After bidding farewell to the clamor of the County Office, Lin Feng dragged his weary body back to his new quarters.
As an official constable, his treatment was indeed different.
He had moved out of the large communal bunkroom where more than a dozen trainee constables had been crammed together and into a private single room.
The room was small, but it was quiet.
Closing the door, Lin Feng casually tossed the five taels of silver onto the table, a cold glint flashing through his eyes.
He remembered Constable Chief Li Gang's face very clearly.
In this world, strength was what ultimately spoke. Whether facing savage demons or those colleagues at the County Office who hid daggers behind their smiles, without sufficient power, one could only be butchered at others' whim.
"System," Lin Feng silently called in his heart.
A translucent panel visible only to him appeared before his eyes.
[Host: Lin Feng] [Realm: None] [Technique: None] [Martial Skill: Basic Constable Saber Technique (Mastery) (Beginner, Entry, Proficient, Great Success, Mastery)] [Critical Strike Multiplier: 2.5x] [Crit Points: 100]
Looking at the glaring "None" under the realm section, Lin Feng deeply felt the urgency of increasing his strength.
With the system's critical strikes, he could turn a basic saber technique from rotten wood into something miraculous. But at the end of the day, his own physical condition was still far too weak. He had not even crossed the threshold of martial arts.
"I have to start cultivating as soon as possible!"
Besides having a private room and a fixed salary, becoming an official constable came with another important benefit—he could enter the County Office's martial arts repository and choose one basic cultivation technique for free.
Early the next morning, Lin Feng hurried eagerly to the County Office's martial arts repository.
This so-called martial arts repository was actually a remote storeroom that had gone untended for years. A few dust-covered bookshelves stood inside, sparsely lined with yellowed manuals.
These were all the most common, most basic goods. The truly superior martial arts had long been monopolized by aristocratic families and sects.
Lin Feng did not mind. What he needed now was precisely a stepping stone through the door.
He searched through the shelves for a while and soon settled on a thin booklet called Qi Guiding Art.
This Qi Guiding Art was practically the introductory cultivation method for all officials of the Great Xia Dynasty. It was balanced and gentle, its greatest virtue being reliability, with little risk of cultivation deviation.
It had only one purpose—to guide the thin spiritual energy between heaven and earth into the body, temper the flesh, and lay a foundation for future martial cultivation.
After obtaining the Qi Guiding Art, Lin Feng also took the opportunity to learn about the cultivation realms of this world.
The martial path began with Body Tempering.
The Body Tempering Realm was a martial artist's first major realm. As its name implied, it involved tempering one's mortal flesh so that it could contain and withstand greater power.
It was divided into nine levels, progressing step by step from the outside inward.
Body Tempering First Level: Skin Refining.
It tempered the toughness of the skin, allowing it to resist minor bumps and scratches and remain untouched by cold and heat.
Body Tempering Second Level: Muscle Refining.
It trained the strength and explosive force of the muscles, greatly increasing one's physical power.
Body Tempering Third Level: Sinew Refining.
It stretched and tempered the sinews throughout the body, greatly enhancing flexibility and coordination. This was considered the true threshold into martial arts.
Body Tempering Levels Four through Six corresponded respectively to Bone Refining, Blood Refining, and Marrow Refining.
Body Tempering Levels Seven through Nine corresponded to the more profound stages of Organ Refining, Viscera Refining, and Aperture Opening.
It was said that once one cultivated the Body Tempering Realm to the completion of the ninth level, one's body could become as hard as gold and stone, with the strength to lift a thousand jin!
Above the Body Tempering Realm were the Meridian Opening Realm, where qi could travel through the meridians, and the True Qi Realm, where true qi could be released outward to wound people from afar...
"Body Tempering First Level, Skin Refining. They say that even someone with ordinary talent needs around a month of daily diligent cultivation, along with medicinal baths, before seeing the first results..."
Lin Feng muttered to himself as he looked at the Qi Guiding Art in his hand.
"But I don't!"
He had the system!
He had Crit Points!
That night, he returned to his room, shut the doors and windows, and sat cross-legged on the bed. After memorizing the contents of the Qi Guiding Art, he issued an order to the system in his heart.
"System, use all 100 Crit Points on the Qi Guiding Art!"
[Ding! 100 Crit Points consumed. Qi Guiding Art critical strike successful!]
The moment the words fell, Lin Feng had not even had time to assume the cultivation posture recorded in the Qi Guiding Art when he felt an invisible, warm current rush wildly into his body from all directions, like a hundred rivers returning to the sea!
That current was the spiritual energy between heaven and earth!
Under the system's critical strike effect, the wisps of spiritual energy that originally required meditation to sense and cautious guidance now came flooding toward him of their own accord like floodwaters released from a dam!
"Ugh!"
Lin Feng let out a muffled groan, feeling waves of numb, prickling pain spread across his skin.
He could "see" a faint sheen seeming to coat the surface of his skin. The dullness caused by staying up late was fading at a visible speed, his skin becoming smooth, tough, and full of elasticity.
This was...
Body Tempering First Level, Skin Refining Mastery!
Yet this was only the beginning!
That massive flood of spiritual energy did not pause in the slightest. It surged past his skin and began seeping into the muscle tissue throughout his body.
Nourished and tempered by that spiritual energy, his muscle fibers began to twitch frantically, tear apart, and then reform!
A sense of power far beyond what he had felt before surged from his limbs and bones.
He even had the feeling that he could punch a cow to death with a single blow!
Body Tempering Second Level, Muscle Refining Mastery!
Immediately afterward, the spiritual energy continued deeper, pouring toward the sinews throughout his body!
Crackle! Crackle!
A series of faint explosive sounds, like beans popping in a pan, came from inside Lin Feng's body.
That was the sound of the sinews and bones throughout his body being forcibly stretched and reshaped under the impact of spiritual energy!
His once somewhat stiff body instantly became incomparably flexible, filled with explosive coordination.
When the final wisp of spiritual energy merged into his body, the room returned to silence.
From beginning to end, the entire process had taken no more than the time it took to drink a cup of tea.
"Whew..."
Lin Feng slowly opened his eyes, a sharp glint flashing through them before vanishing.
He lowered his head to look at his hands, then clenched them tightly.
An unprecedentedly powerful force lay within his body. Compared to the helpless Lin Feng from yesterday, who could not even bind a chicken, it was like heaven and earth apart!
What took others months or even a year of grueling cultivation, he had effortlessly achieved in a single night!
"Body Tempering Third Level..."
Feeling the surging power within him, Lin Feng could not suppress the upward curve of his lips.
"Constable Chief Li Gang, that 'hard assignment' you gave me is probably going to become my blessed land."
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