Chapter 3

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

‘You’ve arrived in Longevity Hall. Acquired Tiger Demon Bone Refinement Fist!’

‘Would you like to imprint?’

With the warm fox fur coat on him, he sat on the bed alone.

The candlelight fluttered, casting a lonesome dancing shadow that gave him an air of someone studying in the middle of a snowy night.

Once the 24th hour passed, reaching midnight, another mark on the mysterious stone dial within his mind started glowing.

During the fluctuations of his mental state, an aura of simplicity and maturity flowed quietly.

‘Imprint!’ The thought flashed through Zhao Mu’s mind silently.

A golden light streamed outward and filled his mind.

Bits and pieces of martial arts experiences that appeared out of nowhere quickly melded into his body.

‘Tiger Demon Bone Refinement? This is a fist technique that trains the strength of the body and bones!’

Zhao Mu’s mind was in shock, but it did not show on his face.

He rubbed his temples to ease the pain that came from taking in all those memories.

“With Blood Bodhi and the Tiger Demon Bone Refinement Fist, the doors to martial arts that were previously closed to me is finally opening up.”

Zhao Mu clenched his fists. When facing his little brother Zhao Yuan that showed him kindness, the eunuchs, and maids of Eternal Happiness Palace, he would always appear apathetic. It was as though material wealth, authority, and power were nothing to him.

However, he knew his own thoughts.

When he was alone, Zhao Mu could not help but feel bitter when he thought of his own situation.

“As the old saying goes, one should remain calm even when Mount Tai collapses. All major decisions require collected thoughts. That’s the way to nurture one’s mind, and also the way of cultivation.”

Zhao Mu loved to read since young and had a great deal of knowledge. He lamented quietly, “However, within the Kingdom of Zhou, no matter how calm and collected one was in face of changes or dangers, everything is but a pipedream without strength.”

Material wealth, knowledge, authority, and strength… Those were the things people sought after, the things one could rely on when fostering one’s character.

Having nothing but the confidence of one’s firm heart would only make one a frog in the well. That would be merely blind arrogance.

“Ten thousand years ago, a great teacher travelled throughout the kingdoms.”

Zhao Mu’s thoughts were sporadic as his mind wandered.

“He could reason with others. Apart from his exquisite knowledge that would inspire others, I’m afraid it’s also closely tied to his exceedingly high strength that was beyond the crazily powerful Human Immortal level.”

Just like Saint Yan of the teacher’s 72 disciples claimed, to learn is to help oneself understand reason while practicing martial arts is to reason with others.

“The Tiger Demon Bone Refinement technique has a total of 206 moves, nicely tempering the 206 bones in the human body.”

Zhao Mu absorbed the essence of the martial arts that was imprinted onto him and thought silently to himself, ‘Within this, every single move is used to improve the mobility and strength of the bone and joints along with the physical body. The final result would be for the entire body to reach steel-like bones.”

He had read them in books.

10 Mortal Stages.

Its initial stages were Form Shaping and Body Tempering.

Both were stages of training one’s physique.

Within the world of martial arts, there was a common saying of “Ten years of Form Shaping and ten years of Body Tempering.”

It meant that training and strengthening one’s physique took a lot of time and continuous effort.

It could not be rushed, nor hastened.

A normal person might require the full 20 years before reaching completion.

Meanwhile, the children of big families would use salves and elixirs as aid, then ginseng and velvet antlers as supplements.

Paired with their own hard work, even with exceptional talent, it would at least take three to five years.

“I wonder where this Tiger Demon Bone Refinement technique originated from. It uses top grade fist techniques to temper the bones and muscles, then supplements it with breathing techniques to strengthen one’s Qi essence. Such efficiency unheard of!”

Although Zhao Mu had never practiced martial arts, he had read several fist techniques that were almost impossible to practice without unblocking his apertures. None of them mentioned such an in depth bone refinement method.

Based on what he knew, most of the martial artists in the royal guards would hit wooden dummies, toss stone locks, roll boulders, carry weights, use weights around their ankles, and other methods along those lines to strengthen one’s Qi and body.

Compared to such top grade fist technique, they were inefficient and time wasting. It was truly incomparable.

“There’s nobody around tonight and it’s snowing heavily over imperial city. This is the perfect time to practice!”

Zhao Mu made his decision and quickly got up.

With the fox fur coat on him, he walked out of Longevity Hall and headed into the walkway.

The clear moonlight reflected off the snow, making them look as though made of silver and casted bright reflections all around.

Zhao Mu stood alone in the courtyard. His charming features gave off an air of an immortal, making it an unforgettable sight.

“The chill in the air is strong and seeping into my bones.”

He had stayed in the cold palace for 12 long years. At first, the old eunuchs by the Emperor of Zhou’s side would still come over to supervise in secret, wary of the imperial astronomer’s fortune telling, afraid that he might cause some sort of calamity.

Seven to eight years passed in peace without any mysterious happenings.

The shady and out of breath old eunuch was eventually dismissed, leaving only several servants behind.

Right then, they were in the Winter season on the 12th lunar month, experiencing heavy snow.

Breath turned to fog, and dripping water froze.

Those servants that would not even serve diligently normally had long returned to their own quarters to keep warm by the fire. Why would they come out for a stroll?

However, that suited Zhao Mu just fine. He could finally practice martial arts without any concerns.

After letting out a breath of white fog, he opened his palms.

A bright red mysterious fruit that seemed to be stained with blood appeared out of nowhere.

“Assist my cultivation.”

Zhao Mu’s gaze moved slightly as he put aside the hesitation in his mind.

He ingested the fruit!

The Blood Bodhi tumbled into his stomach!

It only took a moment!

A wave of burning Qi rushed throughout his body.

Zhao Mu, who never practiced martial arts nor ingested any elixirs, immediately had his face flushed red. Veins popped up and started writhing.

It was extremely horrifying!

“Tiger Demon Bone Refinement!”

Zhao Mu endured the discomfort as he breathed out and shouted, assuming a pose.

He looked like a cooked prawn with hot steam wafting up all over his body.

His hands and legs moved at the same time and twisted the muscles on his body together, as though weaving them into a long rope.

A wave of numbness and pain rushed to his head. He felt as though ants were climbing all over him, making it unbearable.

“Move the body, not the heart. Focus the mind…”

Zhao Mu used the classics from the Saint’s writings to suppress the tremor in his mind, remaining calm.

The Blood Bodhi in his body emanated waves of heat that rushed throughout his body.

The muscle tears and soreness that was caused by practicing the Tiger Demon Bone Refinement Fist was quickly patched up and healed.

Only a lone figure with a white fox fur coat was seen threading in the snow, swinging his limbs around as bursts of air rippled outward, causing explosive noises.

Before the cotton-like snowflakes could near him, they were immediately melted by the heat released from the pores of his skin.

“This Tiger Demon Bone Refinement Fist technique seems to be deeply imprinted in my mind!”

The more Zhao Mu practiced, the more shocked he became.

He only needed the slightest thought to extract information of the otherworldly martial arts that was imprinted in his mind and a small golden figure that looked like him would repeatedly demonstrate it for him.

It looked as though a series of ‘+1’ kept appearing on the top of his head.

His proficiency of that technique rose quickly as well.

Merging and connecting the techniques, it was deeply imprinted in his mind.

At the same time, the Blood Bodhi made a cracking sound and melted off completely, dissipating into his body.

It turned into waves of boiling Qi that filled up all his bones and blood vessels.

Bang!

With a single step, the snow swirled around him.

His boiling Qi was like a roaring furnace, pushing back the bone biting chill that was coming at him.

The muscles on his arms twisted together and immediately blasted out a snow-white air current!

Exhale!

Inhale!

His muscles squeezed as though they were tempered like steel.

His pores opened and closed, excreting sweat and impurities.

Zhao Mu’s chest heaved and felt as though he was filled with a wave of limitless energy.

Out in the open, the heavy snow was bellowing.

Using that rush that came from within him, his fists grew faster and the moves were turning more agile.

If a top tier expert martial artist was around, he would never have guessed that Zhao Mu was a complete greenhorn in martial arts.

Just his moves alone would have gotten Zhao Mu acknowledged.

Along with the Blood Bodhi’s refinement, the enormous energy contained within it transformed into his strength.

It pulled in the wind and snow to form a circular swirl.

“It seems like I’m breaking through.”

Without feeling tired, he practiced the 200 over moves of Tiger Demon Bone Refinement Fist for several cycles.

After that, Zhao Mu felt that his body was burning up like a furnace. His Qi boiled, warming up his entire body. He could no longer feel the biting chill of the wind.

His pores expelled heat and managed to cause several feet of accumulated snow around him to melt.

“Form Shaping’s hallmark for completion is to have an active Qi circulation that burns like a furnace.”

Zhao Mu pondered to himself. In that one night, he should have achieved the first Mortal Stage.

After calming his breath, the mysterious stone dial in his mind leaked out several lines of text—

[Zhao Mu]

[Thirty years of internal strength.]

[Tiger Demon Bone Refinement Fist.]

It was simple and straightforward.

“That Blood Bodhi provided me with thirty years worth of accumulated internal strength. It’s truly wonderful.”

Zhao Mu looked up at the sky. Several hours passed and the snow was subsiding with the sky growing brighter.

He returned to Longevity Hall. Walking along the corridor, he suddenly stood still and turned around.

In the past, that heavy palace door seemed to be shackled by weights, suffocating him within.

At that moment, everything changed.

The walls in his mind seemed to have toppled over, granting him a feeling of relief.

The palace door in the distance had also appeared small and insignificant.

“Just like how a tiger had to endure the claws and teeth of a dog outside his own territory…”

Zhao Mu’s eyes glowed brightly, seemingly clearer than before.

After 12 years of imprisonment in the cold palace, the time has finally come.

From that moment on, his life would surely be less miserable than before!