Tendons Like Strings

While the Lian Clan was bustling with alchemy, Yi Yun quietly made his way to the back mountains behind the Lian Clan.

Bathed in the moonlight at the edge of the sky, Yi Yun stood atop a boulder like an evergreen pine.

When Zhao Tiezhu had collected the medicinal herbs earlier, Yi Yun had seized the opportunity and used the Purple Crystal to absorb a great deal of their Medicinal Power.

Now, all that Medicinal Power surged within Yi Yun's body, billowing fiercely like fiery clouds!

The best way to absorb this Medicinal Power was through cultivation. During cultivation, he could digest the Medicinal Power and use it to temper his own body!

Yi Yun slowly extended his left leg forward, grabbed his left ankle with his left hand, bent his right knee, and leaned his body to the side, his waist and back curved like a bow.

This was the starting stance of Fierce Tiger Descends the Mountain. During the day, Yi Yun had secretly learned the first six moves of Dragon Marrow Tiger Bones Fist, and he already performed them with convincing form.

The most important thing about Fierce Tiger Descends the Mountain was tensing the tendons within his body. Yi Yun kept stretching until his body throbbed with pain. Only then did he let out a shout and punch forward!

"Crack!"

The small tree as thick as a bowl before Yi Yun was smashed in two by his punch!

However, this result did not satisfy Yi Yun. What he wanted was not merely greater punching power—he also wanted to unleash the strength of his tendons to the utmost.

The first three levels of the five levels of the Mortal Blood Realm—Valiant, Long Breath, and Thunderous Sound—were merely outward manifestations of a martial artist's physical qualities. Through constantly refining the flesh, tempering the internal organs, and hammering the sinews and bones, one's physical qualities would improve imperceptibly, naturally reaching the Long Breath and Thunderous Sound realms. All of this happened as naturally as water flowing into a channel; there was no need to pursue it deliberately.

Yi Yun understood that as long as he mastered Dragon Marrow Tiger Bones Fist, he could easily break through all five levels of the Mortal Blood Realm. According to Yao Yuan, Dragon Marrow Tiger Bones Fist was a foundational technique that could still display considerable power even in the Purple Blood Realm.

"Crack!"

With another crisp sound, Yi Yun smashed apart a pine tree as thick as a calf. His fist was somewhat bruised, but it did not matter. The Medicinal Power absorbed by the Purple Crystal was active within his body, slowly dissolving the stagnant blood and Qi. The Medicinal Power also completely merged into Yi Yun's flesh and blood through this process, becoming part of his strength.

Yi Yun moved his fist slightly, then drew it back and struck again!

Yi Yun did not know how many times he had practiced Fierce Tiger Descends the Mountain. Yet all the muscles and tendons in his body continued to grow and strengthen, like seedlings nourished by spring rain.

Yi Yun had come to the back mountains at midnight and practiced until the sky began to brighten!

If he had not undergone such high-intensity training, then with the Purple Crystal inside him and so much Medicinal Power from the spirit herbs absorbed, Yi Yun's mental state could have been described as full of vigor. Even after staying awake all night, he would have remained bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, without feeling the slightest bit tired.

But every time Yi Yun performed Fierce Tiger Descends the Mountain, he poured in all his strength. The muscles and tendons throughout his body surged, stretching to their limits each time!

Such high-intensity training was enough to make even Yi Yun feel overwhelmed.

His body ached terribly. Amid that pain, the Medicinal Power absorbed into his body had already been completely expended. Yet the essence of that energy had been hammered and fused into Yi Yun's flesh and blood. His tendons had been repeatedly stretched and were gradually becoming extraordinarily tough.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Yi Yun no longer knew how many punches he had thrown. His stamina had been severely depleted, and his vision had grown blurry. His perception of everything around him faded away unconsciously. Only the pain when his fists swung out and the pulsing sensation of his tendons being drawn taut within his body remained crystal clear!

Yi Yun entered a wondrous state without realizing it, utterly undistracted, half-drunk and half-awake.

He forgot everything. The only thing he remembered was every tendon throughout his body. Imperceptibly, Yi Yun felt a map of all his tendons appear in his mind. It was an extremely wondrous sensation.

In this self-forgetting state, Yi Yun actually "saw" his own meridians.

Sweat poured down like rain, and both fists bled.

Sweat blurred his eyes. The faint whoosh of wind lingered beside his ears, and Yi Yun felt only a heavy chaos before him, pressing down until he could barely breathe.

At that instant, Yi Yun did not know where the strength came from. He roared, drew his body's tendons to their absolute limit, and punched out!

"Bang!"

The pine tree Yi Yun had been practicing against was smashed from its roots, sending splinters flying everywhere!

Amid those flying splinters, a faint "snap!" clearly sounded from within Yi Yun's body.

The sound was not loud, yet it was exceptionally crisp, just like the plucking of a bowstring. In the night sky, it rang out with extraordinary clarity.

Tendons like strings... was this what it meant for tendons to be like strings?

Yi Yun lay on the grass on his back, his limbs spread wide.

That final punch had completely drained him!

Yi Yun panted heavily. His right fist was a bloody mess, but the pain in his hand made him incomparably excited!

He knew that his Fierce Tiger Descends the Mountain had reached minor mastery!

Tonight was the first time in his life he had practiced martial arts. He had trained in the Tai'a Divine Kingdom's supreme body-refining technique—Dragon Marrow Tiger Bones Fist. According to Yao Yuan, a warrior generally had to be at the third level of the Mortal Blood Realm, with Thunderous Sound cultivated throughout the body, before he could make his tendons pulse and produce a sound like a bowstring.

Yet Yi Yun had done it. Although the sound was very faint, he was only at the Valiant Realm, and his body had merely twelve years of bone age. Whether in muscle or bone, he was far less sturdy than an adult.

This achievement was something not a single member of the Lian Clan's Warrior Reserve Camp could match. It even left far behind the Lian Chengyu of that year, who had likewise been at the Valiant Realm.

Yi Yun had not slept all night. In the Lian Clan's great medicine room, the old men and brawny men responsible for boiling the medicine had also remained awake all night!

A single cauldron of medicine had boiled for the entire night, until even the stones beneath the pot had burned red.

At dawn, several brawny men worked together to pour out the medicinal liquid, filling a large barrel with black juice.

This was the essence of the entire cauldron of medicine.

"Mm... These herbs will have their best effect the first time. They can still be boiled three to five more times afterward. Although the effect will be weaker, they'll still be extremely precious. Take them and wash your bodies in it. The remaining Medicinal Dregs must also be kept. Wait until they're distributed to the ordinary clansmen; they'll be useful when smelting the Desolate Bone!"

Using their crude methods to boil medicine, the Lian Clan could extract at most twenty-some percent of the Medicinal Power. That was already the limit.

And when that twenty percent of Medicinal Power was used to wash Lian Chengyu's body, Lian Chengyu could absorb only about half of it.

In other words, Lian Chengyu's absorption rate for the medicinal herbs was only ten percent.

That ratio sounded very low, but it was only natural. Ordinary people did not have a high absorption rate even for food, let alone the various medicinal herbs that were a hundred times harder to absorb than food.

The barrel of black medicinal liquid was sent into a secret chamber. This was precisely Lian Chengyu's place of seclusion.

Lian Chengyu had long heard that this cauldron of herbs contained extremely precious Pill Fruit, Wild Ginseng, Black Lingzhi, and Five Spirit Grass!

Lian Chengyu's cultivation had reached the sprinting stage, and he was in urgent need of good medicine to replenish himself!

"Good! Good! It came at exactly the right time!"

Lian Chengyu stared at the barrel of black medicinal liquid, his face filled with excitement.

He stripped off his clothes and jumped naked into the boiling medicinal liquid.

The temperature was around ninety degrees. It was hot enough to cook meat, and even Lian Chengyu, who was at the fifth level of the Mortal Blood Realm, felt pain throughout his body inside it.

However, this temperature was also the best for absorbing the medicinal liquid. Scalding water could make a person's pores open wide, allowing the Medicinal Power within the liquid to slowly seep into the warrior's body through every pore.

(Sorry for being a little late.)