Boiling Blood: Second Stage

Over the next few days, the Three-Tailed Demon Fox visited almost daily.

Shen Mu, however, had no intention of paying it any mind, focusing his heart and soul on practicing the Army-Breaking Saber Technique.

Let it pee if it wants to, the breeze still brushes the mountain ridge...

In the end, the Three-Tailed Demon Fox even swaggered up to his bamboo shed to relieve itself while Shen Mu was practicing, before strutting away with its head held high.

Perhaps tired of being ignored by Shen Mu, who simply lay flat and let it do as it pleased, the Three-Tailed Demon Fox lost the satisfaction it derived from its revenge. It finally turned its gaze toward the other guards who had besieged it that day, sparking a new round of chaos.

Almost every day, guards could be found scouring Emerald Cloud Valley, murderous intent in their eyes, searching for the tracks of the Three-Tailed Demon Fox.

They even went so far as to pool their money to purchase a longbow, solely to shoot the Three-Tailed Demon Fox and avenge the indignity of being urinated upon.

In his spare time, Shen Mu was happy to hear the gossip through Zhang Bohan, but he had no intention of participating in the hunt.

He had witnessed the cunning of the Three-Tailed Demon Fox; having finally managed to shift its hostility elsewhere, he truly did not want it to set its sights on him again.

Three days later, the group led by Hong Jingcheng launched another cicada-catching operation at the crack of dawn.

However, having learned from their previous lesson, Hong Jingcheng made sure to verify whether any guards were present in the bamboo sheds before deploying the sleeping incense.

The operation was finally completed without incident. After two nights of searching the entire Emerald Cloud Valley, they captured a total of 1,572 Origin Cicadas.

According to the distribution method previously stated by Hong Jingcheng, Shen Mu was once again entitled to a fifty-tael silver share.

This extra income meant that Shen Mu no longer had to worry about the resources needed for the fourth stage of Boiling Blood.

Adding the twenty taels he had buried, he now had ninety taels in hand, enough for his advancement to the fourth stage of Boiling Blood.

Through this Origin Cicada catching operation, Shen Mu had completely earned Hong Jingcheng's trust and integrated himself into the circle of guards led by him.

In the blink of an eye, a month passed.

The morning sun began to rise.

"Gurgle, gurgle..."

Shen Mu finished practicing the Army-Breaking Saber Technique once more, and as he rested, his stomach let out a series of growls.

Finally, I've successfully digested those twenty pounds of beast meat.

Shen Mu's eyes brightened as he sank his consciousness into his mind to observe the changes in the Martial Dao Tree.

At this moment, the second root of the Martial Dao Tree was also filled with scarlet mist, and the root itself had completely solidified from its previous illusory state.

It's time to push for the second stage of Boiling Blood.

Shen Mu chanted silently in his heart, sitting cross-legged on the ground and circulating the Body Forging Art to stir the surging blood energy within his body.

"Gather the primordial energy, enter the Tiantu point, penetrate the Xuanji, invert the stars, strengthen the blood, open the mysterious gate, charge the Jade Palace..."

"Break!"

Shen Mu let out a low roar in his heart, and the surging blood energy within him flowed like an endless blood dragon.

"Crack!"

Accompanied by a muffled sound from within his body, Shen Mu successfully stepped into the second stage of Boiling Blood.

The blood energy erupted within him, sweeping out in all directions. His flesh and blood, like a desert suffering from a long drought, greedily absorbed this blood energy and grew stronger.

"Second stage of Boiling Blood!"

Shen Mu opened his eyes, a sense of power flooding his entire body.

On the surface of his skin, a blood-colored vapor, more than twice as dense as when he was at the first stage of Boiling Blood, swirled and rose.

At the same time, Shen Mu could clearly perceive that after advancing to the second stage of Boiling Blood, his strength had once again increased significantly.

According to what Zhang Bohan said before, once one enters the second stage of Boiling Blood, they should possess five hundred pounds of force...

Should I be able to kill a cow with one punch now?

Shen Mu clenched his fists, feeling a surge of excitement.

It had taken him another month since his promotion to the first stage of Boiling Blood to successfully reach the second.

This terrifying cultivation speed was likely unmatched by anyone in the entire Firewood Gang.

But is my advancement too simple? It's completely effortless...

After Wang Jin reached the first stage of Boiling Blood, he was stuck there for many years, unable to break through, encountering what they call a bottleneck.

But it seems that as long as I accumulate enough blood energy through the Martial Dao Tree, I can successfully charge to the next stage.

Could it be that my bottleneck hasn't arrived yet?

Or is it that, through the Martial Dao Tree, I no longer have any bottlenecks?

Shen Mu couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

As things stood, he didn't seem to have encountered any bottlenecks.

Whether he would face such problems in the future, Shen Mu had no way of knowing.

He couldn't help but glance at the Martial Dao Tree; the third root was already beginning to fill with scarlet mist, indicating that he had already begun his march toward the third stage of Boiling Blood.

Shen Mu put his thoughts aside, walked back to the bamboo shed to boil water, took out the last pound of beast meat, washed the salt off the surface, and placed it into the pot to poach once the water boiled.

After finishing a pound of beast meat and feeling the sensation of fullness, Shen Mu stepped out of the bamboo shed and began practicing the Army-Breaking Saber Technique once again.

He could clearly perceive that after advancing to the second level of Boiling Blood, his body had been strengthened once more by the infusion of blood energy, making the exertion of practicing the Army-Breaking Saber Technique significantly less taxing.

It took only the time it takes for a stick of incense to burn for Shen Mu to successfully complete one full cycle of the Army-Breaking Saber Technique.

Just then, the scarlet blood energy on the branches of the Martial Dao Tree in Shen Mu's mind successfully spread to the first leaf, occupying it and solidifying.

A cool sensation surged from that leaf within Shen Mu's mind, and then it suddenly dissolved.

It was a memory regarding the practice of the Army-Breaking Saber Technique; Shen Mu had practiced the technique day and night, finally succeeding in reaching the entry level one day.

"I understand now."

After merging with this memory, Shen Mu's eyes lit up, his expression filled with excitement.

"The branches of the Martial Dao Tree assist me in practicing martial arts!"

"Once the scarlet mist occupies the first leaf, I can obtain the relevant memories for practicing a martial art, as if the Martial Dao Tree is helping me train, assisting me in reaching the entry level of the technique in one go..."

Shen Mu's heart pounded.

As far as he knew, although the Army-Breaking Saber Technique was unranked, it required at least a year of hard work to reach the entry level.

Yet, he had only spent one month, and with the assistance of the Martial Dao Tree, he had successfully mastered the entry level of the Army-Breaking Saber Technique.

"The branch of the Martial Dao Tree has four leaves in total, which presumably correspond to the four stages of a martial art: Entry, Minor Accomplishment, Major Accomplishment, and Perfection."

"Then, what is the meaning of the flower bud at the end of the branch?"

"Could it be that there is room for further improvement even after a martial art reaches perfection?"

Shen Mu pondered in his heart.

However, for him right now, it was too early to think about these things; there was still a long way to go before the scarlet energy spread to the flower bud.

"Now that I have advanced to the second level of Boiling Blood, I could go to the Firewood Gang headquarters to update my current cultivation level and receive a higher stipend..."

"However..."

Shen Mu couldn't help but frown.

The fact that he had advanced to the first level of Boiling Blood in just one month was already enough to be shocking.

Now, to advance to the second level of Boiling Blood in another month—the speed was simply frightening.

Advancing to the second level of Boiling Blood would entitle him to a stipend of two taels of silver and five taels of beast meat.

While the salary looked twice as high as that of the first level, exposing his cultivation speed would be far too eye-catching.

He was not currently short on silver to buy beast meat, so he could easily wait another month before updating his cultivation status.

Losing a few taels of salary was a small price to pay compared to losing his life.

He was still too weak right now; there was no need to do something so attention-grabbing.

Thinking of this, Shen Mu reined in his wandering thoughts and stood up once again to practice the Army-Breaking Saber Technique.