"Ouch..."
Zhang Yao lay on his bed, gritting his teeth in pain.
He was bare-chested, wearing only underwear, covered with bruises and red swelling.
"Junior Brother, you're really pushing yourself too hard."
Zhang Yannian sat by the bed, applying ointment while clicking his tongue, "If I had trained like you back then, I'd probably be bedridden within a month."
"Only you, with such extraordinary talent and special constitution, can withstand this kind of training..."
For this half month, it's been an eye-opening experience.
Zhang Yao, while practicing the Golden Furnace Technique, displayed a relentless attitude, utilizing various practice tools one after another without fear of bodily harm.
But astonishingly, regardless of how badly beaten he was, he'd appear lively and energetic the next morning.
This spectacle left people like Zhou An and Meng Zongwei amazed, ultimately attributing it to Zhang Yao's unusual physical condition.
Such occurrences aren't unprecedented; take the common example of innate divine power, where the tendons and physical strength surpass ordinary people. When practicing External Martial Arts, they often exhibit extraordinary talents, becoming peerless in strength.
"Alright."
Zhang Yannian finished applying the ointment and stood up, "We'll stop here today. Rest well, I'll have the servants bring you your meals."
"Mm, thank you, Third Senior Brother."
Zhang Yao replied weakly.
Once Zhang Yannian left, he immediately activated his essence qi transformation gift.
Soon, invisible essence qi surged, and the various swellings and bruises on his body began to slowly heal, visible to the naked eye.
A moment later, more than half of his injuries had subsided, and Zhang Yao felt ravenous and weak.
"This talent is great and all, but it consumes too much essence qi..."
He took out some supplements, chewing and eating them heartily to accelerate the transformation into essence qi to replenish the consumption.
Abandoning the Taiyi Pile Skill's practice facilitated the swift progress of the Golden Furnace Technique, reaching 34% within half a month.
At this pace, even if the training progress slows down, he could master the Golden Furnace Technique within a year.
Talented martial arts geniuses like Meng Zongwei and Zhang Yannian had ample resources like ointments, medicinal wines, and also Zhou An's secret methods, yet took about seven to eight years to complete this step.
It is thus evident how advantageous Zhang Yao's essence qi transformation talent is for refining the Martial Dao.
In contrast, his progress in straightforward combat and fighting utilizing the Great Vajra Fist is a bit slower, but he reached a 7% progress after half a month's hard practice.
......
Next morning.
"Bang!" "Thunk!" …
Zhang Yao and Senior Brother Meng Zongwei exchanged moves in the practice arena within the martial hall.
Meng Zongwei's proficiency in the Great Vajra Fist far exceeded Zhang Yao's, blocking and countering with fluid ease, looking relaxed.
"Junior Brother, you need to pay attention while executing this move 'Crossing Thousand Mountains'..."
He advised while exchanging moves with Zhang Yao.
The match lasted for less than an hour until Zhang Yao was panting heavily, and they finally stopped.
"Junior Brother, your talent is something else!"
Meng Zongwei wiped the sweat off his forehead, clearly exhausted, and couldn't help but praise, "Though your Golden Furnace Technique is only at Small Success, with a base of Pillar technique Great Success, your physical strength and stamina are already on par with mine."
"You're flattering me, Senior Brother."
Zhang Yao shook his head and said, "In other aspects, I might be on par, but in terms of physical toughness, I'm still far behind."
Zhou An had explained to him that after mastering the Golden Furnace Technique, one could be said to possess Copper Skin and Iron Bones, surpassing ordinary martial artists.
Blunt weapons like clubs and hammers would barely affect the body; even sharp weapons like swords and spears would not penetrate much.
Both Meng Zongwei and Zhang Yannian had been adopted and trained in the Golden Furnace Technique by Zhou An for over a decade, reaching the Great Success Stage long ago, considered experts in Changping City, which Zhang Yao naturally couldn't match at present.
"Senior Brother, Junior Brother."
Zhang Yannian approached them, smiling, "Our Younger Sister has returned; it's time for dinner."
Soon, they were seated in the dining hall, enjoying a meal together.
Martial practitioners all enjoyed hearty meals, especially Zhang Yao, who due to his essence qi transformation talent, could eat more than Zhou An.
The table was laden with dishes, filled with chicken, duck, beef, and lamb, truly sumptuous.
"By the way, there's something to discuss."
Zhou An finished gnawing on a pig trotter, his face oily as he spoke, "The martial arts tournament is starting soon."
"A Yao, you need to prepare well and train your Great Vajra Fist more."
Hearing this, Zhang Yao blinked, slightly confused, and asked instinctively, "Master, what's the martial arts tournament?"
Beside him, Zhang Yannian put down his chopsticks to explain proactively, "The martial arts tournament is a competition jointly organized by five major martial halls in the city, each hall selects some disciples to compete."
"Its main purpose is for the martial halls to exchange, spar, and of course, there are prizes for ranking in the tournament."
Saying this, he looked at Zhang Yao seriously, "This tournament held annually for over twenty years, and both Senior Brother and I have stopped participating."
"But you, Junior Brother, haven't participated yet, being our Master's closed-door disciple, you must go on stage to showcase well and uphold the Golden Furnace Martial Arts Hall's reputation."
"Right!"
Zhou Hongxiu chimed in, grinning, "A Yao, you must perform valiantly on stage this time."
"I understand."
Zhang Yao gathered his thoughts, taking a deep breath and said, "I will train my fist techniques diligently and perform well, not to disgrace our Master."
His words led to a momentary silence at the table, soon followed by laughter.
Meng Zongwei, Zhang Yannian laughed heartily, while Zhou Hongxiu chuckled so much that tears nearly came out.
"This..."
Zhang Yao was dumbfounded again, somewhat puzzled.
"Alright."
Zhou An grabbed another braised pig's trotter, glaring at them irritably, "Always teasing your Junior Brother, laughing and joking around without a hint of seriousness."
He explained with a bite of pig's trotter, "A Yao, don't listen to their nonsense."
"This martial arts tournament sounds grand and prestigious, but in reality, it's just a ploy to help our martial halls make money."
"The ranking isn't important; what's vital is having impressive fights and entertaining the spectators."
Understanding dawned upon Zhang Yao.
Essentially, running martial halls was also about business, valuing prosperity over competitiveness.
Within Changping City, the five major martial halls had mutual understandings. The annual martial arts tournament served as a means to publicize themselves.
"So, that's the true nature of the martial arts tournament..."
"It's no surprise the five hall masters never had public fighting records."
"No public records mean no clear distinction between strengths, allowing harmonious and profitable coexistence."
He pondered and tentatively asked, "Master, should I fight for real or for show?"
PS: Dear readers, rest assured, there won't be clichéd arena battles; the martial arts tournament is just a premise, briefly mentioned to serve the subsequent story.