Chapter 63: Overwhelming Bones and Muscles, Monstrous Terror!

On the other side, Li Qi and his group had changed into their protective suits.

The main design of the protective suits was forest camouflage. Positioning devices and emergency rescue transmitters were installed in three parts—the clothing, the belt, and the helmet—to ensure safety.

In addition, the breast pockets contained single-soldier combat rations sufficient for a day, along with temporary emergency medications such as antidotes and adrenaline. This set of equipment was more than enough for a small-scale skirmish in the mountains, let alone for hunting.

This gear was enough to guarantee personal safety even if an ordinary ferocious beast got close.

Although Li Qi had achieved mastery in swordsmanship, possessed formidable physical fitness, and had sharp reflexes—meaning that logically, even without the protective suit, the insects, snakes, and beasts of the mountains could do nothing to him—he remained cautious. Knowing he was no immortal and could not maintain a state of high concentration and vigilance at all times, he did not overestimate himself.

Allowing himself the possibility of injury over a trivial matter was undoubtedly not worth it.

"The heaviest heavy bow here is two hundred stones, which requires twelve thousand catties of strength to draw. It seems no one has used this bow in all these years. Ah Qi, would you like to try it?"

Inside a vast warehouse filled with numerous racks holding various standard-issue sabers, longbows, and arrows, a group of people dressed in protective suits had gathered to choose their weapons.

On these racks, the detailed specifications of every weapon—weight, strength, hardness, and sharpness—were clearly marked.

Many gazes, both open and covert, were focused on Li Qi, eager to see how heavy a bow he would choose.

Throughout history, the weight of the bow one could draw had been the most direct standard for measuring a person's tendon and bone strength.

As for striking force, it could measure explosive power, but it could not fully measure the resilience and toughness of one's tendons and bones.

Everyone's body structure differed slightly, and too many factors influenced explosive power. The most primal strength of tendons and bones best showcased a person's foundational depth.

Translated to the six-dimensional attributes of a status panel, this was tied directly to the essence attribute.

Indeed, on the first day of the year, Li Qi's explosive power had been less than a ton—meaning less than two thousand catties. But during the earlier session outside, the force erupted in Li Qi's single saber strike had definitely exceeded ten thousand catties.

Such explosive power was far beyond what anyone else could achieve, even among those at the peak entry realm, barring a rare few with extraordinary natural talent combined with successful external tempering.

After all, the lower limit for the striking force of the peak entry realm was only two tons, which was four thousand catties.

An explosive power of four thousand catties sounded terrifying, but imagine this: when a person's brain development reached forty percent, to what extent could the threshold of their nervous system reach during a state of high excitement?!

Combined with the alteration of body structure through form-refinement, the tendons, bones, and muscles of the entire body were completely aligned, allowing all force to converge at a single point.

Four thousand catties as a lower limit was truly not a high figure.

"For me right now, using a two-hundred-stone bow is still a bit too much. A one-hundred-stone bow, however, is just right."

Li Qi picked up a one-hundred-stone bow from the rack. One hundred stone equated to six thousand catties. Crafted from metal and unknown materials, the bow body was extremely heavy, weighing at least over forty catties in total, yet Li Qi held it as effortlessly as if it were a sheet of paper.

Next, Li Qi put on an alloy thumb ring and abruptly drew the bow. In an instant, the curved bow looked like a full moon!

Then, Li Qi gently released it, allowing the longbow to return to its original state without dry-firing. For a weapon like a bow, dry-firing caused immense damage to the bow's structure.

The sight of him effortlessly drawing a one-hundred-stone bow made the eyelids of many onlookers twitch wildly.

An explosive force exceeding ten thousand catties and easily drawing a one-hundred-stone bow were not the same concept.

The former was an instantaneous burst, while the latter was sustained exertion. The difficulty of the latter was several times higher.

Even with sufficient explosive power, if the strength of the tendons and bones was inadequate, forcing the draw would undoubtedly cause severe bodily injury.

This was why Li Qi did not pick the two-hundred-stone heavy bow. Given his current condition, if he channeled the saber intent of "Slaying Demons to Prove the Self," used that saber intent as his core to stimulate his spirit and physical potential, and erupted with all his might, he could indeed draw the two-hundred-stone bow.

However, he would only be able to shoot a single arrow before exhausting his strength, suffering damaged tendons and bones, and experiencing visceral shocks. He would vomit blood immediately after the shot. Although he was young enough not to drop dead on the spot, he would certainly need a long period of recuperation.

Swinging a saber, however, was different. Even when erupting with saber intent, his Qi and blood would only become turbulent within five strikes, and his tendons and bones would only suffer damage after seven strikes.

Instantaneous eruption and sustained exertion were completely different.

And this demonstrated the importance of the essence attribute. If your physical material itself was not strong enough, even if you could use powerful mental and spiritual force to stimulate your body's potential, you would still injure yourself.

An ordinary practitioner of the Dao could not draw a two-hundred-stone heavy bow; for instance, the heads of the Mu and Zhang families certainly could not do it. Yet, this world had its share of extraordinary practitioners of the Dao.

And if a two-hundred-stone bow were to loose an arrow, how terrifying would that be?!

If this were placed in ancient times, it would serve as an ultra-long-range strike; unless the target was also a martial arts expert, you could kill whoever you wanted.

The reality, however, was that in ancient times, metal smelting technology was inadequate to forge such a powerful bow. By the time metal smelting technology broke through in the modern era, if you wanted to kill someone, why use a heavy sniper rifle?! Why not use a missile?!

The cost of training a sniper and manufacturing a missile was far lower than cultivating a master practitioner of the Dao.

Therefore, in this era, bows and arrows were merely used to cultivate martial valor in the family's younger generation.

However, Li Qi knew that bows and arrows had not been entirely phased out. In many small-scale overseas conflicts, certain powerhouses engaged in solo combat used powerful bows as their ranged weapons.

He had once bypassed internet firewalls to watch some footage: in overseas primeval jungles, experts equipped with the most advanced individual combat gear killed people like cutting grass. A single arrow loosed by them could even pierce through several large trees and directly kill local tribesmen hiding behind the trees.

It was a complete, all-around suppression.

Still, once martial arts reached that level, using a bow or not made no difference; anyone spotted by him would die anyway. Using a bow to kill was merely saving a few steps of walking.

"Six thousand catties... the strength of your tendons and bones right now is terrifying. You can truly be called 'tiger tendons and tiger bones,' having transcended mortal limits..."

"I'm afraid only a monster who has shattered the ultimate human limits could possess tendons and bones like yours!"

Listening to the creaking sound emitted by the bow body, Li Zheng's eyelids twitched frantically as well.

His earlier remark about letting Li Qi try the two-hundred-stone bow had merely been a joke. For an average person, even if their explosive power exceeded ten thousand catties, they might not truly be able to draw a three-thousand-catty bow.

For Li Qi to draw a six-thousand-catty bow with such ease and nonchalance meant his tendons and bones had already diverged from ordinary people to the point of a different species.

"If the family's saber art—the tiger form—is practiced to a profound realm, one can undergo a complete rebirth."

"I had the fortune of encountering a demonic tribulation, but in your case, if you use orthodox training methods to practice your saber art until it reaches the realm of divine insight and effortless mastery, you too can transform and develop tendons and bones like mine."

Li Qi laughed.

"Ah Qi, do you even hear yourself?!"

"Divine insight and effortless mastery? Me?!"

"Do you have some kind of misunderstanding about my talent?"

Li Zheng's face twitched, as he felt what Li Qi was saying sounded less and less human.

Of course, Li Qi hadn't finished his sentence. The true form of the mountain monarch derived through his saber art transformation was definitely not as perfect as his own. His own tendons and bones were bestowed by heaven and forged by fortune; achieving such perfection through mere human effort was impossible, and flaws would inevitably exist.