59: limit

Black vines permeated and extended within Xiao Shi's body.

Gradually, they were assimilated by his body.

Becoming a part of his body.

During this process,

Xiao Shi's body and Qi and Blood rapidly began to transform.

The Qi and Blood within his body surged wildly like a tide.

And emitted waves of scorching heat, becoming as scalding as magma.

Emitting astonishingly high temperatures!

His tendons, membranes, bones, muscles, skin, and internal organs were all undergoing changes.

Cracking sounds continuously emanated.

Waves of terrifyingly powerful strength permeated his entire body.

Just a casual clench of his fist,

Caused a dull explosion as if the air was crushed.

Xiao Shi felt as if a volcano was contained within his body.

Power continuously flowed through every piece of flesh and blood.

The mere eruption of his physical strength was enough to easily tear apart those Ninth Level Entrance to Martial Realm Warriors.

And it wasn't just his strength that had undergone a fundamental change.

His physical defense was even more astonishing.

"Even if I stand still now, allowing other Entering Martial Realm Ninth Level Warriors to attack me, they wouldn't be able to harm me."

Xiao Shi had a feeling of being invincible within the Entering Martial Realm.

A simple comparison with other Entering Martial Realm Ninth Level cultivators clearly revealed the huge gap between them.

And this was merely the pure strength of his body.

It didn't even account for the additional enhancements after nine body refinements!

When body refinement reached the third, sixth, and ninth times, additional enhancements would appear.

During the third body refinement, he already possessed the ability of Qi and Blood Release at the Entering Martial Realm Eighth Level.

By the sixth body refinement, Qi and Blood Manifestation had formed.

Now, as body refinement reached the ninth time... Boom!

When all of Xiao Shi's Qi and Blood were released from his body, transforming into the Crimson Tiger head, due to the transformation of his Qi and Blood, the entire Crimson Tiger head emitted an astonishingly high temperature, as if it could burn everything!

At the same time, he also had a strong feeling that he could enrage the Crimson Tiger head, thereby forming a violent strike!

This was clearly the third realm belonging to the Entering Martial Realm Ninth Level—

Blood Shadow Fury!

The Entering Martial Realm Ninth Level had a total of three realms.

The first realm was Qi and Blood Release, and the second realm was Qi and Blood Manifestation.

And now... after nine body refinements, he directly reached the third realm... Blood Shadow Fury!

This realm had never existed in Seven Stars Province.

In all relevant records, this realm had never appeared.

All along, in the understanding of Martial Warriors in Seven Stars Province, Qi and Blood Manifestation was already the highest realm of the Entering Martial Realm Ninth Level.

They didn't even know that a third realm existed in the world.

However, Xiao Shi was not convenient to try the violent strike of Blood Shadow Fury now.

He was worried it would cause too much commotion.

Just the astonishing high temperature emitted by the Crimson Tiger head he had manifested was already causing the nearby temperature to continuously rise.

Xiao Shi hurriedly retracted his Qi and Blood into his body.

To avoid unnecessary trouble if the temperature continued to rise.

Fortunately, many Night Watch members were currently adjusting themselves within their respective tents.

No one noticed his situation.

Since it was daytime now,

The ability 'Night Howl' he had mastered after refining the [Ghost Withered Vine] could not be used; it was only effective at night.

After experiencing the power of nine body refinements,

Xiao Shi impatiently took out the [martial emperor mask] from his storage bag.

He wanted to try it on.

To see if he could wear it.

"If I can wear it successfully, then it means that I am now the strongest Martial Warrior of the Entrance to Martial Realm!"

Xiao Shi took a deep breath.

He tried to put the mask on his face.

However, the next second,

Buzz!

The entire mask directly fell off his face.

Wearing failed.

"Indeed, I am not the only one in this world who can achieve nine body refinements!"

Xiao Shi felt deeply emotional.

He wasn't too surprised by this.

Although he now far surpassed ordinary Ninth Level Entrance to Martial Realm Warriors,

In this world, he was still not the strongest Martial Warrior of the Entrance to Martial Realm.

Xiao Shi looked at the remaining heavenly material and earthly treasure [Jade Dragon Frost] in his hand.

It was a pity that nine body refinements were already the limit of Entering Martial Realm body refinement.

At this point, using heavenly materials and earthly treasures for body refinement would no longer be effective.

Subsequent body refinements would require the cooperation of body refinement cultivation techniques to succeed.

However, Xiao Shi did not intend to rush into subsequent body refinements now.

He knew very well.

If he continued body refinement, his physical body would break through the Entering Martial Realm and reach the Qi Martial Realm.

Once he reached the Qi Martial Realm... he would never be able to wear the [martial emperor mask] again in his lifetime.

The [martial emperor mask] could only be worn at the Entering Martial Realm.

Once he broke through to the Qi Martial Realm,

He would never be able to wear it again.

Even if he later put on other parts of the Martial Emperor Regalia, the Regalia would be incomplete due to the lack of the [martial emperor mask].

Therefore... before he could wear the [martial emperor mask], Xiao Shi had to remain in the Entering Martial Realm and could not rush to break through to the Qi Martial Realm.

He couldn't help but begin to ponder seriously.

How could he become the strongest Martial Warrior of the Entrance to Martial Realm?

Currently, body refinement had reached the limit of the Entering Martial Realm. If he wanted to continue improving, he could only start from other aspects.

"It feels like I can only improve by taking pills."

Xiao Shi thought of an elixir among the items dropped this time that could enhance the physical body, and it had even reached perfect quality.

But when he swallowed this elixir,

The improvement he received was so minuscule that it was almost negligible.

This couldn't help but make him frown.

He realized that after nine body refinements, his body had reached its limit. At this point, even taking elixirs would no longer provide any significant improvement.

In other words... the path of taking pills was also unfeasible.

This made him a little worried.

He could imagine that even if he wasn't the strongest Martial Warrior of the Entrance to Martial Realm now, he was most likely in a state of being equally strong with other Entering Martial Realm Warriors who had completed nine body refinements.

At this point, they had all reached the limit of the Entering Martial Realm.

There was no more room for improvement.

Further up was the Qi Martial Realm.

To surpass those who were on par with him in this extreme state was extremely difficult.

"I always feel like I'm missing something..."

His brows were tightly furrowed.

Things like weapons, puppets, and formations on his body were all external objects and would not be factored in by the [martial emperor mask].

To become the strongest Martial Warrior of the Entrance to Martial Realm recognized by the [martial emperor mask], he could only find a way from himself.

After thinking for a long time,

Xiao Shi still couldn't figure out how he should take this step.

He felt stuck.

"Indeed, becoming the strongest is not an easy task."

Xiao Shi shook his head.

He simply stopped thinking about it.

Since he couldn't think of anything now, he would first acquire more items by killing.

Perhaps there would be some special items that could allow him to take this step.

It just so happened that killing evil spirits often dropped high-quality items.

When Xiao Shi annihilated the entire Fengsha Stronghold, he only obtained two heavenly materials and earthly treasures.

This time, he only killed twenty evil spirits and three heavenly materials and earthly treasures dropped.

In terms of income,

The gains from killing evil spirits were absolutely no less than annihilating an evil force.

Especially with Xiao Shi's current strength.

As long as he didn't encounter a fully grown evil spirit comparable to the Blood Martial Realm,

Even if he encountered a semi-adult evil spirit comparable to the Qi Martial Realm, he would still have a certain ability to protect himself.