First Deduction

You had to understand, training in any normal cultivation art started easy and grew harder. The farther one progressed, the slower one's training would inevitably become.

Take the simplest Body Tempering Art, for example. If reaching the entry level took only two months, breaking through from the first level to the second would take two and a half months, or even three. Each level after that would take longer still.

After calming down, Zhao Ping'an ate breakfast as usual, then began practicing the Monkey Step Technique on the Training Ground.

He soon discovered that after breaking through to the first level of the Martial Disciple Realm, the Monkey Step Technique had become noticeably easier to practice.

Completing a full set of movements was still difficult, but after a whole morning, he had managed it three times.

In the week before that, he had only completed one set on the first day, when luck was overwhelmingly on his side. He hadn't managed it even once in the days since.

Zheng Hetong no longer watched him practice constantly.

After all, Zhao Ping'an had been practicing without interruption for so many days. Zheng Hetong had long since taught him all the movements; all that remained was a great deal of practice.

The sign that one had reached the first level 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 the fastest pace at which he could do jumping jacks after his breakthrough. That would directly affect his training progress.

"Smack! Thump! Smack! Thump! Smack! Thump!..."

The brief, rapid sounds of his palms clapping together and his feet hitting the ground rang out from the woods, punctuated by his ragged breathing.

One set, two sets, three sets...

Zhao Ping'an kept doing jumping jacks without tiring, driven by the number steadily climbing on his panel.

A little over an hour later, as the sun began to sink toward the horizon, Zhao Ping'an gradually stopped. He braced his hands on his knees, gasping for breath.

"Huff! Huff! Huff!..."

By then, his panel showed that the Body Tempering Art had become:

[Body Tempering Art (Common): 23/100 (First Level, Simplified), 100 jumping jacks increase proficiency by one point]

Aside from the two sets of jumping jacks and three sets of the Monkey Step Technique he had done that morning, he had managed eighteen sets of jumping jacks that afternoon—that was, 1,800 in total.

Compared to the thirteen or fourteen sets he had managed before his breakthrough, that was a huge improvement.

After resting for a while, Zhao Ping'an picked up the water bottle he had brought and took several long gulps. Then, dragging his exhausted body, he turned and headed back to his room.

He loved his life now. It was tiring, but fulfilling, carefree, and free of worries.

Time flew by...

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

Eight days later, he advanced to the third level!

Eleven and a half days later, he reached the fourth level!

Now that Zhao Ping'an had started bone forging, the Monkey Step Technique no longer increased his training proficiency.

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

But to keep a low profile, he couldn't openly practice that thing where everyone could see him. And when no one was around, there was no way he'd go to all that trouble practicing the Giant Elephant Bone Forging Art.

Jumping jacks were so much better!

Although he had lost the few proficiency points he got from the Monkey Step Technique, it hardly affected Zhao Ping'an's training speed.

Already at the fourth level of the Martial Disciple Realm, he did five sets of jumping jacks every morning to warm up, and by the afternoon, he could manage twenty-five sets.

In just three and a half days, he broke through to the fifth level of the Martial Disciple Realm.

Another three and a half days later, he broke through again, reaching the sixth level.

After completing bone forging twice, Zhao Ping'an's daily jumping-jack count rose significantly once more, reaching thirty-three to thirty-five sets.

As a result, it took him just three days to advance from the sixth level of the Martial Disciple Realm to the seventh.

By then, only a month had passed since he began training, yet he had already reached the seventh level of the Martial Disciple Realm—years of hard work for most people.

From the seventh level onward, the Body Tempering Art focused on skin tempering. The method it described was called the Golden Ox Skin Polishing Art!

The general idea was to use various external forces to make the skin denser and tougher.

The purpose was to lay the foundation for breaking through to the Martial Practitioner Realm, allowing the body to withstand and retain more Heavenly Qi, which would then produce Inner Force.

And Inner Force was the defining mark of a postnatal Martial Practitioner!

There were no years in the mountains...

On the afternoon of the ninth day, as Zhao Ping'an finished his final set of jumping jacks, he suddenly felt an extraordinary clarity throughout his body. An immense sense of bliss made him shout out loud.

"Ah!!!..."

"Little Fifth!!! What are you yelling for? Itching for a beating? If you interrupt my beauty sleep again, I'll tan your hide!"

Third Senior Sister Mu Yunmeng's voice suddenly rang out from far away, sounding like a raging lion.

"Uh..."

Zhao Ping'an's voice abruptly cut off, like a crowing rooster strangled mid-call.

"I forgot about that! What a mistake..."

Zhao Ping'an covered his mouth and muttered under his breath.

But when he saw the words on the panel, the corners of his mouth couldn't help lifting again.

[Body Tempering Art (Common): 100/100 (Ninth Level Perfection, Simplified), Deduction Available!]

His eyes were especially drawn to the last three words, [Deduction Available!], which were glowing.

Before Zhao Ping'an could begin the deduction, waves of heat suddenly surged out from every part of his body.

"Is this... Blood Exchange?!"

Feeling the strange changes inside his body, Zhao Ping'an panicked for a moment. Then he suddenly remembered what Master had told him and realized he was beginning Blood Exchange.

He immediately took off his clothes and trousers and sat cross-legged, completely naked.

Soon, dark red, filthy blood began to seep slowly from pores all over his body.

After an unknown amount of time, Zhao Ping'an felt the heat inside him disappear completely. Only then did he open his eyes again.

"Huff!... Ugh..."

A strong, foul stench of blood shot into his nostrils.

"Disgusting!"

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

The spring water was very cold. His body had been weak before, and he could easily have caught a chill if he went in, so he had only walked over to look at it a few times without ever stepping inside.

Now that his body was strong, he could use the spring water to wash himself.

More than ten minutes later, Zhao Ping'an returned to the clearing in the woods, fully dressed and refreshed.

"It's time to deduce the cultivation art!"

He tapped the panel's translucent [Deduction Available!].

A window immediately popped up in the center of the panel:

Body Tempering Art deduction initiated. Deduction in progress...

Current progress: 1%...

Zhao Ping'an found that the deduction was extremely fast, increasing by about 1% every second.

Time passed, second by second. At last...

The deduction progress in the window reached 100%, and a new line of Chinese characters appeared: Body Tempering Art deduction complete!