Chapter 10

After practicing spear thrusts with the young boys for more than an hour, Fang Luoya, drenched in sweat, felt his arms aching as if they were about to break. At last, he heard Uncle Gang's voice calling for a stop.

Fang Luoya heaved a huge sigh of relief and immediately stopped, leaning on his wooden spear to catch his breath.

"Alright... that's it for today, everyone go home..." Uncle Gang waved his hand at the group.

"Yay... going home..." The boys, hearing Uncle Gang's words, cheered and scattered, dragging their wooden spears behind them.

Fang Luoya was about to take his wooden spear and head home to rest when he heard Uncle Gang's voice: "You stay... and continue practicing!"

Hearing these words, Fang Luoya's face fell. He knew Uncle Gang wouldn't let him off so easily.

"To become a qualified hunter, besides combat skills, basic physical training is also extremely important. It is the foundation of all combat techniques..."

"Without a good foundation, all skills are just empty talk... I can see that you haven't practiced the basics before. Now you must start from scratch if you want to catch up with others!"

"Come, let's practice horse stance now..."

"Keep your back straight... legs in position!" Under Uncle Gang's corrections, Fang Luoya finally managed to stand in a standard horse stance.

At first, the horse stance was manageable, but after just fifteen minutes, Fang Luoya felt his legs starting to ache and his lower back becoming sore. Sweat began to trickle down his face in large droplets.

Seeing Fang Luoya's legs start to tremble, Uncle Gang sternly commanded, "Slow your breathing, hold on. If you can't even manage this, you might as well give up. You'll never catch up with others in your lifetime..."

Hearing Uncle Gang's cold words and thinking of Mu Yong and Yun Ling's hopeful gazes, Fang Luoya gritted his teeth and, following Uncle Gang's instructions, slowly regulated his breathing, forcing himself to hold on.

As his breathing gradually slowed, Fang Luoya felt a cool and warm sensation in his lower abdomen begin to flow, gradually dispersing into his body.

As this energy spread throughout his body, the aching in his legs and lower back began to ease, the discomfort slowly fading away.

With the help of this energy, Fang Luoya slowly felt he could continue holding the stance...

Beside him, Uncle Gang, seeing Fang Luoya's trembling legs stabilize and the sweat on his forehead gradually disappear, showed a hint of surprise in his eyes.

He hadn't expected that just by telling Fang Luoya to adjust his breathing, he could adapt so quickly.

"Did this kid really never practice before?" With a hint of doubt, and remembering that Fang Luoya had just successfully undergone the witchcraft initiation, Uncle Gang felt both puzzled and pleasantly surprised. It seemed this kid wasn't as hopeless as he thought and showed some potential.

After practicing all day, Fang Luoya finally dragged his exhausted body back home. He felt weak all over, his hands and feet numb and aching.

Today, he had practiced spear thrusts and held the horse stance for an hour, and also lifted a stone block for an hour!

Although his constitution had greatly improved after the initiation, after a full day of practice, even with the help of the mysterious energy in his lower abdomen, every part of his body still ached.

Seeing Fang Luoya return, Yun Ling, who was sitting at the door sewing clothes with a bone needle, smiled happily: "Brother Luoya, you're back..."

"Yes, Yun Ling... Uncle Yong hasn't returned yet?" Fang Luoya asked with a smile, hearing no other sounds from inside the house.

"Um... Dad went hunting and hasn't returned yet, but it's still early, so he should be on his way..."

Yun Ling's beautiful face broke into a sweet smile. She put away her clothes and stood up, saying, "Brother Luoya... today must have been tough. I've prepared hot water for you, go take a bath..."

"Also, the witch gave me a jar of medicinal powder, saying that now that you're starting physical training with Uncle Gang, it will be very tough... using this powder in hot water for a bath can help your body recover..."

Seeing the clay jar Yun Ling handed him, Fang Luoya took it and looked closely. Inside was a grayish-yellow powder.

He brought it to his nose and sniffed. Fang Luoya raised his eyebrows slightly, recognizing a familiar spicy scent, along with several other faint medicinal aromas.

"Hmm..." Fang Luoya was surprised that he could clearly distinguish the different scents in the mixed powder.

He recognized the spicy scent as "Xixin" (Herba Asari), the faint aroma as "Aiyeh" (Moxa), and the scent of "Ruxiang" (Frankincense) and "Xuejie" (Dragon's Blood).

These herbs were known for their blood-activating and circulation-improving properties. The witch had given them to him to help relieve fatigue and injuries.

But these herbs were already ground into powder and mixed together. Why could he distinguish them so clearly? This was strange.

Could the initiation have even enhanced his sense of smell?

With a hint of doubt, Fang Luoya didn't think too much about it. He was quite impressed by the witch's medical skills. A crude herbal decoction could heal a broken rib in just two days, which was truly remarkable.

And if these herbs could help alleviate his soreness and numbness, he would feel much better tomorrow.

Fang Luoya went to the kitchen, where Yun Ling had already prepared the hot water, and poured it into the large wooden tub. He then added some of the medicinal powder from the jar.

He stirred the water to mix the powder, and as the steam rose, carrying the faint medicinal aromas, he took a deep breath, stripped off his clothes, and sat in the tub.

Feeling the hot water open his pores and the medicinal energy seep into his body, causing a tingling sensation in his sore muscles, Fang Luoya couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.

"This is so comfortable..."

Sitting in the large wooden tub, Fang Luoya was so relaxed that he almost fell asleep.

When the water in the tub gradually cooled, Fang Luoya slowly stood up, scooped some cool water, and rinsed his body. To his surprise, after just a short medicinal bath, most of the soreness and numbness in his body had disappeared.

It felt as if the entire day's practice and the soreness had been just an illusion...

He moved his limbs and waist to confirm, and then looked at the medicinal water in the tub with a puzzled expression, picking up the clay jar and examining it seriously.

"These herbs have such a powerful effect?" After carefully distinguishing the scents of the powder, Fang Luoya's doubts grew even more.

"Xixin, Aiyeh, Ruxiang, Xuejie... yes, these should be the main components of the powder. But there are one or two others I don't recognize?"

"Logically, those herbs shouldn't have such a good effect. Could it be that the remaining two herbs I can't identify are the key?"

"But that shouldn't be the case... the scents of those two herbs only make up a small part. Could it be that the herbs in this world are just more potent, rather than the combination of ingredients?"

Thinking about this, Fang Luoya's eyes lit up. The witch's method of making medicine and the combination of these herbs seemed quite crude. If, as he suspected, the powerful effects were due to the individual potency of the herbs, then if he made and combined the herbs himself, the effects would be even better.

Just as Fang Luoya was feeling excited, he heard Yun Ling's surprised cry from outside...