Hunyuan Body

Lu Chen, Second Grandfather Lu Wei, and the brothers Lu Ting and Lu Zhen immediately went to Lu Xiande's house to discuss teaching the villagers Cultivation Methods.

Lu Xiande naturally wouldn't refuse.

It was a good thing.

After discussing it, they decided to start recruiting people that very evening. First, they invited the most respected members of the Lu, Teng, and Luo Households, briefly told them about the matter, and then began discussing the purchase of meat and grain.

Martial arts training consumed a great deal of food.

Lu Chen offered an idea.

"We can buy some piglets, and buy chicken and duck eggs to hatch. The village can set aside a place for raising them and put villagers who know how in charge. That would save us a little money too."

"That's a good idea, Xiao Chen."

Lu Xiande nodded, and the others offered suggestions of their own.

"We brothers can go hunting in the mountains more often too. If we organize hunting parties, we can bring back more."

"Right, we absolutely have to keep this secret. Make it clear to the wives and children at home that they mustn't tell anyone, not even their own families. Keep it secret as long as we can!"

Early the next morning, people filled the space outside Lu Chen's door.

Most were young or middle-aged adults, though there were also a few youths about Lu Chen's age.

Everyone was excited.

None of them had imagined that Lu Chen knew Cultivation Methods and was even willing to teach them to the whole village!

"Is everyone here? Have you eaten? If you haven't, go home and eat first. Then bring your sabers and hoes and help me find a place to clear for a training ground. Somewhere secluded would be best."

Lu Chen spoke to the crowd outside his door.

Several middle-aged men who were already respected in the village immediately nodded and called to the others. The crowd left in a great throng.

After eating, Lu Chen went to the schoolhouse first. He taught a few characters, then had Lu Ming lead everyone in reading aloud.

Lu Chen had bought a few primers, and Teng Chuan had contributed a few more, enough for the students to use.

When he came outside the schoolhouse, someone was already waiting.

"Have you found a place?"

Lu Chen looked at the youth in front of him. He was a distant cousin of Lu Chen's named Lu Tao, a year younger than him.

"Brother Chen, Uncle Huaiyi has already found a place behind the village, near Great Green Mountain. It's very secluded and there's plenty of room. I'll take you there!"

When they arrived, everyone was already hard at work, cutting trees, pulling weeds, digging earth, and carrying stones.

Lu Chen looked over the location. It was indeed fairly secluded.

It was inside the village, with no path beyond it. To reach it from the front, one had to pass through a grove of trees and go around a bend. In other words, outsiders would have to cross the entire village to get here, and the layers of trees blocked the sound, so little could be heard outside.

The place was spacious too, with enough room for two or three hundred people.

Someone had actually considered clearing it for farmland before, but there were too many stones, the soil was poor, the path was difficult, and there was no way to transport water, so they had been forced to give up.

With two or three hundred of the village's strong men working together, and some women and children helping on the side, the work went very quickly.

In just one day, the weeds and trees were gone, and the ground was almost ready.

They continued working the next day. Lu Chen also had people buy plenty of bricks, stone, and lumber and build a shed beside the grounds, where training equipment and weapons could be stored. It would also make things like drinking water and using the toilet more convenient.

They spread a layer of yellow earth over the ground and tamped it down with wooden posts.

The work continued for three or four days.

Lu Chen also sent people elsewhere to buy plenty of piglets and chicken and duck eggs, leaving Lu Xiande and Lu Wei in charge of raising them.

He continued teaching every day and didn't have to worry about the training grounds.

The villagers had also seen Lu Chen demonstrate his martial prowess.

He had shot an arrow through an arm-thick wooden post a hundred paces away, shattered a hard pebble with one punch, and leaped more than two zhang high!

Having seen this power beyond that of ordinary people, everyone was full of anticipation at the thought of learning such Cultivation Methods themselves, and they worked with great enthusiasm.

On the fourth day, after class, Lu Chen suddenly heard a notification.

[Under the host's guidance and influence, the fates of Lu Chengzong, Lu Yaozu... and thirty-two others have changed]

[Interim Fate Value settlement: 34]

I taught diligently for a few days, and there's another reward?

Lu Chen smiled.

A steady trickle was good too.

Let's look at the panel. I haven't improved my other Traits in a long time. Since I'm still so far from improving the Ox-Cleaving Saber Technique, I might as well improve some other Traits.

With that thought, Lu Chen opened the panel.

[Name: Lu Chen]

[Age: Sixteen]

[Fate Value: 2761]

[Luck Value: 59]

[Traits: Recovered, normal nutrition, strong and sturdy, acceptable aptitude]

[Skill Traits: Throwing: Great Achievement (25%), Agile Footwork: Great Achievement (10%), Robust Strength: Great Achievement (8%), Teaching the Way and Imparting Knowledge: Beginner (5%), Ox-Cleaving Saber Technique (Marrow Washing Realm); Rolling Stone Fist, Formation-Breaking Spear, Soul-Severing Saber, Wind-Chasing Sword, Eight Directions Step, Linked-Bead Arrows (Beginner)]

Huh, I'm sixteen? When was my birthday? At sixteen, I count as an adult in this world, don't I?

Lu Chen had suddenly noticed that his age had changed to sixteen.

It wasn't that he didn't remember his birthday; he just rarely thought about it deliberately.

Back on Earth, his birthday had followed the lunar calendar, and he had often forgotten the date until his parents called to remind him.

He was an adult now, so it was time to do some adult things!

System, add points!

Throwing: Perfection (100%)

Fate Value -275.

[Guaranteed to hit a fist-sized stationary object within 100 meters; 50% chance of triggering a shock effect]

Nimble Footwork: Perfection (100%).

Fate Value -290.

[Increases agility and running speed by 50%, stabilizes the lower body, and reduces physical exertion by 50%]

Robust Strength: Perfection (100%).

Fate Value -292.

[Increases full-body strength by 50%, greatly improves explosive power and endurance]

Teaching the Way and Imparting Knowledge: Perfection (100%).

Fate Value -360.

[While teaching, students' learning efficiency improves: comprehension +80%, memory +80%, concentration +80%. Duration: one day. Long-term exposure to the skill greatly increases students' chances of sudden enlightenment]

Can I add points to Recovered too? What will it become if I do?

Full of curiosity, Lu Chen tapped it twice in succession.

Recovered - Self-Healing - Rapid Recovery.

Fate Value -110.

[Increases recovery speed by 50% after bodily injury or depletion of stamina and the like]

Lu Chen's eyes lit up.

This effect was pretty impressive!

If he kept adding points, wouldn't he never have to worry about running out of strength in a fight again?

It was like carrying a power bank around with him. The longer he fought, the more strength he'd have—a divine tool for staying power!

Add points to Acceptable Aptitude!

Fate Value -100.

Acceptable Aptitude - Excellent Aptitude.

[Outstanding among one's peers, one in a hundred]

Next, he spent another 600 points to improve all six Cultivation Methods he had just begun learning, breaking through to the Copper Skin Realm.

Almost instantly, Lu Chen felt the muscles throughout his body grow tauter, then slowly become supple again.

The improvement isn't as great as the first time, but with six Cultivation Methods upgraded in succession, the combined effect is still very strong.

He picked up a stone from the ground and held it between his thumb and forefinger. When he squeezed with all his might, the stone cracked apart.

If that had been a human bone, he could have crushed it outright.

My strength now should be more than twice that of an ordinary Marrow Washing Realm cultivator! My physical strength alone is over 1.5 times theirs. I can't say I'd crush them, but at least I shouldn't have much trouble against someone in the same realm.

He glanced at the panel and felt something wasn't quite right.

That was it: normal nutrition.

He had added points to all the other Traits, but not that one.

Add points to Normal Nutrition.

Normal Nutrition - Abundant Nutrition - Overflowing Qi and Blood.

Fate Value -110.

The moment the Trait changed to Overflowing Qi and Blood, Lu Chen had already closed the panel, but suddenly heard a crisp "ding" from the system.

"Host's Traits detected to have met the fusion conditions for the initial special physique [Hunyuan Body]. Fuse?"

Lu Chen froze for a moment, then was overjoyed.

A special physique?

Was it the kind of physique he imagined, like a Sacred Body, Dao Body, or Tyrant Body?

He hurriedly confirmed, "Fuse!"

Almost instantly, he saw that his panel had become much cleaner.

The four Traits he had just added points to—Rapid Recovery, Overflowing Qi and Blood, Strong and Sturdy, and Robust Strength—had disappeared, and a gray Trait had appeared.

Fate Value -624.

Fate Value -59.

[Hunyuan Body Initial Level] (Divided into four levels: elementary, intermediate, advanced, and perfection. Unlock conditions not yet met.)

"Damn, what's this supposed to mean? I still have to unlock it? Were you fucking made by Xunteng?"

His expression soured, and he checked it.

Unlocking it required 1,000 Fate Value and 100 Luck Value.

All his points had now been completely wiped out, and he still owed quite a few.

Fate Value -376.

Luck Value -41.

"Fuck! Just when I thought I'd guarded against everything! After all that hard work, I'm back to where I was before liberation in a single day!"