-Transforming Pill formula? Primary ingredient: twenty drops of heart blood Secondary ingredients: one vine of Fire Gold, five grasses of Golden Silk... The user must ignite their spiritual nature before the medicinal potency dissipates; those who fail will suffer rotting skin and death."

After roughly reading through it, Chen Xu finally understood what the narrow escape from death on Lu Long's lips meant.

Once this thing was used, it was a race against the Grim Reaper: either ignite your spiritual nature, or kick the bucket right on the spot—there was no third choice.

The function of this medicinal pill was precisely what the old man had referred to as taking a shortcut to directly open the Heavenly Gate acupuncture point.

At present, it appeared that the price to be paid for taking a shortcut was extraordinarily, uncommonly massive.

Putting the tattered cloth into the pack Millya carried, Chen Xu finished touring the entire stone room and, making sure he had not missed any tiny spot, returned by the original route.

Fortunately, he did not run into anyone along the way; otherwise, the reeking stench of blood all over Chen Xu would have been seen by passersby, and who was to say someone wouldn't have made a phone call to the Great Abyss Police Department.

Walking into the bathroom, Chen Xu washed his body clean and fiddled with the smartphone the Hall Master Cheng had given him.

With memories of his past life, using a phone clearly could not stump him. He opened a website and browsed through news articles.

In a modern-like society, the internet was undoubtedly the best way to further understand the world.

"Risking death to film—two martial arts powerhouses engaged in a fierce battle on the river surface! This is true martial arts!"

The suddenly popped-up headline caught Chen Xu's attention. He clicked on the video, the image quality not very clear, accompanied by the shaking of the phone and the suppressed exclamations of the cameraman.

In the blurry footage, every single collision between two black dots could stir up layers of huge waves, making the calm river surface turbulent and stormy.

Occasionally, they even ignored gravity, leaping seven or eight meters high in a single bound.

From time to time, a bullet comment drifted past: "Fake, at a glance it's fake. What era is this, and the image quality is still so blurry. I'm a student at a certain martial arts gym; the gym master said with his own mouth that no matter how strong a martial artist is, it's impossible for them to reach the level they're displaying. Which movie's promotional trailer is this?"

Just as Chen Xu was watching with great relish, the screen suddenly turned white.

"This video involves suspected illegal publication and has been taken down."

If you can't find the book title by searching, you can try searching for the author instead; perhaps it just changed its name!

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