The next morning, at six o'clock, the sky outside was barely breaking dawn.
"First, respect the tea."
"Present the jade letter, and then respect the tea again."
"Grant the tea, three respects."
Chen Yuque sang the ceremony in a drawn-out tone, after the three cups of tea were given, the apprenticeship jade letter was presented, and with that, the ritual was complete.
In this tranquil and quiet room, there were no distinguished guests, no celebratory lion dances, just ordinary, bland three cups of coarse tea.
"It should have been more formal." The elder held the jade letter offered by the young man, his fingers rubbing over the words 'Zhang Fusheng', and said with a smile:
"But Jiangzhou City is ultimately not our ancestral land; wait till next year, I'll take you to Chongyang City, and we'll hold a banquet to invite some old folks to witness it together."
Chongyang City is about three to four hundred kilometers from Jiangzhou, both within the Golden Province, but one is a small city while the other is one of the seven medium-sized cities in the Golden Province.
The entire Golden Province has only one large city, seven medium-sized cities, but an unusually large number of small cities, about sixty in total.
"Postpone the ancestor's portrait worship for now, next year when we return to Chongyang City, I'll take you to pay respect personally."
Hong Tianbao gently stroked Zhang Fusheng's forehead three times, then his smile faded, he lightly tapped the void with his knuckle, eliciting a 'dool' sound.
Zhang Fusheng saw that purgatory-like spiritual illusion once again.
"Great Sun Illuminates the Seventy-Two Great Snow Mountains Scripture." The full name of the cultivation technique, was somewhat hard to speak, so the elder simplified it slightly, softly saying:
"Actually, I wasn't wrong to say this technique consists of three volumes; the first volume is 'Great Sun Illuminates the Seventy-Two Great Snow Mountains', if you add the second, it's 'Infinite Heaven Great Sun Illuminates the Seventy-Two Great Snow Mountains'."
"Adding the third makes up the complete thirty-six-word title."
"Today, I'll pass on the first volume to you, this technique is a great mystery of life and death, and thus taught only in the Divine Realm."
So, this spiritual illusion is called the Divine Realm.
Zhang Fusheng contemplated this while performing the grand ceremony, quietly listening to his master's explanation of the cultivation technique.
He gradually immersed himself as if enchanted, sometimes clapping his hands, sometimes frowning, and sometimes rejoicing—all an act.
He couldn't actually get immersed.
Out of ten sentences, he could barely understand one, and yet he had to feign complete enlightenment!
What misery!
An hour later, Hong Tianbao finished explaining the cultivation technique, then left the Divine Realm, leaving Zhang Fusheng alone to ponder in the quiet room.
Ponder what egg!
He could only mechanically memorize the entire volume of the cultivation technique, but upon reflection, his head throbbed with pain.
Fortunately, this volume of [Great Sun Illuminates the Seventy-Two Great Snow Mountains Scripture], at the beginning stage of cultivation, is not too difficult to understand; otherwise...
"This cultivation technique is not merely a simple technique, but also includes Grim White Bone Observation...to be precise, it completes the Grim White Bone Observation."
This, Zhang Fusheng could understand; surely one wouldn't truly teach the fundamental contemplation technique for ten thousand dollars tuition.
The contemplation technique he learned before was incomplete, although it truly could cultivate to the [Breaking Limit] level, ultimately it was not complete.
With this Great Sun Scripture supplement, when contemplating, besides perceiving oneself as a skeleton, one also envisages the Great Sun illuminating all directions above the head, with seventy-two snow-covered mountains below, under frost and frozen ground.
And the completed White Bone Observation has 'Eight Forms of Form and Spirit', which are eight different self-contemplation forms, advancing layer by layer, growing more mystical.
Namely, Life Light Phase, New Death Appearance, Giant Form, Blood Painting Form, Decaying Form, Beast-Devouring Form, Bone Scattering Form,
and finally the [Ancient Tomb Form].
When connected completely, it's the entire process from birth to death, and finally sealing the coffin and entering the tomb for a person, each form of Form and Spirit carries mysticism.
"I have already achieved the Life Light Phase; bones generate light, according to the complete White Bone Observation description, it can gradually improve physique until forming the unique Dead Man's Bone root bone."
"As for the following seven forms of Form and Spirit....."
He smiled bitterly, for these eight forms of Form and Spirit in the White Bone Observation, only the first form, Life Light Phase, and second form, New Death Appearance, are somewhat normal,
like the third form, Giant Form, it requires truly contemplating oneself as a 'giant' expanded due to decay, with black hair entwined with grass roots, and exhalation emitting decay fog.
This is not merely a simple contemplation; it will truly reflect in reality, just like bone generating light!
Imagining the appearance of himself as a 'rotting giant', Zhang Fusheng shivered.
Damn.
I've definitely joined the Demon Sect, Master is definitely an old demon!
He smiled bitterly and restrained his thoughts.
"This first volume directly points to [Melting Furnace Realm]."
Zhang Fusheng pondered:
"What level is the Melting Furnace Realm? A Martial Arts Master? Or something more powerful?"
He selected content that he could understand and comprehend, recalling and observing closely, gradually gaining some enlightenment.
At least he knew how to transition from the First Refinement to the Second Refinement.
"Use the Breathing Technique as a medium, guiding the Mysterious Factor, and follow the path described in the cultivation technique throughout the body..."
He stood in the Flower Picking Stance, breathing to draw Spring Thunder, gradually truly immersing himself in cultivation.
One hour, two hours.
After two hours.
"I've actually progressed, increased strength.....a half ounce?"
He rubbed his forehead; following this pace, even practicing for eight hours a day would increase at most two ounces of strength,
while one Refinement Perfection requires adding five hundred pounds of strength!
Would take about...
seven years!
Seven years!!
"Damn, what practice.....Contract, give me a boost!"
He communicated with the Ancestral Acupoint between his eyebrows, activating the dim Contract, which stored Elder Zhong's fifty years of body refining time—accurately, cultivation time.
"This time the contract actually requires a cooling period of over two months? Is it due to the increased content of the transaction, or the increased gains from the transaction?"
Zhang Fusheng pondered, but didn't care—Star Beast meat can directly reduce the cooling period.
Fifty years of cultivation time suddenly lay upon him.
[In the first year, I used the Great Sun Illuminates the Seventy-Two Great Snow Mountains Scripture to temper my body, making some progress.]
[In the second year, I made some progress.]
[In the third year, I made some progress.]
…
[In the seventh year, I reached the Perfection of First Refinement, with the strength of my hands reaching twelve hundred pounds. I continued to strive for effort.]
[In the eighth year, limited by my inferior root bone, I was stuck at the bottleneck, making no progress.]
[In the ninth year, I still made no progress.]
[In the tenth year.....]
[In the sixteenth year, after accumulating efforts over time, I finally broke through the bottleneck, integrating the mysterious factor into a deeper layer of my skin membrane, becoming a Second Refinement Martial Artist!]
[My strength suddenly increased by five hundred pounds again!]
[In the seventeenth year, after entering the Second Refinement, I found my root bone's limitations became even more serious.]
[In the eighteenth year, I made slight progress.]
[In the nineteenth year, I made slight progress.]
…
[In the thirty-eighth year, after going through countless hardships and spending a total of twenty-one years, I finally reached the peak of the Second Refinement!]
[Now, my hand strength exceeds two thousand pounds, and my skin membrane is extremely tough.]
[I continued to make efforts to temper my body and practice the Great Sun Scripture.]
[In the thirty-ninth year, unsurprisingly, I got stuck in a bottleneck again, making no progress.]
[In the fortieth year.....]
[In the forty-ninth year, trapped by the bottleneck of the body, I was still stuck at the peak of the Second Refinement. I finally accepted the fact that I am a mediocre person.]
[But I am optimistic; at least I reached the Second Refinement while many people spend their whole lives stuck at the First Refinement, or never even start the Breathing Technique.]
[In the fiftieth year, I had a flash of inspiration, and then nothing else.]
[No matter how much inspiration flashed, it couldn't improve my root bone, couldn't let the mysterious factor penetrate the deepest layer of skin membrane, couldn't reach the Third Refinement.]
Memories of cultivating and refining the body each day for fifty years surged like tides.
Along with it came a surge in strength.
One thousand pounds, fifteen hundred pounds, twenty-two hundred pounds!
The tendons and bones resonated like thunder, fists weighed like steel buckets.
Zhang Fusheng exhaled a turbid breath, as if expelling the dust accumulated in his organs over fifty years, as if expelling timeworn sentiments.
"There's still sixty years of cultivation time for the Contemplation Technique and the Breathing Technique, one portion each."
"What a waste..."
As he contemplated, he silently began practicing Tiger Roar Fist, the dust gathered into a tiger, emitting a deep roar that echoed in the quiet room on the fifth floor.
"If my root bone were better, even slightly better, at this moment I would have at least broken into the Third Refinement, or even the Fourth or Fifth Refinement!"
"Root bone..... root bone!"
The desire to swap for an excellent root bone had never been as intense as now.
After completing a set of Tiger Roar Fist, he finished the stance.
His fist pressed against his palm, the tiger head roared, and the dust gathered into visible circular ripples, spreading around and crashing against the walls.
Zhang Fusheng stood motionless for a long time.
'Knock knock knock'
The sound of knocking came, and the second senior sister walked in:
"Little junior brother, did you look at the list I sent you yesterday? Who did you choose?"
As she spoke, Chen Yuque looked Zhang Fusheng up and down, frowning slightly.
In just a few hours, why does it seem like the little junior brother..... has changed again?
Zhang Fusheng contracted his muscles and bones, hiding over two thousand pounds of strength,
Explaining the progress in Contemplation Technique and Breathing Technique with enlightenment is acceptable, but the serious progress in body refining cultivation?
His root bone is evident right there.
"I have chosen."
Zhang Fusheng nodded:
"I want the debt called Chen Nuanyu..... but I also want to ask about her and another person's situation, which is about the boss of the Fourth District Construction Company, Zhu Dashan."
He paused, then explained:
"One of them is my classmate, and the other is an uncle of mine."
"Zhu Dashan?"
Chen Yuque thought for a moment:
"No impression, he probably owes very little, as for that Chen Nuanyu..."
She smiled slightly:
"She, a little genius who took shortcuts, borrowed nearly twenty million altogether, with interest, now she owes about thirty million. Since you fancy her, I'll leave the debt collection to you."
"According to the rules, you have autonomy to decide whether to waive part of the interest within a certain range, and whether to extend the repayment period.... If you want to consume her, I can teach you how to do it."
Chen Yuque winked at Zhang Fusheng with a wide grin, revealing two small tiger fangs.