Martial Arts: Starting with Upgrading the Dilapidated Temple

The cave entrance was narrow, allowing only one person to pass at a time, but this made it the perfect slaughterhouse.

Xu Hao did not use his hundred-refined steel sword to slash with force, but instead followed the momentum of the sea monkey's attack, the blade gliding along its slippery scales.

If it were an ordinary sword technique, it would definitely slip when encountering this slimy beast, but Xu Hao flicked his wrist, and a spiraling internal force drilled out along the blade.

"The Power of Turning the River Upside Down"

puff.

With a muffled thud, the skull of the sea monkey at the forefront wasn't shattered, but its brains were churned into a mushy mess by the insidious force, and it slumped down stiffly.

Xu Hao remained expressionless, not even lifting his eyelids. With a flick of his toe, he sent the corpse flying, knocking down the two that pounced on him from behind, and clearing a space in the process.

Hiding deep in the rock crevice, Chen Yuanzhi covered his mouth tightly, peering at the boy outside through the crack.

The moonlight was pale, and Xu Hao was covered in blood. His eyes held no fear or murderous fervor, only a chilling indifference.

It's like a skilled butcher performing a tedious harvesting operation.

At this moment, Chen Yuanzhi felt that Xu Hao was even more terrifying than the man-eating monsters outside.

"This isn't over yet." Xu Hao flicked the blood off his knife, his brows furrowing slightly.

The images in my mind kept trembling.

[Slay the alien water demon and absorb a trace of its blood essence]

[Current accumulation of malevolent energy: 12/100]

Although Ghost Cry Reef is not a blessed place, the previous achievement of "behind-the-scenes manipulator" has enabled temporary access to collect Blood Fiends.

In Xu Hao's eyes, these beasts had now become piles of walking experience points.

Roar--!

A thunderous roar shattered the sound of the waves.

The sea monkeys on the periphery seemed to have seen a ghost, and retreated to both sides in terror.

A gigantic monster, the size of a calf and covered in black bone spurs, crashed through the rocks, bringing with it a nauseating, foul stench.

Sea Demon General.

The aura emanating from this thing is even stronger than that of the leader of the Sea Shark Gang.

Xu Hao narrowed his eyes and flicked the black blood off the blade.

"The main course is here."

The sea demon gave Xu Hao no chance to catch his breath, roaring as it charged at him.

The entrance to the cave was narrow, leaving no way to escape.

Xu Hao didn't try to take the hit head-on. Instead, he used the "Surging Waves Step" technique, twisting and turning his body within a small space to narrowly avoid its large, fan-like claws.

boom!

Rocks shattered, and fragments flew everywhere, cutting Xu Hao's cheek.

Chen Yuanzhi, who was hiding behind the rocks, was immediately covered by rubble.

That force, if it hits hard, would turn you into minced meat.

Using the rubble as cover, Xu Hao ducked down and slipped into the sea ghost's arms, his long sword flashing back as he aimed for the monster's jaw.

when!

Sparks flew everywhere.

The monster's bones were harder than iron; the Hundred-Refined Blade only managed to chip a small nick, which made Xu Hao's hand go numb.

The sea demon, in pain, wildly swung its arms, sweeping them like two battering rams.

Xu Hao was swept by the strong wind and crashed into the rock wall, his chest heaving with blood and qi.

"That's thick-skinned."

Xu Hao spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, his eyes turning sinister.

Since the hard way doesn't work, let's try the dirty tricks.

He sheathed his knife with his right hand and quietly gripped a pale white bone nail—a "vengeful bone nail" pulled from Chen Yuanzhi's spine, still bearing the lingering malevolent energy of the death row.

The sea monster will pounce again, opening its blood-red maw to try and crush the human's head.

Instead of retreating, Xu Hao advanced, raising his left arm to take the monster's claw head-on. The excruciating pain of his flesh being torn apart caused his facial muscles to twitch slightly, but his right hand shot out like lightning.

puff.

The Vengeful Bone Nail pierced precisely into the Sea Demon General's left eye, which was glowing white.

"Awooo—!"

A heart-wrenching scream echoed through the night sky.

The resentment entered its mind, and the monster's movements instantly froze.

Right now.

He thrust his entire right hand deep into the bloody hole created by the bone nail, his internal energy roaring like a pump, unleashing the full power of the "Overturning River Force".

Smash it!

He churned violently inside the monster's skull.

The sea monster convulsed violently a few times, spewing black blood from its eyes, ears, mouth, and nose, before finally crashing to the ground, raising a cloud of dust.

Xu Hao pulled his hand out, bringing with it a clump of red and white substance, and wiped it off on the monster's fur with disgust.

"He's quite big, but his brain is quite small."

Xu Hao, panting heavily, looked at the corpses scattered on the ground.

Seeing their leader die suddenly, the remaining sea monkeys screamed and burrowed back into the deep sea.

[Large amounts of bizarre flesh and blood detected. Initiate "Temporary Blood Sacrifice"?]

"Yes." Xu Hao replied without hesitation.

As the thought settled, the dozens of corpses on the ground visibly shriveled up, as if their essence had been drained away.

Strands of crimson blood energy gathered in mid-air, eventually condensing into a dark red pill the size of a longan with a pitted and uneven surface.

This elixir can be made without me having to refine it myself?

[Low-grade blood elixir]

[Note: Contains many impurities and has a violent medicinal effect. Although it can forcefully break through barriers, it can easily induce hallucinations of killing.]

"You should be grateful to have anything to eat, why are you being picky?"

Xu Hao sat down cross-legged and swallowed the pill in one gulp.

boom!

The pill felt less like a tonic and more like swallowing a piece of burning charcoal.

The violent heat surged through his meridians, causing Xu Hao's muscles to spasm in pain, as if countless rats were scurrying under his skin.

"Uh..." Xu Hao gritted his teeth and let out a low growl.

A murderous intent surged in his mind, and countless figures of people he had killed flickered before his eyes.

Xu Hao desperately guarded a sliver of clarity in his mind, forcibly circulating his cultivation technique to guide this violent power to strike deep into his bones.

Click, click.

A series of popping sounds came from inside his body.

The laceration on his left arm had long since healed, and the bones, which were originally as hard as iron, had become even denser and heavier under the tempering of this force.

Having reached the pinnacle of the Bone Forging Realm, he is just one step away from touching the threshold of the Tendon Changing Realm.

After a long while, Xu Hao exhaled a long breath.

As dawn broke, a thick fog rose over the sea, covering everything in a white expanse.

Xu Hao got up and kicked the remaining shriveled corpses into the sea to feed the fish before moving the large rock blocking the crevice.

Chen Yuanzhi shook off the rubble, climbed out, and looked at Xu Hao.

The boy's clothes were dry, with dark red scabs clinging to his body. Standing there, he resembled a scabbed sword, his aura even more profound than the night before.

"Brother Xu, you..."

"Shhh."

Xu Hao raised his finger, and the listening talisman on his chest felt slightly warm.

From the depths of the fog came a dull thud.

Boom, boom, boom.

It wasn't the uniform sound of war drums from the Observatory, but rather a chaotic yet rhythmic sound of cleavage striking.

"There's a boat." Xu Hao's lips curled into a smile. "It's not an official boat."

Chen Yuanzhi's face lit up with joy: "Merchant ship? We're saved!"

"You're overthinking it." Xu Hao sneered. "Anyone who would dare to cross Ghost Cry Reef in this weather is either a smuggler who'd rather die than spend money, or a pirate from Shengzhou."

Regardless of the reason, upon seeing the two of us in distress, their first reaction would definitely not be to save us, but to finish us off and loot our bodies.

Chen Yuanzhi's face turned pale: "What do we do?"