Third Body Tempering

On the third day after Lin Shaoyun left, the gloom hanging over the Martial Hall had yet to lift.

Lin Shaoyun was gone, Zhao Tieshan was still recovering, and Su Qing could not hold things together alone. Now and then, the students glanced at the young man striking the iron plate in the corner. There was hope in their eyes, but doubt as well.

Ye An paid them no mind. All he knew was that the white mark on the iron plate grew deeper by the day.

[Azure Cloud Finger (Third Level): 468/500]

[Azure Cloud Finger (Third Level): 475/500]

[Azure Cloud Finger (Third Level): 481/500]

[Azure Cloud Finger (Third Level): 486/500]

At noon that day, Qian Duoduo came by, but there was little cheer on his face. He walked over to Ye An, crouched beside him, watched for a while, then spoke.

"Ye An, my father asked me to ask you something."

"Go ahead."

"What do you plan to do about Shi Yong?"

Ye An glanced at him.

That look made Qian Duoduo uneasy. He scratched his head. "My father says Iron Fist Martial Arts Hall will definitely send Shi Yong into the ring at the year-end Martial Arts Hall Exchange Tournament. As for our Martial Hall, no matter how we look at it, you're the only one."

"My father said that if you need any resources, just ask."

"I have enough pills."

"Thank your father for me. I know what to do about the tournament."

Qian Duoduo opened his mouth to say something, but swallowed the words before they came out.

That evening, Ye An finished his training and prepared to go home.

As he reached the Martial Hall's entrance, he saw a familiar figure ahead of him in a pale-blue dress. She stood in the dusk with a food box in her hand and a smile on her face.

Ye An did not understand. After the way he had treated her, had she come again?

"Ta-da! Senior Brother An, my family made some Osmanthus Cake, so I brought you a box."

This time, Ye An did not refuse. He took the Osmanthus Cake.

Wang Jinse tilted her head and looked at him.

"Senior Brother An, I heard about Shi Yong."

"Will you fight at the year-end Martial Arts Hall Exchange Tournament?"

"What do you think?"

Wang Jinse looked at him, then suddenly smiled. "Someone as loyal and devoted as you would definitely step into the ring, Senior Brother An. But when the time comes... I just think getting hurt will be hard to avoid."

"Anything else?"

"Senior Brother An, my family told me to get close to you. They said you had potential and wanted me to win you over. But talking to you is exhausting, so I'm giving up."

"I won't bring you Osmanthus Cake anymore."

"Not because you're a bad person, but because you're so boring!" This time, Wang Jinse did not look back.

At most, she had been curious about Ye An. She had never been in love with him.

Ye An understood. Keep pressing a warm face against a cold backside, and all you got was a snub you had brought on yourself.

Early the next morning, Ye An had just arrived at the Martial Hall when he spotted a familiar figure on the training ground.

Zhao Tieshan stood before a Wooden Dummy, practicing Azure Cloud Finger. His movements were much slower than before, but every thrust carried a will to win. That will weighed too heavily on him.

Ye An passed without a word. He knew Zhao Tieshan did not need comfort. He needed time.

Clang!

[Azure Cloud Finger (Third Level): 491/500]

Nine points to go.

Ye An's heart skipped half a beat. He was almost there.

Over the next few days, Ye An did not go to the Martial Hall.

He shut himself in his room. For the last few points of Azure Cloud Finger's third level, he needed quiet so he could bring together everything he had learned and break through in one determined push.

[Azure Cloud Finger (Third Level): 494/500]

[Azure Cloud Finger (Third Level): 497/500]

[Azure Cloud Finger (Third Level): 499/500]

Ye An stared at the number in his vision. 499. Just one more point!

He performed Azure Cloud Finger again, pouring every insight he had gained into this thrust.

The thrust was slow, so slow it seemed to move through water. When his fingertip touched the wooden post before him, it made no sound.

Then a finger-sized hole appeared in the post. This time, his internal energy did not scatter. Every bit of it drove into the wood.

Ye An opened his eyes and looked at the hole.

[Azure Cloud Finger (Third Level): 500/500]

Third Body Tempering!

A faint heat spread through Ye An's body as his sinews and bones realigned.

His blood surged and his muscles twitched, as though something deep within him had awakened.

Ye An clenched his fist. The air in his palm squeezed out with a muffled pop.

It was different. Nothing like Second Body Tempering. Back then, Ye An had felt like a piece of iron hammered into steel.

Now, after Third Body Tempering, he no longer felt like steel. He felt like a keen-edged sword!

Ye An rose and walked into the courtyard, where the winter moonlight fell across his body.

He extended his right index finger, aimed at the iron plate tied to a wooden stake, and thrust.

Ting.

A finger-sized hole appeared in the center of the plate, its edges curled slightly outward. A twisting force had driven straight through it.

A bulge rose on the back of the plate, laced with fine cracks. The night wind passed through the hole with a thin, piercing whistle.

Ye An gazed at the hole with its upturned edges and recalled his first days of training, when he could not even leave the faintest white mark on a bluestone slab.

Back then, his fingers had been wrapped in strips of cloth and hurt so badly he could barely hold his chopsticks. Now the iron plate might as well have been tofu.

Moonlight filtered through the leaves, casting shifting, dappled shadows across his face.

[Azure Cloud Finger (Third Level): 500/500]

He had finally reached Third Body Tempering.

And the year-end Martial Arts Hall Exchange Tournament was drawing near.

Ye An did not go to the Martial Hall over the next few days.

Rumors traveled faster than the north wind.

After Ye An failed to appear at the Martial Hall for several days, whispers spread across the training ground like mold creeping along the foot of a wall.

"Have you heard? Ye An hasn't shown up in days."

"Didn't they say he was training in seclusion?"

"In seclusion? He could've done that any time, but he chooses right before the Martial Arts Hall Exchange Tournament?"

Zhou Yuanlong idly waved the folding fan in his hand. A faint smile played at the corners of his mouth.

"That's called knowing when to act," Sun Wanqing said unhurriedly.

"True." Zhou Yuanlong closed his fan and tapped it twice against his palm. "Better than being carried out of the ring."

Sun Wanqing stood beside him with her hands tucked into her sleeves. Her lips curved at his words, a faintly mocking smile in her eyes.

"Some people put on quite a show until the crucial moment. Then they run faster than anyone."

The others said nothing. Unlike those two, they could not simply go home if they left the Martial Hall. And as things stood, Ye An was the strongest student the hall had.