Qi Long

That day.

A huge cauldron taller than a person had been set up in the Lian Clan's grain-drying yard. The cauldron was filled with Li Fire Water.

The Li Fire Water had also been purchased from a large clan. It contained the power of flames, and its temperature could rise to four or five hundred degrees without boiling. It was specially used to stew Savage Bones.

The firewood piled beneath the cauldron was no ordinary wood either. It was Purple Fire Wood, its surface twisted and gnarled like a bundle of dried-up old snakes.

Although it looked unremarkable, Purple Fire Wood was extremely valuable. It also contained the power of flames. A single half-foot-long piece could burn for an entire day, boiling several large pots of water.

The Lian Clan had been preparing for this day for a long time. Even so, they were reluctant to use too much Purple Fire Wood, allowing themselves only one piece a day.

And so, the fire was lit.

Purple flames spouted from the Purple Fire Wood, burning in silence. Yet their temperature was astonishingly high—hot enough to melt rock!

Under the scorching Purple Fire, the cauldron of Li Fire Water soon grew searingly hot!

The one presiding over the stewing of the Savage Bones was the Lian Clan's patriarch, and also Lian Chengyu's great-granduncle. Since this matter was of utmost importance, the old patriarch had decided to take charge personally.

"Add the Savage Bones!"

When the water had reached roughly the right temperature, the old patriarch gave the order.

Several sturdy villagers carried over the large wooden chest, lifted the Savage Bones up, and threw them into the cauldron!

The old patriarch watched the bubbles roiling in the cauldron, his expression somewhat grave.

Under normal circumstances, stewing Savage Bones was work that ordinary people like them could never accomplish.

In this world, there was a special kind of person who refined Savage Bones. They were respectfully known as Savage Heaven Masters!

Savage Heaven Masters possessed an incomparably exalted status!

Their ability lay in extracting the essence from Savage Bones and refining it into a crystal that countless martial warriors yearned for, even becoming obsessed with—the Savage Bone Relic.

The skeletons of ordinary savage beasts weighed tens of thousands of pounds. Although everyone knew that Savage Bones contained astonishing energy, humans could never eat tens of thousands of pounds of bone. Even if they forced it down, it would be difficult to digest!

How could the power within Savage Bones be so easily absorbed? After eating a section of Savage Bone, one might ultimately absorb less than a tenth of it.

But after Savage Heaven Masters refined them, Savage Bone Relics were only the size of a dragon's eye, or even a soybean. If one had enough wealth, eating seven or eight of them a day would not be a problem.

Furthermore, once these energy essences had been refined by a Savage Heaven Master, they were very easy to absorb. As long as a martial warrior's cultivation was high enough and he did not explode from being unable to withstand the energy, he would sooner or later be able to completely refine the Savage Bone Relic.

A Savage Heaven Master capable of refining high-grade savage beasts was an existence every major power would scramble to win over!

It was said that the Imperial Preceptor of the Tai'a Divine Kingdom was a Savage Heaven Master. His status and glory were already beyond what ordinary people could imagine.

In this world, savage beasts also had many levels. Some could overturn rivers and seas or tear apart mountains and rivers. The Savage Bones of such beasts were even more difficult to refine—ordinary people could forget about it entirely!

According to legend, there had once been a Savage Heaven Master whose cultivation realm was unfathomable. He had set up an unparalleled grand formation to refine the bones of the Ancient Savage Beast Purple Gold Qilin, and the process had lasted a full twelve years!

Twelve years to refine a single set of Savage Bones—and the person who had taken action possessed a mysterious identity. Such a legend naturally made people yearn for it.

It was said that during that refinement, the Great Wilderness within a thousand miles had been turned into a desert. In the end, even that Savage Heaven Master had paid a certain price before successfully refining the Savage Bone Relic.

As for what he had used the Purple Gold Qilin Relic he refined for, opinions varied. Some said he had used it to save someone.

As for who he had saved, people had invented more than a dozen versions. Each was told with such conviction that it seemed entirely real: the Savage Heaven Master's daughter, his lover, his beloved disciple, and so on.

Such legends also happened to prove how exalted Savage Heaven Masters were in people's hearts. That was why people embellished their stories and passed them down from mouth to mouth.

This was only natural. The people living in the Great Wilderness endured incredibly harsh conditions. They worshiped the strong and the figures of legend. Even knowing they could never become such people themselves, merely listening to their legends was enough to excite them.

As for the Lian Clan, a clan as tiny as an ant, they naturally could not afford to invite a Savage Heaven Master. Even the lowest-grade Savage Heaven Master was an existence they could only look up to.

Thus, they could only use crude methods to refine the Savage Bones.

Fortunately, the Savage Bones they were refining were also low-grade. With crude methods, they could barely extract fifty or sixty percent of the essence within them.

For Lian Chengyu, that was already enough.

Whether day or night, the Lian Clan never stopped stewing the Savage Bones.

Especially at night, from any unobstructed place in the village, one could see the dazzling ghostly purple firelight—the glow of the burning Purple Fire Wood.

While the Lian Clan refined the Savage Bones day and night, Yi Yun was also cultivating without rest.

The rear mountain of the Lian Clan was usually deserted, making it the best place for Yi Yun to cultivate.

As of today, Yi Yun had been practicing the Dragon Marrow Tiger Bones Fist for five days.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

Yi Yun punched again and again. After each punch, the sound of bowstrings vibrating rang out from within his body, like the pulse of life.

One tree after another was smashed apart by Yi Yun. The circulation of blood throughout his body accelerated, and he breathed heavily as the veins on his arms and fists rose faintly.

"Ha!"

Yi Yun shouted and punched the rock before him.

"Crack!"

The boulder shattered, and the snapping sound of the tendons within Yi Yun's body reached its peak at that moment!

"Rustle, rustle, rustle!"

In the mountain forest, a flock of early-rising birds was startled into flight. They flapped their wings and soared into the sky.

Because they had taken off so hurriedly, some leaves were knocked loose by the birds. They fluttered down in a flurry and landed on Yi Yun's face.

At that moment, Yi Yun felt completely exhilarated. It was as if all the power within his body had fused together in an instant, leaving him indescribably comfortable!

Of the eighteen forms of the Dragon Marrow Tiger Bones Fist, he had not yet reached the stage of startling geese from the sky with the sound of a bow. But being able to startle the birds in the forest and make them think a hunter had come hunting was already tremendous progress.

One had to understand that Yi Yun's strength was still insufficient. He possessed only five or six hundred pounds of force. If he could one day reach the strength of several cauldrons, or even ten thousand pounds, then truly startling a lone goose from the sky would not be impossible!

Although he possessed only five or six hundred pounds of strength, when Yi Yun used Fierce Tiger Descends the Mountain, the force of his attack was actually far greater than five or six hundred pounds!

Fierce Tiger Descends the Mountain used the tendons as bowstrings, and the key lay in accumulating power. With the right technique, that single punch could unleash well over a thousand pounds of force—enough to shatter a tiger's skull.

Yi Yun closed his eyes in satisfaction, feeling the power he had just gained. The sensation of all that strength flowing together made him feel wonderful.

Unknowingly, Yi Yun's breathing grew long and steady, and the speed of the blood flowing through his body also changed.

Hmm, this is...

Yi Yun looked at his hands and found that the faintly bulging veins on his arms had disappeared. His breathing had grown even calmer, while his heartbeat had slowed considerably.

Yi Yun suddenly realized something. He lightly pressed both feet against the ground, drew in a deep breath, and exhaled forward.

"Whoosh!"

A stream of white air shot forward like an arrow, traveling five or six meters. The leaves that had just fallen because of the birds were pierced through by that breath and spun away.

"Qi Long Realm! I've finally entered the second level of the Mortal Blood Realm, the Qi Long Realm!"

Qi Long Realm warriors possessed long, steady breaths and slow yet powerful heartbeats. Their greatest difference from ordinary valiant warriors lay in their astonishing stamina. They could fight for long periods and launch long-distance assaults.

For example, an army composed entirely of Qi Long Realm warriors could easily march hundreds of miles a day on the battlefield and complete a thousand-mile surprise attack.

Yi Yun's breakthrough into the Qi Long Realm could be said to have happened as naturally as water flowing into a channel. Once his body had been tempered to this degree, the breakthrough had come of itself.

"Since coming to this world, I've truly practiced martial arts for only five days. Five days to break through to the second level of the Mortal Blood Realm—and the Mortal Blood Realm is merely the stage for laying the foundation of martial arts. I wonder what realms come afterward, and what level those experts of the Tai'a Divine Kingdom have reached?"

Yi Yun possessed the Purple Crystal, so he had no problem obtaining the energy required for cultivation. The problem lay in cultivation methods.

Without a cultivation method to guide him, it was like a chef possessing a pile of excellent ingredients but not knowing how to cook. He still could not produce a feast.

"Now that I've entered the Qi Long Realm, I can also try the third form of the Dragon Marrow Tiger Bones Fist."

Yi Yun muttered to himself. Seeing that the eastern sky had already begun to pale like a fish's belly, he bounded down the mountain as swiftly as a rabbit and swooping falcon.

On the way, Yi Yun slowed his pace when he passed the grain-drying yard.

Beneath the thousand-pound cauldron, the Purple Fire was burning fiercely. A tall wooden fence had been erected twenty meters around it, and unrelated people were forbidden from approaching.

Because of the wooden fence, Yi Yun could not see the situation inside clearly. However, from far away, he could still feel the heat of the flames beneath the cauldron.

Yet for some reason, amid the layers of heat waves, Yi Yun faintly sensed a chill.

Although that chill was extremely faint, it pierced straight into his bones...

(From now on, the morning update will be moved to ten o'clock. Updating at eight is too challenging; if I sleep any later, I can't get up anymore +_+)