Body Tempering Art Breakthrough

The next morning, before dawn had even broken, Zhao Ping'an opened his eyes right on schedule.

After dawdling for a bit, he got up and started washing up.

Here, he had to mention his daily meals.

As the saying goes, poor scholars study, rich warriors train—martial artists not only ate far more, but they also had to eat well.

And as a personal disciple, Zhao Ping'an's meals were top-notch; he was allotted two jin of First-Tier Demonic Beast Meat every day.

In this world filled with Heavenly Qi, not only were there countless rare herbs and plants, but many wild beasts also transformed into demonic beasts. Their flesh, blood, sinews, and bones were essentially a perfect tonic for humans.

Of course, hunting them was extremely difficult, and one wrong move would mean becoming a meal for the demonic beasts themselves.

Demonic beasts were ranked from low to high: first to ninth tier, corresponding to human realms like Warrior, Martial Artist, Innate Martial Master, Grandmaster, Great Grandmaster, and so on.

In other words, any demonic beast—even a chicken—had at least the attack power of the Warrior Realm. An ordinary person encountering one would absolutely face certain death.

After eating the First-Tier Demonic Beast Meat, Zhao Ping'an had fully recovered his energy and spirit overnight, with no discomfort in his body.

After washing up, Zhao Ping'an first went to the woods behind the house and did three sets of jumping jacks to warm up.

Just as the sun peeked over the horizon, he headed to the dining hall to eat breakfast with his Master, Mistress, and Senior Brother Sisters.

In the Training Ground, Zhao Ping'an stood facing his Master, Zheng Hetong.

"Ping'an, are you ready?"

"Ready, Master!"

"Good! Then let's start with the first set of movements—the Monkey Step Technique!"

The Monkey Step Technique was the practice method for the first three layers of the Body Tempering Art. It mainly involved learning the monkey's leaping and bounding movements to train one's sinews.

The movements themselves weren't that hard; the difficulty lay in the fact that every single jump and stretch pulled on his sinews, and the tearing pain was anything but fun.

But to avoid drawing his Master's attention, Zhao Ping'an gritted his teeth and practiced for an entire morning.

He noticed that if he completed a full round of the Monkey Step Technique, his Body Tempering Art Training Progress would increase by one point.

Unfortunately, the whole morning passed, and he only managed to complete it once by sheer luck.

Every other time, he failed midway due to improper form.

"Haah! Haah! Haah!..."

The sun hung high, and Zhao Ping'an gasped for breath under the scorching heat.

"Alright! That's enough for today. We'll continue tomorrow morning. Come to the Medicine Room after lunch!"

"Yes, Master..."

Zhao Ping'an replied weakly, too exhausted to even speak.

Forcing himself through lunch, Zhao Ping'an arrived at the Medicine Room next to his Master's study. Inside, a large wooden tub was soaking hundreds of herbs—he didn't recognize a single one.

A fire was burning beneath the tub, heating the medicinal liquid until it boiled.

Of course, the fire wasn't directly under the tub; a huge stone slab separated them.

"Get in!"

Zheng Hetong pointed at the bubbling, greenish-black liquid in the tub and ordered Zhao Ping'an.

"Master! Are you sure I'll be fine just jumping in like this? I won't get cooked, will I?"

Zhao Ping'an took a few steps back instinctively, staring at the boiling medicine. Even though the mountain was high in altitude, boiling water was still around ninety degrees.

If he jumped straight in, he'd probably turn into human meat soup.

"Of course not! The temperature only looks high. Under the effects of the medicine, it's just a slightly hot spring. Get in quickly..."

Zheng Hetong explained confidently, though his eyes flickered slightly.

"Alright, Master. I'm young, so don't trick me, or you won't see me again!"

Zhao Ping'an still checked uneasily.

"So much nonsense... If you don't want to get in yourself, don't blame me for using force!"

Zheng Hetong closed in instantly, grabbed Zhao Ping'an, stripped him in a flash, and tossed him into the wooden tub.

"Ah!!! So hot! Master!!! Is this what you call 'slightly hot'? This is a tiny bit hot!!!"

A miserable scream immediately rang out from the tub, and the few people hiding outside all covered their mouths, laughing.

They had all gone through this back in the day, though Third Senior Sister had been thrown in by the Mistress instead.

Zhao Ping'an's screams only lasted a short while before stopping.

Zheng Hetong hadn't lied to him; the temperature in the tub was only about sixty degrees. Once he got used to it, it wasn't that bad.

Soon, Zhao Ping'an felt streams of heat seeping into his body through every pore, warming his sinews and bones and relieving his fatigue.

After soaking for a full two hours, Zhao Ping'an, who was almost asleep, was called out by his Master.

This medicinal bath was basically over.

Zheng Hetong patted Zhao Ping'an a few times to confirm everything was fine, then sent him back to rest.

Tempering the muscles and bones cannot be done overnight; it requires gradual progress. Hastening growth will only leave hidden dangers.

So from then on, Zhao Ping'an only trained for half a day, then spent the rest eating, taking medicinal baths, and resting.

His appetite also began to grow day by day.

Of course, after returning, Zhao Ping'an only slept for one hour before getting up and quietly heading to the open ground in the back woods, performing set after set of jumping jacks.

According to his Master Zheng Hetong's calculations, he would need about two months to formally master the Monkey Step Technique, which meant raising his cultivation to the first level of the Martial Disciple Realm.

By then, he could practice on his own.

But the medicinal baths couldn't stop; they had to continue until he broke through to the Martial Warrior Realm.

Time passed like this, day after day.

Zhao Ping'an was exhausted like a dog every day, collapsing into bed the moment he lay down.

Finally, on the morning of the seventh day, as he completed his last jumping jack, streams of heat suddenly surged from all over his body into his long tendons, continuously enhancing their toughness, strength, and more.

He had finally broken through to the first level of the Martial Disciple Realm!

A full month and a half earlier than his Master had predicted.

Having long planned to hide his true strength, Zhao Ping'an didn't intend to tell anyone about his cultivation. Besides, if he didn't say anything, no one would be able to see through his cultivation until he broke through to the Martial Practitioner Realm.

With the breakthrough, Zhao Ping'an found that not only had his strength, stamina, and speed increased, but his body's flexibility had also grown.

Many movements he couldn't perform before were now easily done.

"The Game Panel really didn't lie to me!"

In high spirits, Zhao Ping'an looked at the training requirements for the first to second level of the Body Tempering Art—identical to the entry requirements—and his eyes blazed with fighting spirit.

Body Tempering Art (Unranked): 2/100 (First Level, Simplified), one hundred jumping jacks increases proficiency by one point

That was the setting he had programmed back then: once any technique was simplified, the training method from start to finish would never change again.

In other words, his speed in cultivating the Body Tempering Art would only get faster and faster!