Advancement to the Muscle-Refining Realm! (Seeking Follow-up Reads!)

Rumble!

Whoosh!

As the Five Viscera Internal Cultivation Art continued to circulate.

Within Qin Zheng's body, there was a sound like thunder, as well as the sound of a river rushing.

Qin Zheng knew that these were the sounds produced by his five viscera vibrating and his blood energy flowing.

And as these sounds grew louder, he could feel his internal body gradually becoming stronger.

Beneath his skin, his flesh and blood, washed by the surging blood energy, appeared almost crystalline like blood jade.

Bang!

At a certain moment, a faint, illusory sound seemed to echo in Qin Zheng's ears.

When he came back to his senses, he realized that the Five Viscera Internal Cultivation Art had stopped circulating.

And his Flesh-Refining Realm had also, without anyone noticing, quietly reached completion. He had successfully broken through the third major hurdle and advanced to the Muscle-Refining Realm!

Even though Qin Zheng had already envisioned how powerful internal arts could be.

At this moment, he was still deeply shocked.

Just half a day of cultivation was equivalent to several months of effort using external arts to move his blood and energy!

Although this was partly due to Qin Zheng releasing the vast reserves of accumulated blood and energy within him for the first time.

Still, to achieve this was truly astonishing!

No wonder the aristocratic families tightly controlled internal arts. Such a cultivation speed was truly astounding!

If anyone could cultivate internal arts, the number of martial artists in the entire world would likely explode!

And as the saying goes, "Warriors defy prohibitions with their martial prowess." With more martial artists, the entire world would fall into chaos!

Qin Zheng stood up, feeling the strength of his internal body.

Now that his Flesh-Refining Realm was complete and he had advanced to the Muscle-Refining Realm, his internal body could withstand more power.

He could now effortlessly wield the strength of four thousand jin.

Under extreme exertion, he could even muster a colossal force of five thousand jin!

This level of strength far surpassed the three thousand jin that could be exerted by someone in the Bone-Refining Realm!

Therefore, in terms of pure strength, Qin Zheng had now surpassed the first realm of martial arts!

However, he hadn't inquired about the realm above this, as Ji Changyin hadn't mentioned it when he was helping Qin Zheng organize his martial arts knowledge that day.

Qin Zheng also hadn't learned any related information from other sources.

In a border town like Black Goose City, the first realm of martial arts, with its four major hurdles of skin, flesh, tendons, and bone, was already an unattainable realm for most.

No one even dared to aspire to understand what lay beyond the Bone-Refining Realm.

After returning this time, perhaps he could try to find out what realm came after the four major hurdles of skin, flesh, tendons, and bone.

Qin Zheng thought this, then sent a wisp of his consciousness into his Sea of Consciousness, looking at the Merit Scroll floating within.

[Qin Zheng]

[Lifespan: 70 (17)]

[Martial Arts: Five Viscera Internal Cultivation Art (Beginner), Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill (Fourth Layer), Great Sun Golden Cicada Skill (Mastered)]

[Merit: Eleven taels and eight qian]

[Current Martial Art - Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill can be upgraded, requires one tael of Merit. Do you wish to upgrade?]

[Current Martial Art - Great Sun Golden Cicada Skill can be upgraded, requires eight qian of Merit. Do you wish to upgrade?]

[Current Martial Art - Five Viscera Internal Cultivation Art can be upgraded, requires ten qian of Merit. Do you wish to upgrade?]

Five Viscera Internal Cultivation Art at Beginner, Great Sun Golden Cicada Skill at Mastered, Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill at Fourth Layer, and all other martial arts were at completion.

Unknowingly, Qin Zheng had cultivated so many martial arts and pushed them to considerable levels.

But correspondingly, he only had eleven taels and eight qian of Merit left.

Of the remaining eleven taels and eight qian of Merit, at least one tael needed to be used to upgrade the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill.

This left ten qian of Merit, meaning he could only choose to upgrade either the Five Viscera Internal Cultivation Art or the Great Sun Golden Cicada Skill.

Both were appealing: one could accelerate his internal body refinement, while the other could strengthen his spiritual perception.

Both were things Qin Zheng currently wished to improve.

"Still not enough Merit."

Qin Zheng sighed slightly, feeling a sense of poverty.

However, after a brief consideration, Qin Zheng decided to upgrade the Five Viscera Internal Cultivation Art first.

After all, the internal body realm was the foundation of everything. Only when the internal body was strong could it support various powerful external techniques.

Therefore, Qin Zheng did not hesitate and mentally recited again, "Upgrade, Five Viscera Internal Cultivation Art!"

Instantly, ten taels of Merit were deducted from the Merit Scroll.

Correspondingly, a faint glow began to emanate from within Qin Zheng's Five Viscera.

Qin Zheng could feel that, in this very moment, his Five Viscera had been strengthened!

The Five Viscera are what store the spirit, blood, qi, and soul!

The moment his Five Viscera were strengthened, Qin Zheng's spirit and body were also powerfully shaken and reinforced!

Following this, the Five Viscera began to vibrate with even greater force.

It was as if they were drawing out the deep qi and blood hidden throughout his body, like great rivers, cleansing his flesh and blood along even more peculiar trajectories.

After the upgrade, the efficiency of cultivating the technique increased, and the speed of internal strengthening quickened!

At this rate, he would likely reach the peak of the Muscle-Refining Realm and advance to the Bone-Refining Realm not long from now!

Qin Zheng could feel that in three months at most, he would break through four major stages consecutively and reach the Bone-Refining Realm!

If he had enough Merit, and could upgrade the Five Viscera Internal Cultivation Art again, he might not even need three months!

However, after circulating the inner cultivation for only a short while, Qin Zheng found that the qi and blood within his body had become thin.

The Five Viscera also slowly subsided.

At the same time, a wave of dizziness surged into his brain, and a weakness like that from anemia welled up in his heart.

No!

The inner cultivation is too fast! The consumption of internal qi and blood has also accelerated!

The qi and blood he had accumulated in his body were no longer sufficient to sustain the circulation of the technique!

He needed to replenish his flesh and blood to fill the qi and blood deficit!

Qin Zheng immediately turned his head to look at the headless bear corpse beside him, his eyes glowing green, like a hungry ghost.

"Buns for sale, fresh and thin-skinned!"

"Tanghulu! Selling Tanghulu!"

"..."

At noon, the streets south of Black Goose City were filled with various hawkers' cries.

Dressed in coarse linen and carrying a Ghost-Head Saber on his back, Qin Zheng slowly walked towards his home.

He had only been gone for three days, yet Black Goose City had already returned to normal, as if the bandit attack had never happened.

The entire city was once again filled with vitality.

However, Qin Zheng noticed that in addition to the common folk, there were also some monks in white robes on the street.

They looked very similar to the attire of Monk Wuchang from Rebirth Temple, so they should also be monks from Rebirth Temple.

Groups of citizens were gathered around these monks, following them and chanting Buddhist scriptures with devout expressions.

At the end, they handed over silver coins, or eggs and meat, to the monks.

And these monks did not refuse, accepting everything with smiling satisfaction.

Recalling what Zhang Xiuwen had said, Qin Zheng felt that these monks from Rebirth Temple seemed to have some sort of deal with Gao Wusheng.

Qin Zheng's impression of these monks immediately soured.

Seeing this scene now, he felt even more that these monks were not quite right.

However, since they hadn't bothered him and it wasn't his business, Qin Zheng continued on his way to the small courtyard in the south of the city.

He had stayed in the deep mountains for three days. Besides eating meat and cultivating, he had also tried to find traces of the old monk.

He hadn't found the old monk's whereabouts, but he had killed some bandits who had fled into the mountains, accumulating some Merit.

Now that he was back in Black Goose City and saw that everything was as usual, he felt relieved.

He headed towards the small courtyard where Qi Yan and the others were staying. After a moment, he arrived at the main gate.

After knocking a few times, there was no response.

Qin Zheng's eyes narrowed, and he immediately released his spiritual sense, instantly detecting that the small courtyard was empty!

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