Horizontal Training at Minor Mastery, Wei Chen's Fury

In the quiet chamber, Chen Mu steadied his breathing and examined the panel before him.

[Slaughter Register · Chen Mu (Common Bone)]

[Realm: Martial Master · Body Tempering Sixth Tier (Silver Skin Body)]

[Internal Art: Yin Extremity Profound Baleful Art · Second Layer (500/2000)]

[Martial Arts: Hundred-Slash Baleful Blade · Proficient (580/1000), Mighty Bull Fist · Pinnacle (Complete), Grass-Top Flight · Pinnacle (Complete)]

[Blood Essence: 6000+/6000]

[Karmic Slaughter: 128]

Looking at the separately listed internal art section, Chen Mu came to a realization.

His Blood Essence was full, but his internal art cultivation was insufficient.

The fused Yin Extremity Profound Baleful Art was likely the true orthodox internal art, hence its separate listing.

From the insights he had gained, Chen Mu learned that this cultivation art possessed nine layers in total, and only reaching the ninth layer counted as completion.

He tried using Karmic Slaughter to add points, only to find that 128 points were insufficient to push his internal art to the third layer. He needed more.

Chen Mu immediately turned his attention to the three new cultivation arts in his possession.

First was the Coiling Dragon Staff Technique. It conflicted with his blade art.

Chen Mu put it away, intending to sell it at the black market or trade it for something else.

After all, he was not lacking in offensive killing arts now.

Just as the Rampaging Bull Force he had cultivated previously had been absorbed, leaving behind the Mighty Bull Fist at the pinnacle.

Unfortunately, this low-grade Yellow-rank fist art was no longer much help in Chen Mu's battles.

Its several killing moves lacked matching circulation routes for internal force and true qi.

Relying on physical strength alone, he could not injure experts protected by true qi.

"It seems I still need to obtain demon and monster essence blood as soon as possible, then practice the Azure Dragon Body Tempering Method."

Having reached his conclusion, Chen Mu settled his mind.

The Azure Dragon Body Tempering Method contained numerous physical killing moves, just enough to make up for the shortcomings of close-range combat.

It simply required demonic beast essence blood as its main medicinal ingredient, so he could not practice it for the time being.

Chen Mu did not dwell on it. He planned to train both his movement technique and horizontal training external art first.

He immediately opened the manuals for Ghost-Shadow Step and Iron Cloth Shirt.

It took Chen Mu nearly half an hour before he closed the two manuals and shut his eyes to contemplate them.

He discovered that Iron Cloth Shirt was perfectly suited to his current self.

It contained no flashy moves, only mnemonics for enduring blows and methods of exerting force.

This horizontal training external art required no heavenly treasures or earthly herbs.

So long as one endured daily strikes and tempering, steady water-worn effort could bring improvement.

Cultivation arts of this kind were most suitable for adding Karmic Slaughter points, allowing him to push them upward in one vigorous burst.

Chen Mu put away the two manuals and issued a low command:

"Add points. Invest fifty points into Iron Cloth Shirt first."

Buzzz!

A fierce ringing instantly erupted in his mind. Countless golden characters exploded and flooded into his limbs and bones.

[Ding! Point allocation successful! Martial cultivation is being infused!]

[Martial Arts: Iron Cloth Shirt · Beginner → First Glimpse → Proficient (1/1000)]

[Karmic Slaughter: 128 → 78]

Chen Mu's Blood Essence churned within him.

Iron Cloth Shirt broke through two realms in one stroke, reaching proficiency!

Chen Mu felt the skin and membranes over his entire body abruptly tighten, as though something were inching upward beneath them.

The sinews and bones throughout his body rang in unison. His muscles seemed to be repeatedly forged by countless iron hammers, and the pain bored straight into his heart.

Yet compared to the agony of breaking through the Yin Extremity Profound Baleful Art, this pain was nothing worth mentioning.

"Good! Again!"

He gritted his teeth and let out a low shout, steadying his mind as he took out a handful of Blood-Qi Pills and swallowed them.

With no great medicinal ingredients at hand, he could only consume some blood-replenishing pills.

Fortunately, this cultivation art itself did not consume many resources.

Before long, scorching currents swept through Chen Mu's body. He broke out in a hot sweat, and the pain of his skin being hammered and tempered grew lighter and lighter.

It was like having someone hammer one's body with iron hammers every day; after countless springs and autumns, one would forge a layer of hard skin a finger thick.

When struck again, all that remained would be the clang of metal against iron.

The pain that had once been unbearable was now no more than a touch of wind and frost.

"Whew..."

Two hours later, Chen Mu stopped circulating his Blood Essence and let out a long breath.

A faint white mist immediately drifted from his entire body.

This time, however, it did not shoot outward as it had when his internal art broke through.

This white mist was thin Blood Essence leaking out.

It extended only a hair's breadth beyond his body. As Chen Mu opened his eyes,

the Blood Essence abruptly drew back, clinging to the surface of his skin and forming a layer of silver-gray frost.

A dim silver gleam also surfaced in Chen Mu's pupils before vanishing in an instant.

"This feeling..."

He raised a hand and pressed his forearm. It was as hard as if wrapped in a layer of raw iron.

Chen Mu's eyes lit up. He directly raised his blade and chopped down.

Clang!

The blade edge struck his arm, forcefully spraying out a shower of sparks.

Not a single hair was harmed!

His arm was truly as hard as granite at this moment.

Chen Mu had not circulated true qi in that strike, but neither had he held back.

His physique now surpassed that of ordinary people by a hundredfold; he possessed the strength to wrestle bears.

Yet even with such a slash, only a faint white mark remained on his arm.

"Proficiency already has such power. If I cultivate it to completion..."

Chen Mu felt somewhat exhilarated.

Horizontal training external arts had always carried a reputation in the martial world for being difficult to cultivate.

That was because they demanded bitter, grinding effort, but with point allocation, Chen Mu had forcibly skipped over the decades of wind, sun, hammering, and tempering others had to endure.

If Iron Cloth Shirt reached completion, and he then fused it with a Golden Bell Shield...

He did not dare imagine just how powerful his physique could become.

It just so happened that he might run into Luo Dalong during this trip to Luo Family Fort.

Luo Dalong should possess the Golden Bell Shield cultivation art as well, and Chen Mu could also settle the score for that earlier cold arrow.

But before that, he still needed to train Ghost-Shadow Step to the beginner stage.

Chen Mu immediately suppressed his thoughts, closed his eyes once more, and commanded in his heart:

"Add points! Put all the rest into Ghost-Shadow Step!"

[Ding! Point allocation successful! Martial cultivation is being infused!]

[Martial Arts: Ghost-Shadow Step · Beginner → First Glimpse → Proficient (1/1000)]

[Karmic Slaughter: 78 → 0]

As his Karmic Slaughter returned to zero, endless insights flooded Chen Mu's mind in an instant, and this movement technique also reached minor mastery!

He immediately let out a thunderous roar and rushed into the courtyard. Following the insights pouring into his mind, he began practicing this ghostly movement art of shifting within inches, soon entering a state of self-forgetful cultivation.

At the same time, within the Red Whale Gang.

The old gang leader, Wei Chen, sat upright at the head of the Hall of Brotherhood.

Of the ten hall master chairs below that should have been filled, only a scattered few people remained.

Wei Chen had roamed the martial world for half a century, fighting his way up from an unknown nobody in the Boatmen's Guild. His hands were burdened with countless blood debts.

Had he not suffered severe injuries while fighting the Canal Gang's upper ranks in the south during his early years, causing his Innate Realm cultivation to fall, why would he have hidden away in this bitterly cold northern border town?

Yet even now, when he did not use his full strength and could only reveal cultivation at the peak of Qi Accumulation on the surface,

he, Wei Chen, was still a powerful local figure around Everlasting Prosperity Town. When had he ever suffered such a huge loss?

In merely two or three days!

Nearly half the skilled fighters in his gang had been lost!

Dozens of gang members under his command had died. Even the hall masters had been beheaded one after another, while the survivors had all contracted Corpse Venom and wore faces full of ill fortune!

This filled Wei Chen with extreme fury, yet left him nowhere to vent it.

In the end, he could only swallow all that evil fire, slam a hand heavily onto the table, and roar:

"Every last one of you has your head hanging low! What is it? Do you think this old man is dead?"

"Speak! Who will tell me how Chen Mu, a mere Body Tempering brat, had the ability to kill three hall masters of my gang?!"

Wei Chen was furious beyond measure. His hawk eyes swept over the crowd below as he demanded sharply:

"Luo Dalong! You speak!"

"You are a Body Tempering Eighth Layer horizontal training martial artist!"

"Yet you did not even dare touch that brat! You returned in such panicked disgrace, and you still think you deserve to sit in a hall master's chair?"

"Do you truly think this old man has no one else to use, and cannot kill you?!"