On the frozen surface of the desolate island, the old woman glanced at Jiang Ning and spoke.
"Come see me again tomorrow. I'll report to the higher-ups today and give you an answer tomorrow."
"But rest assured, the rewards you deserve won't be small."
"Fifth-rank Internal Strength Realm martial artists from the Worshipers Sect aren't common they're among the sect's top forces."
"Killing two of them is a tremendous achievement!"
"Your reward should at least be double the standard for sixth-rank targets."
Jiang Ning was delighted and immediately cupped his hands in gratitude.
"Thank you, Senior!"
Upon returning to the Inspection Bureau, the two corpses were taken away by the old woman.
Jiang Ning wasn't surprised that Granny Bai from the Internal Affairs Division had a storage artifact.
This old woman was an enigma to him he still couldn't fathom her true depths.
He had once considered using his Heavenly Eye to probe her, but an instinctive warning stopped him from such a reckless act.
It made him realize that the Heavenly Eye wasn't something to be used carelessly.
Certain beings might detect his prying the moment he activated it.
"Chief!"
Arriving at Hong Minghu's residence in the Inspection Bureau, Jiang Ning saw him sitting in the main hall, chatting over tea with Ye Qiu. He greeted them both.
"Brother Ye!"
"Commander Jiang, your timing is perfect!" Hong Minghu's eyes lit up at Jiang Ning's arrival, and he quickly stood up.
Ye Qiu also rose with a smile. "Brother Jiang!"
Then he continued, "I was just telling the Chief about your heroic deeds on New Year's Eve. Who knew you were hiding such incredible archery skills?"
Hong Minghu chimed in, "With skills like yours, staying in the Inspection Bureau is almost a waste. If you'd joined the military, you'd have already earned countless merits."
"By now, I might have to address you as General Jiang!"
Hearing their praise, Jiang Ning could only smile wryly.
"Chief, Brother Ye, please don't flatter me too much. I'm still young and easily swayed by praise. If you keep this up, I might start floating away!"
Hong Minghu laughed heartily, his expression warm. "The fact that you can say that proves you're far from arrogant."
He gestured to an empty seat beside him, inviting Jiang Ning to sit.
Once the three were seated, Hong Minghu spoke again.
"Commander Jiang, do you know why I asked to see you?"
"No," Jiang Ning shook his head slightly under Hong Minghu's gaze.
Hong Minghu explained, "During his leave, Commander Ye uncovered a major secret."
Jiang Ning turned to Ye Qiu, who smirked mysteriously.
"The Chief won't let me reveal it yet, but in a few days, I'll need your help, Brother Jiang. Your archery is unmatched in Luoshui County we'll need your support."
Jiang Ning's mind raced with speculation.
He looked back at Hong Minghu.
"Chief, have we found a big fish?"
Hong Minghu smiled. "A very big one. If the operation succeeds, that Deputy in your title might disappear, and I could advance further myself."
That significant?
Jiang Ning was inwardly shocked.
He had just shed the "Deputy" from his title today, meaning his official rank was now equal to Ye Qiu's both at the eighth rank.
But since the two weren't aware of this yet, he remained silent.
His promotion, though currently nominal, would become official once the higher-ups issued the appointment documents.
He knew all too well what his half-rank promotion had cost the equivalent of 100,000 taels of silver in contribution points.
Now, simply by assisting in Hong Minghu's operation, he stood to gain comparable merit if it succeeded.
Without hesitation, he asked, "When do you need me, Chief?"
"Not yet," Hong Minghu replied. "We're still waiting for the other commanders to arrive. With the heavy snow and freezing temperatures, it'll take a few more days."
"Understood." Jiang Ning cupped his hands. "Just notify me when the time comes."
Hong Minghu nodded in satisfaction.
"Good. If you have other matters to attend to, go ahead."
After Jiang Ning left, Hong Minghu watched his retreating figure with a sigh.
"We've underestimated him."
Ye Qiu nodded in agreement. "Indeed. A single archer, single-handedly averting the Black Mountain Riders' siege his strength is terrifying."
"Could he be stronger than you?" Hong Minghu asked.
"There's no comparison. I heard the Black Lotus Sect's Saintess was also there that night. You know how fearsome they are the Worshipers Sect pales in comparison." Ye Qiu shook his head.
"True." Hong Minghu nodded.
"Given his archery, there's no doubt now he was the one who killed Cao Rong."
Ye Qiu chuckled.
"Wasn't that already obvious?"
Then he added,
"Chief, what kind of reward do you think the higher-ups will give him for this merit?"
Hong Minghu fell into thought.
A moment later...
Hong Minghu said, "There are several possibilities either direct reward points, a promotion in official rank, or the granting of cultivation resources."
"At any rate, during the initial establishment of the Inspection Bureau, those at the top wouldn't possibly dishearten those below."
"Commander Jiang's achievements must have already spread throughout Dongling County, giving those above a tremendous boost in reputation."
Upon hearing this, Ye Qiu couldn't help but show a look of envy.
Meanwhile.
After leaving the Inspection Bureau, Jiang Ning boarded the carriage waiting outside.
The carriage headed straight for his home.
The next day.
Great Cold.
When Jiang Ning opened his eyes, he heard the howling of the bitter wind outside.
The mournful sound was like the wailing of vengeful spirits.
"The temperature dropped again!" He frowned slightly.
What he didn't know was that many others were frowning even more deeply than he was.
As the New Year holiday came to an end, many personnel of the Inspection Bureau were still on their way back.
The sudden drastic change in weather left countless people grumbling in misery.
Although martial artists who had reached the ranked levels were far stronger than ordinary people, they still feared the wrath of natural disasters.
Even with their enhanced vitality, ordinary ranked martial artists were just as susceptible to extreme cold and could still freeze to death in snowstorms.
Especially when food was scarce, and their physical exertion couldn't be replenished.
For martial artists, their formidable physiques meant they required more energy intake daily, necessitating larger amounts of food.
Just as taller, more muscular individuals often had enormous appetites.
Maintaining a powerful body naturally demands greater energy expenditure than that of ordinary people.
Only martial artists who had reached the fifth rank those capable of near-perfect control over their bodies and freely unlocking human limitations could regulate their energy consumption, avoiding unnecessary losses and bodily depletion.
The fifth rank was a massive dividing line.
Thus, martial arts techniques and knowledge beyond the fifth rank were heavily restricted.
Ordinary martial artists had no means or access to such information.
Upon waking, Jiang Ning's first action was to check his panel.
A quiet joy rose in his heart.
The number on the panel had reached an astonishing figure.
2357.88.
It was only a little less than 700 points away from the 3000-point threshold.
"The Five Elements Spirit Fruit is truly extraordinary!" Jiang Ning couldn't help but marvel as he recalled the spirit fruit he had consumed the day before.
Though the five spirit fruits had cost him a staggering 80,000 taels of silver, they had also brought him immense gains.
Not only had he felt a profound transformation and refinement in his five organs, but his Source Energy points had also reached an unprecedented level.
Breaking through the 2000-point mark in one leap, the 3000-point threshold no longer seemed so distant.
[Skills]: Five Animals Fist+ (Third Break Limit 4000/4000) (Traits: Essence Stored in the Five Organs, Five Elements Spirit, Grandmaster of Fist Techniques)
Woodchopper Saber Technique (Sixth Break Limit 4788/7000) (Traits: Versatility, Saber Like Thunder, Mastery of the Saber, Unity of Man and Saber, Natural Saber Talent)
Water Affinity+ (Sixth Break Limit 7000/7000) (Traits: Underwater Breathing, Water Manipulation+, Water Spirit Affinity, Cloud and Rain Control, Water Spirit Body)
When he looked at the panel again, he noticed the familiar plus signs behind Five Animals Fist and Water Affinity.
This meant he now met all the conditions for breaking the limits of these two skills.
As for the Woodchopper Saber Technique, the only thing lacking was the accumulation of experience.
But for him now, the few thousand experience points missing from the Woodchopper Saber Technique could be achieved in just half a day.
After glancing at his panel, a faint smile appeared on Jiang Ning's face.
"Breaking the limits of Five Animals Fist is the most critical for me right now!"
From what he had learned the day before, he understood clearly what mattered most after advancing beyond the sixth rank and reaching the fifth rank.
It was the strength of internal energy and the tempering of the five organs.
The gap between fifth-rank martial artists was also shockingly vast.
The strongest fifth-rank experts could condense their internal energy into sword aura, vast and boundless like an abyss. Such fifth-rank experts were capable of achieving the terrifying feat of slaying a thousand soldiers in a single breath.
Facing such a fifth-rank expert head-on, Jiang Ning felt he would have no choice but to retreat for now.
Slaying a thousand soldiers in one breath such terrifying internal energy could achieve earth-shattering feats like splitting mountains or cutting rivers.
Even divine weapons might not withstand such an outburst of internal energy, let alone mere flesh and blood.
Jade bones comparable to thousand-fold refined iron would still be unable to resist such power.
After all, an army of a thousand soldiers would be clad in armor and armed with weapons how could their battle gear not be forged from refined iron?
Even if it were just ordinary iron, the sheer quantity of a thousand suits of armor would surpass the durability of several centimeters of thousand-fold refined iron.
Thus, such a fifth-rank expert could effortlessly slaughter a thousand soldiers just as easily as they could kill a sixth-rank Jade Bone martial artist.
Coupled with the range and flexibility of their internal energy, Jiang Ning could only offer a four-word evaluation:
Terrifying beyond measure!
This kind of enhancement was akin to a leap in energy levels.
Before the fifth rank, even the strongest external refinement experts who had completed the four steps of external refinement would find it nearly impossible to kill a well-trained army of a thousand ranked martial artists.
Mere physical stamina wouldn't allow it, let alone other factors.
Yet, the top-tier experts of the fifth rank could achieve the feat of slaying a thousand soldiers in a single breath.
The magnitude of this advancement was nothing short of absurd.
It was almost as if they belonged to an entirely different tier of existence!
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call such fifth-rank experts immortals!
Yet, among fifth-rank martial artists, the weaker ones aren't much stronger than sixth-rank practitioners.
Those who have just entered the fifth rank may struggle to fight two opponents at once.
Even those who have begun condensing internal energy would find it difficult to take on multiple foes.
At that stage, their internal energy reserves are still insufficient both in quantity and quality.
Only through continuous accumulation, day after day, like pooling drops of water into a pond, can they reach the next level.
When internal energy reaches a certain magnitude like rivers or vast lakes only then can they effortlessly overpower sixth-rank Jade Bone martial artists.
They can hold their own against ten opponents without faltering, remaining composed as long as their internal energy holds out.
But once their energy is exhausted, such fifth-rank experts aren't much stronger than sixth-rank fighters.
Without the enhancement of internal energy, their only advantage lies in superior stamina.
The true might of the fifth rank emerges when internal energy transforms, condensing into like steel.
Only then can a fifth-rank expert display their full divine power.
Even wielding a mere branch, they can unleash blade-like energy capable of slicing through metal and jade.
And if their internal energy accumulates to the depths of an ocean or an abyss?
That's when they become truly terrifying veritable human-shaped siege engines.
Single-handedly breaching city walls would be child's play.
Jiang Ning understood this well.
To reach such heights, breaking the limits of Five Animals Fists was crucial.
Five Animals Fists was a foundational martial art.
Long-term practice strengthened the body, amplified power, and refined blood qi.
After its previous limit breaks, it had gained the ability to draw the Five Elements' spiritual essence into the body, nourishing the five organs.
Further breaking its limits would enhance these effects once more.
With each subsequent training session, the blood qi he could refine would increase.
The nourishing effects on his five organs would also grow stronger.
The stronger his organs, the greater his reserves of internal energy.
Thus, the importance of this fist technique to him was self-evident.
In the long run, it was far more critical to him than Water Affinity or the Woodchopper Saber Technique.
Moreover, he had now mastered the five fist intents of Five Animals Fists.
Breaking its limits would undoubtedly elevate his fist intent to new heights.
With this in mind, Jiang Ning solidified his decision.
Focusing all efforts on Five Animals Fists would be the most beneficial path for his martial arts at this stage.
With that settled, he rose from the bed.
Closing his eyes, he assessed the changes in his body.
The effects of yesterday's Five Elements Spirit Fruit were evident in his five organs now brimmed with vibrant vitality, like the rising sun, pulsing with life and energy.
Yet, he also sensed that his physique hadn't undergone any fundamental transformation.
There was no sign of the legendary effects of the spirit fruit no enhancement in elemental affinity, no alteration in constitution.
Next, he turned his gaze inward, scanning his 206 bones.
After yesterday's bone-tempering session, the jade-like refinement of his skeleton had progressed further.
"At this rate, I'll complete the Jade Bone refinement in about three days."
"By then, according to martial standards, I'll officially be a fifth-rank expert."
The thought filled him with anticipation.
But he also knew that the Great Xia's martial rankings weren't strictly defined.
There was no instant, all-encompassing power-up upon breaking through a realm.
Martial progression was a gradual climb step by step, accumulating strength until quantity triggered quality.
Take him, for example.
Though classified as a sixth-rank Mystic Bone martial artist, he had long since blurred the line between sixth and fifth rank.
His internal energy reserves had already reached river-like magnitudes a level most fifth-rank experts wouldn't achieve without five to eight years of accumulation.
In that regard, he could already rival seasoned fifth-rank practitioners.
In terms of combat prowess, he was more than a match even surpassing 90% of fifth-rank martial artists.
Only those rare few who had fully tempered their internals and condensed their energy into like steel still gave him pause.
Yet, he remained aware that this didn't make him invincible among fifth-rank fighters.
As the elderly woman from the Internal Affairs Department mentioned yesterday
Some warriors, like the monks of Vajra Temple, forged Golden Bodies during the Skin-Tempering stage.
At the ninth rank, their perfected Indestructible Vajra Body alone allowed them to battle sixth-rank experts head-on.
If such warriors advanced to the eighth rank and tempered their muscle groups, they'd become even more monstrously powerful.
The more Jiang Ning learned, the more he tempered his pride.
He understood now martial ranks were merely a convenient classification, a way for practitioners to gauge their progress.
They existed so that warriors wouldn't lose their way on the martial path, uncertain of how to proceed.
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