Chapter 108: Breakthrough, Skin Like Hardened Stone

Chapter 108: Breakthrough, Skin Like Hardened Stone

At the Wan Hua Tower.

Jiang Ning emerged from the tower, carrying a wooden box filled with fifty bottles of herb essence.

Gazing at the box in his hands, he felt a surge of excitement.

To acquire fifty bottles of herb essence for just a thousand taels of silver was, in Jiang Ning's eyes, an incredibly profitable deal.

After all, the effects of herb essence were exponentially more potent than a decade's worth of wild ginseng, and the body could absorb herb essence much more easily compared to wild ginseng.

This also meant that his daily increase in Essence Energy points from absorbing herb essence would be significantly higher.

With these fifty bottles of herb essence, he wouldn't have to worry about resources to aid his martial arts training until he achieved Stone Skin.

Fifty bottles of herb essence would be enough for him to use for twenty days.

As for the Skin Refinement Sand, he still had some left from before, and Wang Jin had given him another batch, ensuring he had enough for some time.

"Next, I can focus on continuing my martial arts training. The opening of the Inspection Bureau is approximately twenty days to a month away, and I'll strive to elevate my strength by one or two levels during this period."

Jiang Ning thought to himself.

After leaving the Wan Hua Tower, he headed straight home.

Then, he resumed his intense martial arts training.

In the blink of an eye, seven days passed.

At the Luo Shui County's riverside, the Jiang Estate.

Jiang Ning, wearing a pair of shorts, demonstrated the sixth form of the Unyielding Body Technique in his courtyard.

He circulated the Five Beast Energy, driving his Qi and Blood to continuously temper the skin membrane beneath his skin.

[Unyielding Body Technique Experience +1]



[Unyielding Body Technique Experience +1]



[Unyielding Body Technique Experience +1]



[.]



As he tempered the skin membrane, his experience in the Unyielding Body Technique continued to grow.

At this moment,

Jiang Ning had already closed his eyes, observing his body internally.

With his internal vision, he could see that the skin membrane beneath his skin had already undergone significant changes.

Initially, when the skin membrane was first cultivated, it was a thin red membrane closely adhering to the skin.

Later, as his Unyielding Body Technique progressed, the red membrane became speckled with white spots.

As he continually tempered the skin membrane, the white spots spread, indicating that he was getting closer to the next level of Skin Refinement, Stone Skin.

Simultaneously,

In his state of internal observation, Jiang Ning also circulated his Qi and Blood, causing it to continuously flush over the red membrane.

Based on his previous experience, mobilizing Qi and Blood to flush this area would accelerate the growth of his Unyielding Body Technique experience, also representing a more efficient skin membrane tempering.

After the time it took to brew a cup of tea,

Jiang Ning slowly opened his eyes.

[Skills]



Unyielding Body Technique (Entry 987/1000)



"Just 13 more experience points," Jiang Ning muttered to himself, feeling exhilarated.

"One more time, and I'll break through my current realm, entering the Skin Refinement Realm, with skin as hard as stone," he thought to himself.

Subsequently,

Jiang Ning stood up, picked up a white jade porcelain bottle from the side, opened the lid, and swallowed the herb essence within.

As the emerald green herb essence entered his body, a cool sensation spread from his throat, surging towards his crown, making his mind exceptionally clear.

It sank into his five viscera and six bowels, his limbs and bones, in fact, the characteristic of the Stone Skin. He felt as if his body had encountered a sweet rain after a long drought, and the exhaustion from tempering the skin membrane was gradually recovering.

Closing his eyes, he sensed the revival of his body's condition and the energy within.

Jiang Ning couldn't help but praise, "The herb essence is indeed remarkable, far superior to wild ginseng!"

After more than ten days of personal experience, he genuinely felt how much easier it was to absorb the herb essence.

Compared to wild ginseng, the effectiveness of the two couldn't be more disproportionate.

The herb essence took effect with immediate results.

At the same time, after absorbing the herb essence these past few days, he had an additional gain—an increase in Essence Energy points.

[Essence Energy] 81.6

In seven days, the Essence Energy points rose from the previous 53.08 to 81.06, averaging a daily increase of 3 points.

This was the extra boost the herb essence provided him.

Subsequently, he glanced at his panel again.

[Name] Jiang Ning

[Essence Energy] 81.6

[Skills]



Five Beasts Fist (Perfect 765/1000)



Chop Wood Sword Technique (Limit Break 4000/4000) (Characteristics: Touch of Insight, Swift as the Wind, Sword Handling Like a Deity)



Inner Alchemy Vitality Technique (Mastery 1005/2000)



River Wave Blade Technique (Mastery 1/2000)



Unyielding Body Technique (Entry 987/1000)



Closing the panel,

Jiang Ning felt his condition had significantly improved.

Then, he jumped into the water vat to wash off the dried Skin Refinement Sand from his body.

In less than the time it took to brew a cup of tea,

He emerged from the vat, still wearing his shorts.

Although it was mid-September, the sun was incredibly intense.

Jiang Ning glanced at his bright red skin, unconcerned.

Every time he finished tempering the skin membrane and practiced the Unyielding Body Technique, his skin would turn red.

This was merely because the Skin Refinement Sand had damaged the outer layer of his skin.

As long as he circulated his Qi and Blood to repeatedly flush his skin, it would quickly recover.

Subsequently,

He began practicing his fist techniques. As he trained, his body's injuries healed, and the redness of his skin faded to a wheatish tone.

Over the past few months, under the sun's rays, his skin had long turned into a healthy wheatish hue.

Jiang Ning was rather pleased with this change.

Previously, his skin had been excessively pale, almost sickly white, and not at all healthy.

Now, this was a healthy complexion.

【Five Beasts Fist Experience +1】

【Five Beasts Fist Experience +1】

【Five Beasts Fist Experience +1】

【.】

Nowadays, Jiang Ning's fist practice was getting faster and faster.

In one hour, he could practice the fist technique five times.

Each time he practiced, he gained a little experience in the Five Beasts Fist.

At the same time, his total Qi and blood increased by five strands.

Refining Qi and blood was extremely taxing on the body.

Especially with his highly efficient method of refining Qi and blood energy.

So, in recent days, he had to consume two bottles of Herb Essence daily to sustain his body's needs.

This made him feel more and more like a gold-devouring beast.

Previously, he had become wealthy after killing Hong Chengtao and the others.

Then, when Cao Bin sent him that Gold Leaf, his net worth had soared to over 3,400 taels of silver.

After buying his current residence, he spent 666 taels in one go.

Then, he went to Wan Hua Tower and bought fifty bottles of Herb Essence for a total of 1,000 taels of silver.

Now, he only had 1,700 taels of silver left, and compared to his wealthiest period, his wealth had been halved.

This was still because when he bought the house, Manager Tong from Moonlit Tower was very generous and gave him a half-price deal.

The original price of 1,666 taels was reduced to 666 taels for him.

This saved him 1,000 taels of silver.

Then, when buying Herb Essence at Wan Hua Tower, he got a 20% discount, saving 300 taels, and then Director Han rounded it down, shaving off another 200 taels of silver.

This saved him a total of 500 taels of silver.

If not for these savings, his wealth would have significantly shrunk, losing 1,500 taels.

He would have been nearly back to poverty.

Reflecting on all this, Jiang Ning felt he had been spending money too quickly, like flowing water.

Afterward.

As Jiang Ning continued to practice his fists, his skin gradually returned to its normal color.

He immediately stopped practicing.

Then, he eagerly took out the Skin Refinement Sand and rubbed it all over his body, vigorously massaging it.

【Skill】: Invincible Body (Entry 987/1000)



Seeing this on his panel, he knew he was about to break through and reach the Stone Skin level.

So, at this moment, he could no longer hold back.

He vigorously massaged, and the sand rolled repeatedly on the surface of his skin, causing Jiang Ning to feel a stinging pain, and his skin turned bright red, as if stained with blood.

Soon after.

The massage was complete.

Hu—

Jiang Ning slowly exhaled the turbid air from his abdomen and then demonstrated the third form recorded in the incomplete manual of the Invincible Body.

Then, he circulated the Five Beasts Energy, driving the Qi and blood throughout his body.

He also entered a state of introspection, precisely mobilizing the Qi and blood to repeatedly flush the weak areas of the skin membrane, which were still in a red state.

The closer the skin membrane was to white, the stronger it indicated his skin's strength, approaching the Stone Skin state.

【Invincible Body Experience +1】

【Invincible Body Experience +1】

【Invincible Body Experience +1】

【.】

As Jiang Ning demonstrated the fourth and fifth forms, the experience of the Invincible Body continued to increase.

Soon.

He reached the critical bottleneck.

【Skill】: Invincible Body (Entry 999/1000)



Glancing at his panel, the Invincible Body was just one point of experience away from the next level.

Jiang Ning's heart remained unmoved.

Because, for him, there were no bottlenecks, no barriers.

As long as the experience value reached that step and the maximum value was attained.

A quantitative change would lead to a qualitative change, and his cultivation technique would advance.

【Invincible Body Experience +1】

When this prompt appeared before him again.

His panel suddenly changed.

【Skill】: Invincible Body (Entry 999/1000)



Instantly becoming.

【Skill】: Invincible Body (Proficiency 0/2000)



The next moment.

While Jiang Ning was still in a state of introspection.

He saw the white color on the skin membrane spreading wildly at an incredible speed.

In an instant, the skin membranes that were still red transformed into white.

He knew that when his entire body's skin membranes turned white, it meant he had succeeded in breaking through and entering the Stone Skin level.

In this state of crazy transformation, he felt his skin becoming harder and tighter.

His whole body no longer felt the previous bone-chilling pain but instead a tingling numbness.

He could sense that beneath his invisible skin, it was as if millions of ants were moving.

In the blink of an eye.

After several dozen breaths.

All the transformations had ended.

Jiang Ning slowly opened his eyes, his face filled with joy.

"Success!!!"

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end