Black Tiger Stance Art at Minor Mastery, Second-Layer Gate-Breaking Realm

After Shi Kang told Lu Hao that Lin Qiniang would be going to the jewelry shop to collect her hairpin in seven days, he looked at Lu Hao.

"Brother Hao, stay home these next few days and nurse your injuries properly. Try not to let the others in the gang see you. Otherwise, those people who don't get along with you might tell you to return to the gang and do work."

"I understand." Lu Hao nodded. "I'm only going to the market to buy food."

Only then did Shi Kang set his mind at ease and return to the Black Tiger Gang.

Watching Shi Kang's retreating figure, Lu Hao began calculating in his heart. That Glazed Hairpin would arrive at the jewelry shop in seven days. He had to act before Lin Qiniang went there to pay for it. The best time to make his move would therefore be the night six days from now—the day before the hairpin arrived.

Having made up his mind, Lu Hao returned home.

He placed the two chickens and the packet of chicken giblets on the stove. Just as he reached out and pressed down on the lotus-leaf bundle containing the giblets, the system panel refreshed.

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[Detected equipable meat: Chicken Giblets]

[Equip?]

Lu Hao immediately chose to equip them. The chicken giblets inside the lotus-leaf bundle vanished in an instant.

Beside the Equipment Slot for the Black Tiger Method, a packet of chicken giblets now lay there.

Lu Hao tried absorbing the Qi-Blood from the giblets and discovered that the effect was the same as chicken meat. Both took the time of one cup of tea—roughly ten minutes before his transmigration—and restored 10 points of Qi-Blood.

What surprised him was that whether it was chicken giblets or chicken meat, the system considered both to be meat from a chicken.

Yet at the market, chicken giblets cost far less than chicken meat. For around one copper coin, he could buy giblets containing as much Qi-Blood as an entire chicken.

Lu Hao was overjoyed. This would save him quite a bit more money.

After his 10 points of Qi-Blood had fully recovered, Lu Hao felt the warmth in his dantian continuously spreading into his limbs and bones.

He did not delay any longer. Walking into the courtyard, he bent his knees and sank his hips, assuming the Tiger-Subduing Form of the Black Tiger Stance Art as he began to train.

Having entered the First Gate-Breaking Realm and with an ample supply of Qi-Blood, Lu Hao truly looked like a ferocious tiger crouching upon the ground when he stood there.

After completing the Tiger Body Form, Lu Hao shook his entire body and performed the Tiger Quake Form. The sinews and bones throughout his body rang in unison, as though a fierce tiger were shaking its body.

When he practiced the Tiger Pouncing Stance, Lu Hao dropped to all fours, arched his back, and gathered strength. His posture resembled a fierce tiger about to pounce on its prey.

After completing one round of stance training, Lu Hao began practicing the Black Tiger Fist Technique. When he threw a Black Tiger Plucks the Heart, the wind from his fist tore through the air with a heavy force, whistling loudly.

After five rounds of Black Tiger Stance Art and four rounds of Black Tiger Fist Technique, Lu Hao panted heavily. Beads of sweat the size of soybeans rolled down his cheeks and fell to the ground, while a large patch beneath his feet had long since been soaked through.

[Qi-Blood in body: 1/10]

Lu Hao absorbed the Qi-Blood power from the chicken giblets again. Once his Qi-Blood had fully recovered, he continued practicing the Black Tiger Method.

For the entire day, Lu Hao did nothing but replenish Qi-Blood, train until it was depleted, then replenish it again, repeating the cycle. He trained from dawn until midnight, for roughly six or seven hours, before dragging his exhausted body to bed.

After getting up the next day, Lu Hao went to the market again and bought two chickens and a large packet of chicken giblets.

After replenishing his Qi-Blood, the Qi-Blood within his body was abundant.

He suddenly realized that after practicing the Black Tiger Method the previous day, he had been utterly exhausted before bed. His entire body had ached, and his bones had felt as though they were falling apart. Yet after one night's sleep and replenishing his Qi-Blood, he was brimming with strength again.

Before his transmigration, such a thing would have been unimaginable.

Back then, let alone practicing the Black Tiger Method at such intensity, even lifting iron at the gym for one or two hours would leave his whole body sore the next day, and the pain would linger for several days.

But now, after waking from a single night's sleep, he felt neither soreness nor fatigue.

He did not know whether it was because he had entered the First Gate-Breaking Realm, because his Qi-Blood replenishment was sufficient, or because of both.

And so, for several days in a row, Lu Hao's life consisted of only three things: buying chickens, practicing the Black Tiger Method, and sleeping.

The owner of the poultry stall gradually grew accustomed to Lu Hao paying for chickens every day.

Lu Hao spent one copper coin on chicken giblets each day, and the stall owner prepared a large portion for him daily. The giblets Lu Hao brought back each day contained even more Qi-Blood than two whole chickens.

On the evening of the sixth day, the setting sun hung low, dyeing a few lingering clouds on the horizon orange-red.

After Lu Hao finished one round of Black Tiger Stance Art in the courtyard, the panel in his mind refreshed once more.

[Skill: Black Tiger Stance Art (Minor Mastery)]

[Progress: 0/1000]

Lu Hao felt the original wisp of Qi-Blood within his dantian suddenly begin spinning rapidly around it.

Immediately afterward, two more wisps of Qi-Blood surged up from the depths of his dantian and slowly coursed through it.

A moment later, all three wisps of Qi-Blood began rapidly circulating around his dantian together. Then they immediately flooded into his limbs and bones, and a lingering warmth filled his meridians.

Lu Hao felt power fill his entire body as he sensed the Qi-Blood force surging within him. This feeling was exactly the same as when those in the Black Tiger Gang broke through to the Second Gate-Knocking Stage.

Had he broken through to the Second-Layer Gate-Breaking Realm just like that?

By his reckoning, he had used only seven days to go from an ordinary person who had not awakened Qi-Blood to the Second Gate-Knocking Stage.

Lu Hao was ecstatic and could not wait to practice the Black Tiger Fist Technique.

As he threw a punch, a thought suddenly flashed through his mind.

Before breaking through to the Second-Layer Gate-Breaking Realm, whenever he held a stance, he relied on the contraction of his muscles to squeeze his Qi-Blood. Whenever he practiced fist techniques, he used his muscles and bones to drive his Qi-Blood. And in the original owner's memories, everyone in the Black Tiger Gang did the same, using bodily strength to push their Qi-Blood along.

But after his Black Tiger Stance Art reached Minor Mastery, he suddenly understood. Qi-Blood was not pushed by brute force—it needed to be guided by consciousness.

He tried using his mind to guide the three wisps of Qi-Blood in his dantian. Like three little fish, they swam under the pull of his consciousness from the dantian along the meridians of his lower abdomen, traveled upward through the great dragon of his spine, then followed the meridians into his limbs and bones.

After guiding his Qi-Blood with his mind in this way, Lu Hao threw another Black Tiger Plucks the Heart. The wind from his fist burst through the air and unexpectedly produced a deep muffled boom, making the air tremble.

When he used Black Tiger Descends the Mountain, both fists smashed down with the momentum. His fist wind howled, mighty and heavy, shaking the dust on the ground into scattering clouds.

[Skill: Black Tiger Fist Technique (Minor Mastery)]

[Progress: 0/1000]

[Qi-Blood in body: 2/20]

[Black Tiger Method durability: 67/100]

The Black Tiger Fist Technique had also entered the Minor Mastery realm, and the maximum Qi-Blood within his body had increased to 20.

Lu Hao slowly exhaled a breath of stale air, raised a hand, and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve.

The three wisps of Qi-Blood within his dantian slowly circulated.

He could feel a vast force of Qi-Blood surging through the meridians in his body.

Lu Hao raised his head and looked toward Spring Breeze Pavilion, his gaze darkening.

"Lin Qiniang, it's time to return the silver you tricked out of me tonight!"