Third Grade Mid Stage

Before long, Wu Kuishan handed Su Yi several bottles of pills and a Martial Arts Certificate.

"Six hundred Credit Points were deducted. The other two bottles contain three third-grade Organ Protection Pills and one Life-Returning Pill."

"Six hundred Credit Points... this..."

Wu Kuishan raised a brow and said casually, "The rest is a gift from me for taking you as my disciple today."

A Life-Returning Pill cost 200 Credit Points apiece, and the three third-grade Organ Protection Pills came to 270 Credit Points. That was already 470 Credit Points.

Su Yi was thoroughly astonished as well. Was Wu Kuishan really this generous?

"Then thank you, Teacher."

Su Yi understood the principle that one must not refuse a gift from an elder. All he could do was thank Wu Kuishan gratefully.

"Mm. You can call me if anything comes up, whether it's about cultivation or something you don't understand. If I don't answer, I'm probably in the Underground Cave. I'll contact you when I return.

"I'll give you another contact as well. Tong Fenghua, a senior-year student, is your senior brother. He's at the initial Fourth Grade and will be graduating soon. He's decided to stay on at the school, so he'll be around campus for this period. If there's anything you don't understand, you can contact him too.

"He can guide you in many matters, but don't disturb him if he's busy. Wait for me to return, or go directly to a mentor you're familiar with.

"You should save your mistress's number too. You can look for her if anything comes up."

Su Yi acknowledged him and saved the two numbers: Tong Fenghua and Lyu Fengrou.

After bidding Wu Kuishan farewell, Su Yi returned home and began cultivating to consolidate his realm, tempering and nourishing himself.

Next, Su Yi began nourishing his Bone Tempering.

The sternum was a very large bone.

A complete sternum was divided into three parts: the manubrium, the body, and the xiphoid process.

It took Su Yi a full five days to complete the tempering of his sternum.

He still had twenty-four ribs and twenty-six vertebrae left.

The twelve pairs of ribs consisted of ribs and costal cartilage, for a total of twenty-four. Of these, the front ends of ribs one through seven connected to the sternum and were called true ribs. The front ends of the eighth through tenth pairs connected to costal cartilage, which joined the cartilage of the ribs above to form the costal arch; these were called false ribs. The front ends of the eleventh and twelfth pairs hung freely within the muscular layer of the abdominal wall and were called floating ribs.

Su Yi began tempering the true ribs.

On August 24th, Su Yi, having finished tempering seven ribs, stopped cultivating and began restoring his Blood Qi. This was the Bone Tempering stage when Fang Ping had started taking Body-Tempering Pills.

Although he had Wu Kuishan's permission and confidence in himself.

Confidence was one thing, but with a template before him, why insist on being unconventional?

Once he had adjusted himself, Su Yi swallowed a third-grade Organ Protection Pill and a fifth-grade Body-Tempering Pill.

Pain!

The muscles throughout his body felt as though they were being torn apart inch by inch, while his five viscera and six bowels convulsed without end.

The agonizing pain drained Su Yi's face white. Beads of sweat the size of beans welled up on his forehead, ran down his cheeks, and dripped to the floor mixed with blood.

It really was painful. Su Yi's consciousness was beginning to blur.

How could words in a book possibly compare to experiencing it firsthand?

Ha. Several times worse than gallbladder inflammation and appendicitis combined.

Through the haze, Su Yi seemed to see a figure on a bed, gritting his teeth and tossing about.

"Endure the pain!"

Every second of agony felt like bidding farewell to his former ordinary life.

The endless pain squeezed a trace of tears from his tear ducts, and sweat seeped profusely from his palms.

Pain? If it hurt, then scream. There's no one here.

Roar it out. No one will know how weak you are.

Countless stray thoughts sprang up. Su Yi struggled and shook his head.

You're no longer the ordinary person you once were, Su Yi!

You can cry, but it shouldn't be because of pain!

"..."

By the end, Su Yi had almost grown used to the pain. Once the intense agony receded, he lay on the floor in total exhaustion, gasping heavily.

"Damn!"

Su Yi slapped his own face. Sure enough, habit was a terrifying thing.

After hurting for so long, it felt strange when the pain was gone.

But Su Yi knew that later on, it was not that it no longer hurt—it was merely the psychological illusion of having a higher tolerance.

The discomfort was probably just the sense of loss from the sudden weakening of the pain.

It wasn't as though he had any peculiar fetish.

Three days later.

Breakthrough to the Third Grade Mid Stage.

Su Yi had just finished cultivating. His face was pale, but his spirits were exceptionally high.

In less than five months, he had gone from being a martial artist to breaking through to the Third Grade Mid Stage.

His own cultivation speed, combined with the enhancement of the Tempering Method's three Optimizations, along with the consumption of countless resources.

But this was only cultivation within the Lower Three Grades. The Lower Three Grades could be piled up with resources in exchange for time.

That was why Su Yi could reach the Third Grade Mid Stage in even less time than Fang Ping.

It would not be so easy after reaching the mid grades. He could only hope to obtain a vast amount of resources from the Underground Cave.

Name: Su Yi

Realm: Third Grade Martial Artist

Blood Qi: 522 cal/829 cal

Mentality: 466 Hz/539 Hz

Bone Tempering: 151 bones (90%), 55 bones (30%)

Knowledge: Mid Grade Combat Method—Falling Blossom Sword—Major Achievement {Optimization +2}; Mid-Grade Footwork—Cloud Step—Major Achievement {Optimization +2}; Basic Cultivation Method—Tempering Method {Optimization +3}; Horse Stance {Optimization +1}—Void Standing Realm; Basic Fist Technique—Minor Achievement;

Basic Leg Technique—Major Achievement; Basic Sword Technique—Major Achievement {Optimization +1};

...

Energy: 96566 points

Damage Status: 4.65%

"Blood Qi has exceeded 800 cal. The Sternum and Ribs have been fully tempered; only 26 Spine Bones and 29 Skull bones remain untempered.

"Unfortunately, from July 25 to today, August 26, I harvested less than 19,000 Energy Points—an average of only around six hundred a day."

It seemed he would still need some time before breaking through one hundred thousand. Su Yi was now eagerly anticipating what the Tempering Method would be like after its fourth Optimization.

According to the information fed back by the Book of Knowledge, another Optimization would bring a qualitative leap compared to the previous ones.

Bone Marrow? Or the Skull?

He would find out soon enough.

He had broken through too quickly. He needed to spend some time practicing his combat methods first.

After washing the grime from his body, Su Yi picked up his phone and called Cheng Wen. School was about to begin. Cheng Wen had returned from his trip yesterday and asked Su Yi to meet up.

However, because of his cultivation, Su Yi had not agreed yesterday and had instead moved their meeting to this afternoon.

At three in the afternoon, Su Yi met Cheng Wen, who had become considerably more tanned.

Su Yi could not help but laugh. "Where did you go on vacation? You're practically charcoal!"

Cheng Wen pursed his lips and said in an exceedingly resentful tone, "Don't even mention it. We agreed to vacation by the sea, then my dad dumped me on a deserted island and ordered me not to leave until I completed the tempering of One Limb Bone. On top of that, my combat methods had to meet the standard too."

Watching Cheng Wen begin to pour out his grievances, Su Yi said curiously, "That doesn't sound right. It was only a deserted island—you could've swum back to shore."

Cheng Wen was rather outgoing and somewhat of a chatterbox. Making him stay alone really was a form of torture.

"Swim? Why wouldn't I swim? Halfway through, I'd get hauled up and beaten senseless! From childhood until now, my dad hardly ever hit me. Especially my mom—she just stood there watching, occasionally scooping up seafood.

"Later, they simply found someone to keep an eye on me while the two of them went off to enjoy their own private world.

"A seaside vacation? That was their seaside vacation. For me, it was a tribulation!"

Cheng Wen spoke as though he were on the verge of collapse.

He had to find his own food. Other than cultivation pills, there was nothing. Every now and then, he had to spar in combat methods and get beaten up all over again.

Something was wrong. Could it be that he was not their biological son?

But if he was not, they should not have started doing this only after he graduated and went on vacation.

Su Yi laughed out loud. Cheng Wen's parents had seemed like such easygoing people; Su Yi had not expected them to do something like this.

"Then weren't you having a great time?"

"Great? You can tell from my skin how great it was! Look what color I've been tanned!"

Cheng Wen slumped onto the sofa, his face utterly lifeless. "Had I known, I would've stayed home. Cultivation is cultivation wherever you do it.

"I'm so jealous of Lai Yu and the others. They went to Kyoto early, and no one was there to keep them in line."

During the summer break, Su Yi had spent most of his time cultivating. Aside from gathering with them a few times right after the vacation began, he had not even attended the school's graduation banquet.

Qin Nansheng had originally planned to hold a graduation banquet for him as well, but Su Yi had declined on the grounds of cultivation. He had not attended a single one of his classmates' graduation banquets either.

Cheng Wen had said early on that he was going to vacation by the sea. Su Yi had not expected this kind of vacation.

At the end of July, Lai Yu and Li Xian had gone to Kyoto in advance to have fun while waiting for school to begin.

It was not as though other classmates had not invited Su Yi, but he had politely declined most of them.

As for Mao Qiutong, Su Yi had heard that she'd gone to her grandfather's place as soon as vacation started, and there had been no news from her since.

Seeing Cheng Wen still sprawled on the sofa, Su Yi said with a smile, "Isn't that a good thing too? You've tempered all the bones in one limb. Once school starts, you'll reach the second rank very soon."

Tempering all the bones in one limb in three months—less than four days for each bone—was already considered very fast for Second Bone Tempering.

Cheng Wen muttered, "Other than the time I spent recovering my Blood Qi, I was either tempering bones or practicing Battle Arts all day. How could I not be fast?"

With a kip-up, Cheng Wen sprang to his feet and suddenly asked, "Su Yi, what's your strength now? Whenever I asked before, you were always vague about it.

"During the College Entrance Exam, you were already at Second-Rank Mid Stage. Don't tell me you're at the high stage of the second rank now?"

His strength?

Su Yi found himself a little conflicted. Honestly, he didn't want to discuss this sort of thing with his friends.

He was advancing too quickly. No matter how he put it, it would sound like showing off.

And lying was even less appropriate. Cheng Wen would learn the truth soon enough.

After choosing his words, Su Yi finally said, "I broke through to Third Grade Mid Stage this morning."

It really was Third Grade Mid Stage. As far as his realm went, he hadn't said anything wrong.

Cheng Wen stared sharply at Su Yi. What? His eyes were brimming with confusion!

What do you mean, you're already Third Grade Mid Stage!?

I'm not dreaming, am I?

He shook his head fiercely, then stared at Su Yi with vacant eyes.

After seeing Su Yi nod in confirmation, he gritted his teeth and said in a trembling voice, "You really deserve to die!"

Cheng Wen fell into deep self-isolation. It had taken him three months to complete One Limb Bone Tempering.

Su Yi, meanwhile, had reached Third Grade Mid Stage in less than five months.

Was there any justice left in this world?

"Uh..."

Seeing Cheng Wen lower his head and sink into self-isolation, Su Yi stopped talking. If he went on, Cheng Wen might really lose his mind.

Better let him digest this properly.