Night deepened.
Yet the Martial Temple encampment remained brightly lit. Patrolling Martial Guards occasionally passed outside the tents, their armor plates clinking softly against their weapons.
Occasional roars from mutant beasts rang out from deep within Scarlet Cloud Mountain.
Muffled by ridge after ridge, the sounds had grown low and indistinct, yet they still added a weight of oppression to the silent night.
Lu Chen sat cross-legged inside his tent.
An oil lamp burned before him, its dim yellow flame swaying gently in the night breeze and casting his shadow onto the canvas.
He held the Five Saints Life-Exchange Scripture he had found in the Mighty Demon Ape's cave, preparing to use this technique to enter the Organ-Nourishing Realm.
Lu Chen opened the manual. Though he had long since committed its contents to memory, reading it again after truly reaching bone-forging perfection and becoming qualified to practice an organ-nourishing technique gave him an entirely different feeling.
The blood circulation routes that had once seemed obscure were now much clearer.
As his sinews, flesh, bones, and blood fully fused into one, he gradually began to grasp some of the organ-refining secrets he had previously failed to understand.
Lu Chen closed his eyes and silently recited the core principles of the Five Saints Life-Exchange Scripture.
Guided by his mind, Golden Crow Blood slowly rose from his chest and flowed along his meridians toward his internal organs.
Just then, the familiar transparent panel appeared before his eyes:
[Five Saints Life-Exchange Scripture: uninitiated] [Progress: 0/80]
Lu Chen paused slightly when he read the words.
The progress required to begin practicing the technique had dropped from ninety to eighty. His aptitude had improved again.
A gleam of delighted surprise immediately appeared in his eyes.
"It's the change brought about by bone-forging perfection."
Lu