Bone Tempering

“What is it?”

Deng Shan hurried into the room and said in a low voice, “A message from the main family!”

“The caravan ran into trouble over in the prefecture capital. Patrol Envoy Zheng, who was originally ordered to protect the young mistresses in Nanxiang Prefecture, has been urgently reassigned by the main family to go to the prefecture capital to settle the matter.”

He paused and looked at Shen Xiuhan with a solemn expression.

“The Garrison Master has issued an order!”

“The young mistresses are about to complete their term at the academy. Patrol Envoy Shen is to pick a capable brother and set off tomorrow for Nanxiang Prefecture. You must safely escort the young mistresses practicing martial arts at the Wuji Academy back to Changyun County!”

Shen Xiuhan's sword-like brows furrowed slightly.

This sudden turn of events completely disrupted his plans.

However, the responsibility of a Patrol Envoy was to protect the safety of the Ji family's fleet, cargo, and personnel.

Having this task fall on his shoulders was perfectly reasonable.

Besides, since arriving on the island, other than his routine patrols, he had spent every day buried in cultivation.

Receiving eight taels of monthly salary from the Ji family, along with pills, meat, and various other resources, it was only right for him to do some work for his employer.

“I understand.”

Shen Xiuhan nodded slowly and said, “Escorting them is fine, but once I leave, what will happen to the patrol duties?”

“Rest assured, Patrol Envoy. The Garrison Master has already made arrangements for this. During the days you are away, Qi Tiger and I will fill the vacancy in Team C.”

Deng Shan patted his chest and guaranteed.

Qi Tiger, whose name was Qi Hu.

Just like Deng Shan, he was a trusted confidant of Ji Ning and one of the four people Shen Xiuhan had seen in the pavilion when he first arrived on the island.

Since Ji Ning was drawing someone from Team C to go to Nanxiang Prefecture, he would naturally arrange the duties properly beforehand.

“That works well then...”

Shen Xiuhan looked up at Deng Shan, his tone calm. “I will set off first thing tomorrow morning.”

Next, Deng Shan went over the details regarding the passes and courier stations along the way.

At the end, he specifically reminded Shen Xiuhan that Geng Weizhi had accompanied the former Patrol Envoy, Zheng Bao, to Nanxiang Prefecture and was familiar with the route, so he could be brought along.

With that, Deng Shan hurriedly departed.

The bamboo hut fell back into silence.

The candlelight flickered unsteadily.

The sound of the lake waves drifted in from outside the window, lapping against the island's rocky shore and kicking up fine foam.

Shen Xiuhan stood in the room with his hands behind his back, his eyes gleaming under the dancing candlelight.

“Just when I was about to return to Changyun County to enter closed-door cultivation and break through the Bone Tempering barrier, this complication had to arise...”

Shen Xiuhan murmured softly, his brows knitting tightly together.

The journey to Nanxiang Prefecture was long, crossing both land and water, spanning at least a hundred miles.

Along the way, they would have to traverse wild forests, cross desolate ridges, and finally take the waterways back to Changyun County.

The world was already unstable. Who could say for sure whether they would run into desperate outlaws on the road?

With only a Blood Tempering Rank cultivation, if he ran into some truly ruthless character, it would likely end in disaster.

Shen Xiuhan's gaze turned sharp. He strode over to the bed, sat down cross-legged, his back straight as a pine.

“I won't wait any longer.”

Shen Xiuhan took a deep breath, his chest rising and falling slowly as he suppressed his turbulent thoughts.

“Since I must travel far tomorrow, I will break through to the Bone Tempering Rank tonight! Only then... can I maximize my own safety!”

Saying this, he retrieved a small porcelain bottle from his robes, poured out a Jasper Blood Pill, and swallowed it without hesitation.

The pill dissolved the moment it entered his mouth, feeling as if he had swallowed a clump of searing hot coal.

In the next instant, a majestic medicinal force exploded in his stomach!

Shen Xiuhan let out a muffled groan.

Under the stimulation of the medicinal force, the abundant blood qi in his body boiled instantly, like a powder keg being ignited!

The boiling blood qi surged like a raging sea, washing through his limbs and bones, rushing along his meridians, gradually forming a ceaseless, cyclical Great Cosmic Circulation.

A layer of deep crimson surfaced on his skin, and waves of white steam began to rise.

The steam drifted upward like wisps of smoke.

“Refine!”

Shen Xiuhan suddenly stood up and assumed the starting stance of the Mystic Eagle Stance.

His claw-strikes whistled with unstoppable momentum!

His body shifted and moved within the cramped space, so fast he nearly left afterimages.

Guided by the stance, the searing blood qi broke through the resistance of his flesh and skin inch by inch, penetrating deeper into his bones.

The hot current slowly flowed along the periosteum. Every inch of progress felt like a hot branding iron searing his body.

At the very instant the blood qi seeped into the periosteum to cleanse his marrow, an intense, numbing itch, like ten thousand ants gnawing at his heart, suddenly washed over him!

Inside the bamboo hut, a series of crisp, dense popping sounds erupted from his bones, sounding like beans roasting in a hot pan.

His spine was the first to undergo transformation!

Tempered countless times by his blood qi, his bones rapidly shed their impurities, becoming increasingly dense and heavy, like steel forged a hundred times over.

In an instant, the bottleneck shattered!

Shen Xiuhan suddenly opened his eyes. A sharp light flashed in his gaze as his aura abruptly surged.

Slowly raising his hand to form a fist, a muffled creaking sound echoed from his knuckles.

Shen Xiuhan could clearly feel that the bones beneath his flesh were now as hard as iron.

Combined with his Great Perfection Iron Bone Technique, his physical defense had reached a terrifying level.

He had successfully reached the Bone Tempering Rank!

...

The thirty-second day since the death of Gao Nian of the Golden Dragon Gang.

Dawn broke.

On the southern waterway of Cloudwater Lake, a small boat cut through the thin mist, sailing south along the river.

The green mountains on both banks were like dark pigment. Occasionally, an egret would skim across the water, drawing an arc in front of the bow before disappearing back into the depths of the reeds.

Shen Xiuhan stood at the bow, his robes rustling loudly in the river wind.

He had followed Deng Shan's recommendation and brought Geng Weizhi along.

Geng Weizhi had gone on a mission last year with the former Team A Patrol Envoy, Zheng Bao, which also involved picking up and escorting the Ji family's young mistresses from the prefecture capital back to Changyun County.

Therefore, he was highly familiar with the waterways, crossings, and the rules of the prefecture capital. Bringing him along would indeed save a lot of trouble.

The bow cleaved the waves, kicking up sprays of water.

Dressed in a straw raincoat, Geng Weizhi stood at the stern. As he rowed, he introduced the situation of Nanxiang Prefecture to Shen Xiuhan.

“Patrol Envoy, the main family's two young mistresses are currently practicing martial arts in the Wuji Academy, which is a branch academy under the Star-Plucking Sect in the prefecture capital...”

“A branch academy?”

Shen Xiuhan was somewhat curious.

Having grown up entirely in Changyun County, he had never set foot outside of it and knew practically nothing about Nanxiang Prefecture's capital, which was a hundred miles away and filled with deeply entrenched forces.

“Yes, a branch academy.”

Geng Weizhi kept rowing and explained with a smile, “To put it plainly, a branch academy is just a branch office established by the Star-Plucking Sect in the prefecture capital to amass wealth, and in the process, filter out promising martial arts talents.”

“The entire Star-Plucking Sect has a total of eight major branch academies. The head of each academy is overseen by a sect elder, while the instructors responsible for teaching stance work and martial arts are mostly powerful outer disciples.”

At this point, Geng Weizhi lowered his voice slightly and clicked his tongue in amazement.

“However, if someone wants to send their children to learn martial arts in a branch academy, the tuition fee is outrageously high!”

“According to my master, each person has to pay at least five taels of silver per month. Over a year, the tuition fee alone is sixty taels!”

Sixty taels a year!

Shen Xiuhan's heart skipped a beat.

For an ordinary family, saving two or three taels of silver after a whole year of hard work was already considered prosperous.

Yet the Wuji Academy charged sixty taels of tuition per person for just one year of martial arts training...

Just how many disciples were there in all eight branch academies combined?

Shen Xiuhan sighed inwardly. This was practically a gold-devouring abyss!

Such expensive tuition.

Perhaps only influential and wealthy families could afford to pay it for their descendants.