Ranked Martial Artist, First Grade Body Refinement

Choosing medical skills meant having another way to make a living.

A way to make a living was important, so I chose the Essence Nourishing Formula.

Whether it was for virility or not was secondary; the main thing was to increase Blood Essence.

[Essence Nourishing Formula: A medicinal formula for nourishing Blood Essence and vital essence.]

[Ingredients: Ten-year-old ginseng, deer antler, polygonatum...]

Of these medicinal materials, Bai Yu only had deer antler among the three main ingredients.

Ten-year-old ginseng was extremely hard to find.

But there was no rush; I was an Eternal Life, after all, and would eventually gather everything.

For an Eternal Life, slow was fast.

As long as you could survive, there was nothing you couldn't obtain.

Bai Yu calmed his mind and invested all 8 points of Life Experience into the Five Elements Fist.

The Five Elements Fist immediately leveled up, becoming Elementary.

His current attribute panel became:

[Name: Bai Yu.]

[Aptitude: 3]

[Blood Essence: 8.8]

[Strength: 10]

[Cultivation: Unranked Martial Artist.]

[Technique: Five Elements Fist (Elementary)]

[Divinity: Eternal Life.]

[Skills: Suona Playing (Proficient), Literacy (Elementary), Hunting (Elementary).]

The Five Elements Fist had finally reached the entry level, with an experience progress of 1.2/100 for the next level!

The best part was that his aptitude had also increased by 2 points!

Bai Yu was in high spirits and practiced the Five Elements Fist from beginning to end.

This time, he discovered that after practicing, his whole body felt warm.

When he made a fist, the muscles on his arm bulged, hard as iron.

First Grade Refinement of Flesh involved explosive muscle growth and greatly increased strength!

Refining flesh, as the name suggested, was about training muscles to increase their strength.

Generally speaking, the upper limit of overall strength could reach three hundred pounds.

"Finally become a First Grade Martial Artist!"

Bai Yu let out a long breath, glancing at the panel.

One round of the fist technique increased the experience progress by 0.2!

However, the Blood Essence loss decreased to 0.1.

Moreover, there was a new gain: strength also increased by 0.1.

Once strength reached 30, which was three hundred pounds of force, he could break through to Second Grade Forging Tendons.

Bai Yu's life was peaceful and fulfilling.

Planting crops, setting traps, practicing fists.

Occasionally, he performed funeral services for people, and shared some of the hunted game with Master Meng and the others.

Without rushing or getting anxious, the years passed peacefully.

His strength was also steadily increasing.

Sometimes he hunted a two-hundred-pound wild boar and ate his fill.

Sometimes he caught a fiery red fox, and the fur earned him a few coins.

The plum pit he planted sprouted green shoots and new branches.

Before he knew it, it had grown into a large tree.

In the first year the plum tree blossomed, Xiao Yu got married.

The little girl who used to follow Bai Yu around, calling "Brother Eternal Life," "Brother Eternal Life" all day long, had now put up her hair and married someone else.

That year, the plums bore fruit, red and sweet with a hint of astringency.

In the fifth year the plum tree bore fruit, Master Meng passed away.

Bai Yu was busy with all the arrangements, handling the funeral single-handedly.

During this time, some hooligans even tried to take advantage of the situation, trying to divide up the Meng family's property.

Bai Yu showed off his fist, as big as a sandbag, and convinced people with reason.

Later, Sister-in-law San's son, Xiao Maodan, went out to seek his fortune.

Sister-in-law San often stood at the entrance of the village, waiting for her son to return, until her hair turned white.

One year, the snow fell particularly heavy, breaking a branch of the plum tree and also crushing Sister-in-law San.

A new grave appeared at the village entrance.

Bai Yu, with a suona horn in hand, played for all the weddings, funerals, and farewells in the small mountain village.

Inadvertently looking up, the plum tree planted years ago had already grown tall and provided ample shade.

Over the years, his Five Elements Fist had progressed from a mere glimpse of understanding to skillful mastery.

Bai Yu's aptitude had also increased to 5 points.

Realm: First Rank Body Tempering Realm (97%)

Five Elements Fist (Skillful Mastery, 12/1000)

As long as he continued to train, he could become a Second Rank martial artist.

In the small wooden house, Bai Yu was flipping through a blue-covered scripture, Meng's Herbal Compendium.

This was given to Bai Yu by Master Meng before his death.

"Eternal Life, the most regretful thing in my life is that I didn't teach a scholar."

"Originally, you were the disciple I had the highest hopes for, alas."

"Well, if you can't be a good minister, then be a good doctor. Here is a medical book, passed down from our Meng family ancestors, take it and have a look."

"You're a kind-hearted child, you'll always amount to something."

Then, he took out an envelope and handed it to Bai Yu.

If Bai Yu wanted to go to the city to make a living, he could take this letter and go to the city to find Master Meng's prized disciple, Yang Lin.

Bai Yu flipped through the herbal compendium, reading it very carefully.

Old Mo was also lying next to the table, watching Bai Yu read.

He really liked learning things, and would even secretly study while Bai Yu was sleeping.

"Tiger Thorn Grass, commonly known as Yellow Chicken Claw, the root is like a chicken claw."

Bai Yu took out an herb, compared it with the description in the herbal compendium, and confirmed it again and again.

"Tiger Thorn Grass root, plus the ten-year-old ginseng I asked someone to bring from the city before, the ingredients for the Essence Nourishing Formula are complete."

Bai Yu solemnly took out a small package wrapped in several layers, inside was a ten-year-old ginseng.

It cost Bai Yu a full two taels of silver to have someone bring it back from the city.

Next were deer antler, Solomon's seal, and Tiger Thorn Grass.

"Two mace of ginseng, three mace of deer antler ground into powder, five mace each of Solomon's seal and Tiger Thorn Grass."

Bai Yu took out a set of tools and began to prepare the medicine.

After preparing the medicinal materials according to the proportion, he ground them into powder and mixed them thoroughly.

After half a day, he finally prepared several packets of Essence Nourishing Powder.

All of them were non-toxic medicines, so even if he made a mistake in the preparation, there would be no side effects.

Bai Yu couldn't wait to soak a packet of Essence Nourishing Powder in water and drink it.

As the Essence Nourishing Powder entered his stomach, he only felt a warm current rising from his abdomen and slowly flowing to his whole body.

On the attribute panel, he could clearly see that Blood Essence was constantly increasing.

[Blood Essence +0.1!]

[Blood Essence +0.1!]

[Blood Essence +0.1!]

One packet of Essence Nourishing Powder increased Bai Yu's Blood Essence by nearly 5 points, and it was still increasing slowly.

This dose of medicine was worth about five taels of silver, and could be used to prepare ten packets of Essence Nourishing Powder.

In other words, it was fifty points of Blood Essence.

The full Blood Essence flowed through his whole body, and a trace of strength grew in his muscles.

Bai Yu's whole spirit was invigorated, as if he had inexhaustible strength.

He couldn't help letting out a long roar and went out to practice the Five Elements Fist.

"White Tiger Pounces!"

"Black Tortoise Guards the North!"

"Azure Dragon Grasps!"

Old Mo followed Bai Yu, mimicking each move, already looking quite skillful.

Bai Yu practiced the Five Elements Fist repeatedly.

His pores opened, and his spirit grew more invigorated.

He clenched his fist, his arm muscles bulging, veins popping out like dragons and snakes.

Muscles like dragons!

Second Grade Muscle Forging!

At that moment, Bai Yu finally stepped into the realm of a Second Grade martial artist!

With a thought, he suddenly punched the plum tree.

A fist print appeared on the solid trunk!

Bai Yu finished his stance, exhaling a long breath of stale air.

Finally, he had entered the Muscle Forging realm.

After reaching three hundred pounds of strength in Flesh Refining, further training of the muscles had little effect.

At this point, one had to start training the tendons and ligaments.

As the boxing proverb says: An inch of tendon length adds three points of strength and extends life by ten years.

Constantly tempering the tendons and ligaments could increase strength to five hundred pounds.

Furthermore, it allowed one to circulate power throughout the body, using full strength with every move.

Only then could one enter the Third Grade Skin Refining realm!

Bai Yu glanced at his stat panel.