That evening, after seeing Lao Xu off, Wei Sheng's little courtyard finally fell quiet after a lively afternoon.
Wei He happily sorted through the gifts everyone had brought.
Wei Sheng sat indoors, reviewing the gains and losses of the day's battle:
"I originally planned to finish the fight with ordinary third refinement strength, but Huang Man'er's appearance disrupted my plans..."
Ordinary third refinement strength could not suppress Copper Skin.
To defeat Huang Man'er, Wei Sheng had used most of his strength. Later, Violent Bear had forced him to reveal his black skin defense.
Aside from the Golden Goose Art and Heart-Breaking Palm, he had practically used every means at his disposal.
Fortunately, he had ultimately secured a place among the Five Tiger Generals.
But such a conspicuous battle was bound to draw the attention of various factions.
Someone might even...
Connect his rapid rise to the Eldest Master of the Hong Family, who had previously been wiped out.
But he had no regrets.
The fiercer the waves, the pricier the fish.
Through this battle, he had not only risen from a gang lackey to one of the Five Tiger Generals, gaining a measure of standing within the gang.
He had also earned the appreciation of big shots such as the Black Tiger Hall master, Master Qin, and Jiang Liuchuan.
And he had obtained the Golden Body Paste and Wild Bull Flesh-Refining Method he wanted.
The rewards had been enormous!
"Next, I need to turn all these resources into strength... as long as I improve fast enough, outsiders will never be able to guess what cards I hold."
Wei Sheng took out the Golden Body Paste and spread it all over his body.
At first, it felt icy, as though a layer of ice covered his entire body.
Before long, however, it began to grow hot and searing, as though turning into countless tiny flames that burrowed into his pores, instantly turning his body scarlet.
Wei Sheng hurriedly circulated the Spirit Ape Flesh-Refining Method, absorbing the medicinal potency, condensing Jin Force, and tempering his muscles.
A long while later.
Once his skin returned to its normal color, Wei Sheng ended his cultivation, a look of delight appearing on his face:
"As expected of a superior medicinal paste worth three hundred taels. This single session was worth several days of arduous cultivation...
With this jar of paste, I'm confident I can condense Spirit Ape Force and reach the entry level of the Spirit Ape Flesh-Refining Method within a month!"
Over the days that followed.
Wei Sheng shut himself away and devoted himself entirely to cultivation.
He practiced the Heart-Breaking Palm in the mornings and tempered his muscles in the afternoons. Sometimes, when cultivation tired him out, he stopped to rest, then guided Wei He in practicing his fist technique.
His days were full and peaceful.
A month passed in the blink of an eye.
Buzz!
That day, after Wei Sheng refined the last lump of Golden Body Paste, the Jin Force produced by the Black-Membrane Skin Refinement Method merged with the power produced by the Spirit Ape Flesh-Refining Method, forming a new kind of Jin Force.
"Is this Spirit Ape Force?"
That Jin Force was exceptionally lively, possessing both a monkey's agility and destructive power.
[Spirit Ape Flesh-Refining Method (entry level)] [Dao Origin: 31 points]
"After all this arduous cultivation, it's time to put my world-shaking wisdom to work. Dao Origin, max it out!!"
[In the first year, you cultivate the Spirit Ape Flesh-Refining Method to the entry level and condense Spirit Ape Force. With that frail Jin Force, thin as a toothpick, you begin tempering your muscles.] [In the second year, thanks to the solid foundation laid through skin refinement, your qi and blood flourish, and your Jin Force conversion speed far surpasses that of ordinary skin refinement practitioners. You soon finish tempering one percent of your body's muscles, officially entering fourth refinement.] [In the ninth year, you complete the first round of tempering all the muscles in your body. Your Jin Force surges, and your cultivation reaches fourth refinement perfection.] [In the tenth year, you begin your second round of muscle tempering. You thought it would go smoothly, but the difficulty of fifth refinement exceeds your expectations.] [The hardships ahead do not make you retreat. Instead, they ignite an even stronger fighting spirit. You immerse yourself completely in flesh refinement, forgetting everything else...] [In the twenty-fourth year, you awaken in a daze, only to discover that you have completed the second round of tempering all the muscles in your body. Your cultivation reaches fifth refinement perfection, your Jin Force becomes as thick as a chopstick, and your strength soars.] [Spirit Ape Flesh-Refining Method (perfection)] [Dao Origin: 7 points]
As Wei Sheng's awareness returned to his body, the experience and insights from twenty-four years of arduous practice returned with it.
Boom!
His cultivation instantly surged from third refinement perfection to fifth refinement perfection.
Along with his cultivation, the Spirit Ape Force inside him, originally only as thick as a toothpick, swelled to the thickness of a chopstick.
In both quality and quantity, it was far stronger than before.
And as he stretched his body, every muscle rippled like waves of wheat swept by the wind. The waves surged, and his strength soared with them!
Six thousand jin!
Seven thousand jin!
Until it reached eight thousand jin!
When everything settled, Wei Sheng felt the power almost overflowing within him and smiled in satisfaction.
Fifth refinement perfection!
Eight thousand jin of strength!
"Not bad... but this is only the limit of the Spirit Ape Flesh-Refining Method, not my limit!"
The Spirit Ape Flesh-Refining Method was incomplete. The highest realm it could reach was fifth refinement perfection.
But Wei Sheng did not mind. He had chosen this method to enter flesh refinement precisely because it was relatively easy to cultivate.
As for its incompleteness...
He would simply cultivate a few more methods.
Eventually, he could stack them up to the perfection of Six Refinements.
"Savage Bull Fist!"
Wei Sheng casually punched. A bull's bellow shook the sky, and a phantom Ox Demon woven from surging waves of air rammed headfirst into a waist-high rock in the courtyard. The rock instantly burst apart from the center, splitting into pieces.
If a punch like that struck a living person, even a fifth refinement practitioner accomplished in flesh refinement would be severely injured.
"With my current strength, ordinary fifth refinement practitioners are no match for me... even against Violent Bear at Six Refinements, I wouldn't necessarily fall short..."
After all.
The strength of an ordinary Six Refinements practitioner was only between seven and eight thousand jin.
His strength was no weaker than that of a Six Refinements practitioner, and with his perfected Golden Goose Art assisting him, even if he could not win, he could escape unscathed!
"But... the power of these martial arts is starting to lag behind my cultivation..."
The Savage Bull Fist was merely a fist technique for nurturing and training qi and blood. It did not involve using Jin Force.
The Heart-Breaking Palm was similar.
Yet the greatest improvement martial artists at the flesh third refinement stage had over those at the skin third refinement stage was Jin Force!
However many martial arts he had, they were nothing but drifting clouds if they could not unleash Jin Force.
Precisely for that reason, even though he still had Dao Origin to spare, Wei Sheng had not used it to improve the Heart-Breaking Palm.
Even if he cultivated the Heart-Breaking Palm to perfection, it would do little to improve his current strength.
"I need to find new martial arts-martial arts that can unleash Jin Force!"
The first person Wei Sheng thought of was Fire Ox.
But he did not rush over. Instead, he stayed home for another two days, fully adapting to and consolidating his current realm before leaving to find Fire Ox.
But he found no one.
Fire Ox was not there!
Only after asking Niu Yong did he learn that Tiger Lord had sent someone to summon Fire Ox early that morning.
Wei Sheng's brow furrowed slightly.
The Five Tiger Generals each oversaw an area on Black Tiger's behalf and would not leave lightly.
For Black Tiger to summon them now, something important had clearly happened.
Yet he had not informed Wei Sheng, the newly appointed member of the Five Tiger Generals?
"Tiger Lord's men were going to find you too, but when they heard from my brother-in-law that you were still cultivating hard, they didn't call you..."
At those words.
Wei Sheng grew even more surprised.
So Black Tiger had wanted to summon not just Fire Ox, but all Five Tiger Generals—the Five Tigers gathered together?
What exactly had happened to warrant gathering all five tigers?
He could not figure it out!
Wei Sheng simply stopped thinking about it and headed straight for Weiyuan Hall in Black Glory Ward.
When he arrived, before he even entered the courtyard, he heard Black Tiger's furious voice from within.
Before you continue