Skin-Grinding Method

Chapter 30: Skin-Grinding Method (Requesting Follow-Read)

Chen Song at the side also wore a look of mixed shock and suspicion, sizing Li Feng up from top to bottom as if meeting him for the very first time.

Li Feng leisurely put down the teacup in his hand, a hint of a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth as he half-jokingly bantered, "What else could the situation be? I reckon Constable Jiang saw that my martial dao talent is astonishing, and today she specifically wants to give me some hand-in-hand guidance in private."

Zhang San and Chen Song rolled their eyes in unison, their faces practically plastered with I'd have to be a ghost to believe you.

"Get out of here, you only know how to brag and talk big!"

Zhang San shoved him irritably and said in a low voice, "Constable Jiang usually has a look of keeping strangers at a distance. It's guaranteed that you messed up on patrol or somewhere else while working. Go on in later, confess properly, and pray for your own good fortune!"

"Alright, see you later."

Li Feng smiled noncommittally and stopped bantering with them, taking long strides as he walked toward Jiang Yue's Administrative Office.

Walking right up to the Administrative Office, Li Feng raised his hand and gave two light knocks.

"Come in."

Jiang Yue's voice came from inside. Li Feng pushed the door open and casually shut it behind him.

The interior furnishings of the Administrative Office were simple and elegant. Jiang Yue sat upright behind the rosewood desk, sizing Li Feng up with a profound gaze.

"Constable Jiang."

Li Feng stopped at a distance of about two meters and cupped his hands in a bow.

Seeing Li Feng stand still, Jiang Yue didn't beat around the bush and straight out said, "The one who broke into your courtyard last night is the escaped felon on the wanted list with a bounty of four hundred taels of silver, Liu Wu."

"It was actually Liu Wu?"

Li Feng raised an eyebrow, feigning astonishment.

After he went back and lay down last night, he had guessed roughly what was going on after thinking it over carefully. Able to be personally chased by Constable Jiang late into the night and still fight him to a standstill while in a blinded state, it shouldn't be any ordinary thief; he reckoned it was just this escaped felon Liu Wu.

Jiang Yue glanced at him and continued, "Lin Yanqiu entered the City Guard Office a few years ago, and then a year later she became a Regular Constable. I suppose it was also at that time that she managed to get hold of a blade technique for you."

Saying this, Jiang Yue leaned forward slightly and said with increasing conviction, "You practiced bitterly in private these past few years until Lin Yanqiu became a chief constable a few months ago, and then she found a way to squeeze you in here as a temporary White Runner. At that time, you probably also practiced the blade technique to perfection, and your martial dao had not yet entered. Reaching perfection in the blade technique must be something you only achieved quite recently."

In just a few short words, Jiang Yue had figured out Li Feng's background almost completely.

Li Feng wasn't all that surprised; he guessed that during the first few days when Jiang Yue had just arrived, she had already thoroughly figured out the situation of the former chief constable Lin Yanqiu and him, this connection-backed hireling.

This resume didn't have any problems at all; she might have even investigated clearly where he went to drink tea every day and where he slacked off. The only thing that wasn't quite right was... he had only spent a single night to bring this blade technique to perfection.

The meager salary his sister-in-law earned from her official post was mostly used up on a daily basis to grease palms with superiors and maintain her own martial dao cultivation. Where would she have any spare money to help him get a proper external blade technique?

In truth, his sister-in-law had only become a chief constable a few months ago, which was why she had the ability to pull strings and stuff him into the City Guard Office as a temporary White Runner.

This blade technique was something he had picked up from searching a corpse anyway, and he hadn't expected it to actually be a proper external blade technique. He could consider himself lucky.

Of course he couldn't honestly tell the Constable Jiang before him that he carried an unspeakably great power, needing only to practice a martial dao cultivation method until entry to directly max it out with a single click. He had practiced this blade technique to perfection in just a single day.

Even though the later period spent paying off debts took over a month, all things considered, it took him just over a month to practice this blade technique from uninitiated to perfection.

Compared to the "years of bitter practice" in Constable Jiang's mouth, this fell short by a hundred thousand eight thousand miles.

However, Li Feng naturally wouldn't be foolish enough to explain all this.

Since Jiang Yue was willing to piece together a reasonable persona on her own, it saved him the effort of racking his brains to fabricate excuses for cover.

If she believed he had practiced bitterly for a few years, then so be it.

"Constable Jiang has discerning eyes."

Li Feng cupped his fists once more to show respect.

Jiang Yue gazed at him with a calm expression and suddenly asked, "How old are you this year?"

"Reporting to Constable Jiang, I just turned eighteen this year." Li Feng answered truthfully.

"Eighteen..." Jiang Yue nodded slightly, a trace of approval flashing in her eyes. "To be able to practice an unknown blade technique to perfection within three to four years and produce blade force, your talent is indeed rare. However, you should have heard of the saying of internal training and body tempering, right?"

Li Feng nodded and answered truthfully, "Reporting to My Lady, I once heard sister-in-law occasionally mention it and have always wanted to practice it, but this kind of art is not only precious, it also requires a large amount of medicinal cuisine piled up. Your subordinate has no connections and no path, so I've never had the opportunity to touch it."

Jiang Yue nodded and continued unhurriedly, "Skin grinding, flesh training, tendon transformation, bone forging-this is the most orthodox path for a martial artist's body tempering. Generally speaking, reaching Skin-Grinding Perfection makes brushing off a dozen or so ruffians effortlessly no problem. If you can advance further and achieve Flesh-Training Perfection, even dozens of robust men swarming you won't be able to do anything to you."

At this point, she raised her eyes to stare intently at Li Feng: "Your comprehension is exceedingly high, and you were able to comprehend blade force on your own. Although it's a bit late to start practicing the body tempering method now, based on your aptitude, starting from now, as long as you are willing to put in bitter effort, reaching the peak of Flesh-Training Perfection in the future will by no means be a difficult task. Once you reach that kind of realm, at the very least being a chief constable won't be an issue, and in this Fish-Dragon District of the Outer City, you will be sufficient to stand firm."

"The Liu Wu who vaulted into your courtyard last night is merely a figure at Skin-Grinding Perfection. He was already severely injured by me at that time and had both eyes blinded, but you should have experienced what kind of strength he possessed back then."

Li Feng was secretly alarmed; more than just experiencing it, thinking about it now still made his heart palpitate with lingering fear.

If it weren't for the fact that he was heavily injured and ambushed by his sister-in-law who threw a handful of lime to blind his vision, he probably really wouldn't have been that guy's opponent.

He sighed and admitted frankly, "What My Lady says is true. If that Liu Wu were completely unharmed, your subordinate would definitely not be his match and would probably lose my life in a single exchange."

Seeing that he recognized the reality clearly, Jiang Yue nodded with satisfaction:

"That's it. Right now you only have the skill of 'force', yet your physical body is floating and weak. Dealing with a few martial artists who have just entered the martial dao is naturally useful, but once you truly confront someone who has practiced the internal training method to a certain level, you will immediately fall into a disadvantage. Their moves might be crude, but relying solely on a robust physique, they can still break all techniques with sheer force."

"With your current standard, at best you're fifty-fifty with those brutes who have reached Skin-Grinding Perfection yet don't understand any external martial arts moves at all. However, if you also practice skin grinding to perfection, then within the same realm, you can sweep across everything. Even if you encounter someone at Flesh Training Minor Accomplishment who hasn't comprehended 'force', you will still have the strength to fight."

Following this kind of analysis from his female superior, Li Feng's mind suddenly cleared up, and he finally had a firm grasp of his own strength.

The blade technique is the moves, while body tempering is the foundation; the two complement each other and form the true martial dao path.

Thinking about it carefully, something as mysterious and elusive as "force" relies entirely on personal comprehension and is extremely rare.

As for tempering the physical body, as long as one is willing to spend resources and time, it can entirely be piled up. Therefore, someone like him who comprehended "force" so early would naturally be valued by others.

After all, throughout the entire City Guard Office, chief constables who reached Flesh-Training Perfection and Qi-Blood Third Stage through grinding work were dime a dozen, while those who comprehended "force" were few and far between.

"You have already achieved 'force', which demands the most talent. The remaining body tempering is nothing more than grinding work."

Jiang Yue leaned forward slightly and finally cut to the core matter:

"Capturing Liu Wu alive last night means you should take top credit. The reward silver is four hundred taels. I have no intention of coveting your reward silver, but right now I truly cannot pull out this much ready cash to advance it. The man was escorted into the Inner City early this morning, and the bounty still needs some time to go through the approval process. I see that you also have some martial dao talent."

"How about this, I'll give you two choices."

"First, patiently wait a few days. Once those four hundred taels come down in a few days, you take all of it. Second, I will impart a family-inherited Skin-Grinding Art to you right now. This Skin-Grinding Art is different from shallow external cultivation methods; practicing it causes minimal damage to the body, and even when you are older, you won't need to worry about accumulated hidden injuries flaring up. If you truly bought it with silver, four hundred taels might not even be able to buy it. How do you choose?"

"Constable Jiang, you are..."

Li Feng timely drew in a cold breath, his face revealing just the right amount of astonishment and panic as he raised his head to look at Jiang Yue.

Yet in his heart, he was already as clear as a mirror. Given his age, being able to comprehend blade force purely through self-study, the martial dao talent he displayed was perhaps even higher than he had anticipated, to the extent that this Jiang Yue had stirred up a cherishing-talent mindset and spared no expense in bringing out a family-inherited cultivation method to invest in him.

Four hundred taels of ready silver, or a martial art with a profound foundation passed down through a family.

For Li Feng, this was definitely a choice that could change his destiny.

If he considered it from the perspective of future martial dao cultivation, then choosing this Skin-Grinding Method was naturally better.

After all, having chosen this Skin-Grinding Method, he only needed to return and practice it daily. Once he entered the threshold, he could instantly reach perfection, at which point he could directly attain Qi-Blood Second Level Perfection. Moreover, if it truly was as Jiang Yue said, her Skin-Grinding Method was far superior to ordinary skin-grinding methods, so under the same realm, he would definitely be stronger than those who practiced ordinary skin-grinding methods.

And having reached the Qi-Blood Second Level, he could also smoothly become a Regular Constable at that time.

If he became a Regular Constable, would those people from the Green Bamboo Gang still dare to come to his door to collect protection money? Would they still dare to demand ten months of protection money all at once?

Absolutely impossible!

By that time, even if Li Feng actively shoved silver into Incense Master Lei's embrace, Incense Master Lei would probably have to obediently take it out and return it.

A Regular Constable of this City Guard Office was entered into the official government registry and possessed a formal establishment; it represented not just himself, but the face of the City Guard Office.

If he were a Regular Constable, how would Incense Master Lei of the Green Bamboo Gang dare to slap his table and warn him to his face, and how would those thugs under his command dare to point at his nose and mock him?

And there was also that butcher Butcher Hu, who had come to his door to dun debts just because his sister-in-law was injured and her position as chief constable was unstable, leading Butcher Hu to want to brush him off and renege on the debt like a three-year-old child.

All of this was because he lacked strength and his status was not high enough. Otherwise, even if they were given ten times the guts, they wouldn't dare!

The various humiliations he had experienced over this past month made Li Feng understand all at once that all the helplessness in this world ultimately boiled down to twelve characters.

Insufficient ability, low status, and shallow background!

Since he had figured the logic out, Li Feng cupped his fists and bowed deeply, "Constable Jiang, these four hundred taels of silver and the Skin-Grinding Method are both hard-to-come-by good fortunes for me. However, this subordinate has the audacity to decide against wanting both, and instead has another matter I wish to request. I hope Constable Jiang can grant it."