However, most cultivators in the world are like this. The methods of harmonizing qi and nurturing the spirit are almost all controlled by those great clans and sects, kept secret and never revealed. Commoners without any foundation can only start with external martial arts.

Adam Carter’s circumstances are actually not bad. Although he is an orphan, the academy he attends is the Yuecheng Academy, which is affiliated with the Lichen Sect. In the Martial Canon Pavilion there, there are hundreds of complete external martial arts techniques. While none are truly peerless, they are all quite impressive, and there are more than forty top-tier introductory techniques. Once mastered, the future is bright.

What Adam Carter practices is one of them: “Subduing Dragon and Taming Tiger.” It consists of two sets of boxing techniques: Taming Tiger and Subduing Dragon. Taming Tiger refines the body, Subduing Dragon is for combat. When practiced to the extreme, the two sets can be merged into one. At that point, the roar of dragons and tigers can be heard, and one gains the strength to lift mountains.

After taking the Marrow-Nourishing Pill, Adam Carter followed the Taming Tiger boxing stances, throwing punch after punch.

The Taming Tiger Fist has seventy-two moves. In the first twenty-four, every four moves correspond to a minor stage among skin refining, bone refining, tendon refining, membrane refining, blood refining, and marrow refining, with especially remarkable effects.

As the boxing routine unfolded, Adam Carter could feel the Marrow-Nourishing Pill gradually dissolving in his stomach, then slowly seeping into his body.

His entire bone marrow itched, his whole body felt hot. His blood surged within him like molten lead and mercury.

His heartbeat slowed to an extreme, but each beat was incredibly powerful, sending qi and blood into every branch and tiny vessel.

Blood is born from marrow; Adam Carter had already passed the blood refining stage. However, the strengthening of his bone marrow would inevitably further enhance his qi and blood. This benefit would eventually extend to his tendons, bones, skin, and membranes, causing a fundamental transformation of his body and ultimately generating true essence.

After completing three sets of Taming Tiger Fist, the sky was already filled with stars. Yet Adam Carter was drenched in sweat, but felt no fatigue at all. On the contrary, he was full of energy, his face brimming with excitement.

Today’s progress was good. In at most three to five months, he would be able to step into the Qi Refining stage and become a true cultivator.

Each month, he could receive ten Bone-Easy Tendon-Refining Pills, three Qi-Nourishing Pills, and a full hundred taels of silver from the academy. If he could reach the sixth level before the age of thirty, he could be accepted as an inner disciple of the Lichen Sect, a position of great prestige.

Even if he couldn’t enter the sect, becoming a resident martial instructor at the academy or an outer disciple of the Lichen Sect would be enough to make others envious.

“It’s a pity there are only twenty Marrow-Nourishing Pills. If there were ten more, why would I need three months?”

After finishing the last move, Adam Carter was soaked in sweat, but his whole body felt indescribably comfortable.

Beneath him was a waist-deep, clear stream, but Adam Carter was in no hurry to bathe. Instead, he began another set of boxing techniques.

The force of his punches stirred the air, and faintly, the sound of a dragon’s roar could be heard. Within a hundred feet, all snakes, insects, mosquitoes, and ants fell silent.

This was the “Subduing Dragon Strike” from Subduing Dragon and Taming Tiger, consisting of only twelve stances. At this moment, Adam Carter’s hands seemed to be tightly gripping a writhing, struggling serpent, suppressing it with all his might. Each swing of his fists was as if bearing a mountain, the force heavy as a thousand pounds. Adam Carter’s tendons, bones, and blood seemed to take on the form of a dragon. His fists resembled a dragon’s head, and every punch triggered a continuous burst of air within a zhang.

Over seven years, he had practiced these twelve Subduing Dragon Strikes to perfection. Both in form and intent, the sound of a dragon’s roar was the mark of having entered the true path.

It was also thanks to this set of techniques that he was able to seize the position of chief disciple at Yuecheng Lichen Academy.

Among the academy’s three hundred disciples, there was no shortage of those close to the Qi Refining stage. Yet not one could rival him, Adam Carter.

However, there were nearly a hundred academies in Yuecheng. Lichen Academy was almost at the bottom, so this achievement was nothing to boast about.

The Subduing Dragon Strike was incomparably fierce, and Adam Carter was giving it his all. In just half an hour, after ten consecutive rounds, Adam Carter was panting like an ox, unable to continue.

Then he stood quietly in the water, regulating his breath and nurturing his qi. After another quarter of an hour, his surging qi and blood finally calmed.

A faint smile appeared at the corner of Adam Carter’s lips. Of the twelve Subduing Dragon Strikes, he could now produce the dragon’s roar in seven.

The riverbed was slippery with wet mud, yet not only could he stand firm, he could also practice his boxing in the waist-deep current without a single misstep. His lower body stability had clearly reached a certain level.

It is said that at the Golden Core stage, one can fly through the air. But below Golden Core, cultivators all fight on the ground. If one’s foundation is stable, it will also be beneficial for flying in the future.

Of course, this was just hearsay; whether it was true or not, he didn’t know.

The greatest pity was that only seven of the Subduing Dragon Strikes produced the dragon’s roar. If all twelve could, he could attempt to merge the Subduing Dragon and Taming Tiger techniques into one, entering the First Heaven.

It was said that if this could be accomplished before the Qi Refining stage, it would bring immense benefits, and there was a chance to cultivate something called “Arcane Divine Ability.” He wondered if he could achieve this within three months.

After a thoroughly satisfying bath, Adam Carter changed into clean clothes.

As he was about to leave, he hesitated for a moment, but still picked up that decayed sword.