Longevity by Grinding Skills

’As for the remaining advancement methods with their harsh requirements, I’ll just leave those to the Attribute Panel.’

After sorting through his thoughts, Xu Yunfan wolfed down the piping hot roasted meat and immediately began cultivating the Heavenly Cicada Body Refining Technique.

The Blood Qi in his body suddenly boiled like water, surging through his limbs and bones and flowing ceaselessly between his skin and flesh.

Walnut-sized nodes of flesh instantly bulged on his skin, and twelve blood-red lines spread along the striations of his pectoral muscles.

A sharp, stabbing pain, like being pricked by needles, erupted from every pore of his body. The blood-red lines formed by his Celestial Cicada Force, which had been writhing across his skin, suddenly knotted together into a web that adhered tightly between his tendons and fascia.

As if struck by inspiration, he assumed the bizarre posture engraved on the iron plate: his right arm bent back against his spine, his left leg curved as if Holding the Pill. Amidst the sound of cracking joints, the trapezius muscles on his back swelled at a visible rate, forcefully ripping his worn-out martial arts uniform.

By the first light of dawn, Xu Yunfan had long since extinguished the bonfire, his gaze fixed on the information that had popped up in his field of vision.

’Heavenly Cicada Body Refining Technique, 0/500 (Entry)

Special Effects: Thunder Strike Body Tempering, Golden Cicada Bone Vibration’

Now that he had learned this Secret Martial Art, his body’s resistance to attacks had increased by at least thirty percent, and his explosive power had also risen by the same amount.

It was a truly astonishing improvement.

Aside from not yet having achieved the Realm of Perfection in his tendons, bones, and skin, he felt he had already reached the peak of the Third Level Martial Master Realm. He was even confident he could fight and defeat a Grand Martial Master of the Outer Three Harmonies.

「A few days later.」 As dawn whitened the eastern ridge, Xu Yunfan had already been hurrying along the Yellow Earth Dao on the outskirts of Cangzhou for three days, having traveled nonstop day and night.

He deliberately avoided the Official Road Stations, heading deep into the old mountain forests instead. The broken Jar Gold Hammer in his sash knocked against his waist with every step, its Refined Steel head glinting coldly in the morning sun.

In Jieyang, the nearest city in Cangzhou, Xu Yunfan asked a passerby for directions and went straight to the city’s most renowned weaponsmith.

"Shopkeeper, do you do repairs on heavy weapons?"

Inside the North Gate Blacksmith Shop in Jieyang City, a bare-chested blacksmith stared at the jagged break in the hammer’s handle. His blackened fingers scraped across the hammer’s face, creating a harsh, screeching sound.

"Refined Steel mixed with Profound Iron Sand. This is good stuff."

He flicked a finger against a dent in the hammer’s head, which rang out with a DONG DONG.

"But the core of this hammer has been shattered by vibrations. To reforge it, I’d have to melt it down and mix in new materials. It’d be more practical to just forge a new one."

Xu Yunfan considered this for a moment before asking, "I was wondering, can you forge a Sharp Blade Level weapon?"

The blacksmith shook his head, looking a little embarrassed. "Sharp Blade Level weapons? Only the famous masters can forge those. I’m not that skilled. I’m just scraping by here in Jieyang City."

"Do you know anywhere I could get one forged?"

The blacksmith replied, "There’s the Hundred Refinements Manor in Qingzhou, or Divine Weapon Ridge on the border of Qingzhou and Wuzhou..."

"But surely there must be a master craftsman somewhere in Cangzhou?"

Xu Yunfan was left speechless. ’I’ve been to both of those places. The Hundred Refinements Manor turned me away at the gates, afraid I was there to take over their family business. And Divine Weapon Ridge is now Divine Weapon Valley. Their weapon-forging legacy is dead, and now they’re just a bottom-tier sect that scrapes by forging simple ironware.’

The blacksmith wiped the hot sweat from his neck and pointed northwest with his tongs.

"Once you get to the Cangzhou State City, Cui Bo City, travel eighty li toward Guniu Mountain. There’s a sect there called the Celestial Craft Cave. They have many Mechanical Masters who are experts specializing in this art. It’s said they’ve produced many Sharp Blade Level weapons. Just look at Xie Huai’an, the number one in the Cangzhou Martial Arts world. The Three-foot Cyan Blade in his hand can slice a falling hair."

"Does the Celestial Craft Cave specialize in heavy weapons?"

"More than just heavy weapons."

The blacksmith washed his hands in a water trough.

"They have three rules for taking commissions: they won’t forge anything that isn’t hundred-refined steel, they won’t forge anything that isn’t a rare or exotic metal, and they won’t..."

He suddenly lowered his voice. "...they won’t reforge an old weapon unless it has tasted blood. This Heavy Hammer of yours, I can see it’s brimming with Evil Qi. It’s still got blood crusted on it. If you take it to them, they should be quite interested."

Carrying his broken Fine Steel Heavy Hammer, Xu Yunfan walked out of the blacksmith shop. He looked up at the azure sky and let out a long breath.

’I need to get to the Cangzhou State City and find a place to stay. This town is too small. It lacks many of the resources needed for training. The one time some Exotic Beast flesh became available, it was completely snatched up by the locals. There’s no way an outsider like me could get his hands on any.’

’Most importantly, this place is too close to Wuzhou. The entire state is in utter chaos—you have the Incense and Candle Sect’s Demon-Vanquishing Celestial Army, the fourteen sects from the Five Ridges and Seven Mountains, the hundred-thousand-strong Hu Ben Xuan Armor Army, and the native Wuzhou Army.’

’Can the common folk even survive in an environment like this?’

Pushing these distracting thoughts from his mind, Xu Yunfan circled Jieyang City and visited several stables, but they mostly sold ordinary horses. He couldn’t find a single one with even a trace of Exotic Beast bloodline.

A stablehand said, "Sir, if you want to buy a horse with Jiao Horse blood, you should go ask the Chi Family. They’ve just arrived from Qingzhou. With all the chaos in Wuzhou, they’re taking a detour through here on their way to Yinzhou. They sell all sorts of things, so they might have what you’re looking for."

Xu Yunfan’s expression shifted. He glanced at the stablehand, took a fingernail-sized piece of broken silver from his robes, and tossed it to him.

"Thanks for the information."

The stablehand’s face broke into a wide grin as he caught the silver. "You’d better hurry, Sir," he said cheerfully. "I hear they’re setting off early tomorrow morning."

Hearing this, Xu Yunfan wasted no more time and immediately hurried toward an inn in the southern part of the city.

Chiwen Inn.

Xu Yunfan glanced at the two words on the inn’s sign and raised an eyebrow. After entering, he found the Shopkeeper and asked about the Chi Family’s merchant caravan.

The Shopkeeper saw that Xu Yunfan was here to make a purchase. Noting his powerful, imposing build, the broken Heavy Hammer at his waist, and the Fine Steel Box on his back, he knew this was a Martial Artist of formidable Martial Power.

Not daring to be disrespectful, the Shopkeeper quickly went to the inn’s rear courtyard to make a report.

While waiting, Xu Yunfan leaned against the counter and idly tapped his knuckles on its surface. Just then, the cloth curtain leading to the back hall parted.

A young woman in a green dress emerged, taking small, delicate steps. Her face held a bright smile as she looked at Xu Yunfan, but when she recognized his features, her expression faltered for a moment.

Xu Yunfan’s eyebrows rose. He recognized this woman.

He recognized her as Chi Suwen. Back in the withered forest outside Beiye City, she had been sitting in a carriage, silently watching him fight Uncle Jin and Fengzi.

"Are you the one who wants to buy a horse?"

Before Xu Yunfan could speak, a deep, steady voice echoed from the rear courtyard.

"Such heavy Evil Qi."

A man in gray robes emerged from the shadows of the ceiling beams, a pair of Copper Galls spinning in his palm as fast as shooting stars.

He stared at Xu Yunfan, sizing him up. His gaze was fixed on the hammer at Xu Yunfan’s waist, which was broken in two. His expression grew incredibly grave, and beads of sweat unknowingly formed on his temples.

The gray-robed man had initially assumed Xu Yunfan’s cultivation was merely at the Third Level Martial Artist realm. Now, however, he could sense a savage Blood Qi lurking within him, like a dormant Fierce Beast, which filled him with alarm.

Xu Yunfan’s eyes also glinted. The man was in his fifties and moved with the gait of a dragon and the stride of a tiger. His Blood Qi was vigorous, his physique solid, and every movement flowed with an effortless power.

His hands and feet moved in concert, like a dragon coiling a steel cable. His shoulders and hips were aligned, like a tiger crouching on a mountain rock. Even the meeting of his elbows and knees seemed to produce the sound of wind and thunder.

Xu Yunfan narrowed his eyes.

’This man’s spine is like a coiling dragon ascending to the heavens. When he walks, the vibration of his kneecaps is in perfect sync with his heartbeat. This is clearly the peak state: skin refined into armor, bones forged into jade, and tendons trained like steel cables.’

’He has achieved Great Success in his tendons, bones, and skin. A Grand Martial Master of the Outer Three Harmonies.’