8 Skin Refinement

Zhou You carefully sensed his body.

He could not feel anything.

It was as if nothing had happened.

After resting for a while, he continued to practice martial arts.

As soon as he got into his stance, a strange feeling suddenly arose in his heart.

It was as if this move should be executed like this, and this move should be improved like this.

He should slow down here and speed up here.

He should take a deep breath here. He should slowly exhale here. He should split each breath into three parts and slowly exhale.

He should take a deep breath here. He should slowly exhale here. He should split into three parts in one breath and slowly exhale.

After going through a lot of fine-tuning and recalling the movements of the Ferocious Tiger Fist, Zhou You felt that this was no longer the Ferocious Tiger Fist, but a brand new set of fist techniques.

...

Countless insights surfaced in his heart. Zhou You subconsciously followed the guidance in his heart and practiced the Ferocious Tiger Fist.

Traces of internal force appeared from all parts of his body like electric currents. They gathered and strengthened, stimulating his muscles and skin.

PAH!

A crisp sound rang out.

After one round, Zhou You stopped and stood still. He was still immersed in the aftertaste of the internal force flowing through his body.

A moment later, Zhou You came back to his senses and let out a long sigh. His entire body was covered in sweat.

The experience of cultivating internal force for the first time kept appearing in his mind. New inspiration burst from his mind as it automatically organized, analyzed, and summarized.

Not only had Zhou You completely mastered the first level of the Ferocious Tiger Fist, but he also understood why he had to cultivate it like this.

The first level of the Ferocious Tiger Fist corresponded to a Rank-9 martial artist.

Early-stage Body Forging Realm.

Inner force came from the muscles. Cultivating inner force mainly strengthened the muscles and skin. The focus was on the skin.

Therefore, Early-stage Body Forging martial artists were usually called skin-refining martial artists.

The effect of skin refining was to increase one's resistance to blows.

Secondly, it locked the blood Qi.

Sweat and blood Qi were closely related.

During cultivation, the blood transported energy to various parts of the body. Part of it was used to strengthen the body, and the other part was expelled from the body through sweat and hot air.

The energy expelled from the body far exceeded what the body absorbed, and it was lost for nothing.

Moreover, even if one did not cultivate, exercise, or sweat, as long as one was alive, one would still emit heat to the outside world at any time. This was also a loss of vitality.

The purpose of skin refining was to seal part of the blood Qi lost, reduce consumption, and increase the efficiency of cultivation.

After the skin refinement was completed, martial artists could control all the pores in their bodies to close and lock a portion of their blood essence.

As for completely locking down the loss of vitality, only the legendary Peak Grandmaster's Anasrava Body could do so.

The metabolism of powerful martial artists far exceeded that of ordinary people. If they did not refine their skin and close their pores to block the loss of blood Qi, they would simply be like a bucket with a hole at the bottom that kept leaking.

The amount of energy a martial artist consumed every day even without cultivating was an astronomical figure.

Not to mention cultivating, the energy consumption was even greater.

In addition, Zhou You discovered that skin refinement could not only stop the loss of blood Qi but also hide and suppress the blood Qi fluctuations in one's body.

This discovery made Zhou You heave a sigh of relief.

As long as he did not make a move and did not let others see his internal force, no one would be able to tell his true strength.

However, this fact worked on Zhou You and the other martial artists.

No one knew if the beggars begging along the streets, the vagabonds in ragged clothes, and the blind fortune tellers were martial arts experts.

The spiritual light in his mind disappeared. Zhou You came back to his senses and could not help but gasp.

Was the maximum level of Comprehension so powerful?

He could remember martial arts techniques at a single glance, but he was far stronger now.

After calming himself down, Zhou You began to carefully experience the changes in his body.

He had learned martial arts, but he still had to learn how to use them.

The most important thing was to familiarize himself with the state of his body at all times.

He had only driven his internal force to practice his fist technique once. His body had already reached its limit.

In that case, he could probably only practice three times a day.

However, this time, he felt that the strength of his body, the toughness of his skin, and the density of his internal force had increased by a small amount.

The internal force had just been born but the strengthening effect on the body was very obvious. His strength would increase greatly in a short period of time.

After this metamorphosis period, it would enter a stable cultivation period.

At that time, the number of times he cultivated every day would increase.

Counting the time, there was only half a month left until the three-month deadline.

When the time came, he would continue to stay in the dojo and find an opportunity to reveal his internal force… No, he should first find out how the dojo tested internal force before making a decision.

After all, Zhou You had heard a lot of news recently.

The head of the Ferocious Tiger Fist Dojo, Zheng Zhu, was a Rank-6 Visceral Tempering martial artist. His strength was unfathomable. Perhaps he could see through his true strength?

Moreover, the Ferocious Tiger Fist Dojo was actually a chain establishment that spanned several states. Many cities had branches.

Above the many Ferocious Tiger Fist Dojos was the headquarters—Five Tigers Sect!

An incomparably powerful first-grade sect.

A top faction in the world.

A first-class sect meant that there was a Grandmaster in the sect or that there had been a Grandmaster before.

The martial artists in the world were divided into nine ranks. The Rank-9 Body Forging Realm was the lowest, and the Rank-1 Grandmaster was the highest.

Peak martial arts Grandmasters were not included in the ranking.

The Five Tigers Sect was very strong. The Ferocious Tiger Fist Dojo had strong backing. The dojo was like a paradise, so Zhou You had a peaceful time staying here for the past two months.

However, considering Zhou You's situation, it might not be a good thing.

The Five Tigers Sect was very formidable, so it meant that the standard hunting order in the martial arts world would be very forceful.

If it was just the ordinary Ferocious Tiger Fist technique, he would probably be fine. However, if the cultivation method for the internal force level Ferocious Tiger Fist appeared on someone who was not a disciple of the Five Tigers Sect and had not been authorized, it would definitely attract the experts of the sect to reclaim their martial arts.

The most common way to reclaim martial arts was to destroy the martial artist.

Therefore, if Zhou You wanted to leave the Ferocious Tiger Fist Dojo, it was best not to use the Ferocious Tiger Fist in front of others in the future.

Or he could change the appearance of the Ferocious Tiger Fist so that no one in the Five Tigers Sect would be able to recognize him.

Both methods were very difficult. At least, with Zhou You's current strength and understanding, he could not do it.

After thinking for a moment, Zhou You decided to stay in the Ferocious Tiger Fist Dojo for the time being and quietly become stronger.

As for revealing his talent and being discovered by the higher-ups to focus on nurturing him…

Zhou You felt that he was a low-key and reserved person. He did not want to be so high-profile.

Since he had decided to stay, the rest was simple.

He just needed money!

It was only 30 taels of silver. Zhou You felt that with his current strength, it was not difficult.

There were still many creditors in the small notebook.

Now that he had the ability, it was time to collect the debt.

He bent down and pulled out a wooden box from under the bed to open it.

A pair of black iron brass knuckles could be found inside.

Two pairs of iron bracers. One pair for his arms and one pair for his calves.

A pair of wrist guards made of five layers of cowhide.

A pair of knee pads made of five layers of cowhide.

A face mask made of five layers of thin gauze.

A bottle of universal antidote pills.

Ever since he was tricked when he fought Yellow Dog, although he won in the end, he was also beaten up badly. After Zhou You returned, he learned his lesson and came up with some countermeasures.

If his fists were not as hard as others, he would wear brass knuckles.

If the other party had a weapon, the protective gear would be useful.

The mask would make it easier for him to do things in secret, and it could also filter the air a little.

Coupled with the antidote pill, he had the protection to defend himself against most poison powder and poisonous gas.

The bracers and knee pads were for joint protection. The joints needed to be flexible, so they could not be made of hard materials.

Zhou You also wanted to get an invulnerable robe to wear, but unfortunately, he was short of money.

Although he had already dared to start leaving the dojo to look for work and earn money some time ago, he was still an ordinary person after all. He could only earn money through menial labor and had never been rich.