Foundation Cultivation Reaches Great Completion

Butcher Zhang stood up and walked back into the house by himself.

His steps were much steadier than usual, and his back was ramrod straight, nothing like a man who had been ill for half the winter.

The oil lamp in the room went out.

Early the next morning, Chen Jing carried hot water and pushed open Butcher Zhang's door. He saw Butcher Zhang lying flat on the bed, the quilt covering him neat and tidy.

Chen Jing set the basin on the table and called, "Master," but no one answered.

He walked over and gently laid a hand on Butcher Zhang's shoulder. It was icy to the touch.

Chen Jing slowly withdrew his hand, pulled the quilt up a little, and covered Butcher Zhang's gaunt shoulders. His master would never rise again.

News of Butcher Zhang's passing soon spread among the neighbors on all four sides of the street.

Some sighed, saying they had seen Old Zhang selling meat in the shop just yesterday, his complexion rosy and his spirits excellent. How could he be gone just like that?

Chen Jing naturally knew that had been the final flare of a dying lamp.

In accordance with Butcher Zhang's last wishes, he handled the funeral arrangements calmly and methodically.

First he went to the coffin shop and chose a fine longevity coffin, then invited the town's yin-yang master to select a date. The body would lie in state for three days before the funeral procession and burial.

Chen Jing wore hemp mourning clothes and a filial headband.

He received the neighbors who came one after another to make offerings and pay their respects.

The old folks sighed over how Butcher Zhang had lived a lonely, hard life, but at the end had picked up a good apprentice. With someone to see him off, his life had not been lived in vain.

When Wang Chong came to pay his respects, he did not say much. He only patted Chen Jing on the shoulder and told him to restrain his grief and accept the change.

Chen Jing buried Butcher Zhang on Crouching Ox Mountain.

It was a low mountain between Shuang'an Town and Creek River Village. The mountain was not tall, but the view was wide and open.

Standing on the summit and looking east, one could see the cooking smoke of Shuang'an Town and the layers upon layers of gray-tiled rooftops.

Looking west, one could see the winding little creek of Creek River Village and the old locust tree at the village entrance.

Aunt Zhao's grave was on the mountainside. Chen Jing chose a plot beside it, letting the two burial mounds become neighbors.

He placed a jar of yellow wine before Butcher Zhang's grave, slapped open the clay seal, and the fragrance of wine spread through the spring breeze.

Carved on the tombstone was the name Zhang Yuandao.

This was Butcher Zhang's name. He had only told Chen Jing before he died.

Let alone Chen Jing, there were few people in all of Shuang'an Town who knew his real name. Everyone called him Butcher Zhang.

"Master, the scenery here is good."

Chen Jing crouched before the grave, filled the wine bowl, and set it beneath the tombstone. "I'll come to see you in the future."

The mountain wind blew gently past, stirring up the paper ash before the grave. It drifted and fluttered, as if someone had answered him.

Chen Jing returned to Shuang'an Town, and life went on as before.

The butcher shop still opened for business, and he attended militia training as usual.

Every day, he rose at the hour of the rabbit to slaughter pigs. In the morning, he held the Fierce Tiger Stance and practiced spear technique. In the afternoon, he looked after business and trained in blade technique. At night, he continued holding stance.

It was not that Chen Jing did not want to put all his focus on the Fierce Tiger Stance, but after training the stance technique for a full three double-hours, his strength was already spent and his body utterly exhausted.

If he kept training, it would instead damage his qi and blood. The loss would not be worth the gain.

After a day like this, the proficiency of Fierce Tiger Stance steadily rose by 20 points, Pig-Slaughtering Blade Technique by 20 points, and Basic Spear Technique by 10 points.

Another month passed.

That night, Chen Jing was holding stance in the courtyard.

Suddenly, an unprecedented, majestic current of heat surged up from his dantian and swept through his entire body with a roar along his meridians.

His muscles, bones, fascia, and every pore from head to toe were steaming with heat.

[Fierce Tiger Stance has reached Great Accomplishment!]

[Fierce Tiger Stance (Great Accomplishment: 0/5000)]

[Talent upgraded: Tiger Valiance]

[Tiger Valiance: Grasp the subtlety of circulating force, able to burst out the strength of the whole body in an instant, instantly increasing power by 150%]

Chen Jing slowly came out of the stance and clenched his fist.

As his knuckles closed, his joints cracked and popped, his strength so abundant it seemed about to overflow from the gaps between his fingers.

Chen Jing let out a breath of turbid air.

Fierce Tiger Stance had finally been trained to Great Accomplishment.

And the proficiency of his other martial arts had also made great progress.

Fierce Tiger Stance (Great Accomplishment: 0/5000)

Basic Spear Technique (Entered the Hall: 410/2000)

Pig-Slaughtering Blade Technique (Entered the Hall: 1522/2000)

Chen Jing could go find Instructor Wang now. Butcher Zhang had also once told him that when he had practiced Fierce Tiger Stance to mastery, he should go find Wang Chong.

Chen Jing had some guesses about this in his heart.

But he was in no hurry to go looking.

Instead, he turned around and began putting extra practice into the Pig-Slaughtering Blade Technique.

If he was going to leave Shuang'an Town...

He wanted to push the Pig-Slaughtering Blade Technique to mastery as well, and improve his talent one more time. That way, he would have a few more means of preserving his life while traveling outside.

And so, for the time being, he stopped taking part in the militia drills and began focusing mainly on the Pig-Slaughtering Blade Technique. Every day, aside from slaughtering pigs as usual, chopping meat and boning carcasses, the time he spent practicing the blade also increased accordingly.

In a single day, the Pig-Slaughtering Blade Technique could rise by 50 proficiency points, while he did not let Fierce Tiger Stance fall behind either, practicing it each day until it increased by 12 proficiency points.

As for Basic Spear Technique, he set it aside for the moment and did not practice it.

Another ten days passed.

That night, after Chen Jing finished the final round of blade practice in the courtyard and sheathed his blade, a prompt sounded in his mind.

[Pig-Slaughtering Blade Technique has reached mastery!]

[Pig-Slaughtering Blade Technique (Mastery: 0/5000)]

[Talent improved: Butcher]

[Butcher: You are extremely familiar with pig-slaughtering blades. When holding a pig-slaughtering blade, your blade-drawing speed increases by 50%, strength increases by 50%, and bone-cutting increases by 50%]

Chen Jing lowered his head and looked at the dark, heavy pig-slaughtering blade in his hand.

He could feel that the sensation coming from the hilt was clearer than it had ever been before. Every line of wood grain, every bit of wear, seemed like patterns grown into his own palm.

The additional attributes of the Butcher talent had doubled. The boosts to speed and strength had risen from 25% to 50%.

More importantly, a new entry had been added: bone-cutting increased by 50%.

He carefully sensed the extra comprehension that had appeared in his mind. This so-called bone-cutting was not some mysterious thing.

To put it plainly, it was a special technique for exerting force.

It could use the body of the pig-slaughtering blade to erupt in an instant with heavy, fierce, blunt force, cutting bone cleanly in two with a single stroke.

When he slaughtered pigs and chopped meat, the most strenuous part was not cutting meat, but chopping bones.

Pig leg bones were thick and hard. In the past, one chop could not cut through them, and he would have to hack several times over. Thinking about it, this bone-cutting attribute had probably been derived from that.

Now, with one stroke, he feared he would be able to sever the bone stubble neatly, the cross-section smooth, clean, and efficient.

He sheathed the blade and opened the panel for a look.

Name: Chen Jing

Realm: Body Tempering (Mastery)

Martial Arts:

Fierce Tiger Stance (Mastery: 120/5000)

Basic Spear Technique (Entered the Hall: 410/2000)

Pig-Slaughtering Blade Technique (Mastery: 0/5000)

Talents:

[Butcher] You are extremely familiar with pig-slaughtering blades. When holding a pig-slaughtering blade, the speed of your strikes increases by 50%, strength increases by 50%, and bone-cutting increases by 50%

[Spear Like a Dragon] You handle spear-and-staff weapons with practiced ease. When using spears and staffs, accuracy increases by 25%

[Tiger Valiance] You have grasped the subtleties of strength circulation and can erupt with your whole body's strength in an instant, instantly increasing strength by 150%

The Pig-Slaughtering Blade Technique had reached mastery.

Chen Jing had no more concerns in his heart.

Early the next morning, he went straight to Wang Chong's residence.

Wang Chong lived in a small courtyard at the eastern end of town.

When Chen Jing pushed the door open and entered, Wang Chong was sitting on the threshold, wiping that iron spear of his, the spearhead polished bright and gleaming.

Chen Jing walked into the courtyard without speaking.

He went straight before Wang Chong, and cleanly assumed the opening posture of Fierce Tiger Stance.

As soon as the stance frame formed, the qi and blood throughout his whole body surged abruptly, with the faint muffled sound of thunder.

His breathing was long, steady, and deep.

Each inhale was like a fierce tiger crouching low and storing power; each exhale was like a fierce tiger descending the mountain and prowling.

The movement of Wang Chong's hands froze, and his pupils shrank sharply.

He stared at Chen Jing for several full breaths, then suddenly slapped his thigh and burst into loud laughter.

That laughter was rough and booming.

The force shook even the wooden training posts in the courtyard until they trembled faintly along with it.

"Good lad! You really managed to master it!"

Wang Chong stood up, circled Chen Jing once, his eyes full of admiration, then clapped Chen Jing hard on the shoulder.

"Pack up!"

"Three days from now, I'll personally take you to Green Mountain City."

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