Shocking the Nine Heavens With My Sword

Zhou Heng initiated the Cloud Flying Step, his speed as fast as lightning, and soon he was miles away.

He found a clean, hidden tree hollow to hide in, continuing to recover his True Yuan Force. After most of the day had passed, he finally reopened his eyes—a streak of cold light flashed, as if slicing through lightning.

Not only had his cultivation level fully recovered, but it had also improved significantly, leaping to the peak of the Body Refinement Sixth Layer!

He could now attempt to break through to the Bone Refinement Realm!

Zhou Heng held a bellyful of raging anger. Shi Gang and his three companions were ungrateful, not only lacking any gratitude but also harboring greed and murderous intent towards him. Such people did not deserve to live!

Once he broke through to the Body Refinement Seventh Layer, the first thing he would do was to kill those four ungrateful beasts!

Zhou Heng calmed his mind and cleared all distractions, instantly entering a state of desirelessness and thoughtlessness, merely circulating his True Yuan Force, beginning to assault the Bone Refinement Realm!

Skin Refinement Realm was the easiest; as long as one wasn't as dumb as a pig, one could grasp it within ten days, taking the first step on the Martial Path. Breaking through the Flesh Refinement Realm was much more difficult, with at most half of the martial artists able to break through.

And the Bone Refinement Realm was a true watershed, capable of filtering out ninety percent of martial artists!

The Zhou Family had a total of three hundred and twenty-seven people in the Flesh Refinement Realm, but only seventy-four had reached the Bone Refinement Realm, and even fewer, just six, had reached the Blood Refinement Realm!

It is evident that the path of martial arts becomes increasingly difficult the further one goes!

This also shows how important comprehension is, the higher the realm, the more prominent the importance of comprehension becomes.

Zhou Heng was neither anxious nor impatient, merging with the heaven and earth, his heart connected to nature. The Sky-soaring Nine Forms moved in his mind, nine black Broken Swords dancing in a brilliant galaxy as if they could suppress the Eternal.

He began to assault the barrier of the Bone Refinement Realm.

Body Refining Twelfth Layer meant storing True Yuan Force into the skin, flesh, bones, and blood, illuminating the entire body. After reaching the peak of Flesh Refinement, the muscle layers were incredibly dense, and breaking through this barrier was extremely difficult.

The Sky-soaring Nine Forms spread and danced within him, his True Yuan Force turning into black swords, furiously attacking the muscle layer, whooshing like thousands of arrows being fired, with muscles in his left hand being the first to be penetrated by the True Yuan Force, advancing towards the bones.

Then came the right hand, lower abdomen, left shoulder, right leg, spreading throughout his entire body.

Boom!

His body shook, and his eyes suddenly opened, each pupil revealing a black sword deeper than the night, then gradually fading away.

Bone Refinement Realm!

Zhou Heng gazed at the starry sky; at this point, the bright moon had not yet reached its apex. It took him just three hours to break through to the Bone Refinement Realm.

In the past, his father, Zhou Dinghai, had taken nearly a month!

Zhou Heng didn't become complacent. After going out, he had greatly broadened his horizons. In Origin Stone Town, such a speed of cultivation was considered monstrous, but in the outside world, though still quite astonishing, there might be people who could surpass him.

He quietly waited for midnight to arrive.

Buzz, the black Broken Sword in his Dantian vibrated, releasing a large amount of free energy on time, coursing through his body via his bloodstream. Zhou Heng introspected his body and could immediately determine that the released energy had increased again.

The Moonshadow Heart Jue unfolded, and Zhou Heng absorbed all the free energy. Both skin and flesh layers were already full of True Yuan Force, but the bone layer had been breached, like a hungry baby, greedily absorbing True Yuan Force.

This absorption process was the process of tempering the physique.

Half an hour later, Zhou Heng stopped, the free energy within his body completely absorbed. He roughly estimated that it would take about a month to reach the peak of the Body Refinement Seventh Layer!

Zhou Heng stood up and exercised his limbs, feeling the power brimming within his body after breaking through the limit, as if he could smash a mountain standing before him!

Boom, he punched out, and the tree in front of him, as thick as a bowl, immediately fell, kicking up a cloud of dust.

"The peak of Flesh Refinement has about three thousand jin of force, but although I haven't broken through for long, my strength has already reached four thousand jin!" Zhou Heng showed a satisfied smile. The initial stage after breaking through was when strength increased the fastest, then it would gradually slow down until encountering the next realm's barrier, unable to rise any further.

Normally, this increase of a thousand jin would take at least a month if not more, but having the Black Sword, a treasure that gave Zhou Heng a vast amount of pure free energy, shortened this process to merely forty minutes.

He leaned against the tree trunk and slept through the night. After dawn, he immediately set out, arriving at the place where he had encountered Shi Gang and his companions. The ground there now bore large scorched marks.

It seemed that after taking the valuable parts from the Golden Crown Snake, Shi Gang and his companions had burned the remaining body with fire, determined not to leave anything behind.

Zhou Heng carefully examined the surrounding traces, his figure leaping out towards the southeast direction.

— Shi Gang and his companions couldn't have gone far!

On the way, Zhou Heng occasionally stopped to observe, confirming he was not going in the wrong direction. After entering the Bone Refinement Realm, his speed also greatly improved. Approximately three and a half hours later, he reached a muddy area and saw four distinct footprints continuing straight ahead.

Expanding the Cloud Flying Step, he moved as lightly as a feather, flitting over the muddy area, each step leaving only a shallow footprint, quickly restored by the mud's elasticity itself.

After another seven or eight hours, as the sky began to darken, tracking became increasingly difficult. Just then, Zhou Heng saw a flickering light in the distance.

Found them!

His figure leaped up, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, after a dozen leaps, the light ahead grew brighter, revealing Shi Gang and his three companions sitting around a fire, roasting meat chunks, the fragrant smell even reaching him here.

That was Golden Crown Snake meat!

A surge of anger welled up in Zhou Heng's heart. Although he had endured the contempt of his clan members while at the Zhou Family, he had never seen such despicable and shameless betrayal as exhibited by these four from the Shi Family, fueling his murderous intent!

He jumped down from the tree and strode toward the campfire, shouting, "You four beasts in human skin, lend me a fire!"

"What!" Shi Gang and his companions all jumped up, looking at Zhou Heng incredulously, as if they had seen a ghost!

This kid actually dared to take the initiative to come back?

And dared to call them beasts?

"Oh, to call you beasts is really an insult to those four-legged ones, you... are worse than beasts!" Zhou Heng smirked, yet his face carried a chilling murderous intent, "You only waste food by living!"

"Asking for death!" The four from the Shi Family all shouted furiously, clank, clank, clank, their weapons drawn and pointing directly at Zhou Heng.

The look in Shi Gang's eyes was cold. His thoughts were far deeper. Since Zhou Heng dared to pursue them, he must have some reliance; no one is foolish enough to seek their own death!

Could it be, that huge killer weapon that had slain the Golden Crown Snake could be used again?

Is that possible? It's only been a little over a day!

No, this kid's aura… Bone Refinement Realm!

The other three from the Shi Family also sensed the distinct change in Zhou Heng's aura, each showing intense shock!

To speak of the Bone Refinement Realm wasn't anything extraordinary, but Zhou Heng was clearly at the Body Refinement Sixth Layer just yesterday! From the Body Refinement Sixth Layer to the Seventh Layer, this is a leap across a Great Realm, how could it be accomplished overnight?

What kind of freak is this!

Impossible! There's no such monster in the world; he must have used some special method to hide his aura yesterday! Yes, this also explains how he could have killed the Golden Crown Snake!

Having understood this, they breathed a sigh of relief.

"Who are you?" Shi Gang walked toward Zhou Heng, his green blade unsheathed, flashing a frigid glow.

"A mere dogs and chickens slaughterer!" Zhou Heng said indifferently, unfazed.

"Only good for bragging!" Shi Gang gave a signal with his eyes, and the other three dispersed, surrounding Zhou Heng. Once they were all in position, he showed a trace of cruelty, "Kill!"

The four of them pounced simultaneously; their sharp blades cut through the night sky, aiming at Zhou Heng's head, neck, shoulders, and chest.

Zhou Heng let out a long cry, the Cloud Flying Step burst forth; he immediately closed in on one of them, his long sword thrusting straight for the opponent's chest.

The man from the Shi Family instantly showed an expression of utter terror because this thrust completely bypassed his defense as if the weapon in his hand was merely for show, serving no purpose.

"He—" He opened his mouth to call for help, but the words stopped abruptly, his vision darkened, and he never opened his eyes again!

Zhou Heng withdrew his sword, and a surge of fresh blood sprayed out from the opponent's chest. The man was only at the Body Refinement Sixth Layer; Zhou Heng didn't need to use the Sword Intent of the Sky-soaring Nine Forms, as he could see through his opponent's moves and expose the flaws for a fatal blow!

"Little bastard!"

"How audacious!"

The remaining three from the Shi Family were both angry and shocked, unable to believe that Zhou Heng's battle power was so formidable. Although the Body Refinement Sixth Layer was indeed overwhelming in the face of a Martial Artist in the Bone Refinement Realm, to die in a single move was too exaggerated!

"Storming Wind!" Shi Gang was even more enraged, a swing of his blade producing a terrifying gust of wind, as if to rip the air apart.

He was the genius of the Shi Family; Zhou Heng killing in front of him was akin to slapping his face!

"Die—" he had to kill this kid; otherwise, who in the family would follow him? He couldn't even protect his own men!

Being called a genius of the Shi Family, he naturally possessed exceptional abilities. With this swing, the air was filled with fierce blade Qi!

This guy, very strong!

Zhou Heng's eyes narrowed, but his mind entered an absolute calm, and he swung his sword, executing the Flying Waterfall Sword Technique.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

A series of sparks flew; Zhou Heng sprang back five meters, a grave expression on his face.

Shi Gang's face turned even uglier. Although he had not taken a step back, a new wound appeared on his left arm, inflicted by Zhou Heng's sword. Had he not reacted quickly, it would have been more than just a wound; it would have been an entire hand severed!

This kid's strength might not match his, but his ability to strike through gaps was terrifying!

Storming Wind, one of the three most powerful moves of the Wind and Cloud Blade Technique of the Shi Family, was supposed to decapitate Zhou Heng's head with that stroke; instead, it had merely inflicted a minor injury!

And more so… he raised the blade in his hand, noticing a small notch had appeared on the blade's edge!