By the time he returned to the martial hall, it was already late at night.
Jiang Fa stripped off his bloodstained clothes, then unwound the bandages that had stanched the bleeding and sprinkled wound medicine over his shoulder and back.
The powder touched his wounds, making him bare his teeth in pain.
Though he had yet to truly cultivate the first level of the Seven-Colored Glazed Glass Art to perfection, his tireless daily practice and the art's constant nourishment had already transformed his physique beyond recognition.
Not only had his physical strength and defenses increased greatly, but his recovery speed was also far faster than before.
As he felt the changes in his body,
a thoughtful look entered Jiang Fa's eyes.
"If I cultivate the first level of the Seven-Colored Glazed Glass Art to perfection, just how strong will my body become?"
His trip to Black Wind Ridge had let him experience the benefits of the Seven-Colored Glazed Glass Art firsthand.
It truly lived up to its name as a Heaven Rank body-refining art.
Several times, danger had sprung up all around him. Without the formidable physique this art had forged,
he might long since have been gravely wounded by a ferocious beast, just like the first person he had encountered.
How could he have reaped all these rewards afterward?
"It looks like I'll have to work even harder at cultivating the Seven-Colored Glazed Glass Art from now on."
His mind made up,
Jiang Fa gave himself a quick wash, then lay down on his side and went to sleep.
When Jiang Fa awoke, broad daylight shone outside the window.
He turned his head and glanced at the sky through the slightly open window.
It was probably already between nine and eleven in the morning.
He had slept the heavens dark and the earth dim. From collapsing onto his bed between nine and eleven last night until now, he had slept a full ten to twelve hours.
The wounds on his back and shoulder still throbbed faintly,
but it was far better than when he had first returned to the martial hall last night, when every step had felt like someone was gouging out his flesh with a knife.
He tried moving his right arm. A dark red scab had formed over the saber wound on his shoulder, and moving it caused a slight tearing sensation, but it was still bearable.
The recovery ability of the Seven-Colored Glazed Glass Art was even stronger than he had expected.
With a saber wound like this, an ordinary person would need at least three to five days of rest to recover as much as he had.
Judging by his current condition, the wound on his shoulder would heal completely in just a day or two.
He rolled out of bed, washed his face with the cold water in the wooden basin, then rummaged through his bundle for a clean outer robe and changed into it.
The bottle of wound medicine left from last night sat on the table.
Jiang Fa put the medicine away, dragged the bulging bundle out from under his bed, and spread it open on the bedboards.
There were six Azure-Maned Jackal pelts with glossy fur. Apart from the slightly inferior jackal king pelt, whose head he had smashed apart with one punch, the other two were so intact that he could find no fault with them.
There were four Iron-Backed Wolf pelts, the stiff manes along their backs standing erect, each bristle prickling his hand to the touch. Their leather was thick and tough, making them excellent material for crafting leather armor.
There was a pair of Stone-Skinned Wild Boar tusks, each as thick as a thumb, gleaming with a faint bony luster in the sunlight.
The boar hide had been folded and securely bound. Spread out, it covered fully half the bedboards. Though it was worth less than the Iron-Backed Wolf pelts, its size made up for that, and it was good material for boots or wrist guards.
The two bear paws had already shriveled slightly, but their pads remained plump and thick. They could fetch at least ten or twenty taels of silver at an apothecary.
There were six iron claws from the Iron-Claw Savage Bear, each over three inches long, curved like a sickle, their tips glinting with a cold, eerie light. Blacksmiths loved these things; mixed into hundred-refined steel, they could be forged into fine weapons.
The most valuable things were the twenty-one stalks of Blood-Coagulating Grass and the Iron-Claw Savage Bear's beast core.
He had packed wet mud around the roots of the Blood-Coagulating Grass and wrapped it in oiled paper. When he opened the paper, the dark red leaves still retained some of their fresh, moist luster.
Blood-Coagulating Grass in such good condition could sell for at least fifteen taels a stalk. Twenty-one stalks meant over three hundred taels.
As for the earth-yellow beast core, the size of a longan, he had wrapped it separately in several layers of soft cloth and kept it close to his body.
This was the essence condensed within a first-tier high grade ferocious beast. It would fetch at least thirty taels at the Precious Ganoderma Hall.
If he found a buyer who urgently needed it, even forty or fifty taels was not impossible.
He packed everything up again, then took out the Wind-Chasing Steps manual separately and leafed through it.
Its cover was crudely tanned cowhide, and the pages inside had yellowed. Several corners and edges had been worn ragged from turning, showing that its previous owner had studied it repeatedly.
The manual was thin, with only a dozen or so pages depicting eighteen footwork diagrams. Beside each diagram, tiny regular-script characters annotated the essentials of exerting force and the tricks to circulating the breath.
A Yellow Rank upper grade movement technique was already quite a good find in Qingshan County.
The outer courtyard disciples of the Zhao Clan Martial Hall learned only the most basic stance training and fist techniques.
Only inner courtyard disciples could access weapon arts and more advanced cultivation arts, while movement technique manuals were even rarer. Only a handful of people in the entire inner courtyard had practiced them.
On this trip to Black Wind Ridge, his greatest weakness had been his movement technique.
When the Crimson-Scaled Python had chased him, his speed had been a fatal flaw. Had he not been lucky enough to find that cave, he would probably have become the Crimson-Scaled Python's food by now.
This Wind-Chasing Steps manual had come at just the right time.
He opened the manual and furrowed his brows in concentration, reading through the entire Wind-Chasing Steps manual without missing a single word.
A voice immediately rang out in his mind.
"Yellow Rank upper grade martial art Wind-Chasing Steps detected. Would you like to learn it?"
Without a second thought, Jiang Fa silently said, Learn.
[Talents: Heavenly Dao Rewards Me, Learning Inevitably Bears Fruit] [Realm: Middle Stage of Ming Jin] [Cultivation arts: Mountain-Breaking Stance (mid Yellow grade) · Second level (321/500), Seven-Colored Glazed Glass Art (Heaven Rank, upper grade) · First level (350/1000)] [Martial arts: Mountain-Breaking Fist (mid Yellow grade) · Minor achievement (423/500), Cloak Saber (mid Yellow grade) · Entry (144/200), Wind-Chasing Steps (Yellow Rank upper grade) · Entry (0/300)]
Wind-Chasing Steps has an entry proficiency of 300?
As he sensed the information in his mind,
Jiang Fa reconsidered and found that he was not surprised.
Wind-Chasing Steps was a Yellow Rank upper grade martial art, so it was naturally harder to learn than a mid Yellow grade martial art.
Glancing at the sky, he put the manual away again, slung the bundle onto his back, pushed open the door, and walked out.