Chapter 4: The Unaware Strongman

  Lin's gaze slowly fell onto the pages of the book, over the past month, he had already flipped through these few books on mental techniques until they were worn out. He also had a fairly good understanding of the path to cultivating as a martial artist, several times he wanted to try practicing in secret according to the diagrams, but he was afraid of his father Lin Yao's warnings, fearing that his body would not be able to withstand the changes in his tendons and bones and explode, suppressing the desire in his heart.

  Gently lifting the cover, his thoughts seeped into it, and line after line of words jumped into his mind. Like a fine stream, it flowed quietly in his body, and his breathing became lighter. What he was reading was "Jiāng Jīn Xīn Fǎ" (Practice Tendon Heart Method), which literally means to refine and transform tendons and bones. The book's content recorded the essentials of tendon practice, using different breathing techniques to cultivate awareness in every block of pores-filled tendon tissue.

  "The power of the meridians, tempered and condensed, transforms into a spiritual force. The flow of breath is gathered and transformed, merging with the tendons and bones, turning and refining the ashes of thoughts. The form becomes strong and robust, forming a flowing pulse, tempering and refining the subtle body..."

  Lin Heng only looked at the literal meaning of the words, pondering the details, but this deliberation allowed him to enter a state of cultivation effortlessly. In the time it took to drink a cup of tea, he felt his entire body's muscles and tendons come to life, cell by cell, jumping up like a drumbeat. The originally orderly array of muscle cells was disrupted by a stormy blast, twisting and churning, each particle rapidly expanding as if trying to break free from the outermost layer of constraint.

  Lin Heng's entire body was radiating a scorching blood color, his hands and feet, abdomen and back, seemed to be on the verge of bursting. If his father Lin Yao were present, he would have been shocked out of his wits by this sight, because this was a clear sign of forced cultivation, and his body's intensity couldn't withstand the transformation, which could explode into a bloody mess at any moment.

  Lin had plenty of experience, as this month alone he'd already had at least ten such experiences. Every time it happened, a pale blue system would appear in his mind's eye, radiating pale blue ripples. Immediately afterwards, patterns like those on a gecko's skin would emerge on his body, tightly binding the chaotic, explosively growing muscle cells, and then a refreshing coolness would seep in.

  This coolness and the combination of those invisible cells made him sleep soundly every time he read "Heart Method", and when he woke up the next day, he would feel incredibly comfortable. As he learned to enter a microscopic state, he found that each combination, whether it was his muscles, bones or skin, gave him a greatly improved feeling. Although on the surface he still looked weak and sickly, his senses, hearing and vision were all far superior to before.

  Take hearing for example, now he lies in the house, as long as he pricks up his ears, he can hear the sound of a mouse passing by ten steps outside.

  As for that pale blue system, its shape is somewhat like a tooth-shaped stone he bought from an antique stall in his previous life for eight bucks. The surface of the stone was yellowish-brown and murky on the outside, and it had been placed in front of his computer desk without much attention. Of course, this was just his suspicion, after all, the pale blue system's image was blurry and difficult to see through.

  As expected, at the moment when his muscles violently bulged up, the light blue system appeared again. A coolness seeped into those bursting muscle cells, and those swollen cells seemed to be nourished, gradually taking shape, filling up, and rearranging themselves in an orderly manner.

  If there were a martial artist here, who knew the current state of his body, he would be shocked to the point where his eyeballs would drop out. Because they will see that for hundreds of years, this is the first person who can become a martial artist without going through medicine bath, and his realm has approached that of a top-notch martial artist. The most unimaginable thing is that this person is actually the one who broke the record with five consecutive verification failures, being ridiculed by everyone in town as a laughing stock, and publicly recognized as the number one waste.

  What is the concept of a first-rate warrior. The entire Seven Mile Gorge has over 5,000 people, with 2,700 verified warriors, but only 42 are first-rate warriors. Among those under 20 years old, there are only five, who are all exceptionally talented and considered geniuses by the Seven Mile Gorge, and are being groomed as future clan leaders. The other 37 first-rate warriors have all been training for many years and are old men. The remaining over 1,000 people are all on the path to becoming a first-rate warrior, but some may spend their entire lives without reaching the shore.

  Lin Heng, this good-for-nothing, has unknowingly become a martial artist and is approaching the level of a top-notch martial artist. If news of this gets out, the entire Seven Mile Gorge, even the entire Qing Niu Town will be thrown into an uproar! Those gossipy women who mocked Lin Heng as a useless piece of trash, those couples who used him as a cautionary tale to educate their children, how embarrassing for them! Those people who would jeer and mock Lin Heng whenever they saw him, how envious and shocked will they be?

  Offending a martial artist like Lin Huan, especially one so young and full of brilliant prospects, is absolutely a hair-raising matter!

  …………

  Lin Heng woke up when it was already sunny

  He stretched his waist, and his whole body felt extremely comfortable.

  "These 'Heart Methods' are just a glance, but they make people sleep soundly, and it's no wonder that they are the most intelligent and wise in this world."

  He still didn't know that he had already entered the warrior stage and was approaching a first-class warrior, but thought it was just the effect of looking from afar outside the wall of his cultivation. This wasn't because he was stupid, but rather proved that he was even more clever - without experiencing trials or taking medicinal baths, he could cultivate and become a warrior? And not explode his body? If this were to be told to others, they would definitely think him mad and speaking nonsense.

  To know this Wu Zhe Yin Zheng, it is the experience that has been gained through countless ancient practitioners who have spent countless heart and blood. Those who hold onto luck and think they can avoid this step have long used countless physical explosions and deaths to make the best interpretation and argument. There are countless strong people in the cultivation world, if there were other channels before, it would not be now.

  "With just a few shallow cultivation methods, there's such an effect. If it were those famous sects and aristocratic families' collected cultivation techniques, how formidable would they be?" He wore his clothes, with a hint of longing at the corner of his mouth. But this thought flashed by in an instant. Those precious cultivation methods were all priceless treasures. Even if he really had them, he'd have to get rid of them quickly. As the saying goes, "Hiding one's guilt", having such valuable things in hand would inevitably attract the pursuit and robbery of powerful people."

  "I've already read these mind methods, and my physical constitution has become much stronger. It seems that I need to ask my father for some external martial arts skills, observe and practice them, or secretly try to practice them."

  Cultivating the mind method involves internal transformation of the body, so without going through medicine bath, it can't be cultivated. However, martial skills can be cultivated, and this cultivation doesn't mean to display them, but rather to exercise according to their movements, similar to physical exercises. But only limited to the most basic martial skills. If you encounter some profound martial skills that require a lot of physical energy as support, forcibly practicing will cause brain confusion, chaotic essence and blood, and eventually lead to madness or exhaustion of the body's vital energy, directly leading to death.