Suppressing his racing heart, Lu Wangchuan went straight home for dinner.
The meat in his diet was also good for replenishing blood and qi. Although there was very little of it, for the current Lu Wangchuan, he would not let even a tiny bit of qi and qi go to waste.
There were three people in the Lu family now. Besides Lu Wangchuan, there was also the coachman Xiao Wu and the maid Xiao Yue. Both were refugees stranded in Jianghai City whom his predecessor had taken in as servants to look after his daily travel and three meals a day.
Returning home, the maid Xiao Yue had long prepared a delicious lunch. Lu Wangchuan dug in with gusto, quickly sweeping the table clean before rushing into his personal training room to practice Eight Section Brocade.
Time flew like a shuttle and the sun and moon like a weaver.
In the blink of an eye, a month passed.
Lu Wangchuan practiced Eight Section Brocade in the training room, his sweat-drenched clothes clinging tightly to his torso and revealing several sharp muscle lines.
After a moment, he stopped and gathered his breath. The boiling blood and qi gradually returned to normal, and when he opened the light screen again, the data had already undergone new changes.
Name: Lu Wangchuan.
Cultivation: Blood Solidification Realm.
Blood and Qi: 103.
Techniques: Mountain Splitting Fist (Layer 2), Eight Section Brocade (Layer 2).
Name: Lu Wangchuan Cultivation: Blood Solidification Realm Blood and Qi: 103 Techniques: Mountain Splitting Fist (Layer 2), Eight Section Brocade (Layer 2)
Through a month of bitter cultivation and relying on hundreds of points of blood and qi, Lu Wangchuan had elevated both techniques to the second layer while also officially stepping into the Blood Solidification Realm!
The first stage of martial arts was called the Physical Body Realm, aimed at tempering the body and shedding mortal limitations, and was divided into five levels in total: Blood Solidification, Fascia, Bone Forging, Open Source, and Dantian.
Those in the Blood Solidification Realm coagulated injuries rapidly, vastly increasing their vitality!
For an ordinary person wanting to break through the Blood Solidification Realm, the fastest would take several months, and at most even two or three years.
Yet Lu Wangchuan had only spent a month, and such rapid speed made him clench his fists in excitement.
This is all thanks to my day-and-night bitter cultivation.
Now that his blood and qi had broken through one hundred points, plus signs had appeared again behind the two techniques. Lu Wangchuan did not hesitate and directly added points.
He upgraded Eight Section Brocade from the second layer to the third layer.
After breaking through the Blood Solidification Realm, wanting to improve further would cost even more effort, but the third-layer Eight Section Brocade would also yield greater benefits when practiced.
However, with the breakthrough in cultivation, the boost to blood and qi provided by food was already negligible. Lu Wangchuan needed something much better.
"Xiao Wu, prepare the carriage. We're going to the martial hall."
"Coming right up, young master."
The carriage rolled out of the main gates and headed straight for the martial hall. Lu Wangchuan began to ponder how he could raise more blood and qi.
His predecessor had also bought Body Strengthening Soup before, but that stuff was expensive, costing two or three taels a portion. Lu Wangchuan did not have much family property left, relying entirely on his sister's financial support and care, so he was not very well-off either.
Added to the heavy expenses of martial arts practice, he also had to be a bit frugal.
He had even thought about making money himself, such as writing and selling poems.
After all, he had not returned all the ancient poetry learned in his past life back to his Chinese teacher. He barely remembered a few, which placed in this world would definitely be earth-shattering masterpieces. Yet in a martial arts world coupled with troubled times, who wanted that junk?
Lu Wangchuan had also considered refining glass, which offered a tenfold profit. But upon second thought, once such a lucrative thing was brought out, he would probably be silenced in a split second.
In this world of the jungle, the weak had no business daring to casually make money even if they knew how.
The martial hall also had escort missions and the like, but unfortunately they paid only two or three taels of silver at a time while requiring one to be away for ten days to half a month, making the cost-performance ratio too low...
"Whoa~~ Young master, we've arrived."
Xiao Wu interrupted Lu Wangchuan's thoughts. He jumped down from the carriage and walked into the martial hall. Today was still Instructor Lu Xianyuan's class, and the content was still about health preservation. While everyone else listened with boredom, Lu Wangchuan found it fascinating.
After class, Lu Xianyuan left straightaway as usual, but before walking away, he called out Lu Wangchuan's name.
"Lu Wangchuan, come here for a moment."
Lu Wangchuan was slightly startled. Lu Xianyuan had always been aloof and indifferent, rarely interacting with anyone, let alone having any intersection with himself, the bottom-feeder of the martial hall. Why would he suddenly ask him to come over?
Yet he did not dare to disobey the other's wishes. In the martial hall, respecting instructors was very important.
Soon he arrived at Lu Xianyuan's courtyard, where Lu Xianyuan was sitting on an armchair drinking tea.
"I heard you've been practicing Eight Section Brocade lately?"
"Yes."
There were not many people in the martial hall practicing Eight Section Brocade to begin with. The others would stop practicing after a couple of days and run back to practice Mountain Splitting Fist, whereas Lu Wangchuan stood out alone, so it was no strange thing that Lu Xianyuan knew.
"How is your practice coming along?"
Lu Wangchuan's gaze shifted slightly. Lu Xianyuan was extremely strong—could he not tell his cultivation level?
Could it be because of the light screen?
"Reporting to Instructor Lu, this disciple has already practiced it to the third layer."
"Oh?"
Lu Xianyuan was somewhat surprised, clearly not expecting Lu Wangchuan's speed to actually be this fast.
"Run through it once."
Lu Wangchuan nodded and directly began demonstrating Eight Section Brocade. After a full set, Lu Xianyuan's gaze gained an extra two parts of appreciation.
"Not bad. Although Eight Section Brocade is the most basic external body-forging technique, since you can break through to the third layer in a month, it seems you have also put in a lot of hard work."
"This disciple practiced too fiercely in the past and thus left behind quite a few hidden injuries, relying entirely on the Eight Section Brocade taught by the instructor, so naturally I didn't want to miss out."
"I see. Much as I guessed."
Lu Xianyuan murmured thoughtfully, then spoke up.
"I've been a bit short on money lately, and I heard your family is well-off, which is why I called you over. But you don't have to worry; I won't make you pay for nothing. I have a secret, uniquely-formulated prescription for Body Strengthening Soup here, and its market value is no less than three hundred taels. If you are willing, you can buy it for one hundred."
Lu Wangchuan's eyes lit up. It was actually a Body Strengthening Soup prescription!
This stuff was extremely rare. Major commercial firms only sold finished soup medicine and never sold prescriptions, which was why a single dose of soup medicine sold for as much as two or three taels of silver.
If he bought the prescription and made the soup medicine himself, it might only cost two or three hundred wen to make a dose. Over time, who knew how much he would save? It was pure profit without any loss.
Really calculating it, a prescription was worth a thousand taels and was well-deserved.
As for whether it was true or false, given Lu Xianyuan's status, he was not one to stoop to deceiving him.
"This disciple is willing to purchase it."
"Very well."
Lu Xianyuan took a prescription out from his sleeve, placed it on the tabletop, and then closed his eyes to rest his mind, speaking no more.
Lu Wangchuan immediately stepped forward to take the prescription, but instead of giving one hundred taels, he handed over three hundred taels in silver banknotes.
Jianghu was not just about killing; Jianghu was about human relations.
Being able to establish a connection with an expert like Lu Xianyuan might just save his life at a critical moment.
After obtaining the prescription, Lu Wangchuan immediately went to the commercial guild to purchase medicinal herbs, returned home to quickly brew the Body Strengthening Soup according to the prescription, and after simmering it all afternoon, he finally obtained a pot of strange-smelling liquid that looked a bit like faeces. Although it was hard to swallow, in order to boost his cultivation, he had no choice but to pinch his nose and forcefully gulp down a bowl.
However, to his pleasant surprise, the medicinal efficacy was exceptionally good. The moment a bowl went down into his stomach, he felt a wave of heat inside, warming his entire body from viscera to entrails.
Not daring to waste it, Lu Wangchuan immediately began practicing Eight Section Brocade. Just like that, alternating between practicing Eight Section Brocade and drinking Body Strengthening Soup, two months passed in the blink of an eye. His body grew increasingly tall and sturdy, and at fourteen years old, he already stood one meter seven tall, his muscle lines fully formed and carrying a formidable presence.
Before you continue