Early in the morning, when the horizon had only just taken on the faintest hint of blue and sunrise was still some time away, Li Bufan woke punctually from deep sleep, as though a precise water clock had been set inside him. The relaxation and warmth brought by yesterday's tender time with his younger brother still nourished his mind like a gentle spring, easing the slight tension left by days of bitter cultivation.
He rose with utmost care, not disturbing his younger brother, who was still lost in sweet dreams beside him. He quickly washed up with icy water, and the bone-piercing chill instantly scattered the last traces of drowsiness, leaving his mind clear and sharp.
After changing into the clean, freshly laundered dark-blue training uniform that marked him as a guard of Lin Manor, he carefully tucked Herbal Compendium gifted by Doctor Liu and the incomparably precious Spirit Ape Muscle Tempering Technique bestowed by the young miss close against his chest. Then he pushed open the door and, stepping through the bitter cold wind before dawn and the night that had yet to fade, returned once more to the Guard Camp of Lin Manor—to that broad training ground filled with the white steam of sweat, deafening shouts, and an aura as unyielding as steel.
Life seemed to have returned to its regular, grueling track: daily drills, extra training, study... over and over again. Yet only Li Bufan himself knew that everything within had long since changed beyond recognition. His increased strength, improved treatment, and broadened horizons gave every task he undertook a clearer goal and greater motivation.
During the group drills every morning, he no longer merely completed the movements. Instead, he immersed his entire mind in them, meticulously tempering every stance and every move of Mighty Ox Fist, even every minute circulation of his blood and qi, to the utmost limit he could currently reach. His blood and qi surged and roared with his fists like an invisible whetstone, ceaselessly polishing and refining the skin across his body, which had already reached Peak Minor Mastery, launching assault after assault against that supreme threshold of flawless completion.
Whenever Instructor Qin Shi, supervising from the raised platform, looked his way, the satisfaction in his gaze became increasingly impossible to hide. At times, Qin Shi would speak in a booming voice, seemingly addressing all the guards while in truth clearly focusing on one or two points concerning angles of exertion and the instant eruption of blood and qi. These seemingly ordinary pointers often parted the clouds to reveal the sun for Li Bufan, who was feeling his way through a bottleneck, bringing him fresh insights. They were invisible resources that other new guards could scarcely obtain.
Sometimes, he single-mindedly pondered the deeper methods of exertion within Mighty Ox Fist, concentrating to the utmost as he pursued that subtle state of "the intent moves and qi arrives, condensed at a single point," experiencing every detail of blood and qi gathering, erupting, and drawing back with the flow of his punches. At other times, he would take out Spirit Ape Muscle Tempering Technique with extreme care. Though he strictly followed the young miss's warning and absolutely dared not circulate the muscle-tempering internal cultivation method recorded within, for fear of damaging his incomplete foundation, he studied and imitated the diagrams and force techniques of the "Spirit Ape Three Leaps" movement technique in its appendix with utter fascination.
He observed the spirit ape's agile grace as it leapt and shifted amid mountain forests and branching limbs in the diagrams. In the cramped dormitory or some deserted corner, he practiced again and again the rapid transitions of footwork, subtle shifts in his center of gravity, and instantaneous bursts and suspended leaps, constantly improving his agility, coordination, and absolute control over his own balance. This footwork practice, which appeared unrelated to Skin Tempering, actually greatly trained his fine control over his muscles and indirectly advanced the refinement of his skin.
More importantly, he began studying Herbal Compendium with an almost greedy intensity. The [Heaven Rewards Diligence] fate aspect displayed equally astonishing power when it came to comprehending knowledge. Whenever the night was still and his younger brother had fallen asleep, or during brief breaks between daytime training, he would immediately take out the slightly worn booklet. By the dim halo of an oil lamp or the natural light from the window, he cast aside all distractions and threw himself wholeheartedly into reading and memorization.
The book recorded hundreds of medicinal herbs: the shapes, colors, and scents of their roots, stems, leaves, and flowers; the regions and environments where they grew; the best seasons for harvesting them; their cold, hot, warm, and cool properties; their tendencies to rise, descend, float, and sink; the changes in efficacy brought by different processing methods; and the complex relationships of mutual restraint, mutual reinforcement, mutual assistance, and mutual antagonism between herbs... A vast tide of dry, tedious, and complicated information flooded into his mind.
An ordinary person would already have been dizzy and overwhelmed, unable to sort it all out. Yet under the effects of [Heaven Rewards Diligence], this knowledge was rapidly understood, organized, absorbed, and integrated. Not only did it create no confusion, it also continuously corroborated and built upon what he had seen and heard while working as a menial at Huichun Hall, as well as Doctor Liu's occasional guidance. Gradually, a clear, practical, ever-expanding system of knowledge about medicinal herbs took shape in his mind.
He could even clearly "see" the path of his own progress:
[Heaven Rewards Diligence]: Mighty Ox Fist, Great Mastery (158/) Herbal Compendium, Proficient (385/1000) Spirit Ape Three Leaps, Beginner (487/500)
The numbers were cold and objective, yet they most truthfully recorded every drop of sweat he had shed and every bit of progress he had gained. The proficiency required for Mighty Ox Fist to reach true Great Mastery was immense beyond measure. Every step forward required thousands upon thousands of repetitions and tempering, so its progress was slow but solid. Meanwhile, his study of Herbal Compendium advanced swiftly, steadily moving toward Minor Mastery. As for the Spirit Ape Three Leaps movement technique, he had barely entered the beginner level and was only one step from proficiency; the increase in his movement speed had already begun to show in practice.
Besides his unceasing bitter cultivation, the comprehensive benefits granted to new guards of Lin Manor had also begun to reveal their tremendous value.
Every day at lunch, he could receive a serving of medicinal cuisine specially prepared for guards. Though it was still the most basic grade and far beyond comparison with what the young miss or instructors received, it was nonetheless carefully cooked from polished rice mixed with brown rice and a small amount of meticulously proportioned herbs that nourished blood and qi and strengthened sinews and bones.
Each mouthful of medicinal cuisine became threads of warm, pure energy that swiftly merged into the blood and qi throughout his limbs and body. Slowly but continuously, it nourished his flesh, effectively replenishing the immense expenditure brought by high-intensity cultivation and constantly promoting the growth of his blood and qi.
This allowed him to completely cast off the days of worrying about the basic energy his body needed. He could throw all his strength into frenzied cultivation without any lingering concerns, and his efficiency had increased by far more than merely several times!
Thus, day after day, he cultivated bitterly without pause. In the blink of an eye, ten days passed.
That day was the time when medicinal bath packets were distributed every ten days. Li Bufan received a dark-colored packet that exuded the fragrance of herbs.
He did not choose to use it in the noisy, crowded public bathhouse of the Guard Camp. Instead, he carefully stored the precious medicine close to his body and, the moment his shift ended in the evening, immediately set off for home.
When he pushed open the door, a wave of warm, damp vapor rushed over him. His younger brother, Li Ping'an, was already sitting obediently on a little stool beside a large wooden barrel that bubbled and steamed. His small face had been flushed red by the heat, and his eyes shone with excitement and curiosity. He knew his elder brother would be bathing with a very powerful "medicine" today. For the two of them in the past, such a thing had been utterly beyond reach.
"Big Brother, the water's been ready for ages. I kept feeding the fire!" Li Ping'an said, as though claiming credit.
"Good. You've been very good, Little Brother. You helped Big Brother a great deal." Li Bufan smiled and vigorously ruffled his younger brother's soft hair, warmth flowing through his heart. "Go into the inner room and review your lessons first. Big Brother needs to cultivate in peace for a while and can't be disturbed."
After sending his younger brother away, he carefully poured the precious medicinal bath packet into the scalding water. At once, the clear water visibly darkened, turning a rich reddish brown like melted amber. A faint herbal scent spread through the room, carrying an almost imperceptible freshness of grass and wood.
Li Bufan removed his clothes, took a deep breath, and slowly stepped into the wooden barrel.
"Hiss—!"
Though he had prepared himself mentally long ago, the instant the scalding water, hot enough to nearly burn his skin and filled with fiercely tyrannical medicinal power, touched his entire body, an indescribably violent stimulation still made him suck in a sharp breath! It was as though countless red-hot, unimaginably fine steel needles had pierced through his pores and stabbed viciously into every inch of his skin! Or as though a swarm of crazed venomous ants were biting him all at once!
His skin nearly instantly turned bright red, like a shrimp boiled through, while the veins beneath it swelled slightly from the wild surging of his blood and qi.
He clenched his teeth, and dense beads of sweat instantly seeped from his forehead, sliding down mixed with the scalding medicinal liquid. He did not dare slacken in the slightest. Immediately, he circulated the breathing method of Mighty Ox Fist with all his strength, desperately guiding the boiling blood and qi within him to adapt to the violent external medicinal force. At the same time, he did his utmost to open every pore across his body, greedily absorbing the pure energy within the medicine that was immensely beneficial for tempering the physique.
He knew that this extreme agony was proof that the medicinal power was forcibly seeping into, washing over, and hammering his skin. It was the perfect opportunity to break through his current bottleneck and advance to a higher level!
Time passed slowly amid extreme pain and concentration. The thick reddish-brown medicinal liquid in the barrel began to visibly fade, while the searing, piercing sensation gradually receded. In its place came a warm, comforting heat that penetrated deep into his muscles, along with a pleasant tingling numbness. It was as if every exhausted cell was rejoicing, greedily breathing in and absorbing the final, purest nourishment of the medicinal power.
After an unknown amount of time, when the color of the medicinal liquid had become nearly clear and transparent, and the water temperature had gradually fallen to merely warm—
Buzz!
Li Bufan's body suddenly shook. The blood and qi within him seemed to have shattered some invisible shackle, and its circulation abruptly became smoother and more surging! Across the surface of his reddened skin, that faint bronze sheen suddenly deepened and grew richer, yet more restrained, as though an invisible layer of tough copper skin truly covered his entire body. The toughness, density, and defensive power of his skin rose to an entirely new level at that moment.
Skin Tempering Realm, Grand Completion!
At the same time, countless insights concerning Mighty Ox Fist surged into his mind like streams converging into the sea. Former obscure points about exerting force and circulating blood and qi suddenly became clear, and his understanding deepened by another level. On the [Heaven Rewards Diligence] panel, the proficiency of Mighty Ox Fist leapt forward by a huge margin!
Li Bufan abruptly opened his eyes. A sharp glint flashed through them like lightning striking flint, vanishing in an instant yet appearing especially bright in the dim little room. As he carefully sensed the strength within him, clearly more surging than before, and the indescribable toughness and compactness radiating from his entire body, irrepressible joy and heroic spirit naturally welled up from the depths of his heart.
Yet that feeling, enough to make most people his age leap with excitement or even become smug with success, lasted only a brief instant in his heart before his powerful will forcibly suppressed it, like cold water dousing a flame.
He slowly rose from the medicinal liquid, now cool and warm at most, carefully dried himself with a clean cloth, and changed into fresh clothes. Standing before the blurry bronze mirror, he looked at his increasingly lean and capable body, his steady eyes, and the faint bronze luster showing through his skin. There was no pride in his heart. Instead, he silently and sternly warned himself once again:
"Li Bufan, wake up! What does mere Grand Completion of Skin Tempering amount to? Even if it makes you one of the best among the new guards, perhaps even comparable to some older ordinary guards, what does such trifling achievement count for when looking at all of Lin Manor, or even the vast, boundless martial world where the strong are revered? You may not even qualify to barely take the stage!"
To truly establish yourself, to protect this small warmth before your eyes, to seize your own fate, this little strength is still far, far from enough! Beyond Skin Tempering lie the four great barriers of Muscle Tempering, Tendon Tempering, Bone Tempering, and Blood Tempering. Beyond them is the mysterious Qi Tempering Realm, capable of drawing upon the Vital Energy of heaven and earth... The path of martial arts stretched on, long and far without end!"
His clear understanding and longing for higher realms instantly scattered the tiny trace of self-satisfaction from his breakthrough. Rather than growing arrogant because of it, his gaze became even calmer, firmer, and deeper, like a frigid pool whose bottom could not be seen.
At that moment, hearing that there was no longer any movement outside, Li Ping'an cautiously poked his little head out from the inner room. Seeing that his elder brother was already dressed, he immediately ran over. Blinking his round black eyes, he looked Li Bufan up and down and asked with curiosity and uncertainty, "Big Brother, are you done cultivating? You seem... you seem a little different?" He felt that his elder brother looked more spirited and composed somehow, and carried an inexplicable sense of reassurance.
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