The Great Martial Arts World: Hot Topics and Great Heroes

Huang Rong was decocting medicine in a small earthenware pot. Although she wasn't an expert in pharmacology, she knew the most basic things.

Mu Wanqing was also standing nearby, looking at the giant snake with a mixture of fear and curiosity.

The poison in the Shura Dart is an external poison, so Mu Wanqing naturally knows some pharmacology and can be of some help.

After frying, it was poured into a jar—Chu Luren was never short of jars.

The medicinal soup only filled a small portion of the jar, but after Chu Luren killed the snake and extracted its gall bladder, he discovered that the bright red gall bladder was actually the size of a fist.

They stuffed it into a jar, and while the medicinal soup was still hot and the snake gall was still warm, they crushed the snake gall and put it into the soup.

Chu Luren could already imagine just how bitter this thing must be!

However, when he picked up the jar and gulped it down, the bitter and astringent taste, along with the burning sensation that ran down his throat and into his stomach, almost brought tears to Chu Luren's eyes.

If I hadn't been using my internal energy to control my tongue, I probably would have vomited!

After finishing his drink, Chu Luren immediately sat down cross-legged to practice his internal energy. Mu Wanqing stood guard beside him, acting as his "protector," while Huang Rong mustered her courage and went to deal with the precious snake from which her gall bladder had been extracted.

The effect of this snake gall is that after consuming it and practicing internal energy cultivation, it can greatly increase one's internal strength...

Chu Luren was initially puzzled as to why snake gall would have such an effect, since internal energy is generated from the body's own essence, qi, and spirit, and should have no relation to external objects or spiritual energy.

However, once Chu Luren actually started practicing, he realized that the "hot" sensation of the snake gall entered his stomach and flowed throughout his body, bringing all eight extraordinary meridians under its warmth.

It's equivalent to putting one's own meridians into a special state, which has nothing to do with spiritual energy or anything like that.

In this situation, Chu Luren's physical meridians seemed to have taken a big step towards becoming an "internal energy genius".

Of course, it can't compare to the level of the "martial arts prodigy" Dream God, and it's only temporary.

According to the snake-raising manual, this state can last for six hours—ordinary internal energy cultivation is difficult to practice continuously for such a long time, otherwise there is a risk of overexertion and it is easy to overload the meridians, causing self-harm over time!

However, under the influence of the snake gall medicine, this can be ignored, and one can cultivate continuously for six hours.

If it has such an effect on Chu Luren, it would probably be even more effective for ordinary people than renting a set of meridians from a "martial arts prodigy".

It's not surprising that six hours of arduous training is equivalent to more than ten years of hard work.

For Chu Luren, it was also more than ten years of arduous training, only his more than ten years were somewhat meager...

but!

Chu Luren could also have an epiphany at this moment!

This significantly increased his cultivation efficiency, making these six hours essentially equivalent to more than ten years for an average genius in internal energy cultivation, instead of his own more than ten years...

In this way, eight or nine tenths of the fusion fragments accumulated in the Huashan Sword Cave were used up, and the remaining Chu Luren planned to use them for sudden enlightenment in case of emergency.

Chu Luren originally planned to cultivate his inner strength through enlightenment every day, but he would not spend more than 15 minutes each day. He would first adjust his breathing to the best state, and then have a brief "enlightenment". He planned to complete the cultivation in two or three months.

However, this time, with the blessing of snake gall for six hours, Chu Luren directly experienced a superimposed enlightenment effect!

……

At midnight, Chu Luren finished his cultivation, which was much more efficient than his original enlightenment cultivation plan. Chu Luren originally thought that he would need at least two or three times more enlightenment fragments to reach his current level.

At this moment, Chu Luren, in terms of internal strength and his former weaknesses, was already no less than Mu Gaofeng and Yu Canghai, and was only slightly inferior to Yue Buqun!

Chu Luren's external skills were not far superior to Yue Buqun's. If they really fought, Chu Luren secretly estimated that he would be in a similar state to when he was in the Dream God's state. He could barely cope with Qiu Chuji and Blood Saber Ancestor. If he used "Minor Returning to the Void Force" to maneuver, he would be able to remain undefeated.

I've roughly... touched the edge of a top-tier expert, something I was only able to do when I was in my Dream God state.

Even in the short term, Chu Luren's internal energy has slightly surpassed that of the Dream God—of course, given the Dream God's cultivation speed, he will catch up again very soon.

For the "Dream God" state, it only improves the duration. For the "Enlightened Dream God" state, there is no improvement. After all, the time limit of the "Enlightened Dream God" state is actually more limited by the time of enlightenment, that is, the number of "fusion fragments"!

Seeing that Huang Rong had already fallen asleep, and Mu Wanqing, who had been entrusted with watching the boiling blood-red "bathwater," looked drowsy. Chu Luren felt a surge of gratitude towards the two of them...

Chapter 187 Bloodbath

Compared to snake gall, the medicinal bath with snake blood takes a bit longer, requiring two days of boiling. This is why the Chu Lu people specifically asked Mu Wanqing and Huang Rong to come out of the city to do it.

The snake meat wasn't wasted either; Huang Rong used her culinary skills to prepare it into the main dish for the three of them for the next few days!

The meat, weighing over a hundred pounds, could only be fully "digested" over three days thanks to the Chu Lu people.

In a sense, snakes can be considered one of the "Great Roc's" foods, and the "Kunpeng Mending the Sky Technique" digests them very well, allowing the full effect to be realized.

The improvement in meridian quality is roughly equivalent to two years of drunken crab.

The final medicinal bath primarily serves to strengthen the body and improve overall health...

After the three of them had been busy for so long, Chu Luren felt a little embarrassed when faced with a large wooden tub of red medicinal bath.

"How about... we soak together? I'll close my eyes?" Chu Luren suggested.

After all, Huang Rong and Mu Wanqing only got some snake meat, especially Huang Rong, who also went to the Prince of Pingxi's mansion at the time!

After receiving four eye rolls, Huang Rong and Mu Wanqing left, leaving Chu Luren alone in the dilapidated temple with the wooden bucket.

It was that familiar, hot sensation again, but this time it wasn't as unbearable. It started all over my body and gradually became tingling...

Following the instructions in the snake-raising manual, Chu Luren began to exert all his energy on the "Kunpeng Mending the Sky Technique," a body-training exercise!

I also took some time to practice the bone-shrinking technique from the "Nine Yin Manual" – it wasn't really a skill, just a trick.

Chu Luren only began learning martial arts after his body had fully grown. Normally, unless he had something like the "Yi Jin Duan Gu Pian" (a martial arts manual for strengthening tendons and bones) to accompany him, he simply couldn't master it...

However, during this medicinal bath, the flexibility of muscles and bones becomes extremely strong.

Despite the lack of any special insulation measures, it took a full two hours for the water in the bucket to cool completely to the same temperature as Chu Luren's body. Moreover... by then, the water no longer showed any blood color, but rather the brown of medicinal liquid, and it didn't smell of blood at all.

Chu Luren's "Kunpeng Mending the Sky Skill" has also gone a step further. As a body-training technique derived from the Xiaoyao Sect's "Transforming Peng Skill", it has a more significant effect on flexibility, balance, and so on.

Seeing Chu Luren come out, Mu Wanqing asked, "Finally finished washing. Is there nothing else? Shall we go back to Luoyang?"

"No, let's go directly to the east of the city and wait there, to see how things are going with Yang Tiexin and his wife," Chu Luren said.

The letter I sent to Bao Xiruo earlier, and the agreed meeting place, was in Liulipo, east of the city.

It was already night, and Yang Tiexin had arranged to meet tonight!

Halfway to Liulipo, Chu Luren and his two companions discovered something was amiss—a large number of guards from the Prince of Pingxi's mansion were being mobilized towards Liulipo!

"Could it be that the princess has regretted her decision and wants to get rid of Yang Tiexin?" Mu Wanqing frowned deeply.

“No, even if she wanted to ‘silence’ them, she couldn’t possibly mobilize so many people. Would she really ask Wu Sangui for something like that?” Chu Luren immediately denied.

Even if she really craves wealth and wants to take revenge on her ex-husband, there's no reason for her to use her current husband as a weapon, is there?

Otherwise, wouldn't Wu Sangui have harbored resentment?

This goes against human nature and common sense, not to mention that Chu Luren has the original work as a reference.

"Then how could this be..."

Before Mu Wanqing could finish speaking, Chu Luren interrupted, "You all go back to Luoyang first... Don't go back to the inn, go directly to the Wang family to stay, I'll follow them and see! If I don't come back, tell the people from Huashan to set off as normal, and when they see the escort team from Zhenyuan, I will take the initiative to meet them."

“I’ll go with you!” Mu Wanqing said immediately.

"Stop fooling around. If it's too dangerous, I won't show myself. You'll feel embarrassed if you follow me," Chu Luren said deliberately.

Mu Wanqing was not convinced by this reason, but after being dissuaded, she understood that Chu Luren was indeed the easiest to escape if he acted alone, so she did not refuse again.

Chu Luren lagged behind the main group all the way to the teahouse in Liulipo...

At this moment, hundreds of armored soldiers, clad in heavy armor and armed with bows and crossbows, were surrounding a square-faced middle-aged man in battle robes and armor—it was none other than Wu Sangui.

To become such a high-ranking traitor, one must naturally possess a dignified and imposing appearance. A person with shifty eyes and an obviously untrustworthy demeanor would not be able to become a traitor of this caliber.

"Mother! That wicked man must have tricked you. Come back quickly!"

"Kang'er... how could you say such a thing about your biological father?"

"My father? My...my father is the Prince of Pingxi!"

“Wu Kang! Not only do you not recognize your own father, but you also recognize a thief as your father and bring the thief here... You... Does the Quanzhen Sect really have a disciple like you? Even if Senior Brother Qiu is unwilling, I will still clean up the sect.”

Chu Luren listened and guessed, and discovered the key point—it was probably that Bao Xiruo not only wanted to leave with Yang Tiexin, but also wanted to take Wu Kang with her, so she called him over.

Wu Kang noticed something was wrong, so he notified Wu Sangui, and hundreds of his personal guards pressed forward from behind...

Furthermore, Guo Jing and Wang Chuyi were also with Yang Tiexin.

"I have always respected the masters of the Quanzhen School, but today you have abducted my queen and are plotting something sinister. Do you really think you can get away with this peacefully?" Wu Sangui's tone was calm yet authoritative.

"Wu Sangui! You..." Yang Tiexin saw the enemy who had ruined his family for more than ten years and wanted to curse him.

However, noticing Bao Xiruo's tense expression beside him, he felt a mixture of bitterness and resentment, but ultimately refrained from uttering any more curses.

“Your Highness, the signal that the Taoist priest just released was a unique signal of the Quanzhen School. If there were other Quanzhen Taoists around, they would probably all come. Should we take action and rescue the Princess Consort first?” Yu Zhenzi said to Wu Sangui.

Seeing that Chu Luren was not there, he breathed a sigh of relief—before knowing the relationship between Chu Luren and that mysterious expert, Yu Zhenzi did not want to confront him.

Liang Ziweng could no longer contain himself and demanded to know if these scoundrels had stolen his precious snake a few days ago...

But nobody paid any attention to him!

"The thieves have kidnapped the princess and intend to escape. Be careful when you act, lest you harm the princess." Wu Sangui's words were somewhat self-deceptive.

However, his tone was devoid of any inflection, as if it were simply the truth—ultimately different from Wanyan Honglie in the original work, who panicked at this moment.

Yu Zhenzi and the others pretended not to hear anything else, each focusing on "rescuing" the princess.

Chu Luren then covered his face and... used the bone-shrinking technique he had just mastered to make himself taller and thinner!

The "Nine Yin Manual" bone-shrinking technique not only allows for a wider range of bone shrinkage, but also enables the user to maintain 50-60% of their combat power while in a shrunken state. Combined with Chu Luren's "Minor Chaos Technique," which can alter meridians to suit the shrunken physique, it's no problem for the user to unleash 70-80% of their combat power.

Therefore, Chu Luren was somewhat confident that he could make a move while concealing his identity...

Chapter 188 Crisis

At this time, Wang Chuyi was still recovering from serious injuries, and Guo Jing and Yang Tiexin could only be considered ordinary martial arts masters. How could they be a match for Yu Zhenzi, Ouyang Ke, Lingzhi Shangren, Liang Ziweng, and others?

If they had truly kidnapped Bao Xiruo, there might still be some room for negotiation. However, at this point, they clearly wouldn't actually use Bao Xiruo to threaten Wu Sangui...

"Which of you stole my precious snake? Damn it...did you already eat it? You damned bastards, I'll eat you all one by one to make up for it!" Liang Ziweng was so angry that his eyes turned red, as if he really wanted to eat people.

Ouyang Ke, dressed in white, seemed unconcerned and was even whispering and joking with the concubine dressed in men's clothing beside him.

Yu Zhenzi also wanted to be a bit aloof...

However, when the Prince's mansion was attacked before, he, as the "Number One Expert of the Prince's Mansion," performed extremely poorly, so it's not good for him to continue to slack off now.