Chapter 17: Tendons like bowstrings
While the Lian tribal clan was brewing the herbal medicine, Yi Yun had secretly came to the back of the Lian Clan Herb Mountain.
Facing the moonlight, Yi Yun stood on a boulder like a pine tree.
Yi Yun had previously used the opportunity to absorb large amounts of herbal essence using the Purple Crystal when Zhao Tiezhu was collecting the herbs.
Now the herbal essence was surging through his body like a fire storm!
The best way to absorb the herbal essence was to cultivate himself. During the cultivation process, he would digest the herbal essence and train up his body!
Yi Yun slowly straightened his left foot, with his left hand grabbing his left ankle. With his right knee bent, his body bent like a bow.
This was the ‘Fierce Tiger Descends the Mountain’ stance. Yi Yun had secretly learned the first six stances of the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’. He gestured it accurately.
‘Fierce Tiger Descends the Mountain’ crux was to tighten the body’s tendons. Yi Yun kept pulling his body till it hurt before punching with a roar!
“Ka-cha!”
Yi Yun had punched through a small tree in front of him!
However such a result was not satisfactory for Yi Yi Yun. He didn’t want the power from the fist, but to be able to push his tendons to their maximum.
In the five levels of Mortal Blood, the first three levels, Valiant, Vigor and Thunderous were simply a measure of the martial artist’s body conditions. Through continuous training of the flesh, organs and bones, the body’s hidden potential will be revealed, resulting in the realm of Vigor and Thunderous. It was all a natural process and not something one could aim for.
Yi Yun understood that by mastering ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’, he would have no problems reaching the fifth level of Mortal Blood. Because based on what Yao Yuan said, ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ was a basic technique that even a Purple Blood realm person could employ to great effect.
“Ka-cha!”
A clear snap. Yi Yun broke a thin pinetree with the thickness of a fully grown leg. His fists were bruised, but it didn’t matter. The herbal essence that the Purple Crystal absorbed were gathering in Yi Yun’s body, slowly spreading, becoming part of Yi Yun’s strength.
Yi Yun loosened his fists before clenching his fists again!
Yi Yun practiced “The Fierce Tiger Descends the Mountain” stance for the umpteenth time. Yi Yun’s muscles was like a young tree sprout being watered, growing and thriving.
Yi Yun had trained from midnight to daybreak!
Despite the intense training, the Purple Crystal which had absorbed large amounts of herbal essence supplemented Yi Yun with the energy, causing him to be radiant and awake.
Yi Yun gave his all for every ‘Fierce Tiger Descends the Mountain’ stance. His tendons were pulled to their extremes every time!
Such intense training was also tough for Yi Yun.
His body was sore. Besides the soreness, his body had already expended all the herbal essence he had previously absorbed. The essence had blended into Yi Yun’s flesh and blood. Yi Yun’s tendons were repeatedly pulled, slowly making them more resilient.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!”
Yi Yun did not know how many punches he had thrown. Because it was physically demanding, Yi Yun’s sight became blurry. His perception deteriorated but the pain from his punches and the pulsing feeling from the pull of tendons were extremely clear!
Yi Yun entered a wonderful state. It was without distractions, a state of semi-consciousness.
He had forgotten everything. The only thing he could remember was his body’s tendons. Imperceptibly, Yi Yun had formed a mind map of his tendons and muscles. It was a magical feeling.
In this state of selfless training, Yi Yun could ‘see’ his meridians.
Sweat rained down and his fists bled.
The sweat had misted his eyes. He heard the faint whistling of the wind. Yi Yun only felt an intense pressure in front of him.
In that second, Yi Yun managed to conjure a strength of unknown origins. He roared as his tendons were pulled to their extremes before shooting out a punch!
“Peng!”
Yi Yun’s practice had uprooted the pine tree, scattering the wood!
Amidst the flying sawdust, Yi Yun’s body had clearly made a soft ‘Peng!’ sound.
Although it wasn’t loud, it was extremely crisp. Just like the twang of a bowstring, it was especially clear in the wide open night sky.
Tendons like bowstrings. So this is tendons like bowstrings…
Yi Yun fell onto the ground staring at the sky with his arms wide open.
That last punch had used up all of his energy!
Yi Yun breathed in deeply. His right fist was mangled red with blood, but the pain made him even more excited!
He knew that he had made small progress towards his ‘Fierce Tiger Descends the Mountain’!
This night was the first time he practiced martial arts in his life. He was practicing the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s top technique–’Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’. The ‘Fierce Tiger Descends the Mountain’ move was something only a person with Mortal Blood level three, Thunderous could create the twang of a bowstring using his tendons.
But Yi Yun managed to do it. Although it was soft, he was after all still in the realm of Valiant. He was also only twelve, his bones and muscles were incomparable to an adult’s.
The results were not something any member of the warrior preparation camp could match. He had even exceeded the Lian Chengyu’s Valiant level from the past.
…
Yi Yun did not have a night’s sleep, but so did the old man responsible for brewing the herbs in the Lian tribe drug room!
The pot of herbs had been brewed an entire night. Even the stones propping the pot up were red hot.
At dawn, a few strong men came to pour out a large amount of black liquid from the pot.
This was the entire pot’s essence.
“Hmm…these herbs are the best this time. We could still brew it another three times or so. Although it will be less effective, it’s still extremely precious. You guys can use it to shower. The herbal dregs will be left for the commoners. It will be needed when the desolate bones are refined!”
The Lian tribal clan’s imperfect brewing techniques could only obtain 20% of the herbs’ essence. This was their limit.
And Lian Chengyu could only absorb half of the herbal essence obtained by the tribe through soaking.
Which is to say, Lian Chengyu could only absorb 10% of the herbal essence.
The ratio may sound low, but it was understandable. A normal person was unable to absorb a large percentage of the food they ate, not to mention for herbs that were a hundred times harder to absorb.
The bucket of black herbal liquid was sent into Lian Chengyu’s isolation chamber.
Lian Chengyu had already heard that valuable herbs like Dan Guo, wild ginseng, Black Fungus and licorice were in that pot of herbs!
Lian Chengyu’s cultivation had reached to the point of breakthrough. He was most in need of the herbs to enrich himself.
“Good! Good! It came just in time!”
Lian Chengyu looked at the black herbal liquid with a face full of excitement.
He disrobed and jumped into the hot liquid naked.
The temperature was above ninety degree celsius, sufficient to cook any meat. Even a Mortal Blood fifth level like Lian Chengyu felt pain all over his body.
But this temperature was the optimal temperature for absorbing the herbal essence. Such hot water could open up the pores and let the herbal liquid enter the warrior’s body through his pores.