His towering body stood over six feet tall, bulging muscles stretched his sleeves tight, and his sharply chiseled face carried the savage might of a beast.
This iron-tower-like brute merely had to stand there, and the shadow he cast swallowed Zhang Lishi and his daughter whole.
Zhang Lishi would not be frightened by a young man with a fierce appearance. The key was that, just one day earlier, the other man had not looked like this.
Once every impossibility had been ruled out and the sole answer surfaced in his mind, Zhang Lishi could not help asking, no matter how unbelievable it seemed:
"Li Cunxiao, have you broken through to the Muscle Realm?"
Li Cunxiao clasped his hands and bowed, like a giant tree bent low by a gale:
"Thanks to Master's careful instruction, this disciple had an insight last night. I felt that opportunity must not be missed, so I attempted a breakthrough. Fortunately, I succeeded in one stroke."
"I failed to heed Master's instructions. I beg your forgiveness."
When Tiger Demon Fist broke through, it scraped away bone and replaced blood. One careless misstep could grievously damage one's vital energy. Thus, although Zhang Lishi had bestowed the great medicine upon him, he had repeatedly warned him that he must be present to watch over the breakthrough.
Yet at this moment, feeling the furnace-like vigor of blood and qi within him, Zhang Lishi could not utter a single word of reproach.
Zhang Lishi was stunned for only a moment before he stepped forward and threw a punch. His face, feigning anger yet unable to conceal its delight, instantly filled Li Cunxiao's entire vision.
"Let your master test what you're made of first. You can ask forgiveness afterward!"
Li Cunxiao's pupils contracted. As if pricked by needles, every hair on his body stood on end. Blood flames surged and condensed through his limbs and bones, forming a Blood Tiger crouching within him.
His two thick forearms crossed before him. Ten bluish-black fingernails, sharp as blades, gleamed with cold light. The instant he exhaled and exerted force, a muffled, thunderous growl rolled from his chest and abdomen.
Clang!!!!
A wave of air burst from where his arms met the fist, accompanied by the sound of iron being hammered. It scattered Li Cunxiao's topknot, made the branches behind him crackle, and shook down what few leaves remained. Bare branches stretched overhead, and a red sun between them was about to sink beneath the horizon.
"Small accomplishment in one training the moment he breaks through? Not merely Training Tendons, Bones, and Skin—small accomplishment in two trainings?!"
Her father's murmur reached her ears. Though Zhang Yuelu had only just recovered from her shock, terror once more appeared on her face.
Small accomplishment in two trainings?!
The Muscle Realm had three gates: Training Tendons, Bones, and Skin. Within each gate were the stages of beginner, small accomplishment, great accomplishment, and completion.
Because Tiger Demon Fist imitated the tiger demon, practitioners possessed Steel Muscles and Iron Bones immediately after breaking through, without needing to train further. Of course, these Steel Muscles and Iron Bones were not complete from the beginning; only with deeper cultivation would one become invulnerable to blades and spears.
Yet during training, bolstered by Steel Muscles and Iron Bones, Tiger Demon Fist disciples started at a higher point and cultivated faster. Generally, one or two months after breaking through, they would achieve small accomplishment in either tendon training or bone training.
If one's foundation was deep enough, one might even reach small accomplishment in Training Tendons or Bones immediately after breaking through. Their eldest senior brother Shi Tie, for instance, had attained small accomplishment in his muscles and tendons the instant he broke through. Zhang Yuelu herself had likewise achieved small accomplishment in bone training upon her breakthrough.
For Li Cunxiao to break through two trainings in a single stroke, reaching small accomplishment in both tendon and bone training, causing such drastic physical changes that they were visible to the naked eye—it was too exaggerated, too horrifying.
And yet it was utterly real, right before their eyes.
Zhang Lishi vigorously slapped his disciple's shoulder. The force of it even knocked Li Cunxiao out of his explosive state, but Zhang Lishi did not care in the slightest.
Could he have been born with tiger bones? Such compatibility? Such talent?
What sheer exhilaration!
"Good! Good! Good!"
After saying "good" three times in a row, Zhang Lishi found himself more and more satisfied with this disciple. Stretching out a large hand, he grabbed him directly.
"Come! Since you're here, come meet your mistress. Tonight, we're having a family banquet!"
The stone hanging over Li Cunxiao's heart finally dropped. Delighted yet helpless, he was dragged toward the residence by Zhang Lishi. As he passed Zhang Yuelu, he did not forget to nod in greeting.
"Yue'er, what are you standing around for? Hurry and follow."
Zhang Yuelu's expression was complicated. Having witnessed such a genius-like rate of advancement with her own eyes, no one who had ever struggled before the barriers of the Muscle Realm could remain indifferent.
But in the end, a few traces of inexplicable relief rose in her heart.
Fortunately, Flying Tiger Escort Agency had obtained Li Cunxiao first. If he had been poached by the Three Great Families—
She smiled in relief and followed with light steps.
"Junior Brother, you must have a good drink with Father tonight!"
"Master, I truly can't drink anymore."
Seeing Zhang Lishi crack open another jar of wine, Li Cunxiao hurriedly begged for mercy. Behind the two of them, wine jars had already piled up, and servants stood ready behind Zhang Lishi to carry more. His capacity for drink was simply terrifying.
In truth, after advancing to the Muscle Realm, Li Cunxiao's physical constitution had already surpassed the human. By rights, let alone several jars, even dozens would not get him drunk.
But Zhang Lishi was a master of a higher realm. How could the wine he drank possibly be ordinary?
Li Cunxiao had noticed from the first mouthful that something had definitely been added to it. Though it retained the sweet fragrance of fruit wine on the tongue, like an ordinary fine grape vintage, before long his limbs and bones began burning hot. It was clearly a tonic as well.
He could still drink, but surely he could not get hard in front of all the women of the Zhang household? That would be mortifying.
"Husband." Madam Zhang discreetly twisted his waist, and only then did he reluctantly set down the wine jar and switch to a cup.
"I'm just happy."
"Wood Fork, is tonight's lamb delicious?"
Madam Zhang looked toward Wood Fork, who sat beside Li Cunxiao. Zhang Que'er, who had been secretly whispering to him, immediately turned away with a guilty look.
"Delicious!"
Wood Fork did not understand why he was allowed to sit at the table for the Chief Escort's family banquet, but with Big Brother beside him, he just had to get to it!
"Mistress has shown Wood Fork such generous care. I cannot express the gratitude in my heart. I offer you a toast."
Seeing Li Cunxiao raise a toast to her, Madam Zhang smiled in pleased approval and drained her cup with open generosity, bold and unrestrained.
"You two brothers are both good children. Now that we are family, don't speak such formalities anymore."
"Still, this turn of fate is truly wondrous. Back then, I said Sanlang was fated to meet my husband. Who would have thought it would truly come to pass?"
Seeing his wife smiling as she spoke, Zhang Lishi could not help stroking his beard and sighing.
He had originally thought he was casually taking in a pair of brothers in distress. Who could have imagined that he had picked up a monstrous genius instead?
With Heaven's food delivered right to his mouth, Zhang Lishi naturally had to seize the opportunity.
"Cunxiao, now that you have broken through to the Second Realm, you are the ninth escort captain of our Flying Tiger Escort Agency."
"By custom, an escort captain's monthly salary is thirty taels. Keep overseeing the storehouse for now. As for Escort Missions, there is no rush. Cui Er has been clamoring for a helper, so go train those newly initiated hands and take on a teaching post as well."
"With two posts under your belt, your monthly salary will rise to fifty taels. There are also several Herbal Medicine Shops, and you..."
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