At noon, Yang Heng went to a grand restaurant and enjoyed a hearty meal. On the way back to his residence, he bought another hundred jin of beef jerky to replenish the strength he expended on martial training.
With everything prepared, Yang Heng devoted himself wholeheartedly to cultivation.
In the courtyard, he sat cross-legged beneath a large tree, circulating his cultivation technique and absorbing the considerable energy contained in the food inside him, converting it into qi and blood.
Yang Heng had spent five taels of silver on that noon meal. Everything he ate was highly nourishing, rich in nutrients and brimming with energy.
After cultivating for a while, Yang Heng felt his entire body begin to heat up, as though he were soaking in a hot spring. He felt warm all over, completely at ease.
The red "thin thread" condensed from the qi and blood throughout his body gradually grew stronger. Strands of blood qi surged toward the "red thread" like moths flying into a flame.
The "red thread" visibly began to thicken, stretch, and lengthen.
Before long, its body had expanded by a full circle. It was nearly as thick as a chopstick and around an inch long. He had taken another step closer to the Blood Strengthening Realm requirement of pinky-finger thickness and two inches in length.
At the sight, Yang Heng became even more motivated to cultivate.
He hurriedly began practicing Vajra Fist again.
Walking to the center of the open ground, Yang Heng spread his legs apart, leaned his body slightly forward and downward, opened his hands, and curled his ten fingers into fists. Holding them three inches from his chest, he assumed the opening stance of Vajra Fist and officially began its cultivation.
Every time his fists rose, they carried overwhelming momentum, as though he were wielding a vajra pestle. His blows were heavy and powerful, and the sonic booms they produced were deafening. The surrounding air churned endlessly in rolling white waves, while fallen leaves in the courtyard whirled through the sky.
In an instant, Yang Heng resembled a miniature tornado passing through. Dirt, stones, and fallen leaves circled slowly around him. When he stopped throwing punches, the dirt, stones, and leaves seemed to lose their weight and fell one after another to the ground, producing dull thudding sounds.
He seemed entirely unaware of the commotion he had caused and continued practicing Vajra Fist with utmost concentration.
Once Vajra Fist reached Minor Accomplishment, one could begin cultivating its three great Killing Moves.
The first great Killing Move: Vajra Pestle Strike!
This move possessed boundless power. When unleashed, both arms had to be drawn together and raised high, half a foot above one's head, forming the shape of a vajra pestle. With a single strike, it mobilized all the power in the body—qi and blood, physical strength, and more—erupting with dazzling golden light, resplendent as the sun, with the might to shatter stone and split earth.
If it struck an enemy's head, their skull would instantly burst into four pieces, leaving them dead beyond all doubt.
What was a Killing Move?
Naturally, it was a move meant to kill in one strike, never to be used lightly unless it was a critical moment.
Yang Heng was currently cultivating this move.
Cultivating a Killing Move required complete concentration. One had to carefully comprehend the circulation path of qi and blood, become familiar with the sensation, and engrave it into one's bones.
That way, one would not panic when unleashing the move and could erupt with its full power in an instant.
If one was not proficient enough with a Killing Move and suddenly faltered in battle, allowing an enemy to seize the opening, that would be dangerous.
For the sake of his own life, Yang Heng cultivated with extreme seriousness. He strove to practice Vajra Pestle Strike until it was utterly familiar, stamped into his mind and carved into his soul, so that he could unleash its full power in an instant and kill an enemy with a single blow.
Whenever his strength was nearly exhausted, Yang Heng immediately pulled out some beef jerky and chewed it.
With the help of the Marrow Cleansing Pearl, the energy contained in the beef jerky was digested by his internal organs at an astonishing speed, and his strength gradually recovered.
In the time it took to drink half a cup of tea, Yang Heng's strength had fully recovered. He was back at full health.
He continued cultivating the Killing Move—Vajra Pestle Strike!
When tired, he lay on the rocking chair to rest, closing his eyes to refresh his mind.
When hungry, he took out beef jerky to replenish his energy.
Again and again, Yang Heng made the utmost use of his time, wasting not a single moment.
Even the king of grinders would have no choice but to admire him.
This was practically half a perpetual-motion machine. If his mind did not need time to recover, Yang Heng could cultivate until the seas ran dry and the rocks crumbled.
His endurance was far too strong!
Anyone who saw it would have to say, damn, that was incredible!
Time spent cultivating always passed quickly.
Before he knew it, the sky had gone completely dark. The surroundings were deathly quiet, and with the Mass Grave so close by, the place felt somewhat creepy.
Yet he was not afraid in the slightest.
After an afternoon of cultivation, he had practiced Vajra Pestle Strike hundreds of times. He was incomparably proficient with it; it had been carved into his bones, impossible to forget even if he wanted to.
With the slightest movement of his hands and feet, he could unleash this Killing Move.
Even if a ghost appeared before him now, he would dare to rush forward, smash its head apart, and let it experience what it felt like to have its skull split into eight pieces.
Although his strength had greatly increased, with both his movement technique and fist technique advancing hand in hand to Minor Accomplishment, and although he had mastered one great Killing Move of Vajra Fist—
He still had no confidence that he could survive against a Blood Strengthening Realm martial artist.
The pressure Shopkeeper Chen and Lei Xiong had brought him was simply too overwhelming. Even now, whenever Yang Heng recalled it, lingering fear still remained in his heart.
He still needed to become stronger!
The small courtyard was a fine place to practice fist techniques, with no one to disturb him, but its space was too limited and hindered the cultivation of Lightness Skill.
Yang Heng decided that tomorrow, he would go into the mountains and forests to cultivate his movement technique.
One day for fist techniques, one day for movement techniques, alternating between them and advancing hand in hand.
As for strengthening his qi and blood, he would do that at night.
Fist techniques were skills for self-defense and means of dealing with enemies.
Lightness Skill, meanwhile, was not only a means to gain the initiative in battle, but also an art of preserving one's life.
If matters proved impossible, he could use Lightness Skill to flee without a trace.
Like that man in black: his martial arts were lacking, but his Lightness Skill was exceedingly profound. It was precisely because he possessed such superb Lightness Skill that Yang Heng had been unable to injure him.
Therefore, once a Lightness Skill was cultivated to great depths, its usefulness could even surpass that of offensive arts.
Cultivating qi and blood was equally important.
Cultivation was the root of everything. Once one's cultivation broke through, every aspect of the body would improve enormously, and one's strength would naturally increase by leaps and bounds.
The higher one's cultivation, the stronger one's strength. This was an ironclad rule, a truth beyond doubt.
For example, a Blood Strengthening Realm martial artist could still hold an absolute advantage against a Blood Brave Disciple even if he had barely practiced martial skills, easily crushing a disciple beneath his realm.
This was Realm Suppression.
One realm, one heaven.
Breaking through the heavens was exceedingly difficult. Very few people could accomplish it.
Being able to fight an opponent a major realm above one's own to a standstill was already the mark of a heaven-blessed genius.
If one could cross an entire major realm and kill an opponent, then even heaven-blessed genius would not be enough to describe such ferocity. That would simply be a monster!
A freak!
Such people were as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns; it was difficult for even one to emerge among ordinary martial artists.
They usually appeared in places such as Martial Arts Families and sects.
Once such a person appeared, they would become someone capable of stirring the winds and clouds, instantly becoming the center of the crowd as flattering words poured endlessly into their ears.
Silver and beautiful women would also be delivered into their arms.
Befriending such a figure brought enormous benefits.
So long as they did not die midway, those who invested in them would one day reap unimaginable returns.
Many people were willing to do such things.
But geniuses also had flaws.
Some martial geniuses had once possessed boundless futures. After accepting merchants' investments, they sank into lives of drunken gold and paper, neglecting the martial path. By the time they awakened, it was already too late.
Walking the martial path meant not only brambles everywhere and countless hardships, but also temptations that emerged from time to time. How one properly faced them tested a martial artist's mental fortitude and resolve.
If one could not even resist these things, then after cultivating to profound realms, where seclusion often lasted years, they would likely be unable to endure the loneliness within. Dying from cultivation deviation would be inevitable.
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