45: Chapter 45 Skin Refining Perfected

Chen Mo sighed.

He recalled the words Jiang Hongli had spoken. Brothels, slaves, two-legged livestock...

If he hadn't been there today, the fate of this Little Girl was easy to imagine.

"Little Grass." Chen Mo crouched down, trying to make his voice as gentle as possible. "Don't be afraid. The bad people are gone."

Little Grass sniffled, stole a timid glance at Jiang Hongli, and then shrank back behind Chen Mo.

"You can't stay in this courtyard anymore." Chen Mo looked around; the low walls were no barrier to thieves. "Stay at my place for the night. We'll figure out tomorrow... tomorrow."

Little Grass nodded vigorously. Anywhere was fine as long as she could follow Chen Mo.

Jiang Hongli looked at the big one and the little one, a flicker passing through her eyes.

"Soft-heartedness is a sickness. It needs curing."

She tossed out this seemingly random remark, turned, and walked away. "I'm leaving. See you at the yamen tomorrow. Oh, and don't practice that 'Five Animal Frolics' too rigidly. Sometimes, living people are more important than dead rules."

Chen Mo watched her figure disappear into the night, lost in thought.

...

The night grew deep.

Chen Mo settled Little Grass on the broken bed in the inner room, while he himself gathered a pile of tattered cotton wadding to spread on the floor of the main room.

The Little Girl, probably terrified and utterly exhausted, soon began breathing evenly in sleep.

But Chen Mo couldn't sleep.

Sitting cross-legged on the floor, he pulled out a thin booklet from his robe.

"Tiger Demon Bone Refining Fist."

"Let's try it."

By the moonlight, Chen Mo assumed the stance.

First Move: Starving Tiger Pounces on Prey.

The name sounded crude, but the movements were extremely awkward.

He had to arch his spine like a great Dragon, tense all his muscles, and then explode with force, mimicking the explosive feeling of a tiger pouncing on its prey.

*Crack!*

The moment he exerted force, Chen Mo heard a crisp sound from his lumbar spine, the pain making him grimace.

"Hiss... This isn't practicing fist techniques, it's self-mutilation."

But he didn't stop.

Following the breathing method on the diagrams, coordinating with the movements, he exerted force again and again.

Muscles were stretched, fascia tightened, bones emitting faint groans under the pressure.

Sweat trickled down his forehead, quickly soaking through his clothes.

This 'Tiger Demon Bone Refining Fist' emphasized one word: "ruthlessness." Only by being ruthless to oneself could one Cultivate that fierce Tiger-like Evil Qi.

He practiced for roughly half a shichen.

Chen Mo felt as if his entire body had fallen apart, muscles aching unbearably, exhaustion seeping from the very marrow of his bones.

This was the drawback of external martial arts.

It harmed the body.

Without sufficient medicinal bath nourishment, forceful practice would only cripple the body. This was the so-called "poor for literature, rich for martial arts."

"That's about enough."

Chen Mo withdrew his stance, exhaling a long, turbid breath.

He had no money for medicinal baths now, but he had a cheat.

"Five Animal Frolics."

Chen Mo closed his eyes, adjusted his breathing, and his form shifted.

No longer the fierce Tiger fist, but something expansive and nimble.

Opening stance: Bird Stretches.

His arms slowly spread open like a great roc spreading its wings, his breathing becoming long and deep.

The tearing pain in his muscles from moments ago actually began to slowly recede with the movements of the Five Animal Frolics. In its place, a warm, flowing heat rose from his Dantian, spreading to his limbs and entire body.

This heat flow was like the best healing medicine, nourishing his damaged tendons and bones.

This was Chen Mo's Cultivation cycle.

Use external arts to push the body to its limit, then use nourishing arts to repair and nourish it.

Break, then rebuild.

Once, twice, three times...

Chen Mo immersed himself in that wonderful rhythm.

Tonight's feeling seemed somewhat different.

Perhaps it was the fright from the mass graves during the day, or the genuine anger stirred up while saving Little Grass, or maybe it was Jiang Hongli's words, "living people are more important than dead rules."

His heart was calmer than usual, yet also more "alive."

When he reached the Move "Deer Butts," Chen Mo suddenly had a flash of insight.

He no longer felt he was imitating a deer, but that he had truly become a wild deer, alert and foraging in the forest.

Every rustle of grass, every whisper of the wind, was sensed in his heart.

Next was "Bear Sways."

Steady, solid, immovable as a mountain.

"Ape Lifts."

Agile, clever, leaping between life and death.

Finally, "Tiger Pounces."

This Tiger Pounce was no longer the simple ferocity of the earlier 'Tiger Demon Bone Refining Fist,' but carried with it a kind of... presence.

A kingly majesty.

*Boom!*

It was as if a thunderclap exploded in his mind.

The Qi and blood within his body surged like a bursting river, instantly breaking through an invisible barrier and roaring through his Meridians.

Chen Mo's eyes snapped open.

In the dark main room, it seemed a flash of light illuminated the emptiness.

He didn't stop. Riding this surge of energy, he fluidly completed the final set of movements of the Five Animal Frolics.

Withdraw stance.

Exhale.

A white arrow of breath shot from his mouth, extending a full three feet before slowly dissipating.

"This is..."

Chen Mo looked down at his hands.

His skin glowed with a faint, jade-like luster, a sign of Qi and blood brimming to the extreme.

The aching feeling of his body falling apart was completely gone, replaced by an unprecedented sense of fullness. It was as if every muscle, every bone, contained explosive power.

Perfection.

After three years of practicing the 'Five Animal Frolics,' he had finally, tonight, in this dilapidated main room, achieved a Breakthrough to the Realm of Perfection.

Moreover, he had also grasped a sliver of "presence."

It was an ineffable feeling.

Like... injecting Soul into rigid Moves.

"System."

Chen Mo silently intoned in his heart.

The pale blue screen only he could see instantly materialized.

[Name: Chen Mo]

[Age: 16]

[Lifespan: 67 Years]

[potential points: 18.5]

[Mastered Martial Arts:]

Five Animal Frolics (Perfection 1%): Nourishes life, extends lifespan, strengthens internal organs. Trait: [Ceaseless Regeneration] (Qi recovery speed doubled, self-healing ability greatly enhanced).

Tiger Demon Bone Refining Fist (Beginner 15%): Tempers bones and sinews, fierce and lethal.

[Current Realm: Body Tempering Realm · Skin Refining (Perfection)]

Chen Mo's gaze fixed intently on the lifespan entry.

62 years!

A full 15-year increase!

This was the terrifying aspect of a Perfection-level nourishing art. In this chaotic age where the average lifespan was less than forty, 62 years was already a ripe old age.

More important were the potential points.

18.5.

This meant that from now on, his speed in Cultivating any martial art would be several times, even over ten times, that of an ordinary person.

"Hah..."

Chen Mo clenched his fist.

His knuckles cracked with a series of crisp pops, like frying beans.

He casually picked up a grey brick used to weigh down pickled vegetables on the table corner.

His five fingers clamped down with force.

*Crack.*

The hard grey brick crumbled like a biscuit in his hand, a corner directly crushed to powder that fell in a shower.

"Skin Refining Perfection, strength surpassing a thousand jin."

A sharp glint flashed in Chen Mo's eyes.

Now, although he hadn't yet Cultivated Internal Energy, with just this tempered skin and strength, three to five ordinary strong men wouldn't be able to get near him.

If combined with that not-yet-begun Tiger Demon Fist...

"Ten."

Chen Mo silently assessed in his mind.

"If they're scoundrels like Li Ya, whose bodies are hollowed out by wine and women, I could take down ten of them within the time it takes to drink a cup of tea."