Longevity by Grinding Skills

Wan Miaoyin let out a soft laugh. The specks of blood on her chin, instead of marring her appearance, only served to accentuate her strange beauty.

She immediately closed her eyes and fell silent, quietly regulating her breathing to recover her strength as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, the old monk roared, his expression frenzied, as he struggled to writhe his way toward Wan Miaoyin.

’If only... if only he could cover Wan Miaoyin with his own flesh and blood, then it would all be worth it!’

Just then, a hand reached out from the bushes and seized the Gilded Mace.

BUZZ!

The Gilded Mace let out a metallic hum, drawing the attention of both Wan Miaoyin and the old monk.

The old monk cackled bizarrely, his movements never ceasing. "Young man," he said, "Divine Weapons have spirits. If you want to wield one, you must make it acknowledge you as its master. Nine out of ten who try to take one like this die from the weapon’s backlash when it resonates on its own. Even I wouldn’t dare just grab it.

I knew it. Human greed is truly endless. I knew you were lurking nearby, all for this Gilded Mace."

Wan Miaoyin’s eyes, however, revealed a peculiar light. She remained silent, watching intently.

Ignoring the old monk’s taunts, the moment Xu Yunfan’s five fingers touched the Gilded Mace’s cold hilt, the muscles in his forearm suddenly bulged and knotted, and bronze-colored veins throbbed wildly beneath his skin. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

The body of the mace abruptly erupted with a metallic, vibrating hum that split open the web of his thumb. The blood beads were vaporized into a red mist by the high heat before they could even hit the ground. The Gilded Mace was resonating and vibrating ceaselessly on its own.

Xu Yunfan’s fingers suddenly tightened, and the blood in his palm visibly darkened to a deep purple.

His back arched to the very limit of a mortal spine, his joints letting out a continuous series of sharp cracks. From within the dome formed by his twelve pairs of ribs, a roar like galloping horses treading on clouds emanated from his blood.

The surrounding grass and trees were pulverized into dust by this vibration, and the Gilded Mace in his hand let out a whine like an ancient beast grinding its teeth.

VMM!

As the weapon’s savage aura struggled against the ultimate power of his physical body, even a slight quiver of the Gilded Mace sent visible ripples spreading through the air. These ripples transformed into layers of powerful wind that radiated outward, causing the surrounding grass, trees, and stones to tremble unceasingly.

On Xu Yunfan’s left shoulder, vine-like blue veins suddenly surfaced on his deltoid. The density of his contracting muscle fibers broke through the constraints of his fascia, forcibly reversing the angle of his wrist by fifteen degrees as he clamped his left hand down on the wrist of his right hand, which was still gripping the Gilded Mace.

Blood trickled from the corners of his lips, and two thin lines of blood seeped from his ears—a manifestation of his capillaries exceeding their physiological limits.

Xu Yunfan’s hand trembled slightly. He had pushed his body’s Blood Qi to its absolute limit, his skin taking on an ancient bronze sheen. The sound of his muscle fibers twisting together was like hundred-refined steel threads being pulled taut to their breaking point.

’I can’t suppress it!’

The Gilded Mace was slowly reawakening its own power.

The moment it awoke, he felt like he was holding onto a T-Rex in labor. The skin on the web of his thumb cracked and split, and the scalding blood that seeped out was instantly devoured by the mace’s hilt.

’The Divine Weapon has a spirit, and it doesn’t accept me!’

Suddenly, the arm with which Xu Yunfan gripped the Gilded Mace shook violently. To an outsider, it looked as if Xu Yunfan had abruptly raised the Gilded Mace and, with bulging muscles, slammed it heavily into his own chest.

THUD!

An overwhelmingly powerful force struck him, sending him flipping through the air several times before he landed on the ground.

Huh?

The excruciating pain he’d expected never came. Scrambling back to his feet, Xu Yunfan subconsciously touched the spot on his chest where the Gilded Mace had struck.

It seemed that the Extreme Daoist’s Relic Shell from the underground mines of Ninggu Tower had completely negated the Gilded Mace’s power.

The fatal blow, which should have shattered his internal organs, had been completely absorbed by the Extreme Dao Relic Shell strapped to his chest.

His expression brightened, and he tightened his grip, refusing to let the Gilded Mace break free.

As his thoughts raced, he released his left hand and formed the Linn Character Seal with it.

"Lin!"

A shout like a Daoist invocation rang out. The Venerable God he had visualized upon his initiation manifested its true form within his skull, instantly calming his roiling emotions.

The agitation deep in Xu Yunfan’s pupils abruptly receded, replaced by a burgeoning sense of effortless control, of coming and going as he pleased.

At the same time, the Venerable God he visualized in his Sea of Consciousness appeared and mirrored his body’s movements, forming a phantom grip around the Gilded Mace’s hilt.

In that instant, the Gilded Mace, which had been trembling and struggling relentlessly, gave a final, powerful shudder. A blast of wind scattered in all directions, and then the mace fell completely silent.

The violent aura of the Gilded Mace was swiftly dispersed by this ethereal calm, and its once-scorching hilt quickly became as mild and smooth as jade.

"What?!"

The old monk’s two eyeballs nearly shot out of his fleshy pulp and onto Xu Yunfan. He wanted to see just what kind of monster this young man was to have subdued a Divine Weapon in such a short time.

Since ancient times, only a Divine Weapon could choose its master. Those capable of subduing one were invariably Ninth Realm Supreme Qi Refining Grandmasters of the Martial Dao, who had to refine it day and night with their own True Qi.

Beside them, Wan Miaoyin was also stunned for a moment. The scene before her was beyond her comprehension. The powerful wind that had spread out lifted her black hair, revealing the fine beads of sweat on her smooth forehead.

’How can human strength reach such a level?’

A scorching stream of Blood Qi spilled from Xu Yunfan’s throat. In his palm, the Gilded Mace trembled like a living creature.

Spiderweb-like blood-red veins traced paths beneath his skin, and every inch of his musculature cried out as if on the verge of collapse. He could clearly feel his internal organs being repeatedly kneaded by some primordial, colossal force, trying to squeeze out the very last shred of his hidden potential.

In his Linn Character State, he quickly realized what was happening. The Gilded Mace was squeezing out his body’s potential, intending to raise his strength to a level that matched its own.

’If this continues, I’ll lose years off my life!’

’I can only maintain the Linn Character State for three breaths. If I exceed that limit and force myself to continue, my body will gradually begin to break down.’

’Subduing a Divine Weapon without even having reached the Third Level Martial Master Realm... if word of this got out, it would sound like a fairytale.’

One breath.

He turned sideways and took a step, his body shooting forward like an arrow loosed from a bowstring, instantly closing the distance to the other two. By now, the rapidly surging Blood Qi in his body had caused him to swell, his muscles bulging into grotesque lumps all over his frame.

Xu Yunfan twisted in mid-air and raised his shoulder. The Gilded Mace in his hand descended with the force of a heavenly fire crashing to earth, its friction with the air igniting into furious flames as it plummeted toward the old monk.

The sight terrified the old monk out of his wits.

"Wait, wait! I have an Ascension Secret Technique! I know about the Great Snow Peak’s..."

Before his voice could fade, the Gilded Mace fell with a deafening crash, dragging a wave of molten-lava-like energy behind it. The last thing reflected in the old monk’s murky eyes was the scorching, primal fire erupting from the thunder-cloud patterns on the mace’s body.

"—Secret of Longevity!"

The last three words burst out, mixed with splattering bone fragments and shredded flesh.

The ground cracked and split, inch by inch, as dust and embers shot toward the sky.

It was like the Earth Dragon Flipping Over. The old monk’s flesh was instantly devoured by the furious flames trailing the Gilded Mace. In the next moment, a blast of Qi Force, visible to the naked eye, erupted and pulverized his puddle of mud-like flesh into a shower of bloody rain.

With that one strike, the grotesque lumps of muscle on Xu Yunfan’s body finally receded by more than half.

’Still not enough.’

Two breaths.

As Xu Yunfan turned, the bones in his neck made a sharp crack, unable to bear the strain. His swelling muscles stretched his night-crawling clothes taut, creating a spiderweb of tears.