His muscles tensed.

His skin flushed an unnatural red, his veins bulging and throbbing.

Just as the searing heat was about to reach a critical point, Han Feng snatched the piece of Cyan Jade Bamboo Heart, crushing it with his teeth and swallowing it down in a few gulps.

BOOM!

A coolness like a fresh spring surged through his body.

The cool medicinal power instantly collided with the raging, fiery torrent from the Blood Essence Grass.

He had expected a violent clash.

But the medicinal power of the Cyan Jade Bamboo Heart was incredibly magical.

It acted like a pair of gentle, massive hands, soothing the fiery energy that was rampaging throughout his body.

Then, it enveloped the energy, guiding it in an orderly fashion toward his spine.

Han Feng sucked in a sharp breath.

It wasn’t pain. It was an itch.

The bizarre itch, seeping out from the depths of his bone marrow, was more unbearable than pain.

It was as if countless invisible ants, armed with tiny hammers and chisels, were hammering and chipping away at his spine without end.

The Sword Bone was feeding!

It was devouring these two immense streams of medicinal power!

Han Feng clenched his teeth, cold sweat pouring down his forehead.

He didn’t dare move, not even to breathe deeply, for fear of interrupting the process.

He could clearly feel his spine undergoing a sort of metamorphosis.

His bones, which had been only slightly hard before, were now becoming much denser.

They even began to faintly emit a metallic hum.

The Qi Blood in his body surged like a great river, roaring through his meridians.

With every pass, his meridians grew wider and more resilient.

[High Tier Spiritual Energy Material intake detected...]

[Channeling Sword Qi...]

[Bone density increasing... Qi Blood purity increasing...]

The system’s prompts rang in his mind like heavenly music.

This state lasted for a full hour.

Han Feng’s eyes snapped open only when the faint sound of an assembly horn reached him from outside.

"Hoooo—"

He exhaled a long plume of white air.

The plume of air, condensed and solid, swirled in the air and let out a faint whistling sound before dissipating.

It was like an invisible dagger had pierced the air.

Han Feng looked down.

His muscles, which had been sore from the constant fighting, now felt charged with explosive power.

Although he hadn’t yet broken through to the Body Tempering Ninth Layer, he could feel his physical fortitude had increased by at least thirty percent!

More importantly...

With a thought,

[Talent: Spiritual Vision (Active)]

HUMMM!

The world changed.

If his Spiritual Vision had been high-definition before, it had now upgraded directly to ultra-HD!

The dust motes floating in the air.

The electrical current flowing through the wires behind the walls.

He could even see the trajectory of a fly’s flapping wings in the hallway outside, every detail rendered with perfect clarity.

The lines of energy, once blurry, were now incomparably distinct, and he could even make out variations in the depth of their colors.

"This Cyan Jade Bamboo Heart really is something else!"

Han Feng clenched his fist, his knuckles letting out a series of sharp cracks, like popping beans.

"System, check panel."

[Host: Han Feng]

[Cultivation: Body Tempering Eighth Layer (850/1600)]

[Root Bone: Sword Bone (Metamorphosis Progress: 41/100)]

Seeing the "41/100" on the progress bar,

Han Feng was in a great mood. He hopped off the bed and stretched his arms and legs.

’Since I’ve accepted their payment, I’d better do an outstanding job.’

He casually grabbed the tool bag hanging on the wall and pushed the door open.

"Miss Alice, Dr. Han is here to give you a full-body physical!"

...

The day after killing the evil disciples, Han Feng woke up bright and early.

First, he went to the tarmac to give Gu Yun’s precious "Alice" a thorough inspection, inside and out.

Not only did he tighten the loose hydraulic line, but he also took the opportunity to wipe several dusty corners in the engine compartment until they gleamed.

When Gu Yun, sporting dark circles under his eyes, ran over nervously to check on her, he was greeted by the sight of a perfect fighter jet, as clean as new, without a speck of dust to be found.

"Ahem. Decent work."

Gu Yun tossed out the comment with a deadpan face, then turned and walked away.

But the slight upturn at the corner of his mouth betrayed his true feelings.

For the next three days, Golden Ears Farm was unusually peaceful.

The recent attack had put the entire farm on edge.

Lei Zhen had even given a direct order to shrink the scope of the harvesting operation to the core area.

He also dispatched all the reconnaissance drones to monitor every inch of the land around the farm’s periphery, twenty-four hours a day.

The Sharp Sword Squad’s duties also became much more relaxed.

Instead of proactively hunting Demon Beasts, their mission became a routine of daily aerial patrols.

But Han Feng didn’t stay idle.

He was like a wind-up machine. Aside from eating and sleeping, he spent every other moment in the cockpit of the Gray Donkey.

He drank Potions like water and burned through fuel just as quickly.

...

Three thousand meters high, the cloud cover was thin.

The old engine of the Gray Donkey, a heavy support aircraft, was letting out a roar of protest, clearly overloaded.

The fuselage skin rattled violently, sounding as if it might disintegrate at any moment.

Han Feng sat in the cockpit, his face pale, but his eyes were alarmingly bright.

For the past few days, he had been flying with nonstop, high intensity, like a madman.

The process of completely wringing his Spiritual Power dry and then forcing it to recover was simply a form of masochism.

But he could feel it—he was approaching the tipping point.

[Sword Control Technique · Proficient: 1998/2000]

As Han Feng yanked the control stick, the cumbersome Gray Donkey executed a physically impossible right-angle climb.

The immense G-force instantly crushed his chest, and his bones creaked under the strain.

This maneuver, which violated the laws of aerodynamics, was achieved purely by "lifting" the aircraft with raw Qi Blood Power.

His Qi Blood Value instantly dropped by fifty points.

[Sword Control Technique · Proficient: 1999/2000]

’One last push!’

Han Feng gritted his teeth, the expensive Middle Tier Recovery Potion clutched in his hand already deforming under the pressure of his grip.

He slammed the throttle all the way forward, simultaneously pouring out his Spiritual Power without reservation to envelop the entire aircraft.

"Turn for me, you bastard!"

The massive airframe came to a sudden halt in midair.

Then, with the nose as its pivot point, the tail swung like a giant pendulum, brute-forcing a half-circle on the horizontal plane.

In that very instant.

The crisp, long-awaited notification finally sounded in his mind.

[DING!] 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

[Congratulations, Host. Your Skill Proficiency for the Core Skill "Sword Control Technique" is now full.]

[Level Up: Proficient → Mastery (0/4000)]

BOOM!

The moment the prompt faded, a vast and indescribable stream of information, like a bursting dam, flooded Han Feng’s mind.

It was a much deeper understanding of Sword Control.

The previous "Proficient" level had only taught him how to crudely manipulate inanimate objects with Qi Blood Power.

The "Mastery" level, however, taught him how to make those same inanimate objects "come alive."

The sensation was marvelous.

The once-cold metal control stick in Han Feng’s hand now felt like an extension of his own arm.

Every vibration of the aircraft.

Every pulse of the engine.

Even the faint drag created as the wings cut through the air was transmitted clearly to his nerve endings.

This wasn’t like flying a plane; it was as if he himself had grown a pair of steel wings.

Moreover, numerous Techniques had also appeared in his mind for Sacrificial Refining, Nurturing, and strengthening a Flying Sword.

This was the complete, systematic knowledge of a Sword Cultivator: how to nurture a sword, practice with a sword, and control a sword.

Just as Han Feng was immersed in this infusion of knowledge, the familiar prompt sounded once more.

["Skill Body Sculpting" mechanism triggered...]

[Commencing Skill Implantation...]