Chapter 171: Chapter 110: First Direct Confrontation with Mortal Transformation; Breakthrough to the Bone Tempering Realm; The Cries Outside Seven Stars Castle...
But his Qi Blood Power was still too weak.
It couldn’t compare to experts who had undergone Mortal Transformation, and it was far weaker than even those in the Entering the Realm of Strength.
Before Mortal Transformation, Qi Blood Power was the very foundation of all Fist and Palm Techniques!
The strength of Martial Artists in the five stages of Foundation Establishment came from this!
...
The flame of the oil lamp was as small as a bean, its dim yellow halo dispelling the darkness in the corners and clearly illuminating the pile of "spoils" on the table.
These were the items Liang Yuhen had risked getting from Corpse Handling, and they were now in Chu Fan’s and Zhao Tianxing’s hands.
CLATTER—
Zhao Tianxing carefully emptied the contents of several money pouches onto the table.
Most of it was silver taels, mixed with some broken gold, as well as a few ordinary-looking Jade Pendants and rings of little value.
Chu Fan and Zhao Tianxing glanced over the pile of gold and silver, their expressions calm.
This wasn’t the first time they had done something like this.
While money was important, they were more interested in any real treasures that might be hidden among the miscellaneous items.
Chu Fan’s fingers sifted through the scattered items.
Suddenly, he felt a seemingly ordinary leather pouch that had a different texture.
The pouch had originally held broken silver taels and was quite unremarkable.
Chu Fan picked it up. It felt heavier in his hand than he expected.
He untied the drawstring and emptied its contents.
Besides a few silver ingots that rolled out, there were two long, thumb-sized objects carefully wrapped in oil paper.
Chu Fan and Zhao Tianxing exchanged a look, seeing the anticipation in each other’s eyes.
The two of them carefully unwrapped the oil paper.
In an instant, a strange fragrance filled the small room.
On the left was a plant shaped like a miniature vine. It was the color of warm, green jade, with natural spiral patterns on its surface, and seemed to contain pure Spiritual Mechanism.
On the right was a fruit that looked like a shrunken red date, but its skin was covered in fine, fiery scales and was slightly warm to the touch.
Although these two items weren’t as good as the Primordial Vein Marrow Fruit given to them by Master Chen of the Moon Arrow Martial Arts Hall, they were still rare treasures!
Chu Fan and Zhao Tianxing looked at each other and smiled at the same time.
"Tomorrow, let’s go ask Master Cao first and see what the best way to consume these is."
Chu Fan said, "First, let’s divide the silver and put the Treasure Plants away safely."
"Okay!" Zhao Tianxing nodded vigorously.
Corpse Handling was a truly addictive business.
...
After Zhao Tianxing left the room, Chu Fan sat down in his chair and glanced at the panel:
[Skill: Nine Heavens Wind Mastery Scripture (Uninitiated) Progress: (0/100) (Trait: None)]
He took out the Fragment of a Cultivation Method he had gotten from Liang Yuhen.
The cover of the booklet bore the title: *Nine Heavens Wind Mastery Scripture*.
’A fragment...’
Chu Fan flipped to the end and saw that, indeed, many pages were missing.
Even though it was just a fragment, it made him ecstatic—this wasn’t a Qinggong technique, it was a Daoist Divine Technique!
When he had performed the Refinement on the booklet in the long street earlier, he had seen countless images of riding the wind in the original owner’s memories.
But before he could get a closer look, he had run into Duan Tianhong.
He looked at the "Literacy" section on his panel...
[Generalize, Stunning Comprehension: With a clear and perceptive mind, a light of wisdom arises naturally. You can deduce the supreme principles of heaven and earth from the smallest details and complete supreme Profound Skills from mere fragments. You can grasp ten things from a single point; your Comprehension is so transcendent it has surpassed what ordinary mortals can achieve. With a mere thought, you can build invisible bridges between different fields of knowledge, learning from any source and making your Cultivation progress as effortlessly as water carving a channel.]
A faint, almost imperceptible smile appeared on Chu Fan’s lips.
’Completing this *Nine Heavens Wind Mastery Scripture* doesn’t seem too difficult.’
’Even if it’s a bit difficult now, once my Literacy skill is ready for another Breaking Limit and my Comprehension improves again, I’ll definitely be able to complete the *Nine Heavens Wind Mastery Scripture*!’
’The truly difficult part is the beginning—’
’To cultivate this scripture, one must first draw an Innate Wind Seed into the body within a Gangfeng Forbidden Land, then transform thirty-six meridians into semi-ethereal Wind Veins. Only then can one continue by devouring the Wandering Wind Spirits between heaven and earth to evolve.’
Chu Fan had never even heard of a "Wind Seed" or a "Wind Vein."
But from the memories he had acquired through Refinement, he knew that drawing an Innate Wind Seed into his body and transforming thirty-six meridians into semi-ethereal Wind Veins were both extremely dangerous endeavors!
Even if he could draw the Innate Wind Seed into his body, the subsequent cultivation would require breaking through the five stages of Foundation Establishment first.
For now, he was unable to cultivate it.
Chu Fan looked down, flipping through the *Nine Heavens Wind Mastery Scripture*.
[Literacy Experience Points +1]
...
「The next evening.」
The sun was setting.
Zhao Tianxing had taken the two Treasure Plants to find Master Cao.
In the courtyard, Chu Fan’s figure was a blur of motion, his Qi Blood Power steaming around him.
After a long while, he let out a heavy breath of turbid air and walked over to the stone table in the courtyard to sit down.
[Cultivation: Fourth Stage of Foundation Establishment, Bone Tempering 99%]
He was just one final wisp of Qi Blood away from crossing this threshold and stepping into the Bone Tempering Realm.
He didn’t rush to achieve his goal. Instead, he took out the *Nine Heavens Wind Mastery Scripture* and began to read it with a calm heart.
After the Refinement, the fragment was already imprinted in his mind, but flipping through the physical copy like this could still increase his Literacy Experience Points.
Half an hour passed. Chu Fan closed the booklet, his eyes clear and serene.
’It’s time.’
He took a deep breath, long and profound, as if drawing all the essence of the surrounding world into his chest.
Then he closed his eyes, his consciousness sinking completely into his body.
With his inner vision, he could faintly "see" the surging Qi Blood within him, like streams of crimson flowing slowly along specific paths.
The bottleneck stuck at 99% was like an invisible yet tough membrane, obstructing the final transformation.
Chu Fan focused his mind, mobilizing the last of his body’s unconsolidated Qi Blood Power.
The process required extreme concentration and control, like precisely guiding the last few scattered currents into the main channel of a raging river.
Wisps and threads of weak yet pure Qi Blood were refined and gathered from his limbs, bones, and organs. Like a hundred rivers flowing to the sea, they launched a final assault on the membrane of the bottleneck.
At first, there was no reaction. But when the very last wisp of Qi Blood merged into the torrent—
