Frenzied Cultivation

Li Yuan walked on the streets of Jiujiang Commandery. On both sides of the street were teahouses, pawnshops, workshops, and taverns. On the open spaces along the streets, there were also many small vendors hawking their wares, creating a lively scene.

He rarely idled on the streets. At this moment, walking on the streets of Jiujiang Commandery, he felt a rare sense of relaxation.

Normally, Li Yuan was either cultivating or out on missions, always on high alert. Now, the tension in his heart had slightly eased. He walked on the street like a young master out for a stroll.

This was the most prosperous city in Jiujiang Commandery, with a population of over a hundred thousand. Li Yuan slowed his pace, savoring the bustling human activity.

The hustle and bustle of life, the most comforting to the common heart. Though the road may be rough, there's always a way home each day.

After passing through several streets, Li Yuan arrived at a blacksmith shop. Seeing someone enter, the shop assistant immediately came forward.

"Customer, what would you like to buy?"

"Of course, I want to buy some ironware."

"Certainly, please follow me."

The blacksmith shop assistant led Li Yuan to a wooden shelf. "Everything here is for sale. Please take a look and see what you need."

Li Yuan took a iron rod about the thickness of his wrist from the shelf. He weighed it and felt the weight was decent, but it was a bit too long.

He intended to buy the iron rod for hitting himself, but it was too long to swing properly, making it inconvenient to use. Moreover, it seemed the strength of an iron rod wasn't sufficient.

Li Yuan gripped the iron rod with both hands and twisted it forcefully. The iron rod let out a grating, squeaking sound. Then, to the shop assistant's stunned gaze, Li Yuan twisted the iron rod in half.

"The iron quality doesn't seem good enough, not durable."

"Do you have steel here?"

The assistant wiped the sweat from his brow and nodded quickly. "Yes, yes, sir, please come inside."

The assistant had initially seen Li Yuan as a young and delicate young master from a wealthy family. He never expected him to be a martial artist with terrifying strength, capable of twisting an iron rod like a towel. His attitude became even more respectful.

Steel implements were considerably more expensive than iron ones. After some selection, Li Yuan chose a short and thick steel rod, and then a large hammer. The hammerhead was larger than his head.

For blunt weapons, these two were sufficient. Besides these, he also needed some sharp weapons.

After some selection, Li Yuan chose a thick-backed saber. This was also a formidable weapon. The thickness of the spine alone was two fingers, and it was very heavy. Holding it felt like wielding an axe.

These items were not delicate instruments; they were all crude, heavy, and simple, merely heavy and hard, not worth much. Li Yuan spent half a tael of silver to purchase them.

The shop assistant found some rope to tie the items together. Li Yuan picked them up and walked out of the blacksmith shop.

Upon returning to his residence, Li Yuan eagerly began to cultivate.

After closing the courtyard gate, Li Yuan drew out the steel rod. Veins bulged on his arm as he slammed the rod heavily onto his stomach.

The thick steel rod was much more effective than a wooden one, both in hardness and weight, far exceeding that of a wooden stick. This one strike was equivalent to ten strikes with a wooden stick!

Therefore, the cultivation effect would also be ten times greater than with a wooden stick!

Li Yuan continuously struck various parts of his body with the steel rod, the dull thudding sounds echoing all around!

If ordinary people saw such a fierce scene, they would surely be frightened out of their wits.

This was also why Li Yuan no longer asked Dong Yuezhen to help him cultivate the Iron Body Skill. His progress in the technique was simply too rapid. Through these constant blows, Li Yuan's muscles, bones, skin, and membranes were strengthening at a visible rate!

And this rate of improvement was only accelerating!

Such an unreasonable phenomenon would surely arouse suspicion in others, so his subsequent training could only be done by himself.

While continuously striking his body with the steel rod, Li Yuan also circulated the breathing technique of the Iron Body Skill. His chest cavity acted like a giant bellows, emitting a deep and prolonged sound with each breath.

Time ticked by. After half an hour, Li Yuan's Iron Body Skill reached Great Accomplishment!

The Iron Body Force within his body surged, and a large amount of Iron Body Force erupted out of nowhere, several times more than before!

Even the quality of the Iron Body Force had improved, becoming more resilient and condensed!

After the Iron Body Skill reached Great Accomplishment, Li Yuan's body also continuously strengthened. Intense changes were occurring deep within his body. His bones became denser and tougher, his muscles grew more robust and powerful, and his skin and membranes became harder and stronger, even faintly exuding a metallic sheen!

Masters who cultivated external hard techniques would certainly exhibit noticeable changes in their physique. Just standing there, their imposing physique, filled with a sense of raw power, would put immense pressure on others.

After hitting himself with the steel rod for so long, even without injury, Li Yuan was a bit tired. Moreover, he found his stomach was hungry again.

Li Yuan's body was constantly strengthening. This transformation required not only the support of his cultivation realm but also external nourishment.

Now, every cell in Li Yuan's body was signaling hunger!

Dropping the steel rod in his hand, Li Yuan sat down at the stone table. He had some leftovers from lunch, so he started eating again.

The meal on the stone table was quickly cleared by Li Yuan. The hunger in his stomach only subsided by two or three parts; he still felt hungry.

Continue eating!

Li Yuan walked out of the courtyard and went to a restaurant, urging the waiter to serve the dishes.

The improvement in his body was not just an increase in strength but an all-around enhancement. Even the digestive and absorptive capacity of his internal organs had greatly increased. The scene of Li Yuan eating astonished the waiters serving the food.

These waiters found that their speed of serving dishes couldn't keep up with Li Yuan's speed of eating!

As soon as a dish was placed on the table, Li Yuan devoured it in a few large mouthfuls. Before long, a tall stack of plates had accumulated on the table.

Since Li Yuan had booked a private room, there were no other diners to witness this. Otherwise, it would have surely caused quite a stir.

The large amount of food was rapidly digested and absorbed by Li Yuan's powerful internal organs, converting into qi, blood, and nutrients, continuously supplying every cell in his body. These cells greedily devoured the nutrients, becoming stronger and stronger!

Li Yuan ate while pondering the issues here.

His cultivation of the [Iron Body Skill] was very fast; in just over half a day, he had trained this external hard-body technique to the Great Accomplishment stage.

This level of mastery was something other martial artists struggled to achieve even with decades of arduous training. Li Yuan knew this clearly. At most, another day would be enough for him to fully cultivate this technique to Perfection!

Every time he advanced a stage now, he required a massive amount of nutrition to support his body's growth. He was eating more and more, and there was even a problem with the supply.

The food at the restaurant was just ordinary vegetables and meat, not of particularly high quality. The nutrition it could provide was ultimately limited. He now needed better things to supplement his nutrition!

Li Yuan quickly thought of a solution.

Tonic medicine!

He would go to a pharmacy to find highly nourishing medicinal ingredients and treat medicine as food. Only then could he keep up with the speed of his body's improvement.

After Li Yuan had eaten his fill at the restaurant, he paid the bill and hurried out, rapidly heading in the direction of the pharmacy.