Baxia Coiling Dragon Stance

"Teacher, where's the Blood-Nourishing Pill?" Su Bo asked curiously.

"There are pills for cultivation too? Why had I never heard anyone mention them before?"

In martial cultivation, the body and bones came first. To step through the gates of cultivation, one had to nourish the body, blood, sinews, and bones, forging a strong physique.

But the prerequisite was reaching sixteen years of age, when one's bones and sinews had initially matured enough to begin cultivation.

Su Bo had also only just reached that stage. By standing in the body-nourishing stance and cultivating, he had produced a thread of qi and blood in ten days, steadily stepping into the Martial Disciple Realm.

Ten days to cultivate a thread of qi and blood and enter the Martial Disciple Realm.

Such talent was rare throughout Crimson Glow City. It might not have been unprecedented, but there certainly were not many with such gifts.

Soon after, Su Bo was admitted to Martial Arts No. 3 High School. He cultivated the Eight Mountain-Shaking Fists, and in less than a year, his fists and stance had both reached perfection, allowing him to enter the Quasi-Martial Artist Realm.

Yet whether it was nourishing his body or tempering qi and blood, none of it could be separated from Su Bo's diligent, bitter training.

Pills?

What the hell were those?

If a Martial Disciple wanted to temper qi and blood faster, they had to be able to eat—eat an enormous amount—and their stomach had to be able to digest it.

Only by eating and digesting could the martial meals replenish their vital essence quickly.

Only then would the speed at which they tempered qi and blood far surpass that of ordinary people.

Su Bo was exactly that sort of person. While his classmates ate one portion, he ate three. While they took an entire day of grueling fist practice to digest one portion—

He could digest three portions of martial meals in just one afternoon.

At dinner, he could still eat another two portions...

"What's the rush?" Wu Bin slowly sipped his 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 appreciation 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 talent, but his steady temperament.

He had seen countless exceptionally gifted people. Forget breaking into the Quasi-Martial Artist Realm after a year of body-nourishing and blood-tempering—he had seen quite a few do 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 received personal instruction, word by word and deed by deed, from experts in the Divine Ability Realm and beyond.

Once their bones and sinews had matured, not to mention reaching the Quasi-Martial Artist Realm in a few months, there were plenty who became martial artists within half a year or a year.

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

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

Su Bo, meanwhile, was a genius supported entirely by his own talent.

"Pills!" Wu Bin slowly spoke those two words 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 power that controlled 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's command.

Humanity's supreme martial artists walked among the stars; in this world, that was no legend.

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

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

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

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

In the end, casting aside everything irrelevant, a conjecture surfaced in his mind.

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

"Smart!" Wu Bin smiled.

"Put simply, the martial meals you eat turn into vital essence stored within your bodies. You need to extract and temper it bit by bit, forging it into threads of qi and blood."

"But once a pill is swallowed, it can instantly add dozens or even hundreds of threads of qi and blood to a Martial Disciple. It is equivalent to becoming a Quasi-Martial Artist after taking just one pill."

"It would let everyone skip over the Martial Disciple stage entirely, without having to endure two or three years of painstakingly tempering qi and blood..."

"Envious?"

Seeing Wu Bin look at him with a half-smile, Su Bo rolled his eyes. "Teacher, you already said pills are harmful to Martial Disciples tempering qi and blood. What is there for me to envy?"

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

"When all was said and done, it was actually quite simple..."

"Martial foundation establishment—Martial Disciples may temper qi and blood slowly, but what they establish is the foundation of their own martial path. But if pills are used to nourish qi and blood and establish that foundation..."

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

"If a Quasi-Martial Artist's blood and qi are impure, they will be stuck in the Fleshly Body Realm for the rest of their life. Once they foolishly try to transform qi into gang force and break into the second realm of martial arts, heh..."

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

"That is also why the Martial Alliance forbids pills from circulating."

"Then why can pills be used after breaking into the Quasi-Martial Artist Realm?" Su Bo thought for a moment, then sensed the martial artist blood and qi within his body.

It seemed...

He understood a little.

A Martial Disciple's qi and blood was contained throughout the body, scattered and unformed, like wood shavings in the wind. A Quasi-Martial Artist's qi and blood, however, had formed a path, condensed like refined steel.

Once circulated, it was like the waters of a great river, surging and roaring like the tide.

A single pill produced only several dozen threads of qi and blood. Once it fell into a river, it would be refined in an instant. How could it possibly raise a wave?

Perhaps...

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

"Figured it out?"

"Mm!"

Seeing that he had guessed correctly, Wu Bin said nothing more. He bent down, took out two items from his drawer, and tossed them to him.

Su Bo immediately caught them with a delighted expression.

[Baxia Coiling Dragon Stance]

[Blood-Nourishing Pill]

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

Seeing his confusion, Wu Bin said casually, "The Blood-Nourishing Pill isn't worth much. Your teacher here still has a few on hand. The stance art I practice is this one too... cough, cough."

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

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

Personal notes on stance cultivation written by a martial artist on the verge of breaking through to the Gang Realm were absolutely priceless treasures for a Quasi-Martial Artist like him.

Seeing this, Wu Bin spoke again. "Su Bo, the three barriers of the martial artist's Fleshly Body Realm—every barrier and every refinement is extremely important."

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

"Before the first refinement of the Fleshly Body Realm, every additional thread of Quasi-Martial Artist qi and blood you temper will bring greater benefits to the first refinement of skin and flesh."

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

"Understood..." Su Bo nodded.

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

Perhaps... it seemed... maybe he could condense some more Quasi-Martial Artist qi and blood.

Before leaving, Su Bo asked curiously, "Teacher, didn't you say pills should not be allowed to circulate among Martial Disciples?"

"Just now, the principal..."

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

Third High School cafeteria.

After eating and drinking his fill, Su Bo packed up his things and left.

The principal had changed his martial meals, replacing them with meals much richer in vital essence. One portion was equivalent to seven or eight portions of what he had eaten before.

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

That evening's martial meal left Su Bo feeling...

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