At this moment, Li Junqing finally awoke as if from a dream and understood.
This person's strength surpasses even Bo Yan's.
Even barehanded, he could defeat him!
Her earlier actions seemed somewhat unnecessary, and she took a blow in vain, which hurt terribly.
Li Junqing looked at the wound on her arm that was still bleeding and frowned silently.
She wanted to bandage the wound to stop the bleeding, but doing so with one hand was really inconvenient.
Having just experienced a great battle, her ankle was badly swollen, and she was very weak.
Chen Tang began searching through Bo Yan's corpse.
Li Junqing glanced over and sighed lightly in her heart.
She wanted to ask Chen Tang for help, but after all, men and women are different, it was not appropriate to accept help.
Her wound was on her shoulder, and asking someone to come bandage it, they would have to be very close. She was really too embarrassed to ask.
This person didn't seem to notice this matter either.
Oh well, forget it.
Just then, she saw Chen Tang rummaging through Bo Yan's body for some time and produced a few small bottles, coming over to Li Junqing and asking, "Look, which one is the Golden Sore Medicine?"
Li Junqing was slightly taken aback but still pointed at one of the small green bottles.
Chen Tang pulled out the cork, sniffed it under his nose, and handed it to Li Junqing, asking, "Check again, make sure it's the right one."
"Yes, it's correct."
Li Junqing quickly nodded.
So he was just looking for Golden Sore Medicine, she thought he abandoned her...
Seeing Li Junqing so affirmative, Chen Tang said no more, stepped forward, gently moved aside the cotton clothing on either side of her wound, and sprinkled the Golden Sore Medicine on it.
As the pain surged from the wound, Li Junqing's arm trembled slightly; she clenched her fist and bit her lip without making a sound.
Chen Tang said, "It's okay, if it hurts, just shout out a few times, there's nobody else here."
Li Junqing found what he said amusing, she wanted to laugh but held it in, just muttering a soft 'mm'.
A cool sensation quickly spread from the wound, relieving much of the pain.
Chen Tang tore a strip of tattered cloth from Bo Yan's body and wrapped it around Li Junqing's arm wound.
The distance between the two was too close.
Li Junqing could even smell the scent coming from Chen Tang, a mixture of masculine aura with a faint fragrance, quite pleasant.
She secretly glanced at Chen Tang, her cheeks slightly reddened, then lowered her head again.
In fact, at this distance, the faint fragrance emanating from Li Junqing's body was also quite noticeable, and Chen Tang couldn't help but glance at her a few more times.
Li Junqing was exceedingly beautiful, with skin white and luminous; although her hair was styled in a rounded bun like a married woman's, she appeared to be just in her early twenties.
She lacked the naivety of a young girl but instead possessed a touch of a mature woman's charm.
Chen Tang's heart rate couldn't help but accelerate slightly.
Fortunately, the bandage was finished in just a short while.
Both of them breathed a sigh of relief.
"All done."
Chen Tang stood up, clapped his hands, looked at his handy work, nodded, and smiled with satisfaction.
Not bad, I learned another skill.
Li Junqing turned her head to look at the wound and was instantly left speechless.
Forget about tying a bow, it wasn't even neat, anyone blindfolded could do a better job than his, how could it be so unsightly.
Chen Tang turned back to continue searching the body.
Li Junqing struggled to lift her arm and clasped her hands, saying, "Brother Chen, thank you for your gallant rescue today…"
Before she finished speaking, Chen Tang waved his hand and said, "No need to thank me, it has nothing to do with you. These people wanted to kill me, so I was just acting in self-defense."
Li Junqing had never heard the term 'self-defense' before, but she roughly understood what Chen Tang meant.
Earlier, she still had some doubts.
After all, this person appeared suddenly, his background was mysterious, and he had excellent martial arts.
She worried that Chen Tang might intentionally be getting close to her to gain her trust for some ulterior motive.
But now, her last bit of suspicion towards Chen Tang vanished like smoke.
He was clearly her savior, yet he seemed unconcerned, even outright saying, it had nothing to do with her.
This person had a free-spirited nature, exuding an aura of the wilderness, claiming to be just a country bumpkin, who knows what his true origin was.
A hint of curiosity flashed in Li Junqing's beautiful eyes.
"Brother Chen, through this journey, how come we haven't encountered any wild beasts?"
Li Junqing suddenly thought of this matter, feeling perplexed.
Logically, the Three Thousand Snow Ridges should be crawling with wild beasts, after so long, one should have encountered at least a few of them.
Chen Tang kept his head down, continuing to scour the body, seemingly not hearing her.
"Why isn't he responding to me again? Did I say something wrong?"
Li Junqing felt a bit troubled.
It's not her fault for overthinking.
The fact is, it was difficult for Chen Tang to speak about this, explaining it was somewhat troublesome.
These past few months, he and Xue Tuan'Er went around fighting beasts in the Three Thousand Snow Ridges, and most of the larger beasts ran away at the sight of him and dared not approach.
Additionally, he had been consuming organic, green Mountain Lord Brand Tiger Milk for two months, which emanated a unique scent from his body.
Any unknowing beast approaching and smelling this scent would run away in fear.
This was a manifestation of bloodline suppression.
He really didn't want to explain to the end, fearing all his secrets might unravel...
After a while of searching, Chen Tang finally fished out a crumpled secret manual from Bo Yan's crotch pocket, saying, "Hidden well, fortunately, it was me who found it!"
Enduring his disgust, Chen Tang opened the secret manual.
The book was very thin, the first dozen pages recorded some basic sword skills such as hacking, slashing, stabbing, hanging, picking, wiping, and circling.
The latter half of the manual recorded the Quick Blade Thirteen Forms!
Not bad.
The Mountain Guest didn't teach him any sword skills, but here he was delivered one.
Chen Tang rubbed the manual vigorously against the snow to remove any stench before tucking it into his bosom.
"This person was of Ninth Grade lower level, known for his Quick Blade skills and roamed around Wu'an County with some notoriety."
Li Junqing's voice came through.
"Ninth Grade lower level?"
Chen Tang was intrigued, asking, "So Ninth Grade is also divided into upper and lower levels?"
Regarding the grading of martial arts levels, he knew little, and the Mountain Guest hadn't said much, so it was a rare chance to ask someone knowledgeable and clear things up.
Li Junqing nodded, saying, "One of the marks of reaching Entry Level is the ability to draw a Three-Stone Power Bow."
"Once at Entry Level, it's Ninth Grade lower level. With continued cultivation, reaching the capability to draw a Four-Stone Power Bow puts one at Ninth Grade upper level."
So that's how it is.
Chen Tang further asked, "What about a Five-Stone Power Bow?"
Li Junqing replied, "After reaching Ninth Grade upper level, further cultivating external skills at the Rebirth level becomes increasingly difficult to increase strength."
"To improve cultivation and increase power, one must practice Bone Forging techniques. One of the signs of Eighth Grade Bone Transformation is being able to draw a Five-Stone Bow."
After a pause, Li Junqing added, "From your performance earlier, Brother Chen, your strength seems ample, possibly at Ninth Grade upper level. Haven't you ever gone to Wu'an County to have your grade assessed?"
"Huh?"
Chen Tang was slightly puzzled.
I've reached Ninth Grade upper level?
The Mountain Guest said I still needed more progress?
The two of them seemed to have differing opinions.
"I haven't indeed gone to Wu'an County for grading."
Chen Tang pondered, "You just mentioned that drawing a Three-Stone Bow is only one of the marks of reaching Ninth Grade, what are the others?"
"Skin Like Armor."
Li Junqing explained, "As one cultivates to the end of the Rebirth Realm, the power will seep from the muscles to the skin, shedding a layer of dead skin. The regenerated skin will become tougher than before, its resistance greatly improved."
"The reformed skin is like a soldier's leather armor. If a blade lightly scratches it without bleeding, that indicates reaching the level of Skin Like Armor."
The more Chen Tang listened, the more confused he became.
If that were the case, about a month ago, when I climbed the Snow Mountain for the second time, I seemed to have already reached the Skin Like Armor level.
Li Junqing gazed at Chen Tang's hand for a moment, then said solemnly, "If I'm not mistaken, Brother Chen might have already cultivated to the 'Copper Skin' level!"
"Copper Skin, what does that entail?"
Chen Tang asked.
Li Junqing explained, "Ordinary soldiers mostly wear armor made of cowhide. The better armors are made of rhino hide. At a higher level, soldiers might wear Bronze Armor, greatly enhancing defense!"
"Only those with extraordinary talent, who have been cultivating upper-grade external skills from a young age, and have used countless heavenly materials and earthly treasures to temper their bodies, might advance the level of Skin Like Armor to the 'Copper Armor' level, which is Copper Skin."
"At this level, once power is channeled, a subtle copper hue will manifest on the skin's surface, and a blade passing over it leaves no trace."
As she knows, throughout Wu'an County and the surrounding towns of various sizes, even if at Ninth Grade upper level, few have cultivated Copper Skin.
She has three brothers, all of whom have practiced martial arts from a young age, yet only the third brother reached the Copper Skin level when he was at Ninth Grade.