First Deduction

Any normal cultivation technique starts easy and gets harder—the further you go, the slower your progress inevitably becomes.

Take the simplest Body Tempering Art for example: if entering it takes only two months, breaking through from the first to the second layer requires two and a half months or even three, and each subsequent layer adds more time.

With his mood settled, Zhao Ping'an ate breakfast as usual and began practicing the Monkey Step Technique on the Training Ground.

He soon noticed that after breaking through to the first layer of the Martial Disciple Realm, the Monkey Step Technique became noticeably easier to perform.

Though completing the full set of movements was still difficult, he managed to do it three times over the course of the morning.

Considering that during the entire previous week, aside from the first day's lucky success, he hadn't completed it even once since.

By now, Zheng Hetong no longer kept a constant watch on his training.

After all those days of nonstop practice, all the moves had long been taught—what remained was endless, repetitive drilling.

And the mark of reaching the first layer of the Martial Disciple Realm was being able to complete the Monkey Step Technique twice in a row.

That afternoon, after soaking in a medicinal bath and taking a nap, Zhao Ping'an began testing his limit speed for jumping jacks in the small grove behind the house—this would directly affect his future Training Progress.

"Slap! Thud! Slap! Thud! Slap! Thud!..."

Sharp, rapid sounds of palm strikes and landings echoed from the grove, punctuated by heavy panting.

One set, two sets, three sets...

Zhao Ping'an jumped tirelessly, his motivation the ever-rising numbers on his panel.

Over an hour later, as the sun began to dip below the horizon, Zhao Ping'an gradually slowed, hands on his knees, gasping for air.

"Huff! Huff! Huff!..."

By then, his panel showed the Body Tempering Art had changed to:

[Body Tempering Art (Unranked): 23/100 (First Layer, Simplified), one hundred jumping jacks increases proficiency by one point]

Aside from the two sets of jumping jacks and three rounds of the Monkey Step Technique that morning, he had done eighteen sets of jumping jacks in the afternoon—a total of one thousand eight hundred.

Compared to the thirteen or fourteen sets before his breakthrough, the improvement was massive.

After resting a while, Zhao Ping'an grabbed his water flask, gulped down several mouthfuls with a "glug glug," then dragged his tired body back to his room.

He liked this life—exhausting, but fulfilling, free and without worries.

Time flew by...

Four days later, Zhao Ping'an's cultivation broke through to the second layer of the Martial Disciple Realm!

Eight days later, he reached the third layer!

Eleven and a half days later, he advanced to the fourth layer!

At this point, having begun bone forging, the Monkey Step Technique no longer added to his cultivation proficiency.

He needed to practice the second matching technique in the Body Tempering Art: the Giant Elephant Bone Forging Art.

But to keep a low profile, he couldn't practice it openly outside, and when alone, why bother with the thankless Giant Elephant Bone Forging Art?

Jumping jacks—weren't they good enough?

Even without the few proficiency points from the Monkey Step Technique, his cultivation speed wasn't much affected.

Now at the fourth layer of the Martial Disciple Realm, he did five sets of jumping jacks every morning as a warm-up, and in the afternoon, he could already manage twenty-five sets.

In just three and a half days, he broke through again to the fifth layer.

Another three and a half days, and he reached the sixth layer.

After completing two rounds of bone forging, Zhao Ping'an's daily jumping jack count rose significantly, to thirty-three or thirty-five sets.

This let him go from the sixth to the seventh layer in only three days.

By then, only a month had passed since he started cultivating, and he had already reached the seventh layer of the Martial Disciple Realm—achieving what took others years of hard work.

From the seventh layer onward, the Body Tempering Art focused on skin polishing, with a recorded method called: Golden Ox Skin Polishing Art!

It involved using various external forces to make the skin denser and tougher.

The purpose was to lay the foundation for breaking into the Martial Practitioner Realm, allowing the body to withstand and retain more Heavenly Qi, thereby generating Inner Force.

And Inner Force was the hallmark of the Acquired Martial Practitioner Realm!

Time passed unnoticed in the mountains...

On the afternoon of the ninth day, as he finished his last set of jumping jacks, Zhao Ping'an suddenly felt an extraordinary clarity throughout his body. An endless wave of comfort made him shout out loud.

"Ah!!!..."

"Little Fifth!!! What are you screaming for? Itching for a beating, are you?! Disturb my beauty sleep again, and I'll tan your hide!"

Suddenly, Third Senior Sister Mu Yunmeng's voice rang out from afar, like an enraged lioness.

"Uh..."

Zhao Ping'an's voice cut off abruptly, like a crowing rooster with its neck wrung.

"Forgot about that... shouldn't have..."

Covering his mouth, Zhao Ping'an muttered under his breath.

But seeing the words on the panel, the corners of his mouth couldn't stop curling upward.

Body Tempering Art (Unranked): 100/100 (Ninth Level Perfection, Simplified), Available for Deduction!

Especially the three words flashing behind it: [Available for Deduction!]

Before Zhao Ping'an could initiate the deduction, streams of heat suddenly surged from every part of his body.

"This is... Blood Exchange?!!"

Sensing the strangeness within his body, Zhao Ping'an panicked for a moment, then suddenly recalled his Master's words and realized he had begun the Blood Exchange.

He immediately stripped off his clothes and pants, sitting cross-legged completely naked.

Soon, from every pore on his body, countless black-red filthy blood began to seep out slowly.

He didn't know how long passed, but when Zhao Ping'an felt all the heat inside him vanish, he opened his eyes again.

"Huff!... Ugh..."

A thick, bloody stench mixed with rank odor rushed straight into his nostrils.

"Really stinks!"

Zhao Ping'an quickly got up, grabbed his clothes, and ran toward the Deep Forest, where there was a small Spring.

But the spring water was extremely cold. Before, his body was weak, and entering the water would easily bring on chills, so he had only gone to look a few times, never stepping in.

Now that his body was in great shape, the spring was just right for washing himself clean.

Over ten minutes later, fully dressed, Zhao Ping'an returned refreshed to the Open Ground in the forest.

"Time to deduce the technique!"

As his finger tapped the illusory [Available for Deduction!] on the panel, a window immediately popped up in the center:

Body Tempering Art deduction initiated, deducing... Current progress: 1%...

Zhao Ping'an found the deduction speed very fast—basically increasing by 1% every second.

Time ticked by, moment by moment, until finally...

The deduction progress in the window reached 100%, and a new line of text appeared:

Body Tempering Art deduction complete!