Equip the Black Tiger Art, Martial Apprentice

As time passed, the chicken leg's durability slowly decreased bit by bit.

Lu Hao only felt a warm current surge from his dantian, flowing without end toward his limbs and bones.

Half the time it took to drink a cup of tea—roughly five minutes in the time before his transmigration—the dark blue panel displayed:

[Chicken Leg Durability: 0/100]

[Equip Chicken Leg skill permanently solidified]

[Effect: After equipping a chicken leg, it no longer occupies an Equipment Slot. Completely absorbs the Qi-Blood within the chicken leg. Qi-Blood recovery speed increases by 50% for the duration of half a cup of tea.]

In Lu Hao's memories, eating four or five chicken legs might only replenish as much Qi-Blood as equipping a single chicken leg just had.

If he ate a chicken leg directly, his body could only absorb part of its Qi-Blood.

After equipping the chicken leg, he absorbed every shred of Qi-Blood perfectly, without wasting a single trace. In other words, equipping a chicken leg allowed him to fully absorb its Qi-Blood power, with no waste or loss whatsoever.

Lu Hao rose and moved his limbs. Though he could not see the skin on his back, it was no longer unbearably painful as before; there was only a faint numb itch.

Since his Qi-Blood had recovered, Lu Hao felt that it was time to practice martial arts.

Only by mastering the Black Tiger Method could he possibly go to Lin Qiniang and retrieve the silver she had swindled from him. He just did not know whether he had any chance of successfully breaking through the gate within seven days.

Lu Hao tucked the half tael of silver Shi Kang had given him into his clothes, and his fingers touched something like a book.

[Equippable item detected: Black Tiger Method]

[Equip?]

Lu Hao hurriedly pulled the item from his clothes. It was a thin booklet, its cover bearing the four words: "Black Tiger Method."

He opened it and gave it a quick glance.

The first half of the booklet introduced the training methods for the Black Tiger Stance Art, while the latter half covered the Black Tiger Fist Technique.

Though it was called a method, it was really just drawings of little figures practicing martial arts, recording the shapes of the moves and the positions of the hands, feet, waist, and hips. As for the secrets of exerting force and the rhythm of breathing, none of it was recorded.

It was precisely because of this that many people in the Black Tiger Gang could never find the right path in practicing the Black Tiger Method, making it exceptionally difficult.

This was far inferior to a martial arts school, where masters and senior brothers offered hand-over-hand guidance. In a gang, one could only rely on one's own ability to comprehend it.

The Black Tiger Method was the Black Tiger Gang's introductory method. Every gang member received a copy when joining.

Within the martial arts system of the Great Jin Dynasty, the Black Tiger Method was the lowest-grade method. Yet for these low-ranking members of the Black Tiger Gang, it was the only path through which they could come into contact with martial arts.

Every copy of the Black Tiger Method was numbered and registered. Those who received one had to keep it safe. If it was lost and the gang found out, severe punishment awaited; some had even lost their booklets and been beaten to death under the gang's rules.

After finishing the Black Tiger Method, Lu Hao began studying the system again.

He discovered that the system could not only equip chicken legs—it could even equip cultivation methods. No wonder it was called the All Things Can Be Equipped System.

"System, equip the Black Tiger Method." Lu Hao murmured inwardly.

[Equipped item: Black Tiger Method]

[Durability: 100%]

[Effect: When the host practices the Black Tiger Method and meets the conditions for a realm breakthrough, the host may break through automatically, without bottlenecks.]

[Skill: Black Tiger Stance Art (Not Initiated)]

[Progress: 99/100]

[Skill: Black Tiger Fist Technique (Not Initiated)]

[Progress: 99/100]

Lu Hao stared at the description for the equipped Black Tiger Method, his heart surging with excitement.

He could automatically break through once he met the conditions, without bottlenecks. This meant that as long as he practiced the Black Tiger Stance Art and his Qi-Blood reached the required level, he could break through as naturally as water flowing into a channel and become a Martial Apprentice of the First Gate-Breaking Realm.

To become a Martial Apprentice, each person only had three chances at Gate Breaking, and this was the most brutal threshold in the entire martial arts system.

If all three attempts at Gate Breaking failed, one would be forever fated to have no connection with martial arts.

Who knew how many low-ranking gang members and martial arts school apprentices had been stuck at this stage, left with lifelong regret.

The original owner had already used up two chances at Gate Breaking, leaving only the final opportunity.

In Lu Hao's memories, the odds of succeeding at the third Gate Breaking attempt were exceedingly slim.

But after equipping the Black Tiger Method, as long as his Qi-Blood met the requirements, successfully reaching the First Gate-Breaking Realm was as certain as nails hammered into a board. There would no longer be any risk of failing Gate Breaking.

In his mind, Lu Hao ran through the moves of the Black Tiger Stance Art and the Black Tiger Fist Technique. He felt as though he had practiced them tens of millions of times already; they were incomparably familiar.

Focusing his attention, he assumed the first form of the Black Tiger Stance Art, the Tiger-Subduing Form. Lu Hao bent his legs slightly and sank his hips. This form trained the lower body, demanding that both legs be as solid as a fierce tiger's.

He then practiced the second form of the Black Tiger Stance Art, the Tiger Body Form. Lu Hao extended both hands forward, his shoulder blades slightly bulging and spreading backward, his spine curving. This move trained the method of exerting force to shed an opponent's power in a fight.

After that, his entire body shook, and the muscles and joints all over him trembled faintly in response. This was the third form of the Black Tiger Stance Art, the Shaking Tiger Form. This move trained the flexibility of the body's muscles and bones.

Finally, he practiced the fourth form of the Black Tiger Stance Art, the Tiger Pouncing Stance. With all four limbs on the ground, he arched his back and slightly lifted his head, assuming the poised motion of a fierce tiger before it pounced on prey. This move trained bodily coordination.

After completing the four forms of the Black Tiger Stance Art, beads of sweat as large as beans rolled down Lu Hao's forehead. The muscles in his thighs trembled uncontrollably, his waist and hips ached and swelled, and the muscles in his arms were sore, numb, and weak.

Having completed the four forms of the Black Tiger Stance Art, Lu Hao felt as though those movements had formed a memory in his body. This must have been another effect of equipping the Black Tiger Method.

The system panel refreshed.

[Skill: Black Tiger Stance Art (Initiated)]

[Progress: 0/500]

Immediately afterward, Lu Hao felt his dantian suddenly tremble. A thread of warm current rose from his lower abdomen and surged through his meridians toward his limbs and bones. Though that current was weak, it made him feel as if the strength throughout his body had abruptly increased greatly, every movement brimming with power.

This feeling was exactly the same as the sensation described in the gang when someone successfully broke through to the First Gate-Breaking Realm.

Lu Hao stared at the system panel in silence for a moment.

It had initiated already?

He was stunned for only a moment before excitement took over.

The original owner had forcibly attempted Gate Breaking when his Qi-Blood had only just reached the conditions for the First Gate-Breaking Realm. His foundation had been unstable, which was why his first two attempts had both failed.

But after equipping the Black Tiger Method and disregarding bottlenecks, Lu Hao had merely practiced the Black Tiger Stance Art once, yet he had broken through as naturally as water flowing into a channel and entered the Martial Apprentice realm of the First Gate-Breaking Realm.

Without wasting any time, Lu Hao seized the momentum and began practicing the Black Tiger Fist Technique.

His right fist traced a short arc from his waist and punched forward. He then withdrew his right fist, and his left fist made the same motion. This was the first form of the Black Tiger Fist Technique, Black Tiger Plucks the Heart.

Next, he raised both fists over his head, then sank his waist and lowered his hips. His fists chopped downward from above as he executed the second form of the Black Tiger Fist Technique, Black Tiger Descends the Mountain.

Immediately afterward, he twisted his waist, using his great-dragon spine as an axis, and his arm lashed out fiercely like a whip. This was the third form of the Black Tiger Fist Technique, Black Tiger Sweeps Its Tail.

Afterward, he practiced the fourth form of the Black Tiger Fist Technique, Black Tiger Pounces on Prey. He stomped both feet against the ground, his body lunging violently forward as both hands made a grabbing motion ahead of him.

In the original owner's memories, every time he practiced the Black Tiger Fist Technique, he had always been weak and feeble, unable to display the technique's fierce and majestic momentum.

But as Lu Hao performed that round of the Black Tiger Fist Technique, he felt as though he had inexhaustible strength throughout his body, every punch roaring with the wind.

The system panel refreshed again.

[Skill: Black Tiger Fist Technique (Initiated)]

[Progress: 0/500]

Lu Hao's heart surged with excitement. He had not expected the martial arts realm that had troubled the original owner for so long, one he had never been able to break through, to be breached by him without the slightest effort. Along the way, even the Black Tiger Fist Technique had entered the beginner stage.

Lu Hao suddenly felt that with the All Things Can Be Equipped System, let alone becoming a Martial Apprentice, even reaching the pinnacle of martial arts was not beyond hope.

Just then, he suddenly felt a wave of weakness sweep through his entire body. The thread of Qi-Blood produced by his recent breakthrough to the First Gate-Breaking Realm seemed to be drained away in an instant, and his limbs and bones became as heavy as if filled with blocks of lead.

Lu Hao could no longer hold himself up and dropped onto the ground on his backside.

[Qi-Blood within the body exhausted]

[Qi-Blood within the body: 0/10]

[Current status: Severe Qi-Blood deficiency. Host must replenish Qi-Blood immediately.]