Promotion

Having happily taken on four disciples and collected forty thousand in tuition fees, Baili Qingfeng handed the money to Ran Tianchi and asked him to prepare the medicinal ingredients for next month.

As for himself, he discussed it with the others and decided to teach them for three hours every Wednesday and Sunday evening.

Today was their first lesson.

"Once a master leads you through the gate, cultivation is up to the individual."

Baili Qingfeng said, "Everyone has different talents. If you want to achieve anything, you must put in more effort. You are all young masters and misses from wealthy families. You may not be able to endure hardship, nor may you have as much time to practice martial arts as I do. Taking talent and other factors into consideration, I don't expect you to develop something close to Fist Intent within three months, but within half a year, you should at least achieve something through your practice. Otherwise, how could you justify the ten thousand you each paid in tuition?"

The group nodded deeply in agreement.

After finally encountering a true expert, they naturally had to practice with all their hearts.

"Please rest assured, Master. We'll work hard."

"Good. A towering building rises from the ground. I'll first teach you the basic thirty-six forms of the Primordial Thunder God 108 Forms Body Refining Method. Once you've more or less mastered the basics, I'll teach you the advanced seventy-two forms."

As Baili Qingfeng spoke, he demonstrated the Rushing Thunder Thirty-Six Forms.

The four imitated him and practiced through the forms once.

Half an hour later.

"This... seems a little simple."

Wang Zheng and the others all had a foundation, so they did not find it too difficult.

Ran Tianchi even frowned. "This Body Refining Method... it feels somewhat familiar. I think I've seen it somewhere before."

Baili Qingfeng remained impassive. "Have you memorized it? If not, I can demonstrate it again."

"We've memorized it. It isn't difficult."

"Mm, not bad. Your talents are decent."

Baili Qingfeng nodded. "Then let's practice it thirty times first."

"???"

Wang Zheng and Ran Tianchi stared blankly at Baili Qingfeng.

"Thirty times is all. It's nothing difficult. I practiced slowly just now because I was demonstrating it. Watch..."

After speaking, Baili Qingfeng began practicing directly.

He could complete more than three repetitions in ten minutes, and practiced twenty repetitions in a little over an hour.

After finishing the twenty repetitions, he was neither short of breath nor sore in the waist or legs. He looked completely at ease. "Did you see that? Isn't it easy? I practiced it twenty times in an hour. Look at me—do I look tired? Not at all. I could do another two sets of twenty without difficulty. However, your bodies are delicate. If you feel you can't endure it, you can lower the difficulty a little. Do ten repetitions an hour and spend a little more time on it. You'll still complete thirty repetitions in three hours. Diligence can make up for clumsiness. Of course, if you lower the difficulty, it'll also take longer to achieve something through your practice. How you choose is up to you. Even if I taught you the Sword Saint Twenty-Four, it would be useless if you didn't practice it."

"Yes, yes, Master Baili is right."

"It does... certainly look quite easy..."

"We can't compare with Master Baili, but if we lower the difficulty a little, we should... still be able to give it a try..."

The disciples were somewhat uncertain.

Baili Qingfeng's performance made them feel that thirty repetitions in three hours truly was not an impossible task.

"Practice hard. Martial arts training is definitely arduous, especially at the beginning, when it will feel even more difficult. But once you persevere, you'll discover... this bit of hardship is nothing at all..."

Baili Qingfeng patiently urged them on.

Wang Zheng nodded solemnly. "Master Baili, rest assured. Many masters have told us that martial arts training would be bitter, and only perseverance brings rewards. We failed to endure it before because the future was unclear, but this time, we'll definitely persevere. No matter how bitter or tiring it gets, we'll see it through to the end!"

"Then I'll await your performance. Don't give up halfway. If you give up halfway and achieve nothing, there's nothing I can do."

Baili Qingfeng gave them that reminder.

It was getting late, and he had to return.

Wang Zheng hurriedly drove personally, taking Baili Qingfeng back to the secluded Small Courtyard where he was renting.

After reaching the courtyard, Baili Qingfeng looked at the medicinal ingredients in his hands, then at the old Small Courtyard. "I need a pot."

And a bucket, too.

Thus, he went to a farmers' market not far from there.

The farmers' market in the Old City District was filthy, disorderly, and chaotic, but the variety of goods available was rich and diverse. It also sold many wild products unavailable in formal markets. If one happened to be lucky, one might discover something worthwhile after taking a turn around the place.

Especially...

The goods were very cheap.

Baili Qingfeng spent half a day buying everything one by one, then began simmering the medicinal broth.

Soon...

He discovered a problem.

If he was alone...

How was he supposed to add hot water?

Without heat stimulating the pores to open, the absorption efficiency would be greatly reduced.

Baili Qingfeng stared for a while...

When his gaze landed on the large enough pot...

He had an idea.

Thus, he lowered the flame a little, stripped completely, and jumped straight into the pot.

"It's hot!"

Baili Qingfeng sensed it.

It felt as though he was about to be scalded.

Fortunately, simmering the broth did not require oil, and the temperature of heated water was limited. His own recovery ability was astonishing, and he had lowered the heat besides. The scalding was still within the limits his physique could endure.

Moreover...

Absorbing the medicinal power this way...

The results were surprisingly good.

Baili Qingfeng felt that this absorption efficiency was thirty to forty percent higher than heating himself with warm water!

A single batch of medicinal ingredients cost forty thousand. Thirty to forty percent of that was equivalent to saving sixteen thousand—nearly three years of an ordinary worker's wages.

Over the following days, Baili Qingfeng practiced with all his might, attempting to force out his limits and reach the normal state of exhausted Qi and Blood that an ordinary person would experience.

A hundred repetitions?

Not enough!

On the first day, he practiced a hundred and forty repetitions!

Then came a hundred and fifty, a hundred and sixty, a hundred and seventy...

In the end, he discovered in despair that his recovery physique...

seemed to have grown stronger!?

He had failed to squeeze out his own limits, but his physical recovery had instead climbed to a new peak.

Thus, the feat of forcing out his limits until his Qi and Blood were depleted became a distant dream.

Fortunately, practicing the Rushing Thunder Thirty-Six Forms one or two hundred times a day also caused the strength of his physique to increase geometrically. Once he had completely refined the medicinal power of the Nourishing Essence Soup—on the sixth day after taking on the four disciples—he finally practiced the Rushing Thunder Thirty-Six Forms at a rate of four repetitions in ten minutes.

"A Level 3 Warrior?"

Although Baili Qingfeng had been mentally prepared...

This was far too easy.

With the development of technology and the improvement of people's lives, had martial arts become easier to practice now, too?

He still had not cultivated the state of exhausted Qi and Blood that his younger uncle, Baili Tianxing, had mentioned.

"Perhaps I don't count as a Level 3 Warrior yet. The characteristic of a Level 3 Warrior is that they begin nurturing the spirit."

Baili Qingfeng spoke calmly.

At this stage, one's Qi and Blood would become vigorous enough to nourish the spirit and soul, officially entering the phase of refining Qi and nurturing the spirit. As long as practitioners maintained abundant Qi and Blood, they could remain spirited at all times.

It was said that, in the past, someone with too much time on his hands had conducted an experiment. A martial artist in the phase of refining Qi and nurturing the spirit, while eating and drinking normally, had managed to go an entire month without sleep or rest, whereas the limit for an ordinary person was seven days.

A full fourfold difference!

"Nurturing the spirit..."

Baili Qingfeng's understanding of nurturing the spirit was somewhat vague.

He carefully sensed the nourishment his own Qi and Blood provided to his spirit and soul...

Three hours later, his expression gradually turned solemn.

The efficiency...

was terribly slow!

It was not even one-fifth of the effect he got from cultivating the Thunder Sovereign Spirit Refinement Visualization Method.

Although the spirit and soul nourished this way became more lively, the increase in quantity...

was far too slow!

"My cultivation must have run into a problem... I need to ask Second Grandfather..."

But Baili Qingfeng considered Second Grandfather Baili Changkong's health...

Forget it.

Second Grandfather had only just been discharged after throwing out his back with great difficulty. If he learned that Baili Qingfeng had already begun nurturing the spirit, and got so happy that he ended up back in the hospital, Baili Qingfeng would become a sinner.

Then...

He would practice this way for now.

Perhaps the effect of nurturing the spirit was not obvious right after entering Level 3. He could practice for a few months and see.

If it truly did not work...

He would find a Level 3 Warrior and fight him!