16 Rise!

"Meng Hao, if you belly up this anger now, then tomorrow, Mu Cheng will surely help you take back this face. Therefore, you must absolutely endure it." Shen Li informed as Meng Hao finally conceded.

Meng Hao was aware that Mu Cheng had arranged a life and death battle with Min Hong; but, having bullied Min Hong for so long, he had become so accustomed to it that it had simply become something he did to relieve his boredom.

However, today, his search for fun had ended up with him receiving a crisp slap in the face, at an additional cost of four teeth, and to even top it off, he didn't even have a place to complain.

Meng Hao was truly incensed.

Whilst some of Shen Li's lackeys were looking for Meng Hao's missing teeth, and wiping off the bloodstains, the former suddenly asked; "The swelling on your face is very minor, so it seems Min Hong's strength is still very low. However, how did he managed to knock out four of your teeth?"

The others were also very suspicious. According to common sense, only an extremely powerful force could knock out the teeth of a body tempering expert.

"Who knows? It's completely ridiculous," Meng Hao gloomily replied.

What none of them knew was that Min Hong also had the Shrine Protector's knowledge of the human body anatomy, thus, he was as familiar with the human body physiology as he was with the back of his hands.

His slap had been struck in a skillful way, that Meng Hao's dental system would experience a tremor relative to a Cat-5 earthquake, causing his gums to loosen, and his teeth fall out.

Having learned from Meng Hao's mistake, everyone became much more well behaved and no one dared to once again provoke Min Hong anymore.

Min Hong, happy that he had managed to deter further troubles, couldn't help but leisurely browse through these ancient tomes with a wide smile.

All Martial Skills could be divided into three categories: Heaven, Earth, and Mortal. Each of these categories were further divided into Tiers, and subsequently Grades.

The skills and techniques Min Hong were currently browsing through were the lowest of the hierarchy; Low Grade Common Tier, which fell under the Mortal category.

Though, they were the lowest level, these martial skills were still extremely precious treasures; after all, most of them still required a Blood Condensing expert to oversee them. From this, one could see just how important Battle Skills were to the Desert Flame Tribe.

Min Hong, however, had just managed to find one that seemed to tickle his fancy, and also appeared tailor made for him:

[Battle God Buff]

"Although it's a low-grade Battle Skill, the effect of one's Spirit Sense and Soul Qi on its execution is clear and direct, making its effect pretty good."

With the help of his Eidetic Spirit Sense and superior familiarity with a martial artist's body physiology, Min Hong only needed to read through the tome once, before attaining Concept Level Mastery over the skill.

Upon giving the tome another once over, to ensure he didn't miss a single illustration, Min Hong went in search for another; and soon enough, he found what he was looking for.

Within Min Hong's grasp was a support skill called; Chaotic Steps.

Chaotic Steps was a kind of footwork or movement technique that only made use of one's muscle memory.

It involved training one's leg and foot muscles to to the extent where they could endure an instantaneous and erratic change to ones direction. It didn't increase one's speed or explosiveness, but was rather focused on making one's movements absolutely unpredictable.

Whether it was traversing short evasions or eluding an enemy's senses, this technique was extremely effective.

"Excellent, another practical technique I can use."

Min Hong smiled to himself as he once again photographed the entire tome into his memory. However, he had just placed the tome back into the shelf when the hidden expert's voice boomed across the entire depository;

"Time's up, all heirs are to return the tomes to their rightful spots. For anyone who thinks they are smart enough to sneak out a tome, they are welcome to try; however, should you get caught, death would be a great escape for you!"

Hearing this some weaker willed boys trembled in fright as they clumsily scampered to return the tomes. The more courageous ones took an extra look at an illustration before they eventually shook their head, sigh in resignation and then return the tomes.

The rules of the Tribe Library was exceedingly strict and heavily enforced; all heirs only had half a day, per month, to browse through the martial skill depository. Many people had to spend several months to learn one martial skill, and despite the mass discontent, no one had dared to complain.

Min Hong looked up, and was quite surprised; he hadn't expected time to pass by this quick, and after pondering upon the time-lag, he simply attributed it to the long, boring lecture they had earlier in the morning.

That being said; should the others learn that it had only taken Min Hong roughly three hours to- not only memorize- but comprehend two martial skills to Concept Level Mastery, then the heavens might as well be expecting an impending riot.

Within the illustrations of a martial skill; there were unique poses and stances, mysteriously cryptic phrases and sentences, and even extremely complicated methods of channeling one's energy or Qi.

Compounding this difficulty, was the fact that most times, people needed to practice moving their Qi whilst comprehending these skills.

Leaving the Tribe Library, Min Hong bid his farewells to Fatty Yu and the others before going up to Long Feng and whispering a couple things into his ears.

Upon hearing what Min Hong was saying, Long Feng's expression widened in shock, and though he quickly suppressed it, he was unable to conceal the awe in his eyes.

So, such a method was also acceptable?

Returning home, Min Hong realized that his room had been tidied up; however, it was still not safe enough to sleep in, due to how heavily damaged it was.

Luckily though, his family estate had many rooms, and as such, Qing had prepared a new one for him.

However, before doing anything else, he visited his mother to assure her that he was alright. Many things had happened in the last few days, and Mrs. Min had lost count of how many times her blood had circulated in mysterious ways.

Ever since Min Hong woke up, it seemed like he had been possessed by an utterly different personality, causing her sense a stronger feeling of unfamiliarity and even distance from her son. It was a nerve-wracking feeling that left her anxious and worried, all around the clock.

Fortunately, Min Hong also exhibited traits and made actions that reminded her of her beloved warrior, and upon accompanying her for a walk-talk, the woman seemed to grow a year younger, and calmed quite a bit.

If only she knew that he had arranged a life and death battle with Mu Cheng...

Leaving his mother's side, Min Hong returned to his room, and secured its lock before heading over to his bath which had been moved over to continue his tempering process.

Following his second session, Min Hong's body once again took a fitter gait and metallic sheen. However, this time, his benefits didn't just stop there; his Spirit Sense seemed to have made slight progress as well.

However, it wasn't until this afternoon when he was reading through some cultivation techniques that he noticed that he was only at the preparatory stage of the Jade Primal Dragon Body - the Phoenix Rebirth Phase, which focused on reviving his body to its base maximum fitness levels.

This was what made the Jade Primal Dragon Body so overpowered; just the whiff of the meal alone can grant Min Hong the strength of a 2 Star Skin Refining Stage expert without having begun his body tempering journey at all.

However, this was also the very reason why Min Hong was anxious and worried. If the side dish alone already cost him a heart-dripping ten thousand gold coins, then how much would he need to spend to actually begin cultivating the main course.

Currently, he had spent about ten thousand gold coins just to concoct the potion needed for the preparatory phase; compared to the amount of gold he would need to fork out just to cultivate the first stage of body tempering, he was still extremely far off.

Furthermore, the other levels after that would actually require a bottomless abyss of medicinal herbs and in turn, gold coins which he was severely lacking at the moment.

However, Min Hong also understood that the Jade Primal Dragon Body was the only technique he could use. If not, he would be just remain mediocre for basically the rest of his entire life.

In fact, he wouldn't even be able to hold a candle to an ordinary hunter since he didn't have a Spiritual Foundation. Without using the Jade Primal Dragon Body, his only fate would be to inherit the fate of a weak person that would constantly be taken advantage of.

By the time he was done with his session, it was already the middle of the night, thus Min Hong stealthily left his room and left for the tree-shaded grassland behind his home.

Taking a deep breath, he began to slowly practice the Battle God Buff. As someone with an Eidetic memory and impeccable knowledge of a martial artist's physiology, Min Hong was able to quickly master the pathways and method required to activate the martial skill.

Walking over to a tree with the girth of two Fatty Yu's, Min Hong panted his hands by its sides and clasped the tree trunk; then with a deep grunt, he puled upward with all his bodily strength. 

The earth groaned as fissures spread across the ground. Suddenly, his spirit sense exploded out and spread all over the entire tree, latching onto every inch of its size, giving Min Hong a clear picture of the most effective direction to pull the tree to achieve his desired result.

Shortly afterwards, his Soul Sea roiled as streams of Soul Qi surged out and flooded his brain. Instantly, all the energy coursing through Min Hong's body suddenly changed their trajectory as they rushed towards the part of his body which would help him achieve his aim.

Min Hong's calves bulged as power flooded every cell, tissue, muscle, tendon and bone within them. Replicating the same action with his brains, arms and chest, Min Hong felt like all the adrenaline he could ever muster were in full surge.

It was in that moment that the Battle God Buff finally showed its prowess as it activated fully; instantly, Min Hong felt like his adrenaline had been mixed with concentrated overdose of steroids. 

With a vigorous yank, a guttural bellow escaped Min Hong's lips;

"RISE!"

Instantly, the sound of branches snapping echoed from underground as the tree rose out of the ground.

Min Hong was shocked by the outcome; not only had he managed to uproot a very old, fat tree, he even had some left over strength.

Wanting to see the extremities of his full abilities, Min Hong's adrenaline and energy suddenly moved like they had a mind of their own.

A percentage of the energy in his limbs suddenly split off and merged with the leftovers, before surging into his waist and joints. Then with a twist of his power core, Min Hong hurled the massive tree to the side, and the entire mass flew through the air before landing ten meters away.

"Shit!" Min Hong was ecstatic.

He looked to the crater in front of him, and then over to the fat tree that was now lying ten meters away from him and he couldn't help but want to roar into the heavens.

However, remembering that it was late, he quickly suppressed his urges; after all, he didn't want to send his entire estate into panic.