infodatos Chapter 86 Minor Success in Bone Refinement, Sword Drawn
Chapter 86 Minor Success in Bone Refinement, Sword Drawn
The ink on the document was still fresh, and the list of team leaders was clearly displayed.
The leader who ranked first was none other than Deputy Commander Pei Shifeng.
"I hope he's easy to get along with and won't cause any conflict with me! I don't want to mess with Pei Changyuan!"
Chen Yu recalled Lu Xiaoyu's reminder and had a vague sense of unease.
"We've only finalized the team leader list so far; there are still three days before the team assembles and departs."
"The young master is quite cautious; he didn't send anyone away rashly, but instead allowed three days for preparation."
"She may want to observe the situation further, or perhaps the Sword Guard is short-handed and the group that just returned from the mission needs to rest."
Chen Yu tucked the document into his sleeve, stood up, and pushed open the door to enter the courtyard.
With a major battle imminent, there's no time for idle thoughts.
Since there were still three days left, he would dedicate those three days entirely to martial arts training.
The more cultivation one has, the greater the chance of returning alive.
This principle never needs to be taught by others.
The Sixth Academy of the Sword Guards was very spacious and fully equipped with training equipment.
Along the east wall, there was a row of weapon racks, with long spears, short knives, iron swords, and bronze maces arranged in order.
In the corner of the courtyard stood stone locks and iron-clad wooden stakes of varying sizes.
Han Tieshan is out on business and has not yet returned.
Fang Dachuan and Zhao Siping were sitting on the veranda, with towels draped over their knees to wipe their sweat, chatting idly.
Seeing Chen Yu stride over, the two knew he was about to practice his skills again, and their faces lit up with anticipation. They sat up straight and looked over with great interest.
Chen Yu stood firm and took off his outer robe.
The thin autumn sun shone down, illuminating his bare upper body.
The muscle lines are not exaggerated, but they are firm like the roots of an old tree, containing a power that is ready to be unleashed.
"The Spirit Tiger Crouchs on the Mountain!"
He slowly lowered himself, his toes gripping the ground.
With knees slightly bent and back arched, one's mind sinks downwards.
This is the posture of a tiger lying in ambush.
The Spirit Tiger Skill is derived from the true essence of the fierce tiger!
The tiger is the king of beasts, and its power is in its very bones.
Ordinary wild beasts rely on explosive muscle power to pounce and kill.
But the tiger has another level of existence.
Tiger bones are hollow yet tough, extremely light yet extremely hard.
It can withstand tremendous impacts during a pounce, and its massive body can move silently through the forest.
The Spirit Tiger Skill originated from this.
With practice, one can refine human bones to resemble the essence of tiger bones.
"roar!"
Chen Yu closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and a very low, muffled sound came from his chest, like a tiger or leopard growling in its chest and abdomen.
The sound did not come from the throat.
Instead, it is the breath that vibrates and circulates between the internal organs and bones.
After rolling around in the chest cavity, it emerged from the body as a faint rumble.
"Tiger's Fury: Thunderous Sound!"
"A tiger leaps and crouches!"
"A tiger crouching, a dragon coiled!"
[Five Elements Health Preservation Exercise - Tiger Chapter: Experience Points +5]
[Five Elements Health Preservation Exercise - Tiger Chapter: Experience Points +5]
……
After practicing the technique three times in a row, Chen Yu looked at the technique panel.
【Technique Section (Tier 2 33%)】
[Exercise Method]: Five Elements Nourishing Life Exercise - Spirit Tiger Chapter
[Quality]: Superior Tier 1
[Status]: Equipped
[Progress]: 5th floor (60/100)
[Equipment Requirements]: None
[Equipment Effect]: Cultivation will surely lead to success, once proven, forever, progress is visible, cultivation efficiency +40%.
"It's almost here, it's almost here!"
Chen Yu thought to himself.
"Once you reach the sixth level of the Spirit Tiger Technique, you'll have achieved minor success in bone refining, and it won't be long before that happens."
"Reaching the ninth level of the Spirit Tiger Technique signifies the mastery of Bone Refinement; only after completing all twelve levels can one achieve the perfection of Bone Refinement!"
"With this period of practice, reaching the sixth level and achieving minor success in Bone Refinement should be no problem!"
……
Two days passed quickly.
Chen Yu practiced his skills day and night, and finally broke through to the sixth level of the Spirit Tiger Skill.
[Exercise Method]: Five Elements Nourishing Life Exercise - Spirit Tiger Chapter
[Progress]: Sixth floor (5/100)
With the breakthrough to the sixth level of the Spirit Tiger Technique, Chen Yu's body began to change.
"Click-clack!"
The spine gradually straightens out.
Starting from the coccyx, the joints grind upwards one by one.
When the sound reaches the thoracic vertebrae, it becomes thinner and denser.
"Click!"
The joints opened and closed one by one, creating a series of soft, rustling sounds.
All the way up to the cervical spine, the seven vertebrae were pulled out one by one.
Turbid sweat seeped from the pores.
It was fine and murky, with a faint but pungent smell of blood.
Fang Dachuan and Zhao Siping, who were originally sitting, are now standing up straight.
"Impurities are being forced out from between the bones... Is this bone tempering?"
The two were only at the Tendon Refining Realm and had never seen such a scene before. They exchanged a glance, said nothing more, and simultaneously took half a step back.
Chen Yu walked up to the iron training stake and punched it directly.
The twenty-four vertebrae suddenly exerted force, pouring all the bone energy of the body into them.
"Buzz!"
The entire iron stake emitted a deep hum, like an ancient bell being struck, the echo lingering in the courtyard for a long time.
Zhao Siping bent down and picked up a piece of blue brick.
Holding it with both hands, he stepped forward and said respectfully, "Commander, I dare to give it a try."
Before he finished speaking, he raised his hand and smashed the brick towards Chen Yu's ribs.
"call!"
The sound of something cutting through the air came whistling in.
Chen Yu didn't even turn around to look.
Just as the brick was about to hit him, he contracted and expanded his chest and abdomen, causing his ribs to stretch outwards.
"Bang!"
The blue brick struck the ribs and shattered into four pieces.
Fang Dachuan gasped.
Zhao Siping's hands were still in front of him, and he was deeply shocked.
"Ribbones like iron, spine like a dragon... Commander, could this be the initial success of bone training?"
"It doesn't hurt at all! My defense has increased significantly, let's see how my strength increases!"
As Chen Yu spoke, he turned and walked toward the stone lock by the wall.
Those were used by Cai Zhongtie to train his strength; even the smallest one weighed over 500 jin (250 kg).
Chen Yu bent down and gripped the handle with one hand.
With a slight straightening of his back, the stone lock lifted off the ground, was raised to his chest, and with a flick of his wrist, gently rested on his shoulder.
"Too light, no fun!"
After searching for a long time, the heaviest one weighed only a little over 1,200 pounds.
"This portion is worth trying."
With a little effort, Chen Yu lifted it up, then flipped his wrist and tossed it into the air.
"call out!"
The stone lock spun and roared upwards, flying to a height of ten zhang (approximately 33 meters), then paused slightly before accelerating its descent.
Just as the stone lock was about ten feet off the ground, Chen Yu stepped forward, twisted his waist and sat down, and brought his right fist under his ribs.
At the moment the stone lock fell.
"ha!"
A punch was thrown out into the air.
The force of the punch penetrated to the bone, striking the stone lock squarely in the center.
"Bang!"
The stone lock, weighing over 1,200 jin (approximately 600 kg), exploded with a
Pebbles flew everywhere, and dust rose into a white mist.
Only a few larger fragments remained on the ground, rolling far away.
"Ahem!"
Zhao Siping and Fang Dachuan were choked by the stone powder and had to take two steps back.
When they came to their senses, the expressions on their faces turned into a kind of fanatical awe.
"A specially made stone lock weighing 1,200 jin... shattered with a single punch?"
Zhao Siping was dumbfounded.
"Am I seeing things? This can be done with just one punch?"
Fang Dachuan rushed to the pile of rubble, squatted down, picked up a fragment, and weighed it in his hand.
"This is made from a single piece of black granite, not a hollow object... Commander, just how much force did you use in that punch?"
Chen Yu slowly withdrew his fist, his sleeves still fluttering slightly, and said in a calm tone, "Not much."
"That's not much?"
Zhao Siping's voice suddenly rose.
"I've heard my master say that the standard for entering the bone tempering stage is having a strength exceeding a thousand jin! This punch shattered a twelve-hundred-jin stone lock; that's at least a proper minor success in bone tempering!"
Fang Dachuan suddenly stood up.
"The strength of someone who has achieved minor bone refinement is at least 1,200 jin... No wonder, no wonder the heaviest stone lock in this courtyard is only 1,200 jin, and no one prepares anything heavier."
"It's not that we didn't want to prepare it, but that before this, no one needed a stone weight heavier than 1,200 jin."
Zhao Siping threw the rubble in his hand to the ground and turned to look at Chen Yu.
"Commander, how much force did you use in that punch just now? Seventy percent? Fifty percent? I can tell, you definitely didn't use your full strength!"
Fang Dachuan also became excited, his voice trembling.
"I've been practicing my tendon-strengthening technique for three years now, and I still can't even lift a 600-pound stone lock properly. Yet, my commander can shatter a 1200-pound one with a single punch... The gap between us is greater than the gap between a human and a dog."
He paused for a moment, as if remembering something, and then quickly added.
"No, no, I'm not insulting myself. I mean, Commander, you've already surpassed the initial stage of Bone Refinement."
"Your strength is definitely more than 1200 jin! I think you've already reached the Great Perfection of Bone Refinement! Maybe you'll be able to break through to the Perfection of Bone Refinement in a while!"
Seeing how adept Fang Dachuan was at flattering him, Zhao Siping was not to be outdone.
His fists clenched tightly, his voice almost a roar: "Impact what? The commander just shattered in mid-air! His fist shattered the moment it touched the stone! This is the external release of inner energy! This is no ordinary Bone Refinement Perfection stage!"
The two of them talked back and forth, getting more and more excited and absurd with each word.
From "perfecting bone refinement" all the way to "maybe I can establish my own sect", and from "establishing my own sect" to "after two more years of training, I'll be invincible throughout the city".
Chen Yu finally couldn't listen anymore and raised his hand to rub his temples.
"Alright."
As soon as he opened his mouth, the two of them immediately shut up.
But the light in his eyes didn't diminish at all; in fact, it became even brighter.
Chen Yu glanced at the rubble on the ground, then looked at his unharmed right fist.
"It would be best to have a few heavy stone locks in the courtyard; the ones we have now are completely inadequate."
He could sense that his current strength was around 1,500 jin.
Thanks to the power of the Five Elements Nourishing Life Technique, even though he has only achieved minor success in Bone Refinement, his strength is about 300 jin greater than others.
Even a weaker Bone Refinement Master might not be able to defeat him in terms of strength.
……
Three days passed quickly, and the day of assembly arrived.
On a crisp autumn morning, the chill seeped up from the ground inch by inch.
Before dawn, only a sliver of cold, white light shone through the eastern mountain ridge.
Inside the main courtyard of the Sword Guard Hall, the black banners embroidered with silver were half-lit and half-shadowed.
Beneath the flagpole, one hundred and fifty sword guards stood in formation like a mountain.
"Commander, the troops from all three courtyards have arrived."
Deputy Commander Pei Shifeng rode his horse to the very front of the formation.
The nearly ten-foot-long, dark spear in his hand pointed diagonally at the ground.
The crimson horse beneath him was over nine feet tall, its body a deep red like a dark fire, yet its four hooves were snow-white as if treading on frost.
The horse raised its head and exhaled, its mane fluttering wildly in the cold wind, its bright black eyes reflecting the cold light of countless spears in the formation.
Behind Pei Shifeng, three people and three horses stood in a row.
Chen Yu was positioned on the left, and he and the other two sword guard commanders were all dressed in black uniforms.
One hundred and fifty sword guards stood behind him, their spears held upright, like a silent black forest.
In the center of the formation, the black camp flag was suddenly unfurled by the morning breeze.
Commander Jin Sining, clad in black robes and with silver hair, stood beneath the banner, ready to issue orders at any moment.
There was a moment of silence.
"Ding!"
Jin Sining pushed the longsword at her waist out a little bit, and the blade rubbed against the scabbard, producing a clear, metallic hum.
He gazed at the formation in front of him, his eyes extending towards the distant courtyard gate, and uttered two words from his thin lips.
"Set off!"
Pei Shifeng suddenly raised his spear, the tip drawing a cold glint in the air.
At the same time, the Crimson Horse let out a long neigh, raised its front hooves and then stomped them down heavily, making a dull thud on the ground.
"Set off!"
One hundred and fifty sword guards acted simultaneously.
Pei Shifeng, who was at the front, was the first to pass through the courtyard gate, followed closely by Chen Yu and the other two.
One hundred and fifty elite cavalrymen, like heavy swords drawn from their sheaths, slowly disappeared into the yellow earthen road leading into the distance outside the manor gate.
……
On the official road twenty miles outside Sunset City, three mule carts were overturned by the roadside, their chests and boxes overturned, and cloth and grain scattered all over the ground.
The murder gang is robbing people here.
The gang leader used his knife to pick up an embroidered money pouch from Long Xuan's hand and laughed heartily.
"Is that all you have? You old fool, your life isn't even worth a few taels of silver in my pocket!"
"Hahaha!"
The henchmen next to them joined in the laughter.
A bandit with a pointed mouth and monkey-like face tapped the carriage shaft with the back of his knife.
"Brother, this old man's got no money to be made, but this little boy's not bad looking!"
As he spoke, he reached out and pulled towards the back of the wheel.
"Aaaaaah!"
The boy screamed and backed away.
He hadn't taken more than a few steps when another bandit grabbed his sleeve, scaring him so much that he trembled all over and couldn't even cry out.
Wen Chenyu was pinned to the back by Xiang Longxuan, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth as he pleaded.
"Hero, spare my life... Take all the silver, but spare my grandson..."
"Spare me?"
Xiang Longxuan slung the knife over his shoulder, grinned, and bent down.
"We've been blocking your way all morning, and this little bit of stuff isn't even enough for a drink for us brothers! Spare your son? Fine!"
He pointed the tip of his knife at the young woman.
"Leave her here, and you can all get out!"
"Ha ha ha ha!"
"Seriously? Bro, you actually like this?"
"Something's not right. Doesn't my older brother always like little boys?"
"Does this mean they want a change of pace? But this flavor is way too strong!"
"Ha ha ha ha!"
The henchmen laughed even louder.
Some people were whistling, and some were slapping their thighs.
Some even imitated Wen Chenyu's crying voice, calling out "Hero, spare my life!" in a strange tone, which amused the group of bandits so much that they doubled over with laughter.
The only dozen or so able-bodied men in the caravan were all killed.
The remaining people huddled behind the car, the woman clutching her child tightly to her chest, not daring to even breathe.
Wen Chenyu closed his eyes, and two streams of turbid tears slid from the corners of his eyes into the soil.
He only regretted his carelessness in failing to keep up with the main group.
If they hadn't been separated from the main headquarters, they wouldn't have ended up like this.
Xiang Longxuan mounted his horse and was about to put the money bag into his pocket when he suddenly stopped.
The skinny horse he was riding started to get restless, its ears twitching frequently and its hooves pawing the ground.
A rhythmic vibration came from the ground.
Immediately following, a continuous low rumble, like muffled thunder rolling across the sky, rolled over the ground inch by inch.
The gravel by the roadside began to tremble slightly in the dust.
The bandits' laughter stopped one by one.
"What's that noise?"
The sharp-tongued bandit turned his head to look towards the official road, his knife hanging down.
"What's the panic? Today, our Killer Gang is here. Whoever comes, we'll kill them!"
"I'd like to see which fool is rushing here to their death!"
Xiang Longxuan frowned, about to continue cursing, when he suddenly saw the dust rising at the end of the official road.
And the first flag to break through the smoke and dust, with a black background, silver patterns, and a sword-shaped emblem.
"clang!"
Xiang Longxuan's face froze, and the long sword slipped from his hand and fell straight to the ground.
"Black...black flag..."
The voice of one of the henchmen behind him suddenly became shrill.
"Black flag sword markings! It's the Sword Forging Manor! The Sword Guard Hall!"
Upon hearing the three large characters "Sword Guard Hall," the bandits instantly erupted in chaos.
"Sword Guard Hall? How could it be the Sword Guard Hall? Why would they take this route?"
"Run! Run!"
"Why are you running! Where do you think you're going! Look, look how many people there are!"
More and more sword-guard cavalrymen emerged from the dust and smoke.
One row, two rows, three rows... Black clothes, black horses, long spears like a forest.
"Wow!"
The bandit who had been yelling and laughing strangely just moments before suddenly collapsed to the ground, his legs giving way.
"Run! The real killers are here!"
The thug next to him was even worse off; he turned and ran, but bumped into his companion, and the two of them tumbled to the ground.
"Ugh! You jerk!"
Some people even instinctively gripped their knives tighter.
But seeing the row of spear tips standing like a forest in front of him, his hand loosened, the knife fell to the ground, and he knelt down.
Xiang Longxuan's brain finally reacted.
"Ooh ooh ooh!"
He yelled three times and turned to run away.
But he forgot that he was still riding a horse.
The skinny horse was so frightened that its legs went weak, and it stumbled and threw him off.
"It's the Sword Guards...it really is the Sword Guards...run! Run!"
One hundred and fifty black riders turned onto the side road, their formation slowly unfolding like a black fan.
The bandits completely collapsed the moment they made contact.
Xiang Longxuan screamed as he crawled backward.
"Don't kill me! Don't kill me! I didn't do anything! I didn't do anything!"
Wen Chenyu looked up and saw Xiang Longxuan scrambling and crawling as he fled into the depths of the side path.
Then, a sword guard commander casually tossed a long spear, pinning him to the ground.
It was Chen Yu who made the move. After struggling for a few moments, Xiang Longxuan quickly died.
The merchants knelt blankly beside the overturned mule cart, looking up at Chen Yu as he pressed down on them.
In just a few dozen breaths, there wasn't a single bandit left alive on the side road.
The little boy tugged at Wen Chenyu's sleeve, trembling, and asked in a shaky voice.
"Grandpa...whose troops are these...whose army are these?"
Wen Chenyu was helped up, his whole body still trembling.
He gazed at the black flag with sword patterns that gradually disappeared into the dust and smoke.
"Black flag... sword markings... this is the Sword Guard Hall of the Sword Forging Manor!"
"The Sword Guard Hall is amazing! They wiped out those bandits in no time! When I grow up, I want to be like them!"
Wen Chenyu came to his senses, looked at his grandson, and his face was full of relief at surviving the ordeal.
"Definitely, definitely! You are the 'seed of fire' chosen by the Holy Fire Cult!"
"Once we make contact with the main altar, we'll let you learn martial arts. Under the illumination of the sacred flame, your strength will definitely surpass theirs!"