Adding Points

The sun treated everyone equally.

It cast its light upon Yao Xingzhi, and bestowed the same radiance upon everyone else.

Except Iron Butcher, who turned and walked back into the woods.

Cheng Tingxue lay in Chen Feng's arms, dazed, quietly gazing at the face so close to hers.

At daybreak, golden light fell softly across his cheek, making Chen Feng's features look even more sharp and decisive.

Chen Feng and Su Wanqing were overjoyed.

"Senior Brother Yao!" ×2

Chen Feng had only just called out when he froze, then looked suspiciously at Fifth Senior Sister, as if asking:

Why are you so excited too?

Didn't you come together?

Su Wanqing bounced over to Yao Xingzhi and asked:

"Senior Brother, did you come after me because you were worried about me?"

Yao Xingzhi answered without hesitation:

"No, a few Escort Guards ran to the martial arts school for help. They said Chen Feng was in danger, so I left the city. I didn't expect you to be here too, junior sister."

"Could this be the unspoken understanding between Fellow Disciples?"

Chen Feng's mouth twitched.

What understanding? My foot.

Anyone would know this wasn't the right answer, but Senior Brother Yao's mind worked in mysterious ways.

She hadn't heard the answer she wanted.

Su Wanqing turned away in a huff, then remembered that Chen Feng and the others were still there. A blush crept across her face.

But...

She quickly composed herself, then teased Chen Feng instead.

"By the way, junior brother, why haven't you put Sister Tingxue down yet? Are you planning to carry her all the way home?"

Chen Feng froze.

He hurriedly set Cheng Tingxue down.

It was a little awkward.

He'd held her for so long that his muscles had gotten used to it. And Cheng Tingxue wasn't heavy, so he'd simply forgotten.

Cheng Tingxue blushed too.

She had forgotten as well.

Su Wanqing hurried over and supported Cheng Tingxue by one arm, scolding her:

"Why didn't you tell me about something this important? If I hadn't sent someone to the Cheng Family to ask around, I wouldn't have known you were coming back."

"And you, knowing full well that Lu Hong wanted to get his hands on you, still didn't think to play it safe and wait until Uncle returned next month."

"Do you have any idea how worried I was?"

Cheng Tingxue turned and clung tightly to Su Wanqing.

Tears streamed down her face. "Waaah... I thought I'd never make it back..."

Su Wanqing's voice faltered.

She gently placed a hand on Cheng Tingxue's back, and her own eyes grew wet.

After seeing Cheng Tingxue back to the Cheng Family, Chen Feng made another trip to the escort agency.

For the next few days,

he stayed at the martial arts school.

During that time, the Cheng Family sent Chen Feng the things he wanted most: Cultivation Techniques, silver, and medicinal tonics.

Of those, what Chen Feng cared about most were the Cultivation Techniques. Only with them could his experience come in handy.

"Mountain Splitting Palm Technique..."

Chen Feng picked up the copy of the Cultivation Technique the Cheng Family had sent over, and Cheng Li's image surfaced in his mind.

He'd seen Cheng Li use a palm technique when he killed the bandits. It must have been the Mountain Splitting Palm Technique.

Then there was the martial arts school.

After learning that Chen Feng had entered the Bone Forging Realm by tempering his leg bones, Master Zhou Bingzhong had also given him a Martial Art called Grasshopper Step.

It was a Lightness Skill.

They said that once mastered, it would greatly increase one's running speed, making it seem as if one were flying just above the grass.

After skimming through both Martial Arts, Chen Feng brought up the system panel. When he confirmed that the system had recorded them, his eyes lit up.

[Name: Chen Feng]

[Experience]: 12774

[Cultivation Techniques]: Five Elements Fist Technique, Tai Chi Profound Origin Technique, Mountain Splitting Palm Technique (Initial Glimpse), Grasshopper Step (Initial Glimpse)

He'd worked so hard for so long.

Wasn't it all for this moment?!

"System! Add points!"

At Chen Feng's silent shout,

the proficiency of Mountain Splitting Palm Technique and Grasshopper Step began to rise rapidly, while waves of warmth surged through his body.

Chen Feng kept the medicinal tonics the Cheng Family had sent beside him,

ready in case anything unexpected happened.

Perhaps because he had already entered the Bone Forging Realm, and Mountain Splitting Palm Technique was a lower-level Martial Art than Five Elements Fist, this time his Blood Qi didn't run dry. Instead, he had some to spare, and it began tempering the bones in his hands on its own.

The moment Mountain Splitting Palm Technique reached perfection,

Chen Feng's hands trembled, and his forearms were tempered along with them, completing their Bone Forging.

It was as if he'd practiced for years; every move of Mountain Splitting Palm Technique was etched into his bones.

"Awesome!"

But his experience was dropping fast too.

It seemed that the higher Chen Feng's realm became, the more experience any Martial Art would require.

In the blink of an eye, his experience was exhausted.

Grasshopper Step couldn't reach perfection either. It had only just reached the level of mastery.

Even so, it helped Chen Feng temper several bones around his hips.

He felt brimming with strength.

Only after tempering so many bones did Chen Feng truly feel the enormous difference between the Bone Forging Realm and the Blood Refining Realm!

It was a qualitative leap!

Even without learning any leg techniques, he felt he could kick the version of himself from a few days ago around like a football.

His bones were hard as iron.

And every additional bone he tempered strengthened the others as well. Each one brought a tremendous boost to his overall combat strength.

They could even nourish the surrounding muscles.

The result was far greater than the sum of its parts.

[Name: Chen Feng]

[Experience]: 74

[Cultivation Techniques]: Five Elements Fist Technique (Perfection), Tai Chi Profound Origin Technique (Perfection), Mountain Splitting Palm Technique (Perfection), Grasshopper Step (Mastery)

"I never thought I'd see the day I ran short on experience..."

Looking at the measly 74 on the panel, Chen Feng fell into thought, wondering where else he could earn experience.

Surely he didn't have to try out every kind of job again?

Actually... maybe he could.

Without another word, Chen Feng started close to home.

He first went to the steward in charge of the martial arts school's medicine room and landed a job as a Medicine Boy. His daily duties were just to learn basic medicinal knowledge and help sort the herbs.

He earned several hundred experience every day.

If he got to watch the old steward start a fire and refine medicinal herbs, he would earn even more.

It didn't interfere with his training, and it brought in extra experience. It was the best of both worlds.

But...

What Chen Feng never expected was that after he'd worked as a Medicine Boy for a few days, the system underwent an unexpected change—

[The Classic of Herbal Medicine]: Initial Glimpse (0/100)

Chen Feng: "That works too?!"

The Classic of Herbal Medicine was a book on medicine that the steward had given him. Chen Feng had only picked it up to read today.

He hadn't expected the system to record not only Cultivation Techniques and Martial Arts, but even books unrelated to the Martial Way.

Chen Feng stared at the panel and swallowed.

A thought suddenly took shape in his mind...

He immediately headed to a bookstore in the city and bought two books.

[Danqing Essentials]: Initial Glimpse (0/100)

[Music Theory]: Initial Glimpse (0/100)

Just as he'd thought.

Chen Feng stared at the words on the panel, lost in thought.

This meant he could even use experience to become a jack-of-all-trades. Before long, he could master the four arts of the qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting.

"No, no. What would I do with all that? That's not the right path."

Chen Feng shoved those ridiculous ideas aside and bought another book, titled Bone Setting Essentials.

He was currently in the Bone Forging Realm.

If he could use medical knowledge to better understand his body, he would surely be able to speed up the process of tempering his bones!

The book described the general locations of the body's meridians, along with detailed information on more than two hundred bones.

Chen Feng's eyes gleamed. He felt he'd found a shortcut—one that didn't require him to keep collecting Martial Arts and spending huge amounts of experience.

Even if he brought a Martial Art to perfection,

its effect on Chen Feng's realm would still be limited. He would have to temper himself slowly through practice.

But now,

Chen Feng could use medical knowledge to draw connections and improve his efficiency!

Feeling his way across a river stone by stone was no match for taking the bridge.