Hundred Beasts Body Tempering Art

He merged the two dark-purple orbs into a blood-red pillar of light as thick as a bucket, which blasted toward Lu Feng with the force to destroy everything.

In its wake, the shock waves ripped stone slabs from the ground, and dense, spiderweb-like cracks spread across the stone walls.

There was no dodging it.

Lu Feng crossed his arms before him, driving his Golden Bell Shield to its limit. His newly advanced Hua Jin Nei Jin formed a layer of invisible protective force around him.

The blood-red pillar struck him squarely.

"Boom!!!"

The entire cave shook.

Dust filled the air, and shattered stones flew in all directions.

Zhu Ren stood where he was, his four arms slowly falling to his sides.

His breathing was heavy and ragged. That last move had clearly consumed a great deal of his demonic power.

But a smile curved his lips. Lu Feng had surely died under that blow.

The dust settled.

His smile froze on his face.

Lu Feng stood where he had been. The stone slabs around his feet had shattered, and both feet had sunk more than half an inch into the ground.

The shock wave had torn his fitted sleeves to shreds, exposing arms with veins bulging.

But apart from that, he was completely unhurt.

His body had not even swayed.

"So this is Hua Jin."

Lu Feng looked down at his hands and murmured softly.

The instant the blood-red pillar struck him, he had clearly felt the Nei Jin in his body circulate in a strange way, wrapping that destructive force in layer after layer, breaking it apart and dissipating it.

Most of the impact had been diverted, and the little that remained was no more than a tickle to his current body.

Hua Jin. Dissolving the opponent's force. So that's how it is.

He raised his head and looked at Zhu Ren.

Zhu Ren's pupils contracted sharply.

His opponent had actually taken his full-force attack after his Demon Transformation with ease.

There was only one possibility.

"You... you broke through to Hua Jin?"

Lu Feng did not answer. Empty-handed, he walked toward Zhu Ren one step at a time.

He did not draw his saber or use a movement technique. He simply walked straight toward him.

Then he threw a punch.

Just one punch. An ordinary punch. A punch imbued with the power of Hua Jin cultivation.

Zhu Ren blocked with all four arms at once.

"Bang!"

The first punch knocked all four arms aside at once.

"Bang!"

On the second punch, the bones in Zhu Ren's chest cracked with a crisp snap. His massive body flew backward and slammed into the stone wall, smashing a deep crater into it.

"Bang!"

After the third punch, Zhu Ren slid down the wall, his limbs limp as he vomited mouthful after mouthful of blood.

His Demon Transformation began to recede. The two extra arms on his back were the first to retract into his body, his pig face gradually changed back into a human one, and his frame shrank rapidly. At last, he returned to the form of a middle-aged man in a tattered red robe, his goatee disheveled.

Only a few dark marks remained on his back and along the edges of his ears, like some kind of brand.

The aftereffects of Demon Transformation.

Zhu Ren lay sprawled on the ground, looking up at Lu Feng, who had walked over to him.

His eyes were full of disbelief. His lips moved for a long time before he managed to force a sentence from his throat.

"How is this possible... how could you have broken through..."

Lu Feng did not let him finish.

The Six Harmonies Saber left its sheath. A cold gleam flashed past.

A head rolled to the ground, its goatee covered in blood and dirt.

[Ding! Congratulations, host, on successfully slaying a third-tier Half-Demon. Cultivation art obtained: "Hundred Beasts Body Tempering Art";]

[Ding! Demon Points obtained: 50,000;]

The system notifications rang out one after another.

Lu Feng sheathed his saber and did not rush to check them.

He turned and hurried over to Zhu Lin and Luo Fang, crouched down, and reached out with his fingers to feel the sides of their necks.

Their skin was warm.

They were breathing. Faintly, but still breathing.

He took out two healing pills and placed one in each of their mouths. Then he helped them sit cross-legged, went around behind them, and pressed a palm against each of their backs.

He slowly channeled his Hua Jin Nei Jin into them, helping them activate the medicine and clear their shock-damaged meridians.

About an incense stick's time later, Zhu Lin was the first to cough. She spat out a mouthful of congealed blood and slowly opened her eyes.

Zhu Lin looked down at her hands, then touched the spot on her chest where Zhu Ren had struck her. A dazed look appeared on her face.

"This is..."

"I'm still alive?"

At that moment, Luo Fang also woke. She braced herself against the ground and sat upright, immediately sweeping her gaze around.

She saw Lu Feng sitting cross-legged behind them, his palms just withdrawn from their backs.

"Lu Feng! You saved us?" Zhu Lin turned sharply and asked urgently. "What about the Half-Demon?"

Lu Feng lifted his chin toward a spot not far away. "Dead. His body's over there."

The two looked in that direction.

Zhu Ren's headless body lay in a pool of blood, his head with its disheveled goatee several feet away. The expression on his face was frozen in the disbelief of his final moment before death.

Those dark marks on his back and beside his ears.

Zhu Lin stared at the head for a long time. At last, she let out the breath she had held in her chest throughout the entire battle, and her whole body relaxed somewhat.

Luo Fang looked away and turned to Lu Feng. "I never imagined you were so strong, Lu Feng. Even a Half-Demon was no match for you."

"Not at all." Lu Feng shook his head.

"I only managed to kill him by taking the opportunity after I held out until his Demon Transformation ended."

The two looked down at Zhu Ren's corpse again.

He had indeed completely returned to human form. His four limbs were normal, with no extra arms, pig face, or tusks.

They had not seen how the final battle had unfolded, so when Lu Feng told them this, they believed him.

Slaying Zhu Ren after his Demon Transformation had ended was already a remarkable feat.

As for an existence in a Demon Transformation state, probably only a Hua Jin expert could contend with one head-on.

"We'll remember that you saved our lives." Zhu Lin struggled to her feet and, together with Luo Fang, solemnly cupped her fists toward Lu Feng. "We'll repay you someday."

"We're comrades. There's no need for that." Lu Feng waved his hand.

"Stay here and focus on healing. I'll check the other caves again and see if any demonic beasts or Half-Demons slipped through the net."

The two nodded. In their current condition, they were indeed in no shape to move again. They would be better off using the time to circulate their power and recover.

Lu Feng rose and walked deeper into the cave with the Six Harmonies Saber in hand.

An hour later, Lu Feng returned to the cavern.

Hearing his footsteps, Zhu Lin and Luo Fang opened their eyes at the same time and stopped circulating their power.

"Did you find anything?" Luo Fang was the first to speak.

"I ran into two first-tier demonic beasts on their own and killed them. I didn't find any more Fire Saber Sect disciples." Lu Feng wiped the blood from his saber against the stone wall and sheathed it.

The two first-tier demonic beasts had been easy enough for him to deal with.

But if those two demonic beasts had escaped, who knew how many of the Fire Saber Sect's ordinary disciples, who had not yet attained Jin, would have died?

"How are your injuries?"

"Much better." Zhu Lin stood up and rolled her shoulders.

"Let's get out first. I don't want to spend another moment in this place."

The three headed out of the cave.