Cultivating in Different Professions

Chapter 41: Chapter 41: Major Completion in Skin Tempering

In a little over a month, he had accumulated three hundred Identity Points—enough to advance his Golden Scale Skin Tempering Technique from Minor Completion to Major Completion.

Such speed and progress would put even the so-called prodigies of the Inner City to shame.

Learning from his last experience, Su Mu made thorough preparations this time.

He lay down on the bed, adjusted his posture, took a deep breath, and decisively tapped the ”+” symbol next to the Golden Scale Skin Tempering Technique.

BOOM!

In an instant, Su Mu’s body doubled over like a shrimp.

He opened his mouth wide, trying desperately to scream, but the intense pain prevented him from making a single sound.

A torrent of heat surged through his body. He felt as if he were being cooked alive.

He gritted his teeth and held on, but lasted only for a moment before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fainted.

Tempering the body is a gradual process. It involves using exercise and medicinal aids to slowly increase one’s physical strength, and throughout this process, the body needs time to recover.

But Su Mu had just skipped that recovery stage, directly infusing his body with what would have otherwise taken years of tempering.

The pain was beyond the limits of human endurance.

If not for a faint, almost imperceptible force from the system protecting him, Su Mu would have surely died from the excruciating pain.

Even so, the pain was something Su Mu would never forget for the rest of his life.

Even in his unconscious state, his body continued to twitch uncontrollably.

After an unknown amount of time, Su Mu slowly opened his eyes, feeling utterly drained from head to toe.

The bed was a filthy mess, covered in shed skin, sweat, blood, and other unidentifiable impurities.

Everything had mixed together into a sludge-like substance that gave off a foul stench.

But right now, Su Mu couldn’t care less. He just lay there in the filth, without even the strength to lift a finger.

About an hour later, Su Mu let out a long breath and managed to drag himself up.

After gathering his strength for a little longer, he finally got to his feet and immediately stuffed all the meat and restorative tonics he had prepared into his stomach.

Only then did the hollowed-out feeling subside a little, and he recovered a bit of his strength.

Enduring the foul stench, he threw out the bedding, then fetched several buckets of water to wash himself clean.

”Another set of bedding wasted,” Su Mu muttered to himself.

Luckily, Steward Xu had given him five hundred taels of silver last time. Otherwise, with his meager salary, Su Mu really wouldn’t have enough to get by.

The saying goes, ”Literature for the poor, martial arts for the rich.” Thanks to the system panel, Su Mu’s Skin Tempering no longer required those absurdly expensive medicinal aids.

Even so, Su Mu still felt like he was spending money like water.

The biggest expense was food. After the Skin Tempering, his appetite had soared. A single meal for him was equivalent to five or six for an ordinary person, and he would get hungry again quickly. Eating four or five meals a day was commonplace for him.

Moreover, after every breakthrough, he would feel completely depleted and would need to replenish his body with a large amount of nourishment.

For instance, the meat and restorative tonics he had prepared this time had cost him over thirty taels of silver.

If he had to rely on his salary alone, a whole year’s pay wouldn’t have been enough to cover this single post-breakthrough meal.

For any other martial practitioner, the costs would have been even greater.

It was no wonder that among the many constables in the South City Bureau, so few actually entered the Body Tempering Realm.

’It’s simply because Body Tempering is too expensive. Even if you have the aptitude, you might not have the financial means.’

Once everything was tidied up, Su Mu sat on the bare bed boards to rest and meditate.

After about two hours, the meat and tonics he had eaten were gradually digested and absorbed, and the strength in his body slowly returned.

Su Mu felt re-energized. He clenched his fists, feeling his body become solid and powerful.

’I’ve finally reached Major Completion in Skin Tempering!’

Su Mu could now clearly feel the changes in his body.

Compared to before, his stamina was far greater. If he went all out with his Submerging Wave Saber Momentum, he could execute the Nine Waves a full ten times without the embarrassing predicament of exhausting his energy.

His skin, in particular, had become even more resilient.

If one could magnify his skin countless times, they would see that its surface seemed to be covered in innumerable, tiny golden scales. These scales, invisible to the naked eye, made his skin as tough as thick cowhide.

A somewhat dull blade would now probably only leave a white mark on his skin, unable to break it and draw blood.

With his skin tempered to Major Completion, its resistance and endurance were far greater than an ordinary person’s. Now, even without using any saber techniques, Su Mu could easily mow down any thug who hadn’t tempered their body.

’I’ve mastered the Submerging Wave Saber Momentum. At lower stages, it can almost bridge the gap of an entire realm.

As I am now, I’d even have a fighting chance against a Martial Artist at the Major Completion of the Second Stage of Body Tempering,’ Su Mu thought to himself.

He had been learning everything he could about the Martial Dao recently.

Mastering a martial art to the Perfection Realm provided a distinct advantage in the lower stages of the Body Tempering Realm.

This was especially true for the First and Second Stages of Body Tempering.

However, as one advanced to higher realms, the disparity in raw power grew larger. Moreover, almost all high-level Martial Artists could cultivate their martial arts to the Perfection Realm.

[Name: Su Mu]

[Identity: Constable Leader (Official)]

[Points: 5]

[Cultivation Technique: Golden Scale Skin Tempering Technique (Major Completion)]

[Martial Arts: Submerging Wave Saber Technique (Perfection), Archery (Initiate)]

As he thought this, Su Mu summoned the system panel and focused his attention on the Golden Scale Skin Tempering Technique.

Golden Scale Skin Tempering Technique, Major Completion to Perfection: Requires 1,000 Identity Points.

Su Mu calculated silently. ’One thousand Points... based on the base income for a squad leader, that would take fifty days. If I factor in performance bonuses, I could cut that time in half. I could probably earn enough in less than a month.’

Compared to other Martial Artists, his greatest advantage was how much money he saved.

His Skin Tempering didn’t require Spiritual Liquid, which saved him far more than a few hundred taels of silver. If it weren’t for that, he would probably still be worrying about money.

It wasn’t like his current situation, where all he had to do was work.

’Now that I’ve reached Major Completion in Skin Tempering, I’ll go press them about my waist token again tomorrow. I need to get into the Inner City as soon as possible,’ Su Mu thought. Suddenly, his ears twitched.

In the next moment, Su Mu grabbed his long saber, yanked open the door, and rushed out.

The moment he stepped out the door, Su Mu felt something slick and greasy underfoot.

Looking down, he saw that the ground had been covered at some point with a viscous, black liquid.

’Fire oil!’

Su Mu’s heart lurched in alarm.

Just then, several torches flew over the courtyard wall and clattered to the ground.

FWOOSH!

The flames erupted at once.

The fire oil burned too quickly, and with too many points of ignition, Su Mu had no time to stop it.

Seeing that the fire was already spreading, he rushed to the courtyard gate and reached for the handle.

RATTLE! With the clanking of an iron chain, he realized the gate had been locked from the outside.

Su Mu’s eyes narrowed. In the next instant, his long saber was drawn.

CRACK! CRACK! The wooden gate shattered into pieces.

Su Mu charged out of the courtyard, just in time to see several shadowy figures ducking into an alley.

He glanced back at his house, now engulfed in a sea of flames. After a moment’s hesitation, he decided to stay put.

The fire had already taken hold. If he didn’t put it out quickly, it would certainly spread to the neighboring houses.

As for the arsonists, Su Mu had gotten a good look at their figures. They weren’t getting away!