Longevity by Grinding Skills

Xu Yunfan looked up and saw the firelight hanging halfway up the mountain, like several red lanterns suspended in the night.

As he drew closer, and once Xu Yunfan got a clear look at the so-called mountain gate, cold sweat was already beading on his palms.

It was enough to depress him.

On the crooked plaque, the paint on the two words "Qixia Temple" was peeling off. It was clearly a repurposed old temple.

Dozens of people were sitting in a circle in the open space before the hall. In the center of the crowd was a scrawny, middle-aged Daoist with a goatee, dressed in an ornate robe, who was continuously preaching his doctrine.

Several grim-faced, sinister-looking men stood around them casually, their sharp eyes constantly scanning the area.

After preaching for a while, the Daoist declared loudly, "The world is full of suffering, an abyss of misery. Life is the beginning of suffering, and death is not its end. Only by entering my sect and offering sincere tribute can you escape the cycle of Reincarnation. Recite the Scriptures a hundred times daily, turn your heart to the light, and donate your silver coins to attain liberation. Those who do not listen or believe will be cast forever into the Sea of Suffering, and their descendants will suffer for it as well."

With fanatical expressions, the crowd shouted in unison, "Thank you for your guidance, Daoist Qixia!"

With that, they generously opened their purses. In the blink of an eye, the Merit Box in front of Daoist Qixia was piled high with silver coins.

Seeing this, Daoist Qixia nodded in satisfaction and said earnestly, "These are perilous times. We must naturally band together for warmth. With the current Empress on the throne, we, the common people, are living in misery..."

He suddenly raised his right hand.

"The wicked world must be destroyed, the path of good restored! Those who resist will die, the faithful will find peace!"

Hearing this, the dozens of people excitedly pumped their fists and shouted in unison.

"The wicked world must be destroyed, the path of good restored! Those who resist will die, the faithful will find peace!"

’Dammit, it’s a pyramid scheme!’

Xu Yunfan’s eye twitched. He had felt something was off, but he’d still come here with a sliver of hope. Now, seeing it all with his own eyes, that hope was completely extinguished. He grabbed Zhang Tiehu and held him down.

"Give me back my money."

’So fast!’

Zhang Tiehu was horrified, realizing that the young man before him was at a much higher Martial Arts Realm than he was. He might even be a First-Level Martial Artist.

His eyes darted around, looking at the dozen or so burly men standing or sitting around Qixia Temple. His panicked expression suddenly shifted, turning cold and sinister.

"Kid, this Qixia Temple isn’t a place you can just come and go as you please. You want to leave? Fine. Leave your money behind and write down a copy of the Kung Fu you practice. Then we’ll let you go."

’They really are trying to take everything I’ve got!’

Although this place wasn’t far from the nearest village, it was deep within a Chaotic Burial Mound—a perfect spot for murder and robbery.

A cold look appeared on Xu Yunfan’s face.

"Do you take me for a three-year-old?"

With a slight exertion of one arm, he lifted Zhang Tiehu into the air. Zhang Tiehu’s expression changed abruptly. He violently drew the long saber from his waist and slashed at Xu Yunfan, shouting at the top of his lungs.

"Sect Leader, save me!"

With a flick of his other hand, Xu Yunfan knocked the descending saber aside.

Zhang Tiehu felt the web of his thumb go numb as a tremendous force surged through him. He could no longer hold his saber, and it was sent flying far away, clattering to the ground.

CLANG!

The crisp sound instantly drew the attention of everyone at Qixia Temple. The dozen or so men in black shot forward with the speed of Thunder Fire and surrounded him.

Among them, a burly man with a fleshy face, holding a Tiger Head Saber, sneered repeatedly.

"What kind of trash are you, daring to cause trouble at the incense..."

Before he could finish, a scrawny, middle-aged man beside him nudged him with his elbow.

The man immediately corrected himself, "Daring to make a move on Qixia Temple’s grounds... I see you’ve got a death wish."

Xu Yunfan scanned the circle of men, sized up their strength, and couldn’t help but sigh. He pressed one hand on Zhang Tiehu’s head and twisted.

CRACK!

Zhang Tiehu’s head was twisted a full one hundred and eighty degrees, and he went completely still. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

He casually tossed Zhang Tiehu’s corpse aside. The dull thud of the body hitting the ground startled a night crow from the withered branches nearby.

Xu Yunfan flexed his right hand, opening and closing his fist. His knuckles cracked seven times like popping beans, and the cloth strips wrapped around the handle of his Jar Gold Hammer rustled down three inches.

"Why... did you have to do this?"

"You’re courting death!"

The man with the Tiger Head Saber was the first to charge, his blade whistling as it cut through the air.

It was a cunning slash, the blade angling up toward Xu Yunfan’s left ribs—a blind spot where it was most difficult for an ordinary Martial Artist to generate force.

Suddenly, the muscles on Xu Yunfan’s back surged like a Furious Tide, his spine vibrating segment by segment. He swung his Drumming Jar Golden Hammer upward from below. Before the hammer head even arrived, the force of the wind it generated sent the Merit Box flying thirty feet away. The Refined Steel Tiger Head Saber struck the face of the hammer, scraping out sparks as if it had hit solid rock.

Thirty-six Cloak Hammers, Reversed Celestial River.

Xu Yunfan’s waist and hips twisted like a millstone, swinging the over two-hundred-pound Heavy Hammer in a full circle like a windmill.

The man with the Tiger Head Saber watched helplessly as his saber was swept away by the force of the hammer’s swing. A sudden, tearing pain shot through his right arm. The centrifugal force had ripped the muscles and tendons of his entire arm apart, and White Bone, trailing bloody threads, pierced through his shoulder.

The scrawny man took this opportunity to close in. Two Emei Needles slid from his sleeves—insidious weapons designed specifically to break through Cross Training Skill. Three points of cold light shot toward Xu Yunfan’s eyes and throat. But then, the veins on the side of Xu Yunfan’s neck suddenly bulged like earthworms, and as he tilted his head back, a sound like a tautening bowstring vibrated through the air.

Iron Locks Across the River.

His Jar Gold Hammer spun back, carrying its momentum. The handle whipped out, striking between the scrawny man’s legs and tangling around his feet.

The muscles in Xu Yunfan’s left leg suddenly swelled by a third. His boot crushed the green brick beneath it as he swung the scrawny man’s entire body into the crowd.

Three charging men in gray robes were hit by this human weapon, their sternums shattering. A mist of blood exploded three feet into the moonlit air.

Watching from a distance, Daoist Qixia’s expression finally changed. He hadn’t expected the newcomer to possess such Martial Power. He brandished the Duster in his hand and shouted, "Deploy the Seven Kills Array! Use the Powerful Warrior Skill!"

The seven burly men in black surrounding Xu Yunfan crushed Pills they held in their mouths and swallowed. In an instant, their muscles bulged unnaturally and their eyes filled with blood. Wielding long sabers and great spears, they formed an array and pressed in. Their steps followed a strange rhythm, almost completely sealing off Xu Yunfan’s escape routes in all directions.

Their auras were much stronger than before.

Xu Yunfan suddenly smiled.

He brought his Jar Gold Hammer across his chest in a reverse grip, his back arching like a full moon.

His clothes flapped wildly in the strong wind, his shoulder blades jutting out like two steel knives.

When the first Poison Spear thrust at his face, he stomped his heel hard on the ground. The green brick cracked in a spiderweb pattern as he advanced instead of retreating.

The Jar Gold Hammer in his hand became a blur.

The great spear was as brittle as a wooden stick under the hammer’s head. Shards of bone from the attacker’s right arm sprayed out mixed with bits of iron, yet he seemed to feel no pain, merely stumbling back from the sheer force of the blow.

Xu Yunfan spun like a top, his Heavy Hammer deflecting three Poison Spears. With exquisite control of his force, he sent them flying back the way they came. The spear shafts pierced through the chests of two cultists and continued onward without losing momentum. They slammed into the dilapidated Coiling Dragon Pillar before the hall, gouging out a bowl-sized hole.

Daoist Qixia swept his Duster, and twelve Bone-Piercing Nails shot out.

But Xu Yunfan seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. He knocked the handle of his hammer back with his left hand, and all the Bone-Piercing Nails embedded themselves in the hammer’s face.

He spun the Jar Gold Hammer once more, using its momentum to launch himself into the air with the Heavy Hammer, leaving a piercing shriek in his wake as he soared through the night sky.

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