Nourishment

"Pfft!"

Fatty Fang had been about to lavish him with praise.

But Chen Cheng's legs suddenly gave out, and he staggered down onto the ground.

He panted violently, his chest heaving like a bellows. Dense beads of cold sweat instantly seeped from his forehead and ran down his pale cheeks.

Every tendon and muscle in his body erupted with tearing pain, and even his fingertips trembled uncontrollably.

Clearly, while tempering the stake technique in a perfect posture had produced remarkable results, the strain and depletion on his stamina, muscles, tendons, and bones had likewise skyrocketed at an astonishing rate.

With his physique and innate foundation, lasting this long had already been no easy feat.

"You're far too weak..."

Fatty Fang forcibly swallowed the praise already at his lips, his expression turning rather complicated.

"When standing the stake in the future, you must never force yourself. The moment you feel exhausted, stop immediately. Better to fall short than overdraw yourself! If you injure your tendons and bones, you'll be completely finished!"

"I... understand. Thank you for the guidance, Senior Brother."

Chen Cheng knew full well that the six months of martial training stipulated before the Death-Pledge Contract were neither short nor long.

Should he be injured during that time, his cultivation progress would slow drastically. If he failed to cultivate One-Incense Blood Qi in the end, there would be only one road ahead: death.

Looking at it more pessimistically, if Lower Academy disciples could no longer train due to injury, Dragon Mountain Hall might not even let them continue eating and drinking for free. They would be dragged off directly to repay their debts.

This clause had not been written into the Death-Pledge Contract, but there was no doubt that the stronger party held the final right of interpretation.

As Chen Cheng thought this, the strings in his heart tightened further.

In such an environment, even with the Vertical Eye Mark's assistance, he did not dare claim that he could reach shore with absolute certainty.

From now on, he still had to tread carefully at every step and seek stability in all things!

Afterward.

Fatty Fang stopped paying attention to Chen Cheng and went over to the youths training nearby, offering them occasional pointers.

There were eight youths in total. Two were still practicing the stake technique, while the other six had already begun tempering their combat forms.

While resting, Chen Cheng kept his eyes fixed on those youths practicing their combat forms.

Once he had rested enough and resumed his stake stance, he continued watching that side without blinking.

[Crouching Dragon Fist]: Beginner (0/300), Traits (None)

After a while.

As a line of text surfaced in his mind, Chen Cheng gained a new understanding of the Vertical Eye Mark.

"Seeing only a few scattered moves isn't enough to gain entry..."

"I have to watch every move in its entirety, and the person performing it cannot make any mistakes. Only then can the Vertical Eye Mark completely see through a martial art and grant me entry..."

Chen Cheng watched throughout, and among the youths tempering their combat forms, only two could perform the entire Crouching Dragon Fist once without a single error.

The other four all had more or less some omissions or mistakes, and they received no shortage of beatings and scoldings from Fatty Fang.

"And then... Word-Breaking Literacy and the Crouching Dragon Stake Technique have no traits..."

"The Crouching Dragon Fist and Health-Preserving Taiji Fist both have traits, but only the latter can break its limit... There are differences even between skills..."

"Looking at it this way, the true nature of that Health-Preserving Taiji is probably anything but ordinary!"

In the blink of an eye, it was noon.

Like the other youths, Chen Cheng squatted beneath the eaves, eating brown rice porridge with coarse flour flatbread. After a few casual chews, he swallowed it whole.

The only exception was the two youths who could fully perform the Crouching Dragon Fist.

One took out a small cloth pouch from his sleeve, pinched several grains of coarse salt, and sprinkled them into his porridge.

The other pulled out a piece of unknown dried meat from his chest and began nibbling it in small bites, chewing slowly.

The faint aroma of salt and meat drifted through the air, making several people nearby swallow repeatedly as they kept sneaking glances over.

"Hey, newbie."

At that moment, a youth with a closely shaved head and a fresh scratch across his neck wandered over to Chen Cheng and plopped down beside him.

"My name's Shi Lei."

The youth bumped Chen Cheng with his shoulder and grinned, revealing a chipped front tooth.

"Greetings, Senior Brother Shi. My name is Chen Cheng."

Shi Lei smiled. "I've been here three months, and I've never seen anyone who didn't get beaten and scolded by King Yama Fang. You're the first."

"Just luck." Chen Cheng responded modestly, then lowered his head and continued eating.

"Give me a break." Shi Lei curled his lip. "We all crawled out of the mud of the slums. Without some real ability, could you have entered through those doors? Are you saying King Yama Fang is blind?"

Chen Cheng smiled but did not respond.

Shi Lei did not mind. He leaned closer, carrying the smell of sweat and a trace of bad breath.

"You seem like my kind of person, so let's be friends. In this rotten world, having one more person watching your back is better than having one more person stabbing you in the dark. Don't you think?"

Chen Cheng nodded slowly. "Senior Brother is right. More friends mean more roads."

Afterward, several more youths came over to make conversation.

Chen Cheng wore a smile, agreeing where he should agree and nodding where he should nod. Everyone appeared harmonious enough.

The conversation circled around until it finally landed on innate foundations.

These youths had all been selected because of their outstanding innate foundations. Once they heard Chen Cheng had been chosen for his comprehension, they each found an excuse and patted their backsides before leaving.

Their smiles remained on their faces as they departed, but the warmth in their eyes had clearly cooled.

In martial arts, innate foundation came first. When the old man of the Chen family had said this, Chen Cheng had still harbored doubts. Yet the attitudes of everyone present now proved that those words were no lie.

Shi Lei, however, did not leave. He chatted idly for a while longer, then, when he saw the others gathered in the distance laughing and talking, nudged Chen Cheng with his elbow.

"Take your time eating. We'll talk later."

With that, he swaggered off toward the lively crowd.

Fatty Fang's lunch was delivered by someone in a food box. He ate alone in the side room and never came out again.

Even without him watching, not a single youth in the yard dared slack off.

After resting briefly, the two most outstanding youths went one after the other to the wooden training dummies and vigorously tempered the combat forms of the Crouching Dragon Fist.

Chen Cheng did not rest much either and immediately followed by practicing the stake technique.

Before he knew it, evening had arrived.

Only when Fatty Fang came out to drive them away did the youths reluctantly bid farewell and leave.

At this hour, those working in the Outer City were returning one after another, and shadowy figures filled the lanes.

The people who could live in Peaceful Lane mostly held relatively respectable jobs. They could not be called wealthy, but at least they did not have to worry about food and warmth.

Behind one earthen courtyard wall after another, cooking smoke curled upward. The air was filled with the fragrant oil of stir-frying, the smell of stewed dishes, and the steaming scent of grain.

Dragging his body, exhausted to the extreme, Chen Cheng slowly passed through those lanes, step by step, heading toward the dark and fetid Bitter Locust Village.

He did not know that a pair of eyes had noticed him from the moment he left Dragon Mountain Martial Hall.

When he returned home.

Madam Li had already cooked a small pot of thin porridge, still made from bran and wild vegetables.

"You're back? Perfect, the porridge is ready to drink too..."

Seeing Chen Cheng's weary expression, Madam Li could not help knitting her brows.

"Where did you go all day today?"

"...Dragon Mountain Martial Hall."

The moment Chen Cheng entered the house, he leaned against the doorframe and sat down, answering with a smile.

"Xiao Long introduced me... The teaching senior brother told me to train there for now, and they provide two meals as well... As for the tuition, once I earn money later, I can slowly repay it with interest."

Madam Li froze for a moment, then let out a long breath as though a huge stone had fallen from her heart.

"Good, good... That child Xiao Long has been loyal since he was little! You can learn martial arts, and you get food too... Good, truly good..."

She paused, her expression earnest.

"From now on, Mother will try to take on more work too and help you make up the tuition as soon as possible. Don't let Xiao Long get caught in the middle and put in a difficult position."

Chen Cheng nodded and said nothing more.

The coarse flour flatbread he had eaten during the day was very filling, so Chen Cheng gave more than half of the porridge to Madam Li.

After eating, Chen Cheng locked the door from the inside.

Then he began tempering the Health-Preserving Taiji Fist.

Originally, he had intended to train with the mindset of grinding himself to death so long as it did not kill him, planning to squeeze out every last drop of strength before sleeping.

Yet after perfectly performing the Health-Preserving Taiji Fist, he discovered that the soreness, swelling, stiffness, and pain throughout his body—those places difficult to bend or stretch—felt as though they were being gently kneaded open by pairs of warm, soft hands.

After completing one sequence, sweat appeared on his forehead and his breathing quickened slightly.

The soreness in his tendons and muscles, as well as the exhaustion in his body and mind, had not completely vanished, but his entire body felt noticeably lighter.

Like ropes wound tightly around him, they had been gradually straightened and loosened.

The second time... the third time... the tenth time...

In the end, his stamina was still completely drained dry, but his physique was nourished by a warm current of Perfect Harmony—round and unbroken, ceaselessly alive.

Even after falling deeply asleep, it felt as though he were soaking in a hot spring, more comfortable than ever before.