The back-mountain spring was half a li north of the martial arts school, the mountain path steep and even more slippery after the snow.
When Li Xuan carried his empty buckets to the spring, the edge of the sky was just turning a fish-belly white.
He filled two buckets, each holding about fifty jin. The carrying pole pressed down upon his shoulders, feeling heavy.
He took a deep breath and hoisted the water buckets.
The mountain path was steep, so his center of gravity had to remain steady.
Li Xuan slowed his pace, planting every single step firmly.
The carrying pole quivered slightly on his shoulders, water splashing out.
After walking fifty steps, the panel offered no reaction.
That was wrong. Carrying water was not just walking; it was marching under a load.
The key did not lie in the walking, but in the carrying.
He adjusted his posture. His waist and back were straight, his shoulders dropped, and the weight of the carrying pole was distributed evenly across both shoulders.
His breathing matched his footsteps, one step to exhale, one step to inhale.
Another twenty steps passed—
The panel flickered: [Potential: 0.001]
It worked!
Li Xuan's eyes lit up.
By the time he reached the foot of the mountain, the panel displayed: [Potential: 0.005].
Was the efficiency higher than splitting firewood because carrying water was more tiring? Because the consumption was greater, or perhaps...?
Li Xuan did not know, but the numbers would not lie.
He sped up.
One trip, two trips, three trips.
By the fourth trip, the sun had already risen.
Passing the edge of the front courtyard, he heard a few outer-disciple students conversing under the side corridor of the Martial Lecture Hall.
"Did you hear? Something happened over in the Trial Forest again."
"The Ironhide Pig herd went wild? Wasn't it cleared out just last month?"
"Cleared my ass, Instructor Wang only took men and killed three. There are at least a dozen more in the forest, plus deeper in..."
Li Xuan slowed his pace, the carrying pole swaying slightly on his shoulders.
"A single Ironhide Pig, its contribution points could trade for fifty points, right?"
"Fifty? In your dreams. Complete pig leather, tusks, and heart-blood combined are worth at least one hundred and fifty points."
"Then if we killed one..."
"Kill? Just you? Ironhide Pigs have thick skin and dense flesh, and if you haven't reached Great Accomplishment in the Body Tempering Realm, taking a single hit will snap your bones. You need Inner Qi Realm senior brothers to lead the team, and you also have to equip iron nets, poison..."
The voices grew distant as the disciples walked away.
Li Xuan stood in place, his heart beating like a drum.
The Trial Forest? Demonic Beasts? Contribution points?
And what about potential? If hunting wild beasts could yield potential points, then hunting Demonic Beasts... how much would that be?
This thought made his breathing hurried.
Yet immediately after, he shook his head again.
Outer-disciple students all had to form groups and equip tools; he was mere handyman...
Going there was courting death.
He forced the thought down and continued carrying water.
Li Xuan carried the water across the courtyard, pouring it into the kitchen vat.
"Kid, you're quite diligent."
The old handyman squatted at the kitchen entrance drinking congee, lifting his gaze to look at him.
Li Xuan wiped away some sweat: "Finish the chores early, rest early."
The old handyman said nothing, continuing to drink his congee. Yet Li Xuan felt that the old man's eyes kept following him.
By noon, he had carried eight trips of water. The panel displayed: [Potential: 0.04].
Furthermore, he felt the strength in his shoulders, waist, and legs growing.
At lunch, Li Xuan ate an extra steamed bun.
Just as he was eating, abruptly—
"Clang—clang—clang—"
The sound of a bell came from the front courtyard, deep and long-lasting.
All the handymen in the woodshed courtyard raised their heads.
"The Martial Lecture Hall bell." The old handyman put down his bowl. "On the first of every month, the outer disciples receive a martial lecture. All handymen, gather in the front courtyard."
Li Xuan's heart skipped a beat.
Outside the front courtyard's Martial Lecture Hall, more than thirty handymen were already standing.
All wore gray cloth short garments, every last one consciously lowering their heads and daring not to look around aimlessly.
In the open space before the hall stood over twenty outer disciples, uniformly dressed in gray martial attire with black sashes tied at their waists, standing straight as ramrods.
Li Xuan stood at the very back of the handyman group, raising his gaze to look.
The doors of the Martial Lecture Hall stood wide open, the Martial Ancestor's statue enshrined within amidst swirling incense smoke. On the steps before the hall stood a middle-aged man of about forty.
Master Zhou, the outer-disciple instructor, Qi Realm.
Li Xuan had heard his name—one of the three great instructors of the Iron Fist martial arts school, specializing in teaching basics to outer disciples.
"Silence."
Master Zhou spoke, his voice not loud, yet clearly reaching everyone's ears.
The entire place fell pin-drop quiet.
"Today's lecture covers the Three Essentials of Body Tempering."
Master Zhou walked down the steps and arrived at the open ground.
Standing eight feet tall with broad shoulders and a thick back, he stood there like a wall.
"The first essential is qi and blood."
He clenched his right hand into a fist, raising it slowly.
The muscles on his arm bulged, veins protruding as a faint flush washed over the surface of his skin.
"When qi and blood are sufficient, strength is born. How does one nurture qi and blood? Eating, training, and resting."
"Eating must be sufficient, training must be relentless, and resting must be steady."
[External energy circulation trajectory detected...]
[Analyzing...]
[Acquired qi and blood circulation fragment (0.3%)...]
[Recorded as: Unknown Body Tempering Method (incomplete, rating: Mortal Low-grade)]
On the panel, the "Technique" column was finally no longer "None", but changed to:
[Technique: Unknown Body Tempering Method (incomplete, mastery: 0%)]
Li Xuan's heart pounded frantically, but his expression remained unchanged.
"The second essential is tendons and bones."
Master Zhou pulled back his fist, his legs slightly bent as he assumed a horse stance. His knees sank slightly, his waist and back straight, his entire person looking like a stake nailed into the ground.
"When tendons and bones are strong, the body is robust. How does one strengthen tendons and bones? Pulling, pressing, and vibrating."
"Pulling must be slow, pressing must be steady, and vibrating must be thorough."
He suddenly lifted his foot and stomped down onto the ground—
The bluestone slab ground quivered slightly, dust kicking up. Where his foot landed, fine cracks appeared across the stone slab.
The outer disciples drew in sharp breaths of cold air, while the handymen were so frightened they shuddered.
Li Xuan stared fixedly at Master Zhou's movements.
[Tendons and bones force-application trajectory detected...]
[Analyzing...]
[Unknown Body Tempering Method completeness increased to 0.7%...]
"The third essential is skin and membranes."
Master Zhou retracted his horse stance, joining the fingers of his right hand like a blade and swiping them across his left arm—
His sleeve ripped open, exposing his forearm. The surface of his skin took on an grayish-white hue, as though covered in a layer of oxhide.
The finger-blade swept across, leaving only a white mark behind, devoid even of a red trace.
"When skin and membranes are resilient, they resist blows. How does one toughen skin and membranes? Grinding, medicine, and qi."
"Grinding must be prolonged, medicine must penetrate, and qi must seep."
The panel rippled a third time:
[Skin and membrane strengthening trajectory detected...]
[Unknown Body Tempering Method completeness increased to 1.2%...]
Finished explaining the three essentials, Master Zhou began demonstrating the basic fist stances.
"The Iron Fist Three Forms—Accumulating Power, Punching, and Grasping Stance."
He slowly assumed the stance. The movement was very slow, yet every detail was exceptionally clear: how the feet were positioned, how the waist turned, how the shoulders delivered force, how the fist struck.
Li Xuan did not blink once.
The panel rippled wildly, text brushing out line by line:
[Recorded power-accumulation posture...]
[Recorded punching force-application trajectory...]
[Recorded grasping-stance breathing rhythm...]
[Unknown Body Tempering Method completeness: 3.1%... mastery: 0%...]
Having executed all three forms, Master Zhou assumed the Grasping Stance.
"That is all for today. Handymen are dismissed, disciples stay behind to practice fist techniques."
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The bell rang once more.
The handymen lowered their heads and retreated, Li Xuan following the crowd back toward the rear courtyard. Yet his mind remained entirely focused on the panel.
[Technique: Unknown Body Tempering Method (incomplete, completeness 3.1%, mastery 0%)]
Beneath the panel, an extra line of small text had appeared:
[Potential can be consumed to increase mastery. Current 0% → 1% requires potential: 0.1]
Potential could increase technique mastery!
Li Xuan's breathing turned hurried.
[Potential: 0.04] was only enough to raise mastery by 0.4%.
Should he try it?
Returning to the woodshed courtyard, the other handymen resumed their work. Li Xuan found a corner and feigned rest.
He chanted silently in his heart: "Use 0.01 potential to increase mastery."
[Potential: 0.04] → [Potential: 0.03]
[Mastery: 0%] →[Mastery: 0.1%]
A surge of heat rushed toward his limbs, flowing along a specific route: starting from his lower abdomen, splitting into two paths ascending to his shoulders, descending thereafter to his legs, and finally returning to his lower abdomen.
It was the technique's circulation route!
Though the mastery was a mere 0.1% and the route remained blurry and unclear, Li Xuan could feel his body committing this route to memory.
The muscles where the heat flowed swelled slightly, his bones giving off faint creaks.
Pain! It felt as though countless fine needles were piercing through his muscle fibers.
Li Xuan clenched his teeth, sweat beading on his forehead.
Three breaths later, the pain subsided.
He moved his arm about, noting no obvious changes. 0.1% was still far too little.
Yet after the "Unknown Body Tempering Method" on the panel, an annotation line had been added:
[Mastery 0.1%: Initial perception of qi and blood circulation route]
Li Xuan stared fixedly at that line of text, his heart pounding heavily.
Techniques were the foundation of the martial path.
He currently possessed 0.03 potential, enough to raise mastery by another 0.3%.
Yet he dared not add any more; the pain from that 0.1% just now had been thoroughly distinct, and adding more might lead to trouble.
"Kid."
The old handyman's voice suddenly rang out from behind him.
Startled, Li Xuan turned his head.
The old man had appeared behind him at some point, narrowing his eyes as he looked at him.
"Listening to the lecture just now, how much did you understand?"
"I... didn't understand much." Li Xuan lowered his head.
The old handyman stared at him for a few seconds before abruptly speaking: "Master Zhou's demonstration of the 'Iron Fist Three Forms', did you see it clearly?"
"I saw it clearly."
"Did you remember it?"
"I remembered a little."
The old handyman nodded, turned around, and left.
At dusk, Li Xuan continued hauling water.
This time, he deliberately tried breathing and exerting force according to the qi-and-blood route corresponding to the 0.1% mastery while he hauled the water.
When he straightened his waist and back, his qi and blood traveled upward from his waist.
When he lowered his shoulders, his qi and blood flowed downward from them.
His breathing matched his footsteps, and his qi and blood circulated slowly through his body.
After incorporating the technique into his movements, the potential gained from hauling water rose from 0.001 to 0.002.
Although it was only an increase of 0.001, it was a qualitative change.
When work ended at nightfall, the panel displayed:
[Li Xuan] [Strength: 0.68] [Agility: 0.57] [Constitution: 0.90] [Spirit: 1.4] [Technique: Unknown Body Tempering Method (incomplete, completeness 3.1%, mastery 0.1%)] [Potential: 0.05]
0.05 potential in one day, plus 0.1% mastery of the technique.
The progress was tiny, but the direction was clear.
That night, in the communal bunk of the woodshed.
Li Xuan lay against the wall with his eyes closed, but he was not asleep.
The panel had recorded 3.1% of the technique today. Although it was incomplete, he now had a route for circulating it.
He wanted to try and see whether he could increase his mastery through cultivation alone, without using potential to add points.
Following that vague route, he guided his breathing.
As he inhaled, he imagined the airflow rising from his lower abdomen and splitting into two streams that traveled upward to his shoulders.
As he exhaled, the airflow descended from his shoulders to his legs before returning to his lower abdomen.
It was slow and difficult. The route was vague, and the airflow was weak, like groping for a thin thread in the darkness.
But it worked.
He could feel that with every cycle, the qi-and-blood route grew just a little clearer. The change was minuscule, but he was indeed making progress.
This was true cultivation.
Adding points through the panel was like having enlightenment poured directly into him—fast, but hollow. Cultivating on his own was like laying a foundation—slow, but solid.
He immersed himself in this slow yet steady progress.
The clapper sounded outside the window.
The first watch.
The second watch.
The third watch...
Snores rose and fell throughout the woodshed. Li Xuan's breathing was even and slow, but his ears were pricked up, listening to every stir.
Suddenly—
The sound of extremely light footsteps came from outside.
There were two people, not one.
The footsteps stopped at the woodshed door.
Every muscle in Li Xuan's body tensed.
The door was gently pushed open a crack.
Moonlight leaked through the gap, illuminating two faces—
The old handyman and a masked man standing behind him.
The masked man wore night clothes, with only his eyes exposed. Those eyes swept across the communal bunk in the darkness before finally stopping on Li Xuan.
The old handyman pointed at Li Xuan and nodded to the masked man.
The masked man stepped inside and walked toward Li Xuan.
Li Xuan's heart pounded like a drum, but he did not move.
The masked man reached the bunk and looked down at him for three breaths.
Then he reached out and placed his fingers on Li Xuan's wrist.
A faint current of qi flowed through his wrist into his body, circulated once through Li Xuan's meridians, and lingered especially on the qi-and-blood route he had just followed.
Li Xuan's heart jolted.
Had he been discovered?
But the masked man quickly withdrew his hand and nodded to the old handyman.
A trace of astonishment flashed through the old handyman's eyes, but he quickly concealed it.
The masked man turned and left, and the old handyman followed.
The two silently exited the woodshed, and the door gently closed behind them.
Their footsteps faded into the distance.
Li Xuan lay on the bunk, his back drenched in cold sweat.
What had they been sensing?
Why had they nodded?
Were they testing his cultivation aptitude? Or the strength of his qi and blood?
Was someone searching among the martial hall's handymen for people with potential?
Why were they searching? What did they want them for?
Li Xuan did not know.
But he knew one thing: he had passed.
That meant he had been chosen.
Chosen for what? Something good or something bad?
He did not know.
But at least it was not something bad for now. If it had been, they would have attacked just then.
He remembered the rumors circulating among the handymen: some handymen who performed exceptionally well would be transferred elsewhere to work, and then never return.
Some said they had been accepted as outer-court disciples.
Others said... they had died.
Li Xuan opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling.
He had to grow stronger faster.
Fast enough to deal with any changes in time.
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