By the Luoshui River, Eastern Courtyard.
Jiang Ning assumed the first stance of the Indestructible Golden Body. Moments later, he shifted to the second stance, then the third...
As he circulated the Five Animals' energy to drive his blood and energy throughout his body, he suddenly felt something entirely different from before.
The Five Animals' energy seemed to have transformed, becoming more vibrant and lively.
As it pushed his blood energy, he also felt a significant improvement in the tempering of his skin and membranes.
At the same time, prompts indicating the growth of his Indestructible Golden Body experience appeared before him.
[Indestructible Golden Body Experience +1]
[Indestructible Golden Body Experience +1]
[Indestructible Golden Body Experience +1]
After three prompts, he switched to the second stance.
He continued to circulate the Five Animals' energy, driving his blood energy throughout his body.
[Indestructible Golden Body Experience +1]
[Indestructible Golden Body Experience +1]
[Indestructible Golden Body Experience +1]
Another three prompts appeared, and he shifted to the third stance of the Indestructible Golden Body, followed by the fourth, fifth...
In the blink of an eye, he had completed all nine stances of the Indestructible Golden Body as recorded in the incomplete manual.
[Skills]: Indestructible Golden Body (Proficient: 295/2000)
Looking at his panel, Jiang Ning's eyes lit up with joy once again.
"The experience points for the Indestructible Golden Body have skyrocketed from 266 before this tempering session to 295 now."
"The efficiency has doubled!!!"
"In the same amount of time, using the same tempering method, I gained 29 experience points!"
"Tsk" At this thought, Jiang Ning couldn't help but suck in a breath of cold air.
He murmured to himself, "The breakthrough of the Five Animals Fist has given me such a massive boost. The efficiency of tempering my skin and membranes has increased by three times!"
"And this is without any external aids. If I use the Golden Body Elixir for a medicinal bath later, the efficiency of tempering my skin and membranes will surely increase even further."
"It seems that achieving major mastery in skin tempering, where my skin becomes as tough as copper, isn't far off!"
Jiang Ning's heart was filled with excitement.
Achieving major mastery in skin tempering, according to the martial arts of this world, would allow him to truly begin tempering the muscles throughout his body.
This would mark his entry into the eighth rank of martial arts, the Divine Strength Realm.
Once he reached this level, even in a small county, he would be a figure of significance, someone no one could ignore.
Afterward, feeling the depletion in his body, he took out another bottle of herbal essence and drank it.
"Tsk, tsk"
He smacked his lips and couldn't help but sigh, "After the breakthrough of the Five Animals Fist, each round of fist practice tempers ten strands of blood energy, greatly increasing the strain on my body."
"The efficiency of tempering my skin and membranes has also increased significantly, further increasing the strain on my body."
"With my current consumption, two bottles of herbal essence a day are no longer enough!"
"I'll need at least four or five bottles a day now."
"The fifty bottles of herbal essence I bought over ten days ago won't last much longer."
"After I attend Wang Jin's disciple initiation banquet at the martial arts school the day after tomorrow, I'll need to buy more herbal essence!"
"I also need to get myself a good, reliable blade."
"This ebony long blade is too light and of poor quality!"
"If I had a good blade during my underwater fight with Tian Buyi that day, I believe I could have posed a greater threat to him."
With these thoughts running through his mind, Jiang Ning walked toward the kitchen in the eastern courtyard.
In the direction of the kitchen.
"Brother!" Seeing Jiang Ning appear, Jiang Li couldn't help but grin.
After exchanging greetings, Jiang Ning stripped off his clothes, leaving only his underpants, and jumped into the already-heated wooden tub.
Inside the tub, golden threads like swimming dragons flowed through the water.
This was the manifestation of the demon blood.
At this point, a packet of Golden Body Elixir had already dissolved in the heated water, and the medicinal properties had fully integrated into the steaming liquid.
"Brother, can you handle it?" Jiang Li asked as Jiang Ning entered the water.
After feeling the changes in his body, Jiang Ning nodded with an unchanged expression, "No problem!"
Although Jiang Ning appeared calm on the surface, he was far from relaxed.
Jumping into a pot of heated water was anything but easy.
Not to mention, the water was infused with the medicinal properties of the elixir.
As his pores opened in the hot water, Jiang Ning immediately felt a surge of powerful energy entering his body.
It felt as though thousands of needles were piercing through his pores and into his skin and membranes.
Then, Jiang Ning slowly closed his eyes and focused inward.
In this state, he saw strands of medicinal energy entering every part of his skin and membranes through his opened pores in the hot water.
The infusion of this energy made his skin and membranes feel relaxed.
The strain on his skin and membranes from practicing the Indestructible Golden Body earlier was gradually alleviated by the medicinal bath.
This made Jiang Ning feel comfortable, but at the same time, his entire body was constantly subjected to a needle-like stinging sensation.
Especially when he focused inward, he would occasionally see a golden thread passing through his pores and reaching his skin and membranes, causing sudden, intense pain.
The muscles and skin in that area would twitch multiple times in response to the stimulation.
"It's truly a mix of pain and pleasure!" Jiang Ning sighed inwardly.
Then, he calmly accepted it all.
Half an hour later, Jiang Ning seemed to awaken from a deep sleep and slowly opened his eyes.
Looking down, he saw that the once murky hot water had become slightly clearer.
The most noticeable change was that there were no longer any golden threads visible in the water.
Splash
Jiang Ning stood up.
Scalding hot water dripped from his body and fell back into the wooden tub.
"Brother! How do you feel?" Jiang Li asked.
"Great!" Jiang Ning nodded.
"Brother, when should I heat the water next?" Jiang Li asked again.
"After lunch," Jiang Ning replied.
In the courtyard, Jiang Ning assumed the first stance of the Indestructible Golden Body and began circulating the Five Animals' energy to drive his blood energy.
[Indestructible Golden Body Experience +1]
[Indestructible Golden Body Experience +1]
[Indestructible Golden Body Experience +1]
[...]
Seeing the frequency of the prompts appearing before him, Jiang Ning felt a secret thrill.
"The efficiency has indeed increased again!"
"The effects of the Golden Body Elixir are truly extraordinary! No wonder it costs fifty taels for one medicinal bath!"
After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Jiang Ning slowly retracted his stance and stopped tempering his skin and membranes.
He then looked at his panel again.
[Skills]: Indestructible Golden Body (Proficient: 355/2000)
Looking at the growth in experience points, Jiang Ning was extremely satisfied.
This tempering session had directly increased his experience by 60 points, jumping from 295 to 355.
Compared to the previous tempering session, the efficiency had doubled once again.
Compared to yesterday's efficiency, it had increased several times over.
Although this tempering session only doubled the efficiency compared to the previous one, falling short of the several-fold increase Manager Han had mentioned, Jiang Ning wasn't the least bit disappointed.
He knew that Manager Han's estimate of a several-fold increase was based on the tempering efficiency of a normal ninth-rank martial artist.
His efficiency was already far higher than that of an ordinary martial artist.
With a different baseline, the multiplier for efficiency would naturally differ.
The fact that the Golden Body Elixir bath could double his skin-tempering efficiency was already extremely satisfying to Jiang Ning.
"At this rate, I might have a chance to achieve major mastery in skin tempering before the Imperial Inspection Bureau is established!"
Two days later.
[Name]: Jiang Ning
[Source Energy]: 21.1
[Skills]:
Literacy (Second Breakthrough Limit: 1255/3000) (Traits: Photographic Memory, Enhanced Senses)
Five Animals Fist (First Breakthrough Limit: 53/2000) (Trait: Essence Stored in the Five Organs)
Firewood Chopping Saber Technique (Fourth Breakthrough Limit: 5000/5000) (Traits: Versatility, Swift as the Wind, Mastery of the Saber, Unity of Man and Saber)
Inner Alchemy Life-Nurturing Technique (Proficient: 1343/2000)
Canglang Saber Technique (Advanced: 48/1000)
Indestructible Golden Body (Proficient: 650/2000)
Swimming (First Breakthrough Limit: 187/2000) (Trait: Underwater Breathing)
Over these two days, the Body Transformation Pill in his body had released another wave of medicinal energy.
This further enhanced his physique and also brought an additional increase in source energy points, raising his source energy from 10.05 to 21.1.
The progress in the Five Animals Fist wasn't as noticeable, as his main focus had been on tempering his skin and membranes.
With his focus shifted and the Five Animals Fist having broken through its limits, the Five Animals' energy had transformed, greatly increasing the efficiency of tempering his skin and membranes. Combined with the aid of the medicinal baths, his progress in the Indestructible Golden Body had soared, jumping from just over 200 experience points two days ago to 650 now.
This made Jiang Ning feel that the toughness of his skin had significantly improved.
"This afternoon is the disciple initiation banquet that Wang Jin mentioned three days ago, the banquet for his disciples!"
"There's still time. I'll continue practicing my fist techniques and tempering my skin!"
"The disciple initiation banquet is just a formality for me!"
Jiang Ning thought to himself.
Then, after washing up, he continued practicing in the courtyard.
Wanhua Tower.
"Auntie"
A young girl in a goose-yellow dress rushed into Lin Qingyi's arms.
She then affectionately nuzzled against Lin Qingyi's chest.
Lin Qingyi looked at the girl in her arms and couldn't help but show a hint of doting affection.
"Jia'er, what brings you here to see me today?"
The girl in the goose-yellow dress stood up and pouted, "I graduated from the Dongling Martial Academy with Sister Qingxia and the others, and we were assigned to the Imperial Inspection Bureau here. That's why I have time to visit you, Auntie!"
"I just arrived in Luoshui County last night, and today I came to see you!"
Hearing Lin Jia'er's words, Lin Qingyi's face showed a look of relief.
Then, Lin Jia'er took out a small glass box from her person.
"Auntie, this is a rouge I specially asked someone to buy from Guangning Prefecture. It's called 'Pear Blossoms Surpassing Snow.'"
"You little girl, you're so thoughtful!"
Lin Qingyi gently pinched Lin Jia'er's nose.
Lin Jia'er giggled happily.
At this moment, looking at Lin Qingyi's face, she felt a secret joy in her heart.
Over the past two years, as she studied martial arts at the Dongling Martial Academy, she gradually matured and realized just how remarkable her aunt was.
Not only had she become a member of Wanhua Tower, but she had also risen to the position of deputy head of one of its branches.
With such a status and authority, her strength was also formidable.
If she could win her aunt's favor, it would undoubtedly be a great help to her future martial arts journey.
More importantly, she had vaguely heard from her family that her aunt had married an incredibly powerful figure.
Exactly how powerful, she still didn't know.
But from the tone of the elders in her family when they discussed it, she could tell that this person was undoubtedly extraordinary.
At the time, the family elders had avoided the topic like the plague, not daring to delve deeper or speculate.
It was for these reasons that she had carefully prepared this gift and dressed up specifically to visit Lin Qingyi.
At this moment, Lin Qingyi opened the rouge box Lin Jia'er had given her and brought it to her nose for a light sniff.
"This scent is quite pleasant. It must have been expensive, right?" Lin Qingyi asked.
Lin Jia'er immediately nodded obediently, "Auntie, you truly have a keen eye! You saw it at once! This 'Pear Blossoms Surpassing Snow' is this year's top new product from Biyue Pavilion. A single box costs a gold leaf."
Hearing this, a flash of surprise crossed Lin Qingyi's eyes.
Then, she pinched Lin Jia'er's nose again.
"You little girl, you're so generous!"
Lin Jia'er hugged Lin Qingyi's arm and nuzzled against it, her face full of affection.
"Auntie, you were so good to me when I was little. I've always remembered that! It's been over two years since I last saw you. How could I come empty-handed?"
"You've spent too much, you little girl!" Lin Qingyi looked at Lin Jia'er with a smile.
"It's what I should do!" Lin Jia'er said, acting like a proper young lady.
A moment later, watching Lin Jia'er twirl in front of her, her skirt fluttering and showcasing her youthful figure, Lin Qingyi nodded slightly.
Then, she asked, "Jia'er, how old are you this year?"
"Auntie, I just turned seventeen last month!" Lin Jia'er replied with a smile.
"Do you have a sweetheart, Jia'er?" Lin Qingyi asked.
Hearing this, the image of a tall, imposing man flashed through Lin Jia'er's mind, but she shook her head with a smile.
"Jia'er is still young. I haven't thought about that yet."
"Seventeen isn't young anymore! Jia'er should start considering her future," Lin Qingyi slowly shook her head and then thought of Jiang Ning.
She said, "If Auntie introduces you to a suitable young man, would you be interested?"
"If it were someone else introducing me, I'd say no! But if it's Auntie introducing a suitable young man, then I'm very interested!" Lin Jia'er replied, then added, "I'd like to see what kind of man could catch Auntie's eye."
A faint smile appeared on Lin Qingyi's lips.
"Jia'er will see him this afternoon! He won't disappoint you!" she said with confidence.
Over this period, she had personally witnessed Jiang Ning's rapid progress and knew that he was an unpolished gem.
Given time, he would undoubtedly shine brightly.
He wouldn't be limited to a small county or even a single prefecture.
Perhaps one day, the entire Guangning Prefecture, or even the entire Zeshan Province, would hear of Jiang Ning's legend.
Perhaps even the entire world would know of Jiang Ning.
In Lin Qingyi's eyes, despite Jiang Ning's humble origins, his martial arts progress was astonishing.
He had the potential to become a dragon when given the right opportunities.
In the future, he might even have a chance to become a true martial arts grandmaster.
So, upon seeing Lin Jia'er today, she immediately had an idea.
The idea of matchmaking Lin Jia'er and Jiang Ning.
As the saying goes, "Don't let good water flow to outsiders." She wanted to keep this prodigy within her own family, the Lin family.
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