Time flew by.
More than half a month had passed since the deaths of Li Kui and the other two. During this time, Yang Heng behaved as usual—delivering medicine and tempering his body—without going to the place where he had buried the fist manual.
Yang Heng worried that the pharmacy might have sent someone to watch him in secret.
With Li Kui dead, Yang Heng was highly suspicious.
First, he had a grudge against Li Kui. Everyone at the pharmacy knew of it; it was no secret.
Second, Li Kui had headed west of Qingyang Town, and Yang Heng had happened to be delivering medicine in that area that day. Moreover, neither he nor Li Kui had returned that night.
Based on those two points, he was highly suspicious.
Yang Heng himself knew that the suspicion on him was considerable, so he had acted cautiously these past few days, secretly watching to see whether anyone was monitoring him.
After several days, he found nothing unusual.
Could it be that Shopkeeper Chen truly had not suspected him?
Or had some other unexpected turn of events occurred?
Unable to figure it out, Yang Heng stopped dwelling on it.
Now that the storm had passed, it was time to cultivate the Vajra Fist and step onto the path of martial arts.
With his heart brimming with excitement, Yang Heng strode as swiftly as if flying toward the place where he had buried the fist manual.
In truth, Shopkeeper Chen had also suspected Yang Heng, but after thinking it over carefully, he found it unlikely.
Zhang Meng and Liu Xin were both martial artists, not far from the Blood Strengthening Realm. They could fight tigers without falling into disadvantage, and their strength far surpassed that of ordinary people.
Although Yang Heng had grown much sturdier over the past month, he was still, at his core, an ordinary person. It was impossible for him to be a match for Zhang Meng and Liu Xin.
Of course, there was another possibility.
Li Kui and the other two might have tried to kill Yang Heng, only to be killed by the martial artist behind him.
If that was truly the case, Shopkeeper Chen would have been too busy hiding to dare question Yang Heng.
As a martial artist in the middle stage of the Blood Strengthening Realm, Shopkeeper Chen had seen the world. He knew how terrifying someone capable of casually producing a Marrow Cleansing Pill had to be. Such a person was an existence beyond his reach.
There was a great chance that person was a powerful martial artist beyond the Body Tempering Realm.
If he failed to recognize what was good for him and truly tried to force Yang Heng for answers, he would only be seeking his own death.
Therefore, no matter which possibility was true, he had neither reason nor courage to question Yang Heng.
Unable to find the culprit, Shopkeeper Chen could only seize a few local thugs as scapegoats, letting outsiders understand that Hundred Herbs Pharmacy was not to be trifled with.
Yang Heng arrived at the place where he had hidden the treasure. He swept his gaze around and found no traces of outsiders having come by.
He took out the fist manual and read through it carefully.
The manual seemed to possess some mysterious power that drew in Yang Heng's mind. The moment he opened the first page and gave it a hurried glance, he became completely absorbed, unable to pull himself free and utterly unaware of time passing.
Half an hour flashed by.
Yang Heng reluctantly closed the fist manual in his hands, his face revealing excitement and delight.
He had read the manual through several times and discovered that this cultivation method called the Vajra Fist was far more valuable than he had imagined.
The fist manual was richly illustrated, and beside the text were notes and insights left behind by previous practitioners. It recorded in detail the barriers and obstacles one would encounter from entering martial arts up to the Iron Bone Realm, as well as the corresponding methods to overcome them.
Anyone who obtained the fist manual, so long as they were not illiterate and possessed a certain degree of cultivation talent, could follow the words and illustrations within and cultivate over time without any problem becoming a Blood Brave Disciple.
At first, Yang Heng had worried that even if he obtained a Martial Arts Manual, what would he do if he could not understand or grasp its meaning?
After all, a Martial Arts Manual was unlike ordinary books. You might recognize every word in it, yet when the words were strung together, you would be unable to understand them or comprehend the true meaning contained within.
Martial arts cultivation was inherently an extremely dangerous undertaking, with countless hurdles ahead and thorns thickly covering the path.
If one began practicing rashly before fully understanding the manual, death would be inevitable.
As the old saying went, a master led one through the door, but cultivation depended on the individual.
Without a master's verbal instruction and personal guidance, opening the door to martial arts was fraught with difficulty.
Unless you were a fucking genius.
But geniuses were few, after all. The vast majority of martial artists possessed only mediocre talent and could continue down the path of martial arts only through unyielding will and tireless effort.
Every word in a Martial Arts Manual was a pearl, containing profound truths of martial arts. Without someone to explain them, it was difficult to comprehend them thoroughly.
It was said that some profound cultivation methods contained the spiritual will of their authors within their words. Those whose cultivation was insufficient would become dizzy and disoriented after a single glance, and in severe cases, their lives might even be endangered.
What was more, some martial artists did not wish for others to learn their martial skills, so they left traps in their manuals to mislead later generations.
Cultivating such methods carried a high chance of suffering qi deviation, and some even lost their lives.
Therefore, if one obtained a cultivation method of unknown origin, it was best not to practice it without absolute confidence, lest something go wrong.
But Yang Heng did not have such concerns.
The Vajra Fist Manual was clearly a Lineage inheritance method. Every cultivation step was recorded in detail, written in plain and easy-to-understand terms, as though afraid later generations would fail to comprehend it.
Furthermore, words such as "Lineage" and "descendants" appeared throughout the book, conveying the earnest hopes of the forebears for those who came after them, hoping they would bring glory to the family name.
Besides, this fist manual had been the payment Li Kui gave those two men for murder. He did not dare deceive them, nor was he capable of doing so.
With that, Yang Heng could cultivate without worry, free of all lingering concerns.
Yang Heng picked up the fist manual again, widened his eyes, and carefully read through it, afraid of missing even a single word.
After reading it several more times, Yang Heng gained some understanding of martial arts cultivation.
He also truly came to understand where the strength of martial artists lay, and how they differed from ordinary people.
In martial arts cultivation, one first had to understand one thing: what exactly did practicing martial arts train?
If this question was unclear, cultivation would often yield twice the effort for half the result, bringing scant gains.
In the early stages of martial arts cultivation, what one trained was qi and blood.
Qi and blood were the foundation of the body and the source of all a martial artist's strength.
When qi and blood were abundant, one's strength would naturally be great.
Using the same set of moves, a martial artist with deep qi and blood could often unleash far greater power.
Moreover, abundant qi and blood gave one greater endurance, allowing battles to last longer and one to persist for more time.
Qi and blood had endless wondrous uses. Not only could it strengthen one's attacks, it could also enhance one's defense and resist the strikes of blades and swords.
Qi and blood moved according to one's will.
When a certain part of the body was struck by clubs, blades, or swords, a single thought would immediately send qi and blood to that region. The defensive power of the skin and flesh there would surge in an instant, becoming like oxhide, difficult for blades and swords to wound.
The entry realm of martial arts cultivation was called the Blood Brave Realm.
The Blood Brave Realm was divided into two stages: the Sensing Qi and Blood stage and the accumulating qi and blood stage.
When a martial artist cultivated a Martial Arts Manual and sensed the existence of qi and blood, they had stepped through the gates of martial arts. They were then a prospective martial artist, known as a Blood Brave Disciple.
A martial artist in the Sensing Qi and Blood stage already possessed physical abilities beyond those of ordinary people. With one hand, they could lift a three-hundred-jin weight, while their senses, reaction speed, agility, and other abilities all increased slightly, surpassing ordinary people by a wide margin.
A martial artist at this stage could easily handle the joint assault of seven or eight strong men who carried no weapons.
Once one reached the accumulating qi and blood stage, a martial artist's strength would erupt like a wellspring. Though it could not be called a qualitative breakthrough, it was still exceedingly astonishing.
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