Zi Ming was feeling sore all over his body today. It had already been two days since he started training with that terrifying woman called elder Muyue.

Each of her attacks was vicious and would either break a bone or tear muscles to pieces. It couldn't be called sparring at this point; the two of them would wake up before dawn and train for four hours straight.

After she was done torturing the poor boy to complete exhaustion she would bring him back from the brink of death by having him eat pills and drink a strange green and gooey mixture.

He would then proceed to absorb the berserk energy contained inside these medicines until most of his injuries were healed. After he was back to satisfying fitness, this unreasonable elder would have him resume his agonizing physical tempering for another hour or two. She beat him even more fiercely and wouldn't stop until he was black and blue. Zi Muyue then would leave after giving several instructions to him.

"Don't let me catch you slacking." The woman would always finish with these words. Her cold and menacing tone always caught him unguarded. Zi Ming was afraid to rest for too long each time he went back to his quarters. He would keep in mind the words and fight against his urges to defy the order. Maybe she was watching him, was she?

The first day, Zi Ming cultivated according to her teachings after a short rest. This was simply done for fear of getting caught. He didn't dare to imagine what he would have to go through if he got busted trying to weasel his way out of her instructions.

It was was the first time he’d met such a scary woman. She was beautiful beyond words but even if he tried, the boy couldn't get a reaction from his “little brother” when he pictured her generous shapes in his mind. Let alone fantasizing about her, he was afraid to speak inappropriately to her.

The second day went as usual, but as he went back to his house and sat down, Ming noticed something odd. The pain he usually felt in his joints seemed to disappear as he began refining the energy in his body. She didn't pass any type of cultivation technique to him, but only a body refining method consisting of three sentences:

"Break the body and exhaust it until mind strength is formed,"

"Relax the viscera and meditate as you turn the will into spiritual power,"

"The day the mind overcomes the body, you shall know who we are..."

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The mnemonics were simple but Ming thought that they were quite bizarre. Who this "we" was supposed to refer to? However, curious as he may have been, the boy chanted these words in his mind without lamenting. Zi Muyue wouldn't give him anything ordinary after all.

As expected, the first signs didn't take long to show. After his body was maltreated by the woman the second day, the pain went away in a flash as he cultivated in silence.

After the ache vanished, he felt some sort of explosion in his brain, as if something was coming to life for the first time. The minute his head experienced this refreshing feeling that was seeping into his bones and internal organs, Zi Ming sensed something unusual happening in his lower body.

"BOOM!"

Before he could understand what was going on in, another change appeared at this time. His internal organs began to absorb the excess medicinal energy. All the accumulated stress at that moment died out.

Strength, wild strength was flowing inside his blood as it kept transforming his cells and turn his muscles and viscera into steel. Before he could shout out for joy, he broke through the body refinement level seven.

"What is happening?" Zi Ming was ecstatic. He had reached the upper levels of the body refinement realm in several minutes.

However, the weird phenomenon had yet to stop. His muscles and skin kept consuming the vitality until a ray of translucent sheen appeared on his arms and legs.

"Body refinement level seven peak! Muscles and skin turned to iron..."

"Hmm? What is..."

The energy stopped fluctuating for a moment. The previous chaotic state his body was didn't seem to last. As everything seemed to turn calm once more, Zi Ming shook his head and sighed:

"What am I being so depressed about? I guess I should call it a day and seek that elder to ask for guidance."

"Shh!"

"What an atrocious smell, maybe I should go and take a bath first."

"??" Zi Ming's shocked expression returned as soon as he looked at his arms. Smoke was coming out of from his pores and his skin was turning red as if charring.

"Crack!"

"Wait, that is...don't tell me,"

His bones were making a cracking noise. His temperature also seemed to rise to accompany this bizarre occurrence.

"BOOM!"

Ming broke through another layer of cultivation again.

"body refinement level eight, bones and tendons turned to jade!"

"Haha!" Zi Ming laughed like a madman. The energy was finally consumed but he couldn't care less about what happened presently. He had broken through two layers of cultivation in one day!

In a corner not far away from Zi Ming's dwelling. A woman was standing on top of a tree and overlooking calmly the situation.

"Humph! Kid, if you didn't break through two levels after what I gave you today, I would have called you a pig."

She swung her sleeve and grabbed a bottle of pills out of thin air before she grinned:

"I don't want to admit it but father was right in acknowledging the scariness of those country bumpkins. I would have never imagined that this simple bottle of body tempering pills and a low-grade body refining skill could bring about such effects on this boy."

She pursed her lips as she began to feel some pity for the malnourished yet heaven-defying little fellow.