Henry Young exerted himself fully, each stride usually spanning five or six meters. Though his punches appeared graceful, in reality, they were incredibly fast and fiercely powerful, like a flood dragon or a tiger hunting its prey.

"Star and Moon Distant" consisted of eighteen forms. In truth, it was not renowned for the power of its punches, but rather as an extremely refined body-tempering technique, summarized by generations of martial arts predecessors over thousands of years.

In terms of body tempering, it was nearly perfect.

It was once said by an immortal that the movement of the stars and the universe, the ultimate principles of all things, though the human body is small, within it lies a miniature universe. Gazing at the might of heaven and earth, wielding punches that trace the paths of stars and moons—hence the name "Star and Moon Distant"...

As for this explanation,

Henry Young never believed it. "Star and Moon Distant," at its core, was simply a set of punches compiled by predecessors for body tempering—what connection could it possibly have with the sun, moon, and stars?

However,

Compared to the heaviness in the moves of "Water Swimming Dragon" boxing, Henry Young preferred "Star and Moon Distant."

He practiced the swift sword, and "Wind Feather Sword" emphasized the concept of wind, which resonated with the ethereal philosophy of "Star and Moon Distant" boxing. The two complemented each other perfectly.

Whoosh~ Rip~

Henry Young swiftly practiced each move.

Though he had not reached the level of minute mastery, his peak-level martial cultivation, combined with years of practicing this set of punches, made his proficiency nearly on par with an expert, at least from an external perspective.

Second by second, time passed.

As Henry Young's spirit grew ever more excited,

Suddenly—

"Crackle!"

The blood energy transformed from the spiritual rice, along with the constant tempering of Henry Young's muscles and bones, rapidly flowed from his limbs and bones into his heart.

A mutation occurred in an instant.

After absorbing the blood energy from the spiritual rice, the heart almost immediately released a subtle yet astonishingly potent heat, which coursed through every part of Henry Young's body.

"The heart?"

As soon as Henry Young sensed this trace of heat flowing through him, his spirit was instantly invigorated, and all the fatigue from a day's training vanished without a trace.

"Continue."

Forgetting himself and his surroundings, Henry Young continued to perform the boxing forms, driving every muscle and bone in his body.

"Buzz~~" As the forms were executed, every inch of flesh, muscle, and bone within him involuntarily trembled, as if starved for a long time, greedily absorbing the subtle heat flowing from his heart.

Whoosh~

Minute by minute, as Henry Young continued his practice, this subtle heat was gradually devoured by his flesh and blood, at a rate much faster than the usual absorption of blood energy for growth.

Whoosh~

Another wave of subtle heat was released from his heart, causing Henry Young's muscles and bones to tremble again, as if cheering and leaping, continuing to madly devour and absorb this second wave of heat.

A third wave...

Time passed.

Henry Young's flesh and bones absorbed six waves of subtle heat released from his heart. Whether it was the surface skin and muscles, or the internal bones and organs, all experienced a noticeable improvement.

Henry Young also snapped out of his special state.

"The blood energy from eating spiritual rice tonight was actually all absorbed by my heart, and after the heart absorbed the blood energy, the heat it released was also completely devoured by my flesh and bones." Henry Young's eyes were full of astonishment.

Because—

He could feel a clear improvement in his physical condition.

With normal training, there would be progress, but it was hard to achieve a qualitative change in a short time, barely noticeable. Even though he had been eating spiritual rice for cultivation over the past half year, it usually took ten days of training to feel any change.

But just now,

He had only practiced for a little over an hour.

"An hour and a half of boxing practice equals ten days of my usual hard training?" Henry Young was both shocked and delighted.

He was shocked by the sudden mutation in his heart, something that had never happened before.

He was delighted by this astonishing rate of progress.

"Let me try again."

Henry Young threw another punch, and the wind howled.

Time passed, and after another half hour of practice, Henry Young no longer felt the special sensation from before, nor did his heart release any more heat.

Everything returned to normal.

Henry Young frowned slightly. "Could it be that the mutation in my heart just now, and the heat it released, was merely a continuation of the mutation from earlier in the day? Not a normal state?"

This left him quite disappointed.

He was now certain that his heart was indeed much more special than that of an ordinary person, allowing him to progress rapidly.

Though he didn't know the reason, Henry Young was not afraid.

He had read many stories of immortals in "Immortals and Demons of the Nine Provinces."

Henry Young knew well that over thousands of years, many immortals and martial artists with special talents had been born among the human race of the Five Domains and Nine Provinces. They were born with anomalies, and some had unique bloodlines.

Some were born able to control water and fire, some had astonishing innate comprehension, and some were born with divine strength, able to lift giant cauldrons weighing thousands of pounds without much body tempering.

These geniuses were extremely rare.

"Perhaps my bloodline is very special, and its manifestation is that my heart is different from ordinary people—it's just that I never realized it before." Henry Young pondered silently. "I must figure it out."

If he could understand the reason and control it at will, then, when practicing boxing and tempering his body, if his heart could continuously release that subtle heat, Henry Young believed his body-tempering speed would be much faster than it is now.

At least five times faster.