Body Entry, Part Two

Successfully getting started with the Raging Bull Fist had not been difficult at all.

With that in mind, he began training once more.

Lin Sheng did not stop until the sky was nearly dark.

By then, he could already feel that his control over the power of blood and qi within his body had improved somewhat compared to before.

"Going at this rate, I can successfully get started in five days at most. If I'm lucky, I might be able to stir my blood and qi within three days."

He raised his head to glance at the dusky sky. Before he knew it, more than two hours had passed.

"I can't believe I trained for so long."

Before the rock sheep had entered his body, let alone lasting more than two hours, being able to train for the time it took to burn one stick of incense would already have been quite good.

After training for so long, he felt somewhat tired now, though it was still within what he could endure.

It was not that he did not want to continue. His growling stomach interrupted him, followed by a fierce wave of hunger.

Although the rock sheep entering his body had greatly increased his endurance, what it consumed was still his own energy.

After all that training, the dinner he had eaten at the slaughterhouse had long since been digested clean.

Training in martial arts, training in martial arts—since ancient times, the poor pursued scholarship while the wealthy pursued martial arts. Martial arts consumed enormous resources. Poor families could not eat their fill or dress warmly, and their constitutions and natural foundations were innately several notches weaker than others'. Thus, even those with decent talent found it hard to rise above the crowd in such conditions.

Lin Sheng naturally understood this principle. In an ancient society like this, especially one where true martial arts existed as a form of transcendent power, the demand for resources was even greater.

Still, the Raging Bull Fist was among the lowest of the low in martial arts, so the cost of getting started was not too great.

Lin Sheng returned to his room and took out his wages.

He had only been at Town Mountain Tower for a little over two months, and had received wages once.

Looking at the seventy large coins in his hand, his monthly wage at Town Mountain Tower was eighty large coins.

Adding in his usual expenses and what he gave his parents, he only had seventy large coins in savings now.

Two or three large coins could buy a jin of coarse rice. His monthly wages could buy nearly forty jin of it.

The slaughterhouse also provided two meals at noon, while his elder brother usually worked for the Sun family and rarely came home. As long as he lived frugally, his monthly wages were enough to support his parents.

However, Xie Guilan and Lin Hong rarely took his money, saying he should save it to marry a wife.

Xie Guilan took on sewing, washing, and other odd jobs outside. Though his father Lin Hong had an injured leg and could not move about conveniently, he rarely stayed at home. Instead, he set up a stall on the streets to sell sundries, barely managing to support himself.

Feeling his progress in the Raging Bull Fist after the rock sheep entered his body, Lin Sheng understood that joining the Beast Hunter Hall was now as certain as a nail driven into a board.

Thus, he no longer needed to live as cautiously as before. He went out into the street and picked through the goods at a butcher shop, buying five jin of pork offal.

Compared to prime cuts, offal was much cheaper. It was meat, at least, and could replenish the energy he consumed.

After some haggling, the five jin of offal cost Lin Sheng eighteen large coins.

This was the first time he had spent so extravagantly, but it was all for cultivation. These expenses were necessary.

He wandered around the butcher shop again, wanting to see whether there were any other parts worth buying.

"Since the rock sheep can enter my body, then mountain boars should be able to as well. It's just a pity they don't have what I want..."

After circling the shop, Lin Sheng discovered that most of the meat sold there was mountain boar, with some rock sheep meat left over.

"Little Brother Lin, is there something else you want?"

The butcher saw that Lin Sheng had not left and immediately asked with a smile.

"Shopkeeper, do you have any beef?"

"Beef!?"

The butcher froze at Lin Sheng's words, then frowned.

"Beef is a rare thing around here. If you want beef, Little Brother Lin, you'll have a hard time buying any on Crock Street."

"Then can you get cow blood?"

Lin Sheng seemed to have expected the shopkeeper's answer and asked bluntly.

"Cow blood?" The butcher scratched his head, surprise on his face, but did not think much of it. After pondering for a while, he finally said,

"Cow blood is much easier. When I go buy stock in the next couple of days, I can keep an eye out for you. How much do you need?"

"I want five jin—no, ten jin."

"For ten jin, twenty-five large coins. The price is firm."

The shopkeeper named his price directly.

Lin Sheng frowned slightly at the price.

Seemingly noticing his hesitation, the butcher said with a beaming smile,

"Little Brother Lin, I know it's a bit expensive, but when we meat sellers go to buy stock, we buy less. They might not be willing to sell it to you. Besides, cow blood isn't easy to sell on Crock Street, so naturally there's a bit of a markup."

"All right. We'll go with your price."

Lin Sheng nodded in the end, then left five large coins as a deposit.

When he had been training the Raging Bull Fist at home earlier, he had already formed a suspicion.

Since rock sheep could enter his body, why not directly choose a cow to enter his body instead?

After all, it was called the Raging Bull Fist, the Raging Bull Fist—there was a bull in its name. And when Tian Hu had taught them this martial art before, he had also said so.

This Raging Bull Fist had been created in ancient times by a Martial Way prodigy who observed wild bulls locking horns.

Since it had been created through observing wild bulls, then choosing a bovine creature to enter his body should be the best fit for cultivating the Raging Bull Fist.

Still, this was only his guess. Whether things were truly as he imagined would have to wait until he tested it himself.

When he returned home, Lin Hong and Xie Guilan had already come back.

When Xie Guilan saw the pork offal in Lin Sheng's hands, she could not help saying,

"Ah Sheng, why did you go out and buy so much offal? You're spending money recklessly again. If you keep this up, when will you ever marry a wife?"

Hearing his mother's nagging, Lin Sheng felt helpless as well.

It was perfectly normal to marry early in ancient society. His elder brother's marriage had not even been settled yet, but she was so concerned about him, the second son.

Thinking of this, he understood why his elder brother Lin Miao lived with the Sun family for long stretches and rarely returned home. It seemed the terror of being urged to marry existed not only in his previous life, but still remained even now.

"All right, what are you saying so much for? Ah Sheng is training in martial arts now, so his consumption is naturally greater than before. And he isn't a child anymore. Stop going on and on."

It was Lin Hong who finally spoke up, putting an end to Xie Guilan's endless chatter.

Xie Guilan stepped forward, took the pork offal from Lin Sheng, and began stoking the fire to cook.

Of the five jin of pork offal, Lin Sheng alone wolfed down four jin.

Such an appetite left both elders stunned.

Lin Sheng, meanwhile, held his stomach as he went out into the courtyard, striking while the iron was hot and continuing his training.

He did not know whether it was an illusion, but Lin Sheng felt that his digestion seemed much stronger than before.

The bloated fullness in his belly faded after only the time it took to burn one stick of incense.

Thinking again of how his strength had improved somewhat after the rock sheep entered his body, he gained a little more understanding of the Mountain Sea Scroll.