Chapter 475: Combat Power of the Gang Qi Realm

A loud explosion sounded outside the window, but the shattered rockery could not dampen Cheng Feng's mood.

But just as he was about to throw himself back into that long-drawn-out conquest,

a thought suddenly poured into his heated mind like cold water—he had discovered the flaw in the Imperial Court's merit exchange system.

There were no internal cultivation techniques for the Gang Qi Realm.

Cheng Feng's movements came to an abrupt halt, his brows knitting tightly together.

The sense of satisfaction from his recent point-allocation had not yet fully faded, but at this moment, it was as if, after tasting a rare delicacy, he had suddenly discovered that a crucial pinch of salt was missing from the dish.

"Iron Bone Golden Body" is a hard-style external technique, focusing on defense. "River-Severing Blade Technique" is a killing martial art, focusing on offense. "Wind-Stepping Movement" is a movement-based lightness skill, focusing on evasion.

Combining these three techniques and arts together certainly allowed him to take a hit, strike hard, and get away. But the problem was—

of these three, not one was an internal cultivation technique.

Cheng Feng's current Martial Dao realm is the Organ Refining Initial Stage.

A Organ Refining practitioner uses their own internal energy to temper the five viscera and six bowels, making the internal organs as tough as armor and their Qi and Blood as vigorous as a furnace.

When tempered to the extreme, the circulation of the five viscera becomes a self-contained system, internal energy becomes endless, and every gesture carries surging, immense power.

And after Organ Refining comes the True Qi Realm—where Blood Qi is refined and transformed into protective True Qi, which serves as the foundation for the Gang Qi Realm.

From Organ Refining to Gang Qi, there is a hurdle in between.

This hurdle requires a superior internal cultivation technique to act as a bridge, transforming the power of the five viscera, tempered to the extreme, into protective Gang Qi that can be projected externally.

Without this bridge, no matter how strong your physical body is, how fierce your blade technique is, or how fast your lightness skill is, you can only spin in circles within the Organ Refining realm, forever unable to touch the threshold of Gang Qi.

In the Imperial Court's merit exchange repository, external techniques, martial arts, and movement skills are all available, and even some rare hard-style techniques are included.

Only internal cultivation techniques for high-level realms are missing.

No, not missing—they simply haven't been released at all.

It is as if an invisible hand has deliberately wiped this section from the exchange list.

"Interesting." Cheng Feng narrowed his eyes, his lips curling into a cold arc.

This is not an oversight. This is the rule. It is the Imperial Court's means of controlling the martial artists within the Imperial Court.

They give you external techniques so you can be a good blade; they give you martial arts so you can kill efficiently; they give you lightness skills so you can pursue and flee.

But they do not give you internal cultivation techniques, so you will always be just a blade, forever stuck in the Organ Refining realm, forever unable to step into the Gang Qi Realm by your own power.

Want to go further? Then be obedient, perform meritorious service, get promoted, and wait for the Imperial Court to let a little favor leak through its fingers.

Cheng Feng has never liked putting his own lifeline in the hands of others, let alone a behemoth like the Imperial Court that eats people without spitting out the bones.

As he was pondering, he suddenly sensed a trace of abnormality within his body.

The body-tempering power of "Iron Bone Golden Body" had not completely subsided just because the point-allocation had ended.

That power, heavy as a mountain, flowed slowly within him, like an invisible hand repeatedly hammering his bones and meridians.

And during this hammering process, Cheng Feng keenly felt that the breath circulating between his five viscera and six bowels had suddenly become a bit thicker.

That breath was originally just five thin trickles, corresponding to the heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys, connecting with each other to form a subtle cycle.

At this moment, stimulated by this external hard-style power, the five trickles suddenly expanded, their flow rate increased, and they surged against each other, emitting a low rumble that only Cheng Feng could hear, as if five large drums were being beaten simultaneously within his chest and abdomen.

Organ Refining Initial Stage, the realm has been broken.

The techniques of the Tieshan Martial Arts Hall could only reach Bone Refining Perfection, with a chance to break into Organ Refining.

Cheng Feng relied on Panmian to steadily break into the Organ Refining realm, but he didn't know how to proceed afterward.

He had learned some common knowledge in the Imperial Court, but more specific methods and operations—

sorry, the Imperial Court keeps those confidential.

Cheng Feng was stunned for a moment, then immediately realized.

Although "Iron Bone Golden Body" is a hard-style external technique, it tempers more than just skin, flesh, and bones.

The human body is a whole; when an external technique is practiced to the extreme, it will inevitably nourish the internal in return.

Just like a big tree, the deeper the roots are buried and the thicker the trunk is, the more lush the canopy can be.

His physical body had been forcibly raised to a higher level by "Iron Bone Golden Body," and his five viscera and six bowels naturally bore greater pressure; under the compulsion of this pressure, they were instead stimulated to release greater potential.

What's more, his three months of day and night toil, the Flood Dragon Meat he had eaten, the Immortal Dao Cigarettes he had inhaled, and the physical essence brought by Shang Yan's Three-Source Body and her special constitution—none of these things had been fully converted into Fortune Points.

A large amount of medicinal power and essence Qi had settled deep within his body, too late to be refined.

At this moment, as "Iron Bone Golden Body" circulated, it was like using a great fire to burn an old broth, forcing out all the precipitated essence and pouring it all at once into the circulation of the five viscera.

Moving from the Organ Refining Initial Stage to the Organ Refining Mid-stage is naturally a process of grinding, requiring the tempering of the five viscera over time.

Cheng Feng's sudden breakthrough was equivalent to compressing the years of hard work of others into a single moment.

He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. The breath was extremely long, lasting for dozens of breaths before being completely exhaled.

Wherever the breath passed, the air was shaken into visible ripples.

He could clearly feel that the circulation between his five viscera was much smoother than before.

His heart beat more steadily and powerfully, and every pump of blood felt like a sledgehammer pounding in his chest;

the liver's ability to detoxify and produce blood was greatly enhanced, and he could feel the fishy, sweet, metallic taste in his blood rapidly fading;

the spleen's ability to transport and transform surged, and the energy consumed during the breakthrough was restored by more than half in just a few breaths;

the lungs' capacity nearly doubled, and with every inhalation and exhalation, the surrounding air was drawn into a small vortex;

not to mention the kidneys—the organs that had been the most overworked over these three months,

at this moment, warm currents surged, and that faint soreness melted away like ice and snow, replaced by a vigorous vitality.

"The five-viscera circulation, the effect of one breath has been greatly enhanced." Cheng Feng muttered to himself, a flash of realization in his eyes.

The core of the Organ Refining realm is this five-viscera circulation.

The stronger the five viscera and the smoother the circulation, the more terrifying the power and endurance a martial artist can unleash.

His current state, while called Organ Refining Mid-stage, is likely unmatched by some Organ Refining Peak martial artists when it comes to the strength of his five viscera and the longevity of his energy.

Three months of frantic cultivation were, in the end, not in vain.

But happy as he was, he could not forget the real business at hand.

So what if he was at Organ Refining Mid-stage? So what if he was at Organ Refining Peak? The hurdle lying before him was still there.

Without an internal cultivation technique, even if he were to refine his five organs into a furnace of Golden Core, he would not be able to condense a single strand of Gang Qi.

Cheng Feng's gaze fell back onto the Panmian. The Fortune Point had returned to zero, and the empty number made his kidneys ache.