First kill

Water drops could wear through stone?

That was hardly something that could happen overnight.

Old Zhan hesitated.

"Shaoping, this..."

Such a simple punishment could hardly even be called painful. What effect could it possibly have on a ninth-layer Body Tempering Realm expert?

Old Zhan swallowed the words on the tip of his tongue.

Fu Shaoping was not confident either.

Water-Drop Torture was one of the ten bloodless tortures he remembered. Rather than saying the drops pierced the bones, it was more that they riddled the mind with holes. He simply did not know whether this ninth-layer Body Tempering Realm expert had the willpower to endure it.

Although Old Zhan had little faith in it, he still ordered the jailers to take shifts watching day and night, adding water to the basin.

After coming up from the second underground level,

Fu Shaoping eagerly wanted to try his hand again, only to be told that he would not need to administer any punishments for the next few days.

There was nothing else to do in the prison.

For several days straight,

he spent all his time in the training room.

By day, he cultivated the Mysterious Tortoise Qi-Nourishing Art; at night, he practiced Ethereal Steps until midnight. As for Tiger Roar Fist, he had yet to begin practicing it. He intended to bring Ethereal Steps to the beginner stage first.

In the blink of an eye,

half a month had passed since he joined the Martial Suppression Bureau.

"Phew..."

Inside the training room,

Fu Shaoping let out a light breath.

He focused on the Mystic Mandate Codex in his sea of consciousness.

Body Tempering Realm, first layer (32/100)

Fu Shaoping frowned. Despite cultivating day and night and using two packets of Blood Qi Powder, his progress was still rather slow. The one-month deadline was almost upon him. If he failed to reach the Body Tempering Realm Second Level before going out on missions, danger would lurk at every turn.

After rising,

there in the training room,

he smoothly executed thirty-six intricate steps. Though he was not fast, every turn came at an unexpected angle.

Ethereal Steps: first glimpse of the path (3/100)

After completing one circuit,

Fu Shaoping was slightly out of breath.

Practicing a second-grade martial skill with first-layer Body Tempering Realm cultivation was even more strenuous than he had imagined. He still had a long way to go before reaching the beginner stage.

Whether for cultivation arts or martial skills,

it seemed that the only shortcut was to use the Mystic Mandate Codex.

Fortunately, there was some good news.

A murderer in the prison was to be hanged tomorrow!

The death penalty was the most severe form of punishment.

Fu Shaoping felt a faint sense of anticipation, wondering whether tomorrow would award a point or two more than his previous two punishments. This would also be his first time killing someone. Although no blood would be spilled, it was impossible not to feel even a little nervous.

Ring, ring, ring.

The timer bell rang inside the room.

Fu Shaoping rose and left. After returning home, he ate a few quick bites, lay down, and fell asleep.

The next day,

Fu Shaoping arrived at the prison a cup of tea earlier than usual.

Old Qiu hurried forward.

"Sir, everything is ready. The execution will begin in half an incense stick's time."

Beside the torture chamber stood a separate little dark room.

A long iron chain hung from a roof beam.

Beneath the chain stood a coffin.

Old Qiu carefully explained how to perform the execution.

Fu Shaoping nodded slightly.

By then, the jailers had escorted a middle-aged man inside. The man gave a deranged sneer, showing not the slightest fear of his impending execution. As the jailers pushed him onto the coffin lid, Fu Shaoping turned his head and asked,

"Why did he kill?"

"After his engagement was broken off because he couldn't afford the bride price, he kept nursing a grudge. Later, when he learned that his former fiancée had promptly married someone else and had a child, he deliberately chose the day of the baby's one-month celebration to poison the well. He poisoned all seventy-nine people, including the guests and the host family. Even that wasn't enough to vent his hatred. He smashed the only surviving infant to death."

This was utter madness.

Not even sparing a month-old baby made him worse than a beast!

Fu Shaoping kicked the coffin lid aside with force. With his footing gone, the condemned man immediately hung in midair. The iron chain around his neck slid downward with a rustle, but Fu Shaoping seized it with his right hand and brought it to an immediate stop.

The condemned man weighed only a little over a hundred jin.

With his current strength, even lifting something weighing two hundred jin was effortless.

"Mmph, mmph, mmph!"

The condemned man struggled desperately to break free, his feet kicking wildly in the air. Only after a long while did his arms and legs slowly go limp.

Fu Shaoping released his grip.

With a thud,

the condemned man crashed heavily into the coffin.

Seeing that Fu Shaoping had not even blinked throughout the entire process, Old Qiu felt his heart pound with alarm. This young man truly had extraordinary courage. No one would ever believe that this was his first time killing someone.

Fu Shaoping looked at the condemned man.

Strands of strange energy rapidly rose from the body. Unlike the white energy from before, this energy was red. Even before it settled, he could sense a qualitative difference.

Boom!!!

The Mystic Mandate Codex flashed violently.

Of the sixteen unlit runes surrounding the Treasure Mirror, one actually lit up.

At the same time,

a line of text flashed within the Treasure Mirror.

Body Tempering Realm Second Level (1/100)

Fu Shaoping had never imagined

that he would actually break through to the Body Tempering Realm Second Level!

Just how immense were this murderous fiend's sins to yield so much feedback? No wonder the energy rising from his body was red!

Fu Shaoping loosely clenched his fist.

At once, he felt a tremendous power gathering in his palm.

If he could shoulder only two hundred jin at the first layer of the Body Tempering Realm, carrying four hundred jin now would be no problem at all.

This was the power of the strong!

Fu Shaoping's heart surged with excitement.

Yet none of it showed on his face.

Once his excitement subsided,

He immediately realized something and focused again. The Treasure Mirror flickered faintly, and another line of text appeared.

Ethereal Steps: first glimpse of the path (30/100)

Delight filled Fu Shaoping's heart.

He remembered that it had been only "3" points before, but now it had shot up to "30." Clearly, the Treasure Mirror could improve martial skills!

His cultivation art, by contrast, had gained no more points after he reached the Body Tempering Realm Second Level.

Fu Shaoping pondered it.

Could these points only go into either a cultivation art or a martial skill each time? Did they switch to the next one only after reaching 100?

To verify it,

he only needed to do this once more.

He focused on the sixteen runes surrounding the Mystic Mandate Codex.

The illuminated rune shone with a hazy red glow, making it particularly striking. He vaguely remembered that when the Mystic Mandate Codex first turned, all sixteen runes around the Treasure Mirror had lit up.

If that deduction was correct,

then it meant

that the next time all sixteen runes on the Mystic Mandate Codex lit up, the gears of fate would turn again.

His fate configuration would change once more.

It would no longer be [Hates Evil]!

Everything was shrouded in uncertainty.

A good fate configuration would surely be flowers added to brocade, but if the turn brought him some ill-fated one, he would be in terrible trouble!

Fu Shaoping reined in his thoughts.

Having reached the second layer of the Body Tempering Realm after only half a month of cultivation, he feared that anyone who detected it would grow suspicious. He requested leave from Old Zhan and collected both packets of Blood Qi Powder stored in the Hall of Myriad Treasures. After asking an errand boy to carry word to his family, he immediately announced that he was entering secluded cultivation.