Bodhisattva Practice and Copper Skin Skill

"Dragon Gate Master, take your disciple inside to choose a martial art. I'll guard outside."

Uncle Liang picked up the teapot and continued to stand guard at the entrance of the Transmission Room. Long Yuanzheng nodded and led Su Ti inside.

Although called the Transmission Room, it wasn't actually very large, only about thirty to forty square meters. Compared to the area outside, this space was pitifully small.

Moreover, even within these thirty to forty square meters, more than half was empty. There were only three iron shelves, on which some ancient books were placed.

Su Ti followed Long Yuanzheng and looked around. On the first shelf, the first book displayed was extremely familiar to him.

It was a book with a black cover and blue text, with the three large characters "Body Tempering Art" written on it.

Su Ti was a little surprised. Wasn't this the Ancient Martial Art he had seen on the dark web?

After bringing Su Ti here, Long Yuanzheng explained to him.

"Su Ti, every Ancient Martial Arts sect has a Transmission Room, which records all the martial arts collected within their sect. The place you are in now is our Dragon Gate's Transmission Room. Every Ancient Martial Art here was collected by successive Dragon Gate Masters with great effort."

"Of course, our Dragon Gate has a long history. The martial arts collected at the beginning were certainly more than what we have now. Along the way, we also experienced many losses, destructions, and re-collections. In short, our Dragon Gate's current heritage and foundation are all here."

"The Ancient Martial Arts on these shelves are divided into three types. The first type is Tongli Stage Ancient Martial Arts, such as Body Tempering Art and Dragon Shape Five Forms. However, you have already completed Tongli, so this type of Ancient Martial Art is useless to you."

"The second is external arts. As the saying goes, 'internal refinement cultivates a breath, external refinement cultivates muscles, bones, and skin.' Although an excellent external art cannot fundamentally increase a martial artist's strength and speed, it can increase their resistance to strikes and their fault tolerance, indirectly improving their strength. I believe you deeply experienced this after your fight with Demon Mountain."

Su Ti nodded slightly. Indeed, if Demon Mountain hadn't practiced external arts, with his Inner Refinement Second Layer's qi and blood fighting style, Demon Mountain would have vomited blood and been severely injured with the first punch. Not to mention, he endured the injuries from his Double Python Whip and fought with him for so long, and even almost turned the tide at the end. This shows the improvement in combat power that an external art provides.

After that battle, he actually had the idea of cultivating an external art, but Long Yuanzheng had already considered it for him.

"Su Ti, you can choose one external art here to learn. However, you must also be aware that although external arts significantly enhance combat power, cultivating them will greatly distract a martial artist's energy and reduce the time they spend on internal refinement. When you cultivate, you must distinguish between primary and secondary. You should know that internal refinement is the foundation of a martial artist."

A martial artist's best years in their youth are only about a dozen years. If they become engrossed in cultivating external arts and fighting styles, the ultimate result is that their internal refinement will be slow to break through. By the time they get older, it will not be so easy to break through the internal refinement level.

If Su Ti wasn't about to face Li Mingsheng, which was a major test for him, Long Yuanzheng wouldn't even want Su Ti to practice this external art, fearing it would distract his energy.

"Don't rush with external arts for now. You can take your time choosing later. The important thing is the third type of martial art, which is related to your subsequent internal refinement. Come with me."

Long Yuanzheng led Su Ti to the last shelf, where only three ancient books were placed.

The covers of these three ancient books were of different colors, divided into blue, black, and red.

They were respectively...

Golden Snake Molting, Toad Fishing Skill, and Bodhisattva Practice.

Long Yuanzheng brushed over these three ancient martial arts one by one.

"The first book, Golden Snake Molting, is our Dragon Gate's own internal refinement method. You have already practiced this and have reached great completion, with no further progress possible."

"And these Toad Fishing Skill and Bodhisattva Practice are internal refinement methods from other sects collected by successive Dragon Gate Masters. Compared to Golden Snake Molting, these two internal refinement methods do not require high bone structure. Even with your bone structure, you can cultivate to a very high level."

Su Ti was delighted. This was truly great. He was really afraid that his bone structure was too poor and he would only be able to reach the Inner Refinement Second Layer his entire life.

"But don't be happy too early."

Seeing Su Ti's expression, Long Yuanzheng poured cold water on him.

"If these two cultivation methods were really that good, I would have taught you these two from the beginning instead of Golden Snake Molting."

"The first method, Toad Fishing Skill, requires a special medicinal formula and must be practiced in conjunction with medicinal baths. That medicinal formula was lost a hundred years ago, so this martial art is incomplete. Forcing its practice will only lead to death."

"And this second method, Bodhisattva Practice..."

Long Yuanzheng's expression became very complicated, he hesitated to speak, and after a long while, he finally said it.

"It doesn't require any medicinal formula, and it doesn't have requirements for bone structure. It's just simply very difficult. See for yourself, and you'll know after reading it."

Since Long Yuanzheng said so, Su Ti also picked it up and looked. He had a modifier, so he wasn't too worried about the difficulty.

Ten minutes later...

"Master, are you sure this is a martial art for humans to practice?"

Su Ti put down Bodhisattva Practice, his brows tightly furrowed.

This ancient martial art was less of an internal refinement method and more of a cruel torture method.

Cultivators needed to wear shackles and chains, eat five poisons, sleep on a bed of needles, be covered by stone tablets, bathe in fire, be immersed in water, be buried alive, be washed with acid, and endure various unimaginable hardships and tests to cultivate it.

"You didn't misread. This Bodhisattva Practice was passed down from Mi Country. Mi Country has a strong Buddhist culture, and ascetic practitioners are prevalent. Even in Mi Country, this cultivation method is only practiced by the most ascetic of ascetic practitioners. It is not something ordinary people can learn."

Long Yuanzheng sighed. If it were truly a good thing, he would have taken it out long ago. Why would he keep it hidden?

If there really was no other way, he wouldn't let his disciple cultivate this.

"Su Ti, these are all the internal refinement methods of our Dragon Gate. Whether you want to cultivate this Bodhisattva Practice is up to you to decide. Master will support your choice."

Su Ti said without hesitation.

"I will cultivate it, Master!"

"Mm."

Long Yuanzheng looked deeply at Su Ti. Only those who had seen the cultivation method of Bodhisattva Practice knew how difficult a path Su Ti had chosen. This wasn't just difficult, it was self-abuse, self-mutilation!

After confirming that he would cultivate Bodhisattva Practice, with Long Yuanzheng's help, Su Ti also chose an external art, Copper Skin Skill.

The reason for choosing this external art was that Long Yuanzheng himself also practiced Copper Skin Skill and had reached the level of great completion, so he could give Su Ti a lot of guidance.

Secondly, the cultivation method of Copper Skin Skill had many overlapping points with Bodhisattva Practice, and the two could be cultivated together.

Early the next morning, Yao Juan and the other two were woken up by a series of cracking sounds.

When they went up to the third floor rooftop, they saw that it was Long Yuanzheng practicing with Su Ti.

Saying it was practice, it was actually Su Ti in a horse stance, bare-chested, being whipped by Long Yuanzheng with a cloth whip.

Anyone who didn't know would think Su Ti had made a mistake and Long Yuanzheng was punishing him.

"This is how you practice Copper Skin Skill."

Wang Gengyuan's eyes gleamed with excitement as he watched from the stairwell.

He himself practiced Copper Skin Skill, which was the reason for his slightly dark complexion.

However, compared to Long Yuanzheng's Copper Skin Skill at Great Accomplishment with a normal complexion, Wang Gengyuan hadn't even reached Minor Accomplishment.

"I didn't expect Master to teach Junior Brother external martial arts. When I wanted to learn external martial arts before, Master didn't agree."

Yao Juan said.

Wang Gengyuan pouted and said directly, "Eldest Senior Sister, you have good talent, and there's still room for improvement in Golden Snake Molting, so Master didn't let you learn. It's not like me and Third Junior Brother, who are close to reaching the limit of Golden Snake Molting. After shedding our skin one or two more times, we'll be at our limit, which is why we were allowed to learn external martial arts."

Both Wang Gengyuan and Yan Jun were at Inner Refinement Second Layer, and their Golden Snake Molting limit was around Inner Refinement Third or Fourth Layer. This was already good; their bone structure wasn't excellent, but it was moderate, unlike Su Ti's extremely poor bone structure where he was done after two Inner Refinements.

Wang Gengyuan didn't care about this at all. He had been told about his talent by Long Yuanzheng a long time ago. After knowing he wasn't cut out for it, he was depressed for a while but then came to terms with it.

Only Yan Jun's face subtly flashed with a hint of gloom when he heard this.

"Eldest Senior Sister, do you know what Junior Brother's bone structure is like?"

Wang Gengyuan asked. Asking about someone's bone structure was a big taboo, so he didn't ask Su Ti directly but instead asked Yao Juan indirectly.

Yao Juan shook her head.

"I don't know, Master didn't say. I think it should be very good, otherwise how could he break through to Tongli Stage and reach Inner Refinement Stage so quickly?"

Wang Gengyuan chuckled, "Although we don't know what our Junior Brother's bone structure is like, his killing intent is truly heavy."

As soon as he said this, not only Yao Juan but even Yan Jun nodded in agreement.

First, he beat Li Zong's son, Li Mingyuan, to death, and then he beat Demon Mountain to death on the arena, even smashing the iron cage and Demon Mountain's chest.

The brutal appearance covered in blood from yesterday was still fresh in everyone's memory.

"But this is also good. A martial arts sect always needs someone who can fight. Our Dragon Gate Martial Hall really lacks such a character."

Wang Gengyuan said with emotion after mentioning it.

Although Long Yuanzheng was the best fighter, who could he fight at his level?

As for the rest, Wang Gengyuan, Yao Juan, and Yan Jun, although they were all in the Inner Refinement Stage, they focused on cultivation and rarely fought with others, let alone life-and-death battles or killing people.

This led to the Dragon Gate Martial Hall's reputation not being prominent. Although there was also the element of Long Yuanzheng deliberately keeping a low profile, it wasn't until Su Ti's battle yesterday that he left a deep impression on many powerful and influential figures.

This kind of impression and reputation, which seemed non-existent, brought enormous intangible benefits.

If the Dragon Gate Martial Hall was strong, they would be more inclined to establish a relationship with it, sending their children to become disciples and strive to become direct disciples.

With the master-disciple relationship, their forces would be more closely integrated with the Dragon Gate Martial Hall.

Many martial halls grew stronger this way, attracting more wealthy disciples through their reputation, eventually forming a large network of influence and dominating an area.

However, Long Yuanzheng didn't seem to have such an idea, otherwise he wouldn't have only taken a mere four disciples and opened a few martial halls that were more commercial than sectarian in nature before stopping.

According to the rules of master-disciple transmission, what was transmitted was not for oneself, and even direct disciples were not allowed to watch. Yao Juan and the other two didn't watch much. After saying a few words, they quickly left to avoid suspicion.

On the training ground on the third floor, Su Ti was still bare-chested and being severely whipped by Long Yuanzheng.

Although he was at Inner Refinement Second Layer, he actually didn't have any external martial arts enhancement, so his resistance to blows was still very fragile.

Coupled with Long Yuanzheng's control of force, even though he was just using a cloth strip, Su Ti was still whipped all over, his skin red and covered in blood marks, stinging like fire.

After whipping his upper body, Su Ti took off his pants, wearing only a pair of shorts, and Long Yuanzheng began to whip his thighs, calves, buttocks, and other areas.

Only when his whole body was red and covered in blood marks did Long Yuanzheng put down the cloth strip and take out a box of medicinal oil to apply to Su Ti's body.

"This is the special medicinal oil for Copper Skin Skill. It can clear bruises, heal external injuries, and strengthen the epidermis. Over time, with the auxiliary penetration of this medicinal oil, your skin will become as tough as cowhide, impenetrable to knives and needles."

"However... that takes a long time. External martial arts are mostly very difficult and require long-term training, and they also require a certain amount of financial resources to be trained. For example, this box of medicinal oil can only be used three times, but the price is around ten thousand yuan, which is not something ordinary families can afford."

After applying the medicinal oil, Long Yuanzheng personally massaged Su Ti, using a special technique to penetrate the medicinal effect into Su Ti's skin. Then Su Ti himself circulated the Qi and blood method of Copper Skin Skill to disperse the bruises. After about ten minutes, his body was already seventy to eighty percent recovered.

Long Yuanzheng looked at him and nodded slightly.

"Not bad, your physique at Inner Refinement Second Layer recovers quickly. Training external martial arts is much faster than in the Tongli Stage. Let's do it again!"