One-Glance Insight

"When standing in the Four Levels Body Solidifying Stance, keep your body steady and let your feet take root. Only then can you lock in your blood essence, nourishing it and building your strength."

"Raise your hands higher. Yes, that is Jiazi Tianchen."

"Keep your waist straight, so you can perform Ruowang Suitian."

"That's right, Junior Brother Shi Yi. Maintain this state of cultivation and feel the changes in the blood essence within your body."

"You learn very quickly, Junior Brother. Among all the people I have taught, your comprehension is the highest. As long as your meals keep up, you will definitely break through to the Blood Essence Realm within a month. By then, your strength should rise to around three hundred jin."

Zhao Cheng instructed Shi Yi in his cultivation with great care.

Whenever he spotted something wrong, he corrected it at once.

After making the corrections, he continued watching Shi Yi cultivate for half an hour. Only after finding no further mistakes did he nod in satisfaction.

"Junior Brother Shi Yi, remember these movements. From now on, just cultivate the way you did today."

"With your current condition, do not cultivate for more than an hour at a time, or your body will not be able to endure it."

"Your medicines and food must keep up with your daily cultivation. Otherwise, prolonged training will damage your body."

Zhao Cheng went over the precautions for cultivation with Shi Yi again.

In martial cultivation, without receiving the true teachings, one would not know the necessary precautions. Problems could easily arise in the body during training.

"That will do for this morning's cultivation. At noon, eat at the martial arts school and drink some Blood Nourishing Powder. After digesting for a while, continue cultivating."

After roughly calculating the time, Zhao Cheng had Shi Yi stop.

"Thank you, Senior Brother Zhao."

Having completed his first round of cultivation, Shi Yi bowed in thanks.

Cultivation felt quite good. Though he was exhausted, he could clearly sense the blood essence in his body increasing, his strength growing, and his body becoming stronger.

The Four Levels Body Solidifying Stance, Jiazi Tianchen, and Ruowang Suitian from the Blood Essence Chapter of the Lesser Heavenly Cycle Strength Training Fist were all methods for assisting one's perception of blood essence and absorbing the special red aura in the air. Combined with the body's own absorption, they ultimately nourished blood essence and increased strength.

"You're too polite, Junior Brother Shi Yi!"

"Come on, I'll take you to the dining hall."

Zhao Cheng led Shi Yi around to familiarize him with the martial arts school.

School Master Lu Feng had told him to teach Shi Yi martial arts, which naturally included helping him get acquainted with the school.

The dining hall of Anyang Martial Arts School was in a side room of the front courtyard.

When the two arrived, they received three steamed buns, a small bowl of meat soup, and a bowl of Blood Nourishing Powder.

All this food cost money. If others wanted to eat at the martial arts school, they had to pay an additional ten taels of silver as three months' worth of meal and medicine expenses.

In Zhao Cheng's words, this was a meal plan specifically devised by School Master Lu Feng based on the needs of ordinary people. It was highly suitable for ordinary people; after eating it, they would not suffer a depletion of blood essence during cultivation.

As for those who could not afford the meal and medicine fees, they could only fend for themselves.

Anyang Martial Arts School was not a charity hall. It would not provide such things for free.

"Junior Brother Shi Yi, I have some business to take care of this afternoon. Just cultivate as you did this morning. Watch how long you train, and don't rush for quick success."

"If you have any questions, you can ask me when I come by tomorrow morning."

After they finished eating, Zhao Cheng spoke to Shi Yi.

He had already explained all the martial arts school's precautions to Shi Yi. Next, Shi Yi simply needed time to familiarize himself with them.

"Senior Brother Zhao, I have another question I'd like to ask."

"When I came here, my Danjiang Road Pass accidentally fell into the water, and its appearance became somewhat blurred. Will that affect my ability to exchange it for a new road pass in Anyuan Town?"

Shi Yi took out the forged Danjiang Road Pass. It bore traces of having been soaked in water and looked somewhat blurred.

If he tried to exchange it without any status to back him up, he would surely be given a hard time and might even be investigated.

"It's a small matter. Leave it to me."

"I'll bring you an Anyuan Town road pass tomorrow."

Hearing this, Zhao Cheng accepted Shi Yi's blurred-looking Danjiang Road Pass.

Exchanging a road pass was extremely troublesome for ordinary people, but it was simple for him. His father was the local clerk of Anyuan Town, responsible for certain town affairs, one of which was replacing road passes.

When School Master Lu Feng accepted him as a disciple, aside from recognizing his Martial Path Talent, he had also valued Zhao Cheng's father's position.

Never underestimate even a sesame-seed official in town.

With official connections, many troublesome matters became much easier to resolve.

"Thank you for the trouble, Senior Brother Zhao!"

As he spoke, Shi Yi took out two taels of silver.

Exchanging a road pass still cost money. If the pass was blurred or lost, even more money was required.

Those responsible for replacing road passes were the best at squeezing people.

"No need. It's a small matter."

"Junior Brother Shi Yi, use this money to buy meat instead. Eat more meat, preferably beef or similar meats. That will nourish your blood essence faster and let you break through to the Blood Essence Realm sooner."

"Once you break through and become Master Lu's disciple, you can treat me to a drink!"

Zhao Cheng waved a hand and said with a smile.

He was not short of money, so there was no need to use such a small sum to alter the friendship between them. Besides, he thought highly of Shi Yi, and Lu Feng clearly valued Shi Yi as well.

"Then I'll trouble you, Senior Brother Zhao!"

Shi Yi thanked him.

He was not short of money either. He still had more than ten taels left from what he had brought, enough to last him a long while.

Shi Yi did not refuse Zhao Cheng's kindness. Friendship was built through mutual help and give-and-take.

After eating, Shi Yi watched Zhao Cheng leave. He did not rush into cultivation, because Zhao Cheng had reminded him to digest his food and replenish his body's expenditure before training again.

"With my current cultivation progress, I will definitely break through to the Blood Essence Realm within a week."

"If my diet keeps up, that speed can be increased."

"But it is not necessarily a good thing for an ordinary person to appear too monstrous."

"Among the information I gathered earlier, there was a genius at Taiyuan Martial Arts School in Anyuan Town who broke through to the Blood Essence Realm in nine days. Because the Martial Path Talent he displayed was too outstanding, someone secretly crippled him!"

"Although I have means to protect myself, there is no need to be overly high-profile for now."

"Breaking through to the Blood Essence Realm in fifteen days would still make me a martial arts genius, just not such a monster."

Shi Yi was not so desperate to advance in martial cultivation.

He had neither mortal enemies waiting for him nor any urgent need to increase his strength, so he planned to choose a more conservative approach.

For this period, it was best to pass the days steadily and peacefully.

"I also need to rent a place to stay, preferably somewhere near Anyang Martial Arts School."

"The lodging at Anyang Martial Arts School is shared by many people. With so many eyes and ears around, it is not suitable for me."

Previously, Shi Yi had basically returned to Blue Star every day. Living in Great Xia on Blue Star made him feel safer.

At the same time, some items he needed had to be purchased on Blue Star. Living with others was not very convenient for him.

"I'll wait until Zhao Cheng returns and ask him about it. It should be easy to resolve."

Renting a house was far simpler than dealing with the road pass. Once he had a road pass, renting a place would be even more convenient.

After resting for a while, Shi Yi went to the place where he had trained that morning and continued practicing the Four Levels Body Solidifying Stance, Jiazi Tianchen, and Ruowang Suitian from the Blood Essence Chapter of the Lesser Heavenly Cycle Strength Training Fist.

His movements were more professional than they had been that morning.

That was because he was no longer merely imitating Zhao Cheng's movements. Instead, he adjusted them according to his own circumstances into forms better suited to himself.

Just as Zhao Cheng had told him, moves were dead, while people were alive.

At first, one could only learn and imitate. Once one had achieved something in one's studies, one had to make the moves fit oneself.

From the moment Shi Yi had watched Zhao Cheng teach him, he had seen through the true intent behind the movements at a glance. With his Double Pupils, he could see the key points of cultivation with perfect clarity.

He simply had not deliberately shown it.