Seeking good fortune and avoiding misfortune: Starting with death row inmates

September weather is the most changeable. Yesterday it was gloomy and rainy, but today it's scorching hot, and the harsh sunlight makes the sand in the desert look like gold.

A figure as tall as an iron tower stood in the sand, speaking in a deep voice: "My Golden Rock Body Forging Technique values ​​the practitioner's indomitable and unwavering spirit. If you wish to learn it, you must roll three times in this sand until your skin and flesh are worn through by the sand and gravel. Then apply ointment to the wounds, repeating this process until your skin and flesh become tough and your body technique is perfected..."

Chen Tie spoke eloquently, making Shen Chen, who was standing next to him, feel a pang of sympathy. Compared to fist and leg techniques, this physical training sounded truly difficult, with injuries and broken bones being commonplace. It was as if he was saying, "If you don't die from training, you'll train to the point of exhaustion."

After explaining the basics of body cultivation, Chen Tie led Shen Chen to a sandpit and said, "This body-refining pool was specially built for you, Brother Shen, you can go down and give it a try."

Shen Chen turned his gaze to the sand pit, where he saw that the sand grains contained many iron sands and black gold, and that a reddish-brown liquid could be faintly seen flowing at the bottom of the pit.

"Is jumping into this body-refining pool a sure way to get crippled?" Shen Chen swallowed hard, secretly drawing a fortune stick.

[Good fortune: You jumped into the body-refining pool, persisted for six minutes, and then decisively left. Your physique was strengthened without any damage. Auspicious!]

[Middle to Low Fortune: You refused to learn body tempering, yet your body suffered no harm. Chen Tie and Qin Pi think your courage is too weak and look down on you slightly. Minor misfortune.]

[Bad Fortune: You jumped into the body-refining pool and struggled relentlessly within it. Despite Qin Pi and Chen Tie's repeated warnings not to push yourself, you remained determined to prove your willpower. Finally, you fainted from the pain. Chen Tie hurriedly pulled you out, but unfortunately, your bones and meridians were damaged, rendering you unable to practice martial arts any longer. Ominous.]

After receiving the result, Shen Chen felt confident. Facing the churning body-refining pool, he decisively removed his clothes and said, "Alright, then I'll give it a try."

His performance earned him a thumbs-up from both Chen Tie and Qin Pi: "What courage!"

Chen Tie solemnly instructed Shen Chen: "If you can't hold on after you go down, you must get away immediately. You must not try to tough it out."

Qin Pi also repeatedly warned Shen Chen not to be reckless: "We are all rough men. If you say you're fine, we'll really believe you're fine."

Shen Chen said, "I can only hold out for three hundred breaths. Please remember the time, brothers. When the time comes, you must let me stop body training."

After making all the preparations, Shen Chen jumped straight into the body-refining pool.

The rough sand quickly tore Shen Chen's skin, exposing the dermis underneath. At that moment, Shen Chen felt as if he were being bitten by tens of thousands of ants all over his body, and the pain was unbearable.

If he hadn't drawn a divination stick beforehand, Shen Chen would never have been able to maintain such a stable mindset at this moment.

He held his breath and gritted his teeth to persevere.

The sand in this body-refining pool has a peculiar property: once it comes into contact with blood, it immediately repels, just like magnets with the same poles repel each other.

The blood-stained sand kept receding from Shen Chen's side, while new sand began to grind against his body again, one retreat and one advance, like the ebb and flow of the tide.

At this moment, Shen Chen felt a surge of heat flowing out of his body, gradually spreading to the surface of his body that was worn by the sand and gravel. His originally calm blood and qi became as active as a pot of oil that was being heated.

He looked inward and saw that the essence of qi and blood originally contained in his internal organs had permeated his muscles, making them more resilient. Suddenly, he realized: "This is the cultivation method of the second level of the Refining Essence Realm, the Bone and Tendon Realm, which uses qi and blood to nourish the bones and tendons."

"I must clearly see my own muscles, bones, and body shape in order to allow the qi and blood to fully permeate the body."

Shen Chen calmed down and began to carefully perceive his own muscles and body shape.

On the other side, Chen Tie observed Shen Chen, who was practicing body tempering, sighed softly, and turned to Qin Pi, saying, "His bones and muscles are mottled, and his aptitude is truly inferior. Boss Qin, you must have expended a lot of energy helping him open his meridians, right?"

He had already realized that it was impossible for someone with Shen Chen's aptitude to open his mind and enter the Qi and Blood Realm after only a few days of martial arts training, nor could it be achieved with just a Red Scale Snake Gallbladder. Qin Pi must have expended his own true energy to help Shen Chen open his mind.

Qin Pi said, "Your elder brother has profound inner strength, so this kind of loss is nothing."

"Heh." Chen Tie shook his head. "Boss Qin, I still remember you went to the bathroom twice this morning."

True Qi martial artists have vital energy in their abdomen and maintain balance throughout their body, so they don't need to excrete too much. Qin Pi's behavior this morning clearly indicated a deficiency of true Qi.

"Brother Qin, the village's martial arts tournament is in a month or so. You must take good care of yourself," Chen Tie said. "After your accident a while ago, that guy surnamed Mo has been trying to poach people from our ranks. Wu San and Yan Liu have already been poached by him. If you suffer any mishap at the tournament, our Curved Saber Banner will really have to disband."

"Hmph." Qin Pi snorted coldly, "That bastard Mo Yuancai is all about stabbing people in the back. He's useless. He couldn't beat me even with one hand."

During the conversation, three hundred breaths had passed, and Qin Pi and Chen Tie immediately went down into the body-refining pool and pulled Shen Chen out of it.

Shen Chen was covered in wounds and his skin was red. Chen Tie took out the ointment he had prepared in advance and applied it evenly all over his body.

"It might be a little itchy, so please bear with it," Chen Tie advised.

Shen Chen felt as if hundreds of ants were crawling on his back and under his armpits. He subconsciously clenched his teeth and made fists with his five fingers.

Is this what you call a little itchy?

Shen Chen almost coughed up blood at this moment. He kept adjusting his breathing and trying to distract himself.

The "Extreme Yang Breathing Method" was slowly circulating. Qin Pi had already instructed him on the correct way to breathe that morning. It was not the method Shen Chen had imagined, which involved using the dantian to generate power, but rather using the lungs as the main source of power, which would then drive the abdominal muscles to exhale and inhale.

As he breathed, a few reddish-black blood foams came out of Shen Chen's nose. This was the blood stasis that had accumulated in his body over time. When he was tempering his body technique, the blood stasis rose to the surface of his body. When he activated the Extreme Yang Breathing Technique, it was completely dissolved and exhaled.

The intense itching gradually subsided, and the original wounds on Shen Chen's body had now formed scabs.

Chen Tie said to Shen Chen, "Brother Shen, you should rest well. Don't wear heavy clothes these next few days. Just wait until you've recovered."

"Thank you, Brother Chen." Shen Chen said his thanks, then felt a wave of drowsiness and fainted.

Seeing this, Chen Tie frowned slightly and couldn't help but sigh: "Your physical constitution is too poor. With this kind of stamina, you can only temper your body once every six days at most. I'm afraid it will take one or two years to enter the Bone and Tendon Realm."

He turned to Qin Pi and asked, "Brother Qin, why don't you persuade Brother Shen to stop practicing martial arts? He's really not cut out for it."