Chapter 6

"It's a bit light; I should be able to lift something heavier."

After muttering to himself, Shi Mu lifted his hand again, and with a loud boom, he threw the stone lock to the nearby ground.

The entire square trembled slightly.

Only then did Shi Mu raise his hands and take a close look.

His two palms were long and sturdy, but no matter how he looked at them, they certainly did not seem like flesh and blood capable of exerting a thousand catties of force.

After pondering for a moment, Shi Mu walked to the wooden rack and took down the long saber again.

A moment later, a series of saber shadows burst out in the square, as if sand and stones were flying, and like a dragon emerging from the sea.

With a "whoosh," a white streak swept out, engulfing a nearby wooden post.

After a few "cracks," the wooden post was instantly cut into seven pieces and rolled away.

Six cuts in one breath!

His saber technique was so fast that it was no less impressive than what Li Canghai had demonstrated earlier.

As the saber shadows dissipated, Shi Mu stood there, holding the long saber upside down, looking at the wooden post in front of him with a thoughtful expression.

In the evening.

In a simply furnished large room, a heavy wooden door was locked from the inside.

Shi Mu lay on a large bed in the middle of the room with his eyes tightly closed.

At this moment, his skin was flushed, and he was drenched in hot sweat. His body was curled up, and he occasionally let out intermittent moans. His limbs twitched continuously, and he was in a semi-comatose state.

After an unknown amount of time, his moans gradually subsided, his limbs slowly stretched out, and his skin gradually returned to its normal color. He opened his eyes, which were filled with fatigue.

Shi Mu took several deep breaths, got out of bed, and moved his limbs. Then, with a movement of his arm, he grabbed the edge of the bed and exerted force with his five fingers.

With a "crack"!

The seemingly sturdy wooden bed edge shattered.

"My strength has increased a bit, but not as astonishingly as before. It's been a month since the last episode, and it only lasted half a moment. It seems the possibility of further improvement is limited," Shi Mu muttered.

The astonishing transformation had appeared since he moved into this estate, more than once. This was the reason for his display of astonishing strength and superior saber technique during the day.

The first episode occurred in the first month after he moved into the estate, and it tormented him for an entire night.

But the next day, after he returned to normal, he found that his strength and physical reactions had greatly increased.

Two days later, the second transformation began.

Thus, over the past few months, he had experienced more than a dozen such transformations, each one bringing astonishing benefits to his body.

However, as the duration of the transformations shortened and the intervals between them lengthened, the increase in strength and reaction speed gradually weakened.

By this time, it had only increased his strength a little, far from the first few times.

But even so, Shi Mu's current strength was over a thousand catties, and his reaction speed was several times that of an ordinary person.

Even if Shi Mu was slow-witted, he could guess that this transformation was likely related to the giant clam he had rescued from the seabed.

After all, the entire transformation process was very similar to the feeling of his blood boiling when he woke up on the beach, except that the pain was more than ten times worse.

He had heard many stories of such fortuitous encounters from the tales of strongmen told by storytellers, and he had once envied them greatly.

Now that such a fortuitous encounter had happened to him, it naturally filled him with joy, and it also increased his confidence in passing the Kaiyuan Martial Academy's test in half a year.

Additionally, Shi Mu had truly confirmed from Li Canghai that even if one had comprehended the Qi Sense and met the age requirements, the competition to enter the martial academy was still extremely fierce.

After all, the resources of the Kaiyuan Martial Academy were limited, and they could only admit a fixed number of students. From past experience, the number of people who registered from all the prefectures of Kaiyuan would often be several times that number.

Shi Mu was very clear that his talent was average, and even after taking the Qi Spirit Pill, the probability of comprehending the Qi Sense would not be much higher than that of an ordinary person.

According to Li Canghai, once one passed the ninth level of Body Tempering, each additional level would greatly increase the probability of comprehending the Qi Sense. If one could cultivate Body Tempering to the tenth level, even an ordinary person would have a probability of more than one-third. If one could cultivate to the thirteenth level of Body Tempering, the failure rate would be less than half.

This was also the reason why some low-talent martial disciples could still successfully advance to the innate martial realm even after the age of thirty or forty, relying on the thirteenth level of Body Tempering and multiple doses of the Qi Spirit Pill. However, the time and money required were not something an ordinary martial disciple could bear.

Of course, some true aristocratic descendants could also increase the probability of comprehending the Qi Sense by collecting rare auxiliary pills, but the cost was several times higher than acquiring the Qi Spirit Pill.

Li Canghai had cultivated the Body Tempering technique to the twelfth level and only advanced to the innate realm after taking the Qi Spirit Pill twice in his twenties. Whenever he mentioned this, the mid-level innate martial practitioner was still filled with regret.

For Shi Mu, with his current small fortune, acquiring auxiliary pills was out of the question, and he could only take the path of improving the Body Tempering technique.

However, once one passed the ninth level of Body Tempering, the time required to cultivate to a higher level would far exceed the imagination of ordinary people. Only a few geniuses in the entire history of the Great Qi Empire had managed to cultivate the Body Tempering technique to the twelfth level of perfection before the age of fifteen.

Thanks to the body transformations over the past few months, Shi Mu had already pushed the Body Tempering technique to the ninth level of perfection, even approaching the tenth level.

According to normal judgment, he should have no problem reaching the tenth level of Body Tempering in half a year, but reaching the eleventh level would still be a distant goal. A one-third probability of comprehending the Qi Sense was not enough to make Shi Mu truly feel at ease.

It seemed that if he wanted to make further progress in Body Tempering, he could only use the extreme cultivation method that Li Canghai had mentioned.

According to Li Canghai, this Body Tempering technique was obtained from a high-level expert by chance. Although it was very simple and brutal, its Body Tempering effect was astonishing. However, the entire process was extremely dangerous and painful, and there was a significant risk of death during cultivation, which was why it was rarely taught to other apprentices. If Shi Mu was willing to spend a large sum of money, Li Canghai would be willing to teach him.

Danger? Since he had made a vow to become a strongman at his mother's grave, he knew he would walk a thorny and difficult path, and he would not fear any danger!

However, what he needed to do now was to master the Stone-Breaking Fist technique first, and then he could focus on cultivating the Body Tempering technique.

Shi Mu thought calmly and quickly made up his mind.

...

Seven days later, in the center of the estate square, a three-foot-tall green water vat stood, filled with densely packed yellow beans.

"Ha! Ha!"

Shi Mu stood in front of the water vat, bare-chested, wearing only a loose black long pants. On each hand, he wore a thick silver leather glove, and he punched the beans in the vat with all his might.

"Listen carefully. The power of the Stone-Breaking Fist is directly related to one's own strength, but the toughness of the fist itself is the key to exerting maximum power. Otherwise, even if one has great strength, a punch on a stone would result in blood and flesh flying, and self-injury. You are a beginner, and although you have completed the Body Tempering technique, your fists are only strong enough to hit wood. I have you wear multiple layers of fish skin gloves to strike these beans, which can gradually stimulate the tendons, bones, and flesh of your hands, preventing your hands from suffering too much damage at the beginning, and quickly increasing the strength of your hands. When your fists can penetrate the entire vat, I will replace the beans with larger gravel and reduce one layer of the fish skin gloves. When you can penetrate the gravel, I will replace it with real iron sand. After you can penetrate the iron sand, you can practice with real large rocks... Your left hand is swinging too much!" Li Canghai stood beside him with his arms crossed, explaining expressionlessly.

"Yes."

Shi Mu responded, his arms moving continuously, each punch penetrating the vat to a depth of more than half a foot. His upper body was drenched in sweat, and every muscle bulged like a rat, enveloping him in an unusual fervor.

After half a moment, Shi Mu suddenly let out a loud shout and punched with all his might, penetrating the vat to a depth of more than a foot, almost burying half his arm in the beans.

"Stop! Didn't I tell you not to use too much force at the beginning! Let me see if your hand is injured!" Li Canghai's face changed when he saw this, and he shouted sternly, quickly pulling out a medicine bottle from his chest.

"Master Li, I'm fine," Shi Mu grinned and pulled his arm out of the beans.

"Hmph, whether you are injured or not is up to me to decide. Take off the gloves!" Li Canghai snorted and said without hesitation.

Hearing this, Shi Mu could only shake his arm again and take off the leather gloves layer by layer, showing his slightly red fingers and moving them casually in front of Li Canghai.

"Hmm, it seems you are really fine. Strange, according to my years of teaching experience, using such force should have left your fingers bloody. Come and punch this wooden post with all your strength!" Li Canghai examined Shi Mu's hands carefully, showing a surprised expression, and then pointed to a nearby thick wooden post.

"Yes." Hearing this, Shi Mu took a deep breath and walked to the wooden post, slowly circling around it.

With a "boom"!

After shaking his shoulders, Shi Mu punched with all his might, directly breaking the post in half. The upper part of the post flew out of the square and heavily hit the outer wall of a nearby house, causing the entire house to tremble slightly.

His retracted fist was completely unharmed!