Longevity by Grinding Skills

Xu Yunfan stood in the center of the city, silent for a long time. The Incense and Candle Sect’s uprising in Wuzhou had branded the Empress a "Heaven-Filling Demoness." They called themselves the Demon-Vanquishing Celestial Army. Under the tyrannical rule of the Great Zhou, the rebel army had spread like wildfire, swelling to over a million strong in just a few short months. The entirety of Wuzhou had been reduced to a festering ruin.

’In a situation like this, could the Martial Arts Sects of Wuzhou truly still exist?’

Doubt clouded Xu Yunfan’s mind as he slowly walked to a wall and reached out.

The adobe wall crumbled like tofu under his hand, easily pierced through.

The next second, he forcibly dragged a small, thin figure out from behind the wall.

Looking at the struggling person in his grasp, Xu Yunfan gave his arm a slight shake, rattling the man until he was dizzy, then casually tossed him to the ground.

It was a young boy. To survive in this kind of man-eat-man environment was truly not easy. But looking at his face, at the shreds of meat hanging between his bared teeth...

He looked up at the ruins of Dingbei City. It seemed this was the only way to survive.

"I ask, you answer."

Xu Yunfan’s cold voice rang in the boy’s ear like a biting winter wind, sending a chill through his heart.

He hastily fell to his knees, not daring to look up, and just said, "Please, sir, ask away!"

"Why did Dingbei City become like this?"

"It... it was after the Demon-Vanquishing Celestial Army breached the city. Their general, Qi Tian, ordered the army to slaughter the populace for three days."

As he spoke, the boy’s body trembled violently. He looked up, his face a mess of tears and snot, and wailed, "My mom and my older sister... they tormented them to death! My older brother was forced at knifepoint to join them, to become one of them. My little sister, who had just learned to walk... she became their meal... Sir!!"

Xu Yunfan’s heart clenched as he listened. His expression darkened. He let out a breath and asked.

"Do you know where Thunder Accumulation Mountain is?" 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Hearing this, the boy wiped away his tears and snot. "I heard from passing merchants that if you go out the south gate of Dingbei City and travel a thousand li, you’ll reach Thunder Accumulation Mountain."

Xu Yunfan stepped forward to help him up, but just as he was about to ask another question, the kneeling boy suddenly sprang up, a cold glint flashing from his sleeve as he lunged for Xu Yunfan’s throat.

CLANG!

The Drumming Jar Golden Hammer was held sideways before his neck, sending sparks flying in the twilight.

Xu Yunfan looked at the shattered dagger and suddenly caught the faint, sickly sweet smell from the boy’s mouth—the unique, putrid stench of human flesh.

The boy’s face was crimson, his expression crazed, and he stared at Xu Yunfan with eyes full of hatred.

"What did they feed you?"

Xu Yunfan grabbed the boy, pressing his thumb against his Adam’s apple. Beneath the boy’s skin, within his squirming blood vessels, tiny insects were clearly visible, crawling about.

The whites of the boy’s eyes suddenly filled with blood vessels, and the veins in his neck bulged.

"The Ming Venerable descends! Ascend through flesh and blood!"

The roar that came out was inhuman. Dense, crimson flesh buds erupted from his seven orifices.

Xu Yunfan leaped back three steps, watching as the human husk exploded. The fragments of flesh and blood ignited the moment they hit the ground, turning into a field of eerie blue phosphorescent fire.

Xu Yunfan’s expression was grim. The boy’s survival was undoubtedly linked to the Demon-Vanquishing Celestial Army led by the Incense and Candle Sect. He feared they had done something to his body.

Now that he had his information, Xu Yunfan didn’t hesitate. He prepared to head south. For a horse like his date-red steed, a journey of a thousand li along the official road would take no more than two or three days.

As he was about to leave Dingbei City, cries of alarm suddenly rang out from near the broken city gate.

Xu Yunfan dug his heels sharply into his horse’s flanks.

His date-red steed whinnied as it smashed through the half-collapsed gate. The view opened up before him. A hundred yards away on the main road, over a hundred refugees were being herded into a circle by black-armored cavalry. The "Demon-Vanquishing Celestial Army" Battle Banner carried by one of the horsemen was stained with dried brain matter.

The instant a Martial General impaled a pregnant woman with his Eight-footed Serpent Spear and lifted her high into the air, the muscles in Xu Yunfan’s arms bulged and flexed. The Drumming Jar Golden Hammer flew from his saddle.

The Heavy Hammer tore through the air with a deafening, thunderous roar, smashing the first three cavalrymen, along with their horses, into a pulp.

Xu Yunfan galloped through the bloody mist. The moment he leaned out and grabbed the hammer’s handle, the Blood Qi around his body erupted.

His muscles swelled as if being inflated, tearing his tight-fitting clothes to shreds. His exposed skin took on a Red Coppery Luster, and his vertebrae popped in succession like a string of firecrackers.

This was the sign of reaching Great Success in the Iron Bridge Pass technique: bones like Refined Steel, spine like an iron bridge.

"Formation!"

The Cavalry Commander who witnessed this roared out the order, spinning his Eight-footed Serpent Spear as he prepared to charge. These elites of the Incense and Candle Sect reacted with incredible speed. Thirty Hook and Scythe Spears crossed to form a net, the eerie blue poison on their tips merging into a curtain of light.

But Xu Yunfan charged straight into the spear formation.

A deafening screech of metal on metal exploded forth. The Hook and Scythe Spears struck his chest and actually sent sparks flying.

The webbing of the cavalrymen’s hands split open. Before they could even change their stance, the Drumming Jar Golden Hammer had already whipped up a crimson whirlwind.

Wherever the hammerhead passed, men and horses were obliterated.

A headless corpse was swept up by the force of the swing and sent crashing into a nearby loess boulder, shattering it.

A fierce wind suddenly whipped past his head. Xu Yunfan ducked, and the sweeping strike from the Cavalry Commander’s Eight-footed Serpent Spear missed.

In the twilight, the Cavalry Commander reined in his horse.

He was clad in Profound Iron Armor, with only a pair of faintly glowing eyes visible beneath his Face Armor.

He held the Eight-footed Serpent Spear angled toward the ground. Blood dripped from its tip, blossoming like red plums upon the yellow earth.

Xu Yunfan held the hammer in one hand. As Blood Qi surged around him, the muscles beneath his skin writhed like pythons, and his bones emitted a low hum, as if countless pieces of metal were colliding within his body.

"Glory to the Ming Venerable!"

The Cavalry Commander suddenly roared, his Eight-footed Serpent Spear striking like a venomous dragon emerging from its lair. The spear tip vibrated, creating nine illusory blossoms of light.

This move, "Nine Dragons Probing the Sea," had already reached the Transformation Realm. Nine cold glints of light sealed off all of Xu Yunfan’s escape routes.

Yet Xu Yunfan remained perfectly still. Only when the spear tip was less than three inches from his throat did he slightly turn his body.

The serpent spear scraped past his neck, missing its mark. The potent poison coating the shaft left a black streak on his skin, but failed to break it.

The Cavalry Commander’s pupils shrank.

’My spear strike is powerful enough to pierce three layers of Iron Armor, yet it couldn’t even break his skin!’

"Horizontal Training? A Third Level Martial Artist?!"

With his right hand, Xu Yunfan gently swung the Drumming Jar Golden Hammer.

The seemingly casual motion stirred up a howling gale. The hammerhead slammed into the spear’s shaft, and the Eight-footed Serpent Spear, forged from Refined Steel, shattered inch by inch like a dry twig.

BANG!

The Cavalry Commander and his horse were sent flying back thirty feet. The warhorse’s hooves carved deep gouges in the ground. The webbing of his hands had burst, and blood flowed from the gaps in his Iron Armor. The eyes beneath his Face Armor finally showed a hint of terror.

Xu Yunfan strode forward, each step leaving an inch-deep footprint in the ground. The Blood Qi within him churned more and more violently, creating an overwhelming urge to be unleashed.

The Cavalry Commander ripped off his Face Armor, revealing a face covered in tattoos.

He pulled a crimson Pill from his tunic, tossed it into his mouth, crushed it with his teeth, and swallowed.

"Ming Venerable, grant me Divine Power!"

He roared as his muscles swelled, straining his Heavy Armor until it creaked. Dense, crimson patterns emerged on his skin, as if countless insects were crawling through his blood vessels.

A cold glint flashed in Xu Yunfan’s eyes. He recognized that these patterns were identical to the parasitic flesh buds inside the young boy. They were clearly the work of the Incense and Candle Sect.