Breakthrough to the Skin Tempering Realm

Lin Fan's evaluation of the system rose another notch in his heart.

This way, when he was sleeping, eating, or otherwise not cultivating, he could click pause. It would save him quite a bit of silver.

Perhaps he would not even need ten taels of silver to break through to the Skin Tempering Realm.

Because his previous self had Fifth-Grade Bone Aptitude, once he activated the tenfold cultivation multiplier, Lin Fan immediately felt as though his body had become much lighter and more comfortable.

Movements he had once been unable to perform could now be done with ease. Moreover, his understanding of the cultivation method seemed to be improving at a clearly perceptible rate.

Immersed in the gradual growth of his strength, Lin Fan's mind slowly settled. Following the cultivation posture described in the manual, he began training.

The sun gradually sank westward. A burst of commotion came from afar—the village hunting party had returned.

Lin Fan glanced over, then continued practicing the Azure Cloud Method over and over in the open space before his house. Only by breaking through to the Skin Tempering Realm as soon as possible, increasing his strength, and making his body more powerful could he play a greater role while hunting.

"Lin Fan, are you feeling better?"

Lin Fan turned around. A dark-skinned, short, chubby youth about his age was striding over, carrying a bundle wrapped in leaves.

"Luck was good today. We caught a few pheasants. Here, there are two chicken feet and half a pheasant. You hurt yourself in that fall before, so cook this tonight and nourish yourself properly."

The visitor was Li Daniu, Uncle Li's son from the village. He was about the same age as Lin Fan and was one of the few peers Lin Fan had in the village.

Back when Lin Fan had first arrived in the village and was learning to hunt, he had often partnered with Li Daniu. He was the friend Lin Fan got along with best in the village.

"Big Ox, I feel much better. Look, I can already get out of bed and move around freely."

Lin Fan stopped cultivating and reached out to take the half pheasant wrapped in leaves by Big Ox. When he opened it, the pheasant had already been plucked and cleaned.

Lin Fan gave it a quick rinse before putting it into the small iron pot. Beside him, his younger sister Lin Ruoruo's eyes sparkled as she added a little millet and wild vegetables. Then she used flint to start a fire and cooked it as dinner.

It was not that Lin Fan wanted to stand on ceremony with Big Ox. It was simply Big Ox's personality—if Lin Fan refused, he would only become unhappy. Besides, Lin Fan was cultivating and truly needed some meat to replenish himself.

Big Ox casually sat down on a mound of dirt before Lin Fan's door and began recounting the interesting things he had encountered in the mountains that day. Lin Fan helped his sister tend the fire while chatting with Big Ox with a smile.

Smoke curled up from the pot, and its fragrance slowly drifted outward. The delicious scent of pheasant made them feel even more invigorated.

Watching the dancing flames, Lin Fan seemed to return to his childhood, to those carefree days when he had tended the fire while cooking back home.

Lin Fan had once checked Big Ox's bone aptitude. Although Lin Fan's Fifth-Grade Bone Aptitude was not particularly good, among everyone else, it could still be considered above average.

Most ordinary people had Seventh-, Eighth-, or Ninth-Grade aptitude—the Lower Three Grades. Moreover, because they needed to make a living, they had very little time to spare for cultivation each day.

Thus, even if many ordinary people possessed cultivation methods, they would not use their spare time to persist in training.

Just like the previous Lin Fan: despite having Fifth-Grade Bone Aptitude, he had not chosen the path of martial cultivation. Instead, he had chosen the road of studying and taking the imperial examinations.

After seeing Big Ox off, Lin Fan finished dinner, settled his sister down to rest, and resumed tenfold accelerated cultivation.

In the nighttime clearing, the howls of unknown beasts came from the distant forest. Lin Fan turned a deaf ear to them and cultivated the Azure Cloud Method with single-minded focus.

It was not until deep into the night, after nearly a full day of cultivation, that Lin Fan felt his injuries had improved considerably. He no longer felt much pain when moving.

After hurriedly washing up, Lin Fan returned to bed and fell into a deep sleep.

Early the next morning, the rising sun shone through the cracks in the door and onto Lin Fan's face.

After waking, Lin Fan did not feel tired from yesterday's cultivation. Though he had not slept for long, the quality of his sleep seemed exceptionally good.

Furthermore, when he got up today, the discomfort from yesterday was gone. Brimming with energy, he washed his face with spring water.

In the mountain village, adult men had to enter the mountains with the hunting party every day. When they returned, they divided the prey among themselves, or accumulated it until they could trade it outside for grain, then divide the grain.

His previous self had not gone for many days because of the fall injury. Now, he had recovered considerably.

But Lin Fan still did not intend to go for the next few days.

Now that he had the system, Lin Fan wanted to wait until he broke through to the Skin Tempering Realm and his strength had surged before going.

At that point, his improved physical condition would not only allow him to be more useful, but also keep him from fearing a misstep and fall like his previous self had suffered.

Over the following days, aside from eating and sleeping, Lin Fan persisted day and night in cultivating the Azure Cloud Method with tenfold cultivation acceleration activated.

He could feel his body steadily growing stronger. Before he had tenfold cultivation acceleration, increases in his physical strength had been almost impossible to detect. Now, with the tenfold acceleration, the growth in his physical strength and power was far more obvious.

Big Ox still came every day to chat with Lin Fan. Sometimes he helped fetch water for him, or brought over firewood and the like.

The hunting party's gains remained much the same as before. Sometimes luck was good and they caught prey. Sometimes luck was poor, and one or two people would be injured while hunting. Fortunately, most of those injuries were minor.

During the day, Lin Ruoruo followed the village aunties and older women to dig wild vegetables or gather wild fruit. At night, she would come show them to her brother as though presenting a treasure.

That day, Lin Fan cultivated as usual, striving to charge into the Skin Tempering Realm.

"Buzz!"

The skin and membrane over his entire body trembled like bowstrings.

He had reached the Skin Tempering Realm.

In total, he had spent a little over six taels of silver. The seventh tael still had more than eight hours of acceleration time remaining on the panel.

It was far less than the ten taels of silver he had initially estimated.

After breaking through to the Skin Tempering Realm, Lin Fan felt his strength suddenly surge enormously again. Before, he had roughly the strength of a hundred jin. Now, he had at least three hundred jin.

Lin Fan walked to a large boulder behind the house, bent down, and heaved with both hands. The stone rumbled as it flipped over. Previously, even gritting his teeth and straining with all his might, he could only make it wobble.

His injuries had also healed quickly. Now, there were only a few scabs left, faintly revealing traces of his former fall injuries.

Lin Fan counted the silver he had left. There were still a little over six taels. The remaining silver was not enough to let him continue all the way to the Bone Tempering Realm.

Besides, he and his sister still needed some silver to buy grain in the future.

As Lin Fan sensed the powerful strength within his body, the gloom from his previous self's memories—the frantic flight, the fear that had shrouded him every step of the way—also dispersed considerably.