Muscle Strengthening

The sun sank westward, and the clouds at the horizon burned red like fire.

A cool breeze gradually rose in the courtyard.

Chen Mu sat at the square table inside, looking through the open door at the darkening horizon as he picked up a slice of crispy pork belly and put it into his mouth.

The crisp exterior, tender interior, and perfectly balanced spicy-salty flavor made Chen Mu nod in approval.

And this was only Tier 1 Culinary.

People in his previous life always said that good food should not be wasted, but most people ate only to fill their stomachs.

Busy work consumed too much energy. The fast pace of life left people with no time for anything else.

"Later, I should really grind my Culinary Proficiency."

He had already transmigrated. What was wrong with spending some time figuring out good food?

With Wonderful Painting Workshop helping him arrange portrait commissions, he did not need to worry about income.

Once he got Silver Boots to run an errand and buy a batch of medicinal herbs, there would be no more obstacles to martial arts training.

Thinking of the hardships his previous self had endured, then looking at his life now...

Chen Mu contentedly picked up a slice of cold mixed leafy greens and chewed at leisure.

The moment he looked up, he saw a black figure silently flip down from the wall.

Silver Boots?

He had said he did not want anyone to know, so the man had secretly climbed over the wall to come in?

Professional enough!

Chen Mu had just started to rise to greet him when he met the other man's eyes.

Silvery-white beard and hair, eyes narrowed into slits, a completely expressionless face...

Wasn't this the assassin from Chen Family Village?!

As if someone had pressed pause on him, Chen Mu froze halfway through standing up, stunned in place.

Jie Jia: "..."

What a coincidence!

"Ahem, how about having a bite with me?" Chen Mu slowly sat back down and asked in a deliberately casual tone.

"I'm afraid of being poisoned to death," Jie Jia said flatly without even lifting his eyelids.

"Old sir, it seems your misunderstanding of me runs rather deep." Chen Mu shook his head helplessly.

Jie Jia's eyes slowly shifted, fixing on Chen Mu's sleeve.

A misunderstanding? Just how thick did his skin have to be to poison someone while calling it a misunderstanding?

"What do you need Silver Boots for?" Jie Jia asked expressionlessly.

Silver Boots?

This old assassin was Silver Boots of the Xue Family Warehouse?

An assassin doing errand work?

Chen Mu's expression turned strange.

Was the assassin business really this hard to survive in?

"I want to buy a batch of medicinal herbs." As long as he was not here to kill him, that was fine.

"The list." Jie Jia was concise.

"Here it is." Chen Mu hurriedly took out the medicinal herb list he had prepared beforehand.

Besides the herbs required for the Red Falcon Body Tempering Technique, he had added quite a few other items, mainly to muddy the waters.

"How much is the commission?" Chen Mu asked.

"Ten... twenty taels." Jie Jia answered calmly and expressionlessly.

Chen Mu: "..."

Did you just want to say ten taels?!

This was outright extortion! He was going too far!

Chen Mu said indignantly, "Fine. Here is the commission, and here is half the payment for the goods. Please take them."

"Heh..." Jie Jia's eyes shifted as he glanced sidelong at Chen Mu. The corner of his mouth twitched slightly. He picked up the silver on the table, and with a flash, his figure vanished.

Chen Mu stared at where the other man had disappeared, only coming back to his senses after a long while.

Damn it! I just wanted someone to run errands. How did I end up hiring an assassin?!

But the man did not seem to intend to kill him.

He had appeared before him not as an assassin, but as Silver Boots of the Xue Family Warehouse.

Chen Mu relaxed slightly.

And he was an assassin. Judging by that ghostly speed just now, his martial skills had to be exceptional.

Wasn't the reason Chen Mu wanted someone else to buy herbs because he feared people might investigate him?

Now that he had this assassin Silver Boots making purchases for him, who would dare investigate?

So this was an unexpected gain?

"It's just a little expensive!"

Twenty taels of silver—this old man really dared to ask for it!

Chen Mu's heart ached in spasms.

"Forget it. I'll just treat it as spending money for peace of mind." Chen Mu shook his head helplessly, picked up the food that had been sprinkled with snake venom, and dug a pit in the corner by the wall to bury it.

"I acted impulsively. What a waste of a whole table of good food."

Daliang 638, December 23rd. The weather had turned colder.

As usual, Chen Mu rose in the faint morning light.

After putting on a thickened outer coat, Chen Mu opened the door, and a gust of cold air rushed at his face. It felt like late autumn in the north from his previous life.

He had been in this world for more than seven months. Without a phone or computer, sleeping early and rising early had become natural to him.

He jumped from the westernmost Residence to the easternmost Residence, then washed up and began cooking.

He lit the fire and boiled water, rinsed the White Wheat, picked and washed vegetables, all in an orderly manner.

The Culinary skill bonus made cooking come naturally to him.

He chopped up some vegetable leaves, mixed them with specially purchased grass seeds, and poured them into the chicken coop beneath the western wall.

The five hens clucked as they scrambled for food, and Chen Mu could not help but smile with satisfaction.

He had been raising chickens for over a month now, and they had provided him with quite a few eggs.

After returning to the Stove to add firewood and estimating that the White Wheat would still take a while to cook, Chen Mu took off his somewhat bulky outer coat. "Perfect. I have time to get moving."

He first spent several minutes loosening up all the joints in his body, then began jumping and running in a small area of the courtyard.

His movements started off gentle, then grew faster and faster until he soon reached the speed of a hundred-meter sprint.

Every time his toes touched the ground, he felt as though his body was about to lunge forward out of control, the powerful inertia brought by extreme speed.

But the instant his toes landed, the muscles throughout his body pulsed fiercely, and powerful force burst from his toes.

Whether moving with or against that force, his body, which was on the verge of losing control, could always accelerate, stop, or even suddenly turn and retreat as he wished.

This was the Red Falcon Body Tempering Technique, a Body Tempering Technique that excelled at maneuvering and running.

A quarter of an hour later, the string of afterimages in the courtyard abruptly came to a stop.

Chen Mu took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. The Breathing Method of the Body Tempering Technique had just completed a cycle.

Fine beads of sweat seeped from his forehead, while a pleasant sense of comfort spread through his limbs and bones.

Exercise stimulated the brain to produce endorphins, creating a feeling of pleasure.

He had always heard of this in his previous life, but as a homebody, he had never experienced it.

Now he had, and he could not get enough of it.

As he slowly stretched, a sudden realization struck him.

Immediately afterward, a surging heat flowed from every part of his body.

The muscles all over his body began to wriggle on their own, as though countless little mice were crawling beneath his skin.

Threads of numb itching spread throughout his body as a special tissue formed under his skin.

It took Chen Mu quite a while to recover his senses.

Feeling the lingering sensation in his mind, Chen Mu could not help grinning. "I broke through?!"

Writing: 1445/10000/Second Tier;

Drawing: 1353/10000/Second Tier;

Throwing: 3316/10000/Second Tier;

Red Falcon Body Tempering Technique: 8/10000/Second Tier;

Culinary: 2642/10000/Tier 1;

He rolled up his left sleeve and pinched his skin.

It had the tough, supple texture of leather.

"It's like wearing a layer of thin leather armor."

He punched through the air, producing a low whistling sound.

"My strength has increased too."

His toes pushed off the ground, and the power of his whole body erupted. His figure suddenly vanished from where he stood.

The earthen-yellow courtyard wall seven or eight meters away rapidly grew larger.

The next instant, his body came to an abrupt halt almost against the wall.

With another burst of force, he returned to his original spot in the blink of an eye.

"My speed and reactions are faster too! I could leave my earlier self two streets behind at least!"

"My defense, strength, speed, reactions—my physical abilities have improved across the board!"

"So this is a Body Tempering Technique!"

Thinking again of Constable Lu, who had leaped five or six meters in a single bound, Chen Mu suddenly no longer felt that level was beyond reach.

"Isn't it just grinding Proficiency?"

After thinking for a moment, Chen Mu bent down and picked up a pebble.

Whoosh!

Pfft!

A hole as thick as his index finger appeared in the mud wall.

Through the round hole, he could even see the street outside the wall.

"It also increased the power of my Flying Locust Stone?"

"Good!"

At that moment, a fragrant aroma drifted into his nose. The White Wheat Rice was ready.

"The Body Tempering Technique broke through to the Second Tier and achieved Muscle Strengthening. No matter what, I have to reward myself."

"Deep-fried pork cubes, cold mixed vegetables, and some flavorful Cured Meat. Wonderful!"