You Had Few Rivals at This Realm

Gaze sweeping across the template, the realm column unexpectedly read Body Tempering, Third Heaven, followed by a line of description!

You are very strong at the Body Tempering, Third Heaven tier.

A look of satisfaction appeared on Feng Chen's face.

Being able to be called very strong in this tier right after a breakthrough relied entirely on the overlapping enhancements of those fully perfected cultivation arts and martial techniques.

Giant Strength Art at Perfection, Five Tigers Gate-Breaking Saber at Perfection, Meteor Step at Great Mastery, Baji Fist at Minor Mastery, coupled with a string of perfected foundational skills, his foundation was cast much deeper than martial artists of the same realm.

He looked at the sky outside the window.

Sunlight was shining down from slightly west of straight overhead, the shadow of the jujube tree in the courtyard still shrank around the roots, it was about eleven in the morning, a while before lunch,

and he could still train for a bit more.

This time he did not continue training the Giant Strength Art!

That cultivation art had already reached a tier where it could not be progressed further, its limit being Body Tempering, Third Heaven, and going any further required a cultivation art of a higher realm to succeed it.

Wanting to rapidly increase his strength right now, the most direct way was to cultivate martial techniques.

His feet moved, and he executed the Meteor Step.

The Meteor Step had already reached Great Mastery, being only a final stretch of familiarity away from Perfection. After Perfection, his footwork would inevitably rise to another level, making him a step faster whether pursuing enemies or dodging.

Feng Chen's figure constantly flickered within the room, from the doorway to the bedside, from the east wall to the west wall, his footsteps growing faster and faster,

growing lighter and lighter, his entire person transforming into blurry afterimages, drawing smooth arcs through the narrow space.

By the end, his figure nearly connected into a blurry grey long band, resembling a falling meteor shooting through the room, his footfalls landing with barely a sound.

Ding-dong, familiarity with the Meteor Step increased by one.

Ding-dong, detected host earnestly cultivating the Meteor Step, talent trait A Thousand Miles a Day activated.

Over at Green Mountain Village, Wang Batian had already led a dozen martial masters of the Wang Clan Martial Hall to this small village nestled in the mountain hollow.

They rode horses into the village, their hooves striking the dirt road and kicking up a sheet of yellow dust, a dozen gleaming longswords hanging beside their saddles, looking exceptionally glaring under the midday sunlight.

The moment Wang Batian entered the village, he saw the entire village hung with white funeral banners, even the withered tree branches along the roadside tied with white cloth strips, a stark white fluttering in the wind as if the whole village were holding a funeral.

After some inquiries, he went straight to Liu Dagang's old residence.

On the bluestone slab ground of the courtyard, unwashed dark bloodstains could still be seen, and a heavy, mixed scent of joss paper ash and corpse rot drifted in the air.

Several coffins were parked side by side in the main hall, their lids closed once more, with everlasting lamps and white candles placed in front.

Seeing Wang Batian and the others aggressively storming in, Liu Ma's legs went soft as he scrambled and crawled up to meet them, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Lords of the Wang Clan Martial Hall, the remains of the two young masters are all here. We didn't dare neglect them in the least, and have laid them to rest in the best coffins, with not a single stick of incense or sheet of joss paper missing."

Finishing his words, he immediately took the lead in kneeling, and the crowd of Liu clan members behind him also fell to their knees in unison, their heads lowered almost flat against the ground, not daring to draw a heavy breath.

Wang Batian ignored these kneeling villagers.

He walked over to the coffins with gritted teeth, reached out, and pushed open the lid of one of them!

The coffin lid grated against the rim with a dull, dragging sound, sliding heavily onto the ground.

Lying inside the coffin was Wang Tianping's remains, his head already sewn back onto his neck, that crooked line of stitches as thick as a centipede coiled across his throat.

Wang Batian's eyes were bloodred as he pushed open the neighboring coffin. Inside was Wang Tianfan, with the exact same wounds and the exact same stitches.

The astonishment and terror from the final instant before death still lingered on the faces of the two sons. Though their eyes were closed, their stiff facial muscles still retained the unwilling distortion of their dying moments.

His fingers pressed against the coffin rim, his knuckles turning stark white from exertion, the veins on the back of his hand throbbing jump by jump.

"Dammit! Just who is it?!"

Wang Batian abruptly straightened up, a roar exploding in the courtyard, the sound wave shaking the dust on the roof beams down in a flurry.

No one present dared to make a sound, and Liu Ma and the others kneeling on the ground prostrated even lower, wishing they could embed themselves into the cracks of floor tiles.

Wang Batian turned, grabbed Liu Ma by the collar, lifted him up from the ground, and began a questioning session meticulous to the point of cruelty.

Who discovered the bodies first, did they hear any sounds that night, had any strangers come to the village recently,

and whom had Liu Dagang offended during his lifetime.

He had his men drive all the men, women, and children of the entire village out of their homes onto the open ground in front of the houses, questioning and inspecting them one by one.

Liu Ma and the rest of the Liu clan members answered every question with trembling fear, taking a slap for every single wrong word.

After investigating the entire village, Wang Batian discovered a fact that made his brows lock tightly together!

There were simply no martial artists in this village.

All the villagers were ordinary people, not even a single one who had touched the threshold of the Body Tempering Realm. A few slightly sturdier villagers merely possessed a bit more brute strength than average people and could not possibly be martial artists.

Yet his sons Wang Tianping and Wang Tianfan, coupled with that Liu Teng, were three Body Tempering, First Heaven martial artists.

To be able to kill three Body Tempering, First Heaven martial artists in an extremely short time, such strength was at least Body Tempering Second Layer, or even higher.

At this moment, a Liu clan member standing behind Liu Ma who had not dared to make a sound suddenly stepped forward, raised his hand cautiously, and spoke with a timid voice, "We seem to... seem to not have seen that hunter Feng Chen. He hasn't been seen since yesterday, his courtyard is also empty, and he didn't come today either."

Wang Batian's gaze swept instantly onto this person, a sharp and cold light flashing within those bloodshot eyes.

Time flew by in a flash!

At noon, in Feng Chen's room.

The sunlight had shifted from the east window to the west window, the midday golden light illuminating the room brightly through the aged window paper.

Feng Chen's figure was still continuously moving at high speed, his steps treading on the mud floor leaving almost no sound, his figure transforming into blurry afterimages within the narrow space.

Ding-dong, familiarity with the Meteor Step increased by one.

Ding-dong, the Meteor Step has reached the Perfection Realm, please check, host.

Accompanied by the talent notification tone, a surge of insights into footwork at the Perfection level welled up and stirred within his mind.

All the comprehension of the Meteor Step from Initiation to Minor Mastery, Great Mastery, and finally Perfection, was unlocked and strung together at this very moment.

He finally understood why the Meteor Step was called the Meteor Step!

It was not merely fast, but rather maintaining a flowing, cloud-and-water smoothness even at extreme speeds. Whether executing a sudden stop, a turnaround, or a dodge, it was as unhindered as a meteor streaking across the night sky.

After digesting the insights, Feng Chen's feet moved, and swish, his figure flashed from one end of the room to the other as if teleporting. The moment his feet touched the ground, his center of gravity had already completed its transfer, ready at a moment's notice to burst forth again in any direction.

The speed was far faster than before. Great Mastery and Perfection seemed to differ by only a single tier, but experiencing it for real revealed just how massive the gap truly was.

This Perfection-level Meteor Step was extremely formidable.

A smile appeared on Feng Chen's face.

He had originally thought the power of these ordinary martial techniques bought in the bookstore wouldn't be very strong!

After all, they were just merchandise placed on shelves.

Now it seemed that as long as one could train a martial technique to Perfection, no matter how basic an ordinary martial technique was, it could erupt with power far surpassing its own grade.

On the path of martial arts, moves were dead, but people were alive.

Training something into one's bones until it became an instinct was what truly had value.

His mind sank into his sea of consciousness to check the template.

The description following the realm had changed once again!

Previously it read you are very strong at the Body Tempering, Third Heaven tier. After the Meteor Step reached Perfection, it had changed to you have few opponents at the Body Tempering, Third Heaven tier.

In other words, at this grade he was approaching invincibility, and barring monsters within the same realm who had similarly trained all their martial techniques to Perfection, no one was his match.

Feng Chen withdrew his stance!

It was already noon, and it was time for lunch. Furthermore, having trained for so long, his stomach was extremely hungry, and the energy within his body had nearly bottomed out under the frantic consumption of the Meteor Step.

Stepping out of the room, Lin Qing'er had already prepared lunch and set it on the table in the main hall.

A basin of braised pork in sauce, a plate of emerald-green stir-fried wild vegetables, and a large bowl of brown rice steaming with rising heat, accompanied by a clay pot of cooled herbal tea on the side.

Lin Qing'er was wiping the chopsticks with a rag. Seeing Feng Chen come out, a smile immediately bloomed on her face, the corners of her eyes curving: "Husband, are you done training? Hurry and sit down to eat."

"Alright."

Feng Chen sat down, picked up his rice bowl, and ate in large, ravenous mouthfuls.

Lin Qing'er sat opposite him, eating unhurriedly, occasionally picking up a piece of meat to put in his bowl, smiling as she watched him finish one bowl and add another.

After finishing lunch, Feng Chen put down his bowl and chopsticks, was silent for a moment, then raised his head and said earnestly, "Qing'er, I need to make a trip back to the village to take a look."

Lin Qing'er's action of gathering the bowls paused.

She raised her head, startled at first, then worry bloomed across her face as she pressed her lips together and said, "Husband, I'll go back with you."