Xu Yuan swiped his card to open the door and stepped into the cultivation room.
It was somewhat different from what he had imagined. The cultivation room wasn't just four bare walls and a meditation cushion.
On the contrary, it had quite a few bells and whistles.
The walls were plastered with advertisements for all sorts of things, from martial arts school admissions to custom weapons, immediately lending the cultivation room a faintly disreputable air.
Still, the advertisements were neatly arranged. The advertisers had probably paid the base, which had put them all up.
"Looks like keeping the base running must be quite a struggle. Otherwise, they wouldn't be taking these ads," Xu Yuan guessed.
Aside from the advertisements, a half-meter-tall vending machine stood in a corner.
Through its transparent casing, he could see the products inside: body-tempering liquid.
That saved Xu Yuan some trouble. He wouldn't have to go outside to buy any.
Sitting cross-legged on the meditation cushion, Xu Yuan briefly circulated the Heaven-Shaking Art and immediately sensed a much higher concentration of divine substance than outside.
If the divine substance Xu Yuan sensed outside was a 10, what he sensed now was a 17 or even an 18.
The proportional increase was considerable. Unfortunately, Xu Yuan's baseline was too low for it to be of any real use.
"Looking at it this way, even if I really lose this cultivation room, it doesn't seem like that big a deal."
Xu Yuan gained a little understanding. Cultivating at the base depended on talent too. In cultivation rooms of the same grade, the higher one's talent, the greater the benefits.
For someone with talent as low as his, at the first tier, buying body-tempering liquid directly was actually a better option.
"Too bad the school won't let me cash out my free cultivation privileges!"
Looking regretful, Xu Yuan took out his phone, scanned the QR code on the vending machine, and bought five vials of first-tier body-tempering liquid outright.
Body-tempering liquid only came in the first through third tiers.
First-tier liquid was suitable for the early stages of skin tempering, namely the first through third tiers.
Second-tier liquid was suitable for the middle stages, the fourth through sixth tiers.
Third-tier liquid was suitable for the late stages, the seventh through ninth tiers.
Fatty had only bought a vial of third-tier body-tempering liquid before to force a breakthrough. Otherwise, third-tier body-tempering liquid wasn't actually suitable for him.
Downing a vial of body-tempering liquid in one gulp, Xu Yuan officially began cultivating.
As he circulated the Heaven-Shaking Art, the body-tempering liquid he had swallowed seemed, in Xu Yuan's perception, to turn into a ball of light formed from countless specks of starlight!
The next moment, the ball of light exploded into countless points of light, which Xu Yuan rapidly absorbed, sending them flowing throughout his limbs and bones!
Immediately afterward, that tearing agony swept through Xu Yuan's entire body once again!
Fuck!
Xu Yuan cursed inwardly, fine beads of sweat instantly seeping out across his forehead.
Compared with cultivating without body-tempering liquid, the pain now had probably increased more than tenfold!
Yet the sensation of growing stronger had become clearer too.
His cultivation was no longer crawling along like a snail.
This feels great!
Xu Yuan roared inwardly, letting his muscles spasm with pain as he continued circulating the Heaven-Shaking Art like mad.
Half an hour passed in the blink of an eye. The first vial of body-tempering liquid was exhausted, and Xu Yuan swallowed the second without hesitation!
...Then came the third, the fourth, and the fifth.
Only when Xu Yuan wanted to swallow another did he suddenly realize that all five vials of body-tempering liquid he had bought were already used up.
Staring at the five empty bottles before him, Xu Yuan was dazed for a moment before he noticed something amiss.
Am I absorbing the body-tempering liquid a little too quickly?
In his memories, his predecessor had also bought a vial of body-tempering liquid, but it had taken three days to absorb it all.
Yet now, he had actually absorbed five vials in just over two hours!
Was it because of the cultivation art?
That must be it.
Aside from that, Xu Yuan couldn't think of any other reason.
After absorbing that much, how far has my cultivation advanced?
Xu Yuan's gaze shifted slightly as he quickly checked his cultivation level. The result nearly made him cough up blood.
Five vials of first-tier body-tempering liquid, combined with his previous accumulation in skin tempering first tier, had actually only brought his Heaven-Shaking Art cultivation to around 15% of skin tempering first tier.
To reach completion in skin tempering first tier, he would need at least another seventy or eighty vials!
That meant a hundred and fifty or sixty thousand!
"What the fuck..." Xu Yuan was speechless.
Still, he had been somewhat mentally prepared for this. He quickly adjusted his mindset, got up, and left the cultivation room.
It was past eleven. Time for lunch.
Divine martial artists could only forgo food after reaching the organ training realm. Before that, they still needed to eat.
Walking out of the martial arts base, Xu Yuan looked around and headed straight into a fast-food restaurant.
Quite a few martial arts students had come out for lunch just like Xu Yuan. There were over a dozen in the restaurant he had chosen alone.
At that moment, those students were excitedly discussing what cultivating at the base felt like.
"It feels amazing! At least forty percent faster than cultivating at home!"
"It really does. At this rate, I feel like I'll break through to Skin-Polishing Fifth Stage in three days at most. Then I'll find someone in grade C to challenge!"
"Why challenge someone in grade C? Just challenge Xu Yuan! His cultivation room is grade B!"
"You don't have to tell me that. But so many people want to challenge him. Who knows who he'll choose?"
"I know! He'll definitely pick whoever's weakest. That's what I'd do if I were him!"
"That makes sense. How about we pretend to be injured? Maybe he'll pick us..."
"Great idea. Too bad I overheard it!"
The speaker was talking enthusiastically, a sly gleam in his eyes, when a teasing voice suddenly sounded beside him. He turned and instantly froze in embarrassment.
Xu Yuan!
They were fucking plotting and scheming, only for their intended target to be right beside them. It really was rather awkward.
"Xu Yuan, does cultivating in a grade B cultivation room feel good?" someone nearby asked.
"It's all right. Want it?"
Xu Yuan smiled, not angry that these people were trying to scheme against him.
Because he was scheming against them too!
"Of course I do. Will you accept my challenge when the time comes?" the student asked, anticipation in his eyes.
"I'd like to, but so many people want to challenge me. If I accept yours, what about everyone else?"
"Who cares about everyone else? Just accept my challenge, and we'll be brothers from now on!"
Brothers?
The corner of Xu Yuan's mouth twitched.
Trying to snare a white wolf with your bare hands here?
In no hurry to respond, Xu Yuan first ordered a set meal at the counter and found an empty seat. Only then did he say, "I've always been fair and impartial. Anyone who wants to challenge me, send me a message later. I'll make a group chat, and we can take our time discussing it."
At those words, everyone exchanged glances, unsure what medicine Xu Yuan was selling in his gourd.
Xu Yuan offered no explanation. When the server brought his set meal, he quickly finished eating and returned to the cultivation room.
It wasn't until eight that evening, when the base was about to close, that Xu Yuan came out.
Including the five vials of body-tempering liquid he had consumed earlier, he had used a full twenty vials that day, totaling forty thousand!
Yet his progress in skin tempering first tier had only just exceeded 30%.
Still, the increase in his strength was quite significant.
Xu Yuan checked and felt that, without using any techniques, his punching force had probably already exceeded 600 jin!
At this rate, surpassing a thousand by Saturday wouldn't be a problem!
But to maintain this pace, he first needed money.
Forty thousand a day meant a hundred and twenty thousand over three days, while he only had a little over sixty thousand left.
When I get back, I'll finalize the leather armor deal. Tomorrow, I'll complete the transactions with my classmates! Also, I can auction off the right to challenge me tonight. Everyone wants to challenge him so badly, it should fetch ten thousand or so.
As Xu Yuan made his calculations, he looked at the students emerging from their cultivation rooms with an exceptionally warm gaze.
These were all benefactors of his!