Chapter 17

While the Lian Clan was in a feverish state of refining medicines, Yi Yun quietly came to the back mountain of the Lian Clan.

Bathed in the moonlight at the horizon, Yi Yun stood on a large rock like a green pine tree.

Just now, when Zhao Tiezhu was collecting medicinal herbs, Yi Yun seized the opportunity to use the purple crystal to absorb a large amount of the medicinal power from those herbs.

Now, this medicinal power surged within Yi Yun's body, rising and surging like a fiery cloud!

The best way to absorb this medicinal power was to practice. During the practice, he could digest this medicinal power and use it to temper his physical body!

Yi Yun slowly extended his left leg forward, his left hand grasping his left ankle, his right knee bent, his body leaning to the side, and his waist and back bent like a bow.

This was the starting posture of "Tiger Descends the Mountain." During the day, Yi Yun had secretly learned the first six moves of the "Dragon Sinew Tiger Bone Fist," and he performed them with a semblance of form.

The most important part of "Tiger Descends the Mountain" was to tighten the tendons and muscles inside the body. Yi Yun pulled his body until it hurt, then he roared and punched out!

"Crack!"

The small tree in front of Yi Yun, as thick as a bowl, was directly shattered by his punch!

However, such a result did not satisfy Yi Yun. He wanted not only the power of his punch but also to maximize the strength of his tendons and muscles.

The five levels of the Mortal Blood Realm, the first three being Vigor, Qi Endurance, and Thunder Sound, were actually just external manifestations of a martial artist's physical condition. By continuously tempering the body, strengthening the internal organs, and hammering the bones and tendons, the physical condition would gradually improve, naturally reaching the Qi Endurance and Thunder Sound levels. All of this would happen naturally without the need for deliberate pursuit.

Yi Yun understood that as long as he mastered the "Dragon Sinew Tiger Bone Fist," he could easily break through the five levels of the Mortal Blood Realm. According to Yao Yuan, the "Dragon Sinew Tiger Bone Fist" was a foundational technique that could still play a significant role even in the Purple Blood Realm.

"Crack!"

With a crisp sound, Yi Yun shattered another pine tree as thick as his calf. His fist was slightly bruised, but it didn't matter. The medicinal power absorbed by the purple crystal was active within Yi Yun's body. The accumulated blood and qi were gradually dissipated, and the medicinal power was thoroughly integrated into Yi Yun's flesh and blood, becoming a part of his strength.

Yi Yun slightly moved his fist and then retracted it to punch again!

He didn't know how many times he had practiced the "Tiger Descends the Mountain." His entire body's muscles and tendons grew and strengthened like young seedlings watered by spring rain.

Yi Yun came to the back mountain in the middle of the night and practiced until dawn!

If he hadn't undergone such high-intensity training, with the purple crystal in his body and the absorption of so much medicinal power, his mental state would have been described as vigorous and energetic. Even if he hadn't slept all night, Yi Yun would still have been full of energy and not feel tired at all.

However, with each "Tiger Descends the Mountain," Yi Yun exerted all his strength, his muscles and tendons bulging, stretching to their limits each time!

Such high-intensity training, even for Yi Yun, was almost unbearable.

His body ached intensely, and in this pain, the medicinal power he had absorbed was completely consumed. The essence of that energy was hammered and blended into Yi Yun's flesh and blood, and his tendons, repeatedly stretched, gradually became very resilient.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Yi Yun didn't know how many times he had punched. Due to the severe physical exhaustion, his vision was somewhat blurred, and his perception of the surroundings gradually faded. Only the pain of his punches and the pulsing sensation of his tendons being stretched were incredibly clear!

Yi Yun entered a wondrous state unconsciously, his mind free from distractions, as if in a state of drunkenness and wakefulness.

He forgot everything, remembering only his tendons and muscles. Gradually, Yi Yun felt a map of his entire body's tendons and muscles appear in his mind, a very wondrous feeling.

In this state of self-forgetfulness, Yi Yun actually "saw" his meridians.

Sweat poured down, and his fists bled.

Sweat blurred his eyes, and the wind whistled in his ears. Yi Yun felt as if he was facing a heavy, suffocating chaos that made it hard for him to breathe.

At that moment, Yi Yun didn't know where he got the strength. He roared, his tendons and muscles stretched to their limits, and he punched out!

"Bang!"

The pine tree Yi Yun was practicing on was shattered at the roots, wood chips flying everywhere!

In the midst of the flying wood chips, a clear "snap" sounded from within Yi Yun's body.

Although the sound was not loud, it was very crisp, like the sound of a bowstring being plucked, especially clear in the night sky.

Tendons like a bowstring, this is what it means to have tendons like a bowstring...

Yi Yun lay on the grass in a spread-eagle position, facing the sky.

That last punch left him completely drained!

Yi Yun panted heavily, his right fist bloody and mangled, but the pain in his hand made him incredibly excited!

He knew that his "Tiger Descends the Mountain" had reached a small level of mastery!

That night, it was the first time in his life that he practiced martial arts. He practiced the top-level physical training technique of the Tai A Divine Kingdom, the "Dragon Sinew Tiger Bone Fist." According to Yao Yuan, the "Tiger Descends the Mountain" move generally required a warrior at the third level of the Mortal Blood Realm, who had cultivated the Thunder Sound throughout their body, to be able to make their tendons and muscles vibrate, producing a sound like a bowstring.

But Yi Yun had achieved it, even though the sound was very light. He was only at the Vigor level, and his body was that of a twelve-year-old, far less robust than an adult's in terms of muscles and bones.

This achievement was far beyond what any member of the Lian Clan's warrior training camp could match, even surpassing Lian Chengyu, who was also at the Vigor level back then.

...

Yi Yun didn't sleep all night, and neither did the old man and the strong men responsible for boiling the medicine in the Lian Clan's large pharmacy!

A pot of medicine was boiled all night long, and the stones at the bottom of the pot were burned red.

At dawn, several strong men worked together to pour out the medicine, filling a large bucket with black liquid.

This was the essence of the entire pot of medicine.

"Hmm... The first batch of these herbs is the most effective. You can still boil them three to five more times, although the effects will be weaker, they are still very precious. Take them to wash your bodies. The remaining dregs should also be kept, to be distributed to ordinary clan members for use when refining the wild bones!"

The Lian Clan's method of boiling medicine could extract only about 20% of the medicinal power, which was the limit.

And this 20% of the medicinal power, when used to wash Lian Chengyu's body, could only be absorbed by about half.

In other words, Lian Chengyu's absorption rate of the herbs was only about 10%.

This rate might sound low, but it was reasonable. Ordinary people don't have a high absorption rate of food, let alone various herbs that are hundreds of times harder to absorb than food.

This iron bucket of black medicinal liquid was delivered to a secret room, which was Lian Chengyu's seclusion place.

Lian Chengyu had long heard that this pot of herbs contained extremely precious ingredients like the Dan Fruit, wild ginseng, black lingzhi, and five-leaf grass!

Lian Chengyu's cultivation was already in the final stages, and he needed good medicine to supplement his training!

"Great! Great! It's just in time!"

Lian Chengyu looked at the bucket of black medicinal liquid, his face full of excitement.

He took off his clothes, naked, and jumped into the scalding hot medicinal liquid.

The temperature was around 90 degrees Celsius, hot enough to cook meat. Even Lian Chengyu, at the fifth level of the Mortal Blood Realm, felt intense pain all over his body.

However, this temperature was the best for absorbing the medicinal liquid. The scalding water would make the pores of the body open up, and the medicinal power of the liquid would slowly seep into the body through the pores of the warrior.