Gestapo!

After finishing his rice noodles, Chen Jue sat to digest his meal and chatted a bit more with Yu Yue. Upon learning that Yu Yue had been fishing at sea with his father since the age of eighteen, Chen Jue felt genuine admiration. At eighteen, he himself had been a sheltered flower, cramming for college entrance exams in high school, nowhere near as free-spirited as someone inheriting and embracing the family trade. And by calculating Yu Yue’s age, it turned out he already had over a decade of experience at sea, which explained how he could captain a vessel at such a young age. With such a young but seasoned captain at the helm, Chen Jue couldn’t help but anticipate the grilled fish feast at noon—the thought alone made his mouth water.

…

Returning to the small villa, he rested for a while, then practiced the Muscle-Tendon Transformation Classic as was his unwavering habit. Once his stamina had recovered a bit, he continued grinding away at improving his proficiency in the Thirteen Guardians’ Iron Body Technique. Nearing noon, he saw his proficiency had reached Lv2 (361/500). Taking a deep breath, he allocated 0.14 free attribute points directly to it.

“Break through for me!”

In an instant, the skill proficiency bar filled up, and the level number blurred before transforming into the word “Perfected.” After days of hard practice, he had finally maxed out this linked skill for body hardening. Yet, disappointedly, there were no further levels to pursue.

A rush of unfamiliar muscle memory surged through his body. He felt all his muscles swell and harden, his skin becoming thicker and more lustrous, the fascia beneath stretching and strengthening, and even his bones tingling with a pleasant numbness—a transformation reminiscent of when he’d perfected the Muscle-Tendon Transformation Classic.

“Opening the muscles and tempering the bones, toughening the skin and strengthening the flesh—does this hard skill also have a transformative, rebirthing effect?” Chen Jue was delighted. He circulated the perfected Thirteen Guardians’ Iron Body Technique, and his whole body crackled and popped like a string of firecrackers.

His bones and muscles were resonating in harmony!

The commotion was even greater than when he’d achieved mastery of internal force previously!

From a martial perspective, Chen Jue had, through this hard skill, reached a wondrous state from the external to the internal. In wuxia novels, this realm was often described as “external strength perfected, inner energy arises,” depicting a master who had brought external hard skills to the pinnacle!

At that moment, in the living room on the first floor, it was as if a heated wind swirled around Chen Jue’s robust form. The steam rising from his body set the potted plants in the room trembling. After several rounds of the perfected Thirteen Guardians’ Iron Body Technique, when the attributes of strength, agility, and constitution ceased changing, hunger gnawed at his belly, and he felt a sense of emptiness. Leaping up, he rushed to the kitchen and devoured the stewed fish maw he’d prepared earlier.

This time, the fish maw had lost its previous fishy stench, tasting light, smooth, sweet, and fragrant, with a subtle aroma of yellow wine. Chen Jue finished the entire pot in one go.

His stomach churned energetically, a warm current spreading through his body until the emptiness vanished, and his body began to feel reborn. His skin became like creamy ivory, round, fair, dense, and solid. Only then did Chen Jue realize the new status effect granted by the perfected Thirteen Guardians’ Iron Body Technique!

[Peerless Guardian]: A blade leaves only a pale mark, a spear just a white dot—Thirteen Guardians, invincible in the world! With the support of the Child’s Skill, this greatly accelerates progress in hard body training.

Note: If vitality is lost, the effect is significantly weakened.

Just from the name, the new status exuded an overwhelming dominance. Chen Jue felt as if he were witnessing Li Cunxiao, the legendary battlefield hero of the cold steel era, rampaging across the field!

He glanced at his greatly boosted attribute panel and broke into a broad grin, laughing heartily in the living room. The feeling of growing stronger after training was like single-handedly wiping out the enemy team in a 5v5 match—utterly exhilarating.

Character: Chen Jue

Age: 27

Strength: 2.57

Agility: 1.96

Intelligence: 1.24

Constitution: 2.79

Mastered Skills: omitted

Free attribute points available: 0.22

“Just perfecting a single new hard skill boosted my stats this much?”

Chen Jue was stunned by the surge in his attributes, especially strength, which now rivaled the leap he’d experienced with the perfected Muscle-Tendon Transformation Classic. He reassembled the dumbbell he’d partially disassembled—lifting 200 kilograms with one hand, he managed to hoist it up by sheer force!

With such strength and a body tempered by hard training, if he were on an ancient battlefield clad in iron armor, wielding a heavy steel spear, he could cut a swath through ten thousand troops.

“No wonder the new status has such a domineering name!”

“Perhaps even Li Cunxiao, were he alive, would be no more than this?” The absurd thought flashed through Chen Jue’s mind.

…

After calming his excitement in the living room for a while, Chen Jue washed his face with cold water in the bathroom. Once his mind was completely steady, he opened the door and walked into the small backyard of the first guesthouse.

By then, Yu Yue and several equally sun-darkened companions had set up a grill in the yard. Brushes, oil, and various seasonings were lined up on a small table, while several sea fish skewered on iron rods sizzled over glowing charcoal, releasing an intoxicating, smoky aroma.

Chen Jue sniffed the air, glanced at the big bucket of freshly caught sea fish, and, now hungry again after the rapid digestion triggered by his skill breakthrough, joined the outdoor barbecue at Yu Yue’s enthusiastic invitation.

And truly, these sea fish, grilled fresh, were in a class of their own! They needed little salt, each bite inherently savory without any unpleasant fishiness. Unlike river fish, there was no muddy aftertaste—the freshness from sea to grill was extraordinary.

A sprinkle of barbecue seasoning heightened the flavor even further, making it a hundred times better than anything from the night market stalls of Panlong Town.

Chen Jue knew it was the freshness of the ingredients that made all the difference—freshly caught, cooked on the spot. Once he left this island county, he doubted he’d find such delicious grilled sea fish again. He ate with particular relish, skewer after skewer.

He was content to let Yu Yue and another young companion handle the grill, chatting with them about the adventures of fishing at sea, while he enjoyed the feast, having neither the chance nor the skill to help with the cooking.

When the big bucket of fish was finally all grilled and eaten, the guesthouse aunt busy in the kitchen brought out several plates of fried noodles, insisting that barbecue alone wouldn’t fill them up and they should eat noodles as well.

Chen Jue downed three heaping plates of fried noodles and finished with a bottle of iced cola from Yu Yue. Only then did he feel his stomach completely satisfied, his body brimming with seemingly inexhaustible energy.