Chapter Fifteen: Days of Training in the Mountains

At the same time, Lin Yanghao was secretly indignant. "Are you a worm in my stomach?" he thought. "You can see through every thought I have. Besides, with your appearance, no one would ever associate you with the word 'wealth.' How can you blame me?"

"No, of course not. Look at me now—do I look like a wealthy man? If it were in the past, I could have easily provided for you, but that's no longer possible," Feng Batian replied. His words were like a bucket of cold water poured over Lin Yanghao's heart, chilling him to the core.

"Damn it!" Lin Yanghao could barely restrain himself from cursing. How could this old man insist on keeping him here without even the resources for cultivation? Was it all just to amuse himself at Lin Yanghao's expense? He nearly lunged at the infuriating little old man, but remembering that Feng Batian was a master of the Martial Emperor realm, his reason prevailed over impulse, and he only muttered a curse under his breath.

"Don't be so anxious. Though I lack those cultivation resources, I have another method that can help you improve your realm. This is a technique I developed myself. In the early stages, it relies on intense physical training to enhance your body's quality—a kind of body refinement, you might say. Whenever you are completely exhausted from training, I'll prepare a medicinal bath for you using ordinary tempering herbs and stones from the mountains. With this regimen, you should have no trouble reaching the Fourth Heaven. I observed your bone structure earlier; it's quite good. Perhaps, in the future, you could even reach the Martial Emperor realm."

"What? No, absolutely not!" Lin Yanghao finally understood. This wasn't body refinement—it was the hellish training of Earth's special forces, and even more brutal than theirs. Just thinking about it made his skin crawl. Without a second thought, he refused outright.

"What did you say? Say that again? Do you not want to be a martial artist?" Feng Batian's anger flared. After all he'd explained, this boy wanted to quit just because he was afraid of hardship? Every martial artist walked through pain, and Lin Yanghao had no idea how much worse the tempering with medicinal stones was compared to his training. If he knew, he'd be begging on his knees to be taught.

"No, no, I'll learn, I'll learn, isn't that enough?" Lin Yanghao quickly recovered, realizing the truth in the old saying: 'Only by enduring the hardest hardships can one rise above others.' The more one gives, the greater the reward. He must never abandon his pursuits and dreams due to difficulties.

Time flew by. Lin Yanghao had now spent several months in the Land of Death. During this period, his daily tasks consisted of hellish training and soaking in medicinal baths. Each session left him nearly dead from exhaustion, barely able to lift his legs. Yet, every time he soaked in the bath prepared by the old man, he felt a refreshing comfort, his fatigue and soreness greatly eased. Through these days of training, his body quickly became muscular and robust.

Feng Batian assigned Lin Yanghao only three simple tasks each day, but those seemingly straightforward exercises left Lin Yanghao half dead every time.

The first was stamina training. It sounded simple, but was anything but. This was not the physical training as most people understood it. The old man required him to carry a massive stone weighing one hundred kilograms, not only lifting it but running laps around the mountain path behind the house with the stone in his arms.

Lin Yanghao was dumbfounded. This wasn't hellish training—it was purgatory. And this was just the first task; he dared not imagine the rest. He could already foresee a miserable future, his destiny bleak and pitiful.

Thus, Lin Yanghao spent his days in this blend of joy and hardship. Why joy? His strength visibly increased each day—how could he not be happy? The hardship, of course, was the cost of pain and exhaustion.

The second training was to improve agility, much like the reflex drills in Earth's special forces. Feng Batian wanted Lin Yanghao to master martial skills and dodge enemy attacks with greater agility. Yet compared to the training of special forces, his regimen was even harsher.

Feng Batian first built several simple stone launchers and arranged them around Lin Yanghao. Lin Yanghao's task was to dodge the stones shot at him. The results were clear: in the first few days, Lin Yanghao was covered in bruises and scars every night.

Feng Batian then switched his medicinal bath to one that promoted healing. After each soak, Lin Yanghao's bruises faded significantly. With time, his strength steadily grew through these painful exercises.

The third training was for resilience. Feng Batian had him run cross-country around the Land of Death to loosen the muscles in his legs—every day, without fail. This time, the medicinal bath was different from the previous two; it was designed to enhance the resilience of his entire body. Feng Batian's intention was to stretch the flexibility Lin Yanghao had developed through cross-country training, then use the bath to further expand the strength and elasticity of his tendons and meridians.

The first two exercises were directly related to the foundation of a martial artist. Without robust and agile physical condition, one could hardly achieve much in martial arts. Yet Lin Yanghao could not understand the point of the third exercise; the first two were clearly relevant, but how did resilience relate to martial arts?

It was only after Feng Batian's explanation that Lin Yanghao fully grasped its importance. It was an indispensable part of his training.

Feng Batian said, "This third exercise may seem unimportant, but it is actually the most crucial. You must understand, the tendons and meridians are the most important part of any martial artist. After the sixth stage, in the Qi Refining realm, inner strength is channeled through the tendons and meridians to the dantian. By training your flexibility and stimulating it with medicinal baths, I can expand the strength and resilience of your tendons and meridians, laying the foundation for your future in the Qi Refining realm. The first and second exercises are to prepare you for the Martial Apprentice and Bone Refining stages."