Giant Strength Art

His gaze swept over the panel,

and an extra line had appeared under the realm section: "You are already very strong at Body Tempering First Level."

After all the basic skills had reached Perfection, his Destiny Talent had apparently reassessed his strength.

At the same Body Tempering First Level, having four basic skills at Perfection put one in an entirely different league in a fight.

Feng Chen came into the courtyard.

The cool midnight breeze scattered the sweat from his body. Moonlight spilled across the courtyard's earthen ground as he scooped cold water from the vat and poured it over his head, wiped away the droplets, then turned and returned to the room.

Lin Qing'er was still fast asleep, her breathing light and even.

He quietly lay down beside her, tugged the blanket higher to cover her shoulders, and closed his eyes.

In the blink of an eye, time passed!

The next day, while the sky was only beginning to brighten, Feng Chen rose early.

He first performed a round of Tiger Fist in the courtyard to loosen his muscles and bones. With Tiger Fist at Perfection, his punches were steady and weighty, every strike carrying a dull whistle as it tore through the air. He twisted, leaped, and shifted through the courtyard like a true tiger stretching beneath the morning light.

He then practiced the Basic Blade Technique for a while to consolidate last night's insights, only sheathing his blade once the sun had completely leapt over the ridge and sunlight blanketed the courtyard.

Lin Qing'er had risen as well and prepared breakfast.

After they ate together, Feng Chen told Lin Qing'er that he still needed to go into town to buy some things today.

Tiger Fist had already reached its ceiling. To continue breaking through, he had to replace it with a higher-level cultivation method.

He also wanted to buy two martial skills.

After all, he still had nearly nine hundred taels of silver in his pocket. What needed spending should be spent!

Lin Qing'er nodded, straightened his collar, then lifted her face and earnestly reminded him, "Husband, you must be careful when you are out. Though you are now a Martial Artist, open spears are easy to dodge, but hidden arrows are hard to guard against. The town is not a peaceful place either. Do you understand?"

Feng Chen looked down at her glittering eyes, filled with seriousness, and warmth rose in his heart. "I know. Don't worry."

Lin Qing'er added softly, "Husband, if you run into those good people who give away money again, you should still stay far away from them!"

"Alright!"

Feng Chen smiled without saying anything more.

The two parted at the courtyard gate.

As usual, he took the small path outside the village, following the shrubs at the foot of the mountain all the way out.

Thanks to the Perfect Basic Movement Technique and the physical qualities of Body Tempering, First Heaven, the mountain road that had once taken nearly an hour now required only half an hour.

His figure darted swiftly through the woods, his footsteps nearly soundless. Every now and then, he startled a few birds that swept overhead.

Half an hour later,

Feng Chen arrived at Green Mountain Town.

The stone archway outside the town cast a long shadow, while the streets had long since grown lively.

Peddlers carrying shoulder poles and farmers with baskets on their backs streamed endlessly through the archway.

Feng Chen did not enter the town directly. Instead, he stopped in a small grove outside it.

He found a flat stone and sat down, taking from his clothes the pot-bottom soot and small bottle of rapeseed oil he had brought from home. He mixed the two together and smeared them over his face.

He drew his brows thicker and darker, used dark gray powder to alter his cheekbones and chin, then retied his hair, gathering up every loose strand that normally hung down.

He also turned his old cloth shirt inside out, revealing its slightly darker lining.

With a few simple alterations, he looked entirely different from the handsome young hunter he had been before. Unless they were acquaintances, no one would recognize him at a glance.

After this simple disguise, he did not delay further. He wrapped up the remaining pot-bottom soot and tucked it into his clothes, then rose and blended into the crowd entering town, heading straight for the bookstore where he had bought manuals last time.

At the bookstore entrance, he first glanced inside.

There were more people in the store than last time. Six or seven people stood before the bookshelves selecting manuals. Some frowned as they turned page after page, while others whispered with their companions.

Sunlight shone through the street-facing windows, laying a faint golden sheen over rows of old book spines.

The shop assistant from last time stood beside a young man dressed in short work clothes, holding up a thin fist manual and introducing it with spittle flying everywhere. Whenever he reached an exciting part, he gestured twice with his hands, making the young man nod again and again.

After entering, Feng Chen walked toward the shelf that sold manuals.

The shop assistant was busy attending to other customers. He merely glanced at Feng Chen from the corner of his eye and saw only an ordinary farm boy in plain clothes!

So he ignored him and continued boasting to the young man opposite him about that fist manual.

Standing before the shelf, Feng Chen began checking the books one by one to see whether there were any relatively complete manuals.

The conditions of these books varied greatly. Some had brand-new covers and neat printing, while others had yellowed pages and frayed corners. There were also old copies that had clearly been read many times before being returned, their covers even stained with suspicious grease marks.

After flipping through more than a dozen books, he discovered that the best items in this bookstore could only be cultivated to Body Tempering, Third Heaven. There was not a single complete cultivation method that reached the Ninth Heaven.

That made sense. Truly complete inherited cultivation methods were probably possessed only by martial schools and factions. They could not possibly be casually displayed on the shelves of a small-town bookstore.

Besides cultivation manuals, there were also martial skill manuals on the shelves.

Blade techniques, fist techniques, movement techniques, spear techniques, and staff techniques—there were quite a few varieties, but all were the most basic grade of goods.

Several books made Feng Chen look twice!

One was Baji Fist. Its diagrams were packed densely together, and its fist forms were fierce and compact—a hard close-quarters fighting art.

One was Five Tigers Gate-Breaking Saber. From the opening stance to the blade-sheathing stance, its table of contents listed twelve moves, each one ruthless.

There was also Meteor Step, a thin little volume. It was said that once mastered, one's body would move with the agility of a shooting star bouncing and skipping.

These manuals were not cheap either, basically costing three to five taels of silver each.

A single martial skill cost five taels, more expensive than the incomplete Tiger Fist manual he had bought last time.

Fortunately, Feng Chen still had nearly nine hundred taels of silver in his pocket. Such an expense no longer amounted to much.

He stood before the shelf for about the time it took an incense stick to burn, selecting everything he wanted in his mind before raising a hand and beckoning.

The shop assistant, who was still introducing the manual to the young man, caught sight of it from the corner of his eye. His mouth was still talking, but his body had already turned around.

He stuffed the fist manual in his hand into the young man's arms and said, "Please take a look first."

Then he hurried over to Feng Chen.

"What does this young master need? The manuals in our store are the best goods in town, fairly priced and honest to young and old alike."

The shop assistant's face was piled with smiles. His hands overlapped before him, his attitude attentive and practiced.

Feng Chen pulled the four books he had selected from the shelf and handed them over—one cultivation method and three martial skills.

The cultivation method was the Giant Strength Art. It was said that cultivating it to Great Mastery could increase one's physical strength, granting greater power than Martial Artists of the same realm. It was quite a practical cultivation method, but unfortunately incomplete, capable of reaching only Body Tempering, Third Heaven.

The martial skills were Baji Fist, Five Tigers Gate-Breaking Saber, and Meteor Step—one offense, one defense, and one movement art, forming a relatively complete combat system.

The shop assistant took the four books and stacked them in his hands, flipping over the covers to make sure nothing had been taken by mistake. The smile on his face grew even broader, squeezing his eyes into two slits. "Young master has good taste! Giant Strength Art with Baji Fist, plus Five Tigers Gate-Breaking Saber and Meteor Step—a complete set with offense, defense, and movement techniques. All four come to twenty taels of silver. What do you think?"

Feng Chen nodded without haggling and took out twenty taels of loose silver from his clothes, handing it over.

The shop assistant accepted it with both hands, weighed it in his palm, then turned to the counter and carefully wrapped the four books in oiled paper, tying them with thin hemp string.

Feng Chen took the manuals and immediately left the bookstore without lingering a single step.