From Li Niu and other disciples of the martial arts halls, Gu Qingfeng understood that deaths in Lin County had not just started to happen recently.
A month earlier,
Lin County had already been experiencing an unsettling succession of gruesome and bizarre deaths.
It was merely because Lin County was, after all, a county town, neither large nor small, and since Gu Qingfeng had always traveled only between the martial arts hall and home, he never paid much attention to external affairs, which is why he hadn't heard of these events yet.
In the days that followed,
Gu Qingfeng increasingly deepened his understanding of the situation in Lin County.
He discovered
that the frequency of deaths in Lin County was growing higher and more concentrated.
At the start,
a family would die every three to five days, but now it was almost a daily occurrence, and sometimes two or three families would die in a single day.
As the number of deaths rose, the rumors of something unclean in Lin County grew more prevalent, causing many citizens to panic, with quite a few considering the idea of moving away from the county.
Because of this,
the local authorities issued a notice, stating that a murderer had made his way to Lin County and was responsible for these killings, but the authorities had already traced the suspect and would soon capture them, assuring all citizens that they could rest easy.
This news,
naturally brought the public's unrest to a minimum.
However,
When Gu Qingfeng heard this news, it caused his brow to furrow slightly.
"A fugitive murderer... I fear it's not so simple!"
Of course,
Gu Qingfeng merely thought this to himself.
As to what exactly was happening, he was unable to clarify at the moment.
Back in the courtyard,
Gu Qingfeng saw Gu Yang practicing the Mountain Shattering Fist, he frowned slightly and asked, "Don't you have to go to the private school today?"
"The teacher said that the town has been uneasy recently, so we've been given a few days off. Classes will resume once we're notified,"
Gu Yang honestly replied.
Gu Qingfeng nodded slightly and glanced at his attribute panel, suddenly feeling his worries dissipating quite a bit.
Why overthink it?
Whether there's something sinister or some murderer on the loose, as long as he was strong enough, then none of these problems were indeed problems.
Right now, to quickly enhance strength, the priority was to have Gu Yang make a breakthrough.
Once his son made a breakthrough,
only then could he, as a father, achieve his own breakthrough.
With that thought,
Gu Qingfeng covertly took out a Qi Blood Pill and handed it to Gu Yang.
"This is a Qi Blood Pill, specifically to aid your practice of the Mountain Shattering Fist. Since the private school is closed for now, you should stay at home and dedicate yourself to your training. Take one elixir per day, and remember not to take too many.
Otherwise, at best your meridians will be damaged, at worst you'll die on the spot!"
Gu Qingfeng's expression became very stern as he spoke the last words.
Naturally, the Qi Blood Pill wouldn't kill someone if they ate it, but consuming too much was definitely not good. Thus, he deliberately exaggerated the consequences to ensure the boy wouldn't disregard his words.
Sure enough,
upon hearing that eating too many could be fatal, Gu Yang's face turned pale, and he quickly said, "Don't worry, Dad. I won't take too many."
"Good, that's for the best!"
Gu Qingfeng then gave some pointers on the nuances of practicing the Mountain Shattering Fist to Gu Yang and then moved to another side to start practicing the Iron Body Skills.
Since acquiring the Iron Body Skills a month ago, and perhaps because he had achieved Refining Skin Perfection, Gu Qingfeng found that his progress in learning the Iron Body Skills was countless times faster compared to when he was practicing the Mountain Shattering Fist.
He only took a month to attain a beginner level in the Iron Body Skills.
With the completion of the beginner level in Iron Body Skills, Gu Qingfeng could feel his skin becoming tougher, despite the change not being overly dramatic, it was a genuine enhancement of strength.
However,
on the attribute panel, there was not much change in his realm.
Regarding this,
Gu Qingfeng didn't care.
The attribute panel might not have changed, but that didn't mean he hadn't grown stronger.
Given the current environment, he naturally wanted to enhance his own strength as much as possible.
...
Time passed.
In the blink of an eye, three months had flown by.
During these three months, Lin County had once again become tranquil, with no more accidental deaths among the common people, as if everything had returned to its proper track.
For these matters, Gu Qingfeng had already ceased to pay much attention.
After he had used up his Qi Blood Pills, he had begun to use his own savings to purchase medicine baths and elixirs for body refinement from the Golden Bull Martial Arts Hall.
These things.
Most of them were given to Gu Yang for cultivation, while he himself used only a small part.
But even so.
In three months' time.
Gu Qingfeng had also successfully brought the Iron Body Skills to the Small Success stage.
Iron Body Skills at Small Success.
It made Gu Qingfeng distinctly feel that his body had changed.
He found a weapon and slid it across his arm, only to see that the sharp blade couldn't even leave a white mark on his skin.
Then, with forceful squeeze of the hand, the well-forged blade became a lump of scrap metal.
"Not bad!"
Gu Qingfeng nodded in satisfaction.
When he had reached Refining Skin Perfection previously, although he could withstand sword injuries to a certain extent, he definitely couldn't achieve what he just had.
It was apparent.
This was the mystery that came with the breakthrough of Iron Body Skills.
At that moment.
The long silent notification bar refreshed with new messages.
"Your offspring 'Gu Yang' has broken through to the Mid-level of the Refining Skin Realm!"
"Reward Upgrade Points *2!"
"Reward Qi Blood Pills *30!"
"Reward Blood Refining Pills *10!"
...
While there were no Martial Arts in this reward, there were two Upgrade Points, and a brand new elixir was added.
Blood Refining Pill!
When Gu Qingfeng's thoughts rested on the elixir, the corresponding information appeared as well.
It was an elixir for Martial Artists in the Blood Refining Realm, capable of refining a warrior's Qi and strength, accelerating the breakthrough in the Blood Refining Realm, and Martial Artists at Refining Skin Perfection could also take it to step into the Blood Refining Realm.
"Can two Upgrade Points take Mountain Shattering Fist to a higher level?"
Gu Qingfeng looked toward the name Mountain Shattering Fist, his thoughts stirring slightly, and immediately information emerged from his mind.
To break the limit of Mountain Shattering Fist!
Five Upgrade Points needed!
It really could—
Gu Qingfeng's heart leapt with joy. Mountain Shattering Fist at Perfection had already allowed him to break through Refining Skin Perfection. If it could break through to an even higher level, then he might be able to become a Blood Refining Martial Artist directly through Mountain Shattering Fist.
However.
Seeing the requirement of five Upgrade Points, Gu Qingfeng's brow furrowed slightly.
The points needed to break the limit were indeed many.
Until now, all the Upgrade Points he had accumulated were merely four in total.
To truly save up five points, who knew how long that would take.
With this in mind.
Gu Qingfeng turned his gaze toward Iron Body Skills.
"If Mountain Shattering Fist can't be improved, then let's raise Iron Body Skills first. Future matters can be discussed in the future. The main thing now is to improve my own strength as much as possible!"