"That’s right. After the Power Realm is the Qi Realm."

Yuan Cheng nodded. "The Qi Realm is all about that ’internal breath’ we just discussed. It’s also divided into three layers. Your senior brother here isn’t particularly talented; I’m at the Second Layer of the Qi Realm." 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

"To have reached the Second Layer of the Qi Realm at your age, Senior Brother... you’ll break through to the next realm sooner or later," Zhao Lin said, offering just the right amount of flattery.

"Let’s hope you’re right."

Yuan Cheng gave Zhao Lin a knowing smile. "You want to know what comes after the Qi Realm, don’t you?"

Zhao Lin admitted freely, "Of course. Please enlighten me, Senior Brother."

Yuan Cheng’s expression turned serious. "The third realm is called the Blood Realm. It focuses on training the internal organs and the Qi and Blood of the entire body. Our Master is an expert at the Third Layer of the Blood Realm."

’Power Realm, Qi Realm, Blood Realm. Got it!’

Zhao Lin didn’t press further, not wanting to seem overly ambitious. He changed the subject. "Senior Brother, can you tell me how strong a Blood Realm master is? Like, how many people can one of them fight at once?"

Yuan Cheng chuckled. "Heh heh. That’s a blunt question. To be honest, I’ve never seen a Blood Realm master fight with their full strength."

"But based on the skills Master occasionally demonstrates, against unarmed, ordinary people... it wouldn’t matter how many of them there were. It would be useless."

"Against a hundred or so weapon-wielding soldiers who haven’t trained in martial arts, it should be no problem. But if the enemy is clad in heavy armor and backed by powerful bows and crossbows, even a master would probably have to avoid a direct confrontation. After all, no matter how skilled you are, you’re still made of flesh and blood."

"Of course, that’s all just my own speculation. Master himself might have other methods I don’t know about."

"Thank you, Senior Brother." Zhao Lin’s thanks were sincere. He felt as if a great weight of confusion had been lifted from his mind.

’The Great Yue Dynasty’s ability to maintain its rule for eight hundred years without a single peasant uprising must be related to this,’ he thought.

’There must be realms even higher than the Blood Realm,’ he reasoned. ’After all, above small sects like ours are larger schools, and above them are grand orders. And Qinghe County is just one small corner of the vast Great Yue Dynasty.’

’If a Blood Realm master can fight a hundred men, what would someone even stronger be capable of?’

’In ancient times back on Earth, productivity was low. At the end of a dynasty, military discipline would crumble, and peasants with hoes could at least put up a fight against soldiers.’

’But once you get to the age of firearms, sheer numbers are useless. After all, you can’t argue with Saint Gatling, spitting out thousands of rounds a minute.’

’By the same token, while this world doesn’t have firearms, it has powerful martial arts that serve much the same purpose.’

’The book he’d bought, *Eight Hundred Years of the Jianyuan Era*, never explicitly mentioned the role of martial arts, but you could still glimpse the shadows of these powerful figures between the lines.’

"Enough idle talk. Let’s get to training."

Seeing Zhao Lin spacing out, Yuan Cheng waved a hand in front of his face. He led him to the training area and explained that before tempering the skin, he first had to build up his body’s foundation.

There were three methods for this foundational training: lifting stone locks, holding stances, and running the posts—coincidentally, the same three tests from the entrance exam.

Because of Zhao Lin’s immense strength, the ordinary stone locks were ineffective for his training, so Yuan Cheng had him lift heavier iron ones instead.

Running the posts was for training the legs. Yuan Cheng taught him several footwork patterns that simulated the movements of actual combat: advancing, retreating, dodging, and weaving.

Stance training involved holding a single posture for a long time without moving. It looked simple, but it was actually a grueling test of endurance.

In addition to these physical exercises, Yuan Cheng taught him a breathing mantra.

The breathing mantra was somewhat unusual.

Zhao Lin had expected some profound Cultivation Technique about ’sinking qi to the dantian,’ but it was unexpectedly just six sounds: "Shoo," "Huh," "Hoo," "Sss," "Chway," and "Shee."

"Don’t underestimate these six sounds," Yuan Cheng explained. "Each one uses a different mouth shape and a different amount of force from the lips, teeth, throat, and tongue. This stimulates the flow of Qi and Blood through different internal organs and meridians."

"Practice them long enough, and strength will arise on its own. It will temper your muscles and bones. It’s like water dripping on a stone—constant effort wears it down."

"Shoo... Huh... Hoo..."

Zhao Lin tried making the sounds. It felt a lot like the vocal warm-ups for Beijing opera singers or vocalists from his past life.

The difference was that this practice involved patting various parts of his body while making corresponding movements.

As he practiced, Yuan Cheng stood by his side, correcting his pronunciation.

Whenever he got a sound just right, his internal organs would resonate. A slight tremor would run through his entire body, making it feel itchy and tingly.

’I can’t believe a few simple sounds can have such a profound effect.’

Zhao Lin practiced from morning until sunset, taking almost no breaks except to eat.

Having absorbed the Essence Souls of an ox and a bear, he possessed not only superhuman strength but also incredible endurance.

After a full day of training, he only felt slightly tired.

"Alright, that’s enough for today! Moderation is key."

Yuan Cheng was very pleased with Zhao Lin’s diligent attitude. "Once you’ve built a solid foundation, you can move on to the skin-tempering stage."

From then on, Zhao Lin came to the Liuhe Sect every day to train. His life felt incredibly fulfilling.

During this period, he also found time to chat with Liang Song, curious to see what he was learning.

It turned out they were learning the exact same things: foundational body training and practicing the "Six-Syllable Mantra."

’It seems the basics are the same for all martial arts schools,’ he mused.

Zhao Lin also took the opportunity to catch up on what Zhou Pao and Zhu Dachun had been up to.

Both men had kept their promise. After their sudden windfall, they hadn’t spent the money recklessly, choosing instead to live quiet, low-key lives.

"The day before yesterday, I pretended to go hunting in the mountains. I spotted some bandit lookouts active near Lao Gualing."

"They were hidden deep, but they couldn’t escape my notice."

The men had gathered together as Zhou Pao shared the information he had scouted out.

Liang Song frowned. "Don’t tell me they found the bodies?"

Zhu Dachun scratched his head. "The place we hid them was so remote, it shouldn’t be easy to find them. But spring is almost here. Once the snow melts, they won’t stay hidden for long."

Zhao Lin thought for a moment. "We were clean afterward. Even if they find the bodies, it’ll be difficult to trace them back to us. For now, it’s best we don’t do anything."

Zhou Pao grumbled, "It’s not like their own fathers were the ones who died. Why are they so relentless...?"

「Twenty days passed in a flash.」

Yuan Cheng had Zhao Lin take the entrance exam again. This time, he scored in the highest possible tier on all three tests.

"Excellent. You can begin tempering your skin."

Yuan Cheng gave Zhao Lin a thumbs-up. "You’re the second-fastest I’ve ever seen."

In truth, the most difficult of the three tests to achieve the highest grade in was the strength portion. Zhao Lin didn’t need to train his strength as hard as others, which was why he had progressed so quickly.

"Someone was faster than me?"

The words had barely left his mouth when Zhao Lin realized how arrogant he sounded. He quickly clarified, "I mean, who was the fastest?"

Yuan Cheng smiled. "Junior Brother Chu Liu. He started tempering his skin after only eighteen days. He was seventeen at the time, though—a year older than you are."

Next, Yuan Cheng began instructing Zhao Lin on how to temper his skin.

The method for skin-tempering was simple: fill a large cauldron with iron sand, add various body-strengthening medicinal herbs, and light a fire underneath to roast the mixture.

After a quarter of an hour, the iron sand would be scalding hot and infused with the medicinal properties. The heat would then be removed.

Once the sand had cooled slightly, the practitioner had to repeatedly slap, thrust, and rub their hands into it.

Then, they had to fill a pouch with the treated iron sand and repeatedly strike their entire body with it.

Before this training, one had to take a specific medicine called a "Recovery Pill."

"Remember, you must take the pill *before* you train," Yuan Cheng warned. "Otherwise, not only will it be ineffective, but you could also injure yourself."

Zhao Lin understood now. ’No wonder Zhou Pao said that even if you knew the techniques, you couldn’t pass on the martial art without the medicinal formula.’

’The skin-tempering method itself wasn’t hard. The hard part—the secret sauce—was the medicinal formula.’