Chapter 105: Chapter 103: Obtaining the Cultivation Technique: Golden Body Cross Training Skill

Wu Liangchen caught the feathered arrow out of the air. As he sprinted forward, he slung the longbow off his back, nocked an arrow, took a deep breath, and fired.

SWISH!

The arrow shot like a meteor, striking the chain right at its breaking point.

DING.

Sparks flew from the arrowhead, and the last, tenuous link of the chain finally snapped.

The chain instantly went slack. As the stone began to tumble, the monk shrieked in terror.

"No!"

He reached his hands behind his back, trying to hold the stone up from underneath.

But just then, Wu Liangchen arrived. Without a moment’s hesitation, he swung his blade.

The slash aimed straight for the monk’s hands.

No matter how tough his Golden Body was, he couldn’t withstand the pain from Wu Liangchen’s full-force strike and instinctively recoiled.

With a THUD, the stone rolled to the ground, exposing the monk’s back.

The monk’s back was covered in carved scriptures. After the wounds had healed, however, the resulting scars were hideous and terrifying, twisting the sacred text into distorted shapes.

At the same time, the monk froze for a moment, then let out a bloodcurdling scream.

Along with this howl, which sounded as if it came from the depths of hell, his entire body began to convulse.

It was a chaotic, frenzied convulsion without any pattern.

His limbs flailed uncontrollably, and the muscles on his face twitched and contorted, forming a series of grotesque expressions.

But that wasn’t the worst of it. As he convulsed, the golden sheen on his skin—the mark of mastery in the Golden Body Cross Training Skill—began to flow and pool together.

Wherever the golden light passed, his muscles swelled as if pumped with air, stretching the skin until it was translucent.

"AHHHHHH!" The monk clawed at his own body in agony, letting out screams that were painful to even hear.

Wu Liangchen didn’t take the opportunity to attack, instead standing a short distance away and watching quietly.

He finally understood what the stone was for.

’It’s not his weak point. On the contrary, it’s his lifeline.’

’The monk obviously made a mistake practicing his Golden Body Cross Training Skill, causing a cultivation deviation.’

’Normally, anyone who reached this state would have died long ago. But this monk must have met a master who found a stone carved with sutras and mantras to suppress the demonic energy within him.’

’That’s why he couldn’t bear to be parted from it for even a moment.’

Wu Liangchen knew he could walk over and finish the monk off with little effort.

But he didn’t. He just stood there and watched.

He understood that for the monk in his current state, death would be the greatest mercy.

Sure enough.

After tearing his skin to shreds, the monk still found no relief from the excruciating pain. A low growl, like that of a wounded beast, rumbled in his throat. His eyes turned blood-red. He then plunged his hands into his own thighs and yanked.

White tendons, pink muscle fibers, and even blood vessels were all ripped out.

But it was no use. After years of training, his tendons had become incredibly tough; there was no way he could snap them in his current state.

"Kill... kill me!" the monk mumbled, lifting his head.

Wu Liangchen remained completely unmoved. He even took a step back, watching with rapt attention as if to say, ’Go on.’

"Kill me!" the monk roared at the sky. He suddenly gouged out his own eyes, his fingers sinking deep into the sockets. Shattered lenses, mixed with blood, streamed down his face. In the winter night, the gruesome mixture actually shimmered with a faint light, a rather beautiful sight.

Wu Liangchen kept watching, his expression unchanging.

He had no intention of kindly ending the monk’s suffering. In fact, he was rather enjoying this moment.

’It wasn’t cruelty.’

’This was everything he deserved.’

’If I hadn’t achieved a breakthrough during the fight, if I hadn’t been quick to seize the opportunity, I would be the one lying here now.’

’And I’m sure the monk wouldn’t have shown me the slightest bit of mercy.’

By now, the monk had torn off his own ears and tongue, but the pain didn’t lessen. It only grew more intense.

In the monk’s perception, it was as if he had been cast into the deepest pits of hell, every nerve fiber searing in karmic fire.

The pain was so soul-deep that fainting was an impossible escape.

Just then, his sister Wu Mengchan approached, trembling. She didn’t dare get too close and just called out softly.

"Brother!"

"Stay back. And don’t listen to the screaming. Go with Miss Lian and check on Aunt Fan," Wu Liangchen said without turning his head.

"Okay!"

Wu Mengchan did as she was told and left.

She had only been worried about her brother. Seeing he was safe, she had no desire to linger.

The reason was simple: the monk’s screams were so horrifying they made one’s skin crawl.

After Wu Mengchan had gone, Wu Liangchen kept an eye on the monk while pulling out his last piece of beef jerky. He placed it in his mouth and began to chew slowly.

After his breakthrough, Wu Liangchen’s body was in desperate need of a massive influx of energy.

He had been suppressing the urge to eat because he was in the middle of a fight.

Now that the main threat was gone, Wu Liangchen could finally breathe a small sigh of relief.

The moment the jerky hit his stomach, his long-starved guts went to work, digesting it in an instant. Then they rumbled in even greater protest.

For the current Wu Liangchen, that small piece of jerky was just a drop in the bucket.

But Wu Liangchen didn’t leave. As long as the monk was still alive, he couldn’t go far.

It was the same with anything—problems always seemed to crop up right when you were on the verge of success.

Therefore, to avoid letting all his effort go to waste, Wu Liangchen suppressed his hunger and continued his cold watch.

Finally.

After breaking his own teeth one by one and rolling on the ground for an untold amount of time, the flowing golden light finally reached the top of his head and converged.

Soon, the monk’s head swelled to the size of a bucket, making the lotus tattoo on his face look utterly grotesque.

In the next instant, a look of release finally appeared on his face. Then came a loud POP.

The monk’s head exploded like a rotten watermelon left to bake in the sun all day.

Thankfully, Wu Liangchen had anticipated this and had already ducked behind a tree, avoiding the spray of gore.

When he stepped out from behind the tree and looked, he saw the monk’s headless corpse stand silently in the woods for a moment before it crashed to the ground.

Wu Liangchen let out a final, deep sigh of relief and leaped forward to inspect the body.

The once tall and burly monk was now completely shriveled, little more than a skeleton. The sight was horrifying.

But Wu Liangchen was unfazed. Instead, he began to expertly search the corpse.

A moment later, Wu Liangchen pulled his hand back, his face a mask of disappointment.

He hadn’t found a single coin on the monk. The only thing he’d discovered was a satchel filled with human skulls.

Although disappointed, he had at least eliminated a powerful foe. Wu Liangchen breathed a sigh of relief and turned to head back.

Upon reaching the stone that had rolled away, Wu Liangchen first carefully examined the sutras and mantras carved on its surface, but he couldn’t recognize a single one.

’What is this thing made of? It doesn’t really look like stone.’

Puzzled, Wu Liangchen reached out and touched it.

The next moment, a prompt appeared before his eyes.

[Cultivation Technique: Golden Body Cross Training Skill]

[Technique Grade: Peak Superior]

[Estimated Cost: 78 Wisps of Life Fire]

[Consume Life Fire to analyze?]