The disciples of the Huo Courtyard were all practicing their martial arts. They were quite familiar with Chen Yuan’s reserved personality and didn’t notice the changes happening to him in the corner.
Chen Yuan scanned the courtyard but didn’t see Fang Minghai. His thoughts stirred.
After the new year, Senior Brother Fang came to the Huo Courtyard less and less frequently, often disappearing for days on end. Rumor had it that the friction between the Fang Family and the He Family had grown increasingly fierce, making Fang Minghai’s strength indispensable.
Chen Yuan let out a breath. With his current strength, he might be able to share a bit of the Fang Family’s burden.
Funiu Mountain, Fourth Medicinal Garden.
Remaining snow lingered in the courtyard’s shade, casting a light chill over the mist-veiled spring reeds.
Dressed in a white guard uniform, Chen Yuan practiced the Dragon Elephant Pile Skill outside the Medicinal Garden where the ice and snow were melting. His body was like a massive furnace, exhaling wafts of hot breath that drifted into the air. His entire stance was incredibly steady, and his aura was restrained, resembling a slumbering giant elephant.
With the combined effects of the medicinal broth and the Cultivation Technique, the progress of his Elephant Bone inched closer to its limit. If one could look inside his body, they would find that Chen Yuan’s bones were now as smooth and warm as white jade. Their hue resembled ivory, and their toughness far exceeded that of ordinary martial artists who had achieved Great Success in the Bone-refining Stage, allowing him to unleash even more powerful strength.
Nourished by years of medicinal broth and tempered by the pile skill, his bones had fundamentally transformed and were on the verge of a qualitative leap.
The sky gradually darkened as snow weighed down the spring courtyard, with floral fragrances drifting beneath the moonlight.
The Medicinal Farmers left one after another. Only Chen Yuan remained, his figure steadfastly practicing his posture, unmoved by the wind and snow. Finishing another set, he concluded his Cultivation Technique, stood up straight, and exhaled a long breath of impure air.
[Dragon Elephant Prison-Suppression Body First Layer (Elephant Bone): 999/1000]
He had reached another critical threshold. For ordinary people, this tiny step might be harder than all previous efforts combined—an insurmountable bottleneck. But for Chen Yuan, Cultivation Techniques never had bottlenecks.
Replicating the process of comprehending Hidden Force from that morning, he consumed one Low-key Point and injected it into the Dragon Elephant Prison-Suppression Body.
In an instant, the final transformation was complete. The bones throughout his entire body became even more solid, with physical strength surging through every part. He could now withstand explosive bursts far beyond the limits of the human body, as if a humanoid giant elephant had descended upon the world.
Elephant Bone, absolute Perfection.
This Stage was in no way inferior to the Iron Bone limit of the Bone-refining Stage; in fact, it was even stronger in certain aspects. Most importantly, the two could be stacked. With the Iron Elephant Bone, even when facing an expert in the Muscle-refining Stage, he wouldn’t necessarily lack the power to put up a fight.
Moreover, he could now begin cultivating the second layer of the Dragon Elephant Prison-Suppression Body.
[Dragon Elephant Prison-Suppression Body Second Layer (Dragon Tendon): 0/2000]
As the name implied, this layer directly tempered the tendons and veins throughout the body. The enhancement in physical strength was even more terrifying than that of the Elephant Bone, capable of pushing the body’s explosive power to its absolute limit. If he could reach Perfection, his tendons and bones would become incredibly strong. With Dragon Tendon and Elephant Bone, killing a Marrow-refining expert with a single punch would be a breeze.
Correspondingly, the difficulty of cultivation was much higher.
Unlike the Elephant Bone cultivation, which had lower-tier alternatives for its medicinal broth, cultivating the Dragon Tendon strictly required a precious herb called the Dragon Tendon Vine. Chen Yuan had inquired at the apothecary and learned that this Dragon Tendon Vine was locally known as the Blood Vein Vine, and it was quite expensive.
A single one-year-old Blood Vein Vine sold for ten taels of silver. If refined into a Strong Sinew Pill, its value soared even higher, with a single pill selling for five taels of silver. To maintain his cultivation of the Dragon Tendon, he would need at least one Strong Sinew Pill per day, which amounted to one hundred and fifty taels a month.
For the current Chen Yuan, this sum was far too heavy a burden. He might only be able to afford it after breaking through to the Muscle-refining Stage. He planned to inform General Manager Li of his Stage advancement tomorrow and see how much his monthly salary would increase.
With Elephant Bone Perfection achieved, Chen Yuan switched to practicing his Great Success Rocky Pile Skill. He continued to nurture his vitality and blood, preparing to forge his Iron Bone as soon as possible. He believed that with the enhancement of the Elephant Bone, he would get twice the result with half the effort.
As the night deepened, all was silent. Only the Medicinal Garden remained brightly lit to guard against potential dangers.
In the darkness, a strange beast covered entirely in black scales silently approached. Its paws landed on the dirt with a sound so faint it was nearly inaudible, quieter even than the whispering wind. Of course, it couldn’t sneak into the Medicinal Garden completely unnoticed. The brightly lit perimeter was the absolute limit of its stealth.
The profound, bestial eyes of the Black-Scaled Leopard fixed intensely on the figure practicing boxing under the lights, a flash of pure hatred gleaming within them. It still remembered the last time it came to this Medicinal Garden to feed. It had been injured by this very same hateful human.
Now, months later, it was back, and it had grown much stronger. This time, it would completely tear this human apart and avenge its past humiliation! It would eat his flesh and drink his blood. Such a young Martial Artist would absolutely nourish its body far better than any precious herbs. Afterward, it would consume everything in this Medicinal Garden. If it could fully digest it all, its strength would soar to an entirely new level!
Even having snuck to the very edge of the light, the beast remained motionless. Patience was an essential trait for a predator, and it was waiting for the perfect opportunity.
The night was thick. The lights flickered around the perimeter of the Medicinal Garden, casting Chen Yuan’s practicing shadow long and short.
He was deeply immersed in the vitality and blood circulation of the Great Success Rocky Pile Skill. His pores opened slightly, inhaling and exhaling the chill of the late spring night, as a faint coppery luster surfaced on his skin.
Right at that moment, an incredibly faint rustling sound came from behind him. It wasn’t the wind. The wind wasn’t this heavy.
Chen Yuan’s spine instantly snapped taut. His Rocky Pile Skill stance immediately shifted into the Santishi combat stance. His front foot remained light while his back foot planted firmly. Lowering his center of gravity, it took merely half a breath for his muscles to go from completely relaxed to explosively tense.
He didn’t turn his head. Instead, grinding the tip of his right foot into the earth, he twisted his waist and pivoted his entire body sideways, turning toward the source of the sound like a coiling dragon.
A dark shadow had already burst forth from the gloom thirty feet away.
The Black-Scaled Leopard.
It was a full size larger than it had been months ago. Its black scales gleamed with a cold, metallic luster under the moonlight, and hatred and greed burned wildly within its dark golden, slit-like pupils.