Performance

"No wonder it was a mid-grade ordinary ferocious beast."

With another sigh of admiration, Lin Sheng calmed his somewhat restless emotions.

He then assumed a fighting stance and began practicing the Raging Bull Fist.

He greatly anticipated whether the Iron Yak he had absorbed would truly provide some benefit to his cultivation of the Raging Bull Fist.

As he spread his stance, Lin Sheng quickly sensed that this time was different from before.

This time, as he practiced the Raging Bull Fist, he felt an indescribable, inexplicable sensation.

It was as if these moves had been hidden within his instincts all along. He could even sense certain unnatural aspects within the stance, and unconsciously made subtle adjustments. His entire body felt inexplicably clear and unimpeded.

The first form of the Raging Bull Fist.

Half an hour soon passed.

This time, not only did he feel no fatigue whatsoever, he instead felt brimming with energy.

The movements that had once felt awkward during practice now flowed with exceptional smoothness, as though his arms obeyed his every command.

He did not stop moving. Instead, he instinctively began mobilizing the breath within his body, circulating the Qi Circulation Method.

Unlike the awkwardness of mobilizing his blood and qi a few days ago, this time the Qi Circulation Method complemented his movements perfectly. He could even feel the blood and qi within him faintly responding to his control, growing increasingly active.

Time quietly passed. Another half hour went by, yet Lin Sheng remained immersed in practicing the Raging Bull Fist. His stance shifted from time to time, while the breath within him continuously circulated along with those changes.

As it circulated, the blood and qi in his body grew ever more active, flowing faster and faster through him. It seemed to reach some critical point, and with a bang, it was like a cork plugging a bottle had been pulled free.

Lin Sheng paused, feeling a hot current surge through his body.

"Have I entered the beginner stage!?"

His face was flushed red. Feeling the exceptionally active blood and qi within his body, joy appeared on his face.

At that moment, his entire body was bright red, as if engorged with blood, yet he had never felt better.

According to Tian Hu's instruction, when one's blood and qi fused together and nourished the body in return, it meant the Raging Bull Fist had truly entered the beginner stage.

He could clearly feel the changes in his body. The strength that had already surged after absorbing the Iron Yak had actually risen quite a bit again.

Naturally, the increase was nowhere near what he had gained from absorbing the Iron Yak. It was roughly equivalent to the Strength Boost he had received upon absorbing the Rock Goat.

His face was now full of smiles.

What delighted him was not merely that he had successfully entered the beginner stage, but that absorbing the Iron Yak truly gave a remarkably obvious boost to his cultivation of the Raging Bull Fist.

It felt as though he had suddenly gone from an ordinary person to a rare martial arts genius.

Of course, this boosting effect was limited to the Raging Bull Fist. But with this beginning, when he cultivated other martial arts in the future, he could choose corresponding ferocious beasts to absorb. The results surely would not disappoint him.

"It seems that when choosing martial arts in the future, I can focus on techniques like the Raging Bull Fist, which were created through observing ferocious beasts."

Lin Sheng thought to himself, already full of anticipation for the future.

He suppressed his excitement, took several deep breaths, and began carefully sensing the changes after his breakthrough.

"Tian Hu said that successfully entering the beginner stage of the Raging Bull Fist could increase one's strength by around thirty percent. That does seem true. Aside from the most obvious increase in strength, other aspects appear to have improved somewhat as well, though far less noticeably than strength."

"This is only the beginner stage. If I cultivate the Raging Bull Fist to a higher realm, just how powerful will its boost to my strength become?"

Lin Sheng muttered under his breath. He clearly knew that the Raging Bull Fist was nothing more than an utterly ordinary technique among martial arts.

Then what kind of effects would higher-tier martial arts possess!?

Growl...

A rumbling came from his stomach, and only then did Lin Sheng feel the intense hunger rising from within his body.

He did not delay, hurriedly lit a fire and cooked, tossing all five pounds of freshly bought pork offal into the pot.

Before long, the fragrance of meat wafted out. Ignoring the heat, he began wolfing it down.

The full five pounds of pork offal disappeared into his stomach in no time at all.

Lin Sheng held his stomach, yet he did not feel the slightest bloating. It seemed that the five pounds of pork offal had only barely filled him up.

"Martial arts truly aren't something ordinary families can afford to cultivate..."

After sighing, Lin Sheng hastily rinsed himself off, then went back out onto the street to buy more offal. After all, he was full now, but there were still two elderly people at home.

Night fell.

Having successfully entered the beginner stage of the Raging Bull Fist, he merely ran through the fighting stance a few times that night before climbing into bed early.

The pressure accumulated over so many days had all dispersed today. Perhaps he could finally get a good night's sleep.

"Now that the first form of my Raging Bull Fist has successfully entered the beginner stage, it's time to find a way to obtain the remaining cultivation methods."

Lin Sheng lay with his eyes open, looking through the small window of his room at the stars filling the sky.

Martial arts were absolutely rare things in this world. Even an ordinary martial art like the Raging Bull Fist was not something common people could obtain.

Although Great Yan did not prohibit martial arts, it maintained an exceptionally strict grip over martial arts techniques.

Even the martial arts that circulated on the market, no matter how ordinary, were extremely expensive—far beyond what ordinary people could afford.

Thus, if common people wished to cultivate martial arts, they either had to go through Great Yan's officials or through those powerful clans and aristocratic families.

That was also why all the workers in the Slaughterhouse had eagerly signed up the moment they heard that the Beast Hunter Hall was recruiting.

In a world like this, possessing martial arts meant having the chance to change one's fate.

However, Town Mountain Tower was no benevolent place either.

The Raging Bull Fist they taught was merely the cultivation method for the beginner stage.

As for what came afterward, one had to formally join the Beast Hunter Hall before becoming qualified to receive instruction.

"The Beast Hunter Hall..."

Chewing over the name, Lin Sheng gradually drifted into sleep.

Time quietly flowed on, and three days swiftly passed.

In the drying yard outside the Slaughterhouse.

"Good. Now assume your stances and let me see your progress."

Tian Hu hugged his knees, his expression calm as he looked at the crowd in the yard.

As the deputy hall master of the Beast Hunter Hall, he had no objections to selecting disciples from other halls.

It was simply that among the few halls under his charge, there were not many disciples worthy of his attention.

Fortunately, he had not held much hope to begin with. Most of the people in these halls came from poor families. Even having enough to eat was a problem, much less properly nourishing their bodies. Even if there were some decent seedlings, after being delayed for so long under such circumstances, the quality of their bones and blood and qi would decline.

Only around thirty people stood in the yard now, less than half of those who had initially signed up.

Clearly, quite a few had already recognized reality. After practicing bitterly without results, they could only choose to give up.

After all, many of them were the pillars holding up their families. They could not keep persisting like this forever.

Those who remained either felt they had made some progress in cultivation, or had somewhat better family circumstances and were unwilling to give up just like that.

At Tian Hu's words, the remaining skinners all assumed their fighting stances and began practicing.

Tian Hu merely watched them indifferently.

"Hmm?"

Suddenly, he gave a soft sound of surprise. His gaze sharpened and settled on a somewhat thin youth standing behind the other skinners.