The butcher at the nearby town was able to process the beast, my sect robes and token letting me get a rush order and heading out with the beast’s coat and as much meat as I could carry. The remaining parts I sold for cheap for one of the town’s clans to take.

  I was not dealing with dragging the rest of the beast back to the sect.

  A day’s trek back and I’m leaving the mission hall satisfied, coin purse heavy, a boatload of sect points and enough meat to last me two or three days. Even better, it’s fresh!

  The restaurants around the sect, cheaper ones at least, use non-spiritual or low-stage spiritual beast meat brought in bulk from merchants that’s at least a week old. The qi within the meat disperses over time, so there’s barely any once it’s served. However, the fancy restaurant Lan Yue and I went to used mid-stage spiritual beast meat that was less than a week old. That had enough qi that it actually helped, giving me more energy and repairing my body slightly stronger than natural.

  I had far too much energy after digesting the food that day that I kept working out for half the night. Worth it.

  Unless you’re rich, it’s more of a luxury, beasts are stronger than a cultivator the same stage, making it dangerous to hunt them on your own. Luckily I have a decent amount of experience killing them, and having Martial Art’s more than equals the playing field for me.

  So for a normal cultivator, you either buy small, affordable, cuts, or hunt in groups which also gives you smaller portions, if you can even hunt the beast down.

  Like I said, spiritual beasts are smarter than monstrous ones and won’t hesitate to run if the odds are against them.

  Anyhow, the panther’s meat is just a few day’s old so there’s far more qi than any meat I’ve eaten before, and the quantity is more than enough meat to last me for what I have planned.

  It hurts my heart, but it’s time to splurge on some resources.

  ---

  A fire in the empty training ground I’ve worked in the past few months, I watch the sizzling sticks of meat hovering over the fire hawkishly.

  Lan Yue still isn’t back from her mission, she still has a day before her mission hits its deadline, and Tie Feng is missing somewhere, probably stuck doing an exam.

  I was going to share the fresh meat with them, but they probably won’t be back fast enough.

  Yup, that’ll be my excuse.

  While the meat continues cooking, taking longer than normal meat due to the strength of the beast it was from, I take out the manual I’ve been writing.

  As the first to advance a technique from the art to the Mortal level, a Mid-stage one from what my friends think, Adamantine Crash isn’t in the inner library of the sect so I can be the first to contribute the technique and gain sect points from it. I get some for just contributing it to the sect, and more every time someone chooses to take it from the library.

  Meaning free points!

  Of course, that depends on if I can write down this heaven damned technique. It’s hard trying to translate what I do instinctively to words, and even when I do, actually trying to learn from my ramblings is a no go. Tie Feng picked apart my initial manuscript viciously.

  So I’ve been stuck trying to figure it out which hasn’t been going too hot.

  Speaking of hot.

  I grin and toss the book aside, spent the time just staring at the page rather than writing anything new down, and reach for the skewers.

  Too hot!

  Blowing on the cubes of meat, I take a few seconds before taking a piece off in a big bite.

  I forgot seasoning.

  I chew the bland meat morosely; it tastes better than normal meat but its still plain.

  My disappointment is immeasurable.

  I still chow through all the sticks, more put on over the campfire as I go through the cooked meat. It takes a few pounds worth, but eventually I get through enough that I feel decently full.

  And wow, the warmth is far stronger than all the other times I’ve eaten spiritual beast meat.

  Stretching and warming myself up to digest the meat a bit faster, I open a small pill bottle and drop one of the three pills within to my hand.

  Minor Endless Renewal Pills are not something cultivators use often. Half a day’s worth of faster recovery that is lesser than combat focused healing pills, so it’s not too useful outside of training. But most that can afford the pills don’t bother to take full advantage of the boost it gives to truly push themselves to their limit, so most consider the cost not worth the benefits when there are other, more expensive, pills that can push your body much quicker, and without needing to break your body yourself.

  It’s perfect for me though. The high-quality meat gives me a copious amount of energy, enough to let me push myself past the breaking point and then some. The pill then lets my body recover faster, letting me work for far longer, and the meat compounds it by building me back stronger.

  Three pills for a day and a half worth of boosted recovery. Two days’ worth of meat for more energy and strengthened healing.

  I toss the pill in my mouth and swallow the sludge. Can’t feel anything right away but it should be working.

  Well, time to grind.

  ---

  Sweat drips down my bare torso like a river, robe having been tossed aside long ago, as I slowly lower myself down, facing the muddy dirt below me. My arms shake as I hold the position.

  One. Two. Three.

  I yell as I start pushing down on the ground, body slightly raising but my arms rapidly shake as I push everything I have left into raising myself up, whole body burning from the weight stacked atop my feet high above me in my handstand.

  My elbows start bending despite my strength, weight pressing down on me and bringing me closer to the ground.

  My vision starts going black as my lungs rapidly expand and contract, not enough air filling me, my mind focuses and vision narrows to a singular point as I feel a shift within myself.

  I inhale, lungs somehow expanding and the black in the corner of my eyes recede as I push.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  My arms straighten, and I scream in triumph with renewed energy.

  Kicking the boulders off my feet, I flip myself to my feet and pump my hands in the air.

  “YES!” I scream, joyous laughs following it as despite the burn from running on four hours of sleep with back-to-back heavy workouts, the energy and strength I feel right beats the exhaustion back.

  I turn to the large boulder I moved in from a neighbouring training ground to use for my handstand push-ups. I step forwards and punch.

  Air displaces in the path of my arm, blowing chaotically around my fist as it slams into the boulder.

  Crack

  A grin stays plastered on my face as the rock shatters into pieces, nearly the entire face of it turning into rubble from the force behind my punch.

  It’s wiped once I feel the pain from punching a rock barehanded.

  “FUUU-!” I moan as I hold my wrist, knuckles red as I shake it off to try and get rid of the pain, this pain being worse to deal with than the sweet sensation of burning muscles.

  Cradling my arm, I slump near the dull campfire, around it are the last few skewers that remained of the beast after two days of eating and working out.

  I was able to go almost eighteen hours yesterday before I couldn’t push myself anymore and dropped dead to the ground. Though the boosted recovery from the pill and leftover qi from the meat let me recover enough that I was awake and raring to go only a few hours later.

  Getting to the eighth stage has been costly, the pills took almost all the reward I got from hunting the panther, and the value of the panther’s meat that I’ve been consuming is high, but very much worth it.

  Humming, I swallow the remaining meat and stand with a stretch.

  Gotta find Tie Feng and tell him the good news, he should be back from whatever he’s doing, maybe even Lan Yue as well.

  Stuffing the few things I brought into a sack, I walk to the entrance but pause as I see three people step out from the side, blocking the gate.

  “Well well well, it seems our junior brother just finished training,” one of them sneers.

  Who are- ah, it’s Biu’s lackeys.

  “I didn’t think you all would try to come after me after what happened in the tournament,” I say to the man holding a blunt mace on his shoulder, the same that initially tried ambushing me in said tournament.

  “Pfft, that was pure luck,” the man says as the three walk in, the other two, one the same spear wielder I threw around last time and the other someone new with a sword. Each glaring with vicious smirks as they go to flank me.

  “Your boss’s shattered ribcage says otherwise,” I drop my sack and brace my feet as I eye the three.

  Didn’t think I’d need it so I left my spear and armour behind, and although I’m at a higher stage, I just finished advancing after a thorough workout. I have some energy from advancing but barely enough for an extended fight.

  “That would matter if you just didn’t spend all day training.”

  All day? Guess they’ve only been watching me since this morning, but they also don’t know that I advanced so it’s time to surprise them.

  “You don’t have any more protection with the brats moving on, so be a good junior and take us to your room and hand over all you have, if you do, we’ll only break a few bones,” the man says with a grin as he slams his mace into his hands.

  Shifting my feet I reply, “I would love to but-,” I turn and dash towards the spearman, pushing through the burning pain in my legs with what energy I have to rapidly close the distance with my full strength.

  Best to deal with someone I already know.

  His eyes widen and he can only react enough to point the spear towards me. With gritted teeth I lean to the side, the spear slicing a thin line into my side, but I miss the worse of it and slam my fist straight to the man’s chest.

  Adamantine Crash!

  “OOOF-!” The man’s screams get cut off as something cracks within his chest and he goes flying back.

  I grin at his flying figure as I wait a moment for my muscles to unlock, half-strength enough to break the bones of a cultivator a stage below me.

  “Aaaah!” I hear a war cry come from my right and I brace just as my muscles loosen for the mace to meet my bicep.

  Footing loose on the ground, I push a foot off and follow the heavy strike, wincing as it’s still going to leave a deep bruise, but I bleed off enough to rapidly spin and face the ringleader with an open palm.

  Slap

  I watch in slow motion as the man’s cheek deforms, skin rippling and eyes bulging as the full force of his strike gets put into a slap before he goes flying.

  Slamming a foot down to stop my spin, I face the last one who’s still standing where he was and looking uncertain as the ringleader falls to the ground a few meters away, subtly shaking my stinging hand.

  “I think you’ve realized I’m at the eighth stage, if you surrender now, I won’t beat you up,” I offer.

  He visibly seems to debate with himself, glancing at the two laid out on the ground with one unconscious from the pain of, likely, shattered ribs, and the other groaning and holding his face.

  “It’ll look bad if I don’t fight back,” he despondently says as he gets into an unsteady stance with his sword up.

  I shrug in response, “Suit yourself.”

  Walking towards him, slower as I don’t have armour to block his blade, I get into his range which makes him confident enough to send a downward slash which I dodge by stepping back.

  He follows through with a firm step forward and reverses his slash to send it up at my head which forces me into a race, backpedalling away from the sword as he keeps advancing with slashes I can’t redirect less I lose a hand.

  “Aaah!” He cries as he gets tired of the pace and takes a moment longer to reel his arm back for a wide slash.

  That’s all I was waiting for.

  I dash into his guard, something he wasn’t expecting and definitely not ready for my palm to meet his nose.

  Crack

  His head snaps back as blood flies from his nose. I reach out with my other hand and grab onto the small guard of his sword and yank.

  Sword flying from his grip and stunned from his broken nose, he can’t react as I sweep him off his feet and midfall, swing my arm around his neck and grab him in a guillotine choke.

  Squeezing tight with my bicep, but not too tight, the man flails in a panic for a bare few seconds before he goes limp. I hold it for a few more seconds before slowly lowering him to the ground and lay him in a comfortable position.

  “Yeuh!” I turn and burst out in laughter.

  The mace wielder’s face turns red as he glares at me, half his face already swollen from the slap that sent him flying.

  “’ll khill yeuh!” He screams as he charges and heavily swings his mace.

  Ducking under it I send a punch to his gut that he takes with a grunt. I backstep as he sends an overhead swing and kick out to his extended arm.

  His arms are knocked to the side, but he doesn’t drop his mace like I wanted.

  He screams again and forces his mace to swing around back towards me.

  I just reach out with an arm and grab his wrist, having to put a lot of effort into it, but I stop it in his tracks and I squeeze.

  He grunts as I slowly, painfully, twist his wrist until his mace drops heavily to the ground and I pull him in.

  Crack

  His head snaps back from my fist meeting his face, but he doesn’t drop.

  He awkwardly uses his arm on the other side of me to send a punch at my face.

  I grunt as it lands on my cheek, snapping my head to the side, but he gets greedy and reels back for another. All I do is lean back and let it sail pass harmlessly this time before I reach out, and grip that wrist as well.

  I stretch my arms out, pulling him closer and crossing his arms, giving him no leverage to pull free as he feebly struggles in my grip.

  A grin meets his heated glare, “Don’t bite your tongue.”

  “Wh-!”

  My foot sweeps his and he loses his footing, and then I shove him down.

  Slam

  He wheezes under me as his back meets the ground, blowing dust into the air from the force.

  Flipping him onto his front while he recovers, arm going down and around his neck before I squeeze my bicep and squeeze.

  He thrashes in my grip as I cut off the blood flow to his head, struggling for a few seconds before, like his friend, going limp in my hold.

  Dropping my arms with a sigh, I get to my feet and feel deadbeat tired despite the fight lasting a little over a minute.

  I wince as the battle fugue wears off and I roll my sore shoulder, shouldn’t have used Adamantine Crash even at half-strength with my muscles already sore but what’s done is done.

  Now I can do what I promised after the tournament, loot!

  I swear I don’t giggle as I take every bit of valuables from their bodies.

  The first man I choked out is starting to wake as I leave with a whistle, their weapons hung from my back to be sold, and my sack now filled to the brim. Idiots came with full purses, so I’ve doubled my total wealth!

  Also, the bits of armour they had is of decent quality, far above the bulk Imperial ones I haven’t gotten to replacing from my hunt yet so good fortune for me. I admire one of the beast-bone vambraces I took from the mace-wielder, his beast bone chest piece over my back. Going to need to pay for additional material to resize it but it will definitely worth it given that it seems to be from a Qi Condensation beast.

  Better than replacing my armour again.

  Happily whistling at my fortune, I gleefully head back to my room to drop off my newfound wealth and then look for Tie Feng to celebrate with.

  Stepping up to my floor, I pause as I see Tie Feng standing outside my door waiting and surprisingly Mei Ruyin beside him as well.

  “Sister Ruyin! This is a surprise but it’s great you’re here with Feng,” I call out to them, “Guess who just advanced to the eighth stage!”

  They turn, and my grin fades as I notice Mei Ruyin’s red and puffy eyes, same with Tie Feng whose water when he sees me.

  “What happened?” I ask with concern and quicken my pace to them.

  Tie Feng sniffs, “Zhan… it’s Yue.”