Chapter 271: 247 Test Part 1

One week later.

In front of Agarwood Temple.

From the foot of the mountain to the temple gate, on both sides of the stone steps along the way, there are guards stationed every few steps.

Inside the temple gate, in the backyard.

Zhang Rongfang stood shirtless as several strong men wielded logs, striking his chest, abdomen, and back with all their might.

Amid the thumping sounds.

Oil and sweat splattered from his body from time to time.

Zhang Rongfang stood in the center with his eyes closed, his long hair tied up, and his entire body had noticeably changed compared to a few days ago.

If his skin was a bronze color before, now his entire body had subtly turned a shade of ivory white.

It wasn’t the pale of avoiding the sun for too long, but a soft ivory-like hue.

At this moment, he allowed the men to beat him while he concentrated on the stats in his vision.

In the status bar.

A row of new martial arts had already emerged.

’Iron Cloth – Third Layer (Initiate).’

The free attribute points had accumulated to three points again.

Zhang Rongfang recalled that Iron Cloth, a common martial art with only six layers, required three stages plus a Limit-Breaking Skill to advance a layer.

Just like when he initially practiced the Mountain-shaped Talisman of the Great Dao Teaching.

Of course, Iron Cloth lacked the Limit-Breaking Skill, had no Extreme State, and was just a rough six-layer technique to enhance resistance to strikes.

In reality, it was similar to the Mountain-shaped Talisman. Perhaps slightly stronger than the Mountain-shaped Talisman, but its strength was limited.

“Alright, that’s enough, everyone step back.” Zhang Rongfang suddenly spoke.

“Yes.” The strongmen, upon hearing the order, wiped the sweat from their faces, put down their logs, saluted one by one, and left.

Soon, the courtyard door was closed.

Zhang Rongfang stood alone in the courtyard.

“Chen Han, you go guard the perimeter as well.” He continued.

“Yes.” Chen Han responded and quickly left the room.

Once everyone was gone, Zhang Rongfang finally focused his gaze on the Iron Cloth hard skill.

Swish.

The only three attribute points were instantly added to the Iron Cloth skill.

The script after the skill swiftly changed. From third layer initiation to mastery, then to perfection, and finally retreated by one attribute point.

Simultaneously, a massive amount of martial arts memory flooded into his mind.

Zhang Rongfang was already very familiar with these procedures.

His whole body muscles emitted slight activity sounds, similar to the sound of stirring sludge.

His overall physique also became more robust, with muscles changing from large blocks to smaller, dense blocks.

On the surface, there seemed to be no significant change.

But in just a few seconds, the strength of his physique had reached the standard of the Iron Cloth third layer perfection.

This meant that the defense strength of his body was already equivalent to a skilled practitioner at the perfection level of the third grade in Iron Cloth.

To break through the limit once more meant that his current body, on its original foundation, would increase by another grade.

By then, compared to Han Shisan back in the day, he would undoubtedly be superior. Perhaps even stronger than Han Shisan.

And this was only the beginning since from the time he started practicing until now, it had only been a short period….

It was only his almost fifty-point life value that could sustain such cultivation. For an ordinary genius, reaching the ninth grade might already be the limit.

Continuing martial arts practice and breaking limits beyond that would definitely cause the heart to burst and lead to death.

“Just like this… quietly, lying dormant and growing stronger… At my pace, perhaps in just a year, I could reach heights unimaginable to ordinary people…”

Zhang Rongfang was satisfied at heart.

He slowly opened his eyes, testing the improved strength of his body.

Next, he needed to simultaneously search for the main ingredient of the Golden Toad Skill and increase his life value, cultivating the overlay of hard skills.

Ever since he discovered from the secret record that even a Grandmaster struck by the Spiritual Line was easily severely injured,

he realized that the original martial path was wrong!

Or, in his case, it was unsuitable!

For him, hard skill and body techniques were indispensable.

Hard skills could increase fault tolerance, preventing a single hit from incapacitating him.

Body techniques could avoid the weak spots and vulnerabilities exposed by hard skills, averting potential threats.

The combination of the two was the highest survival martial art method.

Thus, he now had to prepare to shift the focus to the cultivation of hard skills.

Since the martial arts of the Great Dao Teaching were under surveillance, it had to be put on hold while he secretly accelerated the cultivation of hard skills.

In the future, once he could recklessly perfect his hard skills, he could use the martial and literary cultivation of the Great Dao Teaching as a disguise to conceal his truly formidable hard skills.

This was the future he desired.

After practicing his cultivation technique, Zhang Rongfang searched for a random excuse to send Chen Han away and quickly headed deep into Huangjing Mountain himself.

His perception and body technique at that moment made evading the two from Snow Rainbow Pavilion behind him effortless.

Of course, after they were twice disoriented by his maneuvers and failed to locate him, they understood that Zhang Rongfang was deliberately guarding against them.

After reporting the situation back to headquarters, they simply decided not to bother playing cat and mouse with Zhang Rongfang anymore and just guarded near Agarwood Temple instead of following him.

They merely recorded Zhang Rongfang’s daily movements and schedule casually.

At this moment, in the depths of Huangjing Mountain.

An essential test officially commenced upon Zhang Rongfang’s arrival.

On a vast expanse of land piled with large rocks.

A clear brook meandered through the crevices between the stones, surrounded by trees on all sides, with tall branches casting shadows over half of the area.

“Brother Ying, are you really sure about doing this?” Zhang Yunqi slightly frowned, watching the two individuals standing on the rocks.

The one on the right, clad in a black tight-fitting outfit and towering with a strong build, was Zhang Rongfang.

The other was the elite bodyguard of Princess Yongxiang they had captured before.

This person was also a woman, and from the Huxi people.

She had a tall, slender figure, maroon hair flowing over her shoulders, and long legs.

But by now, she had long lost her original neat and chic demeanor. During her time in the Rebel Sect,

she underwent all sorts of bizarre experiments and tests daily.

If it weren’t for her strong recovery power due to her Spiritual Veins, she would have collapsed and died long ago.

At this point, she no longer hoped she could survive and leave here alive.

She wore only simple gray clothes, covering only her sensitive areas for a final shred of dignity, with nothing else.

“Yunqi, don’t worry, this is a good opportunity to test the power of the World Blade.

It’s also an opportunity for me to personally test the difficulty of killing a Spiritual Vein.” Zhang Rongfang said earnestly.

“I haven’t truly killed a Spiritual Vein from start to finish by myself. This should be the first time.”

He looked at the female guard of the Spiritual Veins opposite him, the woman called Melissa was already devastated by the hatred of the Rebel Sect, rendered unrecognizable.

Every possible way of dying had been inflicted upon her.

“Can we start?” Melissa asked numbly.

“Of course, you can attack me anytime.” Zhang Rongfang looked at her with pity.

The state of being unable to live or die probably described her condition at the moment.

Bang!

A dull thump immediately followed, as Melissa punched with her right arm, creating a ripping sound in the air as she fiercely aimed at Zhang Rongfang’s chest.

She was an Inner Law Spiritual Vein, with speed and strength far beyond a typical Ninth Grade External Medicine user.

If it were any other External Medicine user, they wouldn’t dare confront her directly.

But…

Bang!

Zhang Rongfang raised one hand, catching the punch perfectly with his palm.

The collision of their hands and pure physical force made his body slightly sway.

“Not bad.” Zhang Rongfang smiled slightly, no longer suppressing his physical abilities.

The World Blade and single-handed Eagle Claw simultaneously struck against her like a stormy assault.

The shrill screech of the eagle and the howling of the blade mixed into one, piercing the eardrums.

But Melissa was not to be outdone. It was as if she wanted to unleash all her accumulated pent-up anger all at once.

She made no defense, only attacking, attacking, and attacking again.

Thud, thud, thud.

The two moved back and forth over the large stone, never dodging, clashing head-on.

Melissa, as a Spiritual Vein, naturally had a high level of physical defense.

Zhang Rongfang, having just practiced the Hard Skill, took this as an opportunity to test his combat effectiveness.

Bang!

Suddenly, there was a dull sound; Zhang Rongfang had the upper hand in strength, managing to repel her with one hand.

With the other hand, he brought down the World Blade in a diagonal slash.

“Kill!” At that moment, Melissa’s eyes widened, and her blood vessels bulged across her body, muscles became pronounced.

She had entered the Extreme State.

Simultaneously, Zhang Rongfang also unleashed his full strength. His blood vessels bulged and flushed, entering the Extreme State as well.

Thud!

His speed surpassed hers substantially.

The World Blade bypassed her defenses and struck brutally at Melissa’s throat.

A burst of blood, silver spiritual lines stirred beneath the skin wound.

In a heavy thud, Melissa fell face-first to the ground, clutching her throat silently.

Without dodging or evading, in an instant, the victor was decided.

Melissa, at the Inner Law stage, was overwhelmed by Zhang Rongfang at this moment.

In terms of both strength and speed.

With a gentle sigh, Zhang Rongfang looked at Melissa on the ground.

She was recklessly throwing her life away. Otherwise, the battle wouldn’t have ended so quickly.

After all, a Spiritual Vein of the Inner Law shouldn’t collapse so quickly.

Zhang Rongfang stood in place, waiting for her to revive.

After ten minutes, Melissa’s wound healed, her breath recovered, and she slowly propped her body up from the ground.

“Kill!!” she roared, lunging at Zhang Rongfang once more.

Alas, with Zhang Rongfang waiting for her, her resurrection afforded her to take only five more steps before she was struck square in the chest by a palm, shattering her bones and internal organs unto death.

Bang!

Zhang Rongfang slowly withdrew his hand; this time, he didn’t even bother to activate the Extreme State, directly stacking the Heavy Mountain.

Stacked three times, given his speed and strength at this moment.

Melissa was entirely defenseless.

With just one move, her arms were smashed aside, directly hitting her chest.

For the third time, Zhang Rongfang killed Melissa, standing still, calculating the number of deaths.

Ten minutes later.

Melissa’s face contorted as she leaped from the ground, charging at Zhang Rongfang.

Thud!

The World Blade pierced her forehead once more. The tremendous strength forced the decisive tip deep into her head, killing her instantly again.

Again and again….

Time flowed endlessly.

Zhang Rongfang’s speed became faster and faster. Almost as Melissa revived, she would be instantly defeated.

He was already faster and stronger than her.

Now, seizing her unsteady post-revival stance, he burst forth without warning.

Almost every strike was a lethal one.

Time continued to pass.

Twenty times.

Thirty times.

Fifty times…

Sixty times..

Seventy times….

Beads of sweat appeared on Zhang Rongfang’s forehead; even as resilient as he was, repeatedly using the Triple Heavy Mountain and Extreme State in such quick succession would have worn almost anyone else down by now.

If not for his exceedingly high life points, he would have collapsed from exhaustion already.

It was only now he understood why it took so many people to kill a Spiritual Vein for the Rebel Sect.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep