Adding Points! Another Skin Tempering Method Reached Perfection!

Humm!!

Four points vanished in an instant! A warm current of qi and blood, far more turbulent and surging than when he had cultivated the Basic Skin Tempering Method, erupted within him! The qi and blood seemed to turn into invisible waves, following the Layered Wave Skin Tempering Method's unique path as they launched a first assault on his skin!

The panel refreshed!

[Technique: Layered Wave Skin Tempering Method (0/12, Entry)]

[Points: 943]

Entry!

Dongfang Yueming could clearly feel a deeper tingling and burning in his skin! It was as though every cell beneath his skin was being activated and strengthened as the "layered wave" of qi and blood washed over it!

It really is different! he thought, overjoyed!

Keep going!!

Boom!!

Twelve points burned away! The waves of qi and blood inside him grew fiercer, one wave following another without end! Every surge seemed to forge, compress, and refine his skin over and over! Its toughness and density increased at an astonishing rate!

[Technique: Layered Wave Skin Tempering Method (0/20, Minor Accomplishment)]

[Points: 931]

Minor Accomplishment!

"Hiss... the effect is incredible!" Dongfang Yueming could not help sucking in a sharp breath! At just the Minor Accomplishment stage, he felt that the toughness of his skin had already surpassed its previous state when the Basic Skin Tempering Method was at perfection (Ox Skin)!

"As expected of something that takes four points just to reach Entry!"

His confidence was overflowing now!

Major mastery! Charge!!

Crash!!!

Twenty points turned into a vast flood of energy! The waves of qi and blood within him had nearly become a raging sea! They surged, washed, and churned wildly beneath his skin! He could even hear creaking sounds beneath his skin, like tough leather being forcibly stretched and squeezed!

Just then, a sudden change occurred!

Dongfang Yueming abruptly felt his skin, which had already reached its limit, break through an invisible barrier!

A heavier, more solid sense of strength welled up from deep within his skin! His skin, once merely tough, now seemed coated with the luster and texture of rock! When he tapped it lightly, it even made a dull knocking sound!

He instinctively looked at his panel!

[Realm: Body Tempering - Skin Tempering Realm (Stone Skin) (2 points gained daily)]

[Techniques: Basic Skin Tempering Method (perfection), Layered Wave Skin Tempering Method (0/40, major mastery)]

[Points: 911]

Stone Skin?!

He had broken through! He had really broken through from the Cowhide Realm to the Stone Skin Realm?!

Dongfang Yueming stared at the changes on the panel in astonishment, his heart pounding!

He had thought he would need to cultivate the Layered Wave Skin Tempering Method to perfection as well, and perhaps even stack more techniques, before he could break through to the Stone Skin Realm!

He had never expected that merely cultivating this technique to major mastery would directly trigger a qualitative change!

"This Layered Wave Skin Tempering Method... really is awesome!!" He could not contain his wild joy!

Once his elation passed, Dongfang Yueming did not hesitate in the slightest!

He had already broken through to the Stone Skin Realm at major mastery, so what about perfection?!

His gaze burned as he stared fixedly at the progress bar after [Layered Wave Skin Tempering Method] on the panel!

Perfection! Break through the limit!!

Boom-!!!

Forty points poured in with a roar, like a flood bursting through a dam!

In an instant, Dongfang Yueming felt as though he were at the center of a raging sea! The waves of qi and blood within him no longer crashed against his skin, but transformed into endless, all-pervasive streams of fine water, seeping into every corner of his skin and deep into every cell!

An indescribable transformation began!

His skin, once as hard and heavy as rock, now seemed to be immersed in, nourished and cleansed by warm jade marrow! The stony roughness on its surface gradually faded, replaced by the warm, delicate, nearly flawless luster of jade!

Tough! Substantial! Yet perfectly supple and smooth!

As though carved from the finest jade!

At the same time, the information on the panel refreshed again!

[Realm: Body Tempering - Skin Tempering Realm (Jade Skin) (2 points gained daily)]

[Techniques: Basic Skin Tempering Method (perfection), Layered Wave Skin Tempering Method (perfection)]

[Martial art: Basic Thirteen Fast Saber Forms (perfection)]

[Points: 871]

Jade... Jade Skin Realm?!

Dongfang Yueming stared at the dazzling words "Jade Skin" on the panel, utterly stunned!

Astonishment!

Disbelief!

He blinked hard, wondering if he had read it wrong!

He had... reached Jade Skin just like that?!

The legendary ultimate ideal state of the Skin Tempering Realm, a realm that countless geniuses and monstrous talents might not reach even after spending vast amounts of resources, was something he had... attained so easily?!

"Is... is this Layered Wave Skin Tempering Method really that heaven-defying?!" Dongfang Yueming muttered to himself. It felt a little unreal.

He hurriedly logged back into the Martial Arts Academy's internal website, found the redemption page for the Layered Wave Skin Tempering Method, and carefully examined the official description and student comments.

The official description was clear: "The Layered Wave Skin Tempering Method is an advanced skin tempering technique. It is relatively difficult to cultivate and produces better results when used with a specific medicinal bath. In theory, cultivating it to perfection has a certain chance of bringing one's skin tempering to the Jade Skin level."

"'In theory'? 'A certain chance'?" Dongfang Yueming frowned slightly when he saw those words. That meant reaching perfection did not guarantee reaching the Jade Skin Realm.

He continued down to the comments.

Sure enough, most of the comments below complained about the difficulty of cultivation, the high consumption of resources, and the slow progress.

However, deep in the comments, an anonymous post from many years ago caught his attention:

"Alas, I fell short by one step in the end... This old man spent half his life cultivating the Layered Wave Skin Tempering Method to perfection, only to stop at the peak of Stone Skin, unable to catch a glimpse of the legendary Jade Skin Realm. What a regret! What a regret!"

Beneath the post was a string of exclamations like "666," "The expert is awesome!," "Peak Stone Skin?! Isn't this already a legendary figure?!," and "I worship you, expert!"

After reading those comments, Dongfang Yueming was even more puzzled.

Even an expert who had cultivated the technique to perfection had regretfully stopped at the peak of Stone Skin, so how had he... gone straight to Jade Skin?