"Now I Understand... This Is the True Heaven-Defying, Fate-Changing Supreme Use of 'Simulation'!"

It seems word of Tian Erhu's death has not yet leaked... So be it. Let this muddy water settle for a few more days. It will bring me nothing but benefits.

Shen Xiuhan concealed the dark gleam in his eyes and strode into the inner courtyard.

By then, the sky was already light, yet the inner courtyard remained deathly silent and utterly empty.

His second senior brother, Xu Chuan, had not arrived yet. Even if he had, he still needed to oversee the morning practice of the thirty-odd people in the outer courtyard.

Shen Xiuhan did not waste time. Facing the biting morning wind, he lowered his waist, settled his stance, and assumed the opening posture of the Mystic Eagle Stance.

An hour later.

"Hoo!"

Shen Xiuhan slowly concluded his practice and exhaled a long stream of white mist, like a ribbon.

He opened his eyes, and an irrepressible flash of delight burst across his face!

Yesterday, during the system's "Simulation" in his sea of consciousness, not only had the Mystic Eagle Stance been pushed all the way to perfection, allowing him to comprehend the killing move Heavenly Mystic Eagle Force, but even his cultivation had been forcibly advanced to the Bone Tempering Peak!

He had originally thought that, after his consciousness returned to his body, the system had merely fed back his understanding of the stance and his martial techniques.

The cultivation he had attained over those fifteen years had not fully returned to reality. It had only helped him break through the blood gate and enter the initial stage of Bright Force.

He had thought that was where it ended, but he had never expected...

The cultivation earned through fifteen years of training had not vanished into thin air. Instead, it had been branded into this body in an even more heaven-defying manner.

The path of martial arts required methods, companions, wealth, and land.

From the moment ordinary martial cultivators broke through the blood gate, if they wished to cultivate the Blood Tempering Realm to completion, even with day-and-night training and medicinal meals to nourish themselves, it would take at least half a year, if not a full year.

To advance further into the middle stage of Bright Force and open the mysterious pass of the Tendon Tempering Realm required even more painstaking effort. Those trapped for three to five years without making the slightest progress were as numerous as carp crossing a river.

Yet Shen Xiuhan had merely performed the stance five times just now, and with every round, he felt the qi and blood within him surge wildly!

In only half an hour, the qi and blood throughout his body had risen by a full level!

At this rate, it would take no more than three or four months to refill his qi and blood to the Bone Tempering Peak he had reached in the "Simulation"!

If he could find medicinal meals or pills that nourished qi and blood to assist him, the speed would be even greater!

Shen Xiuhan's thoughts raced, and a bold conjecture flashed through his mind!

The martial realm and insights he had cultivated in the "Simulation" had indeed been entirely fed back into his body.

However, the blood-energy of heaven and earth could not be created from nothing. His physical body still had to temper itself anew and absorb it.

For ordinary people to set foot upon the martial path was like carving out a reservoir atop barren, solid rock.

Not only was it time-consuming and exhausting, with progress slow as a snail, but if they accidentally dug their meridians crooked or collapsed their foundation, that was what was known as cultivation deviation and failure to break through!

But because Shen Xiuhan had absorbed the realm cultivated in the "Simulation," there was already a dug-out but dried-up reservoir within him.

All he needed to do now was simply fill it with water!

And the highest realm he had cultivated to in the "Simulation" was the Bone Tempering Peak.

Which meant...

Before his cultivation returned to the Bone Tempering Peak, his path of martial arts would be a broad highway, flat as level ground!

Then what if... in the next "Simulation," or the one after that, my cultivation breaks into the Tendon Tempering Realm, or even Hidden Force, Transformation Force, or realms higher still?

Wouldn't that mean there would no longer be the slightest bottleneck or shackle in martial arts for me!?

"Hiss..."

Shen Xiuhan sucked in a sharp breath, and towering waves churned within his heart.

"Junior Brother, what are you thinking about?"

Just then, Xu Chuan strode briskly into the inner courtyard, carrying a bowl filled with pitch-black medicinal soup as thick as ink.

"Good morning, Second Senior Brother!"

"Morning, morning! Come here quickly and see what treasure your senior brother has brought you!"

Xu Chuan grinned broadly and, with a mysterious look on his face, held the black soup out toward him.

Shen Xiuhan leaned closer for a look, his brows immediately knitting together. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Judging by the color... could this be poison?"

"..."

Xu Chuan's expression stiffened. He looked at Shen Xiuhan speechlessly and snapped, "Nonsense!"

"This is Ebony Origin-Replenishing Soup, a great tonic! Master specifically allotted it to the inner courtyard disciples. You only get one bowl every seven days!"

"The outer courtyard disciples do not get any at all. If they want some, they have to pay for it!"

Ebony Origin-Replenishing Soup?

Shen Xiuhan's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly reached out to take it.

The moment he brought it close and sniffed, an intensely bitter medicinal odor, so strong it was almost pungent, rushed straight into his head. Before it even touched his lips, his gallbladder seemed to turn sour from the bitterness.

Seeing his expression, Xu Chuan could not help laughing heartily.

"Don't let this medicine's shabby appearance fool you. Its medicinal power is tyrannical!"

"It contains great tonics such as Blood Vine, Origin-Nourishing Ginseng, and Yellow Lotus Leaf to invigorate the blood and replenish qi. Ebony Stem is also added to strengthen the foundation and lock in essence. Master personally brews it, and there are only ten bowls every seven days."

"Only inner courtyard disciples training at the martial hall may receive one bowl according to the allotment. Those who leave to take up outside posts can only count themselves as having missed out on the treat."

"Only the surplus quota is priced and sold to those wealthy young masters in the outer courtyard."

Hearing this, Shen Xiuhan asked curiously, "Senior Brother, how much does one bowl of Ebony Origin-Replenishing Soup cost?"

"Six qian."

Six qian was also six hundred copper coins.

That was enough to feed a family of four in the shantytowns of the outer city for two or three months.

Yet for a martial artist, it could only buy one bowl of medicinal soup, gone in two gulps.

Truly, the scholarly road was poor while the martial road was rich!

"This price of six qian is only for outer courtyard disciples. If sold outside, it would cost at least another one or two qian more."

"Some people once bought the medicinal soup and resold it for a price difference. It enraged Master so much that he specifically set a rule: it must be drunk on the spot."

As though afraid Shen Xiuhan might misunderstand, Xu Chuan added, "Of course, that rule is mainly meant to guard against those quick-witted fellows in the outer courtyard..."

"If you are short on money, Junior Brother, do not sell your allotted portion for this little bit of cash. If Master finds out, he will surely be displeased."

"If you truly need silver to tide you over... your senior brother may not be wealthy, but I can still scrape together one or two taels to lend you."

Hearing Xu Chuan's concerned words, a warmth flowed through Shen Xiuhan's heart. He immediately smiled freely and cupped his fists.

"Senior Brother worries too much. I cannot even use enough of this medicinal soup that strengthens qi and blood myself. How could I bear to sell it?"

With that, he raised the large bowl and drank the Ebony Origin-Replenishing Soup in one gulp!

The medicinal soup entered his stomach!

It was as though he had swallowed a blazing ball of fire. The qi and blood throughout his body roiled and answered like boiling water!

Without needing Xu Chuan's reminder, Shen Xiuhan stomped his foot and landed atop the Plum Stakes.

He lowered his waist, settled his hips, and struck out with both clawed hands!

With the Mystic Eagle Stance unfolded, he coordinated his breathing and used the stance to refine the tyrannical medicinal power rampaging through his body!

After one complete set of stance forms, only thirty percent of the medicinal effect had dispersed.

Shen Xiuhan immediately struck while the iron was hot, performing three more sets before slowly calming his breath and withdrawing his stance.

For a moment, every pore on his body seemed to open, and he felt incomparably refreshed from head to toe!

"How was it? Felt pretty good, didn't it?"

Beside him, Xu Chuan, who had been practicing martial techniques on his own, wiped away his sweat and chuckled.

"...Extremely good!"

Shen Xiuhan leapt down from the wooden stakes, his eyes gleaming brightly.

Too fast!

A single bowl of Origin-Replenishing Soup, in less than an hour, had caused the total amount of qi and blood in his body to surge by a full twenty-five percent!

At this rate, Shen Xiuhan was confident that in around two months, he could temper the qi and blood throughout his body to the realm of Blood Tempering Great Accomplishment.

"Come on, let's eat lunch first. Afterward, you and I will spar in martial techniques!"

Xu Chuan said as he wiped away his sweat.