"Ugh..."
Inside the room, as Lin Dong groggily opened his eyes, the morning sunlight was already slanting across his face. Blinking at the brightly lit room, he suddenly flipped up like a carp and leapt straight out of bed. But the moment he tried to take a step, an intense soreness suddenly surged from deep within his body, nearly buckling his knees and sending him tumbling to the floor.
"This is..."
The sudden onset of pain left Lin Dong utterly astonished. It felt exactly as if he had spent the entire night training desperately.
"Was that not a dream?"
Amidst his bewilderment, Lin Dong suddenly remembered something, and a look of shock washed over his face. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself upright and fell into the stances of the Tongbei Punch. His movements were incredibly fluid, as if he had practiced them countless times. Yet, only he knew that he had only just learned this martial art from Lin Xiao yesterday.
Inside the room, the youth's expression was solemn as he executed the fist technique with effortless familiarity. Soon after, the friction between his arms and sleeves produced sharp, crisp cracking sounds.
"Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!"
As the fist technique produced five crisp, resounding cracks, Lin Dong froze. His face was a canvas of complex emotions—part shock, part wild ecstasy, and part sheer terror.
"How could I have progressed so quickly?"
Lin Dong stared at his hands and muttered to himself. He could feel that five echoes were far from his limit. If he wanted to, reaching seven echoes probably wouldn't be difficult at all!
This kind of speed was simply mind-boggling. Within the Lin Family, there were plenty of younger generation members who practiced the Tongbei Punch, but those who could produce seven echoes at his age were practically non-existent.
"What on earth is going on?"
Lin Dong frowned in deep thought. Suddenly, his hand flew to his chest. Reaching inside his shirt, he pulled out a mysterious Stone Talisman—the very object he had found in the cave yesterday.
If there was anything suspicious on his person, this Stone Talisman was undoubtedly at the top of the list.
"Is this thing really that miraculous?"
As Lin Dong held the Stone Talisman, a faint, cool sensation spread from his palm. Under this soothing coolness, even the intense soreness in his body seemed to ease slightly.
Suppressing the turbulent emotions in his heart, Lin Dong carefully tucked the Stone Talisman away once more. He could vaguely sense that this talisman was extraordinary. If word of its existence got out, it would undoubtedly bring immense trouble. Therefore, he had to ensure that no one else ever found out about it.
Having hidden the Stone Talisman, Lin Dong pushed open his door. After quickly eating the breakfast Liu Yan had prepared for him, he dashed like a flash of lightning toward the cave. His body was currently wracked with soreness, and continuing any intense training would only cause physical injury. Fortunately, given his discovery of the Stone Pool's miraculous properties, this soreness was no longer a problem.
After dripping fresh blood into the Stone Pool, Lin Dong soaked comfortably for half an hour before standing up. Not only had the soreness in his body completely vanished, but he also felt as though his condition had returned to its absolute peak.
Feeling the skin on his body, the sensation of firmness was noticeably more pronounced. This brought a look of joy to Lin Dong's young face. At this rate, in ten days at most, he would probably be able to officially step into the fourth layer of Body Tempering!
Climbing out of the Stone Pool, Lin Dong executed a set of Tongbei Punch once more. This time, he used almost all his strength, holding nothing back.
"Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa!"
Seven crisp sounds!
As his fists fell and his palms came to a halt, Lin Dong's young face flushed with excitement. With these seven echoes of the Tongbei Punch, he was now confident. If he were to encounter that fellow Lin Shan again, he would absolutely not be beaten so helplessly like last time!
After a long moment of excitement, Lin Dong finally calmed down. He let out a silly chuckle, then climbed out of the cave, preparing once again for his daily bitter cultivation. Although he now possessed the miraculous effects of the Stone Pool, Lin Dong understood a simple truth.
On the path of cultivation, the most important factor was oneself. Although the effects of external forces could make the path a bit smoother, how far one could ultimately walk on this path still depended on oneself.
Therefore, he could not abandon his hard work and diligence just because of the Stone Pool. In the end, those were Lin Dong's greatest assets.
…
After a day of bitter cultivation, in the evening, Lin Xiao arrived with a solemn expression to inspect Lin Dong's progress. When it came to the cultivation of his offspring, he had always been relatively strict and demanding.
However, this strictness softened when he saw Lin Dong execute a set of Tongbei Punch that produced three crisp sounds. Even though he tried to maintain his stern facade, his brow relaxed, revealing the deep joy and satisfaction in his heart.
Seeing this, Lin Dong let out a sigh of relief in his heart, then secretly snickered. If Lin Xiao knew that he could actually produce seven echoes with the Tongbei Punch now, just how spectacular would his expression be?
…
Under the scorching summer sun, the younger generation of the Lin Family spent the entire season in diligent cultivation. They all understood that in half a year, the Lin Family's Clan Competition would take place, an event of utmost importance to them.
The Lin Family was not a prominent clan with immense power and resources, so it was impossible for every member to enjoy the best treatment. If one wanted to be nurtured with the family's best elixirs and martial arts, they had to prove themselves superior to the rest.
This so-called Clan Competition was a tournament organized for them. It would likely be the first official competition of their lives, but in a sense, it would also determine their future achievements.
How could cultivating alone compare to being nurtured by a family? Being nurtured would naturally make the journey much smoother—excluding, of course, certain exceptional circumstances...
Because of the urgent preparations for the Clan Gathering, no one came to disturb Lin Dong during this period. He was more than happy to enjoy the peace and quiet. For ten days since obtaining the mysterious Stone Talisman, almost every night after falling into a deep sleep, he would enter that pitch-black space. There, he had an incredibly wonderful "Teacher."
The nine echoes of the Penetrating Back Fist became increasingly difficult to master the further he progressed. Especially after the seventh echo, the difficulty multiplied. Thus, even though Lin Dong had trained bitterly for ten days, he could only barely produce nine echoes, and even that depended on his state of mind. As for the so-called tenth echo, he did not have the slightest clue.
However, Lin Dong did not feel discouraged by this. He knew very well in his heart how terrifyingly fast it was to be able to master the nine echoes of the Penetrating Back Fist within a mere ten days.
This point was also noticed by Lin Xiao during his daily checks of Lin Dong's progress. However, Lin Dong had only demonstrated six echoes, which was already enough to make Lin Xiao look at him with a strange expression. Back when Lin Xiao first practiced the Penetrating Back Fist, it had taken him over two months to reach the level of producing six echoes. Yet, Lin Dong had achieved it in a mere ten days. Such speed left even the usually strict Lin Xiao without a single word of criticism.
While bitterly practicing the Penetrating Back Fist, Lin Dong did not halt his physical conditioning. On the contrary, relying on the wondrous effects of the Stone Pool, he secretly increased his training regimen several times over. Consequently, although he ended up looking like a dead dog every time he entered the Stone Pool, by the time he crawled out half an hour later, his spirits would instantly be rejuvenated, and the soreness throughout his muscles would completely vanish.
Such bitter cultivation, though grueling, yielded extremely obvious results. In just a few short days, his skin and flesh grew increasingly tough. Sometimes, he could even shatter rocks directly with his fists. Furthermore, when he executed the Penetrating Back Fist, the force behind it steadily grew stronger.
At this rate, truly reaching the Fourth Layer of Body Tempering should be achieved very soon!