Body Tempering

When Shen Mu and Luo Tao arrived at the Martial Arts Arena, it was already packed with countless outer members. A rough estimate put their numbers at several hundred.

"Tsk, so many people?"

Luo Tao's eyes widened, and he blurted out in surprise.

Shen Mu, however, wasn't surprised in the least.

Anyone who could be here had clearly come from a poor family and couldn't afford to study at a martial arts school. They had no choice but to settle for becoming an auxiliary member of the Firewood Gang.

Now that the monthly firewood fees had been collected, most of the outer members had nothing to do, so it was only natural to have them begin body tempering.

"I'll start taking names now. You'll be divided into squads of fifty, each assigned an instructor to teach you body tempering. Everyone will also receive a pound of unranked demonic beast meat to help with your training."

When the sun rose, a stern-faced middle-aged man arrived at the Martial Arts Arena, surrounded by several subordinates and holding a roster. His voice rang across the grounds.

The Martial Arts Arena, which had been as noisy as a marketplace, fell silent at once.

As the middle-aged man called out names, the outer members gathered at the arena were divided into six squads. Shen Mu and Luo Tao were assigned to the fifth squad.

"We'll start handing out the beast meat now!"

As soon as the middle-aged man finished speaking, several people carried steaming-hot beast meat into the arena.

At the sight of the meat, excitement showed on the faces of all the outer members present.

Demonic beast meat was the nourishment people in the body-tempering stage needed to cultivate their blood energy.

There were also pills rich in blood energy that could quickly boost a person's blood energy, but they cost more. Generally, only the children of wealthy and powerful families could afford to use them.

Shen Mu received a pound of demonic beast meat. He stared at the meat in his hands, speechless.

It had only been lightly blanched, and blood was still seeping from the middle. It looked like rare beef, but its texture was denser...

"I never imagined becoming a martial artist would mean going through a stage of eating raw flesh and drinking blood."

Shen Mu sighed inwardly.

Seeing Luo Tao already digging in, Shen Mu didn't hesitate. He bit off a chunk of the beast meat in his hands.

"They didn't even add salt..."

"If I'm not mistaken, it's to preserve as much of the demonic beast meat's essence as possible..."

As Shen Mu began chewing, a strong stench of blood burst across his mouth, making his stomach churn.

But when he remembered that this piece of demonic beast meat was worth one tael of silver, he forced himself to overcome his discomfort.

Was this meat?

No. It was one tael of silver!

"Ugh!"

Quite a few outer members couldn't stomach the bloody smell and crouched on the ground, dry-heaving nonstop.

But most gritted their teeth, keeping their faces blank as they slowly wolfed down the entire piece of meat.

"I'm so full..."

Once he had swallowed the whole piece, Shen Mu felt as though he had eaten all the meals he would have over the next half-month. An intense sense of fullness washed over him.

"Hm?!"

Just then, Shen Mu was astonished to discover that the ancient tree in his mind had changed. One of its roots was giving off a wisp of Scarlet Mist.

"What's this?"

Shen Mu's heart pounded.

"Could this ancient tree in my mind help me cultivate?"

Shen Mu wondered inwardly.

The ancient tree had changed after he ate the demonic beast meat, so the meat was clearly what had caused the change.

As someone in the body-tempering stage, his main reason for eating demonic beast meat was to cultivate his blood energy.

Although he still didn't know what effect the change in the ancient tree would have on him, the fact that it had finally changed after a month was enough to fill Shen Mu with joy.

One day, he would figure out every secret of the ancient tree in his mind.

"My name is Mao Shouzhuo. I'm your instructor. I'll be teaching you the basics of body tempering from now on!"

Just then, a young man a few years older than Shen Mu walked up in front of the fifth squad and called out.

"Does anyone know the purpose of body tempering?"

Mao Shouzhuo looked around and asked in a deep voice.

"Body tempering is meant to boost our blood energy and speed up the digestion of the beast meat in our bodies."

Someone in the squad immediately answered, clearly quite familiar with body tempering.

"Correct."

Mao Shouzhuo nodded. "The purpose of body tempering is to speed up the digestion of demonic beast meat and help the body absorb the blood energy it contains, which is then transformed into your own blood energy."

"It's like a person working in the fields. Their body grows hungry as it expends energy. This, too, is a kind of body tempering that takes place gradually without them noticing."

"Years of farmwork help them gradually adapt to the demands of the job, while eating replenishes what their bodies have expended."

"Body tempering works the same way. You expend your energy to help your body quickly digest the demonic beast meat you've eaten."

"Basic body tempering has two parts: internal cultivation and external training. You cultivate your blood energy internally while training externally through stance work, carrying sandbags, running laps, holding stones, and sparring. These methods gradually speed up the digestion of the demonic beast meat you eat!"

"Once you reach First Stage Boiling Blood and your body has grown accustomed to this level of training, these methods will no longer be suitable."

"At that point, I'll teach you the Army-Breaking Saber Technique. Practicing it will help you digest demonic beast meat."

"All right, I'll teach you the breathing formula for the first level of body tempering: cultivating blood energy internally."

"Gather the essence of Heaven, send it to Tiantu, pass through Xuanji, hang the stars upside down, and strengthen your blood energy..."

The formula for the first level of body tempering was only a few dozen lines long.

After reciting it clumsily a few times, Shen Mu memorized the entire formula for the first level. He also committed the corresponding acupoints to memory as Mao Shouzhuo pointed them out.

"I'm only teaching you the formula for the first level of body tempering because some of you might not have learned to walk before you try to run."

Mao Shouzhuo looked around and warned them in a grave voice. "The Body Tempering Formula isn't just a verbal formula. If you haven't reached the corresponding Boiling Blood realm and rashly practice a body-tempering technique that doesn't match your strength, the best-case scenario is that your meridians will be severed and you'll become crippled. At worst, your blood energy will reverse and flood your body, killing you on the spot."

"Did you understand?"

"We understand!"

About half an hour later, once everyone could recite the formula fluently, Mao Shouzhuo began teaching them stance work.

Shen Mu watched Mao Shouzhuo's every movement, afraid he might miss even one step of the body-tempering process.

After only a short while standing in the stance, people began dropping out one after another, their legs going numb until they could no longer hold on. In the end, they collapsed to the ground.

Shen Mu silently persevered. Even when his legs were so numb they felt like they weren't his own, he didn't dare slack off in the slightest.

At the same time, during a break in his stance work, Shen Mu sank his awareness into his mind to observe the ancient tree's changes.

The ancient tree still looked illusory, but one of its roots was gradually becoming more solid as the Scarlet Mist flowed into it.

Only a tiny portion had become solid, still less than one percent of the entire root.

"I wonder what will happen once this root of the ancient tree has become solid all the way through."

Shen Mu wondered inwardly.

Although he still didn't know the exact purpose of this towering ancient tree, he couldn't help looking forward to finding out.

What would happen once the Scarlet Mist had completely filled that root and turned it solid?

"Next, I'll teach you how to carry sand. It's very simple: put a sandbag on your back and walk briskly while circulating the Body Tempering Formula to cultivate your blood energy. Otherwise, the demonic beast meat you've eaten will just go to waste..."

Mao Shouzhuo gave them no time to rest and continued teaching the second step of body tempering.

"..."

The body-tempering session began at sunrise and didn't end until the sun was setting.

Even after expending a great deal of energy during the day, Shen Mu still felt intensely full, as if he wouldn't need to eat for the next several days.

He couldn't help marveling inwardly. Could demonic beast meat really keep you full for so long?

That meant his body still hadn't fully digested the pound of demonic beast meat he had eaten.

At the same time, he was eager to uncover the secrets of the towering ancient tree in his mind.

That enormous root system clearly couldn't be filled by the Scarlet Mist produced by a single pound of demonic beast meat.

"All right, I've taught you the entire body-tempering process. That's enough for today."

"Everyone can go now. When you get home, cultivate your blood energy properly, and meet back here tomorrow!"

Mao Shouzhuo looked around. Everyone appeared exhausted, but thanks to the steady supply of energy from the demonic beast meat, they could still hold on.

He had taught them all the body-tempering methods. How far they went from here depended entirely on their own fortunes.

There was no shortcut to cultivating blood energy. You had to eat demonic beast meat and transform the blood energy it contained to strengthen yourself.

"Sir, if I reach First Stage Boiling Blood, how can I tell whether I've actually reached it?"

Just as everyone was preparing to head home and get some proper rest, someone asked.

The others, who had been about to leave, stopped and looked toward Mao Shouzhuo in unison.

Meeting their curious gazes, Mao Shouzhuo said indifferently, "If you reach First Stage Boiling Blood, your physical strength will increase tremendously."

"Watch closely."

Mao Shouzhuo picked up a pebble and tossed it into the air.

As the pebble fell within striking range, Mao Shouzhuo thrust out a heavy punch, striking it squarely.

"Bang!"

The next instant, the pebble gave a faint thud, then burst into a rain of fragments.

Everyone who saw this looked horrified.

If that punch landed on my forehead, wouldn't my head burst like a watermelon?

"Once you reach First Stage Boiling Blood, you'll have the strength of three hundred jin!"

"You can use the method I just demonstrated to test whether you've reached First Stage Boiling Blood!"

After saying that, Mao Shouzhuo turned and left.

"First Stage Boiling Blood gives you the strength of three hundred jin?"

Watching Mao Shouzhuo's retreating figure, Shen Mu fell into thought.

The three hundred jin of strength Mao Shouzhuo mentioned was clearly different from what Shen Mu understood as three hundred jin of strength.

In his previous life, an Olympic weightlifting champion could lift a three-hundred-kilogram barbell, but could he shatter a stone with a single punch?

That was clearly impossible.

From this, Shen Mu could infer that the three hundred jin Mao Shouzhuo mentioned meant that a single punch carried three hundred jin of force.

That was terrifying.

At First Stage Boiling Blood, a single punch could unleash three hundred jin of force—enough to kill someone.

Wouldn't a single strike from the Martial God at the pinnacle of the martial path be comparable to a nuclear explosion?