Giant Strength Art Reaches Perfect Mastery

In the blink of an eye, it was evening.

Outside the window, the sun had already sunk below the ridgeline, its golden-red afterglow streaming through the window and laying a warm orange layer across the earthen floor.

Ding dong, Giant Strength Art proficiency increased by one.

Ding dong, it has been detected that the host is diligently cultivating the Giant Strength Art. Destiny Talent A Thousand Miles a Day has activated.

Ding dong, the Giant Strength Art has reached the Minor Mastery Realm. Please check it promptly.

Three consecutive notification chimes rang out, and a heavy wave of insight flooded into the depths of his consciousness like a tide.

All the realizations of the Giant Strength Art's Minor Mastery Realm unfolded completely at this moment!

The foundation of his stance became more stable, the paths of his Blood Qi circulation became smoother, and the warm current within his body grew several degrees hotter than it had been at the beginner stage.

Feng Chen closed his eyes and absorbed the wave of insight. When he opened them again, he let out a long breath of turbid air.

He lowered his head and sensed himself.

With every breath, his chest rose and fell with greater steadiness and power. His heart thudded against his chest, and every pump of blood carried a faint sense of strength.

The lines of his arm muscles had grown more defined than before. When he clenched his fist, he could clearly feel a taut, springy tension between his knuckles.

The Blood Qi within his body had also become far more vigorous than before.

But he was starving.

Feng Chen rubbed his stomach, and a hollow rumble sounded from within.

This was no surprise. Cultivation consumed a great deal of energy, especially a technique like the Giant Strength Art, which specialized in tempering strength and vigor.

Now that the Giant Strength Art had reached Minor Mastery, based on his previous experience cultivating Tiger Fist, Minor Mastery would be followed by Great Mastery, Great Mastery by Perfection, and at Perfection, he would be able to charge toward the next realm.

At this critical juncture, meat alone was no longer enough. It was time to start drinking Qi-Blood Soup as well.

Feng Chen walked out of his room.

An oil lamp had already been lit in the main room, its dim yellow light filling the entire house with warmth.

Lin Qing'er had already prepared dinner. She was sitting by the table, holding the Tiger Fist manual in her hands and studying it with furrowed brows.

Her little face looked especially serious beneath the oil lamp. Her brows were knitted into a tiny crease, and her lips moved soundlessly as though she were reciting the formulas.

Feng Chen leaned against the doorframe and watched her for a moment, a smile appearing on his face.

The girl had trained all afternoon, prepared dinner, and even while waiting for him to come out, she still refused to idle away her time.

"Is there anything you don't understand?"

Lin Qing'er raised her head. Seeing Feng Chen standing at the door, she hurriedly put down the manual and stood up. "Husband, you're done training? There are a lot of places I don't understand. Some of the little figures drawn in the manual have movements that don't connect, and there are also the words written beside them... but I'll study them seriously."

Feng Chen nodded, walked over, and sat beside her. He picked up the Tiger Fist manual and flipped through it. "I'll explain it to you after dinner: where the Dantian is, how to sink your Qi, and how to stand in the Tiger Fist Stance without hurting your knees. Some of the wording in the book is too flowery. It's not your fault you can't understand it."

"Thank you, Husband."

Lin Qing'er smiled even more happily. She rose briskly, brought the dishes to the table, filled a large bowl with coarse rice for him, and pushed the big bowl of stewed meat closer to his side.

The two began eating dinner.

Lin Qing'er asked about practicing fist techniques, and Feng Chen answered her questions in a few words while eating.

After dinner, Feng Chen first went to the kitchen. He took out five portions of high-grade Blood-Qi Medicinal Herbs from the cabinet, unwrapped the oiled paper packets, poured the herbs into a clay pot one after another, added plenty of water, and set it over the stove to simmer.

The fire in the stove flared to life again, and the fragrance of medicine soon filled the kitchen.

He let the medicinal soup simmer slowly while he returned to the main room, picked up the Tiger Fist manual, and began once more to explain the cultivation details to Lin Qing'er from beginning to end.

From how her toes should grip the ground when standing in a stance, which direction her knees should face, to how her waist and hips should turn when throwing a punch and how her breathing should coordinate with it, he explained everything in even greater detail than he had that afternoon.

Lin Qing'er sat beside him, listening without even blinking. From time to time, she stood up and mimicked a few movements.

An hour passed, and the Qi-Blood Soup in the clay pot was ready.

The rich medicinal fragrance drifted from the kitchen into the main room. Just smelling it made the blood in one's body seem to warm by several degrees.

Feng Chen closed the manual and handed it to Lin Qing'er. The two walked into the kitchen together.

He took the clay pot off the stove and poured the dark brown medicinal liquid into two bowls. It was thick and scalding, with clouds of steam rising from it.

He ladled a small bowl for Lin Qing'er and set it on the stove. He told her to drink it after it cooled, to try sensing the movement of her own Blood Qi, and that her body would heat up after drinking it—that was the medicine taking effect.

Feng Chen also waited until the liquid had cooled enough to drink, then lifted the clay pot and gulped it down.

The medicinal liquid entered his stomach, and a scorching current surged violently upward from his belly before rushing through his entire body and limbs.

Every inch of muscle swelled and tightened slightly beneath the washing of the hot current. The blood in his veins seemed to ignite, surging several times faster than usual.

He set down the clay pot, suppressed the surging medicinal power within him, strode into another room, and once again assumed the Giant Strength Stance.

Driven by the medicinal power, the Blood Qi within his body churned even more violently. The warmth around his Dantian grew stronger and stronger, while his muscles and bones were continuously tempered under the dual effects of medicinal power and Blood Qi.

Ding dong, Giant Strength Art proficiency increased by one.

Two days passed in the blink of an eye.

On the afternoon of the third day.

Sunlight slanted through the old window into the room, tiny motes of dust floating within the beam.

Feng Chen maintained the posture of the Giant Strength Stance. Heat rose from the top of his head, and wisps of white vapor drifted from his hair, clearly visible beneath the sunlight.

His skin was flushed red all over, a sign that the Blood Qi within him had been driven to its limit. Veins could faintly be seen beneath his skin, throbbing slightly in rhythm with his heartbeat.

Over the past two days, he had already consumed the medicinal soup brewed from ten portions of high-grade Blood-Qi Medicinal Herbs.

Every portion of medicinal herbs that entered his stomach transformed into scorching medicinal power that coursed through his entire body, repeatedly refined and absorbed by the Giant Strength Art.

Ding dong.

A talent notification sounded in his mind.

Ding dong, Giant Strength Art proficiency increased by one.

Ding dong, the Giant Strength Art has reached the Perfect Mastery Realm. Please check it promptly.

Ding dong, congratulations, host. You have successfully broken through to the Body Tempering Second Layer. Please check it promptly.

The consecutive notifications exploded in his mind. Immediately afterward, a vast wave of insight surged through his thoughts like mountains toppling and seas overturning.

All the realizations of the Giant Strength Art—from beginner to Minor Mastery, Great Mastery, and finally Perfection—were connected and opened up at this moment, forming a complete and flawless body-tempering method.

At the same time, the realm insights of Body Tempering, Second Heaven also flooded in!

The warm current within his body was no longer merely a stream of heat. It gradually condensed into something more substantial, like a compressed cloud.

After comprehending this wave of insight, Feng Chen opened his eyes. The heat above his forehead dispersed into a wisp of white smoke in the air.

He took a deep breath. His chest expanded far more than before, and within the air he inhaled, he could even distinguish the scent of pine resin drifting from the mountain forest outside the window and the dry warmth of sunbaked soil from the courtyard.

He slowly exhaled, lowered his head to look at his hands, and gradually clenched them into fists.

So this was Body Tempering, Second Heaven.

Very good.

The instant his fingers curled shut, the muscles in his arms abruptly burst forth.

Every muscle fiber twisted tight and bulged like precisely braided steel cables, while the veins on his forearms coiled beneath his skin like thick tree roots.

The joints on his fists stood out distinctly. Every finger bone seemed like cast iron reforged anew, and faint cracking sounds rang between his knuckles as he clenched them.

The power contained in this punch far surpassed his former self.

And... this cultivation speed was truly terrifying.

Feng Chen roughly calculated it in his heart. From the time he had formally encountered the martial path until now, not even a full week had passed.

He had practiced Tiger Fist for one day and broken through to Body Tempering, First Heaven. He had practiced the Giant Strength Art for two days and broken through to Body Tempering, Second Heaven. In one week, he had broken through two realms in succession.

For ordinary people with talent, going from beginner to Body Tempering, First Heaven took at least several months and at most a year. Going from the first level to the second required another two to three years of slow, grinding effort.

Those with poor talent could not break through to the Martial Artist Realm even in their entire lives.

Yet in one week, he had walked the road that took others years to traverse.

Feng Chen sensed his own strength.

His five senses had sharpened considerably once more.

With the slightest mobilization of the Qi within his body, his Blood Qi surged in orderly ranks like obedient soldiers. It obeyed his will in gathering and dispersing, smoother and more natural than when he had been at Body Tempering, First Heaven.

After finishing his assessment, he sank his consciousness deep into the Sea of Consciousness and looked toward the glowing attribute panel.

Rapid Mastery

Host: Feng Chen

Cultivation Arts: Giant Strength Art (Perfection), Tiger Fist (Perfection)

Realm: Body Tempering Second Level (You are not the weakest at the Body Tempering, Second Heaven realm)

Skills: Baji Fist (Not Initiated 0/100), Meteor Step (Not Initiated 0/100), Five Tigers Gate-Breaking Saber (Not Initiated 0/100), Basic Archery (Perfection), Basic Fist Technique (Perfection), Low-Level Hunting Skill (Perfection), Basic Saber Technique (Perfection), Basic Movement Technique (Perfection), Basic Medicine (Not Initiated 0/100), Eat, Drink, and Be Merry (Perfection)...