"Sir!!"

At this moment, Ran Xinyue hurriedly rushed over and helped Zhang Rongfang up.

In the blink of an eye, it had happened so quickly that she couldn't react.

Even though she was also a Grandmaster, the two combatants were already at an absolute monster level.

By the time she came to her senses, Zhang Rongfang was already severely injured and on the brink of death, seemingly about to pass away!

"Are you alright, Sir!? Quick, take the medicine! Quick!"

Ran Xinyue hurriedly took out a bottle of healing medicine, intending to administer it to Zhang Rongfang to stop the internal bleeding first!

"No... no need." Zhang Rongfang pushed her hand away. "This medicine is useless for me."

His current resistance was extremely strong; under the premise of treating poison like spice, the usual medicinal dosage was simply ineffective.

Standing up, the penetrating blood hole covered by Zhang Rongfang's hand was rapidly healing and closing.

He straightened his body.

"Let's go!"

For a long time, the confidence of having no rival due to consecutive victories was finally shattered this time.

Previously, with the Blood Lotus state, he thought that at worst, he could still be on par with a Grandmaster.

But this time, Zhang Rongfang understood his own limitations.

"You... you're really okay!?"

Ran Xinyue looked at the rapidly closing blood hole, feeling creeped out, sensing that perhaps the Daoist had long worshiped a god, albeit a special one, allowing him to retain his flesh and blood.

"It's fine. Don't worry," Zhang Rongfang said succinctly.

Even though all his internal organs were ruptured, causing massive bleeding, and seventy percent of his bones had snapped in an instant.

But he was indeed okay.

Because now, half of the injuries had healed.

It was just the accumulated clotted blood and impurities inside that needed dealing with.

"Uh... okay... fine," Ran Xinyue, feeling creeped out again, looked towards Emperor Jiang's stone house.

Feeling that these two were really unlike humans anymore.

One's skills completely exceeded her imagination. She couldn't fathom how Zhang Ying, with such a high body strength initially, could be injured to this extent in an instant.

What she couldn't imagine even more was how, without worshiping a god, the Daoist's injuries were healing so quickly!

The strength of these two was far beyond her imagination!

"Let's go." Zhang Rongfang turned away, not saying more.

The two of them, one after the other, finally descended the mountain quickly.

This time... although he did not acquire a solution to the mysterious mist, he still had a significant gain.

"What level is Emperor Jiang exactly? Ran Xinyue, tell me honestly," Zhang Rongfang asked, upon descending to the foot of the mountain, his injuries already healed.

This time, he was truly struck.

A complete defeat, an indefensible defeat.

For Emperor Jiang to achieve this, it was absolutely beyond ordinary human comprehension.

"I'm not sure... but thirty years ago, during a massacre by the river, Senior Emperor Jiang was already at the pinnacle of being an Extreme Realm Grandmaster. For him, martial arts had already become instinctual."

Ran Xinyue disclosed a bit.

"Extreme Realm Grandmaster... he is indeed incredibly strong..." Zhang Rongfang couldn't help comparing Emperor Jiang to his master, Yue Dewen.

He had never seen Yue Dewen strike with seriousness, he was always that mysterious figure.

Whereas Emperor Jiang, despite showing his skills, was equally unfathomable.

The two were not of the same kind.

Both were unreasonably strong.

'Perhaps, I haven't reached a sufficient level to see the heights they're at...'

Zhang Rongfang sighed.

"So... what do you plan to do?" Ran Xinyue hesitated, looking again at his injured area unconsciously.

"Hoo...." Zhang Rongfang took a deep breath. "Where there's a will, there's a way! Take things slowly, there's no rush."

"...." Ran Xinyue was speechless; could one catch up to Emperor Jiang's level with mere willpower?

But she couldn't outright say that, now it seemed, at least the Daoist's essence and energy were in good condition.

At that moment, the two stopped talking, returning to Agarwood Mansion.

Sitting cross-legged in the quiet chamber, Zhang Rongfang continually recalled the situation of the duel during the day.

With his incredibly strong memory now, many details, upon reflection, gradually formed a clearer picture.

'At the beginning, Emperor Jiang could have killed me with just one move. But after I employed the Blood Lotus, he initially used a palm technique, later changing his technique mid-way. He likely realized the palm strike was pointless against me, so he switched weapons.'

Indeed, in the end, he lost under the opponent's blade.

That blade was definitely an incredibly powerful Divine Weapon, otherwise it couldn't have cut through his flesh and skin.

After all, with his Hard Skill layered with the Blood Lotus, it could merely sever the outer skin against the previous Extreme Realm Grandmaster.

The hardness was not an issue.

This was revealing the Great strength Emperor Jiang's martial arts possessed, an absolutely powerful lethality.

Zhang Rongfang repeatedly replayed the battle memories in his mind, confirming the reasons for his defeat lay in two primary areas.

'First: I couldn't defend against his attack. There was some special element interfering with my perception. It might also be that the gap in martial arts was too large, with some unknown flaw in myself that he discerned, easily exploiting it.'

'Second: I couldn't hit him. His evasive body technique was incredibly formidable. Although it felt like his speed wasn't much faster than mine, it felt as though my every move was anticipated by him, reminiscent of an advanced version of preemptive strategies.'

Zhang Rongfang recalled that even his dark vision failed inexplicably at the time, and even his normal eyesight was affected.

That feeling was quite peculiar.

'Since he said that he had long seen through my martial arts, that of the Great Dao Teaching, then....' Zhang Rongfang's gaze fell on his attribute panel.

It had been a long time since he improved his martial arts.

Previously, he thought that martial arts no longer played a significant role for him, assuming that as long as his vitality increased and he gained special talents, he would eventually overpower everything.

But today's developments taught him an important lesson, a lesson titled "Absolute Martial Arts Supremacy."

"Might as well improve a bit."

Immediately, his gaze fell on the attribute panel.

Row after row of martial arts techniques instantly came into view.

Among all the martial arts, only a few items like the Illusion Talisman Skill of the Great Dao Teaching, which elevates the martial realm, were not yet perfected.

Currently, the Illusion Talisman Skill was only at the External Medicine Seventh Stage.

'For me, both External Medicine and Internal Technique are used to temper the body, and the body should be able to transition quickly.'

Zhang Rongfang immediately recalled the subsequent steps of the Illusion Talisman Skill. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Then, he tapped the plus sign behind External Medicine.

Tap, tap.

With two consecutive points consumed, the accumulated attribute points decreased from 19 to 17.

And the Illusion Talisman Skill advanced from External Medicine Seventh Stage to External Medicine Ninth Stage.

Zhang Rongfang frowned slightly, merely sensing a slight flow of air accelerating a few cycles within his body, and then it was gone.

'As expected, pure External Medicine relies on external drugs to strengthen the body. This method is useless for me now, so it only needs one attribute point to increase a level.'

Next is the Internal Technique.

The Internal Technique has five stages in total.

Zhang Rongfang had nothing to say, directly tapping the plus sign.

'Illusion Talisman Skill - External Medicine Ninth Stage'

'Illusion Talisman Skill - Internal Technique First Stage'

Transitioning from External Medicine to Internal Technique consumed five attribute points.

This made Zhang Rongfang feel a sting in his heart but also brought some understanding.

After all, Internal Technique means using different internal methods to temper the body.

With his current physical strength, more attribute points would naturally be consumed to achieve a tempering effect.

But understanding aside, there was also a bracket at the end of the skill showing a line of text (Please select the enhancement area).

Is there an option for selecting the enhancement area?

This puzzled him.

It was the first time he encountered such a situation.

Without hesitation, seeing that there were still 12 attribute points left, Zhang Rongfang tapped twice consecutively.

Two points remained.

The Illusion Talisman Skill was instantly elevated to the Internal Technique Third Stage.

Having fully mastered the martial arts practice method and all the key essentials, directly enhancing with attributes is truly exhilarating!

Zhang Rongfang felt a bit addicted to this sensation.

However, after the enhancement, he suddenly realized,

it seemed that he hadn't felt any enhancement.

'That's odd, previously after enhancements, there would always be individual physical changes, and there would be memory influx, but now...?'

He carefully looked at the attribute panel.

Sure enough, in the brackets behind the Illusion Talisman Skill, there were numeric symbols.

'Illusion Talisman Skill - Third Stage (Please select the enhancement area +3)'

After pondering for a moment, Zhang Rongfang gently directed his mind to tap the "please select" option.

Instantly, a whole new piece of information suddenly appeared before his eyes.

Along with it, a mass of cool, blurry airflow started to slowly rotate between his chest and abdomen.

'Physical Enhancement Status: Body Balance - Ninth Grade, Leg Technique Third Grade, Fist, Palm, Claw First Grade, Digestive Organs Third Grade.'

"..." Digestive organs... could it be the Golden Toad Skill?

What is body balance?

Curiously, Zhang Rongfang tapped this item with his mind, and instantly the information expanded, unfolding further details.

'Body Balance - Ninth Grade (Source: Thirteen Guardians Horizontal Training)'

Then he successively tapped to open other parts, obtaining different information for each.

Fist, palm, and claw originate from the Eagle Claw Skill.

The digestive organs, as he suspected, originate from the Golden Toad Skill.

The leg technique originates from Dragon and Snake Ascension Skill, Eight Steps to Catching a Cicada, and Spiritual Snake Body Skill.

These martial arts, so old that he almost forgot them, were still silently supporting him, becoming the strongest foundation of his current strength.

'But Blood Lotus and Flesh Restoration weren't accounted for. However, those are talents, innate abilities, so it's normal not to be counted as martial arts.'

He thought carefully for a moment.

He understood that the mass of cool airflow at his chest and abdomen was the key to choosing.

'I don't have any shortcomings in any aspect right now, so it's best to enhance everything equally. It's more cost-effective this way.'

Immediately, he lightly tapped the Body Balance item with his mind.

Instantly, the airflow from the chest and abdomen began to spread and flow throughout the body.

Simultaneously, a massive influx of memories, far more intense than before, flooded into his mind.

His whole body started to heat up, as if it was expanding, but when Zhang Rongfang observed with open eyes, he found that his physique and build remained normal.

Countless memories of him practicing martial arts diligently every day, honing the body internally and externally through Internal Technique, continuously flowed into his mind.

In his mind, years passed by... finally, at the end of the ninth year, he succeeded!

The memories abruptly ended here.

All the memories vanished from Zhang Rongfang's sight.

On the attribute panel before him, only a new line of martial arts items remained.

'Illusion Talisman Skill - Internal Technique Third Stage (Body Balance Enhancement 12, Leg Technique Enhancement 3, Fist, Palm, Claw Enhancement 1, Digestive Organs Enhancement 3.)'