Longevity by Grinding Skills

After eating, Xu Yunfan found a private courtyard to settle in. After a brief rest, he began his Martial Arts cultivation.

Although he had been traveling for the past few days, he cultivated his Martial Arts whenever he had a spare moment. If there was no space to practice, he would meditate on the Linn Character Technique instead.

His Red Rope Copper Body Cloak Hammer was on the verge of Perfection, and he was naturally eager to push it further.

For now, he had set aside all other Martial Arts. Aside from using the Linn Character Technique to restore his spirit, he focused all his energy on this one Kung Fu.

For three days straight, Xu Yunfan was immersed in cultivating the Red Rope Copper Body Cloak Hammer.

In his field of view, the Skill Level on his Attribute Panel would tick up by a point every so often as he completed his practice routines.

The closer he got to the Perfection Realm, the more difficult it became for his Skill Level to rise.

But it was still climbing, unwaveringly, toward five thousand Skill Points.

Xu Yunfan gave up the idea of traveling nonstop. The matter of the Celestial Craft Cave, he decided, could wait.

Supplemented by two daily meals of Exotic Spirit Fish from Changfeng Tavern and twenty-tael Primordial Valley Pills from Hundred Herbs Valley, and bolstered by his continuous practice of the Linn Character Technique, his spirit grew sharper and his comprehension steadily rose.

Skin Cultivation Perfection was steadily drawing near.

「One month later, late at night in his rented courtyard.」

He snatched up two eight-sided stone locks in a reverse grip, his spine popping vertebra by vertebra with a sound like the soughing of wind through pines.

The sound of the stone locks tearing through the air startled the birds roosting under the eaves. The bulging, diamond-shaped muscles on his bare back rippled like waves, twisting into the shapes of coiling qiu long with his every move.

As he completed the ninth full swing of the Cloak Form, the veins in the crooks of his arms bulged and twitched like bowstrings. With his Blood Qi boiling, he became a human furnace, radiating waves of heat. The temperature of the entire courtyard rose by ten degrees, and beads of sweat falling from his body sizzled into white smoke as they hit the flagstones.

He launched into the seventh form, Inverted Golden Bell, and the iron-plated heels of his deer hide boots slammed down on the training post with a deafening crash.

He knelt panting amidst the shattered bricks, the hot mist rising from his body condensing into a thin, blood-colored frost on his sweat-drenched back. The Extreme Dao Relic Shell wrapped around his torso felt slightly sticky.

’You have been continuously cultivating the Red Rope Copper Body Cloak Hammer, comprehending the power of alternating between hardness and softness. Your application of force has become increasingly fluid. Skill Level for Red Rope Copper Body Cloak Hammer has increased.’

’You have cultivated the Red Rope Copper Body Cloak Hammer in seclusion, practicing day and night without rest. On this day, you swung your hammer with all your might and felt your Blood Qi slither like a dragon-snake, perfectly synchronizing with your Hammer Force. When you exert force, it is as ferocious as splitting a mountain; when you withdraw it, it is as pliable as wrapping silk. Amidst the whistling shadows of your hammer, your understanding of the alternation between hardness and softness has deepened. Skill Level for Red Rope Copper Body Cloak Hammer has increased.’

’Your Red Rope Copper Body Cloak Hammer has entered the Realm of Perfection.’

’Red Rope Copper Body Cloak Hammer (Perfection)

Effects: Boiling Blood, Searing Frost; Pervasive Force; Iron-Clad Body; Dragon Sinews and Tiger Bones; Blade-Proof; Mountain-Bearing Strength; Cauldron-Lifting Power; Heavy Hammer Mastery’

Moonlight shone on his bronze-colored shoulder blades. Beneath the skin, dozens of snake-like sinews suddenly bulged, writhing and slithering across his body.

The instant the system announced he had reached the Perfection Realm, great torrents of heat surged from nowhere within him, seeping through his limbs and torso into every fiber of his flesh.

CRACK!

The moment Xu Yunfan arched his back, the sinews across it tightened like a hundred powerful bows being drawn at once. The dozens of snake-like tendons suddenly twisted together, forming an iron chain that resembled a dragon’s spine. A sharp clicking sound, like a mechanism locking into place, erupted from beneath his skin, the force of it shattering the flagstones at his feet into a spiderweb of cracks.

It was as if a volcano had erupted deep in his abdomen. Magma-like Blood Qi boiled and surged upward. Every blood vessel became the bellows of a forging furnace. The arteries in his neck bulged as if a snake were swallowing an elephant, and the throbbing of his temples pulsed with the beat of a muffled drum.

The muscles in his arms swelled explosively, each one pulsing with a life of its own.

The muscle fibers intertwined, winding together like refined steel being forged. Hammered repeatedly by the torrents of heat, they grew ever more resilient. The surface of his already firm muscles took on the blue-gray sheen of cooling cast iron.

The outer layer of his skin visibly thickened and cracked, only to peel away in flakes an instant later, like a snake shedding its skin. His newborn skin had the matte luster of ice-crackle porcelain. Beneath that jade-like surface, faint golden patterns in the muscle tissue undulated with his breath, as if magma were surging through veins of basalt. With the slightest exertion of force, one could see fine, lava-like threads of blood pulsing just beneath the surface.

In his mind, a flood of images of his time cultivating the Red Rope Copper Body Cloak Hammer flashed by.

Xu Yunfan recalled a desolate valley where he swung the Profound Iron Cloak Hammer against the biting Gang Wind, day after day.

The wind from his hammer howled, shredding the surrounding trees. The gale cut at his skin like a knife, leaving a crisscross of bloody wounds, but he never stopped.

He recalled a deep cavern where waves of heat rolled off the scorching lava. He stood beside it, every breath a searing intake of heat.

He recalled a duel against a master, the air filled with flashing sword shadows and the cold glint of steel as the blade aimed for his throat. Xu Yunfan met it head-on with his Red Rope Copper Body Cloak Hammer. Sparks flew as hammer met sword. In that razor-thin moment between life and death, he grasped the alternation between hard and soft force, successfully repelling his formidable foe and advancing his cultivation.

As these scenes flashed through his mind, Xu Yunfan became immersed in them. His understanding of the essence of the Red Rope Copper Body Cloak Hammer deepened, his footing in the Perfection Realm solidified, and the aura around him grew stronger.

After a long moment, Xu Yunfan exhaled a sharp arrow of breath that shattered a porcelain dish on the stone table before him. He then took out a small knife and slashed it hard across his arm. Not even a white mark appeared.

Impervious to blades!

Moreover, his overall strength had at least doubled.

’No wonder,’ he thought. ’No wonder Li Haomiao said Great Success and Perfection were worlds apart. For someone who has perfected their skin, sinews, or bones, defeating those in a higher realm is as easy as breathing. As for the top disciples from the Noble Clans and Major Sects, they not only have Secret Martial Arts to boost their potential, but if one of their prodigies perfects any one of those three cultivations—sinew, bone, or skin—ordinary Martial Artists can only hope to eat their dust.’

An irrepressible urge to vent his newfound power surged through him. He couldn’t help but swing the eight-sided stone locks, but the sound of them whistling through the air stopped abruptly.

A head with a messy bun suddenly popped up over the neighboring wall. Three unruly strands of hair stuck straight out of the topknot, making her look exactly like a startled quail flushed from its nest.

THUD!

At the muffled thud of the stone lock cratering the earth, the girl with the explosive topknot jumped half a foot in the air.

"Again! You’re at it again! Swinging stone locks at midnight, in the middle of the Third Watch! Hey, Great Hero, are you trying to sound the night watch for the King of Hell, or are you building a temple for the Earth God? It’s just CRASH, BANG, CLANG, nonstop!"

The girl’s arm shot over the wall, a laundry-drying pole in her hand banging against the roof tiles, her face a mask of fury.

"The day before yesterday, one of your thuds shattered the pickling jar I painstakingly brought back from Dao City! Yesterday, you scared away the laying hen I went out of my way to buy! If you keep this up tonight..."

Before she could finish, a pair of calloused hands suddenly appeared on top of the wall.

A man in a short gray tunic that revealed burly muscles heaved himself halfway over the wall. With a depressingly practiced motion, his left hand clamped over his daughter’s mouth.

"My apologies, young hero! So sorry to disturb your training. My daughter has a short fuse. The slightest spark and she goes off."

He held up a pastry wrapped in oil paper with his right hand. "This is a flaky pastry from East Street Wang’s House. Please, take it as an apology—hey!"

The girl bit down hard on the web of her father’s hand. When she broke free, the defiant cowlick on her head pointed straight at Xu Yunfan.

(Frantically typing away, still aiming for 10,000 words today!)