Yang Kai sat cross-legged on his simple wooden bed.
After confirming there were no extra surprises popping out of the first page, he cautiously turned to the second.
With his previous experience, his actions were much more natural and composed. Slowly, his eyes widened as a new line of golden words emerged on the dark, empty page.
"Proud Golden Body: Tempered Body Record!"
Yang Kai's heart pounded.
Sure enough, just as he had suspected, every page held a hidden secret.
Almost without thinking, he focused his entire mind entirely on the second page of the book.
Abruptly, the golden characters flew off the page like leaping fish and swiftly drilled themselves directly into his brain. A warm glow enveloped the darkness around him before vanishing. When it was gone, he felt a massive influx of new information suddenly branded into his mind. It had all come from those golden characters.
Calming his racing heart, Yang Kai closed his eyes and attempted to digest the information.
In reality, he didn't even need to manually absorb it. The moment the characters imprinted themselves into his brain, he was automatically able to comprehend their meaning with perfect clarity. It was like achieving full mastery in an instant.
Yang Kai found that it was a fist technique.
At first glance, it seemed remarkably simple. However, as he delved deeper into the inherited memories, he realized it was infinitely more profound. This wasn't merely a combat art... it was a supreme body-refining method, one that could temper both flesh and bones by channeling the essence of the world through very specific movements.
But there was a strict, unyielding requirement.
It must be cultivated while facing the rising sun.
Yang Kai frowned slightly. That meant he could only practice for about half an hour each morning. Right now, it was still the dead of night, so he had no choice but to wait.
This frustrated him slightly, for he had exerted himself all day and had only eaten one measly sweet potato. Nonetheless, he had obtained a priceless treasure and a heaven-defying technique, leaving him feeling utterly jubilant.
After tossing and turning for half an hour, unable to sleep, he decided to try analyzing the third page of the Black Book.
However, it completely let him down. No matter how much he checked and flipped, there were absolutely no changes to the third page. Perhaps his current cultivation base was still insufficient to reveal its secrets.
After all, he had only just obtained the first technique.
Letting out a long breath, he willed the book back into his body.
Despite his burning curiosity, physical exhaustion was finally creeping up on him. His body had been pushed far beyond its limits today, and the meager sweet potato he had eaten earlier wasn't nearly enough to sustain him.
He lay back down on his bed and, before he even realized it, drifted into a deep, dreamless sleep.
When he woke up, it was nearly sunrise. The pre-dawn darkness was clouded and a peaceful stillness covered the entire area, broken only by the occasional chirping of insects and early birds.
With intense anticipation in his heart, Yang Kai quickly leaped out of bed and walked out to the front of his cabin. Standing in the cool morning air, he took a few deep breaths and let his body slowly relax.
He squared his shoulders and faced east... directly toward the rising sun.
As the first golden rays broke through the darkness, Yang Kai positioned his body exactly according to the Tempered Body Record.
He raised his fists.
The first movement... a slow, deliberate palm push forward.
The second... a sweeping motion to the left, and then to the right.
With each sequential technique, his body began to feel strangely heavy, almost as if an invisible boulder was weighing down on him. At the exact same time, an unfamiliar, scorching warmth surged through his limbs, filling him with an overwhelming sense of vitality.
Left foot forward... stepping into the horizon.
Right foot planted... firm like the underworld's king.
A perfect, rhythmic flow began to form. Each movement resonated with something unseen, as if he were physically communing with the natural world itself.
Then...
Crack!
Yang Kai winced as his bones let out a sharp, continuous popping sound, as if a string of firecrackers was going off deep inside his body.
A sharp pain tore through his limbs, making him grit his teeth.
For a brief, terrifying moment, he thought he had broken something again. But when he focused inward, he immediately realized the truth...
His body was actively transforming. It was strengthening at a visible rate.
A wide grin tugged at his lips.
This technique... it wasn't just a mere martial art. It was a literal method of physical rebirth!
Suddenly, the crushing weight vanished.
His body felt incredibly light.
Almost too light.
At that exact moment, something fundamentally shifted within his dantian.
A subtle, warm aura began coursing actively through his meridians, an energy that had never been there before.
Yang Kai's breath hitched.
"This is..." His voice was barely above a whisper.
The Fourth Stage!
He had officially broken through the Tempered Body Third Stage and stepped firmly into the Fourth Stage!
Searching through the original Yang Kai's memories, he recalled the basics of cultivation. The Tempered Body boundary had nine distinct stages. Up until the third stage, it merely enhanced one's physical capabilities and muscle density. But upon reaching the fourth stage, it would finally generate a faint presence of World Energy within the meridians.
Only with the birth of this energy sense were you officially considered a true cultivator.
Although a fourth-stage cultivator possessed this energy sense, the body still couldn't utilize Yuan Qi in combat. You could only wait until the seventh stage, where the body naturally began to gather and store World Energy, all the way until the ninth stage. That was when the body would finally break through, opening the door to the Origin Opening Realm. Only a cultivator in the Origin Opening Realm could truly manifest their strength externally.
The Origin Opening Realm was considered a true martial artist's real starting point.
Everything within the Tempered Body boundary was strictly for laying the foundation for the future. This foundation determined a person's ultimate potential. Your bones, skin, and organs would be continuously refined until you reached the peak.
For three long years in High Heaven Pavilion, his predecessor had been hopelessly stuck at the Third Stage. No matter how hard he trained or how many beatings he took, his progress had been painstakingly slow.
But now...
After only thirty minutes of practicing the Tempered Body Record...
He had advanced an entire stage!