Martial Arts: Starting with Upgrading the Dilapidated Temple

Xu Hao walked towards the three corpses, squatted down, and began to touch them.

He started by touching his chest, then his waist, and finally even the soles of his shoes.

The three salt gang men scraped together twelve taels of silver, a book of erotic pictures soaked in sweat, and a porcelain bottle the size of a fingertip.

Upon uncorking the bottle, a strong, pungent smell wafted out.

"A low-grade Qi and Blood Pill, huh?" That's what he found on the one-eyed man.

Xu Hao raised an eyebrow. This one-eyed dragon must be quite wealthy. He carries around this kind of potent medicine that can forcibly stimulate blood and qi. It seems he was planning to use it at all costs. Now, it's just a good deal for me.

He dragged the three corpses to the backyard and threw them into a well that had dried up eight hundred years ago.

Xu Hao took a handful of wood ash from the stove and sprinkled it on the bloodstains in the temple, then swept it up haphazardly with a broom.

After doing all this, he looked at the old beggar huddled in the corner.

The old beggar held the unconscious stone, his cloudy old eyes fixed on Xu Hao, a glint of shrewdness flashing in them, showing no trace of the cowardly appearance he had when begging for mercy.

"What are you looking at? Want a share of the money?" Xu Hao stuffed the loose silver into his pocket, keeping only two taels and throwing them over, along with the half-used black jade ointment.

The old beggar reached out and took it, not complaining that it was too little, and chuckled: "You're too greedy, kid. This money is burning your hands."

"Take it even if it's hot, take the stone and hide in the countryside." Xu Hao didn't respond to him. "There's bloodshed here. The Salt Gang's noses are sharp; they'll find us sooner or later."

The old beggar stuffed the silver into his waistband, struggled to carry the stone, and paused before leaving.

"The Chen family's boat is leaking badly. I heard someone has already sharpened a chisel underwater." The old beggar didn't turn around, his voice extremely low. "You're a slippery fellow. Don't slip yourself into the river and become food for the turtles."

Xu Hao watched the old beggar's hunched back disappear into the night before turning around and closing the temple door.

The temple fell silent again. Xu Hao sat cross-legged on a prayer mat, holding a Qi and Blood Pill in his hand.

The fight just now, though seemingly easy, actually required the utmost mental strain for every strike.

When you relax at this moment, instead of calming down, your internal energy and blood are like boiling water, bubbling and churning.

This is a sign of reaching the Great Perfection of the Skin Refinement Realm; the membrane inside the body has loosened.

"There's no time like the present." Xu Hao tilted his head back and swallowed the Qi and Blood Pill.

The pill, once ingested, felt not as gentle as fine rice, but rather like swallowing a piece of burning charcoal.

boom!

A surge of violent heat exploded within his body, rushing and crashing along his meridians.

Xu Hao groaned, his veins bulging and his skin turning red.

If it were anyone else, they would probably be writhing on the ground in pain right now, but for Xu Hao, this pain was only slightly better than when he was starving and his stomach cramped up.

"Lock!"

Xu Hao silently chanted in his heart, and the "Martial Arts Efficiency +50%" blessing of the Blessed Land LV4 was activated instantly.

The medicinal power that was originally running rampant in his body was forcibly suppressed by an invisible force, and had to follow Xu Hao's will to drill into the bones.

pain.

Excruciating pain.

It felt like someone was scraping his bones with a dull knife.

Xu Hao gritted his teeth and remained silent, desperately trying to maintain a sliver of clarity in his mind.

Under the combined influence of the medicine and the flow of qi and blood, his bones made a faint "crackling" sound, as if old wood was being re-compacted.

Impurities are removed, making the bone tissue denser.

After an unknown amount of time, the burning sensation in his body gradually subsided, replaced by a tingling numbness.

"Click."

It felt like something inside my body had broken.

Xu Hao suddenly opened his eyes and exhaled a puff of white steam.

He looked down at his palms. His skin was still bronze, unchanged, but he could feel that beneath the skin, his bones were as hard as iron.

He casually picked up half a brick from the ground and clasped it between his five fingers.

puff.

Without a cracking sound, the blue brick turned into dust in his palm and fell down in a flurry.

The Bone Forging Realm has been achieved.

At the same time, the image in his mind suddenly trembled, and a burst of golden light shone forth.

[Slaying villains, offering blood as a sacrifice to the Martial Temple, the air is thick with malevolent energy.]

[Blessed Land Level Upgraded to LV5 (Basic Dojo)]

[Unlock New Spirit Effect: Aura of Intimidation (While within a blessed land or branch territory, you can actively release aura of intimidation, causing lower-level enemies to hallucinate or momentarily freeze.)]

Xu Hao looked at the panel, his mouth stretching to his ears in a wide grin.

This "fierce aura" was practically tailor-made for him.

In a battle between masters, even a moment of stiffness is enough for one to slit the other's throat three times.

This was not just a loss, it was a huge profit. These three members of the Salt Gang deserved to die.

I glanced out the window; the moon was high in the sky.

Xu Hao quickly got up, cleaned up the last traces in the temple, changed out of his tattered clothes before returning to the Chen residence, put on his guard uniform, and rushed off to report back on leave.

As soon as he entered the house, he felt hungry, so hungry that his stomach was sticking to his back.

Breaking through to the Bone Forging Realm consumed too much energy. Although the Qi and Blood Pill was potent, it was still a potent medicine. Now that the effects were kicking in, my body felt extremely weak.

With a thought, the Sumeru Granary opened.

A large piece of fresh meat and a liter of polished rice appeared out of thin air.

Xu Hao didn't bother to start a fire to cook porridge. He cut off a piece of raw meat and stuffed it into his mouth. The sweet and pungent meat juice exploded on his tongue, and combined with the crunchy texture of the rice, he managed to taste a delicacy.

After eating and stuffing myself, the feeling of exhaustion gradually subsided.

Just as I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth, there was a knock on the courtyard gate.

"Knock knock knock".

The tapping was not hurried, but very rhythmic.

Xu Hao's eyes narrowed, he adjusted his breathing, and suppressed the sharpness of his breakthrough, putting on his signature honest and simple expression again.

The door opened, and there stood Instructor Lin, holding two wooden swords, his face solemn.

"Coach, so late?" Xu Hao rubbed his sleepy eyes, pretending to have just woken up.

Without wasting words, Instructor Lin looked him up and down, his gaze lingering for a moment on his slightly bulging temples, before tossing him a wooden sword.

"then."

Xu Hao frantically caught the knife, nearly dropping it: "Instructor, this is...!"

"Stop pretending." Instructor Lin took two steps back, assumed a fighting stance, and said, "Attack! Don't hold back. Let me see what you've accomplished in the past two weeks."

This is to get a preliminary understanding.

Xu Hao knew exactly what was going on.

Instructor Lin was worried that he might hold him back in the upcoming mission.

Since that's the case, I'll show you a couple of skills, but that's all I can do.

"...I apologize for offending you."

Xu Hao took a deep breath, gripped the knife with both hands, and his eyes changed instantly.

He was no longer a timid servant, but a hungry wolf.

However, he did not use the power of the Bone Forging Realm, and even held back 30% of the power of the Great Perfection of the Skin Polishing Realm, only unleashing the ruthlessness of the "Cloak Blade Technique".

"drink!"

Xu Hao took a step forward, his wooden sword whistling through the air, aiming straight for Lin Jiaotou's face.

This strike was fast and ruthless, but without any fancy moves.

A hint of admiration flashed in Coach Lin's eyes as he blocked the attack with his sword.

"Bang!"

As the two swords clashed, Xu Hao used the momentum to retreat, but his footwork was unpredictable. He lowered his body and swept the wooden sword across Lin Jiaotou's lower body.

They've hired scoundrels again.

Coach Lin's lips twitched, and he had no choice but to dodge.

The two men clashed back and forth in the courtyard, the sound of their wooden swords striking each other echoing incessantly.

Xu Hao fought in an extremely sleazy manner, specializing in low-level attacks. He used feints like gouging eyes and groin kicks, turning a set of grand and sweeping military sword techniques into the fighting style of street thugs.

After thirty moves.

Instructor Lin deflected Xu Hao's attack with a single stroke, and with a flick of his wrist, the wooden sword came to a steady stop at Xu Hao's neck.

"Alright."