Chapter 169: Level Four — Bone Forging Realm
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
The first ray of morning sunshine shot through the high slopes of Jiang City, shining on the navy barracks. Junior Leopard was practicing his fist technique there.
“Blood Evil Harden Bone Fist!”
Since last night, he was training repeatedly in front of his room. He had not stopped yet.
His sweat had already drenched his whole body, as if he had just gotten out of the water. This was a pure body exercise. Only at the most critical moment would he operate the Blaze Technique of the Heavenly Nine Dragon’s Internal Qi to wash and refine his own skeleton. Every step and action had been practiced to perfection. There was no difference in the requirements of the Blood Evil Harden Bone Fist. This was the peak performance of a punching skill to temper the bones.
There were already some people standing outside the courtyard. They were Wang Cheng, Jiang Xiao, Zhu Ba, and the rest. Originally, there were some other navy soldiers; however, they were chased away by Yuan Long and Wang Datong.
After midnight last night, Wang Cheng angrily stomped back into the navy barracks, and asked Jiang Xiao and the rest to enter into Junior Leopard’s room. Little did they expect to see Junior Leopard practicing his fists in front of his room. Daring not to interrupt, they could only wait until Junior Leopard had finished practicing. As a result, Junior Leopard did not stop practicing but lasted through the whole night. The longer that time went by, the more they did not dare to disturb him, as they were scared of interrupting Junior Leopard’s practice.
As a matter of fact, they could not interrupt Junior Leopard practicing his fists at all. That was because Little Du was prowling at the door entrance, whose green eyes were alertly looking outside of the courtyard. No matter who he was, once he entered near the courtyard, he would hear its warning growl. Naturally, no one dared to enter the courtyard.
“Your Excellency Wang, how long will the practice last?” Zhu Ba, who was tired of waiting, could not wait to speak. This was the fifth time that he asked the same question since midnight.
“I don’t know!” Wang Cheng replied with the same answer.
At that moment, waves of strange crackling sounds could be heard from Junior Leopard’s bones. The sound was not loud, it was just like leaves and twigs falling in the forest, slight yet obvious.
“Pipa, Pipa, Pipa—!”
One sound followed the next. Initially, it happened after a few breaths, but slowly, it could be heard with every breath. After another short while, the sounds gradually connected together and it became louder and louder. It was just like beans spluttering in hot oil.
“Is that—!”
With this strange sound being heard, Junior Leopard’s body muscles twitched rhythmically, and his actions began to slow down. In the end, it seemed that every action would use up all of his strength. The perspiration came out of his body like rain, along with traces of blood and some weird black sticky substance.
“His Excellency is entering into the Bone Forging Realm!” Wang Cheng said agitatedly. Entering the Bone Forging Realm from the Skin Toughening Realm was something impossible to them. They might all have a cultivation of Level Three and were only one step away from the Bone Forging Realm, however, the cultivation method they were practicing was too poor. That was why even if they had accumulated Internal Qi to the maximum, they could not reach the Full Closure state of Level Three, let alone enter into the Bone Forging Realm.
The Bone Forging Realm to them was just a legend.
In Jianghu, there were many people who trained hard and raised their own cultivation to Level Three. However, after reaching Level Three, their progress was halted. That was because the cultivation methods they were practicing were not profound enough, or because they did not have the power and wealth to buy medicinal ingredients to wash their body, or maybe they did not have a good set of Bone Forging fist methods. Actually, most Jianghu people lacked in all three areas. Hence, they could never enter into the Bone Forging Realm.
And that was why even in mid-sized, well-known families like the Wu family, once a disciple’s cultivation had reached Level Four and entered into the Bone Forging Realm, they would become an Elder. The gap between Level Three and Level Four was called “small differences can have huge consequences”.
“What? Entering into the Bone Forging Realm? Wasn’t His Excellency already a Bone Forging Realm expert?”
Zhu Ba did not realize that fact until this moment. “Then how did he kill Li Sanbao that night? After all, Li Sanbao is a Level Four expert and he had the Cross Training Diamond Body!”
“Keep your voice down!” Wang Cheng chided him and pointed at Little Du, who was guarding near the entrance.
“Li Sanbao died in its mouth!”
“Oh, that’s it. Wait, how His Excellency could tame this silver wolf?!”
“Shut up!” Jiang Xiao shouted coldly. “Zhu Ba, it is better not to speculate on His Excellency’s matters, in case of attracting trouble!”
“Ugh!” Zhu Ba was somewhat dissatisfied. He wanted to say something still, but Wang Cheng gave him a stare. He then swallowed the words that were about to come out of his mouth.
Within the square, the spluttering bean sound finally ceased. Junior Leopard’s actions began to quicken.
“Hu, he, hu, he —!”
The sound of his breathing became louder and louder. With every breath, he inhaled and exhaled a large quantity of air. The airflow which he exhaled had an extremely high temperature, causing the temperature of his surroundings to rise.
In a very short time, the temperature in the yard rose by over 10 degrees. The water that was within the air also evaporated and the whole yard became very dry. Wang Cheng and the others who were waiting outside felt as if they were placed in the middle of a desert.
“Is this His Excellency’s Blaze Technique of the Heavenly Nine Dragons? It is said to be the foundational martial arts of the Wu family in Yunzhou. Only a few Inner Core Disciples can have the qualifications to learn it. Seeing it today, it definitely deserves the reputation that it enjoys!” Wang Datong said off to the side.
“Wait, are you jealous?!” Zhu Ba laughed. “His Excellency is an Inner Core Disciple in the Wu family. He is about to enter the Bone Forging Realm. At that time, he will be one of the Elders in the Wu family. Then, looking at you, just a quartermaster within the navy—what are you being jealous for!”
“Shut up!” Wang Cheng said coldly, “His Excellency’s cultivation has reached a critical moment. We should all keep quiet and refrain from interrupting His Excellency. If we don’t, we all have to die!”
All of them shut up at the same time. Wang Cheng’s words were true. If their laughing and joking had interrupted Junior Leopard’s training and caused him to fail to advance, then they would not be able to survive anymore. Maybe the moon tonight was the last scene that they would see.
In the ragged breathing sounds of Junior Leopard, a strand of fiery red airflow began to come out from his nostrils and mouth, condensing around him. It slowly formed into airflow of a fiery red dragon. After nine breaths, it began to revolve around him. Following that was another nine breaths. The second dragon form airflow was born. After that was a third, a fourth, a fifth…
After breathing 81 times, 9 dragon form airflows were completely formed and revolving around him.
Suddenly, Junior Leopard’s actions halted and he shouted in a low voice. An undefeatable Qi strength exuded from his body and caused the clothes on him to be torn apart. Nine dragon form airflows strangely went through his body, as if they were piercing through a layer of shadow that had no form or substance. Every time they pierced through, Junior Leopard’s skeleton would produce a crisp crackling sound. There were nine dragon form airflows, and each of them pierced through 9 times, 81 times in total. It almost enshrouded Junior Leopard’s whole body. Finally, they slowly scattered and disappeared.
“He—!”
Junior Leopard’s throat produced a low growl, as deep as thunder. It exploded in the ears of those few people, as if lightning had struck in the middle of the sunny day, and caused them to be giddy. Following that there was a wave of explosive sound, which then became a chain. It was much clearer than the beans spluttering and lasted for a whole incense worth of time.
Waiting till all the sounds had died down, through the 9 dragon form airflows that surrounded Junior Leopard, the few people saw that Junior Leopard’s actions had stopped. His figure seemed to be taller than it was previously.
Without waiting for the crowd outside the yard to clearly ascertain what was going on, the dragon form airflows surrounding Junior Leopard flashed and disappeared in an instant.
Outside the yard, everyone looked at each other as they did not know what had happened. Little Du was still guarding outside the yard and its alertness had not diminished, so they did not dare to enter the yard haphazardly.
After a short while, Junior Leopard leisurely walked out of the house. He changed into a cyan robe and also arranged his messy hair. When Junior Leopard came out, Little Du then stood up and rushed out of the door. Who knew where it ran off to.
“I’m sorry to let all of you wait for so long!” Junior Leopard said apologetically and invited them into the yard.
“We wouldn’t dare. Your Excellency’s cultivation has improved. This is a blessing to the navy!” Wang Cheng hurriedly said.
“Nothing serious, I just broke through a barrier that bothered me for a long time!” Junior Leopard smiled. His face was plastered with smiles. It was only a moment ago that his body’s toughness had broken through from the Skin Toughening Realm into the Bone Forging Realm. If it were not for the few people outside the yard who had waited for the whole night, he would have gone into a retreat to stabilize his own state.
“Commander Wang, if my memory serves me right, you guys have been here since midnight. What happened, why are you all in such a rush?”
“It’s—!”
After seeing Junior Leopard practicing and break through a realm, they nearly forgot about their original purpose for coming. Now that they had heard Junior Leopard mention it, their faces revealed embarrassed expressions.
“We are incapable. We let Your Excellency down. Please punish us!” Wang Cheng said. His bent his knees and then knelt down, as did the rest of them.
“Don’t do that!” Junior Leopard raised his hands, and a wave of hot, yet gentle, force lifted the few of them up. “Commander Wang, what is it exactly? What important thing did I entrust you with? I must have forgotten it.”
“It’s ugh—!” Wang Cheng’s face reddened and he said, “It is regarding our drilling ground on River Heart Island. The Magistrate and Guard Ding don’t agree. Moreover, they even gave the dock at the island to the Yellow Dragon Gang. I argued with them for half a day but couldn’t manage to change their minds!”
“Is that true?” Junior Leopard heard that and frowned, his eyes flashing a bit of Evil Qi.