5: Chapter 5 Silver Skin

"Brother Hu, if that guy Yang Shan really becomes the Chief Head, our lives won't be easy!"

The brothers Da Niu and Er Niu came before Chen Hu together, Da Niu speaking with a worried tone.

Da Niu and Er Niu were blood brothers.

However, the two brothers had completely opposite personalities.

Da Niu was steady and introverted, skilled at gathering information.

Er Niu, on the other hand, was reckless, impulsive, and combative.

The brothers were taken in by Chen Hu shortly after he became a Minor Head and could be considered his trusted confidants.

They were also fiercely loyal to him.

Both brothers had reached the Early Skin Refining Stage. As for the other person at the Early Skin Refining Stage, his name was Xu Hai.

However, this Xu Hai had some connections; his older sister had married another Chief Head of the Fierce Tiger Gang as a concubine.

It was precisely with the financial support of his "brother-in-law" that he was able to reach the Early Skin Refining Stage.

As the saying goes, literature is for the poor, martial arts for the rich.

Without silver support, unless your Aptitude is Heaven-Defying, it is very difficult to step into the realm of a Martial Artist.

"No need to worry. Even if Yang Shan becomes the Chief Head, he can at most make things difficult for us and suppress us!"

Chen Hu said calmly, "Besides, I am not far from the Late Skin Refining Stage!"

In these past few days, having an ample supply of Medicinal Pills, Chen Hu had been constantly consuming pills and practicing Alchemy.

The Qi energy within his Dantian was also nearing saturation.

Once the Qi energy in his Dantian was completely saturated, he could attempt a Breakthrough to the Late Skin Refining Stage.

"That's great!"

Hearing that Chen Hu was also about to have a Breakthrough, both brothers Da Niu and Er Niu were overjoyed.

"Brother Hu, should we tell the other brothers this news?" Da Niu asked in a low voice.

"No rush!"

Chen Hu waved his hand, "This is a good opportunity to see who is loyal and who is a traitor."

Hearing this, Da Niu looked thoughtful, while Er Niu looked completely bewildered.

After sending Da Niu and Er Niu away, Chen Hu took a qi and blood pill and began to Cultivate.

His skin had already been tempered to its limit.

Only when his Cultivation Technique reached the third level could he continue tempering it.

Inside a restaurant, Sun Chao invited two of Chen Hu's other subordinates, Xu Tie and Zhang Wu, for a drink.

Although these two were not Skin Refining Realm Martial Artists, their strength was higher than the other ordinary subordinates.

After three rounds of drinks, Xu Tie set down his wine glass and said, "Brother Sun, you wouldn't invite us two to drink for no reason, would you? If you have something to say, just say it!"

"Good!"

Sun Chao slapped the table and said, "Since Brother Xu has asked, I won't hide it anymore. To be honest with you two, I have confirmed that Head Yang has already reached the Late Skin Refining Stage. With the Vice Hall Master supporting him from behind, the position of Chief Head is within his grasp. I wonder what you two think?"

"What could we possibly think?"

Xu Tie said self-deprecatingly, "Brother Zhang Wu and I are just the lowest-level subordinates; even if we had thoughts, it would be useless!"

"Hehe!"

Sun Chao smiled, "You two are both smart people. Head Yang and our Brother Hu have never gotten along. Once Head Yang takes the position, our Brother Hu's life will certainly not be easy, and I fear we will all be implicated."

Hearing this, Xu Tie and Zhang Wu's expressions changed simultaneously.

Suddenly, Xu Tie thought of something and stared at Sun Chao, "Brother Sun, you came to find us to say this, so you must have a way to deal with it, right?"

Sun Chao smiled mysteriously and took out two ingots of silver, each weighing ten taels, and placed them on the table.

"I won't hide it from you two; actually, I have long since defected to Head Yang. As long as you two are willing to pledge your allegiance, these twenty taels of silver are yours!"

Speaking to this point, he paused slightly and continued, "If you can help win over other brothers to defect to Head Yang, for every person you recruit, Head Yang will reward you with another five taels of silver!"

Hearing this, expressions of excitement and greed appeared on the faces of Xu Tie and Zhang Wu.

Isn't the point of being out here just to make money?

Although Chen Hu was relatively fair in how he treated his subordinates, if they continued to follow Chen Hu, they would be suppressed, and their future earnings would be affected.

It would be better to defect to Yang Shan; not only would they get silver, but they wouldn't be suppressed in the future.

The next moment, Xu Tie and Zhang Wu looked at each other and simultaneously reached out to grab the silver on the table.

Seeing this, Sun Chao revealed a triumphant smile.

As long as he won over all of Chen Hu's subordinates, Chen Hu would become a commander without an army, and it would be easy to manipulate him.

At that time, he would either have to submit to Yang Shan or quit the Fierce Tiger Gang.

In fact, both Yang Shan and Sun Chao felt that it was impossible for Chen Hu to quit the Fierce Tiger Gang.

Because once he quit, he would have no backing, even if they didn't make a move against him. They only needed to spread the word, and the people from the Venomous Snake Gang and the Wild Wolf Gang would not let him off.

In the evening, Chen Hu carried a bag of braised beef and a bag of pig's head meat and headed toward Widow Wang's house.

"Come in quickly!"

Widow Wang opened the courtyard gate and warmly welcomed Chen Hu inside.

After eating dinner and taking a bath, Widow Wang took the initiative to pull Chen Hu into the bedroom, and then she was extremely gentle.

One hour later, glancing at Widow Wang, who had fallen asleep from exhaustion, Chen Hu climbed out of bed and went to the room next door.

Cultivation also requires a balance of work and rest.

After three days of bitter cultivation, and a session of Yin and Yang harmonization with Widow Wang, Chen Hu felt both his body and mind were refreshed.

The Qi energy in his Dantian was saturated, and he could launch an attempt at the third level.

The content of the "Longevity Technique" was engraved in his mind.

Relatively speaking, the energy circulation route for the third level was somewhat more complex.

However, Chen Hu's Cultivation Aptitude was now far beyond what it used to be, so comprehending the Skin Refining Realm Cultivation Technique was not difficult.

Over half an hour later, after simulating the energy circulation route in his mind many times, he began the actual practice.

Under his control, the Qi energy in his Dantian began to charge toward a blocked Meridian.

A quarter of an hour later, one Meridian was cleared. Two quarters of an hour later, two Meridians were cleared.

Three hours later, all the energy circulation routes for the third level of the Cultivation Technique had been cleared.

Chen Hu immediately controlled the Qi energy to circulate according to the route.

When the Qi energy returned to his Dantian, it had already undergone a transformation.

Influenced by this brand-new Qi energy, his Dantian also began to expand. It expanded by a full fold before stopping completely.

Then, Chen Hu followed the skin tempering method of the third level of the Longevity Technique to temper his skin.

The tempering ended. Even though the Qi energy in his Dantian was almost depleted, the expression on Chen Hu's face was extremely excited.

Because the effect of this skin tempering was astonishingly good; his skin strength had directly increased by more than double.

Moreover, there was a faint silver light flickering on his skin.

This reminded him of a certain saying. It was said that the skin in the Skin Refining Realm also had levels of quality.

The skin tempered by ordinary Martial Artists was Iron Skin. Above Iron Skin, there was Silver Skin and Gold Skin.

Looking at his skin flickering with silver light, Chen Hu thought to himself, "Could it be that I have cultivated Silver Skin?"

With a thought, he took out a dagger and slashed at the skin on his arm.

Not to mention breaking the skin, it didn't even leave a single mark.

So he gradually increased his strength. Until he used his full strength, and it only left a white mark on his skin, which quickly disappeared.

Although he didn't use his Qi energy, Chen Hu was certain that even an ordinary Late Skin Refining Stage Martial Artist would not be able to break his defense.

The next morning, Chen Hu just arrived at the stronghold, and someone from the Third Battle Hall came to deliver a message, telling him to report to the Third Battle Hall's headquarters immediately.

If his guess was correct, the headquarters calling him over was most likely to confirm the position of Chief Head.

He had to fight for this position. Because once he became the Chief Head, the number of his subordinates would surge by double.

At that time, he would be able to obtain System rewards again.