Dangers on All Sides, Reaching Blood Fortification

Having eaten until midnight, Li Xian was truly stuffed. He covered the remaining tiger carcass with snow and left it in the courtyard.

He went to bed.

Having just arrived in Black River Village, he passed his first night in peace.

The next day, roosters crowed in the east.

Li Xian stretched, his bones crackling. Though he was only fifteen and born into a poor household, with the resources he had gathered from various places, he had still built himself a body of "strong sinews and sturdy bones."

It had snowed last night.

Yet Li Xian did not feel cold in the slightest. He had even sweated a little. He could only attribute it to the pure-yang beast, whose flesh warded off the cold.

He had long formed the habit of running in the morning. After stirring his qi and blood, he smeared ice and snow across his face, shuddered all over with vigor—

Then began practicing martial arts.

[You rose and practiced at the rooster's crow. You trained your fists diligently. Proficiency +1]

[You threw punches toward the rising sun, scattering qi and blood. Proficiency +1]

The halo of the morning sun fell over Li Xian.

The Four Directions Fist had already reached Perfection. As he wielded it now, it carried considerable force, with a rhythm uniquely his own.

"When I was at the estate, I had to hide my abilities. It would not have been wise to reveal a perfected fist technique."

"Now that I'm in Black River Village, free and unfettered, I can practice my fists to my heart's content instead."

Li Xian deeply felt how precious freedom was.

[Four Directions Fist]

[Proficiency: 499/10000 Perfection]

He practiced martial arts to his heart's content, utterly undisturbed and free from burdensome