Name: Gu Qingfeng
Age: 29/80
Realm: Late Stage Refining Skin
Martial Arts: Mountain Shattering Fist (Great Success), Iron Body Skills (Not entered)
Upgrade Points: 1
——
In his bedroom, Gu Qingfeng glanced at his attribute panel and noticed that the Martial Arts section already had the words "Iron Body Skills" added.
At the same time.
In the Item Bar, a thin Secret Manual had been added, which was the Iron Body Skills.
This was another function of the Item Bar.
As long as it was an awarded item, it could be retrieved from the Item Bar and also put back into it, but non-awarded items could not enter the Item Bar.
Even so.
It saved a lot of convenience.
Afterward.
Gu Qingfeng, looking at the newly added Upgrade Point, already had an idea in mind.
"Forget about the Iron Body Skills for now, I'll upgrade Mountain Shattering Fist to Perfection first!"
Mountain Shattering Fist Perfection!
His own cultivation would be able to break through to Refining Skin Perfection.
In today's Lin County, Refining Skin Perfection was already quite extraordinary.
To say it's top-notch.
Wasn't too far off.
Immediately.
Gu Qingfeng thought moved, and he applied that extra Upgrade Point directly to Mountain Shattering Fist.
In an instant.
A vast amount of knowledge about Mountain Shattering Fist surged into Gu Qingfeng's mind, as if he had been practicing it hard for decades, making the skin on his hands become rougher and much thicker.
The skin was tough.
Ordinary swords would have difficulty causing harm.
"Refining Skin Perfection, achieved!"
Gu Qingfeng took a deep breath, his eyes flashing with sharp light.
With his talent, under normal cultivation, stepping into Refining Skin Perfection would take at least several decades to have a chance.
But now.
He had broken through to Refining Skin Perfection in just about a dozen years.
Now.
Having stepped into Refining Skin Perfection, Gu Qingfeng felt his current strength, compared to before his breakthrough, was an entirely different concept.
Refining Skin Martial Artists mainly tempered their bodies to become tough enough that ordinary swords would have difficulty causing harm.
However.
Ordinary Refining Skin Martial Artists, although much tougher than common people, weren't to the level where swords and blades would hardly injure them, only Refining Skin Perfection could reach such a level.
"Refining Skin Perfection, next is to breakthrough to the Blood Refining Realm!"
"However, this level of breakthrough, without corresponding Martial Arts, would be difficult to improve, and whether the Golden Bull Martial Arts Hall has any mid-level Martial Arts for breaking through the Blood Refining is also not known.
Even if Golden Bull Martial Arts Hall does have such Martial Arts, it's unlikely they would let outsiders practice it!"
Martial Arts are the foundation of a power; do not think that by joining a martial arts hall and paying some Silver one could learn Martial Arts, in reality, every Martial Arts hall has its own secret techniques.
Such secret techniques cannot be obtained by simply paying some Silver.
Moreover.
It was unknown whether Golden Bull Martial Arts Hall had any mid-level Martial Arts to breakthrough Blood Refining.
After all.
There haven't been any Blood Refining Martial Artists seen from Golden Bull Martial Arts Hall.
Don't even mention the Golden Bull Martial Arts Hall.
Even in all of Lin County, Gu Qingfeng had never heard of the existence of a Blood Refining Martial Artist.
...
The next day.
Gu Qingfeng left home and headed toward the direction of the Golden Bull Martial Arts Hall, and on the way, he found many civilians gathered in a certain place, whispering discussions with occasional expressions of fear on their faces.
"Tsk, this family died so horribly!"
"Is it because they provoked some kind of enemy?"
"Are you joking? What kind of enemy could do something like this? In my opinion, it must be something unclean..."
Listening to the discussions of the other civilians, Gu Qingfeng saw several constables come out with swords drawn, dispersing the onlooking crowd.
"Move along, move along, don't gather here!"
Seeing the constables expelling the crowd, the other civilians didn't dare to oppose the officials and hurriedly scattered.
At that moment.
Several more constables came out carrying stretchers covered with white cloths, and suddenly a chill breeze blew by, causing the white cloth on one of the stretchers to be lifted, revealing the corpse of a middle-aged man with a green complexion, bulging pupils, and a stiff expression.
The man's chest was torn open with a bloody hole, and all his five internal organs had been completely removed. The body emitted the smell of putrid decay, instinctively making one want to vomit.
Upon seeing this corpse, Gu Qingfeng's pupils also sharply constricted.
Especially when locking eyes with the dead man's unblinking stare, a strange and ominous cold feeling emerged from the bottom of his heart, making Gu Qingfeng unconsciously quicken his steps to leave.
Even so, the face of the deceased, as well as the conversation of the surrounding civilians, still echoed in his mind.
Something unclean...
Gu Qingfeng shook his head, took a deep breath, and dismissed all the stray thoughts from his mind.
Arriving at the Golden Bull Martial Arts Hall.
Gu Qingfeng began his daily instruction of apprentices, and during his leisure, he also listened to some discussions among the apprentices during their breaks.
Most of these conversations were mundane chit-chat, but some particular words made Gu Qingfeng listen involuntarily.
Unclean!
Eerie!
...
Gu Qingfeng looked at the person speaking; it was a sixteen or seventeen-year-old youth, he remembered the boy's name.
Li Niu!
An ordinary name, and his talents were equally ordinary. He had joined the martial arts hall for over a year but had never succeeded in entering Martial Arts, had never joined the ranks of the Refining Skin Martial Artists.
"Li Niu, come here a moment."
The voice of Gu Qingfeng caused the group that was chatting to pause, then the youth called Li Niu walked over, bowing respectfully.
"Instructor Gu, do you need anything?"
Li Niu asked cautiously.
As he spoke, he was also faintly excited in his heart, wondering if he had caught the eye of the instructor.
After all, in novels and storybooks, it was common for a poor boy to be noticed by a hidden expert, and then be taught martial skills that would take them straight to the heavens.
In the eyes of an ordinary apprentice like Li Niu, Instructor Gu Qingfeng of the Golden Bull Martial Arts Hall was no different from a hidden expert.
"Just now I heard you talk about something unclean and eerie, so I wanted to ask if you know something about it?"
Hearing Gu Qingfeng's question, a visible disappointment crossed Li Niu's face, but he quickly recovered and enthusiastically replied.
"Instructor Gu might not know, but these past few days in the county there have been several households who have died mysteriously, and their deaths have been particularly grim, all having their abdomens split and their organs hollowed out.
We suspect that these things are not done by humans, but by some unclean entities."
"So many people have died, hasn't the government found anything?"
"Heh, where can there be anything to find? My dad says this isn't something a human can do, even if the government investigates, it's just a waste!"
Hearing Li Niu's words, Gu Qingfeng's expression slightly changed.
His keen perception as a martial artist made him instinctively sense that there was something unusual about the situation.
After all, although Lin County wasn't large, it did have government officials stationed there. If there had truly been a madman harming lives, it would be impossible for the government to be unable to find any traces.
With this in mind.
The situation seemed to have become even more serious.