Chapter 276: Chapter 274: Martial Arts Body Refinement and Witch Dao Mountain Witch

Lin Fu’s gaze wasn’t the polite, courteous kind.

Instead, it was like a ferocious beast, long dormant in the mountain forests, had suddenly caught the scent of its prey. Two dark flames ignited in the depths of her pupils.

She slowly rose to her feet, her bare feet pressing against the muddy ground. Her toes curled slightly, digging into the soft earth.

The movement seemed casual, yet it set off alarms in Zhu Ge’s mind.

That wasn’t the stance of a person. It was a mountain.

She stood there, just like a mountain.

Not the kind that towered into the clouds, but the kind that lay coiled in the depths of the earth, its roots plunging into the planet’s core—a mountain whose true depth you could never know.

"You’re very strong," Lin Fu said. Her tone was certain, without a hint of probing.

She tilted her head, and a few loose strands of hair by her ear fluttered in the wind. "I can feel it."

"So are you." Zhu Ge tightened his grip on the Purgatory Star Rod but didn’t rush to draw it.

’Using a staff in a bare-knuckle brawl would be just plain bullying.’

He slid the rod back into its place at his waist and flexed his knuckles, letting out a soft CRACK.

Liu Jianjian rode her Mazhu back to the side of the road. Zhu Sisi, perched on her shoulder, began chewing her mulberry leaf at twice the speed, her interest clearly piqued.

When Lin Fu first appeared, Zhu Sisi hadn’t seemed particularly interested, nor had she paid Lin Fu much mind. She had, however, exchanged a glance with the Spider Mother, Xiaozi.

"Fighting again?" True Monarch Minmian poked his head out of the carriage, took a look, then pulled it back in. He muttered, "A pair of brutes," but didn’t pull the blanket back over his head, clearly not planning to go back to sleep.

He was already used to it. There was no way he’d get a peaceful sleep on this journey.

His cold was never going to get better.

"Fighting again?" The Mazhu’s four legs trembled slightly. It wanted to run but didn’t dare, frozen in place as a low whimper escaped its throat.

Lin Fu suddenly smiled.

The smile wasn’t charming or flamboyant, but almost clumsy. Yet, her eyes shone with light. "You’re the strongest Second Realm practitioner I’ve met in Yunjiang."

She spoke, and then her feet sank.

The ground didn’t crack, nor did debris fly. Her feet just sank.

She hadn’t stomped, shattering the ground; she had compressed it. It was as if an invisible mountain were pressing down on the earth beneath her feet, and the soil, unable to bear the weight, simply sank.

Then she vanished.

Zhu Ge’s pupils contracted. He couldn’t track her with his senses.

It wasn’t stealth or concealment. Her very presence was so heavy that it crushed his perception.

A mountain does not move. So when she moved, it wasn’t her that moved, but the earth itself.

’This is tricky!’ Zhu Ge closed his eyes, but inside, he felt a surge of excitement.

As a Martial Arts Body Refining Martial Artist, who could refuse a satisfying, down-and-dirty, fist-to-flesh brawl?

He activated his Incense Lighting Body Technique, but not to move forward—he shot backward.

He kicked off the ground violently, his body launching like an arrow from a fully drawn bow. His right hand shot out, fingers like a claw, snatching at the empty air before him.

WHAP!

His wrist was caught.

The grip wasn’t tight, but it was heavy.

That heaviness wasn’t from gripping strength; it was the weight of an entire mountain pressing down on his wrist.

A mountain.

Mountains, mountains, and more mountains. It was all mountains.

’So this is a Mountain Witch?’

Zhu Ge opened his eyes.

Lin Fu was right in front of him, just inches away. Her bare feet dangled in midair; she had clearly jumped.

"Caught you," Lin Fu said, her eyes bright.

"Yes, you caught me." The instant his wrist was grabbed, Zhu Ge had already activated his Waist and Horse Skill.

Blood Qi surged from his Dantian, pouring into his lower limbs. His legs sank into the mud, like the roots of a thousand-year-old tree.

Then he swung his arm violently.

Lin Fu was instantly flung away.

However, it wasn’t because Zhu Ge’s strength was greater than hers; she had let go on her own.

She flipped twice in the air and landed on the top of a pine tree. The branch bent but didn’t break. Her figure was as light as a cicada’s wing, a bizarre contrast to her heavy presence.

"So stable," Lin Fu said, a flash of surprise in her eyes. "You’re a Body Refining Martial Artist? Awesome!"

"Body Refinement," Zhu Ge said, shaking his numb wrist. The faint golden dragon scales on his skin slowly faded.

"We Mountain Witches love Body Refining Martial Artists the most!" Lin Fu leaped down from the treetop, landing on the ground without a sound. She absorbed all her weight into her body, not letting a single trace of it leak out.

Then, incredibly excited, she threw a punch.

A single punch.

Simple and direct, like a mountain crashing down from the heavens.

Zhu Ge didn’t retreat. His Blood Qi surged, and his Heart of Martial Arts Origin pounded wildly as he gathered all his strength into his right fist.

He didn’t use Dawn Intent, he didn’t use the Vajra Palm, he didn’t use any martial technique at all. It was just one punch. Fist against fist, force against force.

BOOM—

The two fists collided, and a shockwave exploded outward.

The surrounding earth was torn up a foot deep. Trees were uprooted, and shattered stones shot out like bullets.

Liu Jianjian had already ridden her Mazhu into the sky. Zhu Sisi clung to her shoulder, her mulberry leaf blown away by the wind. She didn’t try to chase it, her eyes fixed on the battlefield below.

True Monarch Minmian was deathly still, making no sound.

"That’s got a kick!" Zhu Ge retreated seven steps, each one leaving a deep footprint in the ground.

His right arm trembled slightly. The skin between his thumb and index finger had split open, and blood dripped down from his wrist.

The dragon scale patterns on his skin fully emerged, spreading from his chest to his arm, and from his arm to his fingertips. A faint golden light flickered erratically, as if under immense pressure.

Lin Fu hadn’t retreated. She looked down at her own fist. There was a faint white mark on her knuckles, left by the edge of Zhu Ge’s fist.

The next moment, the young woman took a deep breath, and her body abruptly expanded.

She didn’t get fatter; she got more solid!

Seeing this, Zhu Ge felt it was a bit hard on the eyes.

Every one of the girl’s muscles bulged, and every bone seemed to thicken. Rock-like patterns appeared on her skin, grayish-white, like the grain of marble.

Her hair, once glossy and smooth, turned into coarse, hard steel wires that stood on end like an inverted pine forest.

’A perfectly fine young woman had turned into a muscle-bound freak?!’

’Why am I getting a little angry?’

Zhu Ge felt his Martial Arts Heart beat even more furiously.

The next moment, his figure became like smoke and mist. He appeared before Lin Fu and smashed a fist down on her spiky head.

DONG—

It was like striking a mountainside, the impact making Zhu Ge’s knuckles go numb.

But Lin Fu didn’t move an inch.

She turned, grabbed Zhu Ge’s wrist with one hand, and smashed her other fist into his face.

BOOM!!!

The next moment, intense pain flared across Zhu Ge’s face. It was a throwback to his time as an ordinary person, as if he’d just been hit by a freight train.

Then, two streams of warmth flowed from his nose, and he tasted the coppery sweetness of blood in his mouth.

He’d been punched so hard his nose was bleeding!

Zhu Ge felt the Blood Qi in his head almost explode.

’She actually gave me a bloody nose?’

Zhu Ge almost lost control and broke through to the Third Realm.

Thankfully, he held back.

But in the end, he just got more excited. "Good, good, good! You’re strong! Mountain Witches are as tough as they say!"

"Hahaha! So satisfying!" Lin Fu threw her head back and laughed. "Finally, someone my age I can beat up to my heart’s content!"

"Come, Zhu Ge, defeat me! And then, according to ancient tradition..."

"You will mate with me!"

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