My Martial Arts Level Never Drops

Chapter 72: Chapter 70: Painstaking Effort

Two days later, Xu Meng came to the door and gave Qin Fang a package.

”Master Zhou asked me to bring this to you.”

Qin Fang, who had just finished his Pile practice, brightened. He offered his thanks, and Xu Meng smiled before turning to leave.

Qin Fang closed the courtyard gate, returned to the main room, and finally opened the package.

Inside lay a thread-bound book with four large words written on it: ’Wild Bull Hundred Forgings’.

Qin Fang’s eyes brightened...

’This is... the Training Method?’

Although he couldn’t wait, he restrained himself for the moment and looked at the other items... for there was more in the package.

There were five Porcelain Bottles in total, and two letters.

One was addressed: ’To Qin Fang, from Master.’ The other: ’To Junior Brother, from your Senior Brother.’

Qin Fang hurriedly opened the letter from his master first.

As he shook it open, a very faint scent of ink drifted out.

As his gaze fell upon the characters on the Xuan paper, Qin Fang’s eyes brightened once more...

’This is Master’s handwriting?’

’It’s beautiful...’

The characters were long and elegantly spaced, like a lone pine growing amidst rocks—its branches sinewy, its form possessing a distinct, unyielding spirit.

...Qin Fang didn’t know anything about calligraphy, but he could tell this handwriting was excellent.

Besides, they say one’s handwriting reflects their character. Looking at these words, Qin Fang could almost picture the little old man—stern and unsmiling on the outside, but warm and caring within.

He took a deep breath and looked at the contents.

”To my disciple, Qin Fang.”

”Your breakthrough to the Mingjin realm has been reported to me by your senior brother, and I am greatly pleased to hear it. However, the path of Martial Arts is long, like climbing a great mountain; you have but taken the first small step. Though you have passed one trial, you must not become complacent. Only by maintaining humility, reverence, and guarding against impatience can you go far.”

”All is well in the city, so do not trouble yourself with worry. Now that your Pile Skill is solid, it is time to impart our school’s Body Refining Technique—Wild Bull Hundred Forgings. This method has no secret but hard work, forged in summer’s heat and winter’s cold, built inch by inch, ounce by ounce. However, the body has its limits; there must be a balance of tension and rest. Act within your capacity, and above all, do not injure your foundation in your greed for progress.”

”I have also heard that signs of Demons have appeared outside the city. Your home is near the Shui Du. You must be especially vigilant day and night, secure your doors and windows, and do not grow careless because of your skills.”

”I will not say more. I only hope for your continued diligence.”

”From your Master.”

Qin Fang read it two or three times in a row before finally letting out a long breath...

’Damn, the whole thing is in classical Chinese.’

’Good thing I had a few years of schooling... otherwise, I really wouldn’t have understood it.’

But although his master’s words were restrained, he could still feel his master’s concern and care between the lines.

After reading it a few more times, Qin Fang carefully folded the letter and put it back in the envelope.

Only then did he turn to his senior brother’s letter.

His senior brother’s letter was much more casual... not written entirely in classical Chinese.

It basically said that he had told their master about his Minor Achievement in the Pile Method, and that Master was in disbelief at first. After asking about it repeatedly, Master stared blankly for a long while before slowly accepting it...

Qin Fang snickered.

’...In the little old man’s letter, it was just the understated, five-word phrase, ”greatly pleased to hear it.”’

’He really cares about his image...’

Qin Fang chuckled to himself.

His senior brother said that everything he brought this time was prepared by their master.

Among them were ten more Qi Blood Pills...

A warm feeling washed over Qin Fang’s heart...

When he left, his master had given him more than ten, saying it was a year’s supply.

But it had only been a little over a month, and now he had another ten...

That was a hundred taels of silver!

...His master treated him as well as he would his own son.

The other four bottles, one large and three small, were to be used with the Training Method... The specific instructions were in the Secret Manual, and he was to use them at his own discretion.

Finally, his brother again reminded him to be careful with everything while he was away.

Qin Fang read his senior brother’s letter two or three times as well before carefully putting it away.

Then he let out a long breath...

He stared blankly at the ceiling.

His master and senior brother truly treated him like family.

Letting out a soft breath, he carefully put both letters away, then finally picked up the ’Wild Bull Hundred Forgings’ Training Method manual and opened it.

After reading through it once, Qin Fang understood.

’As expected... the Training Method has no profound secrets. It’s just one word...’

’Train!’

And the method of training...

...could almost be described as self-torture.

But Qin Fang just pressed his lips together, took a deep breath, and went straight out to prepare.

He first found Xu Meng and asked for a large wooden tub and some burlap sacks.

Xu Meng was a bit confused and asked him what he needed them for.

Qin Fang just said he had a use for them.

Xu Meng didn’t ask any more questions and found him a huge wooden tub and the sacks.

Qin Fang carried the tub back to his small courtyard, placed it in the kitchen, and then took the sacks to the docks.

The docks were already deserted... After all, with a Demon stirring up trouble in the river, most fishermen didn’t dare enter the water. With no one fishing, the fish market was naturally desolate.

Qin Fang began filling the sacks with gravel and fine sand. In the process, many idle members of the Fish Dragon Gang watched him with confusion.

Monkey, Shi Tou, and one other ran over to ask Qin Fang if he needed help.

Qin Fang didn’t stand on ceremony and had them help him fill the sacks with sand and gravel.

After filling several sacks and returning to his courtyard, he sent the others away and began his study...

After comparing what he saw with the manual’s descriptions for a while, Qin Fang took a deep breath and stood up.

The Training Method was indeed simple.

There were no other mysteries.

The key to the Training Method lay in four points.

First: Hard-on-hard impact to forge resilience.

Use attacking points like fists, elbows, shoulders, and knees to repeatedly strike a hard sandbag filled with gravel. The purpose isn’t to practice power-generation techniques, but through continuous, dense impacts, to stimulate the bones and flesh, causing these areas to become denser and harder through a cycle of micro-damage and repair, until they are as hard as iron and stone.

Second: Weighted squats to ram the foundation.

Carry heavy objects on the shoulders, performing squats at maximum weight until exhaustion. This is intended to use immense loads to compress the body’s major muscle groups and core, strengthening absolute power and stability, ramming the foundation of strength as if forging iron.

Third: Sanding the skin and membranes, destroying the old to stimulate the new.

Use coarse, fine sand to controllably rub the entire body’s skin until it breaks and bleeds. This destroys the old, fragile surface layer, strongly stimulating Qi Blood to gather and encouraging the growth of tougher, new skin and membranes.

Fourth: Soaking the body in medicinal baths to nourish and repair.

When the skin is broken and Qi Blood is boiling, immerse yourself in a specially prepared medicinal soup. Use heat and medicinal power to penetrate from the outside in, deeply nourishing, healing micro-traumas, invigorating the deep blood, and completing the repair and strengthening process, turning every ”destruction” into tangible ”growth.”

This is the crucial step of maintenance and repair. Without it, training becomes mere injury...

These four steps, repeated in a cycle of breaking down and rebuilding—training the external form while nurturing the internal root—are the essence of this grueling work.

...It truly was something you understood at a glance, with no other mysteries.

And Qin Fang completely understood why his master and senior brother had repeatedly emphasized not to be greedy for progress...

This nearly self-torturous process, if overdone even slightly, would cause damage to the body. Not only would it be ineffective, it would be counterproductive.

With this in mind, he let out a soft breath, stripped off his clothes down to a pair of short pants, and entered the main room.

He found a sandbag filled with gravel and hung it from a ceiling beam.

Then, Qin Fang assumed a stance.

BAM!!

A single punch slammed into the sandbag full of gravel.

His fist sank in, and then a wave of pain shot through it.

Qin Fang let out a soft hiss.

Then, his gaze hardened, and he took a deep breath...

BAM! BAM! BAM!...

He began to pound the sandbag, one punch after another.

He didn’t just use his fists. From time to time, he would also use elbow strikes, shoulder rams, back checks, and leg sweeps...

Half an hour passed. Qin Fang was already drenched in sweat, which dripped from the ends of his hair.

...In truth, he wasn’t putting his full strength into every punch. After all, the bag was filled with gravel, and he had just started training. He needed to adapt.

The Training Method stated more than once that one must progress step by step and not rush things.

But punching continuously for half an hour was still exhausting.

Looking again... both of his fists were already scraped and bloody...

He let out a soft breath.

”For a beginner, it’s best not to exceed one incense stick’s time for each exercise per day...”

One incense stick’s time was about half an hour in modern terms.

After finishing with the sandbag, Qin Fang moved on to the second part of the Training Method...

Weighted training!

He stacked the four sandbags on top of each other on the ground.

Each sandbag weighed about sixty to seventy pounds.

He took a deep breath, bent down and grabbed the bottom sack, with his other hand grabbing the top one...

Then with a grunt, he heaved.

And just like that, the sacks, weighing nearly three hundred pounds, were hoisted onto his shoulder.

He tested the weight for a moment and felt it wasn’t his limit.

But after a moment’s thought, he decided not to push his limits just yet.

After standing in place for a short while, he began to squat.

All the muscles in his body tensed and bulged during the process, but with his currently astonishing Physique, he could still bear this weight.

But even though he hadn’t reached his limit, after just twenty or thirty of these weighted squats, he could still feel a sharp, aching pain in all his muscles.

His body began to tremble uncontrollably.

But he gritted his teeth and persevered...

Finally, after about one hundred and twenty consecutive weighted squats, he could hold on no longer. With a THUD, he threw the sandbags to the ground, his whole body heaving for breath...

Beads of sweat rolled down his face, and his entire body was soaked.

What’s more, every muscle in his body ached, and he felt a searing heat deep within him.

But Qin Fang only rested for a short while before going into the kitchen to boil a pot of water.

While the water was boiling, he carried a bag of fine sand back to the main room and stripped completely naked.

The third step...

Sanding the skin and membranes!

He grabbed a handful of fine sand from the sack, spread it over his arm, and gritted his teeth as he scrubbed.

With just one motion, Qin Fang winced... His skin immediately turned red.

Thanks to his master’s ointment, Qin Fang’s skin had long since become fair again. Now, as the coarse sand scraped across it, it immediately became beet-red.

After a quick look, he gritted his teeth and began to scrub relentlessly...

Palms, the back of his hands, elbows, face, neck, chest, armpits, legs...

Every place he could reach, he covered with fine sand and scrubbed several times.

He didn’t dare use too much force, though, just enough to break the skin.

...Because too much was as bad as not enough.

In just a short while, he was grimacing in pain, his whole body as red as a cooked shrimp. In some places, the skin had already broken, and he was bleeding.

Only his back was unreachable.

But that didn’t stop Qin Fang...

He poured the fine sand onto the floor, lay down flat on his back, and began to squirm with force.

In just a moment, his entire back was also rubbed raw and bleeding by the sand.

When he figured it was enough, Qin Fang ran outside, butt naked.

It was still the dead of winter, and snow had yet to melt in some places, but Qin Fang didn’t feel the cold. Instead, his entire body felt like it was on fire.

He poured the boiled water into the wooden tub and took out one of the Porcelain Bottles.

On it was written ’Blood Circulation and Membrane Stabilizing Powder’.

This was the fourth step.

And the most crucial one.

Following the instructions in the Secret Manual, he poured in a tenth of the powder and stirred. The large tub of water immediately turned pitch-black and gave off a strong medicinal smell...

...It was remarkably similar to potassium permanganate dissolving in water—a piece the size of a fingernail could dye an entire tub of water red...

Then, Qin Fang sat down in the wooden tub.

The next moment, he sucked in a sharp breath with a HISS...

Although he had added some cold water, the temperature was still very hot. At the same time, the powder seemed to sting... Qin Fang felt as if all the wounds on his body were being soaked in saltwater.

His entire body was wracked with stinging pain.

But he gritted his teeth, took a deep breath, and in one swift motion, submerged his entire body in the medicinal water...

Qin Fang closed his eyes, held his breath, and endured the excruciating pain that wracked his body.

He could only feel a searing heat all over, somewhat similar to the effect of taking a Qi Blood Pill.

But the Qi Blood Pill worked from the inside out, whereas this feeling was definitely from the outside in...

”No wonder Master didn’t teach me the Training Method before... If I had dared to try this a month ago, I probably would have been crippled within three days.”

Qin Fang marveled...

This was training!

No mysteries.

Just as his master had said...

This was...

...grueling work!