All the gods began by cultivating the Iron Shirt technique.

In the third year of the Jiaxi reign of the Southern Song Dynasty, two years had passed since Anqing Prefecture was conquered by the Mongols.

In the backyard of Xinglong Inn, east of Jiaxing City.

Whoosh! A gentle breeze swept across the ground, swirling up a few withered leaves.

A burly figure stood on the stone ground, shirtless, his bulging muscles knotted like the roots of an old tree. He didn't look bulky or scary, but rather exuded an oppressive aura like intertwined steel.

Snore!

The figure stood motionless, yet at that moment, its muscles began to undulate slowly like a writhing dragon awakening. The muscles rubbed together, the bones emitted a low, muffled groan, and the skin, originally wheat-colored, gradually began to turn red as the muscles writhed, from light red to a deep, blood-red hue.

Wisps of white smoke rose slowly from the figure's skin at that moment; it was the water in the body being squeezed into sweat and expelled from between the muscles as the blood circulated at high speed.

call!

Suddenly, the figure moved, its right foot taking a sharp step forward. The moment its foot landed, it stirred up the surrounding fallen leaves, and the figure stretched out its arms, its hands clenched into fists as if practicing a set of boxing techniques.

However, this set of boxing techniques is extremely slow and seems to have almost no power. In fact, some of the moves in this set of boxing techniques completely violate the principles of body power generation, and the burly figure sometimes makes some extremely terrifying movements.

These movements were expansive and powerful, each one stretching the body's muscles to the limit, with dull cracking sounds echoing between the muscles.

call!

suck!

His chest rose and fell rhythmically with the stretching of his muscles. During this process, a sound inaudible to outsiders, like the rushing of a long river, resonated within his veins. He knew it was the rapid movement of blood in coordination with his movements and breathing.

As the blood surged and flowed through the body's veins, the figure gradually felt a strange sensation within. It was as if something was seeping out from the surging blood, passing through muscles and bones, and finally gathering three inches below the navel.

Feeling the warmth rising from his lower abdomen, his brows furrowed instantly, and he closed his eyes even tighter.

"Now!"

He gave a low shout in his heart, and suddenly a mental cultivation technique appeared in his mind—the method of circulating internal energy. His will seemed to transform into a giant hand, instantly arriving three inches below his navel. His figure carefully enveloped the illusory warmth, preparing to transport it into one of his body's meridians according to the technique.

However, just as the warmth was about to leave the area three inches below the navel, it seemed to encounter some kind of barrier. No matter how the hand formed by the will tried to move it, the warmth could not enter the meridian. Instead, with each collision, the warmth gradually dissipated and eventually disappeared completely.

call!

The figure abruptly stopped moving, and a fierce gust of wind, carried by the inertia of the arm, struck the ground, sending withered leaves flying.

Or not!

Yang Pan opened his eyes, his face looking rather gloomy and unpleasant. This was the third time he had attempted to circulate his Qi, and this time he felt he had made ample preparations, but unexpectedly, the Qi still couldn't leave his dantian and enter his meridians.

It's as if there's an indestructible wall blocking the flow of Qi through the meridians.

He didn't understand why. He had asked Senior Brother Huang, but Senior Brother Huang said that when he first developed Qi, he could easily transfer it by circulating his inner energy. Why was it that he couldn't transfer it successfully for so long? Was it really because his talent for martial arts was too poor?

Yang Pan was somewhat unwilling, but then he thought that this was only the third time. If three times wasn't enough, then four or five times. Even if his meridians were a wall, he refused to believe that he couldn't wear it down with perseverance!

"Junior brother... you still haven't succeeded?" At this moment, Huang Hui also walked into the backyard. Yang Pan nodded silently. The transfer of qi had failed and the qi sensation had disappeared, so he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

"Sigh, don't be discouraged. It took me seven or eight years to develop my internal strength. You've only been practicing martial arts for three years at most, which is much faster than me."

Huang Hui comforted Yang Pan, saying that he hadn't lied to him about this. It had taken him more than six years to perfect the first and second levels of Iron Shirt cultivation, not to mention the various external medicines he used and the assistance his father had provided.

As for Yang Pan, it's unclear whether the other party truly possesses exceptional talent in cultivating this external martial arts technique or something else. In just three years, he managed to complete two levels of cultivation solely through striking techniques and the aid of a single external medicine. Now, he has even begun to condense his internal energy.

This speed is far faster than that of other practitioners of Iron Shirt Cultivation.

However, perhaps it is all preordained that every action has its own course. What Huang Hui considered an extremely simple step of circulating qi to generate internal force actually stopped Junior Brother Yang.

Listening to Senior Brother Huang's words, Yang Pan also recalled what he had gained from the cultivation over the past two years.

Due to the Longevity Fruit, Yang Pan cultivated his Iron Shirt technique without restraint, showing none of the concerns other martial artists had about internal injuries. Therefore, in just two years, Yang Pan reached the Perfection of Flesh Tempering. At this point, his muscles and bones were no longer afraid of ordinary blows from clubs and hammers.

It was for this reason that Yang Pan began to try to cultivate the third level of Iron Shirt technique. According to Yang Pan's guess, after completing the flesh forging cultivation, the "essence" in his body had accumulated to perfection, or even to the point of overflowing. Therefore, he believed that condensing internal energy should not be a problem.

As he expected, his Qi was generated extremely quickly each time, without any pause. However, unexpectedly, the internal energy he thought he could achieve in one leap was stuck at the meridian level, and the Qi could not enter the meridians to circulate. How could Yang Pan not feel frustrated and disappointed?

"Alright, cultivation also requires a balance of intensity and rest. Ying'er's first birthday banquet is in a couple of days, so don't forget to attend."

A first birthday party?

Yang Pan was stunned for a moment before he remembered that there was indeed such a thing. Looking at Senior Brother Huang, who seemed a bit more plump than two years ago, Yang Pan couldn't help but sigh.

Two years may not be enough to bring about a complete transformation, but it is enough to bring about some changes. For example, Senior Brother Huang got married the year before last and had a baby girl at the end of the year, while Senior Brother Shi, on the other hand, hasn't changed much and is still working as a guard.

As for himself, his biggest gain was that Iron Shirt had begun cultivating internal energy, and he had also made significant progress in the martial arts techniques he had acquired in the past two years. At least in future battles, he wouldn't have to rely solely on his physical strength to withstand attacks like he did at the docks back then.

In terms of methods, Yang Pan's swordsmanship is still his strongest attack method, while his fist techniques and grappling are secondary.

Having promised Senior Brother Huang to attend his first birthday banquet, Yang Pan left the inn. Since he began cultivating the third level of the Iron Shirt technique, Yang Pan hadn't been to the Black Tiger Martial Arts School much. This was because it involved methods of cultivating internal energy, and to continue receiving guidance, money alone wasn't enough; he would need to become an apprentice.

Although Yang Pan's training progress has been outstanding among the martial arts school members in the past two years, Master Feng has expressed his intention to take Yang Pan as a disciple, but Yang Pan has declined.

After all, with Senior Brother Huang's guidance in cultivating the third level of Iron Shirt, Yang Pan wasn't afraid of taking any detours. Furthermore, people in the martial arts world take taking a master very seriously. Once a disciple enters a sect, the relationship between the disciple and the master is like that of father and son, and it becomes very difficult to join another sect in the future. Yang Pan didn't want to be too hasty in establishing a master-disciple relationship.

Leaving the inn, Yang Pan walked straight towards the north of the city without stopping. In the past two years, Yang Pan had received a lot of money from the inn's profits. With more money, Yang Pan naturally wouldn't be too harsh on himself in life.

Therefore, he bought a small two-courtyard house in the north of the city. The courtyard wasn't very big, but it was enough for him to practice martial arts on a daily basis. Moreover, this courtyard was not far from the branch hall, which made it convenient for Yang Pan to go to the branch hall to ask some five-bag disciples for advice on techniques and skills.