The Next Day
As the sun began to rise, Gu Qingfeng stepped out of his bedroom. The bloodstains in the backyard from the previous day had been washed away, and Si Tian's body had been dealt with. However, if one looked closely, faint traces of red residue could still be seen.
Having offended King Shenwu, Gu Qingfeng no longer concerned himself with anything else and focused solely on increasing his strength.
The same principle applied:
As long as you are strong enough, all problems become insignificant.
"Yesterday, Si Tian's bones were not just bronze but showed traces of silver, indicating he had been in the middle stage of bone refinement for some time. Yet, even so, he was no match for me in our life-and-death fight," Gu Qingfeng reflected.
This battle proved something: with my current strength, I have the confidence to defeat most warriors at the late stage of bone refinement.
The battle from last night was Gu Qingfeng's first since breaking through the Bone Refining Realm. His martial arts were showing significant results:
One top-level mid-grade martial art was perfected.Two low-grade martial arts had broken past their limits.Another low-grade martial art had been fully mastered.
Having entered the Bone Refining Realm, his strength had far surpassed that of others at the same level.
"Although the Blazing Sun Palm is classified as a mid-level martial art, those who master it and reach the Bone Refining Realm wield power beyond those who practice even top-level arts. It shows how formidable Master Lieyang, who created this art, must have been."
The Blazing Sun Palm tempered one's bones, strengthening them beyond ordinary iron bones. This, combined with the Blood Refining Pills Gu Qingfeng had taken, further enhanced both his cultivation and foundational strength. These pills were superior to most other elixirs and had no side effects, making his foundation even stronger.
At that moment, Gu Yang entered to pay his respects.
"Father, I greet you," he said, bowing.
"You're here," Gu Qingfeng replied, observing him closely. Gu Yang's blood and qi were robust, and his foundation was solid. It was clear he had reached the peak of the skin-refining stage, only half a step away from the Blood Refining Realm.
"With your qi and blood stable, it won't be long before you break through to the Blood Refining Realm. Today, I will teach you two mid-level martial arts. Practice them well," Gu Qingfeng instructed.
"Yes, Father!" Gu Yang's eyes lit up at the mention of mid-level martial arts.
Without wasting words, Gu Qingfeng passed down both the Blazing Sun Palm and the Heavenly Thunder Sword Technique to him.
The Blazing Sun Palm was a powerful and rare martial art, even more precious than many top-level techniques. Gu Qingfeng wouldn't typically teach this art to anyone else, but since Gu Yang was his chosen successor, he held nothing back.
As for the Heavenly Thunder Sword Technique, it was a high-level mid-grade martial art. Gu Qingfeng didn't teach him the Hundred Refinements Golden Body or the Seven Killing Sword Techniques because the former wasn't necessarily better for foundation-building than the Blazing Sun Palm, and the latter required a more advanced level of cultivation to fully utilize its potential.
After handing the secret manual for both martial arts to Gu Yang, Gu Qingfeng also gave him the remaining sixty Blood Refining Pills, which had no further use for himself. Rather than letting them go to waste, he entrusted them to his son.
Gu Yang, after receiving the martial arts and elixirs, respectfully bowed and left.
Gu Qingfeng then fully immersed himself in practicing the Hundred Refinements Golden Body. As he delved deeper into the martial art, he realized that it bore many similarities to the Hunyuan Iron Shirt.
"The Hunyuan Iron Shirt must be a fragment of the Hundred Refinements Golden Body. As expected, the Iron Bone Gang was backed by the Divine Martial King. Even the gang's 'unique' techniques were derived from this art!"
The Hundred Refinements Golden Body had three levels:
The first level: Skin Refining.The second level: Blood Refining.The third level: Bone Refining.
The Hunyuan Iron Shirt's nine stages were essentially a variation of the first two levels of the Hundred Refinements Golden Body. Had Gu Qingfeng not obtained this superior martial art, he would have continued practicing the Hunyuan Iron Shirt. But now that he had, there was no need.
As Gu Qingfeng processed these thoughts, the text on his attribute panel changed. The Hunyuan Iron Shirt disappeared, and the Hundred Refinements Golden Body immediately progressed to the first level.
"So martial arts with the same origins can merge. It seems I've stumbled upon something significant."
With this revelation, Gu Qingfeng devoted all his time to mastering the Hundred Refinements Golden Body, a top-tier martial art that could eventually perfect his golden bones.
At the same time, Gu Qingfeng shared parts of the Hunyuan Iron Shirt with trusted guards in the Gu family, allowing them to practice it. For Meng Peng, a particularly loyal guard, Gu Qingfeng granted the complete Hunyuan Iron Shirt. Now that he had top-tier martial arts at his disposal, Gu Qingfeng no longer saw the need to keep mid-grade techniques tightly guarded. Offering benefits like these only served to strengthen his allies' loyalty.
Half a month later, Si Tian's death had caused no stir, and it seemed the news hadn't spread. Even if it had, Gu Qingfeng didn't care. Would King Shenwu march into Guangyang Prefecture to kill him personally? Unlikely.
During this time, Gu Qingfeng had progressed rapidly in his martial arts. After two weeks, he had already achieved minor success in the first level of the Hundred Refinements Golden Body. With another year of practice, he was confident he could fully master the first level.
Then, one day, the long-silent information panel suddenly refreshed:
"Your offspring, Gu Yang, has broken through to the Blood Refining Realm!""Reward: 50 improvement points!""Reward: 100 Blood Refining Pills!""Reward: 10 Bone Refining Pills!""Reward: the middle-grade martial art 'Tian Gang Hegemon Body'!"
Seeing this, Gu Qingfeng's face brightened with joy.
"Yang Er has broken through!" he exclaimed.
This time, Gu Yang's breakthrough from the peak of skin refining to the initial stage of blood refining was much faster than his previous advancements.
Of course, Gu Qingfeng knew why. He had given Gu Yang almost all of the Blood Refining Pills from before, so it was only natural that his son advanced so quickly.
The most significant difference, however, was the rewards. The last time Gu Yang broke through, Gu Qingfeng had only been granted 10 improvement points. This time, the reward had jumped to 50 points, a substantial increase.
This confirmed one thing:
The higher the realm of the breakthrough, the greater the rewards.
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