【Sacrifice is possible.】

“Then sacrifice the sense of pain!”

Adam Harper gritted his teeth and said.

In the next moment, the taotie dragon pattern atop the Taotie Furnace seemed to come alive, opening its pitch-black maw and lunging at Adam Harper.

Adam Harper instinctively closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he felt as if something inside him was missing.

He pinched his own cheek hard with his hand—there was only the sense of touch, and sure enough, it didn’t hurt at all.

【Host has sacrificed the sense of pain and gained 50 points of satiety, which can be used to break through martial arts or to cultivate inside the furnace.】

Two option icons appeared above the Taotie Furnace, one for breakthrough, one for cultivation.

To cultivate inside the Taotie Furnace for one day consumes 1 point of satiety, and time is suspended inside the furnace.

The breakthrough function is temporarily unavailable; only martial arts with 100% proficiency can be used for breakthrough.

“Enter the furnace to cultivate.”

Chapter 3: Assessment

【Taotie Furnace activated. The host may end cultivation at any time.】

The instant he chose to enter the furnace, Adam Harper's vision went black, and then he found himself in a pitch-dark, hollow space.

Boundless, endless, lonely and cold.

There was no passage of time here; Adam Harper didn’t even have a concept of time in this place.

Even his desires seemed suppressed; all that filled his mind was cultivation.

Moreover, Adam Harper discovered that while cultivating inside the Taotie Furnace, it was as if a great iron elephant was striding through the void, majestic and heavy, its strength reaching a thousand catties.

The true essence of martial arts!

Cultivating inside the Taotie Furnace not only suspended time, but also allowed one to see into their own nature, manifesting the true essence of the martial arts being practiced in the void.

James Thompson taught Adam Harper and the other disciples the Iron Elephant Technique, but only followed the manual step by step.

At most, he would teach the disciples in more detail how to circulate their strength and other such nuances.

But inside the Taotie Furnace, the true essence of martial arts could be revealed, as if Adam Harper himself was the martial artist who had created the Iron Elephant Technique, observing the giant elephant stomping the earth and creating this technique.

After 8 points of satiety were consumed, representing eight days having passed, Adam Harper had already broken through to fifty acupoints.

One acupoint per day—such speed was unimaginable in the outside world.

After reaching the standard, Adam Harper didn’t rest, but broke through to sixty acupoints in one go before preparing to open his meridians.

Opening the meridians carries certain risks.

Failing to break through an acupoint at most just wastes some physical strength; after resting, one can try again.

But meridians are more fragile—if opening them fails and they are damaged, at best it affects cultivation, at worst all martial arts are lost, and in the most severe cases, one could become disabled!

Breaking through the meridians requires gathering the internal force from the acupoints, so in theory, the more acupoints opened, the safer the breakthrough.

Some martial artists start opening their meridians after accumulating the power of thirty or forty acupoints. James Thompson, as the head of the martial arts school, prefers caution, requiring his disciples to reach fifty acupoints before attempting.

Now, with the Taotie Furnace, Adam Harper decided to be even more cautious, accumulating the power of sixty acupoints before attempting to break through the meridians.

Each internal technique targets a different meridian first.

Because the Iron Elephant Technique is steady and heavy in nature, it first targets the Hand Shaoyin Heart Meridian, opening the heart meridian and blood, which gives the most obvious boost to strength.

As the internal force surged from the acupoints, it rushed forth like a flood.

With the combined power of sixty acupoints, the Hand Shaoyin Heart Meridian faced almost no resistance and was broken through in an instant.

Normally, when breaking through the meridians, the surging internal force entering the meridians causes the martial artist to feel intense pain.

But now, because Adam Harper had sacrificed his sense of pain, he wasn’t affected at all and could control his internal force with even greater precision—an unexpected benefit.

Glancing at the time, the Taotie Furnace had already consumed 25 points of satiety.

Adam Harper used the remaining time to practice the Vajra Fist instead of continuing to break through.

After all, there was still the entry requirement for the Vajra Fist, and that standard was set by James Thompson himself. Adam Harper could only use the remaining time to raise his proficiency as much as possible.

Just like when practicing the Iron Elephant Technique, while practicing the Vajra Fist, a phantom of a wrathful Vajra monk appeared in the void, demonstrating the true essence of the Vajra Fist.

【Satiety has been fully consumed. Taotie Furnace shutting down.

Current Iron Elephant Technique proficiency: 25%, Vajra Fist proficiency: 30%】

Opening his eyes, Adam Harper clenched his fists, feeling the surging power within his body.

Now, he could truly be considered at the early acquired stage.

Only opening acupoints gives a limited boost to strength—at most, he was just stronger than an ordinary person.

Only by opening the meridians can one control the power within the acupoints, and combat power is directly multiplied.

The next morning, the martial arts school’s major assessment began.

Over a hundred disciples stood in the training ground, all with nervous expressions.

James Thompson walked past each one, placing his hand on their wrist. With a trace of internal force, he could naturally sense how many acupoints and meridians each had opened.

Those who passed were overjoyed; those who failed looked dejected.

Samuel Thompson stood at the back and quietly nudged Adam Harper: “Why aren’t you nervous, kid? Did you open your first meridian?”

Adam Harper nodded: “Didn’t you also open your first meridian? What are you still nervous about?”