Early the next morning, at six o'clock, the sky outside had only just begun to brighten.
"First tea."
"Present the jade invitation, then second tea."
"Tea bestowed, third tea."
Chen Yuque drew out the ceremonial chant. After the three cups of tea had been offered and the jade invitation for apprenticeship presented, the rites were complete.
In this quiet, secluded room, there were no distinguished guests, no celebratory blessings or lion dances—only three plain cups of coarse tea.
"It should have been more formal." The old man held the jade invitation Zhang Fusheng had handed him, his fingers stroking the three characters of Zhang Fusheng's name as he said with a smile,
"But Jiangzhou City is not the ancestral ground of our lineage, after all. When next year comes, I'll take you to Chongyang City and make up for it with a banquet, inviting a few old fellows to bear witness together."
Chongyang City lay roughly three to four hundred kilometers from Jiangzhou City. Both were within Golden Province, but one was a small city, while the other was one of Golden Province's seven medium-sized cities.
In all of Golden Province, there was only one Large City and seven medium-sized cities. Small cities, on the other hand, were especially numerous, numbering more than sixty.
"For now, there's no need to pay respects to your grandmaster's portrait. When we return to Chongyang City next year, I'll take you there to pay your respects in person."
Hong Tianbao stroked Zhang Fusheng's forehead three times. Then his smile vanished, and his knuckles tapped lightly against empty air, accompanied by a knock!
Zhang Fusheng once again found himself in that hellish mental illusion.
"The Great Sun Illuminating Seventy-Two Great Snow Mountains True Scripture." The full name of the cultivation method was ultimately a little hard to say aloud, so the old man simplified it slightly and said softly,
"Actually, I wasn't wrong. This method is divided into three volumes. The first volume is 'Great Sun Illuminating Seventy-Two Great Snow Mountains.' Add the second volume, and it becomes 'Immeasurable Heaven Great Sun Illuminating Seventy-Two Great Snow Mountains.'"
"Only with the third volume added does it become the full scripture, thirty-six characters long."
"Today, I will pass on the first volume to you. This method is a great secret of life and death, so it may only be taught within the divine realm."
So this kind of mental illusion was called a divine realm.
As Zhang Fusheng thought this, he performed a formal bow and quietly listened to his master explain the cultivation method.
Gradually, he seemed utterly absorbed, spellbound and intoxicated. At times he clapped his hands, at times he furrowed his brow, at times he beamed with delight—all of it was an act.
He simply could not immerse himself in it at all.
Out of ten sentences, he could understand about one, and he still had to force himself to look as though he had attained great enlightenment!
What misery!
An hour later, Hong Tianbao finished explaining the method, dispelled the divine realm, and left, leaving Zhang Fusheng alone in the quiet room to comprehend it.
Comprehend my ass!
All he could do was swallow the entire manual whole and memorize it. Whenever he thought deeply about it, his head swelled and spun.
Fortunately, the beginning portions of this [Great Sun Illuminating Seventy-Two Great Snow Mountains True Scripture] were not too difficult to understand. Otherwise—
"This cultivation method isn't merely a simple cultivation method. It also contains the Dense White Bone Contemplation—more accurately, it completes the Dense White Bone Contemplation."
Zhang Fusheng could understand that much. It was impossible that for a hundred thousand yuan in tuition, his master would truly hand over the sect's fundamental Visualization Method.
The Visualization Method he had learned before was incomplete. Though it truly could cultivate one to the [Limit-Breaking] level, it was incomplete in the end.
With the Great Sun Scripture supplementing it, when he visualized now, he not only imagined himself as white bones, but also imagined a great sun above his head illuminating the ten directions, and seventy-two snow mountains beneath his feet, freezing heaven and earth.
And with the completed White Bone Meditation, there came the Eight Forms of Body and Spirit—eight different forms for visualizing oneself, advancing layer by layer, each more wondrous and bizarre than the last.
They were the Luminous Form, the Newly Dead Form, the Giant Form, the Blood-Soaked Form, the Rotting Form, the Beast-Eaten Form, the Scattered Bones Form,
And finally, the [Ancient Tomb Form].
Linked together in full, they formed the entire process of a person from life to death, then from being sealed in a coffin to being buried in a tomb. Every form of body and spirit possessed its own mysteries.
"The Luminous Form—I've already achieved it. My bones emit light. According to the complete White Bone Meditation, it can gradually improve my physique until I develop the special bone structure known as [Dead Man's Bones]."
"As for the seven forms after that..."
He gave a bitter smile. Of the White Bone Meditation's Eight Forms of Body and Spirit, only the first form, the Luminous Form, and the second form, the Newly Dead Form, were somewhat normal.
Take the third form, the Giant Form. It required him to truly visualize himself as a bloated "giant" swollen by decay, black hair tangled around grass roots, breathing out rotten mist.
This was not mere visualization. Like Bone-Born Light, it would manifest itself in reality, truly and tangibly!
Imagining himself in the form of a "rotting giant," Zhang Fusheng shuddered.
Damn it.
He had definitely entered a demonic sect. His master was definitely an Old Devil!
He smiled bitterly and gathered his thoughts.
"This first volume points directly to the [Furnace Realm]."
Zhang Fusheng pondered,
"What level is the Furnace Realm? A Martial Arts Master? Or something even greater?"
He picked out the parts he could read and understand, recalling and examining them closely. Gradually, he truly gained some insight.
At the very least, he now knew how to enter the Second Refinement after the First Refinement.
"Using the Breathing Technique as a medium, guide the Mysterious Factor through the entire body according to the routes described in the cultivation method."
He assumed the Lotus Flower Stance, breathing like spring thunder. Gradually, he became truly immersed in cultivation.
One hour, two hours.
Two hours later.
"I really improved. My strength increased by... half a tael?"
He pressed a hand to his forehead. At this pace, even if he cultivated eight hours a day, he could add at most two taels of strength.
And to reach First Refinement Perfection, he needed to add another five hundred jin of strength!
That would probably take—
Seven years!
Seven years!!
"Damn it, cultivate my ass. Contract Book, give me a boost!"
He connected with the Ancestral Aperture between his brows and activated the dim Contract Book. Stored within it were Elder Zhong's fifty years of body-tempering time—more precisely, cultivation time.
"This time, the Contract Book actually needs more than two months to cool down? Is it because the trade content increased, or because the trade gains increased?"
Zhang Fusheng pondered it, but did not care—Star Beast Meat could directly reduce the cooldown.
Fifty years of cultivation time came crashing down upon him.
[First year, I tempered my body with the Great Sun Illuminating Seventy-Two Great Snow Mountains cultivation method and made some progress.] [Second year, I made some progress.] [Third year, I made some progress.] ... [Seventh year, I reached First Refinement Perfection. The strength of both my hands reached twelve hundred jin, and I continued trying my best.] [Eighth year, limited by my inferior bone structure, I became stuck at the bottleneck and made no further progress.] [Ninth year, I still made no progress whatsoever.] [Tenth year.] [Sixteenth year, through the accumulation of days and months, I finally wore through the bottleneck. I fused the Mysterious Factor into a deeper layer of my skin and flesh, becoming a Second Refinement martial artist!] [My strength surged by another five hundred jin!] [Seventeenth year, after entering the Second Refinement, I discovered that my bone structure restricted me more and more severely.] [Eighteenth year, I improved slightly.] [Nineteenth year, I improved slightly.] ... [Thirty-eighth year, after enduring countless hardships and spending a full twenty-one years, I finally reached the peak of the Second Refinement!] [Now, the strength of both my hands exceeds two thousand jin, and my skin and flesh are incomparably tough.] [I continued trying to temper my body and cultivate the Great Sun Scripture.] [Thirty-ninth year, as expected, I fell into another bottleneck and made no progress at all.] [Fortieth year.] [Forty-ninth year, trapped by the limits of my body, I remained stuck at the peak of the Second Refinement. At last, I accepted the fact that I was mediocre.] [But I was optimistic. At least I reached the Second Refinement. Many people remain stuck at the First Refinement their entire lives, and some never even gain entry into the Breathing Technique in their lifetimes.] [Fiftieth year, inspiration flashed through my mind, and then there was no afterward.] [No matter how brightly inspiration flashed, it could not improve my bone structure, could not temper the Mysterious Factor into the deepest layer of my skin and flesh, and could not let me reach the Third Refinement.]
Memories of fifty years of daily body-tempering cultivation surged forth like a tidal wave.
Along with them came his explosively growing strength.
One thousand jin, fifteen hundred jin, twenty-two hundred jin!
His sinews and bones rumbled like thunder, his fists as heavy as steel measures.
Zhang Fusheng exhaled a breath of stale air, as though he were expelling the dust his organs had accumulated over fifty years, as though he were breathing out all the vicissitudes of time.
"There are still sixty years each of Visualization Method and Breathing Technique cultivation time left."
"What a waste..."
As he thought, he silently began practicing the Tiger Roar Fist. Dust gathered into the shape of a tiger, releasing a low roar that echoed through this quiet room on the fifth floor.
"If my bone structure were better—just a little better—I would have at least entered the Third Refinement by now, perhaps even the Fourth Refinement or Fifth Refinement!"
"Bone structure. Bone structure!"
Never before had his desire to replace it with an excellent bone structure been so intense.
After finishing a set of Tiger Roar Fist, he closed the stance.
His fist struck his palm. The tiger head shook and roared, and dust condensed into visible circular ripples that spread in every direction, crashing against the walls.
Zhang Fusheng stood motionless for a long while.
Knock, knock, knock.
The sound of knocking came from the door, and Second Senior Sister entered.
"Junior Disciple Brother, did you look at the list I sent you yesterday? Who did you choose?"
As she spoke, Chen Yuque looked Zhang Fusheng up and down, frowning slightly.
It had only been two or three hours. Why did Junior Disciple Brother seem... changed again?
Zhang Fusheng contracted his muscles and bones, concealing his strength of more than two thousand jin.
The progress of his Visualization Method and Breathing Technique could be explained with talent, but the progress of genuine body-tempering cultivation?
His bone structure was right there for all to see.
"I chose."
Zhang Fusheng nodded.
"I want this Chen Nuanyu, but I also want to ask about her and another person—the owner of the District Four construction company, Zhu Dashan."
After a pause, Zhang Fusheng explained,
"One is a classmate from my school, and the other is an uncle of mine."
"Zhu Dashan?"
Chen Yuque thought for a moment.
"I don't remember much about him. His debt should be very small. As for that Chen Nuanyu..."
She smiled faintly.
"She's a little genius who took shortcuts. She borrowed nearly twenty million in total. Including interest, she probably owes around thirty million now. Since you fancy her, I'll leave the debt collection to you."
"According to the rules, you have the authority to decide, within a certain range, whether to waive part of the interest and whether to extend the repayment deadline. If you want to eat her, I can teach you how."
Chen Yuque winked at Zhang Fusheng, grinned, and revealed two little canine teeth.
Before you continue