Blood-Qi Potion

Lin Hu's matter had finally been settled once and for all, and the heart Lin Qing had been holding in suspense finally returned to its proper place. He returned to his old, orderly yet tedious life of cultivation: practicing the Bedrock Stance Art at the martial hall every morning, then returning to his little courtyard in the afternoon to practice life-nourishing arts.

The Lin Hu incident had caused him to slack off somewhat in his cultivation recently, but he had only paused for two or three days at most.

It was now late June. As time flowed on, one life-nourishing art after another merged into his bodily instincts.

And as the arts fused, his cultivation grew faster and faster. In the past, fully integrating a single life-nourishing art would have taken him at least two or three days. Now, however, he could easily master two arts in a single day. The circulation of Qi and Blood within him grew ever smoother, a gentle, mellow force of Qi and Blood constantly enveloping his body, while his vitality, energy, and spirit far surpassed what they had once been.

Yet that delight did not last long before Lin Qing noticed something strange.

The improvements brought by these life-nourishing arts were slowing at a rate visible to the naked eye. When he had first begun cultivating them, every art he integrated had clearly made his Qi and Blood more abundant and his body stronger. But now, even if he integrated two arts a day, the feedback from his body was negligible, like a cup already filled to the brim, unable to hold another drop of clear water.

He understood that life-nourishing arts were foundations among foundations. He was nearing his limit with this type of art. Once life-nourishing arts completely lost their effect after a while, it would be time for him to devote himself fully to the Bedrock Stance Art.

[Host: Lin Qing]

Realm: Mortal (Time to breakthrough: 20 years)

Integrated Arts: Spleen-Strengthening Life-Nourishing Art, Meridian-Relaxing Heart-Calming Art (Expand)

Recorded Arts: Bedrock Stance Art (160/530), Essence-Stabilizing Foundation-Firming Art (6/10)...

That day, the martial hall's morning stance practice ended right on time. Everyone was exhausted and ravenous, and they streamed toward the martial hall cafeteria.

The cafeteria buzzed with voices. Steaming dishes filled the tables, and the fragrance of simple food drifted through the air, stirring everyone's appetite.

Lin Qing found an empty seat and sat down, picking up his bowl and chopsticks to eat. For some reason, he had felt his appetite growing lately—and not by a little. In the morning, he needed to eat more than ten large meat buns just to barely last until the group training ended.

Several bowls of rice went down in succession, yet he still felt as though his stomach lacked a measure of fullness.

Just as he lowered his head to keep eating, Wang Yuan looked at him with a strange expression and said, "Lin Qing, could you really be a genius?"

Lin Qing rolled his eyes, but still asked, "Why do you say that?"

Wang Yuan lowered his voice and leaned close to Lin Qing's ear, his tone carrying a hint of certainty that brooked no doubt. "There's obviously something wrong with your appetite. Your Bedrock Stance Art is almost at minor mastery already, isn't it?"

At those words, Lin Qing's bowl and chopsticks froze in his hands. Clear surprise appeared on his face. He set them down, turned to Wang Yuan, and asked in confusion, "How could you tell?"

Seeing Lin Qing's blank look, Wang Yuan immediately understood. Lin Qing had probably been doing nothing but burying his head in cultivation, utterly ignorant of the tricks of the trade. He smiled and shook his head, then patiently began explaining the basic knowledge surrounding the Bedrock Stance Art.

"You may not know this, but the Bedrock Stance Art is a First-Tier Cultivation Art, meant for Certified Martial Artists. For apprentices like us who haven't yet become Certified Martial Artists, if we remain merely at the entry level, each cultivation session consumes limited energy. Ordinary meals can barely replenish what we use."

"But as your mastery of the stance art improves, its tempering efficiency rises sharply, and the energy your body consumes surges with it. At that point, the energy contained in ordinary food is no longer enough. Once your stance art reaches minor mastery, you'll probably need to eat a meal every time you practice it once."

Lin Qing had been troubled by his appetite lately, so he immediately asked Wang Yuan for guidance with an open mind. "Then is there any solution?"

Seeing Lin Qing's serious expression, Wang Yuan did not beat around the bush. "Of course there is. One option is ferocious beast meat. The Qi and Blood energy within ferocious beast meat is terrifyingly abundant. Given your current situation, even the most basic First Tier ferocious beast meat only requires a small piece to supply an entire day of cultivation."

Wang Yuan paused, took a sip of soup, and continued, "The second method is Blood-Qi Potion. Compared to ferocious beast meat, it is gentler and more suitable for apprentices like us to absorb. As long as you eat normally every day and drink an appropriate amount of Blood-Qi Potion, it will be enough to support your daily cultivation."

Enlightenment dawned on Lin Qing. He had long heard of Blood-Qi Potion. The martial hall sold it too, but he had not been well-off before and had never paid much attention to it. Now, it seemed this expense would be impossible to avoid in the future.

Since they had reached this point, Lin Qing simply asked Wang Yuan what medicinal baths were for as well.

Wang Yuan was equally forthcoming and explained it to Lin Qing in detail. "Do you know why the martial hall only requires us to train for half a day?"

Without waiting for Lin Qing to answer, he continued, "When we practice stance arts, we use the art to temper our tendons, bones, flesh, and skin. If we cultivate too frequently, our bodies won't be able to endure it in the short term. Over time, not only will hidden injuries be left behind, but our future cultivation will be severely affected."

"A medicinal bath is prepared from many precious medicinal ingredients. After soaking in one, it can quickly ease the body's fatigue and repair the tiny injuries caused by cultivation. Only then can you cultivate multiple times a day."

As he spoke, Wang Yuan seemed to recall something. He stared at Lin Qing in alarm. "You haven't taken a medicinal bath before, have you? That won't do. You'll train your body into the ground like this!"

Since Lin Qing had progressed so quickly, Wang Yuan naturally assumed that he continued practicing on his own after returning home each day.

But Lin Qing would not tell Wang Yuan that after returning home every day, he had never practiced the stance art at all.

Two hours in the afternoon and one hour at night would only increase his cultivation progress by 12 points if he practiced the stance art.

But if he used that time to cultivate life-nourishing arts, bringing a single art to completion could lower the maximum proficiency of the stance art by dozens of points.

He remembered that when his first life-nourishing art had reached completion, the maximum for the Bedrock Stance Art had dropped by a full 100 points. Although the reduction was getting smaller now, his cultivation of life-nourishing arts was also getting faster. All things considered, cultivating life-nourishing arts was still more worthwhile.

Lin Qing had no intention of buying Blood-Qi Potion at the martial hall. He had only been at the martial hall for a short time; buying Blood-Qi Potion there now would draw too much attention.

Wang Yuan merely believed that he practiced the stance art after returning home each day. Saying that he had a bit of talent could barely explain why his stance art was close to minor mastery.

But in truth, Lin Qing's stance art had not merely reached minor mastery. Even reaching completion would not take long for him. By then, his consumption of Blood-Qi Potion would likely be considerable, so finding a more discreet and stable supply channel in advance was the wiser course.

Still, he bought a set of medicinal bath ingredients from the martial hall. Although he sensed that, because of his life-nourishing arts, he did not need medicinal baths, it was better to soak once and confirm it for himself.

After lunch, Lin Qing thanked Wang Yuan and left the martial hall directly. Rather than returning to his little courtyard, he headed toward the central district of Azure Sun County, where several large medicine halls were located.

From far away, he spotted a large medicine hall occupying three storefronts. He strode toward it, but the moment he clearly saw the words on its signboard, Lin Qing turned around and left.

The sign bore the three prominent words: Spring Renewal Hall. It was precisely the Spring Renewal Hall where the group of pharmacists traveling with him when he arrived had worked.

If they saw that the skinny young man from twenty-odd days ago now needed Blood-Qi Potion to support his cultivation, it would undoubtedly bring him much unnecessary trouble.

He went a little farther and found another decent shop, called Hundred Herbs Hall. There were no major twists in the process of buying the potion. Many people purchased Blood-Qi Potion, but because of the recent ferocious beast incident on Azure Sun Mountain, the price was slightly higher than usual: 110 copper coins per dose.

Lin Qing could only thank Lin Hu's elder brother for his generous gift.