Martial Arts: Starting with Upgrading the Dilapidated Temple

In the early morning, the fog on the sea was so thick it looked like an unyielding paste.

The Zhenyuan plunged headlong into the "Iron Reef Maze".

The place lives up to its name; the seawater has a deathly gray-black hue.

Huge black reefs stand jaggedly on the sea surface, like sharp swords piercing the sky.

As soon as we entered this body of water, the compass needle started spinning wildly, rendering it completely useless.

"Keep your eyes peeled! Full left! Halfway up the sail!" Luo Meng, shirtless, gripped the helm tightly, his muscles taut as if they were about to explode.

The massive Zhenyuan swerved and twisted in the narrow waterway that could only accommodate two ships side by side.

Several times, the gunwale slid past the sharp rocks, the screeching sound making one's teeth ache, and gravel fell down with a rustling sound.

The sailors on deck didn't dare to breathe too loudly, for fear that breathing too heavily would blow the ship off course.

"Master Luo, your skills are amazing, you can make a fortune." A sailor wiped away his cold sweat and flattered him dryly.

"Shut up! Watch the starboard side!" Luo Meng said without turning his head.

Xu Hao stood at the bow of the boat, his gaze piercing through the thick fog. This place had an eerie atmosphere to it.

"Boss, look at the reef..." Chen Yuanzhi pointed to a black reef not far away, his voice tense.

Xu Hao looked in the direction of the fingertip and saw that what he had initially thought was a protruding part of the reef was actually moving.

Click, click.

A sickening clanging sound of limbs clashing echoed. Several crabs, each the size of a disc and entirely black, scrambled down the rocks.

Their enormous pincers gleamed with a cold metallic light, staring intently at the iron-clad sections of the Zhenyuan ship's hull.

"Wow, these crabs are huge! Boss, shall we have another meal?"

Several bluish-black crabs were lying on the rocks, waving their large pincers.

The sailor who was speaking swallowed hard and reached out to grab it.

"Don't touch it!" Luo Meng caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye, his expression changing drastically. "It's an iron-eating crab! The ancestor of all things that eat iron!"

late.

The crab was incredibly fast; with a single swing of its pincers, it severed the sailor's finger at the root.

Before the scream could even escape its lips, several other iron-eating crabs had already climbed onto the deck along the rope, and with two sharp cracks, the forearm-thick rope snapped in two.

Xu Hao snorted coldly, took a step with his feet and flashed like a ghost in front of an iron-eating crab.

Without drawing his sword, he punched the crab's back directly.

The spiraling, penetrating force of the "Overturning River Force" instantly pierced through the hard shell and exploded inside.

The shell was intact, but the crab meat inside had been mashed into a puddle of mud.

"Extra food? This is for the ship." Xu Hao kicked the dead crab into a crevice in the deck, and several dark red fleshy tentacles immediately emerged from the deck, which he then dragged inside.

A young crab that had escaped the net somehow darted to Chen Yuanzhi's feet and grabbed him with its pincers.

Chen Yuanzhi was so frightened that he shrank back, but his retreat was blocked by the mast.

He stared at the gleaming pliers.

"What are you hiding for? Chop it down!" Xu Hao shouted from a short distance away.

Chen Yuanzhi gritted his teeth, gripped the ghost-head knife with both hands, and slashed down fiercely at the crab's eye.

puff.

Green sap splattered all over his face. Chen Yuanzhi looked at the dead crab under the blade, wiped his face, and his bookish air was slowly transforming into that of a江湖bandit.

"Second-in-command, your swordsmanship is excellent," Xu Hao joked.

Chen Yuanzhi smiled wryly: "Boss, don't make fun of me."

Xu Hao didn't respond; his attention was drawn to the image in his mind.

The Iron-Eating Crab's shell is incredibly hard; the Blessed Land suggests it can be used to strengthen the ship's hull.

He glanced at the dense swarm of crabs on the rocks, a smirk playing on his lips. "Men, here's a job. Smash all the lone crabs to death; that'll count as a merit!"

The sailors looked at each other, swallowing hard as they stared at the pincers that could snap iron chains.

"Kill one, and you'll be rewarded with a pound of dried meat. Collect ten, and you'll be rewarded with half a bead of essence blood."

Under the reward, there must be a brave man.

The deck suddenly became lively as the sailors grabbed their tools and began to struggle with the crabs.

Half an hour later, a pile of dead crabs lay on the deck. Xu Hao's mind stirred, and the power of the blessed land began to circulate.

The crab shell seemed to melt, seeping into both sides of the boat's hull. The original wooden hull surface was quickly covered with a layer of bluish-black keratin that gleamed with a metallic sheen.

Luo Meng tapped the gunwale, producing a crisp, metallic clang, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.

Before he could even process what he'd just heard, he suddenly lay down on the deck, pressed his ear against the plank, listened for a moment, and then abruptly looked up: "Boss! There's movement behind us! The current is incredibly fast, it's not a boat, it's something alive!"

Xu Hao closed his eyes, and the senses of the blessed land spread along the seawater.

"The pursuers are here." Xu Hao opened his eyes. "Luo Meng, turn the boat sideways and block the pass ahead."

The massive Zhenyuan ship lay between two huge reefs, fitting together perfectly to form an iron gate.

"Hang the oil barrels on the rocks on both sides of the ship," Xu Hao ordered methodically.

After doing all this, Xu Hao jumped onto the high deck of the ship and looked down at the trembling sailors below.

"Listen up, everyone. The real King of Hell is coming from the sea off Shengzhou. There's no escaping him. Today, whoever chickens out dies. Whoever wins this battle will have their bounty doubled, and I will personally teach them martial arts techniques!"

The eyes of these desperados instantly turned red. Martial arts techniques? These were the lifeblood monopolized by everything from powerful families and sects to small street-side martial arts schools.

"Fuck them!" someone shouted, and the crowd erupted in excitement.

The fog churned violently.

The three-headed Blood Shark, each over five meters long, was the first to break through the mist, following the scent of blood as it charged straight at Zhenyuanhao.

They opened their gaping maws, filled with interlocking sharp teeth, and bit down hard on the ship's deck below the waterline.

The sailors on deck were so frightened that they all retreated, some even closing their eyes, waiting to hear the loud crash of the ship breaking apart.

Click!

A teeth-grinding, crisp sound rang out.

Instead of the expected sound of the planks breaking, several pale white broken teeth floated on the sea.

The ship's hull, which had just been reinforced with the shell of an iron-eating crab, snapped off the Blood Shark's tooth.

"Hey, these teeth aren't up to par," Xu Hao said, leaning against the gunwale. "Helmsman Luo, don't they look like silly dogs gnawing on rocks?"

Luo grinned and scratched the back of his head. The sailors looked at each other, their hearts, which had been in their throats, now settled back into their stomachs. A few of the bolder ones even poked their heads out and started cursing.

"Boss, are we just going to let them gnaw on us like this?" Chen Yuanzhi looked at the churning waves on the water. Although they couldn't bite through the surface, the noise was really annoying.

"That won't do. Zhenyuan is a picky eater; it won't eat broken-toothed trash." Xu Hao drew his hundred-refined steel sword and suddenly exerted force with his feet.

The surging waves unfolded in full.

Xu Hao leaped directly over the ship's side.

With a light touch of the toes on the rolling waves, he landed steadily on the broad back of the leading blood shark.

The slippery sensation under his feet prevented him from losing his balance.

The blood shark thrashed its massive body wildly, trying to throw the person on its back into the sea.

"Behave yourself."

Xu Hao gripped the knife in his backhand and plunged it fiercely into the shark's forehead.

The moment the blade pierced the flesh, the spiraling, penetrating force of the "Overturning River Force" erupted along the blade with a thunderous roar.

puff.

Before the Blood Shark could even scream, the red and white contents in its brain were instantly turned into a mushy mess. Its massive body stiffened abruptly, and it floated to the surface belly up.

With another tap of his toes, Xu Hao used the momentum to leap towards the second head.

Following the same method, the knife rose and fell.

The second blood shark only thrashed about twice before meeting its end.

With the combined Qi and blood of the Yi Jin Jing realm and the perfected Fan Jiang Jin, killing these beasts would be a piece of cake.

Xu Hao shook the blood off his knife and fixed his gaze on the third head.

This blood shark seemed to have gained sentience. After seeing the miserable state of its companion, it actually spun around in the water, slapped its tail fin against the surface, turned around, and plunged into the thick fog, escaping.

"You run pretty fast." Xu Hao scoffed, then leaped back onto the deck with a series of quick steps.

Just as the sailors were about to burst into cheers, a muffled war drumbeat suddenly came from the depths of the thick fog.

Boom, boom, boom.

The seawater violently churned, and the fleeing blood sharks returned.

This time, however, it was followed by a colossal creature.

A warship, entirely black and flying a red flag with animal teeth, broke through the fog. A ferocious black dragon was carved on its bow, staring intently at the Zhenyuan, which was blocking the middle of the waterway.

Black Dragon.

On the deck, a figure leaning on an iron crutch walked out.

"Xu Hao!" A sharp, piercing voice cut through the sea breeze.