Dragon-Tiger Bone-Tempering Soup

Shocking Heron Martial Hall, rear courtyard pharmacy.

It was more than ten degrees hotter here than outside. Waves of heat rolled through the room, and a suffocating, acrid smell filled the air.

It was not a pleasant smell. Like charred animal bones mixed with strong liquor, it burned his nostrils with a single breath, all the way down to his lungs.

A huge black-iron vat, large enough to hold two people, stood over a furnace. Pinewood crackled beneath it as flames licked greedily at its base.

The liquid inside was an eerie dark red. It bubbled and burbled, and every bursting bubble sent up a wisp of crimson vapor.

"Is this the Dragon-Tiger Bone-Tempering Soup?"

Li Xiang stood beside the vat, staring at the magma-like medicine, and swallowed.

"Scared?"

Hong Tianbao held an arm-thick stirring rod, slowly turning it through the vat. Each stroke dragged up a heavy whirlpool.

"This soup looks vicious," Li Xiang said honestly.

"Good. It should."

Hong Tianbao stopped stirring and tapped the thick rim with the rod. It gave a dull thud.

"Do you know where this formula came from?"

Li Xiang shook his head.

Hong Tianbao did not keep him guessing. "Before the Demon Dynasty came the Wu Dynasty. And before the Wu Dynasty, this land was ruled for over four thousand years by a glorious dynasty called the Divine Dynasty."

"The Divine Dynasty?" Li Xiang raised an eyebrow.

That was probably its posthumous name, much as the previous dynasty was called the Demon Dynasty.

"That was an age long past. Masters and grandmasters were as common as dogs in the street. Incense worship flourished to its peak, and provincial governors ruled the thirteen provinces on the emperor's behalf, treating the people like weeds and beasts of burden."

"But even a dynasty at the height of such splendor met its end."

"Then that man appeared."

"He led the Way of Great Peace, one of the roots of Daoism. Unable to bear the people's suffering, he declared war on heaven in the body of a mortal."

"He called himself the Celestial Master of Great Peace. Gathering the finest medicinal treasures under heaven, he refined a heaven-defying pill called the Dragon-Tiger Pill."

"They said an ordinary farmer who swallowed one would instantly shed his mortal body and be reborn with boundless strength, becoming a Yellow Turban Strongman who knew neither pain nor exhaustion, with thick skin and tough flesh."

"Back then, the Celestial Master of Great Peace stood upon an altar before the corrupt yet mighty Divine Court and spoke only one sentence."

"Let the god-serving men come forth to die!"

"What a pity..."

Hong Tianbao sighed. "After the Celestial Master of Great Peace fell, the formula for the Dragon-Tiger Pill was lost. Later generations tried again and again to restore it, but recovered only its form, never its spirit."

"This vat of Dragon-Tiger Bone-Tempering Soup is a weaker version of the Dragon-Tiger Pill. Its secret formula came from the Celestial Master Mansion on Mount Longhu, the ancestral seat of Daoism today."

"When I traveled far and wide, I saved a gravely wounded Purple-Robed Daoist. Before we parted, he gave it to me in repayment for saving his life. He also warned me that the formula must never be passed to a second person, and that its line must end with this generation."

Never passed to a second person; its line ending with this generation.

That meant heaven knew, earth knew, and the two of them knew—but no third person could know. Nor could the formula be handed down.

Li Xiang had the notes his grandfather had left behind. The very first line said they could be passed on only to a direct blood descendant.

Hong Tianbao looked at Li Xiang. "The Dragon-Tiger Bone-Tempering Soup won't put you on the path overnight or turn you into a Yellow Turban Strongman capable of facing a hundred men alone.

"But it's more than enough to temper the sinews and bones of that mortal body of yours."

Hong Tianbao pointed at the scalding liquid.

"I had some spare time, so I improved this Dragon-Tiger Bone-Tempering Soup. I added thirty-six potent medicines. Its medicinal force burns like fire.

"Once you get in, you'll feel your flesh being stripped away and your bones being smashed to pieces. Endure it, and you'll shed your mortal body and be reborn."

"Li Xiang, do you dare get in?"

Li Xiang stared into the dark-red whirlpool. The fierce resolve behind Let the god-serving men come forth to die echoed through his mind.

In these man-eating times, if a man was not hard on himself, he could only wait for others to be hard on him.

The ancients had dared to swing a blade at heaven. All he had to do was take a bath. What was there to fear?

"Why wouldn't I?"

Li Xiang tore off his long robe. Without the slightest hesitation, he braced both hands on the scorching rim and leaped.

Splash!

He plunged completely into the boiling medicine.

"Hiss—!!!"

The instant he entered, Li Xiang nearly screamed.

Pain!

It hurt too much!

This was no water. It was liquid fire, a thousand tiny blunt knives!

Scalding medicinal force burrowed frantically through his pores, as if tens of thousands of fire ants were gnawing at his flesh and tearing at his nerves.

In an instant, Li Xiang's skin turned blood-red and veins bulged beneath it. Sweat had barely formed before it mingled with the soup.

"Hold your breath and steady your mind. Focus on your dantian." Hong Tianbao's shout exploded beside his ears.

"Don't let that breath scatter. Use the breathing method from your stance training and draw the medicine into your bones. Don't let it linger in your flesh."

Li Xiang clenched his teeth so hard that his gums bled.

Fighting through pain that threatened to drive him mad, he struggled to control his trembling body and assumed that posture in the water—neither quite sitting nor quite riding a horse.

Breathe.

Out... in...

As his breathing settled, his spine, which had already awakened the Dragon Spine trait, began to tremble faintly in the medicine.

Hum—

Just then, something changed.

The Golden Cicada had lain dormant in Li Xiang's stomach, acting like a pampered lord ever since he had swallowed it. The potent medicine seemed to wake it.

"Chirp—"

A joyous cicada call, edged with greed, rang out inside Li Xiang.

The sound never left his body, yet it set his organs resonating.

Then Li Xiang felt a terrifying pull erupt from his abdomen.

The scalding medicinal force, previously wild and chaotic as it ravaged his tissues, surged toward his abdomen as though summoned.

The Golden Cicada was devouring the medicine.

Li Xiang's heart jolted. It won't suck me dry, will it?

But the next moment, he realized he was wrong.

The Golden Cicada did not merely take without giving.

It was like a finely tuned living filter, or a miniature alchemy furnace.

It gulped down the most violent, harmful fiery toxins and impurities, then fed purified, gentle golden energy brimming with vitality back into Li Xiang's body.

Before, the medicinal force had been a brutal hammer, smashing Li Xiang's bones in an attempt to reforge them.

Now the energy returned by the Golden Cicada was a pair of gentle divine hands, swiftly repairing and rebuilding the damaged tissue.

Destruction, repair.

Destruction again, repair again.

Through that endless cycle, Li Xiang's skin grew tougher, gaining the resilience of oxhide.

His muscle fibers drew tighter, like steel cables twisted taut.

His spine greedily absorbed the golden energy, taking on a faint jade-like sheen.

[Tempered by the medicinal bath, your physique is undergoing a transformation...]

[Boxer experience +1]

[Boxer experience +1]

[...]

In his mind, notifications from the Book of a Hundred Trades flashed by in a frantic stream.

The Boxer experience bar, which had once crawled like a turtle, now climbed visibly. In mere moments, it gained more than three days of grueling practice would have given him.

Li Xiang could no longer hear anything outside. He was completely immersed in that strange state where agony and exhilaration existed together.

Outside the vat.

Hong Tianbao held several silver needles, ready to save Li Xiang the moment he could no longer endure it.

The Dragon-Tiger Bone-Tempering Soup was too potent. An ordinary person taking their first bath had to be pulled out after fifteen minutes at most, or the heat would damage their brain.

Yet time ticked by.

Fifteen minutes... thirty minutes... an hour...

Hong Tianbao's eyes opened wider and wider. The narrow slits they usually formed had become perfect circles.

"Is that brat a tortoise? How can he take so much?"

He looked into the vat.

The soup, once dark red as blood, was visibly fading. It had turned a murky pale yellow.

Had he absorbed the medicinal force?

All of it?!

"What the hell," Hong Tianbao muttered. "Even I had to climb out after absorbing only thirty percent during my first bath. Was this brat born with a sacred martial physique? Or is he a medicine jar that came to life?"

Even martial artists who had already entered the path did not dare soak long in a medicine as fierce as the Dragon-Tiger Bone-Tempering Soup!

At last, two hours passed.

The liquid in the vat had turned completely clear. Not a trace of medicinal scent remained.

[Profession: Boxer]

[Level: Lv3 (5/30)]

A single dose of potent medicine had raised his Boxer experience by twenty points.

It had spared him twenty days of grueling practice.

Literary pursuits were for the poor, martial pursuits for the rich. Without money for medicinal ingredients, the martial path stretched endlessly ahead.

Splash!

Water sprayed everywhere.

Li Xiang stood up in the vat.

Steam still rose from his bare torso. His skin was a healthy bronze, and his once somewhat slender body now looked a full measure sturdier.

It was not the rigid bulk of piled-on muscle. Like a hunting leopard's, every muscle was sleek and sharply defined, brimming with explosive power.

"Feels great!"

Li Xiang shouted, his voice ringing like a bell. He felt strength to spare in every limb, and even his organs seemed refreshed.

He lowered his head, looked at his hands, and clenched them hard.

Crack!

His knuckles snapped and the air shuddered, producing a sharp sound like a cracking whip.

He turned to Hong Tianbao, whose face looked as though he had seen a ghost, and flashed his white teeth.

"Hall Master, that soup was good. Had a real kick to it. Could you make me a bigger batch tomorrow?"

Hong Tianbao's mouth twitched violently.

A bigger batch?

Did he think he was ordering another helping at a restaurant?

This bone-tempering medicine cost fifty silver dollars per dose. Its ingredients were hard to find, and brewing it took time and effort. Even a wealthy, powerful family could not afford to use it like this.

"Get out, get out..." Hong Tianbao waved him away irritably. "Put your clothes on and go practice with Qingyao. That medicinal force is still stored in your body. If you don't work it through, you might bleed to death from a nosebleed tonight."

"Got it!"

Li Xiang took no offense. He snatched up his robe, pulled it on, and darted out of the pharmacy, his steps light as a gust of wind.

Watching Li Xiang leave, Hong Tianbao's look of distaste slowly vanished. In its place came the smile of a man who had found a treasure.

"Well, well. Two hours, and he absorbed it all..."

Hong Tianbao looked at the spent soup, now clear as water, and rubbed the short stubble on his chin.

"First Qin Zhong, with a life harder than heaven itself. Now Li Xiang, that medicine-jar freak. The blind fortune-teller was right. Perhaps my opportunity really does lie in Riverside."

"But..."

He remembered something, and his expression changed.

"Damn it. That brat absorbed so much ferocious medicine. His yang energy must be surging with nowhere to go, and Qingyao is about to practice Knife-Clasping Hand-Wrestling with him..."

"This... won't cause trouble, will it?"

Hong Tianbao hesitated. Then he recalled what the Ye Family patriarch had told him before he left Guangzhou, and shook his head.

"Forget it. Qingyao never indulges anyone. If that brat tries anything, he can practice taking a beating!"

"He's young. A little extra fire in him is a good thing!"