Two Oxen Strength

2024-07-31

Two Oxen Strength

Song Changming briefly looked over the evaluation. Compared to last year, this year's Annual Evaluation was clearly far more outstanding.

Though the available rewards were more or less the same as last year's, each of them had improved somewhat.

For example, last year he could only obtain an additional thousand days of Lifespan. This year, it had become two thousand days.

The martial arts experience reward had also risen from one hundred points to three hundred.

There was one more Attribute Point as well.

Faced with three choices, Song Changming had long since made up his mind. There was no need to think further now.

Just like last year, he chose to consume Lifespan in exchange for martial arts experience.

Right now, he urgently needed to make up for his lack of Body Refinement Cultivation. This was currently his weak point.

If he fought a martial artist of merely mediocre strength, he might still be able to suppress the enemy with his Major Accomplishment stage saber skill.

But if he faced a formidable martial artist like Liang Chuanshan, someone with high Body Refinement Cultivation as well as Major Accomplishment stage saber skill—

Then defeating such a person head-on was nearly impossible for him.

Previously, he had merely been a patrol guard, at most serving as a deputy in the Patrol Guard Team. His saber skills had been more than sufficient.

But now that he was a Patrol Captain, saber skill alone was beginning to seem inadequate.

He would use two consecutive years of Annual Rewards to forcibly erase the gap of several, even more than ten years, of Body Refinement Cultivation between himself and others!

He confirmed the second reward.

Very soon, the more than seven hundred days of Lifespan he had accumulated over the past year were completely depleted. Even part of the Lifespan he had saved the year before last was consumed as well.

His total remaining Lifespan changed to thirty-six thousand, six hundred and fifty days.

Though the loss of that Lifespan pained him somewhat, Song Changming felt it was worth it.

Without hesitation, he poured all three hundred points of martial arts experience into the most difficult technique to cultivate, the Great Strength Bull Demon Art.

Come on, qualitative change!

And so.

The two-hundred-point experience cap was instantly broken through.

Immediately afterward, just like last time, a whirlwind sprang up in the courtyard around him in an instant.

The energy of heaven and earth seemed to flow endlessly into his body, setting him ablaze from head to toe.

A scorching sensation spread through every inch of his skin, sinews and bones, muscles, blood, and even his internal organs.

The indescribable pain made him clamp his eyes shut and clench his fists until blue veins bulged.

Having once forcefully raised his Body Refinement Cultivation before, he knew that enduring pain at this moment was an unavoidable part of the process.

Sweat seeped from every pore across his body and flowed freely, soaking all his clothes as wisps of white steam rose from him.

Who knew how long passed before the painful process finally receded like a tide.

"Hah!"

Song Changming let out a long breath, knowing he had succeeded!

He removed his drenched shirt, revealing gleaming skin, a broad chest, sturdy arms, and waist and abdominal muscles sculpted like a statue.

Power—seemingly inexhaustible power—was brewing within his body, ready to burst forth at any moment!

His sinews and bones in particular had undergone the greatest strengthening and tempering, as though his body had been forged from steel tendons and iron bones. They were also the greatest source of his immense strength.

Song Changming's first sensation upon standing was heaviness.

The Great Strength Bull Demon Art mainly tempered the bones. Once cultivated deeply, one's bones would surely become as heavy as mountains and as hard as iron.

Now, he was gradually beginning to experience all the changes this art had brought him.

On the panel.

[Great Strength Bull Demon Art: Two Oxen Strength (220/300)]

Two Oxen Strength!

Song Changming tried lifting the square block of black iron in the courtyard, wrapped in heavy iron chains. It felt effortless.

The iron and chains together weighed nearly two thousand jin!

Even just a day ago, he could at most barely lift it. He could not have hoisted it as easily as he did tonight.

By common reckoning, Two Oxen Strength could unleash a force of two thousand seven hundred jin.

Judging from his current condition, he estimated that even if there was some discrepancy, it could not be much.

Wielding a saber with such Bull Strength would grant boundless power!

Aside from his Bull Strength, Song Changming's physique had improved considerably in every other aspect as well, though none of it stood out as much as this strength.

He could clearly feel that his skin had become more resilient. If he continued cultivating, he might someday develop an impenetrable Vajra Body.

By comparison, the improvements to his bodily flexibility and agility were the smallest.

This was also the weakness of the Great Strength Bull Demon Art: strong sinews and bones, but lacking swiftness.

Of course, this weakness was not beyond remedy.

Song Changming merely needed to continue practicing that high-grade Light Body Technique of his to make up for this shortcoming in his Body Refinement Cultivation. It might even turn into an advantage.

All it required was more of his time and effort.

Overall, his current level of Body Refinement Cultivation was likely no weaker than Liang Chuanshan, Zhao Dezhi, and the others, who had trained their bodies for more than a decade!

Furthermore, after helping him reach Two Oxen Strength, the three hundred points of martial arts experience had also filled more than half of the next experience bar.

He only needed another eighty points of experience before he could make another breakthrough.

If he focused on practicing the Great Strength Bull Demon Art next, sparing no expense in silver, he estimated it would not take long before he broke through again.

When that time came, his strength would rise another level.

As he was pondering this, Song Changming suddenly felt unbearable hunger in his stomach and hurried to the kitchen to make himself a midnight meal.

He ate several more jin of meat before the surging hunger finally subsided.

It had to be said that after practicing martial arts, his appetite had grown with each passing day. He was a true glutton, and as his Body Refinement Cultivation improved, his ability to digest and absorb food had become extraordinary as well.

After eating, Song Changming felt that he was still full of energy and not sleepy in the slightest, so he simply continued consolidating his foundation.

After his Body Refinement Cultivation had abruptly risen, he needed a period of adaptation to regain fine control over every detail of his body.

The Bull Strength inside him especially needed adapting to.

Yet once he began practicing, he became engrossed in it. By the time he came back to himself, dawn had already arrived, and the sky was turning white.

Song Changming had practiced for an entire night, forgetting to sleep and rest. During that time, he had even fed the two little puppies in the doghouse goat's milk twice.

"Changming, why are you up so early today?" Mother Song asked in surprise as she stepped out of her room.

In the past, she had always risen first to prepare breakfast.

Today, the sun had risen in the west.

"I made a little progress in my martial arts practice. I got excited and woke up earlier than usual," Song Changming said, not mentioning that he had gone without sleep all night, lest Mother Song worry and nag him.

A short while later, after breakfast, Song Changming headed out.

He planned to catch up on sleep at the Patrol Guard Headquarters today.

Yet the moment he arrived at the Patrol Guard Headquarters, the busy Liang Chuanshan summoned him.

Inside the Director's inner chamber, Liang Chuanshan wore a Mysterious Black official uniform, carrying an air of natural authority.

"Recently, the Nine Bends Society has become increasingly rampant. Especially after I took office, they have stirred up public resentment everywhere. What do you think about this?" Liang Chuanshan asked directly, getting straight to the point with Song Changming, his trusted subordinate.

Song Changming immediately understood.

A new official had three fires to burn. It seemed his superior had found the target for his first fire.

(End of Chapter)