Longevity by Grinding Skills

(The plot of Chapter 85 has been revised. Feel free to go back and take a look.)

As night fell, Xu Yunfan sat cross-legged by the edge of the Cold Pool.

His legs swayed continuously, the great tendons throughout his body tensing like bowstrings, emitting a faint, vibrating hum.

CRACK!

Following the soft sound, Xu Yunfan’s thigh suddenly stretched by an inch. Fine beads of sweat broke out on his forehead, but he gritted his teeth and persevered. It was a pain most people would find unbearable, but for him, there was a sense of painful pleasure in it.

The Celestial Cicada Force had an unexpectedly supportive effect on the cultivation of Flying Leg, a Great Muscle Training Kung Fu.

Night descended. In the dead of night, Xu Yunfan sat cross-legged in his Quiet Chamber.

He formed the Linn Character Seal with his hands and chanted the Supreme Kindness Heart Spell. The aura around him gradually calmed, and within his mind, his Self God manifested, settling in the center of his Sea of Consciousness.

Xu Yunfan spent nearly every day like this. Chen Tiangang was nothing short of astonished by his disciple’s diligence.

"He’s talented and diligent in his training. If your senior brother were even half as hardworking as Xu Yunfan, he would have likely already achieved the Outer Three Harmonies and reached the Grand Martial Master Realm."

Chen Tiangang sighed with deep emotion at the edge of the Martial Arts Arena.

Beside him, Chu Xuan also looked shaken. For the past month, she had personally witnessed Xu Yunfan train without a single moment of rest.

He woke earlier than a rooster and slept later than a dog.

"It’s simply inhuman."

"Hmph."

Chen Tiangang glanced at the incredulous Chu Xuan and snorted. "If you were one-third as diligent as Yunfan, you wouldn’t still be stuck as a First-Level Martial Artist."

"Dad~"

Chu Xuan whined, "How did this turn into a lecture about me?"

Xu Yunfan suddenly stopped, glanced at Chen Tiangang, and cupped his hands in a salute before returning to his private courtyard to continue his training.

Having the two of them staring at him from the side made him a little uncomfortable.

Besides, ever since the incident at the Inheritance Cave, it seemed Chen Tiangang had ulterior motives. Heaven only knew why he was acting this way.

He couldn’t help but feel a flicker of vigilance rise in his heart.

「Seven days later, at the Wuzhou Army encampment.」

Ning Wuque caressed the blood groove on his sword, the shrill voice of the Military Eunuch echoing in his ears.

"One hundred thousand Hu Ben Profound Armor troops have already passed through Celestial Gate Gorge. The Incense and Candle Sect is merely a pretext. Now that His Majesty has ascended the throne, he naturally wants to bring peace and order to the world and usher in a new golden age. The world has suffered under the sects for far too long. If you don’t join us..."

He looked out of the tent at the sprawling military camps and suddenly realized that the encampments of the various sect experts were surrounded by the one hundred thousand-strong Hu Ben Xuan Armor Army. At the slightest unusual movement, elite soldiers from all directions would form ranks and swarm in to slaughter them all.

He wouldn’t fear one or two, or even a dozen or twenty, Hu Ben Profound Armor soldiers. But when hundreds or thousands of Blood Qi-wielding Martial Artists formed a military formation, armed and armored, and swarmed in—even someone in the Flesh Refining Realm would be brought to their knees.

That Military Eunuch had come with an imperial decree to purge the Five Ridges and Seven Mountains of Wuzhou.

’To fell the mountains and destroy the temples...’

A chill spread through Ning Wuque’s heart.

He whipped his head around to look toward Thunder Accumulation Mountain, a strange, crimson glint flashing in his gloomy eyes.

’Master...’

Cold sweat beaded on his clenched fists. He suddenly recalled what Chu Xuan had said before he left: "The Celestial Silkworm Cocoon is for Xu Yunfan."

The Chi Long pattern on his sword hilt suddenly grew hot, and an indescribable tremor arose from deep within his body.

That night, the disciples from the sects didn’t sleep, watching warily as the Profound Armor Army stood on all sides, a forest of long spears.

These one hundred thousand Hu Ben Profound Armor soldiers had arrived in Wuzhou and completely ignored the Incense and Candle Sect wreaking havoc across the region. Instead, they had turned their blades on the thirteen sects of Wuzhou.

Xu Yunfan emerged from the depths of the Cold Pool, the water’s surface rippling delicately.

Bloody gashes split open across his back muscles, forming a dense network of thin, crimson lines that writhed and crawled like earthworms with every flex of his muscles.

’Your Celestial Cicada Force has reached Minor Achievement.

’Celestial Cicada Force: 0/1000 (Minor Achievement). Effects: Condense Bone Strength, Strengthen and Nourish Bones, Tendons Move in Harmony with Bones, Bone Tremors Generate Power, Initial Bloom of Bone Force, Nourish Bones to Solidify the Foundation, Relax Bones and Invigorate Tendons.’

In an instant, a dense chorus of cicada-like chirps erupted from his bones.

The sound started as faint as a mosquito’s buzz, gradually swelled like a surging tide, and finally roared like thunder.

CRACK!

He could clearly feel a qualitative change occurring within his bones.

On the surface of his once-solid bones, a delicate pattern resembling cicada wings appeared.

These patterns weren’t static; they pulsed with his breathing, moving as if they were alive.

Xu Yunfan looked down at his arm and saw dark red lines of blood slithering like snakes beneath his skin.

He gently clenched his fist. His bones let out a series of dense cracks, his muscles knotted like dragons, and his veins bulged, writhing like earthworms.

The Celestial Cicada Force was exceedingly strange. Without the aid of a special Secret Medicine, mastering it would be impossible.

Just then, a series of images flashed through Xu Yunfan’s mind as the system generated a cultivation scene for him.

In the scene, a blurry figure was practicing the Celestial Cicada Force. The figure stretched its arms, its bones cracking loudly. Its muscles knotted like dragons, and dark red lines of blood slithered like snakes beneath its skin.

Day and night, it consumed Secret Medicine and bathed its body in the Thunder Cicada Juice, a lost recipe of the Celestial Cicada Sect.

Until one day, the blurry figure in the vision suddenly spun around and threw a punch.

The wind from the fist howled, creating visible ripples in the air. A Profound Iron Pillar shook violently, its surface covered in a dense array of fist imprints.

"Hah..." 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

’So that’s how it works...’

Xu Yunfan threw a punch. As his tendons and bones vibrated, a cicada-like hum resonated. At a high frequency, his fist struck out eighteen times in an instant.

"Your Celestial Cicada Force has reached Minor Achievement?"

Chen Tiangang’s voice suddenly came from behind him, tinged with an indescribable excitement.

Xu Yunfan turned around and looked at his master, who he had always thought was merely a bit obsessive. In the shadows, the contours of his face looked exceptionally grim.

"I was lucky. If my sinews, bones, and skin hadn’t already reached Great Success, it probably wouldn’t have gone so smoothly."

Xu Yunfan cupped his hands in a salute, keenly sensing that the hand Chen Tiangang used to grip his staff was trembling slightly.

As Chen Tiangang drew closer, a foul, rotting stench assaulted his nostrils, and Xu Yunfan’s nose twitched.

The smell was like an old corpse, mixed with the bitter scent of some medicinal herb.

He noticed that the bandages on Chen Tiangang’s broken right leg had turned black and were oozing a dark red, purulent fluid.

"Good, good, good..."

A smile touched Chen Tiangang’s lips, and he nodded slightly. "When your Celestial Cicada Force reaches Great Success, I will give you the Celestial Cicada Robe Cultivation Technique to look over first."

"Thank you, Master!"

Just as Xu Yunfan finished speaking, Chen Tiangang suddenly began to cough violently. He covered his mouth with a withered hand, and black blood seeped between his fingers.

"Mm, I need to go into seclusion for a while to clean my wound."

A flicker of emotion crossed Xu Yunfan’s face. Just as he was about to seize the opportunity to ask how Chen Tiangang had gotten the wound, his master waved his hand dismissively and quickly disappeared into the woods.

His eyes held an unreadable expression. Chen Tiangang was being overly enthusiastic toward him. With his mind fortified by the Linn Character Technique, he could keenly sense the urgency hidden beneath his master’s concerned gaze.

Over the next few days, messages arrived from the group of disciples led by Ning Wuque, stating that all was well. The grand army was advancing unopposed, and the Incense and Candle Sect’s rebellion was being swiftly crushed. This news eased the tense atmosphere throughout the entire Celestial Cicada Sect.