Chapter 84: Jade Skin, Great Perfection

"Jade Skin, sinew and bone change, become Jade Bone, strength doubles; Bronze Bone Realm, Jade Bone is the limit; Jade Bone martial artists, stepping into Willow Sinew can transform into Dragon-Form Sinew, with infinite benefits."

Blood Qi surged like the tide, constantly washing over Li Rui's bones.

Wu Gu squeezed out all the medicinal power in the Seventh-Rank spiritual elixir.

There is no shortcut to the Bronze Bone Realm.

It's just one word: endure.

Endure with the power of elixirs, endure with day and night hard practice.

Of course, heaven always favors geniuses; if one possesses an exotic bone like Wu Gu, the progress will far exceed ordinary people.

Li Rui could also be considered to have experienced the feeling of a genius.

Sitting still all night.

The first ray of sunlight in the morning spilled through the window paper into the room, and beams of light were clearly visible, with tiny dust particles flying in the light beams, clearly visible.

Li Rui slowly opened his eyes.

"Success!"

After a night of tempering, he finally stepped into the Jade Bone Realm.

This progress was unreasonably fast.

Practicing martial arts at seventy, Jade Bone at seventy-one; how can this not be considered a genius?

Zhang He clenched his palms.

Observing carefully, the bones under his palms were crystalline in color, extremely unique.

This was the sign of Jade Bone.

Li Rui picked up the large blade beside him.

Light, too light.

Roughly estimated, his strength had soared by more than double; one punch could probably kill more than one cow.

"Entering Jade Bone, when breaking into the Willow Sinew Realm, there is a certain probability of condensing Dragon-Form True Qi, which is of great benefit to cultivation."

Ancient books he had read before appeared in Li Rui's mind.

"Dragon-Form..."

"Brother Li, haven't seen you for a few days, your body is getting tougher."

Zhang Yang walked into Li's residence with a smile.

"Head Zhang, do you have something to find me for today?"

Li Rui asked curiously.

Yesterday, Zhang Yang had someone bring a message, saying he would come to visit today.

His relationship with Zhang Yang was quite good, and usually, if they wanted to gather, they would greet each other directly; it was rare for someone to be sent to notify him in advance like this.

Zhang Yang arrived as scheduled.

He pointed to the man beside him: "It's not me, it's little Xu; he insists on fighting you again, but he can't let go of his face."

The little Xu he spoke of was Xu Tai, who had been on the arena with Li Rui during the branch exam before.

Although Xu Tai was defeated by Li Rui, he finally fought his way back up relying on his solid strength.

Now he was even the Hall Master of the Introduction Hall.

Zhang Yang's person.

Quite valued by Zhang Yang.

Xu Tai cupped his fists at Li Rui, his words concise: "My blade technique has hit a bottleneck, and I hope Brother Li can give me some pointers."

He was a blade guest.

He was never good with words and preferred to speak with the blade in his hand.

Precisely because of this, compared to other martial artists who liked to contemplate alone, he preferred to improve himself in battle.

Such a person is also called a martial arts fanatic.

Li Rui nodded: "Since I'm idle, let's have a go."

"Having a go" was a more obscure way of saying sparring.

Both sides were Zhang Yang's people and could be considered true colleagues, so of course, they had to be polite; maybe there would be times when he would need Xu Tai's help in the future.

Xu Tai didn't expect Li Rui to agree so readily.

"Many thanks, Brother Li."

After fighting Li Rui last time, although he lost the position of Medicine Hall Master, after reviewing it afterward and practicing repeatedly, his blade technique had improved quite a bit.

That was why he had the idea of fighting Li Rui again.

Although he wasn't good at human relationships, he knew that going directly to someone's door was easy to offend people, so he found Zhang Yang to be the middleman.

Li Rui's willingness to feed him moves made him happy, his blood boiling.

Xu Tai was already a bit impatient:

"Please!"

Li Rui chuckled and walked to a wider part of the courtyard.

Fists and feet have no eyes; if he trampled the flowers and plants, Old Yang would definitely nag for a long time.

Xu Tai took out two wooden blades he had prepared from behind him.

He handed one to Li Rui.

Since it was sparring.

Of course, he couldn't use weapons, but just comparing fists and feet, Xu Tai felt it wasn't satisfying, so he came up with this compromise.

Li Rui weighed the wooden blade in his hand and chuckled:

"A fanatic indeed."

His impression of Xu Tai improved a bit more; this kind of person obsessed with blade technique was most worth befriending, without so many twists and turns.

"Come on."

Hearing Li Rui's words, Xu Tai, who had long been ready, swung his blade and killed his way up.

When ordinary blade users spar, the first strike is definitely a hack.

But Xu Tai knew the power of Li Rui's weapon and didn't dare to open his center, leaving Li Rui a flaw, so he cautiously chose a diagonal hack to protect his weaknesses.

"Interesting."

Li Rui also moved.

It's just that this strike of his was neither a hack nor a flick, but skillfully stuck to Xu Tai's blade with the blade body, taking advantage of the momentum to draw a semicircle in the air.

Blocking Xu Tai's fierce strike.

"What blade technique is this?"

Xu Tai was startled.

He pressed down with his arm, wanting to suppress Li Rui with his youth and strength.

Li Rui was unhurried, his blade technique relaxed.

But no matter how hard Xu Tai tried, he couldn't shake Li Rui in the slightest.

He became more anxious the more he fought.

Those involved are confused, those on the sidelines are clear.

Zhang Yang, who was watching the battle from the side, was greatly shocked.

This was no sparring.

It was clearly a teaching fist.

The so-called teaching fist is a saying in martial arts halls, referring to the master's fist technique being far higher than the apprentice's; in master-apprentice sparring, the master deliberately suppresses the apprentice by only a sliver to guide the apprentice's fist technique.

Don't look at it as only suppressing by a sliver; the gap in strength between the two sides is huge.

In other words, Li Rui's strength far exceeded Xu Tai's.

A thought arose in Zhang Yang's heart.

He gasped:

"Mother of God, Eighth-Rank?!"

On the other side.

Li Rui continued to fight back and forth with Xu Tai.

The two exchanged about a hundred moves.

Li Rui seized Xu Tai's flaw, and the back of the wooden blade patted Xu Tai's right waist.

The force was heavy.

Even though it was a wooden blade, Xu Tai felt pain and stumbled back several steps, clutching his right waist and baring his teeth.

He was just fighting to his heart's content and was about to raise his blade to go up again—

"Alright, Brother Li, don't bully people anymore."

Zhang Yang laughed and grabbed Xu Tai's shoulder.

Xu Tai didn't quite understand what Zhang Yang meant.

Zhang Yang had to explain: "You, haven't you seen it yet? Hall Master Li is clearly using a teaching fist; he's already Eighth-Rank."

Eighth-Rank!

Xu Tai widened his eyes.

He wasn't a stupid person.

Before, he was just obsessed with the battle and forgot to think carefully; now, looking back, Li Rui was relaxed and at ease the whole time, clearly having strength far above his own.

Li Rui put away the blade and said with a smile: "Hall Master Zhang, just luck, don't praise this old man; Hall Master Xu's blade is very powerful."

Then he turned his head to look at Xu Tai:

"I'm just an old man whose potential is exhausted; Hall Master Xu is young and promising. In the future, when your martial arts are accomplished, remember this old man. The future belongs to you young people."

"..."

Xu Tai chose not to answer.

Zhang Yang rolled his eyes directly.

Potential exhausted?

Practicing martial arts at seventy, breaking through to Eighth-Rank at seventy-one, full of vigor.

You call this potential exhausted?!

"The old eagle pecked its eyes, blinded its eyes; Brother Li is not at all in his twilight years, he is clearly in his prime."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 85 =====