The Constables

"To cultivate this art, besides grinding practice, you must master the use of force."

"This stone block—do not use your blood and qi. Use only the strength of flesh and bone to smash it into powder."

Zhao Yang's casually spoken words made Zhao Hong's hair stand on end.

Smash it with nothing but the strength of his palm?

Wouldn't his hand be reduced to a bloody mess afterward?

"If you cannot even endure this much hardship, you should give up early."

Zhao Yang's face remained expressionless.

Zhao Hong drew a deep breath, his expression turning grave.

Wasn't it just suffering?

In his previous life, he had worked like an ox and horse for others for years without uttering a word of complaint.

Could that hardship compare to this?

Zhao Hong turned and picked up the Stele-Splitting Hand manual, reading it earnestly.

A long while later.

After committing it to memory, he stepped before the stone stele, his cheeks gradually puffing out.

It was definitely going to hurt.

Fuck.

Zhao Hong gritted his teeth, forced himself to squint, tensed his muscles and bones, and viciously brought his hand down.

Bang!

"Hiss—ahhh~~~"

"Fuck."

"My skin split."

Zhao Yang nearly laughed aloud, remembering his own experience back then.

But remembering that he was now playing the role of "master," he immediately tightened his facial muscles and revealed not the slightest smile.

"Keep going. Quit whimpering here like some woman."

"..."

Zhao Hong rolled his eyes.

I refuse to believe you felt nothing when you trained back then.

But of course, he could not talk back.

There was no other way.

He just had to swallow the hardship whole.

I fucking love hardship.

Only by eating the bitterest bitterness could one rise above all others.

Glancing at the torn skin on the back of his hand, he hardened his heart and swung his arm with all his strength.

Bang!

Hiss!

Bang!

Bang! Bang! Bang!!

A full quarter of an hour passed.

Zhao Hong felt as though his entire hand no longer belonged to him.

The pain had numbed it beyond sensation.

This was no exaggeration. It was a complete bloody mess, and he could even see his finger bones.

It was so mangled it was unbearable to look at.

"Enough."

"After training, circulate your blood and qi and use it to knead the wounds. Do not concern yourself with how much they recover. Continue training after an interval of two hours."

"Train for half an hour today. Increase it every day from now on."

Zhao Hong had gone completely numb. He truly could not muster any reaction to this terrifying training regimen.

He gave a weak acknowledgment, then sat down and began circulating his blood and qi.

"Hiss—ahhh~~~"

He had already been numbed by the pain. He barely felt anything and had even started getting used to it.

But when his blood and qi kneaded through the wounds, good heavens, that sensation was something else.

It felt so exquisite that his eyes rolled back, and he nearly fainted.

His first day passed amid alternating waves of agony and bliss.

That night, after falling asleep, his two bloody, mangled hands still twitched from time to time.

Seven days.

They passed in torment.

But the changes were equally astonishing.

His hands had not yet fully recovered.

Yet the toughness and hardness of his finger bones had soared more than tenfold.

With his five fingers hooked like claws, he could easily pierce through wooden stakes.

If they landed on a person, they would leave five bloody holes.

Zhao Hong had also come to understand the benefit of cultivating this art without blood and qi, using only the strength of flesh and bone.

Only this way could he temper himself to the utmost and undergo transformation after transformation as he broke through his limits.

When facing enemies and attacking, naturally there was no need to hold back. Wrapped in blood and qi force, the technique possessed terrifying killing power.

"Uncle, I've broken through to the middle stage of Blood Refining."

"As expected."

Zhao Yang nodded slightly.

Under such high-intensity training, coupled with the beast blood and beast meat he had specifically saved from his previous hunts, the breakthrough had come as naturally as water flowing into a channel.

"Rest for the next few days and let your hands recover completely."

"Also, tomorrow, go to the county seat with Uncle Chuan."

"To the county seat?"

Zhao Hong was slightly startled.

Zhao Yang explained, "We accumulated quite a few beast hides during the last hunt. It is a good time for Uncle Chuan and the others to exchange them for grain and silver in the county."

"As for you, go to Eagle Soaring Martial Academy in the county and buy some specially made medicinal ointment. It can help your hands recover."

"Why didn't we buy it from the start?" Zhao Hong stared wide-eyed.

"Using it from the start would be a waste."

Zhao Yang said irritably, "Do not think medicinal ointment means you can suffer less. When you return, you will apply the ointment before smashing."

"..."

Zhao Hong shuddered and fell silent.

After a while, he slapped his forehead. "I don't have money..."

"Your uncle does."

"Take this letter as well. The academy's medicinal ointment probably will not be sold freely. Give this letter to someone at the academy named Lu Hong. He is the academy's senior disciple. I had some dealings with him before I left back then, so he should give me some face."

Zhao Yang took out three gold leaves and a letter, handing them to Zhao Hong.

Each gold leaf was worth one hundred taels.

Zhao Hong truly had no money. Seeing so much all at once made his eyes burn.

"Uncle, I'll support you in your old age someday."

Zhao Hong accepted the items and gave a respectful bow.

Support him in old age?

Zhao Yang shook his head with a complicated expression. He was afraid he would not need that from this brat.

"Go back."

"Mm."

Zhao Hong returned home. Since they would not depart until tomorrow and he had nothing else to do, his eyes fell upon the wooden stakes in the courtyard, and he began training again.

Early the next morning.

Zhao Hong, Zhang Tai, the Big Hair brothers, Wang Chuan, and Zhang Yuan—six people in all—set out from Clear Creek Village with large bundles on their backs.

The journey was long. Stone Valley County was a full sixty or seventy li away.

Thus, unless there was urgent business, people from the village rarely went to the county seat.

Living by the mountain when they relied on the mountain, living by the water when they relied on the water, and working together, they managed to live quite well.

"Ah Hong, I've reached the middle stage of Blood Refining too, but I'm definitely not as strong as you." Zhang Tai sighed, without the slightest pride.

"I'm at the middle stage of Blood Refining too."

Zhang Tai's eyes bulged, and the muscles in his face twitched. "Monster."

"You're progressing fast too. With Uncle Yang teaching you, you may become our village's first Inner Force martial artist—or even its first Blood Aura martial artist."

Above Blood Refining came Inner Force, Blood Aura, and Mystic Embryo.

Zhang Tai curled his lip. "With you around, how could it possibly be me?"

Zhao Hong said nothing.

After a moment of silence, Zhang Tai muttered, "Once I reach Inner Force, I'll hunt some good things for the village, then go make my way in the county seat."

He knew Zhao Hong would definitely leave.

Zhang Yuan had told him many things.

It was not hard to guess Zhao Hong's future.

Once his cultivation reached a certain point, he would certainly leave—either to roam the world or follow Zhao Yang to the prefectural city.

There would definitely be a sense of disparity.

But Zhang Tai had his own ideas.

If he could not see Zhao Hong and did not think about this monster, then there would be no disparity.

So once Zhao Hong left, he would not feel bad at all.

"That sounds good. In a year or so, the village should have at least another dozen martial artists. If you make a name for yourself in the county too, life in the village will become even better."

Though martial arts depended on talent.

Beast blood and beast meat provided benefits that were simply too great.

Combined with the many martial methods Zhao Yang taught them, which produced astonishing tempering effects, even those with ordinary natural talent could quickly cultivate blood and qi and become martial artists.

It was merely that the road of martial arts became difficult later on.

Blood Refining was easy to enter, but Inner Force was difficult.

Still, this was already an immense blessing for Clear Creek Village.

All of it was because of Zhao Yang.

Including Zhao Hong himself.

In the afternoon, around three to five.

The group finally arrived at Stone Valley County.

They had only been inside the county for a short while and had not yet reached Eagle Soaring Martial Academy when a squad of county yamen constables stopped them.

"Where are you people from?"

"What is in those bundles?"

The leading constable rested one hand on his sword hilt, his sharp gaze sweeping over them.

"Sir Constable, my name is Wang Chuan. We are all from Clear Creek Village. Here are our village registration documents." Wang Chuan had come prepared and took a stack of documents from his robes, handing them over.

"The bundles contain beast hides. We came to sell them."

The constable carefully examined the documents and confirmed that there was no issue.

Clear Creek Village—he had some impression of it.

Then he looked at the bundles. Every person carried a large one, all bulging full.

"Beast hides?"

"All of them?"

"That's right."

Hiss!

The several constables exchanged looks, half-believing and half-doubting.

Only after opening the bundles and inspecting them did the constables see for themselves.

Hide after hide had been stacked together.

Tiger, leopard, wolf, bear...

The sight made the group of constables' scalps tingle.

What kind of village was this?

"How long did you save these up?"

"You people brought so many beast hides with you. Aren't you afraid something might happen?"

The leading constable's gaze shifted uncertainly.

Wang Chuan grinned. "We have not been saving them for long. We are all martial artists, so we are not afraid."

"What?"

"All of you are?"

The constables' expressions changed, and they instinctively looked toward Zhao Hong, Zhang Tai, and the other youths.

Buzzz!!

First level Blood Qi erupted.

Wang Chuan and Zhang Yuan had both reached the peak of Blood Refining.

Zhang Tai and Zhao Hong were in the middle stage of Blood Refining.

Big Hair and Second Hair were in the early stage of Blood Refining.

For a moment, everyone stood dumbfounded.

The lead constable felt his throat itch and his mouth go dry.

Wang Chuan withdrew his blood qi and said respectfully, with a trace of pride, "Clear Creek Village sits at the foot of the Great Green Mountains. We don't have much else, but we have plenty of fierce beasts, and there are many martial artists in the village."

"Oh, right. One of our nephews, who learned martial arts in the prefectural city, recently returned. That's how we managed to hunt so many. At the Blood Astral level, mere fierce beasts are nothing."

Gulp!

The constables' throats bobbed uncontrollably.

For the moment, they could not tell whether it was true or false, but the sheer number of beast hides had already made them believe seven or eight parts out of ten.

Blood Astral—within the county, that was also considered top-tier.

Even setting that aside, a single mountain village had so many martial artists, and even these half-grown boys, who looked no older than sixteen or seventeen, were martial artists. It truly opened their eyes.

The two middle-aged men before him both had higher cultivation than he did.

The moment he saw them display their cultivation, the little schemes in his heart scattered by more than half.

When he learned there was also a "Blood Astral" who had returned from the prefectural city, his legs went soft.

What kind of monstrous mountain village was this?

It was even more outrageous than some of the great households in the county.

Watching this scene, Zhao Hong barely managed to suppress his laughter.