Adding Points to the Fist Stance, Reaching Cowhide!

Li Shan listened with utmost attention, occasionally asking about the details. At last, he let out a long sigh.

"Three people suddenly going missing-especially with Wang Kui being something of a troublemaker in the neighboring village-is bound to raise suspicions. But this downpour... Heaven was on our side. As long as we don't let anything slip, people will forget with time. A person or two dying in the mountains is nothing unusual."

He paused and looked at Li Xuan.

"After going through this, you need to... keep a balance in your heart. When it's time to be ruthless, you can't go soft, but you mustn't kill indiscriminately either. What we want is to survive, and to live without fear."

Li Xuan nodded solemnly. "I understand, Dad."

After a moment's hesitation, Li Xuan took the little booklet carefully wrapped in oiled paper from inside his robe and handed it to Li Shan.

"Also, Dad, I found this on Wang Kui. Could you take a look?"

Li Shan took it and carefully opened the yellowed, damp pages by the faint light of the cooking fire.

After only a few glances, his clouded eyes widened sharply. Even his fingers began to tremble.

"This... this is... an internal cultivation method!"

In his youth, he had yearned to learn martial arts. Though he had never begun training, he had heard the instructors at martial arts halls mention a few basic concepts.

The diagrams and phrases such as "Qi Circulating Through the Heavens" and "Dantian Nurturing True Essence" told him instantly that this was no ordinary booklet.

He leafed through it quickly, his expression growing graver with each page. Only when he reached the abrupt blank space at the end and the traces of torn-out pages did he shake his head regretfully.

"What a pity... It's an incomplete text, and a badly damaged one at that. Forget cultivating internal qi-if you practiced according to this, you'd be lucky not to send your qi astray and ruin your body. That bastard Wang Kui probably picked it up somewhere while he was at the martial arts hall. It's incomplete and impossible to practice, which is why he never amounted to much."

Hearing his father confirm that the method was "genuine," merely "too incomplete to practice," Li Xuan felt the great stone weighing on his heart fall away. Instead, a surge of wild delight rose within him!

As long as it's genuine! Impossible to practice? That's for other people!

He had the panel. All he needed was for it to recognize this as a skill he could cultivate.

Even if only the introductory portion remained, adding points might still let him glimpse the path through the doorway!

"Dad, this method... I'll just keep it around to read. Broaden my horizons a little."

Li Xuan tried his best to sound merely curious.

Li Shan gave his son a long, searching look, then handed the booklet back.

"Reading it is fine, but don't go blindly practicing what's written in there! This isn't something to play around with. Building a solid foundation at the martial arts hall is the proper path for you now."

"I understand, Dad." Li Xuan took the booklet and put it away securely.

Father and son exchanged a few more words in low voices. Li Shan watched his son, whose eyes now held a hidden, keen light.

Suddenly, he felt that his third son, who had once caused him endless worry, had truly grown up. Perhaps he had even...

Gone farther than his father, and become more decisive.

A jumble of emotions filled his heart, but in the end, they became nothing more than a quiet sigh and a word of advice.

"Get some rest."

Returning to his own dim half of the shack, Li Xuan shut the door.

Only then did he fully relax. Tonight had been enough to make his heart pound and his soul tremble, and his gains had far exceeded his expectations.

First, he brought up the panel.

[Name: Li Xuan]

[Age: 18]

[Root bone: Low grade]

[Physique: 1.8 (+0.5)]

[Dexterity: 1.9 (+0.6)]

[Archery Mastery: Expert (0/100)]

[Thunderclap Fist Stance: Beginner (0/20)]

[Remaining points: 55]

Looking at his generous reserve of 55 points and the pitiful progress after [Thunderclap Fist Stance: Beginner], Li Xuan did not hesitate.

"Add points to Thunderclap Fist Stance, beginner."

As his intent settled, 20 points vanished.

The words [Thunderclap Fist Stance: Beginner] blurred on the panel. Light rippled across them, and they became [Thunderclap Fist Stance: Unpracticed (0/30)].

A warm current poured into his body along with a wealth of new insights, chiefly a deeper understanding of the introductory fist forms: how to engage his muscles more effectively, and how to coordinate his breathing more naturally with his movements.

Everything that had felt awkward and unfamiliar suddenly became clear, as though he had practiced it dozens, even hundreds of times.

The effect is remarkable! Li Xuan's spirits lifted. Keep going!

"Add more points to Thunderclap Fist!"

Another 30 points went in. [Thunderclap Fist Stance: Unpracticed (0/30)] instantly leaped to [Thunderclap Fist Stance: Proficient (0/80)]!

A current of heat far stronger than before exploded through his body!

It did not wander aimlessly. Instead, it followed several specific routes he had faintly sensed while practicing the fist forms over the past few days.

It surged rapidly, swelling and pulsing!

The muscles throughout his limbs and body seemed to be hammered and tightened over and over by invisible hands.

A strange, dense sensation spread across his skin, like sandpaper scraping over it, with a faint sting mixed in.

In a flash of inspiration, he recalled Zhao Meng's explanation when he had taught them that day.

"...The foundation of our Thunderbolt Martial Arts Hall is this 'Thunderclap Fist Stance.' Stance training doesn't just temper your muscles, bones, and strength. It also tempers the skin covering your entire body!"

"When you first cross the threshold, your qi and blood nourish your skin, making it tough. This is the 'cowhide' stage. Ordinary blows from clubs hurt, but cause no injury. Once your qi and blood grow stronger and wash through it repeatedly, your skin becomes dense, hard yet supple, as though covered in a layer of stone skin. Blades leave shallow marks, and blunt blows can barely hurt you. That is the 'stone skin' stage!"

"If you can advance further, making your qi and blood like mercury and refining them into a unified whole, you can temper your skin until it's like cast iron. Ordinary swords and sabers will struggle to pierce it. Only then have you fully achieved 'iron skin'! At that point, the initial tempering of your skin is complete, and your qi and blood have been built into a sufficiently powerful foundation. Only then are you qualified to attempt breaking through the three 'Blood Gates' within your body!"

Blood Gates... Li Xuan's thoughts raced.

Zhao Meng had indeed mentioned that before becoming a true martial artist of the body tempering realm...

One had to break through three invisible barriers to qi and blood within the body, a process called "Blood Gate Breaking."

With each gate broken, qi and blood flowed more freely, and strength, speed, endurance, and even reactions underwent a noticeable leap.

Only after breaking through all three Blood Gates could qi and blood begin flowing throughout the entire body, reaching a state of "qi and blood like mercury, surging without cease." Only then had one formally entered the body tempering realm.

One would then be qualified to learn more profound methods of channeling and exerting force, with strength as far removed from ordinary people as clouds were from mud.

"So that's how it works..."

Feeling how much stronger and more condensed his qi and blood had become, along with the firmness of his skin, Li Xuan understood at once.

In my current state, my skin is tough and firm, with a rigid strength to it. An ordinary woodcutter's blade would probably only leave a white mark... This is the cowhide stage! And my qi and blood have grown much more vigorous, too...

By now, he could already sense a thin membrane within his body.

Yet he still seemed just a little short of being able to break through it!

Still a little short of breaking through the first Blood Gate... This is so hard!

A thought suddenly struck Li Xuan.

No wonder Wang Kui had been so strong, and quicker than an ordinary hunter.

It seemed he had probably broken through the first Blood Gate too, brushing the edge of the Martial Dao, but that was likely as far as he had gone.

And... he'd been away from the martial arts hall for years. His qi and blood must have declined somewhat.

Otherwise, killing him might truly not have been so easy for Li Xuan!