“Do I really have to sacrifice my own life? So what exactly can be used as a sacrificial offering?”

【The Gluttonous Furnace devours all things, accepting everything. When sacrificial materials are detected, the host will be notified.】

Adam Harper was starting to regret it now.

If he had known he would transmigrate, he should have made the settings for the Gluttonous Furnace much simpler.

He waved his hand to make the furnace before him disappear.

Adam Harper walked out of the dilapidated temple. The eastern sky was turning pale, indicating it was dawn.

In the distance, he could vaguely see a sizable city built entirely of black stone bricks—that was Blackstone County.

He had actually ended up outside the county city?

In these times, being outside the county city was extremely dangerous.

Demons devoured people, bandits robbed for wealth, and traveling alone outside the city was the most dangerous thing of all.

Although it was almost daylight, it still wasn’t safe. Adam Harper hurriedly ran toward Blackstone County.

After running for a while, Adam Harper looked back at the ruined temple and suddenly realized that the temple was quite strange as well.

It was a small temple with only a single Buddha statue, round on top and square at the bottom, its whole body mottled with a dark red hue, looking like a gaping bloody mouth.

A distant mountain can exhaust a horse.

Adam Harper ran for nearly an hour before finally reaching the city gate, just as the guards were opening it.

Relying on the memories in his mind, Adam Harper weaved through the shabby alleys and finally found his home.

A small blue-brick house with a little courtyard.

Although it was still relatively clean and tidy, he had sold almost everything of value in the house recently to pay for his father’s funeral.

So now, Adam Harper’s home was practically bare, with only a bed left.

He fetched a bucket of water to clean the wound on the back of his head, then glanced at his reflection in the well water.

He was actually quite handsome in this life—not extraordinarily good-looking, but at least with sword-like brows and starry eyes, a refined and striking appearance.

Checking the time, he realized the morning class at the martial arts school was about to start.

Zhenwei Martial Arts School had two types of classes: morning classes and major classes.

Morning classes lasted half a day, while major classes, held once every ten days, lasted the whole day.

In his memory, Adam Harper was very diligent. He had joined the martial arts school for half a year and had never missed a single class.

After all, the opportunity to join Zhenwei Martial Arts School was something his father had spent almost all their family’s savings to secure.

Three hundred taels of silver plus a strong and healthy physique were required to qualify for entry.

If you were sickly, even a thousand taels wouldn’t get you in.

However, although Adam Harper was diligent, his physique was only average.

After joining the school, James Thompson taught the disciples the basic internal skill “Iron Elephant Technique.” After half a year of practice, Adam Harper had only managed to open forty-one acupoints with it.

Those more advanced disciples had already opened more than fifty acupoints.

Just as he was about to leave, Adam Harper’s stomach growled.

But after searching the house, Adam Harper only found half a cold steamed bun, which he ate with cold water before hurrying out.

Blackstone County was divided into four districts: east, west, south, and north.

Adam Harper’s home was in the north district, mostly inhabited by poor commoners, with houses packed closely together, much like a slum.

Zhenwei Martial Arts School was located in the bustling east district, with three large courtyards combined to form the training grounds.

When Adam Harper arrived at the school, most of the disciples were already there, waiting for class to begin.

Zhenwei Martial Arts School had about a hundred people, a few from wealthy families, but most were children from well-off households.

After all, “literature for the poor, martial arts for the rich”—the tuition alone was three hundred taels, which ordinary families simply couldn’t afford.

A moment later, a man in his fifties, dressed in black martial attire, with a square and dignified face, walked out from inside the school.

This was the head of Zhenwei Martial Arts School, James Thompson, nicknamed “White Ape with Long Arms,” a master of the Innate Mortal-Shedding Realm.

With his White Ape Long Arm Fist, he could split stone tablets and shatter rocks, even withstand blades and spears—a renowned figure in Blackstone County.

Sweeping his gaze around, James Thompson said in a deep voice, “You disciples have been at the school for as little as half a year, as long as seven or eight months. The ‘Iron Elephant Technique’ should be at the introductory level by now, and it’s time for your first major assessment.

In martial arts, if you don’t advance, you fall behind. After the assessment, any disciple who fails will be expelled from the school.

It’s not that I’m heartless, but the path of martial arts is cruel. Without talent and perseverance, staying here is just a waste of time.”

As his words fell, the disciples erupted in commotion, most of them panicking.

Being expelled from the school meant not only wasting their money, but also proving they were mediocre and unfit for martial arts.

“Silence!”

James Thompson stepped down from the platform and walked to the stone pillars used for training in the practice yard.

“What is martial arts? Martial arts are forged through time and perseverance!

In the acquired stage, you open the meridians and condense internal force in the body’s acupoints.

The human body has three hundred and sixty-five acupoints, corresponding to the number of stars in the great cosmic cycle. Each acupoint you open greatly increases your strength.

There are also twelve meridians, which control the flow of power in the body. Each meridian you open greatly enhances your control over your strength.

By gathering the power of the acupoints and breaking through the twelve meridians, merging meridians and acupoints into one, you qualify to step into the Innate Mortal-Shedding Realm.

Innate Mortal-Shedding, as the name suggests, is returning from the acquired to the innate, breaking out of the cocoon and transforming, shedding the mortal flesh.

This step is even harder. You must use the internal force of your acupoints and meridians to constantly temper every inch of your bones and every strand of flesh within your body. The process is extremely painful.”