Iron Cloth Shirt at Perfection

Lu Changsheng directly tapped the plus sign behind Iron Cloth Shirt.

His Source Energy Points instantly decreased by eight.

"Zzz..."

As a warm current surged from within his body, he seemed to enter a mysterious space, where he began cultivating the Iron Cloth Shirt day and night without rest.

"In the first year, you cultivated painstakingly day and night, making rapid progress..."

"After five years of cultivation, you raised Iron Cloth Shirt to fifty percent mastery, but its effects gradually slowed..."

"After ten years of arduous cultivation, you raised Iron Cloth Shirt to seventy percent mastery, still without slackening..."

"Twenty years later, you finally cultivated Iron Cloth Shirt to perfection."

Lu Changsheng slowly opened his eyes. Time seemed to flow in their depths, making them profoundly deep.

He clenched his fist, and a powerful force welled up within him.

The skin membrane across his body glowed with a bronze luster, its defensive power astonishing.

Through his painstaking cultivation, he had finally brought Iron Cloth Shirt to perfection, and his realm had reached the Bronze Skin stage.

He looked at the panel before him.

Host: Lu Changsheng.

Age: Twenty (Eighty).

Realm: Bronze Skin.

Martial Arts: Iron Cloth Shirt (Perfection) Iron Leg Technique (Beginner 1%)

Skill: Basic Blade Technique (Mastery).

Equipment: Hundred-Forged Pig-Slaughtering Blade (Red).

Status: Good.

Source Energy Points: Eight.

Bound Exotic Beast: Pangolin (White).

"There's actually still a plus sign behind Iron Cloth Shirt?"

Looking at the gray plus sign, Lu Changsheng was quite surprised.

"Could perfection not be the limit of Skin Refining?"

This gave rise to a few thoughts in his heart.

The further one progressed along the martial path, the more difficult it became. Yet every breakthrough brought astonishing benefits, even greatly extending one's lifespan.

Because he had only recently entered the martial path, the deficiencies in his body had also been replenished, raising his lifespan to around eighty years.

Skin Refining was a martial artist's starting stage and foundation. The firmer one laid that foundation, the greater one's potential would naturally be.

At the same realm, one's strength would naturally be greater as well.

This made Lu Changsheng look forward even more to the changes ahead.

Not only that, there was also the technique fusion button waiting for him to test.

But his Source Energy Points were probably insufficient now; he could not even improve Iron Cloth Shirt again.

Simply raising it to perfection had consumed as many as eight points. If he raised it another level, the cost would likely be even more staggering.

He needed a large number of Source Energy Points.

With that thought, Lu Changsheng walked into the room and began sending a thread of consciousness toward the Pangolin.

Since there was still some time before the Demon Suppression Department recruited martial artists, he planned to explore Little Cloud Mountain again.

He would see whether he could find any more good things.

With a shift of thought, Lu Changsheng found himself in an underground space.

All around was darkness, filled with damp earth and the strong scents of soil and fragrant grass.

This space lay more than ten meters below the ground and was very safe.

Within a radius of several dozen meters, passages stretched in all directions like an underground fortress.

It seemed the Pangolin had not been idle these past few days either; it had dug out its entire nest.

Lu Changsheng did not act in haste. Instead, he carefully examined the Pangolin's memories.

A moment later, he had gained a preliminary understanding of the basic situation across Little Cloud Mountain.

The mountaintop, spanning several dozen li, was occupied by groups of ferocious beasts. Compared with the foot of the mountain, the medicinal herbs at the summit were older and more precious.

There were also far more of them.

Those ferocious beasts guarded most of the herbs.

They all knew these things were greatly beneficial to them.

One after another, they treated them as forbidden treasures.

With a thought, Lu Changsheng tapped the skill point for Burrowing.

"Zzz..."

The Pangolin's claws began to grow rapidly, then shed.

A moment later, the pair of claws turned bronze and gave off a faint sheen. Their hardness had clearly increased by a great deal.

The Exotic Beast panel also changed.

Bound Exotic Beast: Pangolin (White).

Level: 1

Skills: Burrowing (Excellent) Armor Enhancement (Excellent).

Source Energy Points: Six.

Lu Changsheng raised his claws and began digging into the soil ahead.

"Rustle, rustle..."

Within a few breaths, a great deal of earth had been dug out of the tunnel. The speed was about twice as fast as before the breakthrough.

The upgraded skill truly was much more powerful.

Lu Changsheng was quite delighted.

As its fundamental skill, Burrowing concerned the survival of this Exotic Beast body and was naturally of utmost importance.

Not only that, with its burrowing speed greatly increased, the area he could search underground could be further expanded.

He could even safely gather certain spiritual herbs without ever emerging onto the surface.

Of course, spiritual herbs growing above ground still had to be collected from the surface.

With his speed greatly increased, Lu Changsheng was full of drive. He came to a space five or six meters below the surface, went all out, and began tunneling forward.

"Rustle, rustle..."

A long tunnel rapidly took shape beneath the earth.

It led toward an unknown region ahead.

After digging for half a shichen.

A fragrant scent suddenly drifted over, jolting his spirits.

"Is there something here?"

Lu Changsheng rapidly swung both claws, accelerating forward.

Before long, he arrived before a small ginseng plant.

The ginseng was only a little larger than half a palm, but its roots were plump and full.

At a glance, he identified the herb's age.

It was a ginseng plant around sixty or seventy years old.

Finding something after only half a shichen greatly boosted Lu Changsheng's confidence.

Digging forward underground was indeed feasible.

Not only did it greatly improve safety, but he no longer needed to worry about attacks from ferocious beasts.

With this Exotic Beast body, he was still temporarily unable to withstand those large ferocious beasts.

Lu Changsheng directly collected the ginseng and continued searching.

He focused all his senses on the smells around him. Relying on the Exotic Beast's keen nose, he dug madly through the underground in every direction.

Time slowly passed.

In the blink of an eye, seven days had gone by.

Over these past few days, Lu Changsheng had been searching for medicinal herbs underground.

He had gone a little mad, tunneling through the entire summit of Little Cloud Mountain.

His tracks had reached everywhere within several dozen li.

The entire underground had turned into a transportation hub with passages stretching in all directions, though only he could pass through them.

Naturally, the harvest had also been astonishing.

He suspected that of all the medicinal herbs growing underground, he had gathered seventy or eighty percent of them. In the last few days, his gains had even become fewer and fewer.

"Looks like Little Cloud Mountain only has this many medicinal herbs. I can only search the surface for the rest."

Lu Changsheng hid underground and began taking stock of his harvest from the past few days.

The system space was filled with medicinal herbs of all sizes, their radiance flickering without end.

There were even two precious herbs around a hundred years old.

One was Fo-ti, and the other was Solomon's Seal.

There were another twelve herbs over fifty years old.

As for the remaining thirty-year herbs, there were more than a hundred of them.

But these could only be exchanged for silver.

After Lu Changsheng's tireless exploration over these days, he had the locations of every precious herb on Little Cloud Mountain at his fingertips.

The most valuable was a two-hundred-year-old Fire Cloud Flower.

He was determined to obtain that precious herb.

Once he got it, the Source Energy Points in his hand would be enough to sustain him for a while.

After his strength increased, he would also have greater confidence in dealing with the Three Rivers Gang's coming retaliation.

However, this herb was guarded by a pack of Snow Wolves. They were extremely vigilant, and he had yet to find an opportunity.

That Snow Wolf leader was quite strong, only slightly weaker than the previous tiger. With the help of its pack, even the tiger did not dare provoke it lightly.

This pack of Snow Wolves was also the strongest group of ferocious beasts on Little Cloud Mountain.

Lu Changsheng put away his thoughts and darted toward the northwest.

He planned to hide first near where the Fire Cloud Flower grew, then slowly seek an opportunity.

Half a shichen later.

Lu Changsheng arrived beneath a wasteland at the northwestern corner of Little Cloud Mountain.

"Awoo, awooo..."

Every so often, waves of wolf howls came from overhead.

At the same time, a strange fragrance permeated the area.

Even Lu Changsheng, underground, could smell it clearly.

It seemed that precious herb was more than ten meters directly above him.

The Snow Wolves' hearing was exceptionally sharp. As he neared their pack, he had burrowed into an underground space more than ten meters deep.

Lu Changsheng lay quietly underground without any hurry, waiting for an opportunity.

If he started digging now, he would definitely be discovered by them.

Then he would absolutely fail to collect the herb and instead place himself in danger.

Judging by their hearing, he estimated that he could get at most seven or eight meters from the surface.

Any higher, and he was no longer certain.