Cultivators only needed to eat normally to replenish the raw materials of blood qi, and the patterns within their bodies would operate on their own, continuously converting the blood qi they consumed into increased physical strength.
In other words, as long as he ate, he could grow stronger.
Lin Yi rubbed his hands together and smugly remarked,
"Ah, as expected of me. I can grow stronger just by eating—this suits me perfectly."
He gave this new cultivation method a name: the "Savage Bull Art."
It came down from the same lineage as the "Savage Bull Diagram." One was an explosive martial skill, the other a foundational cultivation method; together, they complemented one another.
But after hesitating for a moment, he ultimately decided not to tell the village chief or the clanspeople about this cultivation method for now.
The reason was simple: the prerequisite for cultivating the "Savage Bull Art" was first inscribing the patterns of the "Savage Bull Diagram" within one's body.
Without those patterns as a foundation, blood qi would have no path for its self-circulation.
And everyone in the Hunting Team was still wobbling about even while practicing water-stepping. They were still far from condensing complete Divine Markings.
He planned to teach the "Savage Bull Art" as an advanced cultivation method only after everyone had truly mastered the "Savage Bull Diagram."
Good things were never too late.
His comprehension continued to increase at a fixed rate every day. Every morning, the first thing he did upon waking was sense that feeling of becoming a little clearer, then grin as he headed outside.
It was not as though he had never considered taking advantage of his ever-growing comprehension to create more cultivation methods and martial skills.
But the problem was that he had too few basic materials in his mind to combine and deduce from.
At present, he only had the "Bluestone Blood-Transporting Method" and a Savage Bull Divine-Pattern Diagram. Even the cleverest housewife could not cook without rice.
Without more cultivation methods for reference and more ferocious beast Divine Markings as templates, no matter how he deduced, he could only spin his wheels in place.
Lin Yi thought that when they hunted a new ferocious beast next time, perhaps they might come across something good bearing Divine Markings.
Three days later.
By the stream, Biao took a deep breath. A layer of evenly spread blood qi covered the soles of his feet, and he stepped onto the water. The surface sank slightly, but he stood firm.
Then he lifted his other foot and took one step, two steps, three steps across the stream.
His footsteps were heavy yet steady. Ripples spread outward in rings beneath his feet, but the water did not break, nor did he sink.
He walked roughly twenty steps over the stream, then turned and walked back. Though he wobbled twice along the way, he did not fall into the water.
The Hunting Team members on the bank burst into cheers.
Biao came ashore, and with a surge of blood qi, the moisture on his body turned into white mist and drifted away.
He grinned and tilted his chin at Lin Yi. "Well? That'll do, right?"
Lin Yi leaned against a tree trunk by the bank, a blade of grass between his lips. He nodded leisurely. "Barely passable. But you still need to train for another two days. We'll talk once you can run across the stream."
The smile on Biao's face immediately fell by half, but he did not complain again. He knew this training was for his own good.
What truly concerned Lin Yi, however, was his own change.
Just last night, under the day-and-night self-circulation of the "Savage Bull Diagram," his blood qi had broken through a certain threshold.
A dense roar, like surging tides, rose from the depths of his body. The sound of his rushing blood qi was more grand and weighty than ever before, like a slumbering river suddenly swelling, bursting over its old banks and flooding into a broader channel.
Blood-Qi Tidal Surge. Fifty thousand jin.
He had broken through.
The first thing Lin Yi did after breaking through was challenge Biao.
At the Bluestone Grounds that evening, every Hunting Team member formed an enormous circle.
At the center of the circle, Lin Yi and Biao stood facing each other. Biao clenched both fists, his eighty-five-thousand-jin Sinking Mountain Realm strength poised to erupt, his feet stamping a shallow pit into the ground.
Lin Yi slowly activated the "Savage Bull Diagram." Blood-gold Divine Markings rose beneath his skin, and the phantom of a Savage Bull flashed behind him.
Ten seconds later.
Biao was shoved back five or six steps by an overwhelming force he could not resist. His heels plowed two deep furrows through the dirt, and he landed flat on his backside.
The bone blade in his hand remained raised in a blocking stance, but his wrist trembled slightly, and disbelief was written all over his rugged face.
The surroundings fell silent as a graveyard.
Lin Yi walked over, bent down, and offered him a hand. "Brother Biao, you let me win."
Biao was stunned for a long while. Looking up at that young face, his Adam's apple bobbed twice.
He had cultivated for more than thirty years. From the first time he carried a bluestone at five years old until now, he had clawed and scrambled forward, step by step, before reaching the Sinking Mountain Realm.
Yet this kid before him had been at the tribe's entrance less than half a month ago.
Biao suddenly felt as though he had lived those thirty years for nothing.
But before that bitter feeling could fully rise, it was swallowed by an even greater emotion in his chest. He broke into a grin and laughed so loudly that the entire Bluestone Grounds could hear his booming voice. "Hahahaha! Damn it, kid Lin! You're a monster! I'm convinced!"
Using Lin Yi's hand, he got to his feet. His palm, broad as a cattail fan, slapped Lin Yi's shoulder twice with such force that Lin Yi bared his teeth in pain. "From now on, you call the shots for the tribe's Hunting Team!"
Just as Lin Yi was about to decline, Biao waved a large hand and shouted to the people around them, "Did you all hear that? From now on, this kid is our boss!"
The team members looked at one another, then grinned in unison. Some whistled, while others clapped their hands.
Lin Yi rubbed his sore shoulder, unsure whether to laugh or cry, though the corners of his mouth were raised high.
His gaze swept over those rugged yet sincere faces, over Little Flame crouching atop a distant rock, and over Xiao Hu poking his head out from the crowd.
Half a month later, he stood here with fifty thousand jin of strength, one martial skill, one self-created cultivation method, and a group of men behind him who acknowledged him.
"Alright, alright." Lin Yi waved his hand, then turned to Biao. "By the way, Brother Biao, do we still have enough meat in the tribe lately?"
Biao's expression stiffened slightly. He exchanged glances with several team members, then said in a muffled voice, "To be honest, we're almost out of Savage Bull meat.
Everyone has been training hard lately, and their appetites have grown with it. We've been burning through it too quickly. I was planning to take some men out hunting tomorrow."
Lin Yi nodded and patted his shoulder. "No problem. I'll be there on time tomorrow too."
As he spoke, his tone had unknowingly taken on a certainty even he had not noticed.
It was the confidence that naturally grew once others had begun to see him as their pillar.
The setting sun completely sank below the horizon. On the Bluestone Grounds, the rugged men dispersed in twos and threes. Some patted their companions' shoulders as they discussed the details of the recent fight, while others squatted on the ground, drawing diagrams of how to exert force while water-stepping and discussing them together.
At some point, Xiao Hu ran over to Lin Yi's side and looked up at him. "Brother Lin, are you stronger than my dad now?"
Lin Yi looked down at those sparkling eyes and rubbed his head. "For now. Your dad will keep improving too."
Xiao Hu thought for a moment, then suddenly grinned. "Then, Brother Lin, you're going hunting tomorrow. Take me with you?"
"You?" Lin Yi raised an eyebrow. "A little brat like you? How about I ask Brother Biao?"
Xiao Hu blinked twice, then silently turned and ran away.
Watching his small figure vanish like a wisp of smoke into the twilight, Lin Yi could not help smiling and shaking his head.
He turned around and looked toward Little Flame, crouching on the distant rock. The Red Fox's amber eyes watched him quietly, its tail tucked between its paws.
Lin Yi waved at it. "Going tomorrow?"
Little Flame blinked slowly. It looked at Lin Yi, then rolled its eyes.
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