As the calm words sounded, the three corpses had already crashed to the ground, while the figure beneath the tree still sat motionless. Amid the surging murderous intent, a dead leaf slowly drifted down onto his shoulder.
"So you’re this easy to scare?"
Su Mu slowly opened his eyes. Seeing the three men collapsed on the ground, foaming at the mouth and no longer breathing, his brows knitted slightly, then he slowly closed his eyes again.
Their sneaky wall‑climbing movements naturally could not escape Su Mu’s notice. The three arrived just as Su Mu, having cultivated the Hundred‑Battle Fist, was in a moment of insight, so he sat quietly beneath the old locust tree to digest his comprehension.
The three, having run into Su Mu at such close range, were abruptly dragged into his state of enlightenment for an instant. After glimpsing the battlefield vision for but a moment, they were scared to death on the spot.
Not long after.
"Boom!"
A stern battle will burst out from all around Su Mu, and the invisible bottleneck was suddenly shattered.
Hundred‑Battle Fist (Small Success 1%)
Comprehension: 170 (Dragon‑and‑Phoenix Level)
A warm current surged and rushed through Su Mu’s two fists, while the Vast Qi in his Dantian at his abdomen roiled without end, once more welcoming a violent increase.
"Hoo!"
Before long, Su Mu lightly exhaled a breath. With each breath in and out, the Qi Blood within his body surged; above his head faintly appeared an illusory Blood River, and the roar of rivers rushing followed.
Yesterday he had swallowed the final Qi and Blood Pill, completing the tempering of all Five Viscera in one stroke. Normally, a Martial Artist of the Five Extremes Realm must finish tempering all Five Viscera before they can initiate the first Blood Exchange.
However, what the whole world takes for granted is completely inapplicable to Su Mu. Su Mu bears Jiao Tendon Jade Bone, and the foundation laid by his Horizontal Training Martial Arts is already far beyond that of Martial Artists of the same realm. Moreover, by condensing the Power of five rounds of Refining Force into Gang Force, his Gang Force now circulates ceaselessly; with every cycle it invisibly scours flesh, blood, muscles, and bones, making Su Mu’s Martial Dao foundation all the more vast and robust.
In addition, on Qi Peak Mountain he obtained Fire Sparrow Blood, in Vajra Temple he was washed and tempered by the Relic Light of the Arhat, and beneath Jinmen Mountain he received from the Sun Family Ancestor a single drop of golden blood.
Each of these three is a fortuitous encounter rarely met by ordinary people. Taken alone, any one of them is enough to forge a remarkable foundation, yet now all of them have converged in one body. If Su Mu’s Martial Dao foundation were to be made public, it would surely cause an uproar.
In the Five Extremes Realm, one must use the Power of the Five Elements to temper the Five Viscera, building bridges between them so that the Martial Artist’s Qi Blood undergoes transformation. The transformation of Qi Blood is divided into four tiers: Qi Blood as Battle Smoke, Qi Blood like a River, Qi Blood transforming into a Jiao, and Qi Blood as a Flood Furnace.
Before Su Mu’s Five Viscera were even complete, he had already ushered in one Qi Blood transformation, stepping into the realm of Qi Blood as Battle Smoke.
Upon completing the Five Viscera tempering, he immediately touched the threshold of the Secondary Blood Exchange, about to step into the realm of Qi Blood like a River.
"After the first Blood Exchange was completed, my appetite greatly increased. Since then, it’s as if a second growth and development were triggered; the body’s original limits have long since been broken. Provided there are sufficient Qi and Blood Pills to support it, the subsequent Blood Exchanges shouldn’t be difficult."
Su Mu felt out the changes within his body. The tempered Five Viscera were firm and powerful; originally, the burden of transporting Qi Blood throughout the body was borne almost entirely by a single heart, but now the other four viscera could share part of the load.
Under the joint operation of the Five Viscera, Su Mu’s Qi Blood surged within like a river. Whether in his control over his Qi Blood, the exuberant vitality contained in that Qi Blood, or the speed at which Qi Blood was carried through his entire body, everything had increased tremendously.
With but a thought, Qi Blood could be delivered in an instant to every inch of Su Mu’s flesh and blood. Everything felt like Rebirth.
"So that’s how it is—what a wondrous Five Extremes Realm!"
Su Mu’s eyes shone. The more he cultivated, the more he marveled at the subtlety of each Realm along the Martial Dao. The Lower Three Grades temper flesh, blood, muscles, and bones, strengthening one’s Power.
The Middle Third Grade of the Five Extremes Realm begins to delve into the Five Viscera, strengthening them within. Once the Five Viscera are fully tempered, one builds bridges of Five Elements to completely link them through. In this way, the Martial Artist’s ever‑growing Qi Blood shifts from a single‑core drive to a five‑core drive.
The benefits therein are immense. The tempered Five Viscera continuously refine the blood, breaking the shackles on a Martial Artist’s Qi Blood and opening the path to its transformation.
At the same time, Qi Blood driven by Five Viscera is far more powerful and reliable than being driven by the heart alone. A Martial Artist’s control over Qi Blood thus receives an unprecedented enhancement, ensuring that he does not lose control of his Qi Blood after it has transformed.
Each link follows upon the last. The Martial Dao’s excavation and development of the human body, this treasure, truly goes from surface to depth step by step—it is worthy of being called exquisite and peerless!
"Next, I’ll refine another batch of Qi and Blood Pills, then build the Five Elements bridges. Once the Five Viscera are connected, I’ll assault the Secondary Blood Exchange!"
Su Mu already had his plan. Making money was not urgent for the moment.
As for the three men on the ground who were frightened to death—these three had attempted to break in and rob, and even harbored thoughts of killing to silence him. Dead is dead; Su Mu felt no psychological burden whatsoever.
Right now, Su Mu reached out and searched over the three corpses. After a round of looting, he obtained five taels of broken silver, as well as half a sheepskin scroll.
"Hm?"
Unfolding the half sheepskin scroll, Su Mu fixed his gaze on it and saw it was a fragmentary river map, within which were marked several hidden river routes.
"River chart... are these three connected to the two gangs?"
Su Mu frowned slightly and buried the three corpses on the spot in a corner of the courtyard. Seventy percent of Donglai County City’s supplies depended on water transport along the Donglai River. In the city, the Cyan Fish Gang and the White Whale Gang were the two halves of Donglai’s Cao Bang, and the river chart on the two men immediately made Su Mu think of those two gangs.
However, Su Mu didn’t worry about it. These three died for what they’d done; even if they were people of the two gangs, so what? As long as his own strength kept rising, why should he fear either gang?
At noon, sunlight sifted down into the courtyard.
Li Lu rolled her sleeves up to the elbows and carried out a jar of wine from the brew room. Mud still clung to the jar and hadn’t fully dried; clearly it was a batch brewed not long ago.
"New brew. It should be better than last time. Want to try?"
"Alright."
Li Lu dug her fingers into the yellow mud sealing the jar. With a soft "pop," the mud seal broke. She poured out a large bowl of wine. Fine bubbles floated on the surface; compared to the wine of this world it was much clearer, yet it still looked murky and yellowish.
Su Mu took the bowl and tipped his head back, gulping down a large mouthful.
The wine slid down his throat like swallowing a thin blade heated red-hot, and it burned in his stomach in waves. Su Mu set the bowl down without a change in expression, savoring it carefully.
"How is it?"
Li Lu suddenly leaned in, the tip of her nose almost touching Su Mu’s jaw. Her eyes were filled with anticipation.
"Strong enough." Su Mu paused, then added, "But it lacks a bit of mellow richness, and the wine still isn’t clear enough."
The girl let out an "oh," and the light in her eyes visibly dimmed. She lowered her head and stared at the wine in the jar for quite a while.
"So it still doesn’t work..."
Before she finished, Li Lu picked up the wine jar and turned to leave. Back in the brew room she closed the door, and soon there came the crisp clatter of clay jars bumping against each other, along with the sound of pounding the mash.
In the days that followed, Li Lu no longer asked Su Mu to taste her wine. Su Mu first spent a few days Refining Qi and Blood Pills, then threw himself completely into communicating with his Five Viscera.
Ordinary Martial Artists usually begin building viscera bridges after tempering two organs. Someone like Su Mu, who tempered all Five Viscera before starting to construct the bridges, was extremely rare.
"Building these bridges... isn’t actually hard."
In barely half a day, by dusk Su Mu had completed the bridge between liver and heart. With a flicker of thought, a wisp of Gang Force flowed out from the Gangjin Pill in his Dantian, entered the liver and transformed into Wood Attribute Gang Force, then converged into the heart.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"
Five Elements Mutual Generation—like dry firewood meeting fierce flames. Fire Sparrow Gang Force surged up; the Tao Family Blood Seal imprinted in his chest was instantly worn away by another fraction, dimming and wavering.
"Flowing through the liver and heart, Wood engenders Fire, and after that, Fire Sparrow Gang Force was boosted out of nowhere by roughly fifteen percent. If I finish all the bridges... the amplification to Gang Force might exceed fifty percent!"
Su Mu’s eyes lit up sharply. A fifty percent increase in Gang Force would be a staggering boost to his strength, and the gains from communicating the Five Viscera weren’t limited to Gang Force; the improvement to Qi Blood would be even greater. By then, his overall strength would rise by far more than fifty percent!
"Continue!"
Brimming with drive, Su Mu immediately started building the second viscera bridge.
...
"Get lost, where’d this old beggar come from!"
"Hic—!"
With a boozy hiccup, a shabby old man staggered out of the tavern, his gray, tattered robe billowing in the wind. The faded wine gourd at his waist clanked with each unsteady step.
"Pop—"
In a narrow alley, his withered fingers flicked the stopper off the gourd. The old man tipped his head back and took a deep swig, Adam’s apple bobbing as his brows knitted tight.
"Ptui, and they dare call this fine wine?"
The old man spat a few times in disgust, then his movements suddenly froze.
"Dong, dong, dong!"
From afar came the sound of the night watch’s clapper. Each beat seemed to strike his hunched back, and his straightened body slowly bent, as if an invisible burden had suddenly settled on him.