https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-94-Slaughter-Xu-Yunfeng-s-Death-/12959737/
Chapter 95: Unforeseen Wealth Brings Unexpected Fortune
Chapter 95: Unforeseen Wealth Brings Unexpected Fortune
In the depths of the forest, Jiang Ning glanced at Xu Yunfeng's corpse. "Finally, he's truly dealt with!" he thought to himself, releasing the breath he had been holding in for so long.
With a thunderous boom, he stomped his foot, causing the earth to crack, and his body soared, charging towards the two who had just fled.
Meanwhile, deep within the lush foliage, the leopard-skinned woman asked, "Yuan Ge, are we safe now?"
"Not yet," the man with the fierce gaze replied urgently. "We've only run a few hundred meters; Jiang Ning might still find us. Keep running; don't stop!"
"Yes, Yuan Ge!" the leopard-skinned woman responded, then asked, "But how could Jiang Ning be so formidable? With just one slash, he severely injured Hong Bangzhu, and his right hand was directly disabled!"
"I don't know!" The man with the fierce gaze answered as he continued running.
"Yuan Ge, it's really strange! Jiang Ning has only been practicing martial arts for a little over a month. How could he be so terrifying?" The leopard-skinned woman voiced her confusion once more.
"Perhaps he's a true genius, which is why Shen Congyun values him so highly!" The man with the fierce gaze casually replied, then focused on their frantic escape.
Just then, the two heard a commotion approaching from behind.
The man with the fierce gaze turned his head abruptly and saw Jiang Ning's figure sprinting through the forest.
Jiang Ning moved like a white ape in the mountains, leaping effortlessly from one tree to another.
With a few jumps, he covered a distance of several dozen zhang.
The man with the fierce gaze's pupils constricted at the sight.
"Yuan Ge, Jiang Ning is catching up!" The leopard-skinned woman's face paled in terror.
"Split up and run!" The man with the fierce gaze glanced at Jiang Ning and made a swift decision.
In the next moment, he turned and sprinted in the opposite direction, dashing through the forest towards a more complex terrain with dense shrubs.
"Please, gods, protect me and let me escape with my life!" he silently prayed.
Moments later, a despairing scream pierced the air behind him.
Hearing the scream, he couldn't help but shudder. He knew that he was now alone.
Less than ten breaths later, he heard distinct sounds approaching from behind.
Turning around, he saw Jiang Ning within a distance of ten zhang.
Despair filled his eyes.
Facing Jiang Ning's slashing blade, he could only muster all his strength for a final attack on Jiang Ning's vital points, without any regard for defense.
Clang!
Jiang Ning's horizontal slash sent the man's long sword flying.
With another swing, a head soared through the air.
Looking at the corpse on the ground, Jiang Ning finally relaxed, releasing the state he had been in.
As he did so, his rapid heartbeat slowed down, and his elevated body temperature returned to normal.
Jiang Ning also felt a wave of weakness wash over him.
"The side effects are indeed quite powerful!" he muttered to himself.
He took out a wild ginseng from his pocket, broke off a piece, and popped it into his mouth.
As he chewed, a sweet essence mixed with his saliva and flowed into his stomach, warming his entire body.
After thoroughly chewing the ginseng, Jiang Ning swallowed the crushed remnants.
As the fragments entered his stomach, he felt the medicinal effects of the ginseng truly taking effect, and his weakness gradually subsided.
He looked down at the corpses at his feet and noticed that the blood had already stained the surrounding soil red.
"I've killed people, four of them in a row, yet I don't feel any different," Jiang Ning wondered to himself.
Then, he chuckled and slowly shook his head.
"Forget it! No point in dwelling on this question!"
"Let's see if they have any unexpected gains on them."
"With their status, they should have some surprises."
With that thought, Jiang Ning squatted down and searched the man's waist.
Soon, he found a money pouch.
"Indeed, there's a reward!" Jiang Ning weighed the heavy pouch in his hand, his face brightening.
Money was undoubtedly valuable to him; the more energy points he gained, the more energy he could absorb.
The more precious the medicinal ingredients and pills, the more energy they generally contain, providing him with more energy points, but they are also extremely expensive.
So he needs money, and with his martial arts training requiring the assistance of medicinal ingredients, he needs even more money.
He needs money now, and in the future, he will only need it more!
Currently, with the help of Wang Jin and Shen Congyun, he doesn't have to worry about money for his martial arts progress for the time being.
But in the future, when his strength increases and he makes further progress, they won't be able to help him anymore.
In the future, all martial arts expenses will have to be covered by himself.
After searching, Jiang Ning took the money bag and turned to leave.
He hadn't forgotten about the three people he had killed in these mountains.
Now that the smell of blood was spreading, if he didn't search them quickly, wild beasts might carry away their corpses.
By then, it would be difficult to find their bodies for searching.
Soon after.
Jiang Ning had stripped the three people of all their belongings.
He placed the items and silver coins he had gathered in front of him.
A martial arts manual and the Iron Sand Palm technique.
This manual was obtained from Hong Chengtao.
A dagger, taken from the woman wearing the leopard skin.
And two swords, Xu Yunfeng's sword and another man's sword.
Holding the two swords, he drew them out and examined them. Both blades had a notch, clearly made by him just now.
After a moment of thought, he threw them into the bushes.
For now, he didn't want others to know that he had killed these people.
If he sold their weapons, it would leave a trail, making it easy for others to trace the killings back to him.
Moreover, a notched sword wouldn't fetch much money. The two swords together were worth only about a hundred and a few dozen silver coins, and it would be easy for people to trace them back to him, not worth the risk.
After that.
Jiang Ning looked at another pair of yellow and white objects.
Two gold leaves, a pile of silver coins, several heavy silver ingots, and five silver bills.
He quickly counted them, muttering to himself.
"Two gold leaves, each worth one tael of gold. In the Great Xia, one tael of gold is equivalent to one thousand taels of silver, so this is worth two thousand taels of silver!"
Jiang Ning couldn't help but marvel: "This Hong Bangzhu is indeed wealthy! Carrying two gold leaves on him, one can imagine how rich his background must be!"
Then he carefully examined the five silver bills one by one.
"Three silver bills, each worth one hundred taels of silver. So, four hundred taels of silver in total."
He picked up the silver ingots and weighed them: "There are also about twenty or so taels of silver here."
"So, approximately two thousand four hundred and twenty taels of silver in total!"
"A huge windfall!" Jiang Ning exclaimed.
Then he sighed again: "Indeed, one must have a stroke of luck to become wealthy, and a horse must graze at night to gain strength! If it weren't for this coincidence today, how could I have gotten so much silver?"
Looking at the wealth before him, Jiang Ning's face lit up with joy.
With this wealth, he wouldn't have to worry about money for a while.
With this money, he could also buy a big house in the inner city and move his older brother, sister-in-law, and their family to the inner city as a way of repaying them.
He had been thinking about this for a while.
After packing up his belongings, Jiang Ning held the sword and ventured deeper into the forest.
He didn't plan to return today or in the next few days.
After more than an hour, he reached the top of a mountain.
He also carried a rabbit he had caught along the way.
He looked up at the sky; the sun was setting, its remaining glow slowly sinking behind a distant mountain, and the air was cooling down.
"First, let's eat. After the meal, I'll start skin tempering. Once the skin membrane is trained, I'll become a Ninth Rank Warrior of the Great Xia and truly earn my ticket to join the Inspection Bureau."
Jiang Ning muttered to himself.
Then he tossed the rabbit aside and gathered some dry grass and firewood, preparing to start a fire.
The area around Luoshui County had not seen rain for several consecutive months.
Soon, Jiang Ning had everything he needed.
Moments later, the fire slowly rose, its glow warming Jiang Ning's cheeks.
"Fire-starting is indeed simple for me now!"
"In my past life, I tried so many times without success, but now it's so easy. With my strengthened physique, it's indeed completely different!" Jiang Ning sighed to himself.
Then, after building the fire, he took the dagger and the rabbit he had caught and walked to a nearby pond.
At the pond's edge, he quickly skinned and cleaned the rabbit.
After a quarter of an hour, Jiang Ning began roasting the rabbit over the fire, and his thoughts turned to the Unyielding Body Technique he had read about earlier that afternoon.
A while later, as he finished reminiscing, Jiang Ning opened his bundle, revealing a collection of bottles and jars.
"With this supply of Skin Refinement Sand, I should have enough to last me for a while!" he thought to himself as he gazed at the heavy bundle of Skin Refinement Sand.
Jiang Ning was already familiar with the process of skin refinement. It involved using the Skin Refinement Sand to vigorously rub the entire body until the skin turned red, damaging the outer layer and allowing the medicinal properties of the sand to penetrate the skin.
Next, he would manipulate his Qi and Blood, following the cultivation technique he had learned, to temper his skin and absorb the medicinal properties.
By repeating this process, a skin membrane would form beneath the outer layer, connecting the entire body like the membrane beneath a cowhide.
Once the membrane fully developed and covered the entire body, it would signify the entry into the Ninth Stage of Martial Dao.
The key to this process was the ability to circulate Qi and Blood throughout the body, along with the assistance of medicinal properties and cultivation techniques.
This level was also known as the Skin Refinement Realm.
The primary purpose of this realm was to enhance the body's resilience and defensive capabilities.
Upon reaching the entry level of Skin Refinement Realm, the skin's strength would be comparable to cowhide, significantly improving its resistance to strikes.
It could withstand blows from ordinary wooden sticks and stones without fear.
Additionally, there would be a slight increase in strength.
Most martial practitioners at this stage would experience an increase in strength of over a hundred kilograms.
Chengtao's thoughts then turned to the next level, the Minor Success of Skin Refinement Realm.
At this stage, the skin membrane would undergo a transformation, becoming as hard as stone.
The body's resilience to strikes would significantly improve.
Ordinary swords and knives, not made of Refined Iron, would struggle to inflict harm on practitioners at this level.
Even with Refined Iron weapons, it would be challenging to cause fatal injuries to martial practitioners at this stage.
Furthermore, upon achieving the Minor Success of Skin Refinement, there would be an additional increase in strength of one to two hundred kilograms.
At this level, the benefits of Skin Refinement would become more apparent.
Attacks that would be fatal to ordinary people would only result in superficial injuries for practitioners at this stage.
After the Minor Success of Skin Refinement, the next level was the Major Success of Skin Refinement.
At the Major Success of Skin Refinement, the skin membrane would undergo another transformation, becoming as hard as bronze.
Upon reaching this level, the practitioner would be akin to wearing a layer of bronze armor, making them impervious to sword and knife attacks.
Weapons not made of Hundred-Forged Refined Iron would struggle to inflict harm on them.
Their strength would increase even further, and any martial practitioner who achieved the Major Success of Skin Refinement would possess over a thousand kilograms of strength in a single arm.
If they wore armor, their power would be even more formidable.
Such practitioners would be highly sought after by any faction, becoming esteemed guests wherever they went.
For the majority of martial practitioners, the Major Success of Skin Refinement was the limit of their cultivation at this stage.
After this point, most would choose to focus on arduously cultivating their martial skills and mastering the mysterious power of Essence Force.
By combining Essence Force with Qi and Blood, they could begin tempering their muscles internally.
Through continuous tempering, the strength and hardness of their muscles would increase, leading to a significant boost in strength.
Hence, the Eighth Rank of Martial Dao was also known as the Divine Strength Realm.
The characteristic feature of this realm was the rapid increase in strength.
With each minor advancement, their strength would surge by several hundred kilograms.
The exceptional ones among them could unleash over two thousand kilograms of strength with a single swing of their arm. If they possessed innate talent and divine strength, they could even unleash over three thousand kilograms of force.
However, based on Jiang Ning's previous understanding, there was an even higher level beyond the Major Success of Skin Refinement, where the skin became as hard as bronze.
He had only a vague idea about it before, but now he knew more.
After reading the Unyielding Body Technique earlier, he realized that the Major Success of Skin Refinement, with skin as hard as bronze, was not the true pinnacle of Skin Refinement.
There were even higher levels above it.
The true pinnacle of Skin Refinement was the cultivation of an Invincible Golden Body.
That was the true end goal of Skin Refinement.
The Unyielding Body Technique he had learned was the foundational martial art of the Golden Body Temple. If he could break through to perfection, he would indeed cultivate an Invincible Golden Body.
However, the two realms of Major Success and Perfection were missing from the technique he had acquired.
At this thought, Jiang Ning smiled slightly.
"This is not a problem," he thought. "With the help of the panel, as long as I accumulate enough experience points, I can naturally break through the subsequent realms of Major Success and Perfection, cultivating an Invincible Golden Body."
With this in mind, Jiang Ning felt confident that he would be far ahead of most martial practitioners if he could achieve this.
Only the most talented disciples of the Golden Body Temple would have the opportunity to learn their foundational martial art, and only they would be capable of cultivating an Invincible Golden Body like him.
(End of Chapter)
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