Testing the Blade: Can the Health Cultivation Technique Also Make One a Martial Artist?

After leaving the village, Chen Mo followed the narrow path worn out by foot traffic toward the east side for over half an hour. After crossing two hills, an endless forest came into view. This was Mang Mountain.

Even on the outskirts of Mang Mountain, towering trees surrounded everything.

Strands of sunlight spilled down from the sky, filtering through gaps in the trees and falling upon the uneven ground.

The world, once shrouded in darkness, gradually regained its light.

Glistening dewdrops dotted the leaves of the grass and trees. As Chen Mo walked past, his clothes grew slightly damp.

With no time to care about that, Chen Mo deliberately slowed his pace after entering the outskirts of Mang Mountain. His sense of direction was good, but to be safe, he used his woodcutter's knife to slash the trunks of trees along the way, leaving behind marks.

It would be downright foolish to hunt prey in the mountains, only to get lost and fail to find the way out.

The forest in the early morning had shed its nighttime silence. The cries of insects and animals drifted into his ears from time to time. Walking alone through it, Chen Mo felt somewhat uneasy. Hunting bow in one hand and woodcutter's knife in the other, he listened in all directions and watched every corner as he searched for signs of prey.

Perhaps the village hunters had visited too often. After searching for a long time, Chen Mo had not found a single animal. Instead, the sounds occasionally coming from afar made his skin crawl.

He did not give up. He continued roaming the outskirts, gradually venturing deeper in. He still found no prey, but he did gather quite a few wild fruits that his former self had eaten before.

With his current physical condition, climbing trees was naturally no problem.

If it truly came to it, he could chop down the tree with his woodcutter's knife and get the fruit that way, but that was the worst possible option.

Chewing on wild fruit as he searched through the forest, Chen Mo was finally rewarded for his persistence when he found a wild chicken. He slowly approached. Once it entered effective range, he set down his woodcutter's knife, drew his bow, nocked an arrow, aimed, and fired...

The entire sequence flowed as though he had practiced it thousands of times, smooth and seamless in one breath.

The arrow flashed like a shooting star, piercing straight through the wild chicken's head in the blink of an eye.

One arrow, one kill!

He hurried over, picked up the wild chicken, stuffed it into the burlap bag, and tied it around his waist.

Great Accomplishment level Archery was damn impressive.

"At least I got something." Chen Mo let out a breath of relief.

At least he was no longer returning empty-handed.

But a wild chicken weighing less than three jin would probably yield only one jin of meat after its feathers and bones were removed. With Chen Mo's current appetite, that was nowhere near enough. So he did not head back, instead continuing his search through the forest while leaving marks along the way.

By the time the sun had risen overhead, Chen Mo's burlap bag held another wild chicken and a wild rabbit, while five wild eggs rested in his clothing pocket. Only then did he turn around and begin his journey home.

His first time entering the mountains to hunt had undoubtedly been a success.

At the same time, Chen Mo gained a more direct understanding of his current physical condition and his Great Accomplishment level Archery.

He truly hit whatever he aimed at. If he could gain the ability to track prey, his harvest would be even greater.

That would require instruction from an old hunter, and it had to be taught on-site. Relying on imagination alone definitely would not work.

Looks like joining this Hunting Team is necessary after all, Chen Mo thought.

After traveling non-stop through the rugged forest for several hours, he still had strength to spare. Walking home in one go would not be a problem at all.

"Just the Strength Refining Realm has such terrifying physical abilities. How powerful will the later Martial Artist Realms be?" Chen Mo felt a surge of longing.

Unfortunately, his Health Cultivation Technique had already reached Perfect Accomplishment. He had cultivated it to the end.

Two days ago, he had tried to see whether he could continue using Epiphany on the Health Cultivation Technique. He found that it had already turned gray on the Attribute Panel and could no longer undergo Epiphany. Naturally, he then began using Epiphany on the skill of Archery.

The facts proved that when it came to hunting, accurate arrows were what mattered most.

Two wild chickens and one wild rabbit—three arrows, all headshots. It had been far too easy.

This counted as testing the blade on a small scale!

With the marks he had left earlier, he did not lose his direction. No longer slowing down, Chen Mo used eighty percent of his speed on the way back, returning to the village entrance in less than an hour and a half.

Seeing smoke curling from the village chimneys, he could not help letting out a sigh of relief. His heart, tense the entire time, finally settled down.

The wilderness was simply too dangerous. He did not dare relax in the slightest.

There were no patrols at the village entrance during the day, sparing him an argument. Chen Mo quickly headed toward his home, ignoring the strange looks and pointing gestures of the villagers he passed.

Along the way, he quietly observed the village's situation. When passing an open area, Chen Mo found seven Youths who looked only seventeen or eighteen years old practicing Fist Practice with great focus, their movements carrying considerable force.

Before them stood a sturdy Zhuang Han, seemingly over 1.8 meters tall, instructing them.

"This should be the cultivation technique that all eligible men and women in the village can learn."

Chen Mo slowed down. Without hesitation, he walked straight over and stopped to watch. His actions immediately caught the big man's attention.

The man's gaze lingered on Chen Mo for several seconds, surprise appearing in his eyes as he walked straight over.

"Chen Mo?!"

"Uncle Chao~"

After greeting him, Chen Mo secretly examined the strongest man in Chen Family Village before him. He was very curious—what Martial Artist Realm was this man in?

And how were Martial Artist Realms divided?

How strong was the Strength Refining Realm he had gained through his Perfect Accomplishment Health Cultivation Technique compared to others in the same realm?

There were too many questions.

At the same time, Chen Chao was also examining Chen Mo. His gaze lingered for several extra seconds on the bulging burlap bag. The smell of blood could not deceive him. Then he noticed the uncleared bloodstains on the arrows, and the surprise in his eyes deepened.

"You entered the mountains?"

"Yes, I got a little something." Chen Mo nodded.

Without waiting for a response, he spoke again. "Uncle Chao, can I cultivate the village's technique now?"

"You won't turn sixteen until next year, right?" Chen Chao smiled.

"Do I have to be sixteen?" Chen Mo asked in return.

"Not necessarily~"

As he spoke, Chen Chao suddenly swung his large hand at him without warning. Chen Mo instinctively raised his hand to block.

As their palms collided, he discovered that the other man had not used much strength, only around a hundred jin. He could easily block it aside.

Chen Mo instantly understood what the man meant. He did not hold back or hide anything, directly unleashing over three hundred jin of force.

"Hm?!"

Chen Chao had thought he could easily pin Chen Mo down, but the immense force transmitted through his palm made his expression change.

"What incredible strength~!"

Retracting his hand and recalling the force from moments ago, Chen Chao looked at him differently.

"Innate Divine Strength? No... you became a martial artist?!"

"Yes." Chen Mo nodded, not hiding it.

A glimpse of the leopard through a tube!

Just from the fact that the village freely taught eligible villagers a cultivation technique capable of producing martial artists, one could see that the village was quite united and that those in power were very selfless. More importantly, there was no need for him to conceal his strength.

Under the current circumstances, being honest was actually more beneficial to him.

This was the decision Chen Mo had made on his way home. He had originally planned to wait a few days until he was completely settled before revealing the truth to the village. But now that he had run into Chen Chao, who had happened to test him, the timing felt right. So he revealed his hand early.

"By relying on that Health Cultivation Technique?" Chen Chao asked incredulously.

In his impression, a technique like the Health Cultivation Technique could only strengthen the body and nurture health. Could someone really break through and become a martial artist through it?

But Chen Mo's force just now had clearly reached the Strength Refining Realm. And Chen Mo himself could not possibly possess Innate Divine Strength. That left only one possibility: he had become a martial artist.

"Yes." Chen Mo nodded again.

Having received confirmation, Chen Chao took a deep breath. After steadying himself, his expression immediately turned serious.

"Come with me for a moment."