"Trunk bones?"
Wang Hai nodded, walked over to the wall, and picked up the tablet he had previously given Shen Heng to study the Five Animal Fist on his own. Then he walked back.
"Before tempering your trunk bones, you first need to understand their structure."
As Wang Hai spoke, he swiped across the tablet, seemingly searching for something.
Soon, he handed the tablet over. Shen Heng took it and saw a 3D model of a human skeleton on the screen, which could be rotated left and right, zoomed in, and zoomed out.
"There are fifty-one trunk bones in total, including twenty-six bones in the spinal column, one sternum, and twenty-four ribs," Wang Hai explained. "The spinal column consists of seven cervical vertebrae, twelve thoracic vertebrae, five lumbar vertebrae, one sacrum, and one coccyx."
"These fifty-one bones are where you'll start tempering!" Wang Hai raised his hand and pointed at the screen.
Shen Heng nodded, his gaze settling on the human skeleton on the screen.
A long spine extended from the neck down to the buttocks. Ribs branched outward from its middle section at the chest, ultimately connecting to a sternum at the front.
"Which bones should I temper first?" Shen Heng asked.
"No, you temper them together," Wang Hai corrected him.
"Together?" Shen Heng was a little puzzled. "Shouldn't I temper one or two bones first, then move on to the others once those are finished?"
"What do you think bone tempering is? Something you accomplish in a single bound?" Wang Hai snapped.
"Uh... isn't it?"
"Of course not. Just like when you guide Origin Power to temper your body with the Five Animal Fist, your flesh improves little by little, and so do your bones!" Wang Hai said.
"What's too rigid breaks easily! If you pour Origin Power into your bones all at once, not only will you fail to temper them, you might even damage them!"
"Oh, so that's how it works!" Shen Heng nodded in dawning understanding.
"Yes, exactly!" Wang Hai nodded. "So what we need to do is let Origin Power nourish the bones in your body little by little, tempering every bone bit by bit!"
"All right, sit down. Get ready to temper your bones!"
Shen Heng nodded and sat cross-legged on the floor.
His expression focused, Wang Hai began, "Bone tempering is delicate work. You can't afford the slightest carelessness. First, calm your mind, cast aside all distracting thoughts, and let Origin Power flow smoothly through your body."
Shen Heng closed his eyes as instructed, took a deep breath, and began circulating Origin Power through his body.
This was nothing difficult for him. Even before breaking through to the First Tier, he had done this more times than he could count.
"Very good. Maintain that state." Wang Hai's voice echoed through the training room. "Now, when the Origin Power flows through your trunk, try slowly guiding it into the bones there."
Shen Heng followed his instructions, concentrating as he carefully guided Origin Power toward his bones.
Like slime, the Origin Power swiftly clung to and enveloped the bones of his trunk the moment it touched them. A cool sensation spread through his trunk, and Shen Heng instinctively straightened his back.
"Don't panic. That's a normal reaction. Keep going deeper, and let Origin Power envelop every trunk bone," Wang Hai instructed softly beside him.
Shen Heng took a deep breath and continued guiding Origin Power toward his trunk bones.
Gradually, more and more Origin Power gathered over the bones of his trunk, until it had enveloped them completely.
"Now guide the Origin Power to seep into your bones little by little," Wang Hai's voice rang out again.
Shen Heng followed his instructions, trying to guide Origin Power into his bones.
A moment later.
"It doesn't seem to be getting in?" Shen Heng asked in puzzlement, his eyes still closed.
"That's normal. Bone tissue itself is already very dense, and it instinctively resists outside forces. But we need to get inside and temper it to make it even denser! At the same time, be careful not to push too aggressively. You need to proceed step by step!"
Wang Hai instructed him from the side:
"Now, increase your Origin Power output!"
Hearing this, Shen Heng took a deep breath and mobilized more Origin Power to bore into his bones.
Like a surging tide, Origin Power battered the barriers within his bones, wave after wave. Once, twice, three times...
At last, a wisp of Origin Power bored into a vertebra. A tingling, slightly painful sensation instantly swept over him, and Shen Heng's body gave an involuntary tremor.
"That's it. Keep going!" Wang Hai reminded him from the side.
Gritting his teeth, Shen Heng continued pushing Origin Power into his bones.
A second wisp, a third...
More and more Origin Power bored into his trunk bones.
The pain in Shen Heng's body grew increasingly pronounced, like countless fine needles lightly pricking his bones.
His body began to redden slightly, veins clearly visible beneath his skin as Origin Power seeped and spread through his bones with difficulty.
Shen Heng's body began trembling uncontrollably. Beads of sweat rolled down his cheeks from his forehead and dripped onto the floor.
But he clenched his teeth, his gaze resolute, holding on through sheer tenacity.
Within just a few minutes, the once-abundant Origin Power in Shen Heng's body abruptly ran dry, spent entirely, and the bone-tempering process stopped.
"Hah... hah..."
Seated on the floor, Shen Heng gulped down air in great, ragged breaths and checked the condition of the bones he had just tempered.
"Not even a twentieth tempered?"
"Judging by my breathing cultivation, I should be able to temper them two or three times a day!"
"In that case, it'll take another ten days or so to finish tempering my trunk bones!"
Standing beside Shen Heng, Wang Hai said:
"That's how bone tempering works. From here, just follow these steps and temper the bones throughout your body over and over!"
Shen Heng nodded.
"Now, let's start today's sparring!" Wang Hai said.
Shen Heng froze briefly at that and looked up at Wang Hai.
"What, don't want to spar anymore?" Wang Hai asked.
"No, let's spar, let's spar!"
Smiling, Shen Heng rose from the floor.
More than ten days passed in a flash.
Shen Heng sat cross-legged alone on the training room floor.
He was the only person in the spacious training room, and he made no sound, leaving the entire room utterly silent.
Yet beneath that silence, the inside of Shen Heng's body was like a raging storm.
Origin Power roared wildly through his body, battering the bones in his trunk like a tide, wave after wave.
Each impact brought a piercing pain. Bean-sized drops of sweat kept dripping from Shen Heng's body as he gritted his teeth and endured.
Finally, after one powerful impact, Shen Heng sensed a faint series of cracks from the bones in his trunk. Like floodwaters breaching a dam, Origin Power instantly enveloped every trunk bone without obstruction.
"I did it!"
Shen Heng opened his eyes excitedly and looked down at his body.
An unprecedented sense of fullness and strength came from his trunk, as though it could hold up a massive boulder.
Just then, the speaker on the wall, which had been silent for nearly twenty days, sounded once more.
"A suspected Calamity Beast has appeared on Linping Road in Cloudscape District. Please head there to investigate as soon as possible!"