Second Body Tempering

At the tail end of July, the days grew hotter.

Ye An practiced Azure Cloud Finger in the Martial Hall. Sweat dripped from his chin onto the wooden board, leaving tiny wet marks.

He had practiced for two straight hours without a break.

After First Body Tempering, his skin, flesh, tendons, bones, and membranes were far tougher than before. Splinters from an ordinary board could no longer pierce them.

Zhao Tieshan finished his practice and came over, glancing at the cloth wrapped around Ye An's fingers.

"You're still wrapping them?"

"Habit."

Zhao Tieshan took a bottle of ointment from his robes and tossed it beside him.

"Bought it last month. Don't need it. Take it."

Ye An glanced at the bottle. The seal was still intact; it had never been opened.

"Senior Brother..."

"Don't fuss." Zhao Tieshan rolled his shoulders. "I hear Blackwind Stronghold has been eyeing North Granary like a tiger lately. Be careful."

Ye An closed his hand around the bottle on the ground and went back to practicing Azure Cloud Finger.

[Azure Cloud Finger (Second Level): 186/200]

[Azure Cloud Finger (Second Level): 191/200]

[Azure Cloud Finger (Second Level): 195/200]

At dusk, Ye An left the Martial Hall and was about to head to North Granary when a breathless voice called from behind him.

"Ye An, wait."

Qian Duoduo took several gasping breaths before he finally straightened. Then he pulled a small porcelain bottle from his sleeve pocket and pressed it into Ye An's hand.

"These are for next month. I'm giving them to you early."

"Didn't you say three?" Ye An looked down. There were four.

"You're about to attempt Second Body Tempering. Better to have extra." Qian Duoduo wiped the sweat from his brow. "Break through soon, so I can stop worrying about you every day."

Ye An looked at the bottle in his hand, then at Qian Duoduo.

Qian Duoduo wasn't giving him charity. He trusted him...

Ye An tucked the bottle into his robes. "Thanks."

Qian Duoduo waved a hand, putting on an easy expression. He was about to leave, but he couldn't help calling out, "Ye An."

Ye An turned back. Qian Duoduo looked as though he wanted to say something, then thought better of it.

"Nothing. Keep practicing."

Ye An knew what Qian Duoduo had wanted to say.

He was afraid Ye An would fail to break through.

He had kept quiet because he didn't want to add to Ye An's burden.

Ye An understood that, for now, he had only reached First Body Tempering. Only by reaching Second Body Tempering could he truly show them what kind of person he was.

He had never forgotten Qian Duoduo's trust.

North Granary.

"...At this rate, North Granary's grain stores will be emptied sooner or later."

"And if they are, it's not your problem. The people above us aren't worried, so why are you?"

"Why?"

"If those Blackwind Stronghold men really storm in one day, what are a few patrolmen like us supposed to stop them with?"

"Isn't Lord Gu coming back soon?"

"Lord Gu, Lord Gu. So what if he comes back? He's a Meridian Opening expert. Can he stand guard at North Granary every day? When the time comes, it'll be small fry like us who get hurt."

The speakers were two veterans on the patrol. One was surnamed Zhao, the other Liu. Both had reached Second Body Tempering and had worked at North Granary for seven or eight years.

"Shh. Someone's coming."

The two veterans spotted Ye An and fell silent. They exchanged friendly nods with him, then passed by.

Ye An had been patrolling North Granary at night for months.

He knew most of the people here. Steward Liu had a cold face but a warm heart, and never paid their wages late. Patrol Leader Zhou didn't talk much, but never failed to give a warning when one was needed. Brother Zhao and Brother Liu were wily old hands with loose tongues, but they were good people.

If Blackwind Stronghold really stormed in, then these people...

Ye An stopped the thought there. He wasn't a savior. He hadn't even reached Second Body Tempering. This wasn't something he could afford to worry about.

[Azure Cloud Finger (Second Level): 197/200]

[Azure Cloud Finger (Second Level): 198/200]

[Azure Cloud Finger (Second Level): 199/200]

At noon that day, Ye An crouched in a corner of the Martial Hall and drove one finger into a wooden board.

The board split.

Cracks ran from front to back, dense as a spiderweb.

Ye An stared at the cracked board, his finger suspended in midair. He did not strike again.

Just one last step.

In another day or two, he would break through.

Even ordinary martial artists with better Bone Structure than his could not break through as quickly at this stage.

As Lin Shaoyun walked past Ye An, he caught sight of the board. Dense spiderweb cracks spread across it.

Lin Shaoyun was shaken. Is this fellow with High-Grade C Bone Structure really about to reach Second Body Tempering?

Less than four months from First Body Tempering to Second Body Tempering.

For someone with High-Grade C Bone Structure, that speed was almost absurd.

Lin Shaoyun had expected Ye An to practice less once he realized how difficult martial arts would be with his Bone Structure. Instead, Ye An had worked harder than ever.

A thought rose in Lin Shaoyun's mind: Ye An was a man of tremendous perseverance.

"Almost at Second Body Tempering?"

Ye An looked up. It was Wang Tie.

The longtime student with Mid-Grade C Bone Structure had failed twice to reach Second Body Tempering and was buried in debt. He still did odd jobs for the hall master to offset part of his tuition.

Wang Tie looked at the cracked board and ran a hand along the edge of a fissure. He sighed.

"Impressive."

Wang Tie stared at the board for a long time. His expression was complicated—envy, bitterness, and something harder to name.

Wang Tie stood and spoke to Ye An with solemn sincerity.

"Your board cracked more beautifully than mine did back then."

"Don't end up like me." Wang Tie's voice held a reluctant longing, as though he were the one preparing to break through.

Ye An gathered his things and left the Martial Hall early.

The sunlight dazzled him as he stepped through the gates. He narrowed his eyes.

People came and went along the street. No one paid Ye An any attention. He was just an ordinary boy.

But Ye An knew that after today, everything would be different.

Second Body Tempering.

In Anping County, someone at Second Body Tempering was already a person of some standing.

Most retainers serving the Zhou Family, the Qian Family, the Sun Family, and the other lineages of Anping County had reached Second Body Tempering.

At First Body Tempering, one could only serve as a patrolman. At Second Body Tempering, one could become a guard, an instructor—a "martial artist" in the truest sense.

Ye An was walking home when he ran into Stone at the entrance to Willow Alley.

Stone stood beside a wonton stall, holding a bowl of wontons. He wasn't eating, only staring blankly at the steam rising from the bowl.

"Stone?"

Stone hurried to his feet when he saw Ye An. He nearly spilled the wontons.

"Brother An."

"How's your father?"

"Much better." Stone smiled, though it looked forced. "He's taken his medicine. He can get out of bed now."

Ye An nodded and asked no more. Stone's circumstances were plain enough: a sick father, and Stone himself still so young...

"Brother An, you've wrapped your fingers again?" Stone looked at Ye An's hands, worn by relentless practice. "Won't your fingers get hurt?"

"They'll be fine."

Stone was an ordinary person. He didn't know that, to Ye An, injuries this slight were nothing worth mentioning.

"Brother An, you're a martial artist now."

Stone said it like a sigh.

"See you, Brother An. Boss Huang still has work for me. I'd better get going."

Ye An returned to his room.

He poured the four Body Tempering Pills from the porcelain bottle into his palm.

Ye An swallowed them. Then—

[Azure Cloud Finger (Second Level): 199/200]

Only one final strike remained.

Ye An stilled his mind and waited for the current of qi in his Dantian to flow steadily. He waited as its warmth traveled from his Dantian to his chest, then down his arm and into his fingertip.

Ye An opened his eyes, extended a finger toward a wooden pillar, and tapped it lightly.

Crack—

A fissure split the pillar from front to back, branching outward like lightning.

Ye An looked at the crack, and the corners of his mouth lifted.

[Azure Cloud Finger (Second Level): 200/200]

Second Body Tempering.

He had done it!

Moonlight fell across Ye An's face and bathed his whole body.

He could feel his tendons and bones growing faintly hot, blood surging through his veins, muscles twitching beneath his skin.

It felt like First Body Tempering, as though his entire body were being forged anew.

The difference was that First Body Tempering had turned his body into iron.

Second Body Tempering had hammered that iron into steel.

Ye An closed his eyes.

The click of his father's abacus as he tallied accounts behind the general store. The sound of his elder brother turning a page. The wonton stall owner packing up at the mouth of the alley.

Neighbors were arguing. A child was crying. Ye An heard it all.

This was what Second Body Tempering had changed.

Not just his body—his five senses had sharpened, too.

Ye An opened his eyes and walked to a corner of the courtyard. An azure stone slab lay there, the one he had used for practice before.

More than a dozen finger holes pocked its surface, clustered like a honeycomb.

Ye An extended his right index finger toward the slab and struck.

Boom—

The slab exploded from the center. It shattered into a dozen-odd pieces that flew everywhere.

Ye An checked his finger. His nail had not split, nor had the bone broken. Only his fingertip was a little red.

Second Body Tempering.

Ye An had reached it!

Ye An stood in the courtyard, moonlight stretching his shadow long behind him.

He suddenly thought of Qian Duoduo. If that fellow knew he had broken through, he would surely jump for joy.

His second elder brother wasn't home tonight, but he would find out soon enough. Ye An wondered whether his brother would still be able to say, "Not bad," tomorrow.

At that thought, Ye An laughed aloud and turned back toward his room.

[Azure Cloud Finger (Second Level): 200/200]

[Qi-Nourishing Formula (Micro): 81/200]

Second Body Tempering was only the beginning.

Next came Third Body Tempering.

Then Meridian Opening, and beyond that, farther still.