Intensive Training and Martial Cultivation

"Crouch lower, I can't kick you!"

On the training ground, Shen Can, annoyed, kicked the burly man in front of him.

As expected, the more people in the tribe, the stranger they become.

His method was simple: screen all the tribesmen in batches. After they had eaten their fill, they would practice Kui Ox Fist in front of him.

He would then guide them one by one, taking the opportunity to teach them the essentials of Superior Kui Ox Fist.

Finally, he could select a group of tribesmen with the most talent for martial arts.

"Temple Guardian, does your foot hurt?"

Huo Xiong, who had been kicked, chuckled and scratched the back of his head.

"My head hurts," Shen Can replied irritably.

"You kicked me, so how could your head hurt?"

Huo Xiong didn't understand.

"Redo Kui Ox Fist ten times. If you make another mistake, then it's a hundred times."

He had expected to get through the tribesmen quickly, but the first batch of three hundred people presented a small problem.

It was like "stepping out of sync." Many tribesmen had developed bad habits from practicing Kui Ox Fist since childhood, especially since the original technique was not of high quality.

Trying to correct them in a short time was difficult due to ingrained habits; their arms wouldn't obey their minds.

Shen Can repeatedly corrected their stances, but he still couldn't guide them back onto the right path.

Compared to these minor issues, not a single tribesman questioned how a frail shaman like him could guide everyone in practicing Kui Ox Fist.

Changing long-standing training habits was very difficult for most people.

In the end, Shen Can resorted to persuasion and then the stick.

It was a teaching whip, over a meter long and as thick as an arm. From a distance, it looked smooth, but up close, it was covered in knots of wood.

If they didn't follow his instructions, he'd point out exactly where they went wrong and hit them there. Their headaches were gone.

Thus, it took four days to get through the first batch. He hadn't yet seen any tribesmen with martial arts talent, but more than half had already been eliminated.

Then came the second batch.

After all, everyone except the children had to go through his training, including the women of the tribe.

Although the tribe's martial arts training for children wasn't very good, both boys and girls were taught when they were young.

However, as they grew older, men and women focused on different aspects, so there were only a few female martial artists in the Stone Splitter Realm among the women.

Shen Can diligently taught each tribesman.

Even those who were eliminated could continue practicing according to his guidance, and with the tribe's current food supply system, they could still cultivate.

In fact, besides Kui Ox Fist, the tribe had recently acquired several body-tempering methods from the spoils of other tribes.

Shen Can planned to unify and deduce them later when the tribe grew larger and he had collected enough Lifespan from desolate beasts, to enrich the tribe's martial arts heritage.

He couldn't do it now; he didn't have enough energy.

In this way, Shen Can worked for more than half a month, finally completing the first round of selection, which identified nine hundred tribesmen.

Among them were two hundred and seventy-seven women.

This included martial artists in both the Stone Splitter and Mountain Opening Realms.

On the tiered training ground, the Mountain Opening Realm practitioners were at the highest level, the Stone Splitter Realm practitioners in the middle, and ordinary martial artists at the lowest level.

However, there were only three people in the Mountain Opening Realm. The rest of the Mountain Opening Realm tribesmen and Stone Splitter Realm martial artists had other tasks.

Some were patrolling the tribe, while others were out with Huo Shan transporting supplies.

With so many people, more than a third of the tribe, it wasn't realistic for them all to abandon their duties to focus on martial arts.

Therefore, Shen Can planned to spend another half a month on further screening, expecting to keep only three hundred people.

These three hundred people would form the tribe's standing army.

Supporting three hundred people out of over two thousand was difficult, but the plague that wiped out other tribes had instead provided the tribe with enough meat.

The tribesmen who were eliminated were not stopping their cultivation. Having trained for so long, they could better grasp the essence of practicing Superior Kui Ox Fist than those eliminated in the first batch.

As long as their cultivation resources were sufficient, their martial arts could still advance significantly.

These people would also become the backbone of the tribe's various tasks after the upcoming reforms.

"You've eaten so much meat, and you're still slacking off? I'll beat you to death, you scoundrel."

"I think you've forgotten what it was like to be hungry after eating so well, forgotten how you cried before because you couldn't advance to become a martial artist."

The tribal elder Huo Yu walked through the formation of practicing tribesmen with a royal whip. Seeing anyone slacking off, he would immediately start a beating.

Not only Huo Yu, but Shen Can also called out the other elder generation tribal elders, each with a small stick.

He was responsible for correcting the tribesmen's stances in practicing Kui Ox Fist, while the matter of the tribesmen slacking off was handed over to the tribal elders.

The elder was very happy that he could still contribute.

The tribesmen were no longer wolfing down meat and howling with delight as they had before.

In the beginning, after being guided to master the essence of Superior Kui Ox Fist, they had enough meat to supplement their training.

Every day, they could feel their internal energy rapidly increasing.

For many days, apart from sleeping and tending to bodily needs, their only activities were eating heartily and practicing their fists.

Now, the large pot used for cooking meat was right beside them, its savory aroma filling their nostrils, yet they had no desire to eat.

"A'Can is a shaman, and even though his body is so frail, he still leads you all in practicing Kui Ox Fist every single day without fail. And you are still so lazy."

"Do you think you are worthy of A'Can, worthy of your ancestors!"

At the highest point of the training grounds, Shen Can retracted his fist. He felt a bit speechless as the elder once again brought up his frail body.

He was nearly 1.9 meters tall, how could he be frail?

His entire body was packed with lean muscle.

Sacrificial Master: Shen Can
Sacrificial Artifact: Sacrificial Cauldron
Martial Arts Realm: Mountain Opening (Twenty Desolate Power)

The first two months were spent busy with treating the plague, and then busy with imparting cultivation essentials, which affected his own practice.

However, as the subsequent large pots of stewed meat were provided, his internal strength began to increase again.

After retracting his fist, Shen Can walked towards the tribal treasury with his hands behind his back.

The tribe had always measured the internal energy of their martial artists in a very crude way.

From young adults advancing to Stone Splitter, Stone Splitter to Mountain Opening, and so on, it was all based on feeling and experience.

But Martial Arts, no matter what, was a refined discipline. Practicing based on feeling naturally led to results based on feeling.

The tribesmen couldn't measure it, but Shen Can could clearly perceive the increase of his every unit of Desolate Power.

Therefore, after pondering for a few days, he came up with a method.

He decided to use the wooden bows within the tribe as a standard tool to measure their internal energy.

In the tribal treasury, a pile of wooden bows hung or lay around. They had just been collected from the martial artists in the tribe, even bows from ordinary tribesmen and children had been gathered.

He started by selecting from the smaller bows, and with a gentle pull, he drew a small bow into a perfect crescent moon shape.

He casually discarded it and picked up another.

A'Yu watched from the side, somewhat confused.

After Shen Can tested all the bows one by one.

He selected three wooden bows from them.

The one Desolate Bow, the Nine Desolate Power Bow, and the Eighteen Desolate Power Bow.

The one Desolate Bow, being able to be drawn to a full moon shape, represented that his internal energy had entered the realm of one unit of Desolate Power, making him a Stone Splitter Realm martial artist.

The Nine Desolate Power Bow, when drawn to a full moon shape, represented that he was qualified to advance to the Mountain Opening Realm martial artist.

The Eighteen Desolate Power Bow was chosen because Shen Can could currently draw it, and his internal energy was twice that of the Nine Desolate Power Bow.

Although he didn't know how much Desolate Power was needed to advance to the Heavenly Vein realm in the Mountain Opening Realm, he speculated that internal energy might be related to multiples of nine.

As his internal energy continued to grow, he would later add the Twenty-Seven Desolate Power Bow and the Thirty-Six Desolate Power Bow.

Compared to measuring strength with Black Yuan Stones, having these few bows as measuring tools made things much clearer.

Of course, it would also be possible to use a bow for every unit of Desolate Power.

However, the current bows in the tribe couldn't achieve such precision, and they would have to wait until after the tribal reforms to have them specially made.

That way, from childhood to the advancement to Mountain Opening, every step would have a clearer measurement standard.

Shen Can understood very well how much the ability to clearly see the increase in his internal energy, and that sense of accomplishment, would help his cultivation.

He handed the selected bows to A'Yu to hold and walked away with his hands behind his back.

He wondered where the tribal chief, Huo Tang, had wandered off to. He hadn't found any desolate beasts for so long; it seemed the surrounding mountains and wilderness had truly been ravaged by the plague worms.

Returning to the training grounds, Shen Can continued to lead the tribesmen in their martial arts practice.

"What? You can't eat? Didn't you love meat the most?"

"Practice Kui Ox Fist until you're done. If you get even one part wrong, you'll practice it ten more times."

Shen Can stood on a specially built stone platform, holding a teaching whip, and was testing the tribesmen.

"Come, here's a bowl of the fattiest, most glistening meat as a reward."

"A'Can?"

Huo Yu's face contorted into a bitter expression. He really couldn't eat anymore.

"Call me Temple Guardian."

Shen Can's expression hardened. "You can't even draw the Eighteen Desolate Power Bow, and you still have the nerve to call yourself a Mountain Opening Realm martial artist."

"Elder, get him a new basin."

When the nine hundred people were whittled down to four hundred and thirty, Huo Tang finally returned from outside the clan.

Volcanic and other clan members returned with him, bringing supplies.

Inside the Ancestral Temple.

"Eight hundred li to the east of the tribe, a thousand li to the south, and over seven hundred li to the west, there are no other tribes. Only a few scattered survivors remain."

Huo Tang brought back news upon his return.

To put it slightly hyperbolically, centered around Blazing Flame, their tribe was the only one left within a thousand li radius.

The even worse news was that not only were there no people, but desolate beasts were also rare.

"There's a formed marsh in a valley within the northern deep mountains. There should be a desolate beast inside. I guarded the marsh for a few days, but it was too large, and I couldn't find a way to act."

"Marsh."

Upon hearing this, Shen Can's eyes lit up. He was quite skilled in water techniques.

"Chieftain, is it far?"

"The clansmen have been training in martial arts for so long. This is a good opportunity for an assessment. Select three hundred people. It's time for them to prepare a meal for our ancestors."

"I'll also prepare some neutralizing witch medicine. By the time we return from the mountains, the clansmen might undergo a complete transformation."

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