‘It seems the news of Tian Erhu's death hasn't leaked out yet... Ah well, letting this muddy water settle for a few more days does me nothing but good.’
Shen Xiuhan concealed the glint in his eyes and strode into the inner courtyard.
By now, the sky had brightened, but the inner courtyard remained quiet and empty.
Second Senior Brother Xu Chuan had not yet arrived. Even if he did, he would still need to oversee the morning practice of the thirty-odd disciples in the outer courtyard.
Shen Xiuhan did not waste any time. Facing the chilly morning wind, he sank his hips and assumed the starting stance of the Mystic Eagle Stance.
Two hours later.
“Huuu...”
Shen Xiuhan slowly withdrew his stance, exhaling a long, ribbon-like mist of white breath.
He opened his eyes, a look of unconcealed delight flashing across his face!
Yesterday, during the system's Deduction in his sea of consciousness, he had not only maxed out the Mystic Eagle Stance to Great Perfection and comprehended the ultimate move, the Heavenly Mystic Eagle Force, but his cultivation had also been forcefully pushed to the peak Bone Tempering Rank!
He had originally thought that after his consciousness returned to his body, the system had only bestowed him with the understanding of the stance work and martial techniques.
The cultivation he had accumulated over those fifteen years had not been fully brought back into reality, only helping him open his blood gate and step into the early stage of the Mingjin Rank.
He thought it would end there, but he never expected...
The fifteen years of cultivation had not vanished into thin air. Instead, it had been imprinted into this body in an even more heaven-defying manner.
In the path of martial arts, one needed techniques, companions, wealth, and a suitable environment.
For ordinary martial artists, from the moment they opened their blood gate, reaching Great Perfection in the Blood Tempering Rank would take at least six months to a year, even with day and night of hard training supplemented by medicinal cuisine.
To further break through to the mid stage of the Mingjin Rank and open the Tendon Tempering barrier required even more tedious effort. Those who remained stuck for three to five years without making any progress were as common as crucian carp crossing a river.
Yet, Shen Xiuhan had only practiced the stance work five times just now, and with each repetition, he felt the blood qi in his body surging rapidly!
In just an hour, his overall blood qi had actually risen by a significant margin!
At this rate, it would take at most two months of refinement to fully replenish his blood qi back to the peak Bone Tempering Rank he had achieved in the Deduction!
If he could find some blood qi-nourishing medicinal cuisine or pills to assist him, the speed would be even faster!
Shen Xiuhan's mind raced, and a bold hypothesis flashed through his head!
The martial arts realms and insights he had cultivated during the Deduction had indeed been fully bestowed back to his body.
However, the blood qi energy in the world could not be created out of thin air; it had to be re-tempered and absorbed by his physical body.
For an ordinary person wanting to step onto the path of martial arts, it was like excavating a reservoir out of barren, hard rock.
Not only was it time-consuming, laborious, and slow in progress, but if one was careless and dug the meridians in the wrong direction or collapsed the foundation, it would result in qi deviation or failure to break through the barrier!
But because Shen Xiuhan had absorbed the realm cultivated during the Deduction, he already had a pre-excavated, dried-up reservoir inside his body.
What he needed to do now was simply fill it with water!
And his cultivation in the Deduction had reached up to the peak Bone Tempering Rank.
This meant...
Before his cultivation returned to the peak Bone Tempering Rank, his path of martial arts would be completely smooth and effortless!
‘Then what if... in the next Deduction, or the one after that, my cultivation breaks through to the Tendon Tempering Rank, or even the Anjin Rank, Huajin Rank, or an even higher realm?’
‘Doesn't that mean that for me, there will no longer be any bottlenecks or shackles in martial arts?!’
“Hiss...”
Shen Xiuhan inhaled a sharp breath of cold air, a tempest of shock raging in his heart.
‘So... this is the true heaven-defying, fate-changing supreme utility of Deduction!’
“Junior Brother, what are you thinking about?”
Right at that moment, Xu Chuan strode into the inner courtyard, holding a bowl filled with a pitch-black medicinal decoction as thick as ink.
“Second Senior Brother, morning!”
“Morning, morning, morning! Come here quick, look at what good treasure your senior brother brought you!”
Xu Chuan grinned broadly, offering the black soup forward with a mysterious look.
Shen Xiuhan leaned in to take a look, his brow instantly furrowing. After a moment of thought, he said,
“Looking at this color... is it some kind of poison?”
“...”
Xu Chuan's expression stiffened slightly. Looking at him speechlessly, he snapped,
“Nonsense!”
“This is Ebony Qi-Replenishing Decoction, a highly nourishing supplement. It's a special allocation Master provides exclusively for inner courtyard disciples, and we only get one bowl every seven days!”
“Outer courtyard disciples don't get it at all. If they want to drink it, they have to pay out of pocket!”
Ebony Qi-Replenishing Decoction?
Shen Xiuhan's eyes lit up, and he quickly reached out to take it.
Sniffing it closely, an extremely strong, even pungent bitter medicinal scent rushed straight to his head. Before it even entered his mouth, he already felt a sour taste rising in his stomach.
Seeing his expression, Xu Chuan couldn't help but laugh out loud.
“Don't look at how ugly this decoction looks; its medicinal potency is incredibly overbearing!”
“It contains Blood Vine, Qi-Cultivating Ginseng, Bitter Lotus Leaves, and other highly nourishing ingredients to invigorate blood and supplement qi, and even Ebony Stem to consolidate the foundation and lock in essence. Master brews it personally, and there are only ten bowls' worth every seven days.”
“Only inner courtyard disciples who stay at the martial arts hall can receive a bowl according to the rules. If someone takes up an outside post, they'll just have to miss out on this treat.”
“Any surplus from the quota is priced and sold to those wealthy disciples in the outer courtyard.”
Hearing this, Shen Xiuhan asked curiously,
“Senior Brother, how much does a bowl of Ebony Qi-Replenishing Decoction cost?”
“Six mace of silver.”
Six mace was six hundred copper coins.
It was enough to feed a family of four in the Outer City's shantytown for two to three months.
Yet for a martial artist, it could only buy a single bowl of decoction, gone in just two gulps.
Truly, the poor study literature, while the rich practice martial arts!
“This price of six mace is only for outer courtyard disciples. If sold to outsiders, it would be at least one or two mace higher.”
“Some people once bought the decoction just to resell it for a profit, which enraged Master. He specifically set a rule that it must be consumed on the spot.”
As if fearing he might misunderstand, Xu Chuan added,
“Of course, the rule is mainly to prevent those crafty fellows in the outer courtyard from getting ideas...”
“If you are tight on money, Junior Brother, do not resell your allocation for a bit of cash. If Master finds out, he will certainly be displeased.”
“If you really need money to get by... though I am not wealthy, I can still scrape together one or two taels of silver to lend you.”
Hearing Xu Chuan's caring words, a warmth flowed through Shen Xiuhan's heart. He smiled freely and clasped his fists.
“Senior Brother, you worry too much. This kind of decoction that strengthens blood qi is something I can't wait to use myself. How could I bear to sell it?”
With that, he raised the large bowl and drank the Ebony Qi-Replenishing Decoction in one gulp!
Boom!
The decoction entered his stomach!
It was like swallowing a ball of raging fire. The blood qi throughout his entire body surged and reacted wildly, like boiling water!
Without needing Xu Chuan's reminder, Shen Xiuhan took a step and landed on the plum blossom posts.
Sinking his hips, he thrust both claws out!
Assuming the posture of the Mystic Eagle Stance, he began to refine the overbearing, rampaging medicinal power within his body through his stance work and breathing!
After finishing one set of the stance, only about thirty percent of the medicinal potency had been absorbed.
Striking while the iron was hot, Shen Xiuhan immediately performed three more sets in a row before slowly drawing his breath and concluding his stance.
For a moment, he felt every pore on his body dilate, a feeling of absolute invigoration washing over him!
“How is it? Feels pretty good, right?”
Nearby, Xu Chuan wiped his sweat as he practiced his martial techniques alone and chuckled.
“...Extremely good!”
Shen Xiuhan leaped down from the wooden posts, his eyes shining brightly.
Too fast!
Just a single bowl of the qi-replenishing decoction in less than two hours had actually caused his total blood qi to surge by twenty-five percent!
At this rate, Shen Xiuhan was confident that he could cultivate his entire body's blood qi to the Great Accomplishment of the Blood Tempering Rank in about two months.
“Come on, let's go have lunch first. After eating, we can spar and practice our martial techniques!”
Xu Chuan said as he wiped his sweat.
Rate on N.U.
