Perfected Copper Bone (Please Keep Reading)

Xu Yan's spirits lifted, and he murmured, "With no women in my heart, cultivation is like being blessed by the gods?"

"Master, I think I understand a little now. Thank you for your guidance!"

He bowed respectfully.

"Master, this disciple will go cultivate!"

"Mm, go."

Li Xuan nodded, suspicion in his eyes. My foolish disciple isn't really going to become a man with no women in his heart, filling his head with nothing but cultivation, is he? What a sin! I never should've run my mouth!

Xu Yan came to his training spot, set his horse stance, and fixed his gaze firmly ahead.

"Master is right. Only after enduring setbacks can one charge forward courageously!"

"With no women in my heart, cultivation is like being blessed by the gods... I understand Master's profound meaning. Women are a metaphor for distracting thoughts. For a man my age, women are the greatest distraction!

"As long as I overcome this greatest distraction, my heart will hold no external things, and my mind will become clear. My comprehension will naturally improve, and cultivation will certainly become faster!"

His qi and blood began to circulate as he started Bone Refining.

A flash of insight suddenly struck Xu Yan. "Master said, 'With no women in my heart, cultivation is like being blessed by the gods.' Could he be reminding me that I have not truly grasped the essence of my current Bone Refining method, which is why my Bone Refining has been so slow?"

"Recomprehend it, understand its intent. I must cast aside distracting thoughts, keep my mind clear, and carefully perceive the changes in my qi and blood to find the essence of Bone Refining... That must be Master's true meaning!"

At that moment, Xu Yan spun an elaborate interpretation in his mind. The more he thought, the more deeply he felt that every word and action of his master contained profound meaning.

"A master leads one to the door, but cultivation depends on the individual. Master is a Reclusive Master, and the methods he teaches defy ordinary reason. What Master values is comprehension... He is constantly reminding me to comprehend more!"

With that thought, Xu Yan began carefully sensing his own qi and blood, carefully sensing the changes in his bones. Gradually, he entered a state where both self and world were forgotten.

"Something is slightly wrong here... My qi and blood are circulating too slowly, not seeping in deeply enough, and the tempering is not strong enough... I should make an adjustment."

"My Bone Refining has sped up... As expected, Master was reminding me that I had not mastered the essence of Bone Refining!"

"I understand now! This is the true method of Bone Refining!"

At a certain moment, Xu Yan felt his qi and blood circulate smoothly. The speed of his Bone Refining surged, and his qi and blood strengthened along with the refinement of his bones.

"With no women in my heart, cultivation is like being blessed by the gods. Master truly did not deceive me!"

Xu Yan was utterly thrilled.

"At this rate, I'll forge Iron Bone in five or six days!"

"Golden Bone should be no problem. I will surely stand shoulder to shoulder with the Ancient Prodigies!"

Xu Yan immersed himself in cultivation, forgetting both self and world, already unaware of time passing.

By evening.

The village had begun to grow dark.

Li Xuan looked at Xu Yan, who was still cultivating, and a trace of puzzlement flashed through his eyes. Why had this kid forgotten the time?

And he seemed to have maintained that horse stance all this time?

Without resting midway?

"Impossible, right? Even if he is used to practicing horse stance every day, he can't possibly hold it for so long without getting tired."

"Maybe I simply didn't notice when he rested."

Li Xuan had been about to call Xu Yan over to finish his training and make dinner.

But then he reconsidered. My foolish disciple was cast aside by his fiancée. His heart must be hurting, and he's using cultivation to ease his sorrow. Better not disturb him. I'll make dinner myself tonight.

With a sigh, Li Xuan went to make his own dinner.

Half a month later.

Since Xu Yan returned, Li Xuan had resumed his leisurely life over the past half month. Xu Yan handled every trivial task, so Li Xuan did not need to worry about anything at all.

The chickens had grown fatter and fatter, while the chicks had grown another full round larger.

He had even raised several wild rabbits.

Li Xuan sighed inwardly. Though the cultivation was fake, Xu Yan had still learned many life skills.

Over the past half month, Xu Yan had cultivated even more diligently.

Even Li Xuan admired that stubborn persistence. He could not bear to discourage him, and could only offer a few words of encouragement from time to time!

Completely unaware that Xu Yan had already entered the Copper Bone stage of cultivation.

For Xu Yan, however, the past half month of cultivation had truly felt as though he had divine assistance. He comprehended the Bone Refining method again and again, and his tempering speed continued to rise.

He pondered every word of encouragement from Li Xuan. After spinning an elaborate interpretation and filling in the gaps himself, he would immediately gain another insight!

He made further minor adjustments to his qi and blood tempering method, and the speed at which he tempered his bones increased once more.

Whenever that happened, he would become incomparably excited. The image of his master in his heart could no longer be described merely as that of a Reclusive Master.

"Master is truly unfathomably profound!"

"At Master's level, he has already cast off traditional, ordinary teaching methods. Instead, every moment, he is improving my comprehension!"

"He is making me constantly comprehend the true essence of cultivation, comprehend the 'intent' within it!"

"Growing vegetables, cooking, raising chickens, raising rabbits... These seemingly ordinary chores can relax my mind after cultivation, allowing me to return to the state of an ordinary person rather than constantly keeping myself tense as a martial cultivator.

"No wonder Master looks like an ordinary person. This is what Master meant by Return to Simplicity, The Dao follows Nature..."

"Master's realm is far too lofty!"

Xu Yan sighed inwardly. When would he ever reach his master's realm?

"I have already tempered Copper Bone. I'm one step closer to Golden Bone. In another half month, I should be able to set foot in the Golden Bone realm?"

"According to Master, Copper Bone to Golden Bone is an enormous leap and transformation. It will not be so easy to temper."

"Once I finish tempering Copper Bone, I should return home and see whether I can buy Precious Medicine like Nine-Leaf Spirit Ganoderma!"

Xu Yan made up his mind. Once he completed his Copper Bone tempering, he would return home and see whether he could find Precious Medicine such as Nine-Leaf Spirit Ganoderma to increase his chances of tempering Golden Bone.

Ten days later.

Xu Yan's Copper Bone was perfected.

At this moment, whenever he cultivated, he could already feel a bottleneck, as though Bone Refining had reached its limit.

He knew he had encountered the Golden Bone bottleneck. At this stage, he could rely only on talent, perseverance, and persistence.

Most important of all was comprehension!

"With Precious Medicine to assist me, the chance of breaking through will be higher."

Xu Yan prepared to return home once more to seek Precious Medicine to aid his cultivation.

Li Xuan stood at the doorway, watching Xu Yan cultivate in the distance, lost in thought.

For some reason, he always felt that Xu Yan had changed somewhat.

He seemed to possess an additional—heroic and martial aura?

"My foolish disciple hasn't really cultivated something, has he?"

"No! Absolutely impossible. I made all this up! Even if this world truly has a qi-and-blood martial path, this cultivation method was made up by me. How could anyone possibly cultivate it?"

"It must be because he has held horse stance for so long that he looks steadier and stronger!"

Having practiced horse stance for so long, it was time to let Xu Yan switch to a new posture.

Holding the same horse stance all the time was far too monotonous.

As he considered what new horse stance to teach Xu Yan, videos and illustrations of martial arts training he had seen in his past life surfaced in his mind.

"It doesn't need to be exactly the same. I can adjust the stance a little and teach it to my foolish disciple!"

"Anyway, I made it all up. He won't cultivate anything from it. It will simply give my disciple a little more faith to persist, so he can continue cultivating. There is still a long way to go before the one-year deadline."

"It would be best if we could part on good terms, using the excuse that we were not fated to be master and disciple."

Thinking this, Li Xuan beckoned for Xu Yan to come over.