The half-month deadline arrived in the blink of an eye.
During the final few nights before the exam, Li Yuan had hardly slept. The "Crimson Sun" inside him was like an ever-burning furnace, churning day and night. It converted the essence he absorbed from his daily Medicinal Baths, along with every last bit of energy squeezed from the meager food in the Dining Hall, into pure Crimson Sun Qi and Blood, which he poured into the final push to temper his skin.
He could feel that he was at a critical threshold.
The skin on both arms had long since reached—and even surpassed—the standard for Minor Accomplishment in the Iron Body Technique. It was extraordinarily tough. And he had long since moved beyond tempering only his arms: over the past half-month, he had repeatedly hammered his chest, abdomen, back, and even thighs with his unique Crimson Sun Tempering Method.
Tonight was the final push.
He sat cross-legged on the cold bedboard, his mind utterly focused as he guided the Crimson Sun Qi and Blood surging through him like a river. Like a raging tide, it washed over and seeped into the skin across his entire body, again and again.
At first, there was a searing, prickling pain, as if countless tiny needles of fire were piercing his skin.
But as the tempering deepened, a wondrous transformation began.
The repeatedly tempered skin had its fiber structure forcibly reshaped and reorganized by the Crimson Sun Qi and Blood, growing denser and tougher. It also seemed to form a deeper connection with the muscles beneath. The Qi and Blood flowed through it without the slightest impediment, instead moving as naturally as fish in water, seamlessly and freely.
When the first pale hint of dawn appeared on the eastern horizon, something inside Li Yuan seemed to tremble softly.
"Vmmm..."
A faint hum, audible only to him, rang out from deep within his body.
At that moment, the skin across his entire body seemed to join into a single whole! A sense of unprecedented perfection welled up within him!
He snapped his eyes open and looked down at his body.
In the faint morning light, he could see that his body had undergone a dramatic transformation!
His muscles, which had only begun to take shape before, were now sharply defined, their contours smooth and brimming with explosive power. His chest was broad and solid, his abs etched in clear blocks like they had been carved with a knife, and his arms and thighs had thickened by a full circle, stretching his Coarse Cloth Clothes until they were tight.
But that was only on the outside.
He rolled his shoulders lightly. Every joint in his body crackled, crisp as popping beans and full of power. He tried tensing his chest muscles and pressed a finger against them. They no longer felt like soft flesh, but like dense tissue filled with astonishing elasticity and toughness, as if covered by a layer of invisible, resilient leather.
He went to the corner of the room and picked up the Iron Rod that had been with him for so long. He set its tip against his forearm and drew it across with a little pressure.
"Scritch—"
There was no torn flesh as he had expected, only the grating drag of a dull blade scraping over old cowhide. A faint white mark appeared on his skin, then quickly vanished.
He pressed harder. The tip of the Iron Rod even bent slightly, yet still couldn't pierce his skin!
Li Yuan's eyes flashed!
He'd done it!
Minor Accomplishment in the Iron Body Technique! No—it was a formidable physique tempered by Crimson Sun Qi and Blood, far beyond ordinary Minor Accomplishment in the Iron Body Technique!
The defensive power of his skin had probably come close to, or even reached, the level of ordinary Great Accomplishment in the Iron Body Technique! And that was only his skin's defense. The strength, speed, and reflexes granted by the Crimson Sun Qi and Blood surging through him were even more exceptional than those of his peers!
He walked to the middle of the room, where a stone lock used for storing odds and ends sat. It weighed about a hundred catties. Before, he'd needed both hands just to lift it with difficulty.
Now, he reached out with his right hand, curled his five fingers around its handle, and let the Crimson Sun Qi and Blood circulate faintly.
"Up!"
With a low shout, he lifted the hundred-cattie stone lock effortlessly with one arm and raised it over his head! His arm was as steady as a boulder, without the slightest tremor!
He even felt that this was nowhere near his limit!
Li Yuan gently set down the stone lock and let out a long breath. A stream of hot air puffed from his mouth, forming a brief white ribbon in the chilly air.
Half a month ago, he had been a frail, scrawny offering, at the mercy of others on the Li Family's Altar.
Half a month later, he had been reborn, with enough strength to establish himself in Blustering Wind Martial Hall—and even Astonish the World!
It had all come from that mysterious Crimson Sun!
Outside the window, the sky grew brighter and brighter. The martial hall's wake-up bell was about to ring.
Li Yuan quickly opened the cold well water and rinsed himself off, then changed into a relatively clean (though still ragged) set of clothes. He deliberately reined in the active Qi and Blood around him, drawing that surging sense of power inward. His gaze returned to its usual calm, with even a trace of deliberately feigned dullness.
He looked at his reflection in the Copper Basin.
His face was still young, but his features were more rugged, his skin a healthy bronze. Deep in his eyes lay the steadfastness of bedrock and a barely perceptible sharpness.
"That should do it."
He murmured to himself, the corner of his mouth curving into a cold smile.
Zhao Hu's provocations, the others' contempt—today, he would settle it all at once!
He would show everyone that he, Li Yuan, was no longer the useless weakling they could bully at will!
"Dong—Dong—Dong—"
The martial hall's bell rang out sonorously, carrying to every corner.
The Half-monthly Exam had officially begun.
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