Chapter 69: Chapter 69: A Peerless Genius Almost Starved to Death

Yu Fei rested for a full two days.

He read and meditated, not starting his cultivation until his mind was completely calm.

Facing the morning sun, Yu Fei first consumed half a Vitality Elixir. He only had two left, and his cultivation resources were about to run out.

It was still nine days until the school’s next distribution of cultivation resources. A single session of cultivating the bone pass required half a Vitality Elixir—a massive rate of consumption. In contrast, back when he was first tempering his skin, one elixir could last for ten sessions. Now, it was used up in just two days.

The further one progressed in martial arts cultivation, the greater the demand for resources. By the time one reached blood tempering, a single Vitality Elixir could only be used once.

Yu Fei stretched his limbs, his movements carrying a mysterious rhythm. The mastered Ox Subduing Pile Skill was perfectly suited to a Cultivator’s body, providing an excellent tempering effect.

The Void Martial Body enhanced him in every aspect. Its second talent was "Clarity," which granted him supreme comprehension in martial arts. With clarity came wisdom, and "all methods form naturally."

The most important part was those four words: "all methods form naturally." This meant Yu Fei had no barrier to learning any Cultivation Technique. As he practiced the pile skill now, insights flooded his mind ceaselessly.

The cultivation insights he had suppressed for two days erupted all at once. Yu Fei was making huge strides with every passing moment. The vibrational frequency of the Qi Blood in his body grew higher and higher, constantly repairing the minor flaws from his cultivation of the first three passes.

Cultivation had never been this pleasant.

In fact, his martial intuition told him that his martial body’s talent wasn’t fully unleashed yet. Its first effect, "Innate Martial Body," was supposed to provide a threefold boost to his Qi Blood and root bones across the board. That, however, was its fully developed effect. At the moment, Yu Fei felt his Qi Blood and strength had only about doubled, far from the threefold increase the talent described.

The threefold boost was the upper limit; to reach it, he needed to make up for his body’s deficiencies.

Suddenly, Yu Fei stopped cultivating. The half a Vitality Elixir was completely consumed.

This cultivation session hadn’t advanced his bone pass tempering in the slightest. All the energy from the elixir had gathered on his skin, performing a second round of tempering on it instead.

After a moment’s thought, Yu Fei swallowed the remaining two Vitality Elixirs at once. His intuition told him he could completely absorb both of them.

Besides, his Ox Subduing Pile Skill was close to the Perfection Realm.

The blazing sun rose high, and the gentle warmth gave way to a scorching heat.

Yu Fei’s mind was completely immersed in practicing the pile skill. His movements grew slower and slower, the sweat on his brow evaporating from his body’s intense heat before it could even fall. Though his strikes were slow, they seemed to contain immense power.

Immersed in his cultivation, Yu Fei felt as if he were sinking into an increasingly viscous liquid, and he had to fight with all his might just to move against it.

The pressure mounted, and his movements slowed almost to a halt. He had a premonition that if he stopped now, all his previous efforts would be for naught.

Thanks to the "Clarity" effect, Yu Fei’s comprehension had seen a massive, unadulterated boost. Amidst the intense struggle, he was constantly fine-tuning the stances of his pile skill, striving for absolute perfection in his movements.

BUZZ...

It was as if something had shattered. Yu Fei’s movements suddenly became incredibly fluid, imbued with a profound and lasting rhythm. The Ox Subduing Pile Skill had entered a new realm. From this moment on, the pile skill had truly become his own, and countless martial truths flowed through his mind.

As his Qi Blood circulated, the vital energy of heaven and earth gathered, flowing into the pores and flesh of Yu Fei’s entire body.

"This is?"

Yu Fei suppressed the strange sensation and completed the pile skill routine, move by move. Afterward, a dense wave of the world’s vital energy was absorbed by his body. His Body Tempering progress jumped up a notch, and it seemed some of his body’s deficiencies had been replenished.

’The Perfection Realm Ox Subduing Pile Skill can actually absorb the vital energy of heaven and earth for Body Tempering?’

’This is a total cheat!’

But that wasn’t all. When practicing the pile skill at the Perfection Realm, there seemed to be a resonance between the circulation of his Qi Blood and the vital energy of heaven and earth. Yu Fei wiped his arm and a pitch-black smudge came off. He brought it to his nose and sniffed—it reeked horribly, and seemed to carry a hint of the Vitality Elixir’s scent.

’It’s a deeper level of tempering!’

The tempering of his skin, muscles, and tendons, which he had thought was nearly perfect, still had flaws. The resonance between his Qi Blood and the world’s vital energy was tempering his body once more.

This resonance was also expelling the medicinal toxins from his body.

Yu Fei was thrilled. The effects of the Perfection Realm pile skill were simply incredible. Absorbing the vital energy of heaven and earth was typically a privilege reserved for Martial Artists of the Inner Qi Realm. This vital energy had a first-rate tempering effect on the body, but before a Martial Artist broke through to the Inner Qi Realm, their Qi Sea was not yet manifest, their meridians were shallow, and their vital acupoints were unconsolidated. They had no way to absorb the world’s vital energy. That was why they cultivated Qi Blood, to strengthen the body from within, in hopes of forging a "treasure body" capable of receiving it.

After all, no matter how good the Vitality Elixir was, its tempering effect couldn’t hold a candle to that of the world’s vital energy.

More importantly, by cultivating with a Perfection Realm pile skill, Vitality Elixirs were now useless to him. Not only did this solve the problem of his dwindling resources, but he could also sell the Vitality Elixirs the school provided in the future to make money and support his family.

’Things are finally looking up. A red-level talent, indeed. Its ability to change one’s fate is second to none.’

Yu Fei decided to strike while the iron was hot, but after practicing the pile skill a few more times, he couldn’t stand it any longer and rushed home.

It wasn’t that his body couldn’t take it; it was the unbearable stench.

By now, the black grime on his body could be rubbed right off.

’Sigh, these clothes are ruined!’

After showering, Yu Fei, now shirtless, found a pair of nearly worn-out capri pants and went straight to the rooftop.

This "distinguished" appearance wasn’t suitable for going out, making the rooftop a better option. Yu Fei lived in a high-rise building with 24 floors, so no one would see him practicing up there.

He sprinted up the stairs all the way to the top. A Martial Artist’s stamina was astounding; climbing some stairs didn’t even count as a warm-up.

The sun was bright that day, and several homemakers were on the roof, hanging quilts on clotheslines they had strung up. Yu Fei found a corner, stretched his limbs, and began to train!

Replenished by the vital energy of heaven and earth, Yu Fei’s cultivation was no longer restricted by Vitality Elixirs. The only thing that could limit him now was the amount of his Spiritual Power. The external stances of the pile skill were merely superficial; the most crucial part was guiding and controlling the Qi Blood within his body, which was mentally taxing.

This was where his other red-level talent, "Spiritual Wisdom," came into play. It provided him with three times the base Spiritual Power, so the mental toll of practicing the pile skill had never been an issue for him.

And so he trained, from morning until dusk, completely lost in the world of martial arts. He only snapped out of it when an overwhelming hunger consumed him. Pulled from that mystical, profound state, he suddenly felt his body go limp and his footing become unsteady.

Yu Fei was a complete mess, caked from head to toe in black, sweaty grime.

He fled to the elevator as if escaping a disaster and went back to his apartment. Thankfully, the elevator was empty. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Back home, Yu Fei rummaged through his cabinets and found two bottles of energy fluid. He downed them in one go, finally soothing his burning stomach.

He then rushed into the bathroom for a quick shower. Only after scrubbing himself three times with body wash did the strange odor finally begin to fade.

After tidying up a bit and opening the windows to air the place out, he grabbed the 82 yuan he had and prepared to go out for a bite to eat. It was the last of his money; buying the large rooster for his birthday two days ago had nearly wiped out his savings, and he was too hungry to wait to cook.