Rare Medicine

In the days that followed, several winter rains fell over Ocean City. The river wind carried a damp chill that wormed its way into people's bones.

While undercurrents stirred beyond his door, Lu Zhen's days passed with the regularity of an old monk in meditation.

He left before dawn each day and spent half the day pounding a wooden dummy in the Iron Arm Martial Arts Hall's Inner Courtyard. At dusk, he returned to the narrow courtyard in Pig Cage Alley and shut himself away.

Lu Zhen hadn't held back at all with the Red Scale Treasure Fish and Century-Old Mountain Ginseng Gu Yanzhi had sent him.

When martial artists fought for supremacy, they were fighting to make the most of those few years when their vital energy and blood were at their peak.

No matter how precious something was, only after swallowing it and turning it into strength in his fists could it become the foundation of his survival.

Every night, a pungent, savory smell mingled with the scent of medicine wafting from the cramped kitchen in Pig Cage Alley.

A large piece of crimson fish jerky, along with Old Mountain Ginseng root sliced paper-thin, simmered furiously in a clay pot over a roaring flame.

The resulting broth was a dark, viscous red, thick as blood.

Lu Zhen swallowed the meat and broth in one gulp. Drawing on the formidable foundation of his Lv.4 Coiling Dragon Stake, he stood in the courtyard under the rain, forcing the violent medicinal potency into his flesh, skin, and marrow, bit by bit.

Five days passed in the blink of an eye.

Late at night, Lu Zhen's whole body steamed like a bamboo basket over a pot. White vapor curled above his head as he slowly finished his practice and exhaled.

[Daily Settlement Panel activated]

[Today's settlement: Practiced hard at the martial arts hall for three hours, ate Red Scale Treasure Fish, Century-Old Mountain Ginseng...]

[Final gains: Silver Dollars +0, Martial Technique Experience +180, Physique Experience +120, General Experience +150!]

His gaze dropped to the attribute panel.

[Physique: Copper Skin Iron Bone Lv.4 (2150/3000)]

Looking at the Physique Experience that had already surpassed the two-thousand mark, a trace of rueful wonder flickered in Lu Zhen's eyes.

"Poor scholars and rich martial artists—the ancients weren't wrong."

In just five days, the treasure fish and Old Mountain Ginseng he'd eaten would have cost at least a thousand Silver Dollars. That was enough to match a common laborer's hard-earned wages from pulling rickshaws for his entire life!

The path of martial arts was a bottomless pit that devoured gold.

Without the Gu Family's generous reward and the Daily Settlement System's triple bonus, even with the greatest talent and bones of iron, trying to replenish his depleted vital energy and blood and break through to Bright Force at the age of thirty would have been a fool's dream.

"Fortunately, I can handle it."

Lu Zhen clenched his fists, feeling the robust vital energy and blood in his body gradually seep deeper into his internal organs.

The following morning, at the Iron Arm Martial Arts Hall's Inner Courtyard.

The sky was overcast.

Yet the courtyard was ablaze with energy. People had gathered in twos and threes, trading insights on how to channel their strength.

"Boom!"

Suddenly, a thunderous bang rang out from the center of the Training Ground. The flagstones beneath everyone's feet trembled faintly along with it.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned toward the sound in unison.

Zhang Lei stood bare-chested, his muscles swelling like rocks, the great cords of his tendons twitching beneath his bronze-colored skin.

His feet were planted firmly on the ground as he abruptly twisted his waist and hips.

"Whoosh—!"

A powerful, peerless straight punch slammed into the iron-clad wooden dummy wrapped in cured oxhide before him.

"Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!"

A string of explosive cracks erupted through the air like a rapid-fire barrage!

The six crisp reports rang out in a row, like spring thunder splitting the sky. The gust of wind made the cheeks of several nearby disciples sting.

"S-Six Resonance?!"

"His tendons are snapping, his bones are ringing in unison... His strength flows freely, as if his arm were an extension of his will. That's the realm of perfection!"

The senior disciples in the Late Force Refining Realm stared in shock, disbelief written all over their faces.

Iron Wire Fist at six resonances, perfected! He was only one final step from breaking out of his cocoon and transforming into a butterfly, reaching the terrifying realm of Seven-Sound Limit Break!

Once he'd broken his limits, the might of that killing move alone would be enough to found a school in this Ten-Mile Foreign Field!

Zhang Lei slowly lowered his fists. His chest heaved several times before he exhaled a long plume of white breath.

He turned around, his eyes brimming with violence and arrogance. Without bothering to hide it, he looked past the crowd and straight at the small group where Gu Yanzhi and Lu Zhen stood.

So what if Lu Zhen had stolen the show on the river? So what if he was born with great strength and could strike with Four Resonance?

Before absolute martial talent, a thirty-year-old poor drudge was nothing but a bumpkin who could never amount to anything!

Gu Yanzhi frowned, his expression darkening.

Lu Zhen didn't even raise an eyelid. He was closing his eyes, pondering the faint tremor he'd felt deep in his internal organs while practicing his stance the night before.

Six resonances, provocation—none of it mattered as much to him as crossing the threshold into Bright Force.

A fierce tiger striding down the road would never care about a rabid dog's barking.

"Excellent! Truly excellent—six resonances, perfected!"

The two carved wooden doors of the main hall were flung open, and Yan Tieqiao strode out.

The old hall master, usually as inscrutable as a still well, now wore an irrepressible look of delight on his weathered face. He'd even forgotten to bring his purple clay teapot.

He hurried to Zhang Lei, reached out to squeeze the great cords of his arm, and threw his head back in laughter. "Excellent! Zhang Lei, you haven't let down all these years of your master's efforts!

"At twenty-seven, you've perfected Iron Wire Fist at six resonances. The legacy of my Iron Arm Martial Arts Hall finally has a true heir!"

The people in the Inner Courtyard listened with envy, but not one of them could find a word to object to.

Strength was the rule.

Yan Tieqiao drew a deep breath. His gaze swept over the crowd before finally settling on Zhang Lei. His voice rose.

"Xiong Yue, go to the back hall and fetch the sandalwood box by my bedside!"

Before long, Xiong Yue hurried over with a wooden box the size of a palm, its carving simple and old-fashioned.

Yan Tieqiao opened the lid himself.

A remarkably rich, strangely medicinal fragrance with a faint sweetness of blood instantly filled the entire Inner Courtyard.

Inside the box, nestled in golden-yellow brocade, lay a withered vine, dry as kindling yet dark red all over.

"Could that be... a three-hundred-year-old Earth Dragon Blood Vine?!" Gu Yanzhi was well-traveled and knowledgeable. The moment he recognized it, he snapped his folding fan shut and cried out in astonishment.

"At least you have a good eye."

Yan Tieqiao turned to Zhang Lei and said solemnly, "This is a rare treasure I risked my life to seize back when I roamed the martial world. Its sap can penetrate the five organs, strengthen the insides, and replenish what's lacking in them."

"For those in the Late Force Refining Realm, the hardest hurdle on the way to Bright Force is internal cultivation. With this Earth Dragon Blood Vine, your five organs will be nourished, and your chances of producing Tiger-Leopard Thunder Sound will rise by a full thirty percent!"

The entire courtyard erupted in an uproar.

Thirty percent!

Before a threshold as steep as a heavenly chasm, even a ten percent chance was enough to make countless martial artists in the Late Force Refining Realm fight until their heads bled—even turn father against son!

"Master, I will repay your great kindness even if it costs me my life!" Zhang Lei trembled with excitement. He dropped to one knee and accepted the wooden box in both hands.

Everyone stared at Zhang Lei, so envious their eyes nearly dripped blood, but they could only swallow their bitterness.

Yan Tieqiao stroked his beard, a look of complete relief flickering in his eyes.

Truthfully, ever since Lu Zhen had broken through in the heat of battle on the river and displayed astonishing strength and ruthlessness, Yan Tieqiao had been wavering these past few days.

He'd treasured this Earth Dragon Blood Vine for more than a decade. He'd wanted to wait and see whether he should give half of it to Lu Zhen to forge a favorable connection.

But Zhang Lei's thunderous six resonances today had dispelled the last of his doubts.

No matter how ruthless or capable of fighting he was, at thirty Lu Zhen had already reached the end of his potential. He was, in the end, merely a fierce general fit to charge into battle.

But Zhang Lei, who had perfected six resonances at just twenty-seven, was the true hidden dragon destined to soar into the heavens and shoulder the century-old legacy of the Iron Arm Martial Arts Hall!

The worthy deserved the treasures. In the end, the path of martial arts came down to fate.

Yan Tieqiao cast a faint sidelong glance at Lu Zhen, not far away, and silently delivered his final verdict.