Chapter 28

: A Huge Gap Between Skin Toughening Phase and Bone Forging Phase
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Thus the matter became significant.
All wolf-dogs fell into a deep sleep and couldn’t be awakened. People could easily discern that there was something wrong. Those wolf-dogs were raised to guard the entrance. Why would they be dazed? Was there anyone harboring unkind thoughts toward The Wu’s?
Therefore the Wu Family came into a state of extreme nervousness at their fainting.
The Wu Family had carried out a double-check on the origin of the fainting. As the resource of drinking water, the tank had already been investigated many times. But half a month went by with no evidence being found. During the investigation, people learned that Junior Leopard had bought medicinal materials outside. But lately, they figured out that all Junior Leopard brought were normal medicinal materials which seemed not to be able to cause such a huge effect. Thus, suspicion of Junior Leopard was quelled.
Such an investigation lasted half a month. And those dogs slept for half a month and thus died. It was not because the anesthetic pill was poisonous but because they hadn’t eaten or drunk for half a month and their bodies couldn’t support them anymore.
The strong efficacy was totally beyond Junior Leopard’s expectation.
The wolf-dogs were dead. The investigation lasted half a month with no result. Finally, the Wu Family ironware shop came back to quiet down little by little as nothing was stolen. Though it was very strange, they were truly helpless. After those dogs’ death, the Wu Family brought in other dozens of wolf-dogs, which were more savage and robust.
Junior Leopard, the initiator of evil and the biggest beneficiary, was extremely delight for the next one or two months. His handcrafts that were made recently were more elaborate than before. He even forged several excellent weapons which earned him much praise.
Junior Leopard laughed off the praise. He paid no attention to that.
The Anesthetic Pill can be melted into the water immediately. With the characteristics of colorlessness and transparency, I can use it to play tricks without being detected. Bravo!
Junior Leopard ground the rest pills into powder and put it in a china bottle. Then the bottle was carried with him all the time
Life returned to peace again. The event of the wolf-dogs’ death was of no more significance than being a topic of conversation during people’s leisure.
Junior Leopard lived as usual, too. Every day he either forged iron or practiced martial arts. He was satisfied with his present life. Each month, Junior Leopard could hand in iron wares that pleased Qin Xuanlong very much. So Qin Xuanlong felt very relieved. At the same time, however, he supervised Junior Leopard quite strictly. He had the same thought as Old Xing of hoping that Junior Leopard would attend The Selection Contest of the Wu Family after he was ten. As long as Junior Leopard was chosen, his status would be promoted as carps jumping over the Dragon Gate. Especially as smart as Junior Leopard was, there was no doubt the leaders of the Wu Family would pay attention to him. What was more, Junior Leopard was very likely to be accepted as an Elder’s disciple and then enter into the high ranks of the Wu Family.
Therefore Qin Xuanlong cared little about Junior Leopard’s monthly task. On the contrary, he paid more attention to Junior Leopard’s martial arts skills, especially to the practice of Nine Dragons Heavenly Fire Technique and the Hammering Skill of Nine-styled Hammering Skill.
Qin Xuanlong would even stand aside to remind Junior Leopard from time to time that he should taste the essence of Nine-styled Hammering Skill with his heart while Junior Leopard was forging irons.
In regards to this, Junior Leopard needed few aids, for he had had one insight before and integrated the hammering skill into Tai Chi. But Qin Xuanlong felt disappointed because this bloke was so smart that he had become obsolete. How amazing!
In this way, half a year went by. A half year was neither too long, nor too short. Junior Leopard became more and more accustomed to living in the Wu Family ironware shop. With his strength and technique progress, Junior Leopard now could forge objects with higher quality.

Your technique is on a par with common craftsman now!

Holding a yataghan which was forged by Junior Leopard just now, Qin Xuanlong split an iron bar, which was as wide as a bowl, into two parts with an arc of the sword. He brought the sword in front of him, and seeing a small gap had appeared in the edge of the blade, said with his brows furrowed,
It seems to be the highest level you can reach such a young age. There still is a year and a half left and you need to practice Nine Dragons Heavenly Fire Technique patiently. You’d better reach a wonderful phase of the Level One of the fighters or even to the edge of the Level Two of the fighter. In this way, you are very likely to be chosen by the Elders.


Very likely to be chosen by an Elders?

Those words were truly attractive.
Being a well-known family in forging irons, the Wu Family were much more than a simple family. It was similar to a school-like structure and the only difference from a school was that each generation’s master was surnamed, Wu. While in the Wu Family, there were also numbers of people with other surnames. Those people lived in the Wu Family from the very beginning. Their progenitors were the three disciples of the Wu Family ancestor, who initiated the family property. They were the Ma Family, the Lin Family, and the Xu Family. In the evolution of several hundreds of years, the Ma’s disappeared, the Lin’s declined, while the Xu Family gradually became powerful and prosperous. In this way, masters and the Elders couldn’t limit their disciples to their offspring, for people with other surnames were also brilliant.
Those experts who had other surnames but rendered their service to the Wu Family were the Elders.
To be an Elder of the Wu Family was neither simple nor difficult. As long as you achieved a cultivation of the Level Four, then you had the primary qualification.
The Level Four meant one would break through the Skin-Toughening Realm to the Bone-Forging Realm.
The Bone-Forging Realm in three realms!
It sounded not difficult. But among quantities of men in the gathering of martial arts, people who could break through the Skin-Toughening Realm to the Bone-Forging Realm were less than one percent. On the one hand, proper techniques were hard to find; on the other hand, magic drugs were in short supply.
Only top-level legendary techniques could practice internal qi that could nourish one’s body. In such a way one could be able to break through with Punching Skill of Bone Forging and nourish internal qi but not resort to magic drugs. But how could normal people afford such amazing techniques?
Therefore, most of the fighters needed not only great efforts but also a countless accumulation of magic drugs, to practice to the Bone-Forging Realm. Or else, at least 50 years was needed if one only practiced Punching Skill of Bone Forging. Time could bring a great change in the world. Who knew whether you were too old to practice after 50 years?
Actually, it was nearly impossible for common people to obtain magic drugs. Wang Tianlei, for example, had talent in practice. He could practice to the phase of the Level One according to the popular and basic martial arts in the army. With some more decades, he could easily reach the Level Two or Three, but that was all.
There was a huge gap between the Level Three and the Level Four. And it was the first threshold which all fighters had to face. At the same time, their power could be quite different between the Level Three and the Level Four because of the huge gap. Even those who newly reached the Bone-Forging Realm were ten times stronger in skeleton intensity and tenacity. Thus they could strike out with more strength without using internal qi than those who struck with internal qi. Once they use internal qi, their destructive power would unquestionably be beyond the Level Three fighter’s imagination. So even a fighter who was in the wonderful phase of the Level Three couldn’t bear a fist of a fighter in the Bone-Forging Realm.
Ashes to ashes with one fist!