Medicinal meals

Hongyu led Li Xian out of the study.

After walking a little way, she turned to Li Xian. "You're practicing martial arts because you want to achieve Leaping Over the Dragon Gate?"

"Leaping Over the Dragon Gate?"

Li Xian gave her a puzzled look.

Seeing this, Hongyu realized she had been overthinking things.

He knew nothing at all about that "Immortal Seedling."

Then was he trying to prove himself?

She said directly, "In martial arts, resources, techniques, talent, and comprehension are all indispensable. Resources come down to one word-food. Eight-Treasure Soup replenishes qi and blood, soothes the meridians, and promotes circulation. It's the best medicinal meal for strengthening the body in the early stages."

"All right. How much does it cost? I'll pay for what I use."

"Cost?"

Hongyu gave him an odd look. "We don't even know how long you'll keep practicing. Your enthusiasm might last three minutes, and you might stop coming tomorrow or the day after. We'll keep a tab for your food, drink, and other expenses for now."

"That works too."

Li Xian did not insist.

It was easy to tell from their earlier conversation that Hongyu and Zhou Juechen treated him differently from other people.

Since neither of them explained, he could hardly ask.

He believed everything would become clear with time.

Hongyu brought Li Xian into the courtyard.

Several students who had just been practicing their boxing looked surprised. "Senior Sister? Is the talented scholar Li going to practice martial arts with us too?"

"How unusual. A promising candidate for Jieyuan, the top spot in the provincial examinations, is actually abandoning letters for arms?"

Hongyu ignored them and merely said, "Tang Zhou, Qin Wangchuan, the rest of you-listen and watch too. Review the old to learn something new."

Then she turned to Li Xian. "The boxing method used by the Five Elements Art to temper the sinews and bones is the Azure Jade Fist. Eat more, practice more, and nourish yourself more, and one day you'll comprehend force and enter the Bright Force stage. Watch closely."

With that, she began demonstrating the boxing method.

Although it was only a training method rather than a fighting method, every punch and kick still displayed fierce, domineering power.

But...

After performing the routine once, Hongyu discovered that Li Xian's attention was focused not on her boxing, but on her.

Especially that look in his eyes...

It was as though he wanted to see through her, inside and out.

Being scrutinized like this gave her the same feeling she had experienced a year earlier, when she accompanied the hall master on visits to renowned martial elders.

What an excellent frame.

Li Xian marveled sincerely.

Hongyu had a slender build and straight limbs-signs that she had already trained her force into her sinews and bones.

Not only had her force entered her sinews and bones, but she had probably also begun strengthening her internal organs.

On Blue Star, one had to develop Dark Force before it could penetrate the sinews and bones. Nourishing the internal organs required Embracing Qi and Forming a Core. Hongyu lacked the rounded unity of a Core-Embracing Grandmaster, yet she could practice Internal Organ Refinement. It was truly inconceivable.

If only he could examine her sinews and bones with his hands.

"Did you get all that?"

Hongyu's voice reached him.

"I did."

Li Xian replied.

"After one demonstration?"

Hongyu was somewhat surprised.

"Yes."

Li Xian replied.

Remembering that Li Xian was one of Lijiang's Four Great Talents and naturally possessed exceptional qualities, Hongyu soon accepted that his outstanding memory could allow him to memorize a boxing routine in one viewing. "Then start practicing."

With that, she turned to Tang Zhou and Qin Wangchuan. "As a first-rate boxing method for tempering the body and laying the foundation, the Azure Jade Fist is not only highly efficient at developing control over force. If you master it and grasp vibrating force, it also works wonders for strengthening the sinews and bones."

"Yes."

Tang Zhou, Qin Wangchuan, and the others answered together.

Hongyu nodded and glanced at Li Xian, only to find that he had already begun practicing.

And...

As time passed, he actually performed the entire routine.

He simply made quite a few mistakes.

Of course.

Who could remember everything after a single glance?

All she could say was that he had finished the routine. As for whether he had performed it correctly...

Well, he had performed it, hadn't he?

"Several parts are wrong."

Hongyu began correcting him. "For this punch, the main power should come from your waist. And this kick isn't powerful enough. Your footwork is also a little too fast..."

"No, people's physiques can't all be judged by the same standard. Practicing this way works better for me."

As he spoke, Li Xian looked at Hongyu. "Also, I've already mastered the first three realms... the first four realms. Right now, I'm combining the way the Five Elements Art's Azure Jade Fist tempers force, sinews, and bones with my own understanding of the first three realms to verify the fourth realm's internal organ training and deduce the fifth realm, Blood Exchange and Marrow Washing."

"Verify the fourth realm? Deduce the Fifth Realm?"

After hearing this, Hongyu's tone cooled.

"Yes."

Li Xian answered.

"You show some traces of training, but I can guarantee you haven't practiced martial arts for more than a month. I can tell that much from the condition of your muscles, sinews, and bones."

As Hongyu spoke, she looked him over again. "Your reputation as one of Lijiang's Four Great Talents has given you an impressive bearing. But... don't tell me that, with your sinews and bones still undeveloped, you think you can disregard all the other realms and go straight to Blood Exchange and Marrow Washing!"

At this point, even she, who had always felt goodwill toward gifted people, could no longer hold back. "Without completing external training, how can you strengthen yourself internally? Without strong internal organs, how can you exchange your blood? Martial arts require gradual, orderly progress. Who practices like you, reaching beyond your grasp and dreaming of ascending to heaven in a single step? Do you really think your scholarly talent lets you cultivate several realms at once? Martial arts have been passed down for far more than ten thousand years! If the realms could really be cultivated simultaneously, were all the grandmasters and Martial Saints throughout history fools?"

Hearing Hongyu's words, Li Xian gained some understanding.

Although he had developed some ideas about Blood Exchange and Marrow Washing lately, he had never known where to begin.

Now, it seemed that reaching beyond his grasp was the biggest reason.

Even if he had achieved Embracing Qi and Forming a Core in his previous life and stood invincible beneath heaven.

Even if he had only a tiny bit of talent, with One Proof, Eternal Proof, every attainment would remain his forever.

After becoming "Li Xian," he had ultimately only practiced martial arts for a month!

One month—with his sinews and bones undeveloped and his internal organs untrained, how could he undergo Blood Exchange and Marrow Washing?!“

Even a towering building had to rise from level ground.

For him now, establishing a firm foundation and tempering his sinews and bones mattered more than Blood Exchange and Marrow Washing, Impervious Body, or even Refining the Void into Reality.

With that thought, Li Xian nodded. "You're right. I should train my sinews, bones, and internal organs first."

"As long as you've taken it to heart. Keep practicing."

Having said that, Hongyu turned and left.

After she left, Li Xian settled his mind.

As he practiced, he carefully studied the Azure Jade Fist alongside the Myriad Forms Limitless Art he had created in his previous life by drawing on the strengths of a hundred schools.

One Proof, Eternal Proof had allowed him to achieve Embracing Qi and Forming a Core and begin nourishing his internal organs on the very first day he got out of bed to practice martial arts at the marquis's residence.

That was equivalent to the Martial Dao Fourth Stage.

But this body's foundation was too poor, and he hadn't had time to make up for its deficiencies in every respect. He needed Bone Tempering, Sinew Transformation, and internal organ strengthening, leaving him without a hint of a martial artist's robust physique at first glance. Instead, he looked more like a frail scholar.

Using the Azure Jade Fist to forge his foundation...

The Azure Jade Fist is fierce, rugged, and imposing. Compared with it, my Myriad Forms Limitless Art, which I originally thought quite good, feels restrained and delicate-like a nine-foot burly man beside a petite young woman. But in terms of intricacy, the Azure Jade Fist falls far short of the Myriad Forms Limitless Art.

Looking at the crudeness of the Azure Jade Fist, Li Xian felt as though he were confronting a practitioner of the dark arts.

Such fierce, rugged boxing certainly possessed tremendous grandeur, but weren't they afraid it would ruin their bodies?

Unless...

"Eight-Treasure Soup."

He began to understand.

Just then, a shout came from inside. "Time for soup!"

In the courtyard, Tang Zhou, Qin Wangchuan, and the others, exhausted from training, perked up.

"Finally."

"I could barely hold on."

"Soup! Soup!"

Calling out, they beckoned Li Xian along and headed straight for another courtyard.

Hongyu was already waiting there, having helped a middle-aged man bring out portions of Eight-Treasure Soup.

Li Xian accepted his portion and sniffed it. He could clearly distinguish ginseng, white atractylodes, white poria, angelica, Sichuan lovage, white peony root, and other medicinal ingredients.

He took a small sip and immediately felt that these ingredients seemed far more potent than the tonics he had taken on Blue Star!

"This..."

"Besides its techniques and hall master, the most important foundation of a martial arts hall is its tonics. The tonics of our Dragon Spring Martial Arts Hall come from the Great Martial Sect. Their effects are extraordinary."

Noticing Li Xian's surprise, Hongyu said with some pride, "That's also why Lijiang's wealthy families do everything they can to send their children to our Dragon Spring Martial Arts Hall."

"How much does a portion of Eight-Treasure Soup cost to make?"

Li Xian asked.

"One tael of silver."

This time, Hongyu did not conceal it.

One tael of silver.

That was a very high price.

Li Xian's memories contained little knowledge of martial arts, but as a scholar from a humble family, he knew that many households in Lijiang City earned only three or four taels of fine silver a year.

In the countryside and county towns, people mostly produced and sold their own goods through small household workshops, and might not earn even one tael in a year.

Yet at the same time...

That price was also very low.

The ginseng, white atractylodes, and other ingredients used in the Eight-Treasure Soup were at least several dozen years old. In his era, a bowl would definitely have cost upwards of ten million.

Here, it cost only one tael!

The price differed by nearly a thousandfold!

"Poor families pursue letters; rich families pursue arms. That has never been an empty saying! To maintain your martial progress, you need at least one bowl of Eight-Treasure Soup every three days. That's ten taels of silver a month! In Lijiang City, only a clan of a hundred people could hope to support one or two practitioners, and that support has to last not merely a year or two, but eight or ten years. That's why the Money Pass is called the first of the three great barriers!"

Seeing Li Xian marveling at the expense, Hongyu offered an explanation.

"Martial arts let you defy heaven and change your fate, but not everyone has that opportunity. Ordinary people need their entire clan to lift them up."

Li Xian nodded.

He had figured out why the fierce, rugged Azure Jade Fist did not ruin people's bodies.

The medicinal nourishment was simply too potent!

Different worlds had different circumstances.

On Blue Star, century-old ginseng had all but vanished, and martial training required meticulous budgeting.

But here...

One tael of silver could buy a portion of Eight-Treasure Soup!

He activated a secret technique derived from the Myriad Forms Limitless Art—the Whale Swallowing Technique—to stimulate his digestive system. He could clearly feel the Eight-Treasure Soup's medicinal potency turn into warm currents and seep into every limb and bone.

With that, Bone Tempering, Sinew Transformation, and strengthening the internal organs all became easier...

That evening.

Hongyu asked Li Xian, "Will you come again tomorrow?"

"Of course."

Li Xian replied.

"Good! I hope you can stick with it for three months, and I hope you really achieve something by then!"

Hongyu said.

Li Xian nodded slightly.

After leaving the Dragon Spring Martial Arts Hall, he followed the original owner's memories to a small courtyard in Green Ink Alley, three li from Soaring Dragon Ward, where the residents were mostly ordinary families.

This was the little courtyard Li Xian had rented.

It occupied less than half a mu, nowhere near the size of the Dingfeng Marquis Residence, but there was a well in the courtyard, and water in the well.

Poor families pursued letters; rich families pursued arms!

Yet schooling was not something ordinary households could afford either.

The Li family came from Qinghe County and owned a hundred mu of fertile fields and several shops.

When Li Xian came to the prefectural city to study at Pinewind Academy, he had naturally rented lodgings and brought an old servant with him.

He had married into the marquis's household, fallen out with his family, and stayed away for two months. The old servant had also returned home, but the courtyard still had a month left on its lease, so it could serve as temporary shelter.

Li Xian tidied the bedroom a little.

The old servant seemed to have left only recently, and had yet to take away the household necessities.

Lighting a lamp, Li Xian carefully read through Zhou Juechen's Five Elements Art.

Internal Organ Refinement really is similar to nourishing the organs through Embracing Qi and Forming a Core. Comparing the two, the Five Elements Fist is more efficient, but without medicinal nourishment or guidance from an accomplished teacher, it could easily ruin someone's body...

After verifying the method for Internal Organ Refinement, he skipped past the Blood Exchange and Marrow Washing section and turned his attention directly to Impervious Body.

"Impervious Body."

He stared at Zhou Juechen's annotations on this realm.

Especially the words "primordial unity"...

"Why does this look so much like Embracing Qi and Forming a Core?"