Cultivating in Different Professions

Before leaving for the Drunken Full House, Su Mu summoned his system panel in the backyard of the East City Government Office.

He had been at the East City Bureau for nearly a month and had finally saved up four thousand Points.

With his current status, the minimum number of Points he could get per day was 180, with an upper limit as high as 360.

But as his status rose, so did the "performance" requirements. He found it much harder to reach the upper limit for Points than when he was just a constable.

The higher one’s status, the greater the responsibility, and it was nearly impossible to achieve perfection in everything.

It wasn’t like being an ordinary constable, who could be considered to have done their job just by patrolling the streets.

Now, even though Su Mu was still grinding nonstop, it was hard to say he was performing his duties as Sima perfectly.

As a Sima, he was responsible for far too much.

So now, he was basically only getting around two hundred Points per day.

It was an improvement, but not as significant as he had hoped.

’Still, I’ve finally scraped together four thousand Points,’ Su Mu thought to himself. ’First things first, I’ll get the Heavenly Dragon Eight Sounds Marrow Tempering Technique to Perfection.’

He collected his thoughts, adjusted his posture and mindset, and then tapped the system panel.

He had resisted spending his Points for so long. Today was the day to reap the rewards.

HUM!

Su Mu felt a surge of heat erupt from within, as if flames were searing his major tendons.

His tendons began to expand and contract, emitting a sharp, ringing sound that was perfectly clear to his ears.

How painful is it to have your major tendons struck?

Imagine accidentally hitting your funny bone—your entire arm aches and tingles for ages.

What Su Mu felt now was as if someone had yanked out all the major tendons in his body, set them ablaze, and started plucking them like zither strings.

With each vibration of his tendons, he felt as if he were dying.

At the same time, however, each tremor forged a tighter bond between his tendons, muscles, and skin, giving Su Mu a tangible sense of improvement.

The entire process lasted for a full hour.

During that hour, the constables on duty at the Front Office of the East City Bureau all looked bewildered, trying to stifle their laughter.

What had gotten into the Sima tonight? Why was he suddenly inspired to play the zither?

But the music... it was just too awful.

......

Tendon tempering is like practicing the zither. When the major tendons can produce a resonant, zither-like sound audible even to others, one has reached the Realm of Perfection in Tendon Tempering.

Su Mu lay on the ground, looking as if he had just been pulled from a pool of foul, stagnant water.

A layer of foul-smelling filth clung to the surface of his skin.

It was the impurities purged from his tendons during the tempering process.

Su Mu lay there for a while until he felt some strength return. Then, he pushed himself up. Without calling for help, he went to the courtyard, drew a few buckets of well water, and rinsed himself off.

As the East City Bureau Captain, he usually had maids to attend to him.

However, he was at his most vulnerable when advancing his cultivation, and he was not comfortable with having others around.

After he was done, he couldn’t be bothered calling the maids in, so he simply washed up himself.

Once he was sure the stench was gone, Su Mu called the maids in to clean his room and the courtyard while he went to change into a fresh set of clothes.

After changing, Su Mu did not leave for the Drunken Full House immediately. Instead, he sat down at the stone table in the courtyard.

He clenched his fist, and a low boom resounded from within his body.

A feeling of immense power surged through him.

With his Tendon Tempering at Perfection, the fruits of his profound foundation were finally revealed.

Skin, muscle, and tendon were now flawlessly integrated into a perfect whole.

Beneath his clothes, his physique had reached a state of near-perfection. Every muscle fiber looked as if sculpted by a master craftsman, not just aesthetically pleasing but also perfectly formed for explosive bursts of power.

Su Mu’s heart was at peace. ’This wasn’t a windfall from the heavens; it’s the fruit of my own sustained, arduous labor. I’ve earned this. I deserve it.’

With a thought, Su Mu called up the system panel.

[Name: Su Mu]

[Identity: Ghostwriter / Taiping Bureau White Clothes / East City Bureau Captain (Seventh-Rank)]

[Points: 160]

[Realm: Third Stage of Body Tempering (Extreme Skin Tempering Realm, Extreme Flesh Tempering, Extreme Tendon Tempering)]

[Cultivation Technique: Heavenly Dragon Eight Sounds Marrow Tempering Technique (Perfection)...]

[Martial Arts: Mountain-Opening Saber Technique (Beginner/+), Kan Water Realm (Minor Achievement), Xun Wind Realm (Minor Achievement), Archery (Beginner/+)]

’My Tendon Tempering has finally reached the extreme realm,’ Su Mu thought to himself.

This was the benefit of a superior cultivation method. Just by practicing the Heavenly Dragon Eight Sounds Marrow Tempering Technique, he had reached the Extreme Tendon Tempering realm directly.

For his previous skin and flesh tempering, he had needed to cultivate multiple techniques for each stage.

However, without the foundation he’d built with the Extreme Skin Tempering Realm and Extreme Flesh Tempering, even a technique as powerful as the Heavenly Dragon Eight Sounds Marrow Tempering Technique would have, at best, only made his tendons stronger than an ordinary Martial Artist’s. Reaching the Extreme Tendon Tempering realm directly would have been impossible.

The four stages of Body Tempering must be completed in order; each stage builds the foundation for the next.

Su Mu’s achievement of Extreme Tendon Tempering was the natural culmination of all his previous efforts.

His solid foundation, combined with the truly superior Heavenly Dragon Eight Sounds Marrow Tempering Technique—both were indispensable. Together, they allowed Su Mu to reach the pinnacle of Tendon Tempering by mastering just one technique.

’Next up is bone tempering,’ Su Mu mused.

He already had several Bone Tempering Techniques, and he had spent the last few days preparing the required medicinal herbs.

But none of them were superior cultivation methods, so he was still hesitating about which one to practice first.

Of course, the best solution would be to find a superior bone tempering method on par with the Heavenly Dragon Eight Sounds Marrow Tempering Technique.

But Luo Anning had been the one to give him the Heavenly Dragon Eight Sounds Marrow Tempering Technique.

Lately, that good girl Luo Anning hadn’t come to see him. He had no idea what she was busy with.

Besides, even if Luo Anning did show up, there was no guarantee she would have a suitable Bone Tempering Technique for him.

Su Mu decided he wasn’t going to wait. Even if he started with the worst Bone Tempering Technique, he could just practice several different ones. He could still brute-force his way to the peak of bone tempering.

With that decided, Su Mu took out the herbs he had prepared. He swallowed one dose, then stripped off his clothes and slathered a medicinal balm all over his body.

He had prepared all these medicines himself.

When it came to his Martial Dao cultivation, Su Mu would never let anyone else handle things for him.

’Raccoon Dog Bone Tempering Skill.’

Recalling the Bone Tempering Technique, Su Mu got down on the ground. He lay prone, undulating his body up and down like a raccoon dog, his abdomen rising and falling with a low, rumbling sound.

The Raccoon Dog Bone Tempering Skill tempers one’s bones by mimicking the movements of a raccoon dog.

There was a term among Martial Artists to describe powerful bones: tiger bones.

It meant one’s skeleton was as strong as a tiger’s.

This tiger was no ordinary animal, but a type of demonic beast unique to the Da Xuan Dynasty.

Therefore, most powerful Bone Tempering Techniques were related to tigers in some way.

And a raccoon dog... well, it was somewhat tiger-like.

Alright, to be frank, the Raccoon Dog Bone Tempering Skill was a low-grade technique.

But it was the best one Su Mu possessed. After all, all the Bone Tempering Techniques he had were spoils from raiding estates in the Outer City.

The families of the Outer City were unlikely to possess any truly superior Bone Tempering Techniques.

In fact, it was impressive that they had any Bone Tempering Technique at all. They couldn’t be compared to the great clans of the Inner City.

As he performed the movements, Su Mu felt a gentle warmth seeping into his bones, followed by a tingling sensation that flowed through his entire skeleton.

He meticulously performed the full set of movements, only stopping when he felt the medicinal energy in his body was completely depleted.

[Name: Su Mu]

[Identity: Ghostwriter / Taiping Bureau White Clothes / East City Bureau Captain (Seventh-Rank)]

[Points: 160]

[Realm: Fourth Stage of Body Tempering (Extreme Skin Tempering Realm, Extreme Flesh Tempering, Extreme Tendon Tempering)]

[Cultivation Technique: Raccoon Dog Bone Tempering Skill (Uninitiated/+)...]

[Martial Arts: Mountain-Opening Saber Technique (Beginner/+), Kan Water Realm (Minor Achievement), Xun Wind Realm (Minor Achievement), Archery (Beginner/+)]

The Raccoon Dog Bone Tempering Skill now appeared on his system panel.

It would take one hundred Points to reach the Beginner level, one thousand to go from Beginner to Minor Achievement, three thousand from Minor Achievement to Major Achievement, and five thousand from Major Achievement to Perfection.

The higher the level, the more Points required for an upgrade.

The Point cost for Bone Tempering Techniques was a whole level higher than for Tendon Tempering Techniques.

Su Mu sighed internally. ’I’m earning Points faster than ever, but I’m spending them even faster. You can never earn as fast as you can spend... The system is practically forcing me to keep climbing the ladder.’

’Raccoon Dog Bone Tempering Skill, begin,’ he thought to himself.