Chapter 26: Reaching the Pinnacle

Poof~

With the infusion of Qi Blood, the five fingers became as hard as iron.

After practicing the Black Tiger Heart Technique, the fingers gained an indescribable sharpness, easily piercing through the hard tree trunk.

Tear~

With a forceful grip, a piece was torn off from the trunk, sap splattering everywhere.

Immediately, the muscles in his legs tensed and bulged, twisting his body at great speed to pounce towards another tree, with the momentum of a Fierce Tiger Descending the Mountain, executing the Black Tiger Heart Technique.

In mid-air, his Qi Blood surged to the extreme, making his throat itch and a pressure rise in his chest, impossible to hold back.

"Ha~"

The dead leaves on the ground were blown into the air by the surge of Qi Blood, and the surrounding small branches shook incessantly.

Bam~

Lu Yu's punch broke a tree as thick as a thigh, and after a series of unpleasant sounds, it crashed into several small trees.

Retracting the move, he calmed the rapidly flowing Qi Blood within him.

After mastering all four moves of the Fierce Tiger Fist technique to proficiency, he could effortlessly execute the moves in succession, connecting them together to unleash a high-damage attack.

With Lu Yu's current level of Qi Blood at the threshold of the fifth stage of Body Refinement, executing a full set of attacks could even instantly defeat a Martial Cultivator at the same stage if caught unprepared.

After his Qi Blood settled, Lu Yu found the little tail hidden not far away and began today's treasure hunt.

Using the same method as before, Lu Yu appeared to lure away the Wind Rock Beasts, while the little tail took the opportunity to load the yellow sand...

Feeling the ground shake, those guarding the Wind Rock Beasts at the mountain sentry had grown accustomed to this unknown strongman causing such tremors daily.

Originally, the Han Mansion wanted to block the strongman, to prevent angering the Wind Rock Beasts which could lead them to leave their nests and intrude into Windmill Town.

However, after several searches, they still could not find any trace of the strongman.

The mysterious strongman came and went without a trace, and the Han Mansion had no choice but to allocate more personnel to monitor the Wind Rock Beasts, preventing them from leaving Wind Rock Mountain.

But so far, there had been no signs of the Wind Rock Beasts wanting to leave the mountain.

Moreover, taking advantage of the mysterious strongman luring the Wind Rock Beasts, the Han Mansion managed to capture many lone Wind Rock Beasts, greatly expanding their iron essence production line.

Seeing a profit, and since the mysterious strongman hadn't caused any trouble, the Han Mansion didn't put in too much effort, continuing to guard the Wind Rock Beasts and the elusive strongman.

They only searched for any lone Wind Rock Beasts after a Wind Rock Beast rioted.

Initially, Lu Yu planned to come once in the morning, noon, and night, but after encountering the Han Mansion's patrols several times, he had to reduce it to once a day.

This time, while leading the Wind Rock Beasts away from the rocky area, Lu Yu sensed a change; a few Wind Rock Beasts stopped pursuing and returned to nap on the rocky ground.

But with a large group of Wind Rock Beasts trailing him, Lu Yu had no choice but to run like the wind to shake them off first.

When Lu Yu returned to the rocky area, at the boundary between the forest and the rocks, he searched for the little tail but couldn't find her, feeling slightly anxious.

"Where are you? Little tail, where are you?"

Lu Yu searched several times but still couldn't find any trace of the little tail, casting a worried glance toward the large cave beneath the cliff.

"Could the little tail have been caught and dragged into the cave by the Wind Rock Beasts?"

At this moment, a mound of sand suddenly rose, and Lu Yu noticed the change, seeing the little tail poke her head out from the sandpile.

Glancing at the Wind Rock Beasts sunbathing on the rocky ground, Lu Yu sensed that the main group of Wind Rock Beasts was about to return.

He bent low, quickly and quietly running towards the sandpile.

"Why did you burrow into the sand?" Lu Yu hurriedly dug the little tail out.

"I was digging and digging, and it accidentally collapsed," the little tail quietly said, spitting out sand from her mouth.

When the little tail was unearthed, she was clutching a sack, and under her guidance, Lu Yu quickly dug out several other sacks buried in the sandpile.

Bam bam bam~ The main group of Wind Rock Beasts returned, just in time to catch Lu Yu digging out the sacks.

"Huff huff~" The Wind Rock Beasts became excited, suddenly scraping their back legs, charging towards Lu Yu.

As Lu Yu located the last sack in the sandpile, he immediately stuffed it into his backpack, picked up the little tail, and sprinted toward the side of the Wind Rock Beasts' charge.

Charging in groups, the Wind Rock Beasts resembled a moving wall. Key was, this wall was not only extremely solid but also barbed.

Even a Martial Cultivator at the Qi Cultivation level wouldn't dare to withstand the charge of such a group of Wind Rock Beasts.

After picking up the little tail, Lu Yu stuffed several Qi Blood Pills into his mouth and desperately used the Eight-Steps Cicada technique to escape the range of the Wind Rock Beasts' collective charge.

Puff puff puff~ The multitude of Wind Rock Beasts plunged into the sandpile, dispersing the several-meter-high mound and filling the rocky ground with swirling yellow sand.

After Lu Yu escaped, a few Wind Rock Fiends cursed and snorted as they emerged from the significantly lower sand dune, continually shaking off the yellow sand and iron bits stuck to them.

The feeling was akin to a person falling into a cesspit.

However, for the Wind Rock Fiends, wasn't the sand dune also their cesspit?

Fleeing into the woods, Lu Yu stopped when he felt he couldn't hold on any longer. He set down Little Tail and quickly sat down to circulate the Bladeless Blade Technique.

At the same time, he consumed several Qi Blood Pills, which had a short-term effect of restoring qi blood, but the consequences were quite severe.

Right now, he was about to bear the consequences of consuming several Qi Blood Pills at once.

While exerting his full effort circulating the Bladeless Blade Technique, faint popping sounds intermittently emitted from Lu Yu's body, with the capillaries bursting due to excessive qi blood pressure.

Especially in his legs, which already bore a great load due to forcibly expelling a large amount of qi blood, the chaotic qi blood from before hadn't calmed down, only for a fresh wave of qi blood to surge in, blocking the flow entirely.

Lu Yu felt the excessive qi blood squeezing the nerves in his legs, causing them to lose sensation.

Seeing Lu Yu suddenly emit blood as he sat down, Little Tail was startled and wanted to inform him but feared interrupting him, leaving her at a loss.

After a long while, Lu Yu finally managed to suppress the chaotic qi blood within him using the third-tier cultivation technique, the Bladeless Blade Technique.

Upon opening his eyes, he saw Little Tail wiping his body with a wet cloth and frowned, asking, "What are you doing?"

Little Tail was elated to hear Lu Yu's voice, exclaiming, "You're awake, that's great!"

"You still haven't told me what you're doing?" Lu Yu's voice was a bit irritated, as no one likes their body to be touched while unconscious.

Lowering her head timidly, Little Tail said, "I saw you covered in blood and wanted to clean you up a bit."

Hearing this, Lu Yu paused for a moment, glancing down to find his clothes soaked with blood, with signs of wiping on his hands, face, and neck.

His expression calmed as he said, "No need to wipe, I'll take a bath later."

After speaking, he used his consciousness to open the system store, recharged with 5000 Gold Coins, and purchased a first-tier Rejuvenation Pill with 50,000 Points.

The Rejuvenation Pill could heal most injuries below the Qi Cultivation stage, including those at the Qi Cultivation stage for martial cultivators, though it was notably expensive.

Swallowing a Rejuvenation Pill, Lu Yu immediately felt a refreshing sensation in his gravely injured legs, and soon enough, sensation returned to them.

Once his severely injured legs recovered, all of Lu Yu's minor injuries across his body soon healed completely, even the old injuries left from practicing Fierce Tiger Fist and Bladeless Swordsmanship.

Lu Yu stood up, feeling incredibly refreshed apart from the discomfort from his blood-soaked clothing, as if the air he inhaled into his lungs had become much cleaner.

Taking Little Tail to the creek he found during his first sand-stealing escapade, he discarded the blood-soaked and filthy clothes, opting to bathe briefly in the creek wearing only shorts before changing into backup clothes from his backpack.

Seeing Little Tail covered in yellow sand, he lifted her and gave her a quick rinse in the creek.

"Ah~ah!"

Little Tail shrieked as she was hoisted up and shrieked again when suddenly tossed into the cold water.

After a brief wash, he took Little Tail back to the rear yard, instructing the servants to promptly prepare some bathing water. As a martial cultivator, his strong physique could withstand cold baths, but Little Tail was just a regular child, returning in her drenched clothes, and despite the still warm weather, a hot bath was necessary to prevent catching a cold.

Soon, the servants arranged bathwater for the two of them.

After bathing and dressing in fresh clothes, Lu Yu was delighted to discover that the progress in his long-practiced Hungry Tiger Pounce had been achieved, likely unintentionally breaking through while suppressing qi blood, as he hadn't been aware at the time.

[Name: Lu Yu]

[Realm: Body Refinement Level Three (863/1000)]

[Qi Blood: 70]

[Cultivation Techniques: Fierce Tiger Fist (Fourth Layer), Bladeless Blade Technique (First Layer)]

[Skills: Fierce Tiger Fist (Hungry Tiger Pounce (Peak Mastery), Fierce Tiger Descending the Mountain (Refined Mastery), Evil Tiger Roar (Refined Mastery), Black Tiger Heart Extraction (Refined Mastery)), Eight Steps to Catch Cicadas (Refined Mastery), Bladeless Swordsmanship - Celestial Collapse (Novice)]

[Experience Points: 635]

A little more to break through Body Refinement Level Three, which would occur soon even without spending experience points, as Lu Yu never actually experienced a realm breakthrough before, thus not planning to speed up using experience points this time around.

Previously, breakthroughs in cultivation techniques coincided with realm breakthroughs, offering no sensation.

Presumably, the increase in qi blood from cultivation breakthroughs far exceeded the increase from realm breakthroughs, hence the lack of sensation during realm breakthroughs.

After a brief attempt with the peak mastery level of Fierce Tiger Fist, Lu Yu realized that there were indeed numerous flaws in his previous Fierce Tiger Fist that he had been unaware of.

Moreover, reaching the peak mastery level in Hungry Tiger Pounce enhanced his cultivation of the other three moves, accelerating experience point growth by two to three times during practice.

This immense difference was brought by a heightened level of perception.

If refined mastery signified the utmost proficiency in skill, then peak mastery attained the realm of "method." Lu Yu now had the capacity to create new technique skills whenever he wished.

Though their power might not match the extensively refined and passed down four moves by numerous predecessors.