Enlightenment: Beginning as a Disposable Warrior-Chapter 79 - 73: Hidden-Dragon Level, Bone Forging Twice

Amidst the curtain of rain, the youth suddenly opened his eyes, and the world before him was renewed; the rain that previously merged into white lines now broke apart inch by inch in his sight, each droplet visible in sharp clarity.

The youth seemed contemplative, raising his arms in the rain; between his brows, the Hidden Dragon in the Abyss swayed, a surge of coolness flowing through his mind.

In the next instant, the youth hesitated before thrusting out both fists.

Roar!

Boom—boom---boom!

A mighty tiger roar and a dull rock-shattering sound rang out at once. Even Su Mu himself was greatly surprised; looking down, his right fist executed the Tiger Subduing Fist, while his left wielded the Rock Shattering Fist.

After his comprehension had once again broken through its limit, he was now able to multitask, simultaneously channeling different powers to unleash two distinct fist techniques—one hard, one soft—two completely conflicting styles.

[Name: Su Mu (15 years old)]

[Lifespan: 235 years]

[Skill: Five Animals Qigong (Perfection), Tiger Subduing Fist (Perfection), Rock Shattering Fist (Perfection), Startled Sparrow Step (Perfection), Gale Fist (Perfection), Torrential Rain Spear Technique (Perfection), Forging (Perfection), Iron Sand Palm (Great Success 15%), Iron Whip Leg (Great Success 7%), Vajra Body (Small Success 85%), Small Faceless Transformation Technique (Small Success 65%), Alchemy (Small Success 27%), Medical Skill (Small Success 23%)]

[Comprehension: 42 (Hidden-Dragon Level)]

Su Mu immediately pulled up his current attribute panel to inspect.

"After Torrential Rain Spear Technique reached perfection, my comprehension increased by 3 points; and my lifespan, thanks to the comprehension breakthrough, rose by thirty-five years in one go."

His gaze shifted downward.

Su Mu's eyes settled on the comprehension column—after half a year, his comprehension limit once again broke through, having transformed from "Instant-Insight Level" to "Hidden-Dragon Level."

As the ancients say:

The Flying Dragon leaves the sky, follows the clouds into the abyss; the Hidden Dragon in the Abyss, follows the clouds up to heaven.

When the great forest dragon emerges, it crosses the celestial river; when all four treasuries are complete, it rises to supreme greatness!

The Flying Dragon follows the clouds into the abyss; when the four seas are ready, the world is blessed with rain, and when the time is ripe it soars from the abyss, becoming the true dragon of the highest rank!

A gentleman should embody the transformations of dragon and snake; Hidden-Dragon Level comprehension marks a detachment from mundane mortals—a person possessing this comprehension is inherently extraordinary, born with a unique talent, capability, and brilliance unattainable by ordinary people.

The gap is like one born with divine power compared to regular folk—even if ordinary people train in the Martial Dao, one born with innate divine power starts at a height others can never reach.

This is the difference between innate and postnatal—the gift is given by heaven; tigers and dogs are born distinct, how much more a dragon soaring among clouds!

After his comprehension transformed, Su Mu immediately grasped multitasking—a gift truly different from the norm and unattainable to others, a kind of innate talent.

"Multi-tasking…perhaps I can apply this gift to fusion fist techniques!"

The youth's thoughts raced; the moment he thought of it, his eyes lit up.

One month passed as he pondered with deep concentration.

The heat of June's midsummer was now thicker than ever, and in the courtyard's old locust tree, the cicadas chirped even more densely and noisily.

Su Mu had already grasped the path to fusing Rock Shattering Fist and Gale Fist; he kept trying to find their fusion point, but had yet to succeed.

Compared to the fusion of martial arts, however, his progress with the Second Bone Forging and the arduous Vajra Body cross-training martial arts was astonishing—thanks to ample Bone-Forger Ointment.

The night was as dark as ink; in a nameless northern mountain outside Qingyun City, creatures that were usually lively at night were strangely silent.

In the forests, only the increasingly resonant bell and tiger roar echoed, startling all the beasts who didn't dare move an inch, each huddled in their den.

Following the sound, one found a figure sitting cross-legged in the woods. In the dark, every inch of his skin glowed with a faint golden light, as though shrouded in sacred Buddha radiance.

Vajra Body Protection!

Amid the bell ringing and tiger roar, golden light flickered—a golden bell appeared, inverted and suspended around the figure's body.

Vajra Rebound!

The golden bell surrounding him began to spin, its sound growing ever louder; mountain winds lifted fallen leaves, and when the leaves touched within an inch of the bell, they were instantly ground to dust.

Vajra Body (Great Success 1%)

Comprehension: 44

The figure in the forest slowly opened his eyes and softly exhaled. As the breath escaped, a domineering horizontal training power surged in his abdomen. With Vajra Body's breakthrough to great success, its unique power was now born.

The sound of surging rivers roared—his sixth flow of power merged into the river of power, further strengthening Su Mu's Martial Dao foundation, making it even more vast, even more solid.

Vajra Body, an advanced version of "Golden Bell Shield," is a cross-training body tempering martial art with extremely high entry requirements. To reach great success within ten years—even among the monks of the Vajra Temple in a hundred years—only a handful ever do.

It took Su Mu only half a year to complete what the temple monks struggled for ten, twenty years or more; and for several months of that half year, he trained without full support from medicinal ointments.

As Su Mu cultivated more and more martial arts, and as they advanced, this initially modest-looking comprehension panel began to reveal boundless potential.

At this moment, the youth himself was unaware that he was embarking on an unprecedented, sky-reaching martial journey.

And just as Vajra Force merged into the river of power, raising the power's tide, the warm flow from the Vajra Body breakthrough also helped push the Second Bone Forging to completion.

The soaring 44 points of Hidden-Dragon Level comprehension made Su Mu acutely aware of an oddity in his bones.

Fortune smiled; Su Mu instantly caught hold of this small opportunity.

While fusing Vajra Force, multi-tasking, he precisely manipulated his internal power to temper every bone in his body.

Before long.

Bzz------

His entire skeleton trembled and rang out. Bone Forging naturally complements the Vajra Body's second realm—Vajra Bone—and with the momentum of Vajra Body's great success, the youth seized the opportunity, completing the Second Bone Forging at the same time.

With a thought, Su Mu simply circulated his inner power—without performing the Tiger Subduing Fist—yet a tiger's roar faintly echoed.

This was the Resilient Bone Realm of Second Bone Forging: when channeling power, the skeleton resonates, producing sound. Moreover, with Su Mu's training in Vajra Body, his skeleton had been repeatedly tempered by Tiger Subduing Fist, so the resonance naturally took the form of a tiger's roar.

Su Mu tried twisting his left forearm—it didn't budge. Stunned, his eyes brightened: after being tempered by Vajra Body and undergoing Second Bone Forging, his bones wouldn't move without exerting power; it felt as if he were trying to bend a block of thick steel.

"Interesting, let's see what happens if I use my power!"

Ten percent power—still immovable.

Su Mu was secretly amazed, increasing the output bit by bit; not until fifteen percent did his forearm finally move with a crack, and it took a full twenty-five percent before he could bend it to an arc.

This greatly surprised Su Mu. He now possessed six flows of fused power, five of which had reached perfection—their might was several times that of ordinary martial artists.

Though Su Mu only used close to thirty percent of his own power, for ordinary Bone Forger Martial Artists—without using martial arts—even with full power they would scarcely bend Su Mu's bones.

"With Vajra Body's boost, my Second Bone Forging can match, even surpass, a normal martial artist's Third Bone Forging!"

"In defense and explosive strength compared to before, it's at least doubled!"

Su Mu marveled inwardly; as he relaxed his hand, the forearm—which on a normal person would've been broken—instantly snapped back with a 'pop,' and in a breath returned to normal.

If Zhou Tiande suddenly resurrected and appeared before him now, Su Mu was confident he could swiftly kill him without sustaining injury.

"Zhou Tiande was right: before absolute strength, all technique is useless."

"Good, good. Being able to finish Second Bone Forging was a pleasant surprise… Seems I've saved over a month's time and two boxes of ointment."

Su Mu carefully inspected his progress from the past months, unable to hide a look of satisfaction. He truly enjoyed the feeling of growing stronger—it was deeply reassuring.

After a sleepless night, Su Mu remained vigorous; a martial artist's body, essence, qi, and spirit were worlds apart from ordinary people, and with Su Mu's physique tempered by Five Animals Qigong, long-term use of Three-in-One Body-Strengthening Soup, and Vajra Body training, he was already far stronger than regular martial artists.

Early that morning, upon arriving at the Forging Workshop, Su Mu had barely swung a few hundred hammers and had yet to get fully warmed up when Chen Yuntian appeared.

"Master Chen!"

Chen Yuntian walked in as many greeted him respectfully; he responded with a slight nod in return.

"Su the kid." Chen Yuntian approached, knocking the corner of the forging platform with his calloused hand, "The new county magistrate needs a weapon forged, and we need someone to control the fire. Are you willing?"

At these words, the entire forging hall filled with the clamor of iron and steel became silent; all the blacksmiths stopped their work at once—even the full blacksmiths set down their forging hammers, their heated gazes simultaneously focused on the youth in the center.

In all those eyes were shock and indescribable envy.

The Qingyun County Magistrate's commission, and the master personally overseeing the forging—this was clearly to forge a Grade-Entering Treasure Artifact!

On the surface it was about controlling the fire, but everyone sensed the truth: Chen Yuntian was preparing to teach Su Mu the Treasure-Forge Art.

As Su Mu stood stunned, the other blacksmiths' throats rolled—they wished they could accept this heaven-sent opportunity in Su Mu's stead.

"Master Chen..."

Su Mu clasped his fists in salute, firelight reflecting the passion in his eyes; he'd always had enthusiasm for forging, and his dream spear was not yet complete.

Now that a precious chance to learn Grade-Entering Treasure-Forge Art had come, how could he refuse?

"I am willing, Master Chen—please instruct me as you see fit."

Master Chen's hand, stroking his beard, paused slightly; a glimmer of comfort flashed in his ancient eyes.

Though he'd never taken Su Mu as a disciple, to find such a promising seedling to pass on Treasure-Forge Art before going to his grave would be worth his life's craft.

With Su the kid's freakish talent for forging, surpassing these old-timers would only be a matter of time.

Gazing at the modest youth before him, the old man seemed to see the day when Su Mu's name spread throughout Qingyun, even beyond to a wider world.

Then, he could proudly say: "That boy—I personally guided him back in the day!"

"Follow me." Chen Yuntian turned away. "Watch more, speak less… If you have questions, think carefully before you ask."