CHAPTER 52: CHAPTER 52: VIGOR ACHIEVED

In Chen Ku’s courtyard.

It was like that night at Crocodile Bay several months ago; his clothes shed from his body.

Chen Ku’s form gradually shifted, and he became a two-foot-tall little ape.

Silver fur, red face, tailless, with black hands and feet.

This was the Spirit Ape.

Sitting cross-legged on the kang like a small person, he closed his eyes and breathed naturally, a special respiratory frequency emanating from him...

"This is Spirit Monkey Breathing! The true essence of organizing Force Power throughout the body!" Chen Ku exclaimed, marveling at his new state. The apprentices and masters of Medicine King Hall in previous generations had only observed apes to practice. None had directly transformed into a Spirit Ape like Chen Ku, who thus experienced a deeper and more mysterious essence within the breathing technique.

Following his own special breathing frequency after transforming into the Spirit Ape, Chen Ku could feel that the strength in his entire body could be driven by his breath, reaching his fingers, hair, teeth, and tongue!

"No wonder it’s called a Spirit Ape!" he continued his thoughts aloud. "Born with the ability to flexibly control every inch of strength in the body, innately breathing into Force Power."

"The realm and frequency of this breathing technique that I need to pursue are, in fact, the natural breaths of every Spirit Ape."

"So even a young Spirit Ape is born in the Force Transforming Realm; this is related to their special breathing."

"What magical creatures! It was by observing their breathing that past generations of masters created the Spirit Monkey Breathing Technique."

"By shape-shifting into a Spirit Ape, I’ve mastered it instantly!"

Chen Ku sighed. The natural gifts of some creatures in the world were simply too powerful—like the nose of a Skinny Dog, or the breath of a Spirit Ape...

He mused to himself, I wonder how many more fascinating and interesting creatures I will encounter in my lifetime that I can transform into?

He gradually calmed his heart.

HUFF...

He exhaled a breath of Dirt Qi.

He focused intently on feeling the Spirit Ape’s breathing frequency, striving to "eternally obtain" it, transforming it into a permanent passive breath.

This was similar to when he had initially shape-shifted into a Skinny Dog; with one leg movement, his "Yellow Dog Peeing" technique instantly reached Perfection. Likewise, only by transforming into a Spirit Ape could he enter this state.

Next, he needed to thoroughly comprehend it, make it completely his own, and convert all the strength in his body into Force Power...

It seemed that what followed would be a matter of patient grinding, slowly digesting it all.

Just like that, Chen Ku resumed his regular life.

During the day, he butchered fierce beasts and wild animals, harvesting Evil Qi and practicing the bone-chopping butcher blade technique. At night, he transformed into a Spirit Ape to breathe and convert strength into Force Power. Simultaneously, he sent Skinny Dogs to the Medicine Mountain outside the city to gather herbs.

「After seven or eight days.」

Chen Ku completed the Fierce Tiger Transformation.

ROAR!

A large tiger with upturned eyes, a white forehead, and yellow fur squatted in Chen Ku’s courtyard.

It moved with a tiger’s gait, seemingly slow and listless, yet possessing an indescribable nobility.

Its entire body, however, was imbued with boundless explosive power, especially the ability to launch itself upwards in an instantaneous pounce. Combined with the strength now suffusing Chen Ku’s own body, just one such move... invisibly granted Chen Ku a new combo.

Waist lift! Tiger pounce! Tail swipe! Then, transform back into a human!

If applied in Fist Techniques, over four thousand pounds of strength, amplified through his body, could be unleashed through this lift, pounce, and leg swipe, generating more than double his usual power.

Chen Ku tried it out. In his courtyard, there was a thousand-pound stone lock made from a special stone material; though only the size of a bucket, it weighed a thousand pounds.

Under his lift, pounce, and swipe, it was sent flying four or five zhang away by his two palm strikes.

Chen Ku estimated this short combo could unleash at least seven to eight thousand pounds of force.

But after doing so, his breathing became rapid and heavy.

These three moves are the tiger’s three deadliest techniques. After executing them, even a Fierce Tiger’s Qi Power will wane. Wasn’t it because Wu Song dodged these three consecutive strikes that he managed to turn defeat into victory?

Chen Ku felt that these three moves could be considered his own Fist Techniques while under the effects of the Fierce Tiger Transformation.

Let’s call it the Tiger-Form Loose Hand.

It had no specific moves, only three ways of exerting force in a tiger-like manner, not restricted to any set routine, hence the name Loose Hand.

While Chen Ku was making incredibly rapid progress in his Martial Arts, Ke Yansheng was also waiting, sighing in his heart, Indeed, even if Elder Shang personally took action, he couldn’t trick... no, *request* it in a short time. It seems they can only resort to persistent coaxing and pestering. However, Chen Ku doesn’t seem to be in a hurry; his Force Power hasn’t reached Great Achievement yet...

「Another seven or eight days passed.」

Chen Ku finally obtained the third Treasured Medicine, brought back by a Skinny Dog. It was a very special bamboo shoot, white as jade, resembling a jade stone. It emitted a faint, fresh fragrance, and its tip was slightly curved, like a white jade ox horn.

Ox Horn Shoot, this is also a special kind of Treasure Herb, but it requires special processing. Ordinary people cannot consume it directly because of its special medicinal properties, which can harm the stomach... Martial artists can eat a little bit at a time without being affected, Chen Ku assessed.

He hesitated. But I’ve run out of money lately.

Ever since he spent two hundred and fifty taels of silver at once to buy the ape, and with the Transformation Diagram’s second illustration consuming another one hundred taels, it could be said he was now back to having barely a few taels of silver to his name.

I’d better save them for now and make a decision when I have more.

Chen Ku, however, was unaware. His non-stop harvesting at the Lian Family Medicine Mountain for over a month had consequences.

「Beneath Lian Family Medicine Mountain.」

A middle-aged man dressed as a Steward listened to the report from below and frowned.

"The medicinal herbs on the mountain have been disappearing particularly fast recently," the Steward said. "Could it be that some expert herb gatherer has targeted our mountain? Everyone, be more vigilant lately. If there really is an expert herb gatherer constantly digging, then this matter needs to be discussed thoroughly."

...

Chen Ku also vaguely sensed that the medicinal herbs the Skinny Dog had recently brought back from Lian Family Medicine Mountain were inferior in quality compared to before.

I need to switch to another source, he thought.

With that thought in mind, a blade fell upon a three-meter-tall Great Musk Ox in workshop number three; the Bone-chopping Blade in his hand moved like a rolling ball, weaving in and out, rolling again and again...

Unconsciously, all the Force Power in his body had unified, his breath becoming one with it. In his current state, he had thoroughly cleared all Four Extremities.

Force Power reached Great Achievement!

If the Force Power within his body was a silent, colorless change that occurred naturally when conditions were ripe, then the effect of all the body’s strength turning into Force Power and flowing through the Four Extremities, when reflected in the sharp blade he held, was...

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!

Only the afterimages of the blade could be seen, not the blade itself.

After a few breaths, the three-meter-long Great Musk Ox’s skin and flesh seemed to separate on their own...

Strip after strip of perfectly cut meat fell neatly onto the cutting board, sliding together tidily, arranged in block after block that would satisfy even the most obsessive-compulsive.

This is... the advancement in bladesmanship that automatically came after Force Power permeated my entire body, allowing me to step into the Minor Achievement stage! Qin Sheng realized with astonishment.

One month’s time, Force Power flowing through the Four Extremities, bladesmanship reaching Minor Achievement... This is... genius!

If Master Ke hadn’t sternly warned them not to spread news of Chen Ku’s talent and Root Bone in the other courtyards, perhaps the entire Medicine King Hall would already know of this genius’s existence.

Qin Sheng thought to himself, It’s just that tomorrow is the monthly examination again. At that time, it is customary for apprentices from the Three Great Courtyards to spar with each other... I hope no one comes looking for Junior Brother Chen on purpose. Otherwise, once he makes a move, everything will be exposed. How could it possibly be hidden? Wouldn’t that likely ignite another wave of conflict over poaching him?

Ke Yansheng was also pondering.

I wonder if Elder Shang has succeeded?