Under the blazing sun, Yu Fei had just taken a Vitality Elixir and was practicing the Ox Subduing Pile Skill, one move at a time.

The young man’s form was stretched and magnificent, his posture extraordinary. His movements carried a hint of natural, effortless grace.

His Ox Subduing Pile Skill was already far along the path to mastery, and its effect on tempering his body was extremely potent.

However, Yu Fei felt he had hit a bottleneck. Even with the seven-fold boost to his neural reaction speed from his Super Speed Reaction, his progress in the pile skill had recently stagnated.

Even so, Yu Fei was on the verge of achieving Muscle Refining Perfection.

From breaking through the Flesh stage on March 27th to now, May 3rd, thirty-seven days had passed, and only now was he touching the threshold of Muscle Refining Perfection.

He had originally planned to break through the Muscle Refining stage within a month, but his progress had been slowed by his practice of the Green Lotus Sword Nourishing Skill.

At this moment, the veins and sinews all over Yu Fei’s body bulged. Upon closer inspection, each one seemed to be a tiny worm, trembling faintly.

Achieving Muscle Refining Perfection had no external signs, nor did it require an energy supplement. However, from this stage onward, martial arts breakthroughs began to carry risks.

Breaking through this stage required someone to stand guard. As the fascia underwent its transformation, it would put immense pressure on the bones and muscles, making sprains and strains extremely likely. In layman’s terms, it was like a cramp.

But this was no ordinary cramp, like one a normal person might get in their sleep from a calcium deficiency. This was a revolt of the body’s entire fascial network. A Martial Artist would be almost powerless to save themselves, and without someone watching over them, it could very well lead to permanent disability.

If a teacher was present to guard them, they could stop the cramping by promptly massaging specific acupoints and applying therapeutic massage to the muscles.

Yu Fei performed the pile skill again and again. Under Yan Sea’s guidance, he had just swallowed an entire Vitality Elixir in one go. Keep in mind, after entering the Muscle Refining stage, he usually only took a third of an elixir at a time.

"Soon, it’ll be soon..."

Yu Fei had a feeling that he would achieve Muscle Refining Perfection during this very set.

His muscles tensed, and the vibrations in his fascia grew more and more intense. Even with the seven-fold boost to his neural reaction speed, he found it increasingly difficult to maintain the precision of his movements.

"THUMP, THUMP..."

He heard it...

If one could observe on a microscopic level, at that moment, all the fascia in Yu Fei’s body joined the resonance of his skin and flesh. They vibrated at the same extremely faint, high frequency, forming a single, unified whole.

Yu Fei didn’t stop the pile skill. He felt as if his body had broken through some kind of barrier. With every punch and kick, it felt like no part of his body was beyond his reach.

"This is... the feeling of physical freedom."

Yu Fei muttered to himself. He had achieved Muscle Refining Perfection. He had broken through.

As the pile skill routine ended, Yan Sea walked over to him and looked him up and down.

"Not bad! The Skin stage is the hardest to enter, but it’s the fastest to cultivate. The Muscle stage is next. As long as your willpower is strong enough, you can reach perfection quickly. You’ve done it in just over a month. You’ve been working hard!"

"It’s all thanks to your excellent teaching, Master!"

"Enough with the flattery. For the next three days, don’t practice the pile skill or any fist techniques. Balance work and rest. Let your newly formed fascia be nourished by your Qi Blood to stabilize your foundation. You can, however, practice the Sword Nurturing Skill, but control the frequency."

Yan Sea specifically warned Yu Fei not to be too hasty. Yu Fei’s progress in his sword nurturing cultivation was simply too fast.

’He had gone back and checked old records. Yu Fei’s progress was more than five times faster than his junior brother’s. This wasn’t normal.’

’He suspected Yu Fei was secretly training extra, but he had no proof, and the consumption of Nourishing Spirit Incense was within the normal range. He could only attribute it to exceptional talent.’

’Heaven had been so cruel to him, dealing his lineage a devastating blow at the peak of his life. Yet, it was also so generous, allowing him to find a seed so perfectly suited for the Calamity Sword lineage in a remote place like Tianning County when he was at his most desperate and about to give up.’

’The world is fickle. How many people are toyed with by fate their entire lives.’

* * *

After resting for three days, Yu Fei began his bone refining cultivation.

The first realm of the Martial Dao has five stages: skin, flesh, muscle, bone, and blood. By that count, he was now more than halfway through.

In terms of realm, Yu Fei had already surpassed half of the third-year students in the advanced class. Meanwhile, in the second year, the fastest-progressing student, Jiang Yifan, was still polishing his Flesh stage, having barely passed the halfway mark!

"Alas, there are no heroes in this age."

Feeling as though he had no rival left in Second High, Yu Fei actually felt a little lonely at the top.

Jiang Yifan watched Yu Fei’s pretentious act from the side, grinding his teeth in frustration. If he could actually beat Yu Fei, he’d thrash the bastard three times a day.

"Assemble!"

A piercing whistle blew, and Yan Sea’s powerful, resonant voice echoed across the entire training ground.

Before long, all the students from the advanced class had assembled.

"I have an announcement. The county’s high school martial arts exchange tournament will be held this Saturday at 9 a.m. in the county gymnasium. The final participants from our advanced class have been decided based on the results of last week’s martial arts duels."

"Yu Fei, Jiang Yifan, Hu Fang, Feng Shuhao, and Gao Yueyi, you five will be competing. Remember not to overdo your training in the next few days."

"Any other students who are interested should go and watch. Observing more real combat will be beneficial to your own understanding of the Martial Dao. After all, the stone of another mountain can be used to polish one’s own jade."

As soon as he finished speaking, the students in formation couldn’t help but start whispering. Jee Zhiheng’s face turned pale; he felt like everyone was looking at him.

A short while ago, he was still in the top five, ranked second even, above Jiang Yifan.

Back then, he had grown a little complacent. Of course, he wasn’t comparing himself to Yu Fei—that guy was a freak—but apart from him, he had been the strongest person in the advanced class.

In the two months that followed, he slacked off a bit in his training. That slight carelessness was enough for several people to surpass him. No matter how hard he tried these past two weeks, he had lost several times in a row, even against the slightly weaker Gao Yueyi. Although Gao Yueyi’s victories were hard-won, a loss was still a loss.

In reality, Jee Zhiheng was overthinking it. Few people were paying him any mind. Most students were focused on the person ranked just ahead of them, thinking about how to pull them down. Apart from the freak-tier Yu Fei, no single student garnered that much attention.

"Quiet down!"

The authority of a martial arts teacher was not to be challenged. The crowd immediately fell silent.

"This county martial arts exchange tournament has rewards, but only for the top three. Third place gets five Vitality Elixirs. Second place gets ten Vitality Elixirs. As for first place..."

At this point, Yan Sea paused and gave Yu Fei a strange look.

Before Yu Fei could react, he heard Yan Sea continue:

"First place gets one serving of Bone Tempering Liquid!

"This is the latest product from the National Martial Arts Research Institute. It’s said that it can already be mass-produced, though the quantities are still limited."

"The Bone Tempering Liquid is used upon reaching Bone Stage Perfection. It can increase a Martial Artist’s Qi Blood by thirty percent."

The moment Yan Sea’s voice fell, the crowd erupted in a flurry of shocked gasps!

"A thirty percent increase in Qi Blood?"

"Did I hear that right? That’s totally broken!"

"Doesn’t that mean you’d be invincible against others in the same realm?"

"Invincible is an exaggeration. Think about *that* guy. Think about Jian Dalong. Forget one serving of Bone Tempering Liquid; even with five servings, your chances against him would be slim!"

"That’s true. I have no idea how that beast trains. Speaking of which, that serving of Bone Tempering Liquid will most likely end up in his hands, right?"

"Not necessarily. I heard a beast popped up over at First High, too."

"Really?"

...