Chapter 209: Chapter 207: Talent Perfected (Part 2) The next moment, Lou Yi’s entire body emitted a faint jade-white glow, with almost every pore radiating a soft light, making him look like an immortal descending to the mortal world. He took out the black Profound Iron Axe and gave it a light swing. There was a ’pang’ sound, with sparks flying everywhere. His left arm slightly dented, but it did not break defense. Although Lou Yi only used thirty percent of his strength, he was nearly at the level of an ordinary Full Cycle Circulation Martial Artist. Moreover, the black Profound Iron Axe was infused with meteorite iron, making its hardness far surpass that of ordinary profound iron, capable of contending with sword qi and blade qi without damage. This signifies that by using the Petrification Talent, even with just the first transformation. A Full Cycle Circulation Martial Artist wielding a Profound Iron Weapon hacking at him would find it hard to harm him in the slightest! The benefits of the complete Petrification Talent are indeed significant. With a thought, Lou Yi initiated the second transformation. The area covered by the jade-white rapidly shrank, eventually only covering a small portion of his body. The color shifted from jade-white to a pale silver. The pale silver defense had already been proven to withstand the attacks of Martial Artist’s sword qi and blade qi. For the third transformation, the area of petrification continued to decrease, finally only covering an arm. At this point, the color of the entire right arm turned a pure silvery metallic hue. Its hardness was beyond testing, with no reference material. Yet it’s imaginable that it was considerably stronger than when it was pale silver, comparable to pure meteorite iron. For the final transformation, the pure silver rapidly faded, concentrating only on the surface of the palm. A subtle golden hue shimmered on it, as if it had been coated with a layer of gold powder. With a golden hand, Lou Yi gripped the black Profound Iron Axe, leaving distinct finger impressions on the axe’s back. This feeling was only slightly more challenging than squeezing clay. Lou Yi then took the golden chain armor given by City Lord Li to Patriarch Fang and squeezed hard, deforming a corner of the chain armor. "The fourth layer of the complete Petrification Talent should indeed surpass the limits of ordinary weapons," Lou Yi thought unexpectedly. The changes to the Petrification Talent did not end there. Lou Yi looked at the Attribute Panel: Petrification (Passive): The body’s strength gradually increases over time. Petrification (Active One): Choose an area on the body’s surface for short-term petrification, with time and area increasing with talent enhancement. Petrification (Active Two): When using Active One, opt to use this skill to imbue the body with an icy aura, reducing the speed of nearby enemies by 10%-30%, but greatly decreasing the duration of the Petrification Skill. Active Two’s strength had also increased, stepping up a notch completely. Previously it could only reduce nearby enemies’ speed by 5%-15%, but now it could reduce it by 10%-30%. "Petrify." Lou Yi first used Active One, turning his whole body into a faint jade tone. Then he used Active Two, with interwoven, dense blue veins appearing on his jade-white skin. A chilling aura spread from Lou Yi’s body. The ground, branches, and stones within about ten feet were covered with a thin layer of frost. Through extensive experimentation, Lou Yi found that using only Active One, petrification could last for three to four hundred breaths. While using both activities, it reduced to around seventy to eighty breaths. The time wasn’t long, but it was enough to handle a battle. With the completion of Petrification Talent, his defense level was greatly enhanced, further boosting his strength. If he were to fight Old Master Xu in his prime again, he was confident he could kill him within ten moves! However, advancing the Petrification Talent to the next stage required ten thousand points of energy, as well as new heavenly materials and earthly treasures, specifically Ice Soul, which had to be temporarily postponed. Breathing Technique and Lou’s Axe Skill were similar, unable to advance in the short term. Currently, the focus on enhancing strength should lie in the Tenacity talent: Tenacity (Proficiency 0/200+1 Soft Gold). Lou Yi picked up the treasure armor given by City Lord Li to Patriarch Fang. Since Patriarch Fang had been killed by him, the armor could be considered a spoils of war. He needed to find an opportunity to melt it to extract the Soft Gold. Lou Yi walked out of the house and looked towards the distant city wall, suddenly his expression changed. While cultivating indoors just now, he focused, turning a deaf ear to outside sounds. Upon stepping out, with his powerful senses, he naturally heard the intense battle cries coming from the city wall. "Wasn’t the beast tide retreating?" Realizing a change, Lou Yi didn’t dare to be careless; his figure vanished from the spot instantly. ... Tai City city wall. In the innermost layer of the city wall, a faint red translucent dome of light had risen. Occasionally, monsters collided with it, but the light shield firmly blocked them, preventing further advance. On the outer layer of the city wall, martial artists engaged in brutal close combat with the horde of beasts. Every moment, someone or a beast fell, blood splattering five steps. When Lou Yi arrived at the city wall and saw the inexplicably appeared light shield, along with the mass of beasts far exceeding the prior amount, he was exceptionally shocked. "What’s happening?" "Look there," Wei Youdao said in a deep voice beside him. Lou Yi looked below the city wall and couldn’t help but tremble all over. Amidst the horde, stood an enormous, bizarre tiger. Its body was seven to eight zhang long, covered in snow-white fur, yet it had a pair of blood-red fleshy wings. Its eyes were like two golden suns, hardly resembling a creature of this world! Previously, with the talent completed, Lou Yi felt elated, believing even a Martial Artist couldn’t match him, few in the world could contend with him. But upon seeing the Winged Tiger, Lou Yi felt a profound sense of threat rushing into his heart, making his scalp tingle. The martial artist’s powerful sixth sense told him that if he were to engage this Winged Tiger alone, his fate wouldn’t be bright. "Could this be the real Beast King?" Lou Yi marveled. In conversation, he stepped out of the light shield, casually slaying two approaching Wolf Spirits, gaining four energy points. "We need to stop them from approaching the array left by the Immortal Master, lest it be exhausted and fail to hold back the evil tiger..." Wei Youdao explained to Lou Yi, also allowing him to understand why everyone fought outside the light shield. "Where’s Old Master Xu?" Wei Youdao inquired softly during the battle. "Sent him to meet his ancestors," Lou Yi did not hide. Upon hearing this, Wei Youdao was initially startled, then a look of joy spread on his face. Startled that Lou Yi could kill Old Master Xu, who was not like Jiang Chi, newly emerged as a Martial Artist, but held a renowned position across Wangjiang County’s five cities. Joyful because the higher Lou Yi’s martial prowess, the more the Extreme Fist Sect stood solid as a mountain. In the future, recruiting disciples and absorbing resources, they would lead all the sects in Tai City. Compared to Wei Youdao’s delight, some from the Xu family changed color dramatically upon seeing Lou Yi on the city wall, as if mourning a parent. Soon, new faces from the Xu family came to the city wall, informing them of Old Master Xu’s demise. These Xu family members lost the will to fight, most of them withdrew. Similar were those from Fulin Escort Agency and the Fang family. While the City Lord could intervene, forced persuasion achieved nothing, so he glanced meaningfully at Lou Yi. Lou Yi immediately understood his gaze; it meant that having eliminated several key defenders of the city, he now had to shoulder the corresponding responsibility. ...