'Should I save the 16 units of energy or advance my external skill?'

Xu Ning looked at his Martial Arts Panel.

His Source Breath Bodybuilding Tactic and Gale Knife Technique were in the intermediate realm, only one step away from the perfection realm.

16 energy points was enough to make this leap.

'How much will I gain from increasing my external skill to the perfection realm?'

Xu Ning asked Qu Dayou before about what it would be like to improve his external skill to the perfection realm.

Qu Dayou said that for those in the first three stages of the mortal realm, it was enough to kill a higher realm enemy, while for those in the fourth to sixth mortal realms, it could save their lives against a higher realm enemy, and for those in the seventh to ninth mortal realm, reaching perfection realm would not make a huge difference.

"It takes 45 units of energy to advance from the qi realm to the pneumatic realm. Although it's less than twice the amount of the previous advancement, it's still a lot…"

Xu Ning pondered for a while, before he finally decided to improve his external skills first.

The reason for this decision was because the price to performance ratio was high, only 12 units of energy were needed to achieve a qualitative change in his strength.

The second reason was because Xu Ning really wanted to feel the power of the perfection realm.

'I'll level up my Source Breath Bodybuilding Tactic…'

After making a decision, Xu Ning shifted his gaze to the "+" sign beside his Source Breath Bodybuilding Tactic.

Although Source Breath Bodybuilding Tactic and Gale Knife Technique were both external skills, Xu Ning always felt that the Source Breath Bodybuilding Tactic was more sophisticated than the latter.

—

Consume 12 units of energy to upgrade the Source Breath Bodybuilding Tactic?

Yes/No

—

"Okay."

Xu Ning confirmed his selection.

Soon, Xu Ning felt the changes in his body.

Although he couldn't look inside his body, Xu Ning felt that his bones had become harder, his muscles had become tighter, and his fascia had become more resilient.

His body strength had doubled again.

'What?'

After feeling the changes in his body, Xu Ning's eyebrows furrowed, unsatisfied.

'That's all the changes from reaching the perfection realm?'

Although his physical improvement was obvious, Xu Ning did not experience the changes he had expected.

Xu Ning looked at the martial arts panel.

—

Name: Xu Ning

Martial Arts:

Spring Breeze Tactic (Mortal realm fourth stage: qi realm) +

Source Breath Bodybuilding Tactic (Perfection Realm)

Gale Knife Technique (Intermediate) +

Light Feather Bow Technique (Elementary) +

Available energy: 4 units

—

His Source Breath Body Building Tactic had reached the perfection realm.

The "+" sign beside it had also disappeared.

He had finished leveling up his Source Breath Bodybuilding Tactic.

'Is this the only change?'

Xu Ning decided to test out his Source Breath Bodybuilding Tactic.

'Um?!'

After Xu Ning activated his Source Breath Bodybuilding Tactic, he suddenly felt his skin hardening.

Xu Ning rolled up his sleeves and looked at his forearm.

His skin color had become a little darker.

However, the change in color was minor. If he was not deliberately observing for changes, he wouldn't even have noticed it.

But the small change was definitely present.

'My skin is harder…'

Xu Ning touched his skin with his fingertips.

His touch perception was still normal, but Xu Ning felt a subtle difference. He felt like he would be able to withstand more damage.

Xu Ning didn't hesitate and decided to test this directly.

He stopped activating his Source Breath Bodybuilding Tactic.

Xu Ning's skin soon returned to its normal state again.

Xu Ning picked up the short knife and stroked it against his skin. A thin wound appeared as blood slowly flowed out.

Xu Ning activated the Source Breath Bodybuilding Tactic again and noticed his skin change.

Xu Ning slashed at himself with the knife again, with the same amount of strength.

This time, a white mark appeared on his skin, which disappeared after a few seconds.

'This is the change after reaching the perfection realm?'

Xu Ning looked surprised.

'Is this the same for all external skills, or is this only the case for the Source Breath Bodybuilding Tactic?'

Xu Ning's other external skill was the Gale Knife Technique, a pure external skill, which was not the same as Source Breath Bodybuilding Tactic.

'Doesn't matter, I'll think about this later.'

Xu Ning did not continue to ponder this problem, instead he continued to test his hardened skin.

Afterwards, Xu Ning even tested boiling water and spikes.

After some contemplation, Xu Ning came to a conclusion.

His hard skin had raised his physical defense capabilities by one magnitude.

Once he activated the Source Breath Bodybuilding Tactic and increased the hardness of his skin, he could reduce the damage caused by force to a certain extent.

'I chose the right advancement!'

Xu Ning smiled.

With this, his survivability was also improved.

He could be more aggressive in his future battles.

'However, activating my hardened skin seems to consume stamina…'

Xu Ning discovered this when he tested it just now.

The longer his hardened skin was maintained and the larger the coverage area, the more it consumed his stamina.

This type of stamina consumption was similar to when he was running.

'But this is a minor issue'

Xu Ning also discovered that he could control the coverage area of the hardened skin.

He could choose the area of coverage based on the specific combat situation.

After some experimentation, the novelty began to wear off.

After cleaning up the residue of the dan medicines, Xu Ning left to grab a bite to eat.

…

Several days went by.

Outside Kangyun County.

Several donkey carts passed through the city gates.

"We're here!"

Sitting at the front donkey cart were Guo Ye and Tao Yungang.

More than four months had passed since the last time they had escorted a carriage.

Because of the previous incident, Tao Yungang's business was put on hold for a while.

On a separate note, Tao Yungang, who initially wanted to switch to horse carriages, continued to use donkey carriages because he had spent a lot of money to compensate for the casualties.

"There are so many people here!"

A small head popped out from behind the herbal medicine boxes.

Her eyes and mouth were wide open. She looked at the pedestrians coming and going.

"Be quiet."

The young woman flicked the little girl's head.

These two were Xu Lian and her daughter Tao Tao.

"What did I say, Tao Tao, Uncle Ye didn't lie right?"

Guo Ye turned his head and smiled at Tao Tao. "The county city is full of people, and they sell delicious food everywhere!"

"Brother Yungang, thank you for this."

Xu Lian hugged Tao Tao as she thanked Tao Yungang.

"No worries!"

Tao Yungang smiled heartily.

When he and Guo Ye were about to enter the city yesterday, Xu Lian came to ask if they could ride along.

If this was in the past, Tao Yungang would definitely not agree.

Although the journey into the city was not long, there was the possibility of encountering horse bandits.

If there was an emergency, it would be impossible to ensure their safety.

But the times have changed. Since the Tao Village and the Black Armored Guards were closely connected, any horse bandit with half a brain cell would not dare to touch the Tao Village's carriages.

In addition, in order to ensure their safety even more, Tao Yungang also spent a lot of money to hire a mortal realm fourth stage master.

Since they had a qi realm master, their safety was guaranteed.

In the end, Tao Yungang agreed with Xu Lian's request and brought them to Kangyun County.

"Sister Lian, when we find a place and settle down, I will take you and Tao Tao to find Xu Ning."

Xu Lian replied, "Then thank you in advance."

"I can finally see Uncle!"

Tao Tao tugged at her pigtails happily.