Longevity by Grinding Skills

He paid no mind to the torches of the Profound Armor Army soldiers flanking him from the mountainside. With a sudden burst of power from his calves, he launched himself forward like an iron ball from a catapult, shattering the dense fog in his path.

Two Profound Armor Army soldiers slid down a nearby slope to intercept him. Before their blades could even reach him, his Jar Gold Hammer, whistling with the force of the mountain wind, was already swinging toward them.

The crunch of the Heavy Hammer shattering their Face Armor exploded amidst their screams. Droplets of blood sprayed everywhere, dyeing the stone steps crimson.

"You have some nerve, daring to come up the mountain!"

A Captain in Heavy Armor, wielding a Dragon and Tiger Saber, charged forward. His twisted face was reflected on the saber’s mirror-bright blade.

As the long saber fell, it stopped abruptly. Xu Yunfan’s bulging right hand had clamped down on the back of the blade.

The Captain’s pupils contracted violently. He felt a tearing pain in the web of his hand as Xu Yunfan bent the Hundred Refinement Steel Saber with his bare fingers.

Xu Yunfan’s expression was as placid as water, but worm-like veins bulged beneath his collarbone. He swung his Heavy Hammer in a wide arc, the weapon whistling through the air. It caved in the fully-armored Captain, sending him flying off the cliff like a broken sack to disappear into the clouds below.

「Three breaths.」

Xu Yunfan didn’t even wait for the sound of the body hitting the bottom to echo up. He had already shot forward more than a hundred feet. The entire process took no more than three breaths.

Though they were both Third Level Martial Artists, the power the other man had unleashed seemed incredibly weak to Xu Yunfan. He couldn’t even withstand a single blow from his hammer.

On the summit of Thunder Accumulation Mountain, dark clouds gathered. The Thunder Tower was like a colossal, jet-black sword piercing the churning thunderclouds.

BOOM!

A bolt of lightning suddenly descended from the thick clouds, crashing to the ground along the Thunder Tower’s lightning rod.

The iron walls on the tower’s surface glowed with an eerie blue light. Something living seemed to writhe within the cracks, emitting a faint CRACKLE.

As Xu Yunfan set foot on the summit, his nostrils flared slightly. The mountain wind swept across the scorched ground, carrying the acrid smell of a lightning strike.

He glanced around, confirming no one was there. Without further hesitation, Xu Yunfan charged straight into the Thunder Tower.

The tower was dim inside, with only a few slivers of light filtering in through cracks at the top.

By the faint light, Xu Yunfan saw a bookshelf ahead. Its three circular tiers resembled the coiled bones of a serpent. On the top shelf, a yellowed ancient book was tucked away at an angle. Xu Yunfan’s fingertips brushed across its spine.

The shelves held the collected books of the Celestial Cicada Sect from across the ages. Some were tattered, others brand new, all placed haphazardly on the shelves.

At a glance, Xu Yunfan saw a book on the desk ahead, flipped open by a few pages. Tucked between them was a diagram for the Celestial Cicada Robe that made his breath catch. The chart of meridians, drawn on Jiao Xiao, actually trembled faintly with the rumbling thunder, as if real human skin and fascia were stretched over it.

Xu Yunfan’s spirits lifted. Although this Martial Art wasn’t considered top-tier, it was in a class of its own in the Flesh Refining Realm. Once mastered, it would grant a true Horizontal Training True Body. Furthermore, the Celestial Cicada Robe was supplemented by the Celestial Cicada Force, making it compatible with other Martial Arts without conflict.

This was the main reason he had schemed so meticulously to obtain this Kung Fu.

He opened the first page. The General Outline for the cultivation of the Celestial Cicada Robe was recorded there in ancient script.

’The real deal.’

He no longer hesitated. He tucked the Celestial Cicada Robe into his inner lining. Just as he turned to leave, he suddenly heard a faint sound from the top of the Thunder Tower.

The sound of dragging chains suddenly came from the top of the tower. The smell of rust and blood wafted down the spiral staircase.

Looking back, he saw Chen Tiangang slowly descending the stairs, a faint smile on his face. In one hand, he carried a stout, white-haired, white-bearded old man whose eyes were wide with fury.

That old man was the Celestial Cicada Sect Elder who had always resided at the base of the Thunder Tower. Unexpectedly, he had been slain by Chen Tiangang’s own hand.

"My good disciple, are you trying to learn the Celestial Cicada Robe ahead of schedule?"

Chen Tiangang’s voice was tinged with a metallic, grating sound.

He slowly descended the stairs. His newly grown skin had a jade-like luster. Cicada-wing patterns had appeared on his body, twisting and turning until they covered nearly his entire frame.

Most terrifying was his right eye. The once-murky eyeball was now filled with a web of blood-red lines that pulsed in sync with the electric arcs on the tower walls.

Xu Yunfan’s pupils quaked violently.

Chen Tiangang’s right leg, which had once been missing, was now perfectly intact.

The only thing that gave him a slight sense of relief was that the man’s aura was somewhat unstable.

His expression was calm as he spoke. "Master, regenerating a limb must come at a price, I imagine?"

"Of course!"

Chen Tiangang answered without any attempt to hide the truth. "Everything has its price. To regenerate a limb, besides True Blood, one needs a foundation of their own vital resources."

Xu Yunfan fell silent. He did not want to face him; the man’s power was formidable. Even if his strength had declined significantly from regenerating the limb, he was at the very least still in the Flesh Refining Realm.

To fight an enemy two major realms above him, his only chance would be to enter the Linn Character State and wield the Divine Gilded Mace. Even then, he might only have a fighting chance for three breaths.

If he couldn’t achieve a decisive result after three breaths, continuing to push his potential would shorten his lifespan.

Xu Yunfan said, "Since Master still needs to recuperate, I won’t disturb you any longer. I will take my leave."

Seeing Xu Yunfan about to leave, Chen Tiangang said coolly, "In this age, the Heaven and Earth Secret Power has vanished. Besides True Blood and Divine Weapons, there is nothing extraordinary left. The original cultivation of the Celestial Cicada Sect required a Primordial Spirit to enter the body to succeed. Now, even though generations of Ancestral Masters have revised it, the only way to master the Celestial Cicada Robe is by using a Celestial Cicada as a catalyst."

He looked up at Xu Yunfan, who had stopped in his tracks, a sliver of a smile appearing on his face.

"Are you still leaving?"

Xu Yunfan was silent for a moment before saying, "The Celestial Cicada Sect... has already been destroyed."

Chen Tiangang’s expression instantly twisted. The cicada-wing patterns on his neck bulged, and the sound of scraping carapaces came from beneath his skin. His muscles began to writhe in clumps, squirming under his flesh like a swarm of insects.

Xu Yunfan stomped hard on the bronze floor of the Thunder Tower. The subconscious force of his Flying Leg technique cracked the three-inch-thick metal plate in a spiderweb pattern. The powerful recoil launched him like an arrow from a crossbow, and he shot instantly toward the tower’s main gate.

"With me here, as long as I live, how could the Celestial Cicada Sect be destroyed? I *am* the Celestial Cicada Sect! So what if they have a hundred thousand Hu Ben Profound Armor troops? In the Six Paths and Seventy-Nine States of the Great Zhou, there are thousands of sects, large and small. Would they truly allow that demonic woman to act so recklessly?

Now that I have mended my own body and taken in True Blood, I will one day reach the peak and become a Ninth Realm Supreme Qi Cultivation Grandmaster! When that time comes, I will simply find a new place, re-establish our gates, and the Celestial Cicada Sect will once again be among the world’s greatest." 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Chen Tiangang casually tossed the old man aside. As the body left his hand, Xu Yunfan saw clearly that tendrils of blood were sliding off the old man, flowing along Chen Tiangang’s fingertips into his body, where they were absorbed by the cicada-wing patterns.

’He’s gone completely mad. A lost cause. I have to get out of here. This guy is too bizarre.’

Shaken to his core, Xu Yunfan shook his head inwardly, having no desire to exchange another word with Chen Tiangang.

"Traitorous disciple!"

Just as Xu Yunfan turned to leave, Chen Tiangang’s chilling voice suddenly sounded right beside his ear.

The pant leg on Chen Tiangang’s right leg suddenly exploded, revealing newborn skin glistening with a fresh, medicinal oil.

He pushed off from the arch of his foot, shattering three stone steps. The load-bearing pillars of the entire Thunder Tower emitted a sharp crack, like splintering wood.