At noon, Ye Wudao advanced to the Minor Accomplishment stage of the Body Tempering Realm.
Just like when he advanced to the initial stage of Body Tempering, his body began to heat up, and sweat poured out in torrents.
However, this time there was one difference: more black, viscous fluid was expelled from his body.
But the amount of black fluid expelled this time was clearly less than before.
According to Qin Tianlong, this was because after cultivating the Infinite Art and advancing in realm, Ye Wudao had undergone another cleansing of his sinews and marrow.
At the same time, the Infinite Art had also reached the introductory level.
[Your cultivation of the Infinite Art has reached the introductory level. In high spirits, you cultivate diligently. Art proficiency +40/minute, realm experience +4/minute.]
After advancing to the Minor Accomplishment stage of the Body Tempering Realm, the experience required for the next advancement increased from 10,000 to 20,000.
Advancing between minor stages didn't multiply the required realm experience tenfold. It had only doubled.
At his current rate of cultivation, he could gain 20 points of realm experience per minute. After sixteen hours, Ye Wudao would advance to the Great Accomplishment stage of the Body Tempering Realm.
He had never imagined that cultivating the Martial Path could be so easy.
Watching Ye Wudao at the Minor Accomplishment stage of the Body Tempering Realm, Hu Lianfeng was utterly speechless.
He asked quietly, "How are your injuries?"
Ye Wudao moved his body around and replied, "They should be more or less healed!"
He hadn't expected that just two realm advancements would be enough to heal the injuries he'd suffered last night.
The saying that injuries to the sinews and bones took a hundred days to heal simply didn't apply to martial artists.
Each time a martial artist advanced in realm, the excess True Qi in their body would automatically repair their injuries.
That was also why the higher a martial artist's realm, the longer they lived.
Hu Lianfeng nodded. "In that case, I'll teach you martial techniques today!"
"Your cultivation arts and martial techniques can cultivate automatically anyway. I only need to teach them to you."
At that, Ye Wudao perked up and quickly climbed out of bed.
Seeing him move, Hu Lianfeng covered his nose and said, "You'd better take a bath first!"
Ye Wudao awkwardly glanced down at himself.
Last night, when he'd advanced to the introductory level of the Body Tempering Realm, he'd sweated heavily. Then he'd been unable to move, and all the sweat had soaked into his bandages.
On top of that, advancing to the Minor Accomplishment stage just now had caused a lot of black, sticky fluid to be expelled from his body.
The sweat and stench had mixed together, and it really did smell awful.
Even though his nose had gotten used to the smell, taking a sudden breath still made him feel sick.
After Ye Wudao washed up and left the bathing room, Hu Lianfeng had somehow procured a broadsword.
Looking at Ye Wudao's damp hair, Hu Lianfeng said, "Yesterday, the people from the Four Blade Sect forced you off a cliff, didn't they?"
"Today I'll teach you the Four Blade Sect's signature technique—the Deadly Four Blades."
"If you run into people from the Four Blade Sect again, use this blade technique against them."
"Besides blade techniques, I'll also teach you some essentials for making your way through the martial world."
"The first is this: always repay a grudge, and repay it ten or a hundred times over."
"Only then will people think twice before provoking you!"
"The Deadly Four Blades consists of only four strikes. It's all about speed, precision, and ruthlessness—every strike takes a life!"
"Watch carefully!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Hu Lianfeng began demonstrating the technique.
Ye Wudao narrowed his eyes. The Life-Taking Four Blades didn't look like a complete martial technique. It was more like a blade art developed specifically for killing.
Each strike aimed for the opponent's weakest point.
There were four strikes in all, and every one targeted a fatal weakness.
After demonstrating the technique once, Hu Lianfeng asked Ye Wudao, "Did you understand it?"
Ye Wudao didn't try to hide anything and nodded. "I saw it all! It's much simpler than the Primordial Art!"
Hu Lianfeng nodded slightly and continued, "Then I'll demonstrate the blade technique I rely on most in combat: the Four Seasons Blade."
"First stance: Spring Breeze Turns to Rain!"
"The blade moves first, like spring wind brushing willow branches; its strikes fall thick and close, never pausing. It seems to break, yet continues unbroken, winding around the enemy's neck like silken threads..."
Ye Wudao watched Hu Lianfeng demonstrate the blade technique intently. Fortunately, Cell No. 1 was spacious enough. A technique like this would've been difficult to demonstrate otherwise.
"Did you understand?"
After demonstrating the technique, Hu Lianfeng asked quietly.
Ye Wudao nodded. "I understood!"
Hu Lianfeng was surprised. When he'd taught Ye Wudao the Northern Dark Divine Art and the Eight Extremes Fist before, Ye Wudao hadn't grasped them nearly so quickly.
Still doubtful, he said, "Then demonstrate it for me!"
Ye Wudao knew Hu Lianfeng didn't believe him. He took the blade from Hu Lianfeng and began copying the moves.
Hu Lianfeng was surprised. Ye Wudao's technique wasn't very smooth yet, but it already had the basic form.
Suddenly, Hu Lianfeng seemed to realize something. He barked, "You little rascal, when I taught you the Northern Dark Divine Art before, were you messing with me?"
"This Four Seasons Blade is also a Houtian Realm technique, and you learned it in one go!"
"I recited the Northern Dark Divine Art seven or eight times before you remembered it!"
Ye Wudao was taken aback, then shook his head. "No! It was only after I cultivated the Primordial Art that I started finding it easy to learn cultivation arts."
For now, he could only attribute everything to cultivating the Primordial Art, so Hu Lianfeng wouldn't notice anything amiss.
Besides, at present, he was the only one who could cultivate the Primordial Art. No one else could find out about it.
Hu Lianfeng nodded slightly and didn't seem to doubt Ye Wudao's explanation much. He only muttered, "The Primordial Art has that kind of effect too?"
Then he looked at Ye Wudao and said quietly, "In that case, let's hurry. Today I'll pass on everything I've learned in my life."
"I want to see how far you can go after merging the martial techniques and cultivation arts of the three of us!"
Ye Wudao nodded. When it came to martial techniques, he was happy to learn them all.
As the saying went, more skills never weighed anyone down. Learning a few extra could only help.
Besides, all he had to do was keep using the system to train the cultivation arts. He didn't have to cultivate them himself.
Over the next while, Hu Lianfeng taught him the Meteor Fist, the Heart-Destroying Palm, the Roaming Dragon Step, and the hidden-weapon technique known as the Soul-Chasing Dart.
Most of Hu Lianfeng's martial techniques were from the Body Tempering Realm. He knew relatively few Houtian techniques.
His main focus was blade techniques, and the Houtian technique he specialized in was the Four Seasons Blade.
For ordinary martial artists, a single Houtian technique was already more than enough.
According to his Great Master, Qin Tianlong, innate techniques were actually rare. That was because innate techniques mainly focused on activating Xiantian True Qi and all followed the same pattern.
Only Body Tempering and Houtian techniques relied on physical strength and methods of applying force to attack.
In fact, once Xiantian True Qi was added to many Body Tempering and Houtian techniques, they became innate techniques.
In just two hours, Ye Wudao had learned every martial technique Hu Lianfeng knew.
That included the time Ye Wudao spent demonstrating the techniques.
When Ye Wudao showed Hu Lianfeng every technique without missing a single move, Hu Lianfeng was dumbstruck.
He still remembered how he'd struggled through countless hardships to learn these techniques.
Getting them had been just as difficult as learning them.
Back in the days when the Martial Path hadn't yet been widely promoted, every sect guarded its cultivation arts and secret manuals like treasure.
Yet today, Ye Wudao had learned every martial technique Hu Lianfeng had studied over half his life.
And Ye Wudao's techniques would gradually reach the Perfected Realm through cultivation.
Some of those techniques hadn't even reached perfection under Hu Lianfeng's own training.
Hu Lianfeng looked at Ye Wudao, feeling both pleased and dejected.
He was pleased because Ye Wudao was his disciple, and his future prospects were boundless.
He was dejected because he seemed to have nothing left to teach Ye Wudao. Ye Wudao had drained him dry.
Zhang Hankuang, who'd been watching from the side, was also stunned by Ye Wudao's performance.
Actually, he knew fewer martial techniques than Hu Lianfeng. The difference in their ages alone explained that.
He looked at Hu Lianfeng's dejected expression, shook his head with a wry smile, and stood up. "Old Ghost Hu's been drained dry. I'll take over!"
"I also specialize in blade techniques, but unlike your second master's broadsword, I use a Tang Dao."
"As the saying goes, an inch longer means an inch stronger. Broadswords rely on weight and momentum, making them suited to chaotic melees, while the Tang Dao is better for one-on-one fights."
"My blade technique is called the Silk-Entangling Blade. Its essence is that the blade moves like silken threads, tangling around the opponent and never letting go."
"Watch carefully!"
Ye Wudao nodded and began frantically learning martial techniques from Zhang Hankuang.
An hour later, Zhang Hankuang also admitted defeat. He'd taught all he could.
Besides the Silk-Entangling Blade, the Light Smoke Step, the Eight Trigrams Palm, and the Bone-Shattering Fist, there was also the Mountain Crushing Fist he'd taught earlier. Those were all the techniques he knew.
However, these were all Houtian techniques, and they were relatively difficult to learn.
His techniques also focused on entangling opponents, making them very complex.
But against a freak like Ye Wudao, none of that mattered. Difficult or not, Ye Wudao learned every technique in one go. Zhang Hankuang was at a loss for words.
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