Chapter 58 - 57: Refining Viscera Woman, Bone Forging Limit

Xu Guang collected the corpses in the rear. He didn’t even bother looking to see who had ultimately taken the Secret Manual, nor did he care. He even wondered if he should throw out a few more rubbings.

The unexpected turn of events came faster and far more fiercely than Xu Guang had imagined.

Before dawn broke, Xu Guang saw boats of all sizes swarming like ants across the Wei River, sailing toward the East Shore. Soldiers wearing elite Armor stood on the bows of the ships, gripping spears with chilling murderous intent.

"Has the news... already spread?" he thought. "They must have gone to find Cheng Shan to verify if the Cultivation Technique actually exists, right? It seems I need to head back as soon as possible. After all, the Feiyun City Three Guards are on the verge of war with the Yellow Heaven Sect. Since my current status is still a Mercenary, I’ll be part of the first wave of cannon fodder sent to the front lines. I should get back early so I don’t attract any unwanted attention."

With his mind racing, Xu Guang cast a reluctant glance at the corpses littering the road ahead.

"Blood Refining is still a bit too slow."

Letting go of his lingering regrets, he turned and sprinted toward Eagle’s Beak in the distance. He was familiar with the environment here. Moreover, no one would choose to cross the river from this spot, meaning he could slip back into the city completely unnoticed.

He was about to perform Refinement on the blood of the corpse in front of him before leaving. Just as he bent down, he abruptly spun around and shouted in a low voice, "You’ve been following me for a while now. It’s time to show yourself."

Today’s Blood Refining had been done while trailing a group of lunatics. To prevent his secret from being exposed, Xu Guang had been extraordinarily cautious during every Blood Refining session, almost to the point of paranoia. He couldn’t even remember how many times he had called out that exact phrase tonight.

He thought this time would go as smoothly as before, but to his surprise, a rustling sound echoed from the woods. It was as if someone standing on a branch had been forced to reveal their position by his shout. Without even looking, Xu Guang hurled a Flying Dragon Dart from his hand. It transformed into a blur, exceptionally bright and brilliantly radiant against the night sky.

CRACK!

The dart severed the branch, and a figure drifted down from the tree in an incredibly graceful manner.

It was a woman—one whose figure alone was enough to prove her stunning allure. In truth, aside from a few Abnormal People or women who cultivated special Cultivation Techniques, any female with a high level of Cultivation possessed an excellent figure.

Xu Guang narrowed his eyes, his heart skipping a beat.

"I can’t see her Combat Power information..." he realized. "She’s at the Refining Viscera realm!"

"How did you spot me?" the woman suddenly asked. Her voice was as crisp as an oriole’s song, echoing like a clear spring flowing through the mountains, easily evoking wild fantasies in any listener’s mind.

Beneath the bamboo hat completely obscuring his face, Xu Guang’s expression was already extremely grave. He didn’t want to clash with this person. With his current strength, his chances of winning against an Expert in Refining Viscera Martial Arts were far too low.

"Sixth sense," he replied with absolute indifference.

The woman chuckled, giving Xu Guang a meaningful look. "Can you tell me what exactly you are trying to do with those corpses? You search them so meticulously, even inspecting their internal organs, yet you still bother to arrange their bodies. It’s truly bizarre."

Xu Guang slowly breathed a sigh of relief. "It seems she hasn’t discovered my secret of Blood Refining," he thought. Aloud, he said, "I just wanted to see if these men left any valuables behind, that’s all."

The woman shook her head in disbelief. The next moment, she lunged forward explosively. Her body rubbed against the air, producing an eerie sonic boom as she transformed into a Black Shadow, closing in on Xu Guang.

"I despise little men who refuse to tell the truth!"

Xu Guang had felt a sense of crisis the moment the woman appeared. Thus, the instant she opened her mouth, he abruptly spun on his heel and fled into the distance.

The woman missed her target, a strange look surfacing on her face. "This kid’s vigilance is way too high. And this speed... There’s something weird going on! I only noticed him earlier because of a peculiar aura around him that piqued my curiosity. But now it seems..."

The two clashed in mid-air and instantly parted. Xu Guang staggered three steps back, while the woman remained completely motionless. However, shock flickered across the woman’s face. She wasn’t an ordinary Refining Viscera expert, yet this kid before her had actually managed to block her attack. Even though it was a casual strike, it was astonishing enough.

"This man is hiding a huge secret!"

The woman licked her lips, then relentlessly gave chase in the direction Xu Guang had fled. One leading and the other pursuing, the two darted and weaved through the woods like a pair of humanoid bats.

Xu Guang felt a surge of anger. He had no idea why this crazy woman refused to let him go. That brief clash just now had forced him to use eighty percent of his strength, and the result was less than ideal. If he played all his trump cards, he could kill this woman, but doing so would attract unwanted attention. He didn’t want to stir up trouble.

So, he kept running forward. Catching sight of a scattering of Martial Artists in the distance, an idea flashed in his mind. He suddenly yelled at the top of his lungs, "The woman behind me has the Cultivation Technique for the Eight Desolates Invincible Scripture! She’s trying to silence me! Everyone, save me! I know where the missing Chapters of the Eight Desolates Invincible Scripture are!"

With just one sentence, the surrounding Martial Artists instantly locked their attention onto Xu Guang. They immediately abandoned whatever it was they had been searching for.

"Don’t be afraid, little brother! Tell us clearly, what does she have in her hands?"

Naturally, Xu Guang ignored them. When Martial World People roamed the Martial World, they could sometimes be as calm as foxes, but the vast majority of the time, they were as greedy as wolves!

The woman stood on a distant branch, her face dark as she glared at Xu Guang with eyes brimming with murderous intent. But then, she seemed to remember something. Her identity could not be exposed. There were simply too many Martial World People in the woods. If she made a move, there was no way she could silence them all.

Ten breaths later, she turned and left.

Watching the woman gracefully depart, the Martial Artists in the woods naturally wanted to pursue her. However, she was already far away, and as an Expert in Refining Viscera Martial Arts, even if speed wasn’t her strong suit, she was still much faster than any of them.

Meanwhile, Xu Guang’s path was blocked by a crowd of Martial World People. His expression remained completely unfazed, but a cold glint flickered in his heart.

"Little brother, that woman is gone. You’re safe now. So, how about you tell us exactly where those missing Chapters are?"

Xu Guang scoffed internally. Outwardly, he said, "Of course. I don’t know how many of you there are, but I’ll take you there."

"Come on, all of you," he thought. "I don’t know why that woman left, but it boils down to a few possible reasons. The most logical one is that her identity can’t bear to see the light of day. With so many people around, I refuse to believe she’ll dare to chase me."

A massive group of nearly thirty people marched grandly through Lin Zi. Xu Guang was surrounded in the middle. As if worried he might run away, several burly men kept their guards up, watching his every move. After all, the speed he had displayed earlier was genuinely quite astonishing. Turning a blind eye to all this, Xu Guang calmly led the way forward.

A short while later, they arrived at the banks of the Wei River, but not at Eagle’s Beak. An eerie smile tugged at Xu Guang’s lips. He didn’t look at the mob of thugs surrounding him; instead, he gazed into the distant Lin Zi. The very next second, he darted through the crowd and leaped straight into the Wei River.

SPLASH!

Having been born in a village on the banks of the Wei River, Xu Guang was an excellent swimmer. Moreover, since he had spent a significant amount of time hunting River Woe recently, he felt like a fish back in water. He also had a fair understanding of the troublesome Exotic Beasts lurking within the Wei River. Furthermore, after cultivating the Beidou Fist, he felt that he could exert up to sixty percent of his Combat Power underwater—a truly terrifying ratio.

Poking his head out of the water, Xu Guang observed what was happening on the cliff. The Martial World People exchanged bewildered glances, their eyes scanning the water’s surface as if trying to locate him.

However, on a distant mountain peak stood several Black Shadows. One of them possessed a slender and graceful figure—it was clearly the Refining Viscera woman who had been hunting him down!

Xu Guang’s eyes grew heavy. Plunging his head back underwater, he swam away at full speed.

It was already near dawn when he entered the Outer City. The gates to the Inner City hadn’t opened yet, so he had to wait for more than an hour before they were fully unbarred.

"Husband, why didn’t you come home last night?" Ji Xiaolu hurried over and asked in a low voice the moment she saw Xu Guang.

Xu Guang gently squeezed her small hand, silently assuring her not to worry. "Mother doesn’t know I went out, does she?"

"She asked, but I told her you just woke up and went out."

"That’s good."

Hai hopped and pranced around the couple like a dog eager for a reward. Xu Guang swatted it aside with an open palm. "Get out of here."

"Oh, Husband, don’t always be so mean to Hai. It’s very well-behaved," she scolded gently.

Just after the family had finished lunch, Wang Ming hurried in from outside, an anxious expression plastered across his face.

"Erlang, something terrible has happened!"

Xu Guang felt calm on the inside, but he feigned a bit of anxiety on his face. "What happened this time?"

Wang Ming glanced at Ji Xiaolu and Mrs. Xu in the distance before whispering, "News came from the Government Office. A huge incident occurred on the other side of the river. The Yellow Heaven Sect obtained a peerless Cultivation Technique capable of turning people into Abnormal People. Word is that it was secretly hoarded by a Martial Artist from our city. The City Guard’s Mansion has already sent men across the river...

"I’m worried that chaos will break out outside the city. With your status as a Mercenary, you’re bound to be sent to the absolute front lines. How about you take Lu, Mrs. Xu, Chun’Er, and Wen, and leave the city ahead of time?"

Xu Guang’s face showed his genuine touch of emotion. Perhaps because Wang Ming received little familial warmth within the Wang Family, he truly cared for Xu Guang’s well-being. Xu Guang gave a slight shake of his head. Knowing the true background of the Eight Desolates Invincible Scripture, he understood that this Cultivation Technique would only serve as a fuse. Small-scale skirmishes might break out, but a massive war was highly unlikely.

Usually, it would only escalate into a full-blown war if some highly important figure died during those minor skirmishes. But if the Yellow Heaven Sect could tolerate even the death of the Jade Elephant Canon Seat, what else could they not endure?

Therefore, he wasn’t worried that the Cultivation Technique would trigger a major war. There was no immediate need for his mother and Lu to flee. Besides...

"Even if we left, where could we possibly go?" he thought.

"Wang Ming, do you really think I’m that terrified of death? Don’t forget, I’m stronger than you now!"

"Screw you. It’s been a long time since we sparred. Who knows if you’re actually strong or just faking it," Wang Ming retorted stubbornly.

He then glanced around and lowered his voice. "Take my words seriously. Let me tell you something else: outside the city... someone is eating people to advance their Cultivation!"

Xu Guang’s expression shifted slightly.

A few days later, Xu Guang received news that Cheng Shan had been locked up in the dungeons of the City Guard’s Mansion. He breathed a sigh of relief.

Now that he had an abundant supply of Essence Blood, he cast aside his reservations and immediately commenced his rapid Bone Forging method. Enduring several times the normal consumption rate, his Bone Forging through the Beidou Skill reached the Realm of Great Perfection.

Through continuous consumption of River of Sorrow Blood, the width of his meridians had long since expanded to an unimaginable degree, multiplying his cultivation speed many times over. The Flying Dragon Skill was the fourth Cultivation Technique he had taken up. Although the circulation of its vital energy and blood differed slightly, the underlying principles were interconnected. After a few practice runs, he fully mastered it, increasing his speed several times over once again.

He suspected that the next time he practiced a Bone Forging Technique, as long as he didn’t care about the consumption rate of Essence Blood, he might be able to master a Cultivation Technique to the Great Bone Forging Perfection within three days.

However, at the same time, he discovered a problem.

And that was... his body had reached its absolute limit. When the Beidou Skill’s Bone Forging phase hit around eighty percent, his physical strength plateaued at the force of ten thousand catties and ceased to grow. By the time it reached ninety percent, he couldn’t even feel the slightest change in his physique.

Sensing his body’s condition, a look of disappointment washed over his face.

His Physique Attribute had also reached 20. This seemed to be a hard cap. At the very least, he had a gut feeling that his Physique would not increase any further before he broke through to Refining Viscera.

He immediately engaged in Introspection. A thick layer of viscous, blood-red light clung to every single bone in his body, glittering brilliantly under the Celestial Eye. The sensation was akin to an impenetrable mucous membrane. It felt somewhat similar to Stone Skin, except that Stone Skin was an innate Bloodline Power, whereas these blood-bones seemed more like a mutation triggered by strengthening his skeletal structure to its current limit.

Even though his strength was no longer increasing, this viscous membrane coating his blood-bones still appeared capable of further growth. He had a feeling that this blood-membrane would bring about an absolutely terrifying transformation for him.

"But I still need to cultivate one more Cultivation Technique... There’s still enough time."

It just so happened that the Searcher’s search cycle was also nearing its end. Feeling the somewhat depleted reserves of Essence Blood within his Blood Eye, a strange gleam flickered in Xu Guang’s eyes.

"It’s time to head back to the banks of the Wei River and collect some corpses."

According to his estimates, he had consumed roughly a hundred drops of Essence Blood while cultivating the Golden Willow Skill. The second time took nearly two hundred drops. Since the cost doubled every single time, he was still somewhat short if he wanted to cultivate a fifth technique.

"I hope I can score a massive haul this time, so I can break through to Refining Viscera without any lingering worries."