Baxia Coiling Dragon Stance

"Teacher, what's a Blood-Nourishing Pill?" Su Bo asked curiously.

"Cultivation can use pills too? Why had I never heard anyone mention them before?"

In martial arts cultivation, the first priority was strengthening the sinews, bones, and physique. To cross the threshold into cultivation, one had to nourish the body, blood, sinews, and bones, building a strong physique.

But the prerequisite was reaching sixteen years of age, when one's sinews and bones had initially formed, before one could begin nourishing and training them.

Su Bo's sinews and bones had also just formed. By practicing the Body-Nourishing Stance, he had cultivated a wisp of blood qi in ten days and steadily entered the Martial Apprentice realm.

A single wisp of blood qi in ten days, entering the Martial Apprentice realm.

In all of Crimson Glow City, such talent might not be unprecedented, but there were certainly very few who possessed it.

Soon after, Su Bo enrolled in Martial Arts No. 3 High School and practiced the Eight Mountain-Shaking Fists. In less than a year, he had perfected both fist and stance techniques and stepped into the Quasi-Martial Artist realm.

Yet whether it was nourishing the body or tempering blood qi, none of it could be separated from Su Bo's diligent, grueling practice.

Pills?

What the hell were those?

If Martial Apprentices wanted to temper their blood qi faster, they had to be able to eat—a great deal—and their stomachs had to be able to digest it.

Only by eating and digesting could the martial meals they consumed swiftly replenish their vital essence.

That was the only way their blood qi tempering speed could surpass that of ordinary people by a considerable margin.

Su Bo was precisely that kind of person. While his classmates ate one portion, he ate three; while they took an entire day of bitter fist training to digest one portion, he could digest three portions of martial meals in just one afternoon.

Then at dinner, he could eat another two portions...

"Why the rush?" Wu Bin leisurely took a sip of water.

"Pills do indeed exist!"

Then he glanced at Su Bo. Seeing him stare fixedly at him, waiting for him to continue, a trace of approval flashed through Wu Bin's eyes.

As Su Bo's martial arts instructor after he entered Third High School,

what Wu Bin admired most about Su Bo was not his martial arts talent, but his steady temperament.

He had seen plenty of exceptionally talented people. Forget reaching the Quasi-Martial Artist realm after one year of body nourishment and blood tempering—he had seen quite a few who did it in three months.

After all, the Martial Alliance never lacked second-generation martial artists. They ate the finest martial meals and cultivated the most elite martial arts.

Some even had experts in the Divine Ability realm, or above it, personally teaching and guiding them.

After their sinews and bones had formed, plenty of people broke through to the Quasi-Martial Artist realm within months. Some even became martial artists within half a year to a year.

But among such people, only a handful truly grew into something.

Most perished before they could mature, brought down by arrogance, pride, and recklessness.

And Su Bo was a genius supported purely by his own talent.

"Pills!" Wu Bin slowly uttered the word again.

"By decree of the Martial Alliance, they may circulate only among martial artists. Pills must never fall into the hands of non-martial artists!"

A Martial Alliance decree!

At the mention of those two words, Su Bo's expression immediately turned solemn.

This was the colossal force that governed the life and death of Crimson Glow City... no, of the entire Red River Star.

Crimson Glow City was merely a small, lower-middle-tier city on Red River Star, while Red River Star itself was only one of the many living planets under the Martial Alliance.

Human martial arts supreme experts walked the galaxy; in this world, that was no legend.

His cultural studies teacher had once said that Principal Situ Ting was in the third martial arts realm—the Divine Ability realm. He could stride through the void.

In an instant, he could cross hundreds or even thousands of miles of mountains and rivers, striking down enemies from afar.

Even in the cosmic void, without the aid of any technological equipment, he could survive for a long time.

As Su Bo listened to his teacher, countless thoughts spun through his mind, but each one was snuffed out the moment it arose.

In the end, casting aside the irrelevant matters, a guess surfaced in his mind.

He did not hide it and asked directly, "Teacher, are pills harmful to Martial Apprentices tempering their blood qi?"

"Smart!" Wu Bin smiled.

"Put simply, the martial meals you eat turn into vital essence stored in your bodies. You have to extract and temper it little by little until it becomes wisps of blood qi."

"But after taking a pill, a Martial Apprentice can instantly gain dozens or even hundreds of wisps of blood qi. It is like becoming a Quasi-Martial Artist after swallowing a single pill."

"It would let everyone skip the Martial Apprentice stage, sparing them two or three years of bitterly tempering their blood qi..."

"Jealous?"

Seeing Wu Bin look at him with a faint smile, Su Bo rolled his eyes. "Teacher, you already said pills are harmful to Martial Apprentices tempering their blood qi. What is there for me to be jealous of?"

"Fair enough. You're not stupid, kid." Wu Bin chuckled.

"When all is said and done, it's quite simple..."

"Martial arts Foundation Establishment—though Martial Apprentices temper blood qi slowly, they are building the foundation of your martial path. But if you use pills to generate blood qi and establish that foundation..."

"Tsk. How much of that martial foundation would truly be yours?"

"If a Quasi-Martial Artist's blood qi is impure, they will be stuck at the Physical Body realm for life. The moment they delude themselves into attempting to transform qi into gang force and break into the second martial arts realm, hehe..."

Wu Bin sneered as he said lightly, "They will undoubtedly die!"

"That is why the Martial Alliance forbids pills from spreading."

"Then why can pills be used after breaking through to the Quasi-Martial Artist realm?" Su Bo pondered for a moment, then sensed the martial artist blood qi within his body.

It seemed...

he understood a little.

A Martial Apprentice's blood qi was scattered throughout the body, not formed into a single current, like wood shavings in the wind. But a Quasi-Martial Artist's blood qi formed a current, condensed like refined steel.

Once circulated, it was like a river, surging like tidal waves.

A pill could generate only a few dozen wisps of blood qi. Once it fell into a river, it would be refined in an instant—how could it possibly stir up any waves?

Perhaps...

Su Bo raised his head and met Wu Bin's smiling eyes directly.

"You figured it out?"

"Mm!"

Seeing that he had guessed correctly, Wu Bin said no more. He bent down, took two items from his drawer, and tossed them to him.

Su Bo caught them with an ecstatic expression.

[Baxia Coiling Dragon Stance]

[Blood-Nourishing Pill]

These were the rewards the principal had promised him, but why was his teacher giving them to him?

Wu Bin saw his confusion and casually said, "The Blood-Nourishing Pill isn't worth much. Your teacher here still has a few on hand. The stance art I practice is also this one... Ahem, ahem~"

"I've written some of my insights in there. You... well, just use them for reference."

"Thank you, Teacher!" Su Bo hurriedly thanked him.

For a Quasi-Martial Artist like him, personal insights on stance training written by a martial artist about to break through to the Gang Force realm were an absolute treasure worth ten thousand gold, yet impossible to obtain.

Seeing this, Wu Bin spoke again. "Su Bo, the three trials of the martial artist Physical Body realm—no matter which trial or which tempering it is, every one of them is extremely important."

"Remember, don't rush to attempt the first tempering. Continue tempering your own blood qi first."

"Before the first tempering of the Physical Body realm, every additional wisp of Quasi-Martial Artist blood qi you temper will increase the benefits you gain from the first tempering of flesh and skin."

"And don't take the Blood-Nourishing Pill. Wait until you have tempered your blood qi to its limit, then take it during the first tempering!"

"Understood..." Su Bo nodded.

After condensing his Quasi-Martial Artist blood qi, he had also noticed something strange. It felt as though one current of blood qi was not yet his limit.

Maybe... it seemed... perhaps he could condense a little more Quasi-Martial Artist blood qi.

Before leaving, Su Bo asked curiously, "Teacher, didn't you say it was best for these pills not to circulate among Martial Apprentices?"

"Just now, the principal..."

"They didn't hear a single word!" Wu Bin sneered.

Third High School cafeteria.

Having eaten and drunk his fill, Su Bo packed up his things and left.

The principal had changed his martial meals, replacing them with meals far richer in vital essence. One portion was equivalent to seven or eight portions of the martial meals he used to eat.

A Quasi-Martial Artist's physique had already transformed. If he wanted to eat his fill, his old martial meals were no longer enough.

This evening's martial meal made Su Bo feel...

Very full, very satisfied. Tonight, he could train like hell again.