Heaven Grade martial arts!
Lin Yuan's eyes shone, and his heart pounded.
He had actually stumbled upon an incredible bargain!
He suppressed his excitement and began studying it closely.
A moment later, Lin Yuan opened his eyes, his young face falling.
This Savage Bear Tyrant Body Art was indeed genuine Heaven Grade martial arts, but the problem was that he had no way to cultivate it.
This art came from ancient times. According to its general outline, cultivation required the blood essence of the demonic beast known as the Savage Bear.
Was this a joke?
Demonic beasts had been extinct for thousands of years! Where was he supposed to find Savage Bear blood essence?
"I got excited for nothing."
Lin Yuan rubbed his temples and sighed helplessly.
Determined not to waste anything, he stroked his chin and pondered.
Since he could not find an ancient Savage Bear, could he settle for the next best thing and substitute ordinary black bear blood?
He had already combined and extrapolated several cultivation arts, accumulating considerable experience in creating martial arts of his own.
Without an epiphany, he truly could not extrapolate a low-level art into a higher-level one.
But what if he stripped down and simplified a high-level art into a lower-level one? With his hundredfold comprehension, it might just work!
The dim oil lamp flickered as Lin Yuan began his first attempt.
An unknown amount of time passed.
He abruptly opened his eyes, and red light flashed before him.
[Martial arts: Tyrant Body Art (uninitiated 0/100) (Human Grade)]
It worked!
This simplified Tyrant Body Art only required ordinary bear blood for body tempering and cultivation, and could be cultivated all the way to the peak third-grade meridian opening realm.
Moreover, progress in this art was extremely fast. Its only drawback was that the cultivation process was a hundred million little bits painful.
Lin Yuan ignored that outright. He was not going to practice it himself, anyway. He had prepared it for those fifty youths in the first place.
How could they improve their strength in a short time without suffering a little?
Now that the internal cultivation art was settled, he could not neglect external martial arts and movement techniques either.
His interest piqued, Lin Yuan continued his research.
He used the Lin Clan's ancestral Life-Severing Saber as the foundation, combining it with over a hundred basic saber arts.
Discarding the dross and retaining the essence, he specifically kept the moves with tremendous killing power.
An hour later, another martial art was successfully forged.
[Martial arts: Life-Severing Wind-Listening Saber (uninitiated 0/100) (Human Grade)]
This saber art not only had fierce, exceptionally ruthless moves, but also retained the Life-Severing Saber's life-risking characteristic.
It could unleash a lethal strike by burning blood essence, though the price was rather steep.
In milder cases, the user would be exhausted and weakened for three days.
In severe cases, it would damage their foundation, reduce them to a cripple, or even kill them on the spot.
Next, Lin Yuan used Flowing Cloud Steps as the foundation and combined it with over a hundred basic movement techniques.
After most of another hour passed, red light flashed before his eyes.
[Martial arts: Flowing Cloud Wind-Chasing Steps (uninitiated 0/100) (Human Grade)]
This movement technique excelled at dodging and maneuvering within a small area, as well as covering long distances at speed.
Of course, if cultivated to a profound level, it could also turn the practitioner into an eye-catching skyrocket monkey.
Lin Yuan rubbed his throbbing head. After an entire night of intensive study, his mind could barely hold on.
His heavy eyelids battled each other, but he forced himself to stay awake.
Still not enough!
The other two martial arts were fine, but the Tyrant Body Art was different. Those youths could practice it, and so could Ninth Uncle, but Master Wu could not!
The old man was nearly sixty. He must not put him through something that might harm him.
He suddenly remembered the slow health-preserving fist routine Master Wu practiced every day.
With a thought, he forcibly roused his spirits and began improving it.
Just before Lin Yuan fell completely unconscious, the light screen before him flickered.
[Martial arts: Health-Preserving Fist (uninitiated 0/80) (Human Grade)]
Early the next morning.
Lin Yuan struggled out of bed, dizzy and lightheaded, his head feeling as though it would explode.
Bracing himself against the edge of the bed, he spent a full seven or eight minutes recovering before he felt a little better.
He resolved never to overdraw his mental strength like this again.
In the rear courtyard.
Master Wu was slowly practicing his fist routine, while Lin Liu waited beside him with a washbasin.
"Master Wu, your fist art is truly extraordinary! It's like wisdom poured straight into my head, as though a ray of spiritual light were shooting out of the crown!"
Master Wu grinned from ear to ear.
"Ahem."
Lin Yuan strode forward and handed him a book fragrant with fresh ink.
"Master, take a look at this."
Master Wu opened the booklet, read two pages, and cried out in surprise.
"This is a Human Grade cultivation art? Where did it come from?"
Lin Yuan gave a vague answer. Before Master Wu could ask further, he waved and headed to the front courtyard.
Behind him, Master Wu studied the fist manual curiously. As he turned the pages, his expression gradually grew peculiar.
Why did this fist art look so familiar?
Wang's Tea House.
Lin Yuan led Lin Jiu into the rear courtyard.
The fifty youths in flying-fish robes had long since formed five columns, standing ramrod straight.
Wang Cheng stood at the front of the ranks and cupped his fists in salute.
"We pay our respects, sir!"
The youths shouted in unison, their voices resounding.
Lin Yuan walked up the steps, faced everyone, and spoke slowly.
"It seems you all improved after yesterday's baptism, but that's not enough. Nowhere near enough!"
Everyone immediately straightened, listening for what came next.
Lin Yuan continued.
"The Dragon Guard handles nothing but thorny cases, but you're too weak. You'll only end up as cannon fodder."
They exchanged looks, a chill settling in their hearts. But cultivation was not something they could rush, however anxious they were.
Lin Yuan took three booklets from his robes, their ink not yet dry.
"In light of that, I specifically found three Human Grade martial arts that can be mastered quickly: the internal cultivation art Tyrant Body Art, the saber art Life-Severing Wind-Listening Saber, and the movement technique Flowing Cloud Wind-Chasing Steps."
Boom!
At these words, the previously quiet rear courtyard instantly boiled over.
Everyone's eyes widened at once, and their breathing grew extremely heavy.
Even the usually composed Wang Cheng trembled, staring fixedly at those three thin booklets as a brilliant gleam burst from his eyes.
These were Human Grade martial arts!
For low-ranking Dragon Guards like them, the organization only provided a few Mortal Grade martial arts.
Learning Human Grade martial arts required exchanging a large number of merit points.
Yet Commandant Lin had brought out three whole arts in one go!
And most importantly, they could be mastered quickly!
Who could remain calm?
The dark-skinned youth flushed red with excitement and edged half a step forward.
"Sir! Are these really for us?"
Lin Yuan nodded affirmatively. Then his expression turned stern, and he gave a cold warning.
"Let me make the unpleasant part clear first. Although the Tyrant Body Art allows rapid progress, it requires bear blood for body tempering, and the cultivation process is somewhat painful."
"If anyone is afraid of pain and doesn't dare practice it, step forward. No one will be forced."
The youths looked at one another. Not one stepped back; instead, they all looked eager to try.
"Sir! We're not afraid!"
"I used to go hungry and cold all the time, all because I had no strength."
"As long as I can gain real ability, it'll be worth it even if I die."
"Same here!"
The youths craned their necks and bellowed, rubbing their fists and palms in anticipation.
Lin Yuan nodded, then turned and told Wang Cheng to prepare the cultivation supplies.
In less than two hours.
Ten large wooden tubs stood in the open space in the rear courtyard.
Lin Yuan added bear blood and dozens of medicinal ingredients in specific proportions, stirring vigorously.
Before long, ten youths stripped off their shirts and jumped in.
At first, things were fairly calm.
But before even ten breaths had passed, the medicinal potency burrowed into their bodies through their pores, and all the youths' expressions changed.
One agonized scream after another instantly rang through the tea house's entire rear courtyard!
"Ah! It hurts like hell!"
"Mother! My bones are going to shatter!"
Seeing that the youths cried out in pain but not one stood up, Lin Yuan nodded in satisfaction.
He told Lin Jiu to cultivate alongside them, then strolled out of the tea house.
Over the following days, Ping'an County completely returned to its former tranquility.
Apart from visiting the tea house each day to check his subordinates' progress, Lin Yuan devoted all his time to cultivation.
His hundredfold cultivation speed, coupled with one epiphany each day, allowed him to naturally break through to the early second rank force-gathering realm.
Good news also came from the tea house.
After soaking in medicinal baths for two days, Lin Jiu finally broke through his bottleneck and entered the first-grade early Qi and Blood realm in one leap.
Wang Cheng and the dark-skinned youth followed closely behind, both reaching the threshold of the Qi and Blood realm on the third day.
Five days passed in the blink of an eye.
At noon that day, Lin Yuan was basking in the sun in the courtyard.
A sudden burst of hurried footsteps came from the front courtyard.
"Sir! Sir!"
Wang Cheng jogged all the way into the rear courtyard, clutching something tightly in his hand.
Lin Yuan raised an eyebrow.
"What is it?"
Wang Cheng wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and hurriedly raised his hand.
"Please look, sir. This is an urgent official request for assistance with an investigation from Qingshan Commandery."