Biting Off More Than You Can Chew

The outside world's new recruit selection was still in full swing. Everywhere in Capital City, people were fervently discussing the new recruit selection.

It could be said that this year's recruitment drive was the grandest in recent years.

Only half a month had passed, yet it was said that the number of applicants had already exceeded last year's total by the deadline. This showed just how many people had answered the Empire's call.

Even the usual recruit camps had recently begun building and expanding, so that more recruits could undergo centralized training in the days ahead.

Of course, none of this had much to do with Wang Yu. He had taken the back door and passed the recruit assessment long ago, so there was no need for him to attend any recruit camp.

Every day, he went back and forth between the Secret Martial Building and the training grounds, observing and cultivating. His days were far more fulfilling than they had been at the boxing gym.

Now that Wang Yu had something to occupy himself with, he even felt that obtaining the Blood Burning Method was no longer so urgent.

Chen Wenlin, meanwhile, had been busy with recruit-related matters lately. He could only occasionally visit Wang Yu and follow up on the approval progress of the Talent Special Regulation.

This matter would likely see progress only after the new recruit selection ended.

They said someone would come then to assess Wang Yu's specific qualifications and potential, to see whether they matched the description.

Chen Wenlin was quite confident in Wang Yu regarding this assessment. He believed Wang Yu only needed to perform normally.

Who could refuse a genius who had reached the great completion of the Body Tempering Realm at eighteen?

Because he had recruited Wang Yu, Chen Wenlin had even received commendation from his superiors. In truth, his superior had also helped behind the scenes with this matter.

Otherwise, he would not have been confident he could get the application approved.

After all, this was an exceptional clause triggered only in rare cases. Not just anyone was qualified to apply for it.

August.

Once the registration deadline passed, this year's new recruit selection also came to an end, and the fervor of the previous month gradually faded.

Tens of thousands of recruits gathered at the recruit camps and began adapting to life in the military.

Naturally, Wang Yu was not among them. There were also a small number of other specially recruited newcomers who enjoyed the same special treatment as Wang Yu.

They did not need to spend a boring, tedious month in the recruit camps.

Third Battalion Fortress, military cafeteria.

"Three jin of mid-grade Plum Blossom Beast meat. That'll be five thousand five hundred Crystal Coins."

A middle-aged man holding a serving ladle and wearing a chef's hat placed the cooked Plum Blossom Beast meat into a takeaway bag and spoke with a smile.

His face was so round that when he smiled, his pupils were nearly impossible to see.

"Why did the price go up?" Wang Yu took the bag and asked with a frown.

The price had been lower the previous few times he bought it here.

"Wild Plum Blossom Beast meat has been hard to source lately, so the wholesale price has gone up too.

It's only because the Military Department has independent supply channels that we can still sell it at this price. Outside, a jin of Plum Blossom Beast meat like this has risen to more than two thousand Crystal Coins." The man spread his hands helplessly.

After hearing this, Wang Yu said nothing more. He handed over several Star Tickets, paid, and left.

On the way, the steaming meat fragrance wafted from the Plum Blossom Beast meat in his hand, making one's mouth water.

This was not the first time Wang Yu had bought Plum Blossom Beast meat lately.

At first, he had thought this so-called military cafeteria was simply a place that provided daily meals for the stationed soldiers.

Who would have thought that, aside from ordinary food, the cafeteria also sold cooked treasure-material meat?

The Plum Blossom Beast meat he bought was one such treasure-material meat. It had to be said that it tasted quite good.

More importantly, it was rich in nutritional energy. If he had to compare them, Wang Yu felt it surpassed even the Blood Pig Meat he had bought before.

The most obvious sign was that, with the nourishment provided by the Plum Blossom Beast meat, the proficiency of Wang Yu's newly acquired Body Tempering Methods immediately began soaring during cultivation. The rate of improvement exceeded anything from before.

But the price of such ultra-high-speed cultivation was that money flowed away like water.

With his current physical strength, an entire jin of Plum Blossom Beast meat could only sustain him for two or three days.

If one of his Body Tempering Methods broke through, it might not even last a single day.

It was only because of the earlier mining of the Purple Coal Vein that he now had a considerable amount of savings. Otherwise, he truly could not have endured such consumption.

As usual, he arrived at Training Ground Nine and prepared for the day's cultivation.

First, he arranged the iron stakes one by one. Then, he strapped the Blackwood Saber, hard as iron, to his back. Finally, he ate several large mouthfuls of Plum Blossom Beast meat.

Only after this entire process was he properly prepared.

There were not many people in the training ground at the moment. In fact, he had observed that Training Ground Nine usually received the fewest visitors.

That was precisely why he had chosen this place to cultivate.

This way, he could avoid any unnecessary trouble that might arise during cultivation.

He did not like being disturbed for no reason while cultivating.

"Let's begin."

Wang Yu took a deep breath. With a movement of his feet, his figure immediately became elusive.

This was the Lost Track Steps he had recently begun practicing. He had now reached the second level, and was not far from the third.

This Body Tempering Method completely abandoned offensive leg techniques. Compared to the Zu Family Wind Chasing Foot he had practiced before, the Lost Track Steps placed greater emphasis on evasion in battle, making nimble shifting footwork more deceptive.

It was also a versatile movement technique that could be combined with many moves at the same time.

More importantly, this Lost Track Steps was a complete Body Tempering Method, allowing him to cultivate directly to the great completion of the sixth level.

These various advantages made Wang Yu value it greatly, and it had become the movement technique he was currently focusing on.

Bang!

His fist struck an iron stake—fast, accurate, and ruthless—and instantly left behind a fist mark.

His body moved again, and his fist turned into fingers that tapped the other side of the iron stake, leaving behind a shallow finger mark as well.

He turned and drew his saber. Every motion linked together perfectly. A buzzing explosion rang through the air like a thunderclap.

The Blackwood Saber slashed diagonally across the iron stake, carving a saber mark from top to bottom.

His Thunderous Saber Technique had also reached the second level, though its progress was slightly slower than the Lost Track Steps.

As for hand techniques like the Falling Leaf Fist and Flower Flicking Finger, he had already rapidly cultivated them to the third level and was advancing toward the fourth.

That was the progress of his cultivation over this period.

And his gains did not end there.

Over several visits to the Secret Martial Building, he had learned a total of twenty-five different Body Tempering Methods.

All of them were complete versions, and all were ones that interested him.

It was simply that his time was currently limited, so he had yet to begin practicing most of them.

He also understood the principle that biting off too much left one unable to chew it. Thus, his plan was to first select several Body Tempering Methods and cultivate them to the ultimate great completion.

Then, when he practiced other Body Tempering Methods, the insights gained from multiple high-level Body Tempering Methods would let him draw inferences from one instance to another. The other methods would naturally be cultivated much faster—at a pace that advanced by leaps and bounds.

To be honest, regarding the nearly thousand Body Tempering Methods in the Secret Martial Building, unless continued cultivation later proved useless and no longer offered the slightest help to his strength,

he even intended to go through every single Body Tempering Method and record them all in his mind, turning them into Body Tempering Methods on his personal interface that could be cultivated at any time.

Whether he would have the chance to practice them later was another matter. At the very least, he would no longer need to worry about having no cultivation methods to practice.