The Inner Court!

"Intel": Fifteen!

Shen Xiuhan's thoughts stirred, and the number on the panel began to jump.

Fourteen...

Eleven...

Until it stopped at one...

In an instant, the surrounding clamor peeled away into the distance, as though all sound had been sucked out of heaven and earth.

In Shen Xiuhan's mind, pale golden motes intertwined, forming an illusory figure that assumed the opening stance of the Mystic Eagle Stance.

Immediately afterward, the pale golden figure moved at a dazzling speed, repeatedly deducing, dismantling, and reconstructing this obscure and intricate stance art!

Once, ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times... ten thousand times!

[You cast aside distracting thoughts and painstakingly trained in the "Mystic Eagle Stance" day and night. In your fourth year, your stance art broke into the Minor Accomplishment realm, and you successfully sensed your qi and blood.]

[Through nine years of relentless training through heat and cold alike, the "Mystic Eagle Stance" finally reached Major Accomplishment! You comprehended the Great Circulation Breathing Method! At the same time, your qi and blood reached great accomplishment, and you stepped into the Bone Tempering Realm!]

[In your thirteenth year, your "Mystic Eagle Stance" reached perfection! You grasped the subtleties of exerting force through the bones and joints, bringing your understanding of this stance art to its pinnacle. Your cultivation reached the Bone Tempering Peak...]

[In your fifteenth year, your understanding of the "Mystic Eagle Stance" rose once more, and you comprehended the martial skill "Heavenly Mystic Eagle Force." At the same time, you vaguely touched upon a deeper shackle of the martial path. Though inspiration flashed through your mind, your foundation was still too shallow to fully deduce and transform it...]

His consciousness returned to his body.

Fifteen years of withering and flourishing, relentless training through winter and summer—countless insights surged into his mind like divine enlightenment, engraving themselves into every limb and bone.

The next moment!

Shen Xiuhan's face, and even the flesh beneath his old padded coat, abruptly flushed an unnatural crimson, as if scalded by boiling water.

The qi and blood that had lain quietly dormant within him were like hot oil poured into a furnace. Like wild horses breaking free of their reins, they surged, crashed, and roared madly through the sinews and channels of his body.

"Hu... hu..."

Shen Xiuhan gasped heavily. What he exhaled was no longer cold air, but scorching white vapor.

This was...

Qi and blood?

He had sensed qi and blood!

Wild joy churned within Shen Xiuhan.

But soon, the qi and blood within him suddenly spiraled out of control, and the burning sensation multiplied severalfold!

The flesh all over his body felt as though it were being refined in an Eight Trigrams Furnace. It seemed that in the next breath, his organs would all ignite and turn to ashes, making Shen Xiuhan's expression change drastically.

"Take off your outer coat! Strip and disperse the qi!"

In his daze, a furious shout exploded beside his ear.

Shen Xiuhan had no time to think. With a tug of both hands, his old padded coat fell to the ground.

The biting wind, mixed with flecks of snow, slapped against his bare upper body. It gave off faint hissing sounds and turned into billowing white mist, clearing his mind as well.

Following the voice, he saw that the one who had shouted was none other than Second Senior Brother Xu Chuan.

All around them, the more than thirty outer court disciples who had been grinding away at their training had stopped moving. Every pair of eyes was fixed on him as if they had seen a ghost, filled with disbelief!

"Do not lose focus!"

Xu Chuan shouted sharply again. "Take the stance, guide your qi and blood, opening form!"

Without hesitation, Shen Xiuhan crushed the remaining snow beneath his feet and leaped onto the wooden stakes. His arms thrust out like iron spears, his ten fingers curling into claws!

The Mystic Eagle Stance, opening form!

One stance, five stances, eight stances... twenty-eight stances!

As he performed the stance frames he had practiced countless times, accompanied by surging qi and blood, every claw strike howled through the air, tearing apart the wind and snow.

Every rise, fall, turn, and transition of each stance flowed like drifting clouds and running water, perfectly rounded and connected, without the slightest trace of stiffness!

Only then did the outer court disciples standing frozen in place awaken as if from a dream, and the courtyard erupted into an uproar!

Luo Qiaoqian's beautiful eyes widened as she said in utter disbelief, "His qi and blood boil like soup, and he withstands the bitter cold of deep winter... Junior Brother Shen has opened the Blood Gate!"

"His entire body is red as fire, and heat rises from him as mist... This is undoubtedly the phenomenon of breaking through to the Blood Tempering Realm!" Another descendant of a great inner-city clan was equally aghast.

"How is that possible?! He has only been here for a few days. How could he advance so quickly?!"

"Sixteen days! Counting today, it has been exactly sixteen days!"

At the edge of the crowd, Xiao Wen's small face had flushed red with excitement.

This youth, usually timid and too afraid to even breathe loudly before the inner-city disciples, now clenched his fists and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Opening the Blood Gate and breaking through to the Blood Tempering Realm in sixteen days... Th-this is fucking unheard of!"

"Two days faster than Eldest Senior Sister! Eldest Senior Sister took eighteen days!"

"This man's talent is truly terrifying..."

"..."

The clamor exploded through the courtyard.

From the depths of the rear courtyard, a black-clad figure suddenly darted out.

Mei Shuangfeng lightly tapped the artificial hill with the tip of her foot. Her robes fluttered, and she had already landed at the edge of the outer court training ground.

"Master!"

The surrounding disciples hurriedly cupped their fists and bowed.

Yet Mei Shuangfeng paid them no heed. Her normally cold and stern phoenix eyes were locked tightly onto that figure moving with effortless freedom, and a flicker of surprise flashed through her gaze.

"Form follows intent, intent leads the claws, like a mystic eagle raising its head..."

She spoke almost word by word. "The Mystic Eagle Stance has reached Minor Accomplishment!"

As soon as those words fell, the disciples around her sucked in sharp breaths, their scalps going numb.

"What?!"

"Breaking through to Blood Tempering in sixteen days is already unbelievable, and he has even trained the Mystic Eagle Stance to Minor Accomplishment!"

"Th-this fucking thing is still human?!"

Within the crowd, Luo Qiaoqian gritted her pearly teeth, her fingernails nearly digging into her flesh.

Her exquisite face was filled with undisguised regret and vexation.

Had she known Shen Xiuhan's talent was this high, then after testing him a few days ago, even if she had to drag him over by force and cling to him shamelessly, she would have kept him by her side!

But... as long as he had not been formally recruited yet, it was not too late to make amends!

What no one knew was...

At the instant Shen Xiuhan's consciousness returned to his body, his Mystic Eagle Stance had already surpassed Minor Accomplishment and Major Accomplishment, entering the realm of perfection!

But the tree that rose above the forest would be destroyed first by the wind.

To survive in troubled times, one must never show others every card in one's hand.

Thus, he deliberately held back some of his strength, leaving several flaws in the transitions between bursts of force and disguising himself as someone who had only barely entered Minor Accomplishment.

Yet even so, it was enough to leave everyone present too stunned for words.

"Hu..."

After performing the stance frames five times in succession, the qi and blood surging violently within him finally settled slowly through the channels of his body, falling completely under his control.

Shen Xiuhan took a deep breath, leaped down from the wooden stakes, and cupped his fists as he said in a low voice:

"Master, this disciple has not failed your expectations. I have opened the Blood Gate and stepped into Bright Force."

"Good, very good!"

A brilliant light flickered repeatedly in Mei Shuangfeng's eyes. She had always acted decisively and without dragging her feet, so she made her decision at once.

"From this day onward, you are exempt from the outer court trial and may enter the inner court directly to cultivate!"

At those words, Shen Xiuhan's eyes suddenly lit up.

During his days at the martial hall, he was no longer the ignorant youth who had first arrived.

Outer court disciples tempered themselves through stance arts, with sensing qi and blood as their foremost goal.

Only after opening the Blood Tempering threshold and entering the inner court would they qualify to learn true martial techniques and combat methods.

Stance arts were the foundation of the martial path, strengthening the body and nourishing the blood.

Combat methods were the true arts of killing!

Only when paired with complementary martial skills could the Mystic Eagle Stance's dormant eagle grow the sharp claws needed to tear its enemies apart!

"This disciple obeys!"

Shen Xiuhan cupped his fists heavily.

"Come with me to the inner court. Xu Chuan, you will come as well."

"Yes, Master!"

After leaving those words behind, Mei Shuangfeng turned and strode toward the inner court.

Shen Xiuhan picked up his old padded coat from the snow and wrapped it around himself, then quickly followed with Xu Chuan.

Behind them, the training ground fell into dead silence.

The gazes of the outer court disciples followed that receding figure, their emotions too complex to put into words.

Envy, jealousy, unwillingness...

And a bitterness that could neither be named nor explained.

Some clenched their fists, some lowered their heads, and some moved their lips but ultimately said nothing.

Mei Martial Hall's rules were strict.

Outer court disciples paid costly tuition fees, yet they were granted only half a year.

If they could sense qi and blood and open the mysterious gate of Bright Force within those six months, they could leap over the Dragon Gate into the inner court, formally become Mei Shuangfeng's personal disciples, and bring glory to their ancestors.

If they could not sense it... then if they wished to continue training, they would have to pay another eight taels in tuition.

But most would realize that they were destined to have no connection with the martial path and choose to leave.

Among the more than thirty outer court disciples, the longest-serving had trained for nearly five months, yet still had not touched the threshold of Blood Tempering.

Originally, no one had been particularly anxious.

After all, all this time, no one in the entire outer court had cultivated qi and blood. At worst, they could all leave together.

But then...

A fisher's son from the outer city who had enrolled only sixteen days ago opened the Blood Gate before their very eyes, stepped into the Bright Force stage, and was promoted by their master on the spot through the gates of the inner court!

For a time, the entire outer court was so quiet that only the wind could be heard.