Golden Bell Shield Stalls at Minor Accomplishment

Zhou Haitao, his brother-in-law, was not a bad person. His past grievances with the original owner were all because the original owner had bullied his sister.

Now that he saw how well Lin Feng treated his sister, he no longer had any objections to Lin Feng.

This time, Lin Feng had thoroughly beaten him into submission. How could he possibly let go of the chance to learn martial arts from Lin Feng?

However, in these times, it was far too dangerous for a woman to travel mountain roads alone.

No one felt at ease letting Madam Zhou return by herself, afraid something might happen on the way. They had Zhou Haitao escort Madam Zhou home first before coming to Lin Feng's house.

After escorting Madam Zhou home, Zhou Haitao came to Lin Feng's house that very day and pestered Lin Feng to teach him martial arts.

In these times, without some martial arts to protect oneself, even men would be on edge whenever they went out.

Lin Feng was also quite willing to look after these younger brothers.

When he roamed the martial world and was away from home in the future, he would need trustworthy people to help watch over his house.

Both Lin Hu and Zhou Haitao were well suited for that.

Every day, Lin Feng taught Zhou Haitao and Lin Hu to practice the Beast Hunting Fist. He also often took them up the mountains to hunt and down to the river to catch shrimp.

He discovered that Zhou Haitao had strong bones and sinews, making him quite suitable for practicing the Golden Bell Shield.

Lin Feng simply passed the Golden Bell Shield on to Zhou Haitao as well.

Lin Hu's physical aptitude was not much stronger than his own, so he was not particularly suited to practicing the Golden Bell Shield.

Lin Feng did not teach Lin Hu the Golden Bell Shield. Once he obtained other martial arts better suited to Lin Hu in the future, it would not be too late to teach them to him then.

Besides, the Beast Hunting Fist alone was enough to keep them practicing for several years.

Lin Feng did not slack off either. Every day, he persisted in practicing Basic Swordplay.

In the blink of an eye, more than half a month had nearly passed.

Today, Lin Feng had Zhou Haitao and Lin Hu practice their punches at home while he went alone to the small creek to catch shrimp.

The twenty Breakthrough Points Lin Feng had accumulated during this period had yet to be used. Today, he planned to use them all.

First, he would raise the family-inherited Six Arrow Hunter's Bow to the perfected realm.

They were both family-inherited martial arts. He wondered whether the Six Arrow Hunter's Bow would have an Intent Realm like the Beast Hunting Fist.

He first spent four Breakthrough Points to raise the family-inherited Six Arrow Hunter's Bow to the perfected realm.

The perfected realm was already the highest realm of the Six Arrow Hunter's Bow. There were no further realms beyond it.

Adding points to the Six Arrow Hunter's Bow did not increase his Life attribute.

It seemed he should avoid learning Low-tier Martial Arts in the future whenever possible.

Low-tier Martial Arts could no longer provide him with much improvement.

Lin Feng felt that after his Life reached twenty, practicing Low-tier Martial Arts no longer had any effect on increasing his Life attribute.

Martial arts of each grade should only be able to increase the Life attribute within a certain range.

Adding points to Low-grade Martial Arts surely also had an upper limit to its effect on the Life attribute. He just did not know what that limit was.

Lin Feng planned to put all sixteen remaining Breakthrough Points into the Golden Bell Shield.

The first layer of the Golden Bell Shield cost two Breakthrough Points, and his Life attribute rose by one.

The second layer of the Golden Bell Shield also cost two Breakthrough Points, and his Life attribute likewise rose by one.

The same was true for the third through sixth layers that followed.

It seemed that, apart from the one point needed to get started, each of the first through eighth layers of Low-grade Martial Arts consumed two Breakthrough Points.

Based on his experience adding points to the Beast Hunting Fist, the final layer would likely consume four Breakthrough Points.

When Lin Feng's Golden Bell Shield reached the sixth layer, he had four Breakthrough Points left, and his Life attribute had reached twenty-seven. He was already close to catching up with the maid Yue'e.

The fourth layer of the Golden Bell Shield marked minor accomplishment, while the seventh layer marked major accomplishment.

Lin Feng had now practiced it to the sixth layer.

As long as he raised it one more layer and brought the Golden Bell Shield to the seventh layer, the Golden Bell Shield would reach major accomplishment.

At that point, he would immediately reach the Iron Skin level of the Skin Refining Realm, directly crossing over the Oxhide and Stone Skin realms.

However, Lin Feng discovered that the Golden Bell Shield had turned gray. Clearly, he could not continue adding points to it.

Lin Feng tapped the Golden Bell Shield with his mind.

System prompt: Life attribute below forty. Unable to break through the Golden Bell Shield to major accomplishment.

For the Golden Bell Shield to reach major accomplishment, his Life attribute first had to reach forty.

In other words, his physical aptitude was not up to standard.

His Life attribute was only twenty-seven now. Even if he added all four Breakthrough Points to Life, he could only raise it to thirty-one.

Even if he had enough Breakthrough Points, Lin Feng did not want to directly add them to his Life attribute.

Adding points that way was somewhat wasteful.

It would be better to use those Breakthrough Points to learn Low-grade Martial Arts or higher.

That way, he could improve both his combat power and his Life attribute, killing two birds with one stone.

Lin Feng decided not to add any more points for now.

When he got the chance in the next few days, he would make another trip into town and see whether he could use Steward Li to buy a Martial Arts Manual from the Black Market.

Lin Feng was not picky. As long as it was not a Low-tier Martial Arts Manual, it would do.

It truly was poor scholars, rich martial artists.

Ordinary people would likely find it difficult to cultivate the Golden Bell Shield to major accomplishment, because their physical aptitude would not allow it.

When disciples of Sects with backing encountered such a bottleneck, they could eat richly nourishing demon beast meat or aged medicinal herbs.

That would allow them to break through the bottleneck in one stroke.

If he could obtain something greatly nourishing, he could probably save quite a few Breakthrough Points as well.

However, with his current strength and status, he could not obtain such things. He still had to rely on learning other martial arts or adding points to his Life attribute to break through the bottleneck.

Lin Feng's head felt a little dizzy today, his mind filled with memories of practicing the Golden Bell Shield.

In those memories, he lashed himself with iron rods, cut himself with a small knife, and rammed into wild bulls in the mountains.

He consumed medicinal herbs, soaked in medicinal baths, and stood in horse stances to practice the internal cultivation portion of the Golden Bell Shield.

Now, when he activated the Golden Bell Shield, ordinary people could not harm him even with sharp knives.

Even if someone who knew a little martial arts struck him with an iron rod, he could remain completely unscathed.

But if a skilled martial artist stabbed him with a blade, they could still wound him.

Once he cultivated the Golden Bell Shield to major accomplishment, it would be difficult for ordinary martial artists to hurt him even with sharp weapons such as swords and knives.

He did not know how many large shrimp he had eaten today. He had nearly eaten all the large shrimp in this small creek.

Fortunately, this small creek connected to a large river, so it would recover after some time.

Lin Feng finally checked his attribute panel.

Name: Lin Feng.

Life: 27.

Martial Skills:

Six Arrow Hunter's Bow (Low-tier) (Perfected).

Beast Hunting Fist (Low-tier) (Intent Realm).

Mad Demon Staff Technique (Low-tier) (Perfected).

Basic Swordplay (Low-grade) (Not Started).

Heart Nourishing Swordplay (Moves) (High-grade) (Not Started).

Golden Bell Shield (Low-grade) (Sixth Layer).

Breakthrough Points: 4

This round of adding points had greatly increased his strength.

Lin Feng felt light as a feather, yet also brimming with power.

Lin Feng picked up a smooth pebble from the ground, activated the Golden Bell Shield, and smashed it to pieces with a single punch.

The Golden Bell Shield improved the body in every aspect. It not only increased defense, but also increased attack power.

Lin Feng took a bath in the small creek, then scooped up half a fish basket of river shrimp and happily headed home.

When Lin Feng returned to Xiaohe Village, he discovered that the atmosphere in the village was somewhat off.

Several women sat outside their homes, crying bitterly.

"Wuuu... are they going to leave us any way to live?"

Several men with bloodstains on their bodies were being supported as they stood by the roadside.

They stared at a group of people holding iron rods, their eyes filled with resentment and unwillingness.

Lin Feng immediately saw that someone had come to Xiaohe Village to cause trouble, and he hurriedly ran toward his home.