After his Spirit Refining martial art reached First Glimpse of the Way.
Li Beichen now had three martial arts and techniques to cultivate at once.
[Giant Elephant Fist]
[Shuriken]
[White Bone Spirit Refining Observation]
He could practice each one all day long.
But there was only one of him, and he couldn't be in two places at once.
He had to divide his time carefully.
After making adjustments, he set aside his daytime hours for [Giant Elephant Fist] and [Shuriken], splitting the time eight to two.
As for the night, he devoted all of it to [White Bone Spirit Refining Observation].
He had enough exotic beast meat, enough money, and enough martial arts manuals.
Everything was ready. All that remained was to grind.
Li Beichen plunged straight into a state of fanatical cultivation.
Other than sleeping three or four shichen a day and making time to eat, drink, and relieve himself, he devoted nearly all his remaining hours to cultivation.
Half a month later, the lowest-ranked art, [White Bone Spirit Refining Observation], was the first to break through.
[Art: White Bone Spirit Refining Observation—Fragment (First Glimpse of the Way)]
[Progress: (0/200)]
[Traits: Spirit Fortification]
[Spirit Fortification: Greatly increases spiritual strength]
The moment the panel's notification appeared, a cool sensation surged into Li Beichen's mind from some unseen source. He instantly felt clearheaded and sharp-eyed, all his mental fatigue gone. His eyes shone, and his spirit soared.
It was a sign that his spiritual strength had greatly increased.
Li Beichen immediately realized that improving his spirit should also benefit his [Shuriken] and [Giant Elephant Fist].
He took the small sword from his Sword Pouch and aimed at the bull's-eye.
Beyond the keen eyesight granted by the [Keen] trait, he now seemed to possess an instinctive sense of where to aim.
Li Beichen closed his eyes.
Trusting his instincts,
he gathered his strength and threw.
Whoosh! The fine-iron sword struck the bull's-eye dead center!
Though Li Beichen hadn't opened his eyes, he knew he'd hit the mark.
The certainty of it was instinctive.
He slowly opened his eyes and looked at the fine-iron sword embedded firmly in the bull's-eye. A smile touched his lips.
Next, Li Beichen began practicing [Giant Elephant Fist].
Though he was still at [Slight Mastery], with his spiritual strength greatly enhanced, there was a new rhythm to his punches.
They had become more natural.
The following day, Li Beichen devoted the same amount of time to [Shuriken] and [Giant Elephant Fist].
Compared to the day before, he made an extra point of progress in both arts.
"Just as I thought. The stronger your Spirit Refining cultivation, the faster you learn and practice other martial arts!"
"No wonder it's the most mysterious path of cultivation in the martial world."
Time flew by in a blink.
Autumn leaves withered and turned yellow, and cold winds began to rise.
December had arrived.
Most of the Inner Courtyard disciples from the [Like-Elephant Martial Hall] were in Ram City.
Only Yuan Dazong was absent. At the beginning of November, he had said he was going out on business with the Tea Guild, and he still hadn't returned.
Meanwhile, among the Outer Courtyard disciples, He Keji's progress had leaped ahead of everyone else's.
In Li Beichen's view, He Keji had thoroughly honed his [Giant Elephant Fist] within the [Threshold of Mastery] stage.
He would soon be able to produce a single ring and become the eighth Inner Courtyard disciple.
As for Li Beichen, only his [Shuriken] was still some distance from [Mastery and Integration].
Both [Giant Elephant Fist] and [White Bone Spirit Refining Observation] were close to their next stages.
Of the two, [White Bone Spirit Refining Observation] had only advanced from [First Glimpse of the Way] to [Threshold of Mastery], yet it progressed far more slowly than [Giant Elephant Fist].
Li Beichen didn't know how the grades of Spirit Refining martial arts compared to those of External Martial Arts that tempered the body.
But he was certain that [White Bone Spirit Refining Observation] was a high-grade art.
Even someone as talented as he was made only middling progress.
What Li Beichen didn't know was that even among the elite sects that inherited Spirit Refining martial arts, his pace would rank among the very best.
The description on the bone fragment of the Ninth-Grade Spirit Nourishing stage of Spirit Refining consisted of only seven characters.
[Spirit fortified, heart at peace, soul made clear]
As for what those words meant, Li Beichen had now more or less figured it out.
They meant that the soul had grown stronger, the mind was calm, and one could sense the presence of one's own soul.
Reaching this level meant one had attained the Ninth-Grade Spirit Nourishing stage.
Li Beichen had just managed the first half, but he still couldn't sense his own soul.
He estimated that once [White Bone Spirit Refining Observation] advanced to [First Glimpse of the Way], he would reach the Ninth Grade of Spirit Refining.
As for [Giant Elephant Fist]...
Li Beichen focused his thoughts, opened the panel, and looked at his progress.
[Progress: (999/1000)]
"I should be able to break through to Mastery and Integration after one more session."
He calmed his mind and cast aside all distractions.
Immersed in the rhythm of the Breathing Method, he began to practice his punches with focus and care.
Giant Elephant Stomp, Ivory Thrust...
A quarter of an hour later, Li Beichen slowly breathed out and ended a complete session of [Giant Elephant Fist].
A few lines of small text appeared before his eyes.
[Art: Giant Elephant Fist (Mastery and Integration)]
[Progress: (0/2000)]
[Traits: Bright Force, Elephant Breath, Thousand Echoes, Hidden Force]
[Bright Force: Body and strength united, each punch exceeding a thousand jin]
[Elephant Breath: Lengthens the breath, improving stamina and explosive power]
[Thousand Echoes: Greatly increases muscle and sinew-and-bone strength, allowing a thousand consecutive bursts of Bright Force]
[Hidden Force: Force concealed within; strength and sinews united, silent and invisible, unleashing a thousand jin of force]
In an instant, a searing torrent surged out of nowhere into every muscle and tendon membrane in Li Beichen's body. In the blink of an eye, his muscles grew and strengthened, and his tendon membranes thickened and hardened.
Even his bones became denser and more solid.
His build barely changed, but his weight shot up by twenty jin.
Li Beichen felt his strength surge and his stamina greatly improve.
He tried it out. With every movement, his muscles didn't just unleash their power; the great tendons throughout his body stretched and contracted with force, joining in to produce an explosive burst of strength.
Moreover, the strengthening of his tendon membranes greatly increased his speed. He could shift from extreme motion to stillness and suddenly change direction while running at high speed.
Without greatly strengthened tendon membranes, that kind of movement would snap an ordinary person's tendons in an instant.
After testing the first three traits, Li Beichen turned his attention to the last one, the newly revealed [Hidden Force].
Meng Juxiang had once told him that, generally speaking, once someone cultivated Giant Elephant Fist to Mastery and Integration, they could produce ten consecutive rings. After that, they could grasp skillful force and channel it through the great tendons throughout the body to begin cultivating the Eighth-Rank Muscle Refining stage.
As his fist art advanced, Li Beichen had gained not only these new traits; it also meant his understanding of [Giant Elephant Fist] had deepened further.
He guessed that the skillful force Meng Juxiang had mentioned was this [Hidden Force] trait, or perhaps only an early form of it.
That was because Li Beichen could not only channel [Hidden Force] through the great tendons throughout his body to cultivate his tendon membranes.
He could also unleash it outward.
He took a cobblestone he had previously used as a [Locust Stone] and covered it with his right hand. He made no large movement.
His palm merely gave a slight twitch.
When he lifted his hand, the cobblestone had shattered into small pieces.
Before you continue