Becoming a Saint by Touching Corpses

"Ordinary Circulation Martial Artists, are generally not my opponents." As if seeing through their thoughts, Lou Yi added another sentence.

A Minor Circulation Martial Artist, even if placed in any large sect, is the backbone of pillars.

And if placed in a lesser force like the River Gang, might even be more than enough to be a Vice Gang Leader.

Thinking of this.

The minor pride that Lu Yang had deep within his heart for achieving Hall Master had already vanished into thin air.

Of course, he might never imagine that the Circulation Martial Artists Lou Yi spoke of are not just limited to Minor Circulation, but also include Great Circulation, Full Cycle.

"The head of our family is truly unrivaled in talent." He couldn't help but exclaim.

"Haha, I, Liu Yuan, surely didn't follow the wrong person!" Liu Yuan also laughed, his words filled with pride.

"Come, let's drink." Lou Yi raised the wine bowl.

The trio returned to their previous atmosphere, and the slight disharmony from before dissipated completely.

Lou Yi never held any interest in testing people's character.

Revealing his capabilities appropriately, if it could make relationships more solid, he would do it.

Back in the room, he looked at the Attribute Panel:

[Name: Lou Yi]

[Age: 19/68]

[Realm: Three Blood Warrior (20/600)]

[Cultivation Technique: Yellow Extreme Breathing Technique (Two-stage, Mastery 0/300+1 Nirvana Divine Flower), Hu Family Breathing Technique (Not Started 0/10)]

[Skills: Lou's Axe Skill (Minor Achievement 0/500), Extreme Fist (Mastery 0/100), Stone Throwing (Mastery 0/30), Light Body Technique (Minor Achievement 0/200), Basic Spear Technique (Introduction 0/6), Secret Skill: Dragon Piercing Technique - Fragment (One), Qi Locking Technique (Introduction 0/3)]

[Talent: Petrification (Minor Achievement 0/1000+5 White Dew Stone+1 Star Cold Iron), Swift (Introduction 0/20+1 Earth Dragon Essence Tendon)]

[Energy: 211]

Breathing Techniques, Skills, Talents.

These are the three most crucial components of personal strength, and how to allocate energy wisely is a challenge.

Breathing Techniques are fundamental, but they cannot provide real-time feedback to the realm.

After breaking through Minor Circulation, the daily proficiency gain of the Two-stage Breathing Technique halved, leaving only ten points. It would take two months to advance to a Four Blood Warrior.

To speed up cultivation, more improvement is needed in Breathing Techniques. However, the material Nirvana Divine Flower required is currently an unexplored avenue.

In comparison, Skills and Talents can instantly enhance strength, but different Skills and Talents vary in strength.

Among the Skills, Lou's Axe Skill holds the highest priority, currently lacking three hundred point energy.

Lou Yi has a premonition that reaching the Great Success Level in Axe Skill will bring a significant leap in his power.

As for Talents, the energy required for Petrification Talent is too high, so attention should be focused on the other talent Swift.

However, Earth Dragon Essence Tendon is exceptionally rare, and has yet to be heard from anywhere.

Fortunately, Lou Yi has close relations with the Zhan Family and Su Family, plus the top-grade Exchange Register of the Beast Hunting Bureau has yet to be explored; one never knows, it might contain what he needs.

As he lay in bed, planning for the future, Lou Yi gradually fell into a deep sleep.

...

Hundred Beasts Mountain Range, southern area, sparsely scattered trees, sandy soil predominates, at a glance, mostly a lifeless yellow expanse.

Here lies a winding road that traverses nearly one-quarter of the mountain range, connecting to the heart of the Central Plains.

This road is relatively wide and level, with few plants, and a great number of vehicle tracks on the ground, showing that there are often caravans passing through.

On either side of the road, artificial stone pillars can be seen standing at intervals.

About ten feet tall, the pillar surfaces are mottled and rough, filled with various pits and crevices.

What draws the most attention is the tops of the pillars, all inlaid with ferocious beast heads or bizarrely shaped bones.

If knowledgeable people were here, they could recognize that these heads or bones mostly come from beasts recorded in village chronicles and documents as Beast Kings.

This is the famous Wangjiang Trade Road.

Situated in the area with the least vegetation and beasts in the mountain range, connecting the Central Plains and Wangjiang County, it carries astronomical amounts of trade and transactions.

It is a blood road carved out by countless martial artists throughout the ages.

Generally, beasts do not come to this area because it is hard to find food.

And due to the intimidating beast head and bones, few short-sighted mythical creatures come to attack the humans passing along this trade road.

Even if occasionally appearing, it's usually just a few scattered beasts that the accompanying guards can manage.

At this moment, a large caravan was moving along a section of the trade road.

More than ten carts carried heavy goods covered in gray cloth.

There were forty to fifty guards around, each wearing strong clothing, armed with knives and swords, and watching alertly.

At the forefront, the leading strong man rode a shiny black horse, with a white flag hanging on its back, written in red with the character 'Feng'.

"Deliver this batch of goods safely to Jiang City, and even I can account to the family." In the middle, an elderly man in brocade also rode a horse, stroking his beard, and sighed.

"Recently, there's been talk of a beast tide emerging in the mountain range's northern area. But it's still far from the trade route and shouldn't affect us in the short term." A middle-aged man beside the elder laughed, "Once you finish this trek, Third Uncle, you can retire comfortably."

No sooner did he finish speaking.

'Boom boom boom!'

'Boom boom boom!'

A fierce shaking sound came from not far away, growing increasingly intense, like an earthquake rattling.

"Not good!"

Members of the caravan turned toward the sound's direction, each displaying severe expressions.

Into view came enormous beasts, sinister in appearance, with red eyes glaring!

Monstrous pythons with two legs extending from their bellies, spirally coiled, their scales rub against gravel, black mist enveloping as they flicker their tongues;

Giant apes covered in blood-colored fur, walking upright, leaping through the mountains and forests, snapping trees with raised arms;

Great eagles with meat wings outspread, blocking the skies, plumage shining with metallic silver luster…

"Run fast!" Someone turned and fled in terror.

"We can't leave, we must protect the family goods!" The elderly man called 'Third Uncle' cursed with rage.

But no matter who it was, they couldn't escape, soon swallowed and torn apart by the beasts.

Such scenes even occurred simultaneously at three locations on the trade road the same day.

This indicated that the beast tide had rapidly spread to every corner of the Hundred Beasts Mountain Range; nowhere was truly safe.

'Whoosh whoosh whoosh!'

Tai City, Jiang City, Su City, Lian City, City Lord's Mansion were alarmed, dispatching experts to investigate.

"Hiss...A serpent grows a foot every hundred years; this strange snake might have lived for over two hundred years!"

"With fur like blood, golden eyes, seems like a rare breed from the deepest area of the mountain range, hasn't appeared for a long time."

"Trade road destroyed, not seen in a century, must quickly report to the lord!"

"This is confidential, must not be spread to civilians easily, otherwise chaos will ensue…"

...

Tai City, urban area, 'Youjian Tea House'.

This tea house is the oldest establishment in the city, famous for its Bilu Tea from the Central Plains, tasting unforgettable after just one sip.

Thus, there were many guests coming and going, and business was extraordinarily prosperous.

Early in the morning, Youjian Inn had just opened its doors, when several regular customers, who had been waiting outside, eagerly entered.

However, upon seeing the prices on the water board, they all began to complain.

"Manager, why has Bilu Tea become so expensive? It's more than double before!"

"Even ordinary green tea has gone up several coins."

"Even though your business is good, you shouldn't just aim to fleece us regulars, should you?"

Upon hearing the guests' complaints, the tea house manager cried out his innocence.

"Gentlemen, with heaven above, if I, Wu, purposely raise prices, then might as well let me close my store sooner and never do business again in this life!

The reason for the price increase is because several batches of tea leaves from the Central Plains were destroyed by mythical creatures this month!"

"Manager Wu, don't fool us." Someone disgruntled said, "Everyone knows, your inn's tea leaves are always transported with Huang Family goods from the trade route; how could they be destroyed by mythical creatures?"

"Alas…" The manager sighed, "This time the Hundred Beasts Mountain Range erupted with an unprecedented beast tide, severing the entire Wangjiang Trade Road!"

"What?!"

Upon hearing this, everyone was shocked.

...