chsdbacks Chapter 73 Introduction to Bone Refining, White Tiger Bone Fiend
Chapter 73 Introduction to Bone Refining, White Tiger Bone Fiend
After Chen Yu left, everyone noticed Zhong Dalu lying on the ground.
"Help me..."
He was completely naked, and his breath was extremely weak.
"Quick, someone come quick and help me carry Zhong Dalu to the pharmacy!"
The person who shouted was Wang Xiahu, one of Zhong Dalu's cronies.
Like Zhong Dalu, he was also one of Xiao Tianlu's henchmen.
"Help! If we don't get him to the pharmacy soon, Zhong Dalu will die! Can you bear to watch him die?"
Wang Xiahu shouted for a long time, but no one paid any attention to him.
Most people are just watching coldly.
Zhong Dalu used to rely on Xiao Tianlu's support and acted tyrannically in the Central Courtyard, bullying men and women.
Now that he's in trouble, many people wish him dead, and no one is willing to lend a helping hand.
"Sigh, this is the quality of the people of Liang Kingdom—just a bunch of cold-blooded onlookers. If Zhong Dalu dies, it's because of the indifference of people like you!"
Wang Xiahu glared at the crowd and pointed at them, accusing them.
"You're so kind-hearted, so impressive! Then why don't you save him instead of just yelling here!"
Someone in the crowd spoke up.
"Exactly! If you're so capable, you do it yourself! We're just not capable, we're just indifferent!"
"I think it would be a good thing if a scourge like Zhong Dalu died. People like him are just a waste of food."
"I've disliked him for a long time. He's always causing trouble. Even if Chen Yu doesn't teach him a lesson today, I'll teach him a lesson sooner or later!"
"I was planning to beat him up too, to vent everyone's anger, but Chen Yu beat me to it. What a pity!"
The crowd started talking all at once, verbally attacking Zhong Dalu.
"Senior Brother Wang, let me help you. Come on, I'll hold up your head, and you hold up your feet. Let's hurry and get Zhong Dalu to the pharmacy!"
Wu Chen stepped out from the crowd and volunteered to help.
"Thank you, Junior Brother Wu."
Wang Xiahu was immediately filled with emotion.
There are not only indifferent bystanders in this world, but also kind people who are willing to help others!
Look at Wu Chenyi, he has thick eyebrows and big eyes, and he acts with integrity. What a great young man he is!
"Three, two, one, go!"
Wu Chen gritted his teeth and exerted force together with Wang Xiahu.
Just as Wu Chenyi was about to lift Zhong Dalu up, he suddenly swayed.
"Oh no! My hand slipped!"
Wu Chen suddenly let go, and Zhong Dalu fell to the ground again.
"Bang!"
His head hit the ground, creating a large dent in the bluestone floor.
"Senior Brother Zhong!"
Wang Xiahu rushed forward to check and found that Zhong Dalu had completely died after being hit.
"Waaaaah, how could this happen? How could this happen?!"
Wu Chen stepped forward and asked innocently, "What's wrong? What happened to him?"
Wang Xiahu wept bitterly.
Zhong Dalu is dead, so he will never be able to repay the thousand taels of silver he owes me.
"No way, could Senior Brother Zhong be dead? This isn't my fault for slipping; he was just too heavy!"
Wu Chenyi appeared surprised, but was actually very happy inside.
He volunteered to help, but it was all in order to deliberately kill Zhong Dalu.
Three days ago, he borrowed a thousand taels of silver from Zhong Dalu.
Only the two of them knew about this.
Now that Zhong Dalu is dead, this money will never have to be repaid.
Thinking of this, Wu Chenyi couldn't help but laugh out loud.
……
Sword Casting Manor, Pharmacy at the foot of the mountain.
The back room of the pharmacy was filled with a strong smell of mugwort and blood.
On the medicine stove, the bone-setting ointment was bubbling away.
"Crunch."
Chen Yu pushed open the door and came in, his body still covered in fresh blood.
It was splashed on him when he was slashing someone; he was in such a hurry that he didn't have time to change his clothes.
"Senior Sister."
Chen Yu rushed to the bedside in the outer room.
Luo Ninghai leaned against the headboard, his dark face etched with exhaustion.
A bluish-purple finger mark appeared on his right cheek, and a scab formed at the corner of his mouth.
The outer shirt was torn in half, revealing the forearm wrapped in bandages underneath.
"...Why are you here?"
After hearing the noise, she looked up at Chen Yu, her eyes still relatively clear.
"Sha Bao told me that you were injured by Xiao Tianlu and were sent here for treatment."
Chen Yu noticed that Luo Ninghai was in relatively good condition.
A huge weight has finally been lifted from my heart.
Then, his gaze fell on the half-closed curtain in the inner room.
"What about Senior Brother Fang? How is he doing?"
"Ouch."
A suppressed panting sound came from inside the room.
Chen Yu lifted the curtain and saw Fang Ke lying on his back on the couch, looking as if he had just been pulled out of the water.
His undergarment was soaked with cold sweat and clung tightly to his body.
His right arm was secured with two hardwood splints.
His entire arm was slinged across his chest with a cloth strip, and his shoulder and wrist were wrapped in bandages soaked in medicine.
Upon hearing footsteps, Fang Ke turned his head with difficulty.
"Senior brother! How are your injuries?"
Chen Yu stepped forward to examine it carefully.
Fang Ke's lips were dry, cracked, and white, and the veins on his forehead were throbbing.
"Keep your voice down, I'm fine, just my arm hurts a little."
"It's all my fault for being late, causing my senior brother to suffer such serious injury!"
Chen Yu squatted by the bed, staring at the injured arm, his voice extremely low.
"It's not your fault, Lao Fang was just trying to protect me."
Luo Ninghai's voice trembled slightly.
"Zhong Dalu's stick came from behind. Lao Fang pushed me away, but he couldn't dodge it himself."
"That stick hit my arm, I only heard a cracking sound and then..."
Fang Ke, with his eyes closed, squeezed out a few words through gritted teeth: "That's how it turned out."
"How are the bones now?"
Chen Yu turned to the old doctor who was packing his medicine box.
The old doctor shook his head and threw the blood-stained strip of cloth into the copper basin.
"The ulna is broken, and the radius is fractured."
"The arm has been reattached, but it will be immobile for three months. It cannot lift heavy objects, and it cannot exert any force."
"You must pay attention and not take this lightly. If your bones grow crooked, you'll be ruined for life!"
Upon hearing this, Fang Ke merely gave a wry smile and remained silent.
Luo Ninghai clenched his fist, his knuckles cracking.
"Once I recover from my injuries, I will definitely find Zhong Dalu, cripple his arm, and avenge you!"
"Forget it, forget it. He has Xiao Tianlu backing him up; we're no match for him. Let's just bear with it!"
Fang Ke shook his head repeatedly, though he too couldn't swallow his anger.
But he knew how terrifying Xiao Tianlu was and didn't want Luo Ninghai to get involved again.
At this moment, Chen Yu suddenly spoke.
"Senior Sister, Senior Brother Fang, I have avenged you!"
"I killed Xiao Tianlu, and I also crippled Zhong Dalu's arm!"
"What did you say?"
Fang Ke looked at Chen Yu in disbelief.
"Xiao Tianlu is dead. You can focus on recovering. Take a few more days to recover, and I'll cover your medical expenses."
"Are you telling the truth? You really killed Xiao Tianlu?"
After Chen Yu finished speaking, Fang Ke tried to sit up.
But as soon as he moved his right arm slightly, a sharp pain shot from his elbow to his shoulder, causing him to groan in pain, and cold sweat dripped from his chin onto the pillow.
"Don't move!"
Chen Yu hurriedly held him down.
Fang Ke took a couple of breaths, and after the intense pain subsided, he stared into Chen Yu's eyes and asked carefully:
"Xiao Tianlu was a master of the Lesser Completion of Tendon Refining Technique, how did you kill him?"
"Senior brother, I've already reached the peak of the Tendon Refining stage. Dealing with him should be easy, right?"
"Complete mastery of tendon training? When...?"
Before Fang Ke could speak, Luo Ninghai asked first.
"It happened just a few days ago. After many days of arduous practice, I have finally reached this level."
Chen Yu spoke earnestly, and the room suddenly fell silent.
The earthenware pot on the stove bubbled and bubbled, the brown medicinal soup churning with bitter bubbles.
Luo Ninghai felt a mix of emotions.
"I remember when you entered the Central Academy last month, you were only at the Great Perfection of Flesh Refinement, but now you've already reached the Perfection of Tendon Refinement!"
As she spoke, she couldn't help but shake her head and smile bitterly.
"Do you know how many years it took me to go from mastering body tempering to just getting to the basics of tendon tempering? Five years, a full five years! Compared to you, I'm utterly hopeless!"
"I've long noticed Junior Brother's extraordinary talent. Senior Sister, you shouldn't underestimate yourself. I spent ten years trying to reach the Tendon Refining Realm, so you're much stronger than me..."
After Fang Ke finished speaking, he felt that he had fallen too far behind in martial arts realm, and that being beaten up like this was not too unjust.
Seeing that his senior brothers and sisters were in good spirits and not in immediate danger, Chen Yu finally felt relieved.
"Senior Sister, Senior Brother Fang, please take good care of your injuries. I'll head back now."
After giving him a few words of advice, he left the pharmacy.
……
Back in his dormitory, Chen Yu found the manual and began preparing to practice the Five Elements Health Preservation Technique.
In the Five Elements Health Preservation Exercise, the section corresponding to bone refining is the chapter on the Spirit Tiger Exercise.
As Chen Yu flipped through the book and memorized it, he quickly grasped the principles of the technique.
The key to Linghu Gong can be summed up in one sentence: "The tiger's roar generates thunder, and the sound of thunder cleanses the bones."
When practicing Linghu Gong, one needs to imitate the low-frequency humming sound that a tiger makes in its throat.
Sound waves travel through the body, causing slight resonance in the bones; this is the source of the power of "bone strengthening".
When you inhale deeply, your spine rises and falls like a tiger, compressing the blood and qi in your body to flow downwards.
When you exhale deeply, your perineum contracts, forcing blood and qi to rise.
This change in the flow of Qi and blood can cleanse the bones from the inside, remove metabolic waste, and stimulate osteoblasts, thereby achieving the effect of "bone strengthening".
The so-called "bone refining" realm refers to the tempering of all 206 bones in the body.
To begin bone refining, one must temper and refine the sixty-two bones of the lower limbs.
During this stage, the femur and tibia become extremely compact under the vibration of sound waves, like compressing pine wood into ironwood.
After the sixty-two lower limb bones were tempered, the tibia of the lower leg was hard enough to block a steel rod, and even bend or break the steel rod.
To achieve minor success in bone refining, one must complete the tempering of fifty-one central axial bones.
This stage focuses on optimizing the structure of the spine and ribs, fine-tuning the curvature of the human body to perfection.
After the spine has been tempered, when falling from a height, the body can dissipate the force segment by segment like a spring upon landing.
The impact traveled from the soles of the feet to the top of the head, with each of the twenty-four vertebrae absorbing a portion of it. The final shock dissipated from the Baihui point like a wisp of smoke, causing no harm whatsoever.
At the same time, once the ribs are tempered, the torso can be instantly integrated into a rigid structure.
When an enemy throws a punch, the force is dispersed through the ribs to the entire chest cavity, and then transmitted through the spine to the ground.
Only a red mark remained on the spot where the fist struck, while the internal organs remained completely still under the protection of the bone cage.
To achieve mastery of bone refining, one must complete the tempering of all sixty-four upper limb bones.
At this stage, the limbs and bones have been basically tempered and completed. When the shoulder blades open and close, they can form a perfect mechanical triangle, transmitting the whole body's strength to a single point.
A punch is thrown, traveling from the foot, leg, hip, spine, shoulder, elbow, and wrist all the way to the fist.
His entire skeleton was like a single piece of refined living metal, with power flowing through him without any obstruction, and no leakage of power caused by the loose structure.
To complete the bone refining process, one must temper all twenty-nine facial bones.
This is the final stage of bone refining. With the nourishment of qi and blood, the sutures of the skull become tightly joined together, as if they were cast as one whole.
The temples, back of the head, and other areas are no longer weak points; they can even withstand powerful punches.
The facial bones are just as resistant to impact as the parietal bone, and the nasal bridge and cheekbones are as hard as metal.
The strength of perfected bone tempering is not only reflected in its resistance to blows.
The ossicles in the ears also become extremely sensitive, able to detect even the slight wind pressure generated by an attack in advance, allowing the brain to make predictions before danger arrives.
After reading everything, Chen Yu went to the courtyard, took a Body Strengthening Pill, and officially began cultivating the Spirit Tiger Technique.
"Starting stance: Tiger Crouching on Mountain Stance!"
Chen Yu stood with his feet shoulder-width apart.
Then slowly sit down, as if sitting on a high stool, with your knees not extending past your toes.
The hands are shaped like tiger claws, wrapped around the abdomen.
The most crucial step is skeletal alignment. Imagine a thread suspended from the top of your head, straightening your spine, and your coccyx feeling like a lead weight.
"This is the beginning of bone refining!"
Following the instructions in the book, Chen Yu took a deep breath and guided his qi and blood downwards.
"snort--"
When your Qi and blood reach their limit, exhale forcefully.
The vibration travels from the throat through the sternum and spine, finally reaching the soles of the feet.
Chen Yu focused his mind inward, viewing his own skeleton as a rusty iron tower.
The iron tower was being vibrated by the sound waves, and rust and dust fell down, revealing the jade-like luster inside.
"First move, Tiger's Might!"
"Second move, Tiger's Roar in the Mountains!"
"The third move, Tiger Crouching, Dragon Coiling!"
Half an hour later, the entire set of Linghu Kung Fu was finally completed.
【Technique Section (Tier 2 33%)】
[Exercise Method]: Five Elements Nourishing Life Exercise - Spirit Tiger Chapter
[Quality]: Superior Tier 1
[Status]: Equipped
[Progress]: First floor (5/100)
[Equipment Requirements]: None
[Equipment Effect]: Cultivation will surely lead to success, once proven, forever, progress is visible, cultivation efficiency +40%.
"After completing a full set of techniques, I only gained a mere 5 experience points?"
Chen Yu looked at the cultivation technique section and frowned slightly.
The Body Strengthening Pill is already an extremely powerful elixir, and with its enhancement, this is the best one one can achieve in terms of cultivation speed.
"At this rate, we won't be able to reach the peak of Bone Refinement within ten days!"
Chen Yu recalled the reminders in the Five Spirits Health Preservation Exercise manual.
The bone-refining stage of cultivation is inherently a very slow process.
Even with specially made bone-strengthening ointments and medicinal baths, it won't be much faster.
If you train too quickly, it can actually lead to bone density imbalance.
During the bone-refining stage of cultivation, it is essential to maintain a calm mind. If the mind is too intense, it can easily lead to bone hyperplasia and joint fusion. If one is not careful, one can become a cripple.
Thinking about this, Chen Yu felt relieved.
After all, it involves tempering 206 bones. If it were that easy, there would be Bone Refining Realm experts everywhere.
"You can't rush it. Bone refining is a process that takes time to hone. My current speed is already quite fast. If I go any faster, something bad might happen."
Composing himself, Chen Yu continued practicing his skills.
The Spirit Tiger Skill is divided into twelve levels, with the first three levels focusing on tempering the bones of the lower limbs.
Only after completing the first level of cultivation can one be considered to have entered the realm of bone refining.
It wasn't until the morning of the next day that Chen Yu finished practicing the first level of the Spirit Tiger Technique and officially entered the beginner stage of bone refining.
The breakthrough from the peak of the Tendon Refining Realm to the entry level of the Bone Refining Realm represents a significant advancement in martial arts.
With the breakthrough in his cultivation level, the talent panel reappeared before Chen Yu's eyes.
The equipment effect of the talent "Rebirth" has been triggered again.
[Talent Slot (Tier 1 97%)]
[Talent]: A complete transformation
[Equipment Effect]: Body Refinement Technique cultivation efficiency +50%. Each breakthrough will cause the physical body to mutate, permanently increasing the upper limit of physique!
[This physical mutation has resulted in the acquisition of the 'White Tiger Bone Demon']
【Characteristics】: 1. Tiger-striped bone armor; 2. Tiger's might suppresses; 3. Tiger's fierce bone roar.
【Tiger Striped Bone Armor】: 1. Base bone load-bearing capacity +30%, physical damage received by the bone-covered area -20%; 2. When hit by blunt force, the damage spreads to the entire skeleton, and the damage received by a single point is reduced by 60%; 3. Within 10 seconds, if the bone is not attacked, it recovers 0.05% of its integrity every 10 seconds; 4. When the bone is broken for the first time, the "Bone Reconstruction" effect is triggered, which immediately restores the bone to its original state. This effect can only be triggered once every 100 days.
【Tiger's Might Suppression】: When the wearer faces a target with a lower bone strength than themselves, it will cause the target to suffer the "Bone Softening" effect, causing their skeleton to tremble instinctively, their movements to become stiff by 20%, and their power efficiency to decrease by 15%.
【Tiger's Bone Cry】: 1. Every five attacks, the fifth attack will inflict the "Bone Cry" effect on the user's bones, reducing the target's bone defense by 25% for 10 seconds; 2. If this attack hits the target's bones, there is a 50% chance to directly cause the "Bone Fragment" effect, ignoring defense and directly destroying the bones; 3. After the "Bone Cry" effect is triggered three times consecutively, the user's bones will enter an "Overheat" state, which cannot be triggered again for 10 minutes.
During this transformation, Chen Yu felt a tingling sensation throughout his bones.
The feeling was like millions of ants crawling deep into your bone marrow, itchy and hot, but not uncomfortable.
After the complete transformation, the "White Tiger Bone Demon" effect will be applied to the body.
His mortal body has been completely transformed, replaced by a skeleton imbued with the malevolent aura of a white tiger.
At this moment, the tiger-striped bones, having grown together with his flesh, were vibrating at a special frequency, slowly adapting to his body.
After the transformation was complete, Chen Yu looked at his arms and ankles and noticed that his joints had become noticeably thicker.
It's not only thicker, but also harder.
Seeing the results of this complete transformation, Chen Yu roughly understood.
This "White Tiger Bone Demon" is also a permanent passive effect.
It mainly improves bone strength, resulting in increased defense.
Secondly, there are special effects triggered during attacks that can inflict negative status effects on enemy targets.
Overall, it significantly improves practical combat capabilities.
Especially when fighting bare-handed, the advantage of strong bones becomes even more apparent.
"Although I can't break through to the peak of Bone Refinement in a short time, with this 'White Tiger Bone Fiend' effect, my chances of winning in a life-or-death duel will be greatly increased."
Without much thought, Chen Yu continued practicing the Spirit Tiger Technique.
Eight days passed quickly.
Before we knew it, it was September 22nd.
Only one day remains until the life-or-death duel.