บท 6: Monster Hunting
Yan Guang could feel the rich qi in the surroundings as he watched the green landscapes pass. Qi was much more abundant in nature than in cityscapes, perhaps because fewer cultivators were here to absorb it.
If anyone was there to observe Yan Guang closely, they would see that the way he walked was quite erratic. This was because of the Flowing River Steps, which he was trying to passively practice.
What better way to practice a movement technique than by moving?
When he was first introduced to the Flowing River Steps, he learned that there were three levels to it. The first level was called Floating Leaf. The instructions in the manual told him to imagine leaves floating on a river, being pushed along by the current.
Without exerting any force, they could borrow the flow of the river to reach their destination. By emulating the leaf and utilizing the random natural currents of qi everywhere, Yan Guang could also do the same.
Although his movements seemed chaotic to the regular person, a cultivator with qi sense could tell that each of them was strategic.
Yan Guang was simply letting the qi push him to his destination.
Eventually, he reached one of the spots where a beast he was tracking had been spotted.
It was a forest filled with oak trees that twisted in strange and unnatural ways. Yan Guang's best guess was that some hurricane had passed through the area, causing the trees to bend.
'Meh, I was expecting something a lot stranger.', Yan Guang silently thought to himself.
After searching the forest for around half an hour, Yan Guang finally stumbled upon the beast he was supposed to kill.
The beast resembled a cheetah from Earth, except it was much larger and tinted green. As soon as it noticed Yan Guang, it let out a loud cry that shook the ground around it.
Although the beast naturally didn't know martial arts, inherited knowledge allowed it to use skills such as that roar to match up to human martial arts. Therefore, while humans weren't brought to the brink of extinction by the beasts, they weren't the apex predators either.
Focusing his internal energy on his hands and feet, Yan Guang dashed toward the beast with unwavering courage.
After fighting a risky battle with the wolf previously, his will had been further tempered. Now, he could fight with utmost confidence!
The first blow was landed by none other than Yan Guang, who plunged his fist deep into the beast's underside. Although it didn't strike any vital regions, the sheer power made the beast shake.
A glint of fear could be seen in its eyes.
Not wanting to lose the initiative, Yan Guang followed his first blow with a series of many.
The beast slowly staggered back, trying to seize the opportunity to run away, but Yan Guang wouldn't let it off so easily.
Using his newly unearthed qi sense, he sensed the qi flowing upwards before deciding to leap into the air, letting it push him. This was full utilization of the Floating Leaf stage of the Flowing River Steps.
Yan Guang fell directly onto the beast's back, dealing it a heavy blow and simultaneously mounting it. From there, he didn't hold himself back, concentrating all of his qi on his fists.
On his fists, one could faintly see the outline of a tiger's head appearing before he began pummeling the beast to the utmost of his ability.
The already injured beast couldn't hold on for much longer before falling to the ground and letting out a whimper.
It had exhaled its last breath.
Still pumped full of adrenaline, Yan Guang felt like he was on top of the world. The more beasts he killed, the closer he felt to becoming the king of the beasts, a true tiger.
Yan Guang realized that the only way to cultivate the Raging Tiger Fists to completion was to kill a vast amount of beasts through solo combat. He could tell that after killing this beast, he had already begun to take on some of the characteristics of a tiger.
For example, there was a vague aura around Yan Guang that could scare off some weaker beasts. The further he went in his practice of the Raging Tiger Fists, the stronger this aura would become.
Yan Guang didn't leave the area immediately. Instead, he began draining the beast's blood into jars that he had bought in the town earlier. In the end, he managed to fill all of the jars he had. The beast was huge, after all, being almost thrice the size of any cheetah he had seen on Earth.
Finally, Yan Guang cut off the head of the animal to take back as proof. The fur, although valuable, would be too much of a pain to collect. Considering the value of his time, he decided it would be better off to just head back now and consolidate his gains.
Heading back to the town, Yan Guang was relieved to learn that he didn't have to pay the entrance fee again for another month after he paid the last time.
Eventually, he arrived at the guild office yet again and went to the quest submission area. Turning in the piece of paper he had with the information about the beast as well as its head, he was given a hefty sum of 3 silver.
Yan Guang was satisfied by today's harvest and decided to go back to the inn for today. He had to cultivate and further increase his strength so that tomorrow would be even better.
After arriving in his room, a sense of calm washed over him. There were no more dangers left for him to face. For today, at least.
First, Yan Guang took out the jars of beast blood he had harvested. He had a very important use for them, refining his body.
Even though he had focused on qi cultivation, he hadn't completely forgotten that he had bought a body refining manual too.
The Tiger-Bear manual required him to gather blood from freshly deceased beasts before covering his skin with it to let the blood's energy seep into his body.
Of course, it wasn't that simple. While blood was part of it, there was also a set of exercises to perform.
The first exercise was a modified horse stance, with one leg slightly in front. As Yan Guang assumed the stance, he felt it was too easy. With his enhanced strength, he could easily hold this for an hour.
Then, Yan Guang felt it. The effects of the manual were finally starting to kick in.
The pain he felt at that moment was akin to a searing hot iron being pressed over his entire lower body.
Yan Guang couldn't help but let out a groan. This much pain wouldn't make him give up just yet. After all, the pain of the body remolding process he experienced when he first opened the system welcome package was far greater than this.
After one minute passed, the pain intensified further. If the iron was on low heat previously, then the dial had now been turned up to high.
Although it took all of his strength to barely withstand the pain, Yan Guang persevered.
Finally, three minutes passed, and the pain surpassed its previous record once more, now feeling like a flame directly roasting his legs to a perfect medium-rare.
Yan Guang collapsed, finally unable to withstand the torture of body refining.
It wasn't much less painful than actually refining yourself in a furnace.
In regards to this, Yan Guang could only say that body refining was truly a path meant for masochists. This was why most cultivators focused on qi refining instead, an equally difficult albeit less painful path.
After half an hour, Yan Guang regained enough vitality to start the second exercise.
The exercise itself was similar to a plank, targeting mainly the core.
Once again, Yan Guang baptized himself in beast blood before beginning the exercise. The same process that occurred during the first exercise repeated itself, with mild discomfort ballooning into scorching pain.
Once he reached the limit of his pain tolerance, Yan Guang stopped again before resting up and continuing with the third and so on.
The Tiger-Bear manual contained 10 exercises that altogether exercised most of the muscles in the human body. The essence of the technique was to grow one's strength by putting one's muscles under strain while letting a kind of savage aura that existed innately in the beast's blood invade them.
If one didn't feel pain when practicing this technique, they were doing it wrong.
As Yan Guang practiced the exercises, he pondered over this topic.
Evidently, the exercises were nothing special or unseen in his previous world. However, when combined with the beast's blood, they did indeed have a miraculous effect in tempering the body.
However, the effect could not purely be attributed to the blood either. If it was purely the blood, then what would even be the point of the technique? Couldn't anyone just pour blood on themselves and become a body refiner?
Yan Guang concluded that the answer lies in the combination of both. Without the exercises, the savage aura would simply be unable to enter the body and without the aura, none of the miraculous effects would be attained.
After truly understanding how much knowledge was ingrained in even the lowest of cultivation techniques, Yan Guang gained a new appreciation of the world. What other secrets hid in the techniques?
Unknowingly, he had already finished 10 exercises. Although the first exercises felt incredibly painful, Yan Guang eventually grew accustomed to the pain. Moreover, he had managed to distract himself from the pain and monotony through his comprehension of the technique, another unexpected benefit.
A glance at the clock revealed that it was already late in the night. The moon's gentle light shone through the frameless windows of the rickety inn.
None of it mattered to Yan Guang at the moment, though. He desperately needed a good night of sleep to recover from the training.
Within seconds of falling onto his bed, he drifted into the world of dreams.
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