Inside the Black Mountain Temple, the three were eventually invited to a quiet room.
Lin Ce hadn't expected the young man with the knife to be so badly injured.
Having honed his skills to an extremely strong defense, he often didn't even know what it felt like to get injured.
It wasn't until the young man with the knife could no longer bear it and brought it up that he discovered the wound on the other man's back was oozing black blood and was rotting.
Considering the black tiger, which was a mixture of various rotting corpses, such injuries were not surprising.
"From what you're saying, you must be a Xiantian martial artist, right? Are Xiantian martial artists really that fragile?"
It was a rare opportunity to encounter someone who seemed to be a Xiantian martial artist, and Lin Ce's curiosity was immediately piqued.
"Compared to the 'external force,' 'internal force,' and 'qi force' of acquired martial artists, innate martial artists have simply transformed 'qi force' into 'true qi.' True qi is indeed much stronger than 'qi force' for attack and defense, but it does not mean that the physical strength of innate martial artists will necessarily be much stronger than that of acquired martial artists."
The young man glanced at Lin Ce and rolled his eyes helplessly, "Especially someone like you who only practices external hard martial arts."
Seeing Lin Ce's suspicious look, the young man finally told the truth.
"Actually, I'm not a fully-fledged Innate Martial Artist yet. I can only say I'm a 'half-step Innate Martial Artist.' 'Half-step,' you know? It means I'm just a little bit away from becoming a fully-fledged Innate Martial Artist."
"I understand, I understand that perfectly."
Isn't he just a martial artist who has acquired skills like myself? Why make it sound so mysterious?
"Forget it, you wouldn't understand even if I told you. Being able to temporarily suppress yourself from entering the Innate Realm is also an amazing talent. When my Qi reaches the level of 'Qi soaring to the heavens,' then I will transform my true Qi and step into the Innate Realm. Naturally, I can ascend to the heavens in one step and be superior to others in everything."
The young man glanced at Lin Ce and shook his head vigorously.
"From a general perspective, practicing external hard skills like this is considered a detour, but I don't see it that way."
"You're essentially locking all your physical treasures inside your body, and when you nurture them to their limit, you break through to the innate realm in an instant. It's similar to my method of deliberately suppressing them. Of course, this method depends a lot on one's innate physical constitution, and not everyone can use it. You're lucky, kid."
"How does one break through to the Innate Realm in an instant? Is there any explanation?"
Despite having a system that allows him to allocate skill points, Lin Ce still couldn't resist asking for clarification whenever the opportunity arose.
Unfortunately, the young man was unable to provide him with an answer.
"I heard it from my martial uncle, but to be honest, I don't know the specifics of how to do it or whether it's even possible. Ah—"
The young man trembled, and at that moment the voice of the Black Mountain Abbot rang out behind him.
"Your flesh is badly rotten. I'll remove some of it first to make it easier to apply the medicine. Next, I'll need to remove some more things."
"Alright, you can handle it. Thank you, Abbot."
"No trouble at all. Also, this knife of yours is extremely dangerous. Leaving it aside will cause its aura to leak out, which is not good for the wound's healing. Please ask them to take it outside first."
Upon hearing the voice of the Black Mountain Abbot behind him, the young man hesitated slightly.
Then, he threw the "Tiger Soul Blade" and its sheath at Lin Ce.
"Young man, you can keep this knife for now. Go outside and guard the door. If that black tiger dares to come any closer, just draw your knife and cut it down."
Lin Ce took the Tiger Soul Blade and glanced at the Black Mountain Abbot.
"Does the knife still have such a big impact even when it's in its sheath?"
"Haha, go ahead, this knife is really too fierce, I usually don't dare to use it."
The young man smiled smugly, "You've already made a profit today, since you got to touch this knife."
Lin Ce nodded, said nothing more, and carried his knife to the door of the quiet room.
Yu Jiu had long since regained her mobility. Although she was still weak, she sensibly came out and stood outside the door.
However, she could also vaguely sense the malevolent aura emanating from the knife, and instinctively kept her distance.
The vague unease in Lin Ce's heart slowly subsided.
It seems this knife is indeed a problem, and the Black Mountain Abbot wasn't wrong.
"By the way, what did you just say you wanted to remove?"
In the quiet room, only the two of them remained. The young man, trying to make conversation, asked the Black Mountain Abbot a question.
"Remove this."
The next moment, a chilling aura descended upon the quiet room.
The young man's eyes widened in anger, and he felt a sharp pain in his chest as a claw pierced his back and emerged from his chest.
That claw was tightly clutching a bloody object.
"Before reaching the Innate Realm, this heart is indeed of poor quality."
The Black Mountain Abbot smiled indifferently and was about to return his claws along the same path.
"Cut him down—"
The Black Mountain Abbot's claws failed to retract smoothly, and in that instant, the young man reacted immediately and tightly hugged his arm.
Suddenly, Lin Ce's expression changed drastically, and he turned and rushed into the quiet room.
Logically speaking, at this point, he should have immediately turned and fled.
The young man had temporarily stalled the other party, and it wasn't impossible for him to escape safely down the mountain.
But common sense is common sense, and what he would do at this moment was entirely up to his conscience.
On the way, he had already flicked the scabbard and drawn the "Tiger Soul Blade" from his hand.
Inside the quiet room, the sound of a tiger's roar could be heard, and the body of a black tiger had already appeared.
At this moment, Lin Ce had no time to think about why the Black Mountain Abbot had changed so much. He only knew that the "Tiger Soul Blade" in his hand would be his greatest reliance at the moment.
He had seen that the young man had used this knife before, so he had a good idea of the power of the Tiger Soul Blade in his hand.
"Buzz~"
The knife vibrated in mid-air, producing an astonishing sound.
Unlike the young man who could unleash a dazzling true qi sword light, he relied entirely on his powerful physical strength.
But it seems that precisely because of this, the tiger's roar in the "Tiger Soul Blade" becomes even more uncontrollable and ferocious.
With a single slash, the bodies of the two black tigers were severed, and Lin Ce arrived in front of the Black Mountain Abbot and the young man.
At that moment, he didn't consider whether he might accidentally hurt the young man; he simply swung his sword down fiercely.
"Buzz~"
The blade trembled, and the Black Mountain Abbot's face showed surprise. He forcefully pushed the young man forward with a palm strike and flew backward himself.
The young man was pushed toward the blade, and it seemed he was destined to be cut in two.
However, Lin Ce twisted his wrist, and the knife suddenly turned in mid-air, dodging the young man in front of him.
"Boom!"
With a kick to the ground, Lin Ce gained explosive power again, his body slamming forward.
With a single slash, black fur scattered across the sky.
"A fox spirit?"
Lin Ce was quite surprised by this familiar scene.
The former abbot of Black Mountain Temple was replaced by a fox demon. It was he who killed the fox demon, allowing it to return to its original position.
But now, the Black Mountain Abbot before us is actually a fox demon?
Did I actually kill the fox demon back then?
Lin Ce's mind almost went blank.
"Who cares what they are, just cut them all down."
With a tremor, Lin Ce made his decision. Looking at the scene before him again, he realized that everything was different.
The Black Mountain Temple in front of us is still the same Black Mountain Temple, but where are the mountain folks who used to burn incense now?
All that remained was a deathly silent Taoist temple, and rows of decaying bodies standing in all directions.
"Toraji!"
Looking at one of the massive bodies, Lin Ce's face darkened.
The massive body did not look at Lin Ce at this moment, but instead looked at the slender figure in the Black Mountain Temple and spoke coldly.
"Fox One, it really is you."
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