Accumulating Vitality

Night fell.

After washing up, Yang Heng sat cross-legged on the rosewood bed, his bearing solemn and dignified as he circulated his cultivation method and moved his vitality.

A pile of beef jerky lay beside him, prepared for any contingency.

With both the cultivation method and the Marrow Cleansing Pearl exerting their power, the beef jerky quickly transformed into wisps of red threads that rose and merged into the crystalline red cord above his dantian.

The chopstick-thick "red cord" sipped at the blood qi in small mouthfuls, gradually growing bit by bit. Like building blocks piled together, it became increasingly larger, its color ever more vivid—crystal-clear, bright red like a red agate.

From the outside, Yang Heng's expression was calm, his brows relaxed and his demeanor natural. On closer inspection, he seemed to be savoring something, the corners of his mouth occasionally lifting as though he were in an exceptionally good mood.

Strip after strip of beef jerky disappeared into Yang Heng's mouth. He was like a gluttonous beast with an enormous appetite, capable of swallowing endless food, seemingly without the slightest worry that he might fail to digest it.

In less than half an hour, Yang Heng had already eaten five pounds of beef jerky, yet he still did not stop. Opening his mouth wide, he continued chewing the jerky in his mouth.

He did not stop cultivating until near the end of the midnight hour.

The reason he stopped was not that he had run out of beef jerky, but that his mental energy truly could not hold out any longer.

Moving and converting vitality consumed Mental Energy. Yang Heng had cultivated without pause for a full two hours, and his Mental Energy was on the verge of exhaustion. He had to stop.

Otherwise, he would damage his body. In severe cases, it might even leave lasting aftereffects.

Over the course of one night, he ate more than twenty pounds of beef jerky. By the end, chewing it was no different from chewing wood; he could not taste the jerky's deliciousness at all.

It was truly as tasteless as chewing wax.

But for the sake of raising his cultivation, Yang Heng had no choice but to endure it.

Though the process was somewhat painful, the gains were immense.

After this cultivation session, the "red cord" had expanded outward by another circle and was not far from reaching the thickness of a little finger.

Yang Heng estimated that at this rate, he would meet the standard for breaking through to the Blood Strengthening Realm in half a month.

Of course, this standard was merely the minimum threshold for a breakthrough. Reaching it meant one possessed the qualifications to break through to the Blood Strengthening Realm, but whether the breakthrough would succeed still depended on fate, one's personal accumulation, and the quality of one's cultivation method.

The vast majority of martial artists did not immediately charge toward the Blood Strengthening Realm once their vitality reached the thickness of a little finger and a length of roughly two inches.

Instead, they continued accumulating vitality until they reached the limits of their bodies before considering a breakthrough.

Rashly attempting to break through the moment one reached the threshold would fail nine times out of ten. This was a lesson written in blood by those who came before.

The Vajra Fist Manual also recorded that it was safest to break through only after one had accumulated a deeper reserve of vitality.

The deeper one's accumulation of vitality, the greater the benefits gained after a breakthrough.

Upon breaking through to the Blood Strengthening Realm, one's vitality would double, becoming twice what it had been before.

For example, if one's vitality had previously been only as thick as a little finger, then after the breakthrough, one's total vitality would become equivalent to two little fingers.

It was precisely because of this that many martial artists did not rush to break through upon reaching the threshold. They continued tempering their foundations, striving to soar skyward in cultivation after their breakthrough.

One had to know that cultivation in the Blood Strengthening Realm was far more difficult than in the Blood Brave Realm.

Blood Strengthening, Blood Strengthening—just as the name implied, this realm still focused primarily on accumulating vitality. Yet from the moment one stepped into it, accumulating vitality became exceedingly difficult.

In the Blood Brave Realm, one could draw energy from meat and convert it into vitality, producing a relatively considerable amount of vitality.

But upon reaching the Blood Strengthening Realm, relying on meat alone to obtain vitality was utterly like a cup of water against a cartload of fire; it could not meet the needs of daily cultivation.

At this stage, ordinary meat could no longer satisfy a martial artist's cultivation. Only special meats, such as tiger meat or bear meat—the flesh of these large, ferocious beasts—could barely sustain a Blood Strengthening martial artist's daily cultivation needs.

Better cultivation resources were highly nourishing medicinal herbs, such as ginseng, Lingzhi Mushroom, exotic white lotus, and the like.

Even more superior martial resources were naturally pills—pills that increased cultivation.

But pills were difficult for ordinary martial artists to obtain and were controlled by major powers.

Even when they appeared on the market, there were too many wolves and too little meat, and their prices were exorbitant. Ordinary Blood Strengthening martial artists could hardly compete for them.

Upon reaching the Blood Strengthening Realm, cultivation progress was often measured in months. It was difficult to sense any advancement from a single day of cultivation.

Most martial artists had teachers or elders and knew the difficulties of cultivating in the Blood Strengthening Realm. Thus, they remained at the breakthrough threshold, desperately accumulating vitality until they could not increase it by even a thread before considering a breakthrough.

The Vajra Fist Manual was Li Kui's Family Cultivation Method. It recorded all manner of cultivation secrets from the entry level of martial arts through the Iron Bone Realm, making its value immeasurable.

Thus, Yang Heng also understood this "common knowledge."

It perfectly matched his lifelong martial philosophy—consolidate the foundation and build an impregnable base.

After cultivating for an entire day, Yang Heng felt incomparably exhausted. The moment he fell onto the bed, he sank into deep sleep.

The night passed without incident.

The next day was the sixteenth day of gathering herbs in the mountains.

If nothing unexpected happened, the people from the medicine shop who had gone out to gather herbs would return to Qingyang Town around evening.

Yang Heng had kept this matter firmly in mind.

He had never forgotten Master Zhang's "kindness" toward the previous owner of this body.

Now that Master Zhang had finally revealed his tail and turned out to be the medicine shop's spy, betraying the shop's interests, he would not have a good ending once the medicine shop learned of it.

Yang Heng decided that he would spend some time watching the medicine shop every day from now on. The moment Master Zhang began transporting medicinal herbs to Qinghe City, Yang Heng would reveal that Master Zhang was an inside traitor to the medicine shop one day after he set out.

If Master Zhang fled in advance, Yang Heng would personally make a move and take his life.

If Master Zhang had not left within a day, then after the medicine shop received the Secret Letter, they would naturally monitor his movements in secret. At that point, he would not be able to escape even if he wanted to.

Once news of the stolen medicinal herbs returned to the medicine shop, it went without saying that Master Zhang would surely be better off dead than alive.

This would be even more satisfying than Yang Heng taking action himself.

No matter what, Master Zhang was walking a dead-end road.

If Lei Xiong were killed by the Black Wind Stronghold while transporting the medicinal herbs, Yang Heng could only think of another way to join the Medicine King Gang, or join some other major power.

Yang Heng was not determined to hang himself from the single tree that was the Medicine King Gang. Other major powers of comparable standing were also within his consideration.

At that time, if he joined as a Blood Strengthening Realm martial artist, he believed no force would turn him away at the door.

Blood Strengthening Realm martial artists were not cabbages in Qinghe City, where martial artists gathered in droves. They were the backbone of any faction and possessed a certain standing.

Not enough to rank among the best, but more than enough to surpass the rest.

Of course, joining the Medicine King Gang would be best of all.

After all, the Medicine King Gang had risen through medicinal herbs, and its main business was also selling medicinal herbs.

Since ancient times, medicinal herbs and pills had never been separated. The Medicine King Gang also sold pills to the public.

If he joined the Medicine King Gang and became one of its disciples, the difficulty of acquiring pills would greatly decrease, and his cultivation progress would not be delayed.

Moreover, factions that sold medicinal herbs and pills or ran medical clinics usually valued their reputations. They did not act as perversely and arrogantly as other factions. He would face fewer dangers and would not have to fight and kill all day long.

That way, he would have more time for cultivation.

The Medicine King Gang was the best destination in Yang Heng's heart.