Although his mother never said anything and simply let her son cultivate, when Eric Bennett saw his mother come home every day so exhausted that she could barely walk, eating nothing but some vegetables, he gave up the path of cultivation and went to work for others to earn money so his younger brother could continue cultivating.

As his brother grew older, his needs increased. To lighten his mother's burden, Eric Bennett resolutely joined the "Flying Tiger Squad" formed by a small family business association.

Chapter 2: The Vital Breath of Life

The name "Flying Tiger Squad" sounds impressive, but in reality, it was just a garbage-collecting team.

Within the Sirius Mountains, wild beasts and fierce monsters roamed everywhere. The martial artists survived by hunting these beasts and monsters, exchanging them for high rewards to buy resources for cultivation. Only with greater strength could they obtain more resources, creating a cycle that ensured the Sirius Mountains were never short of martial artists or bloody battles.

Their "Flying Tiger Squad" was a group organized by the trading company to collect things in the mountains that martial artists disdained to pick up.

A civilian with no martial strength couldn't survive in the Sirius Mountains, not even on the outskirts. Encountering a single wild beast could be fatal. So these business associations would organize a group of civilians, hire two martial artists to lead them, and collect the things martial artists didn't care to pick up.

Those items were worthless to martial artists, but still tempting to ordinary villagers. For example, when he was cultivating, the money his mother earned was basically all given to such trading companies.

By now, Eric Bennett had been doing this for over four years, making him a very senior member of the Flying Tiger Squad, so his treatment was decent. At the very least, his brother had resources for cultivation, and his mother could eat her fill.

Some time ago, he heard from the martial artist leading the team that an apothecary had a kind of medicinal liquid that could strengthen the meridians. So, each time, he brought back more things than others. Besides giving money to his family, he saved the rest. After three months, he finally saved up one hundred taels of silver to buy a dose of the medicinal liquid.

Who would have thought his meridians were too fragile to withstand the medicinal power, causing all his meridians to rupture.

"Damn it, what a quack! Truly a quack—doesn't even know to prescribe medicine based on the patient's constitution, and still calls himself an apothecary?" Thinking of this, Eric Bennett couldn't help but curse inwardly.

An apothecary should prescribe medicine according to the patient's constitution; otherwise, a little too much could be fatal. Just like in his case, a little less might have had no effect, but the apothecary actually sold it as a one-size-fits-all package—one hundred taels per dose, regardless of constitution. If that's not a quack, what is?

"Wait, that's not right. Weren't my meridians completely severed? Why do I feel perfectly fine now?" Suddenly, Eric Bennett realized this.

Thinking of this, Eric Bennett placed his hands on the bed and pressed down slightly, trying to sit up. As soon as he applied force, "crack!"—his hands easily broke through the edge of the bed.

This left Eric Bennett stunned.

Breaking through the bed board wasn't difficult for him, but he hadn't used much strength just now. Besides, he could control his own strength and knew that the force he used shouldn't have damaged the bed. But now? He felt that the same amount of force had actually broken through the bed board?

Suddenly, Eric Bennett thought of a possibility. The thought made him faintly excited. He quickly sat cross-legged and carefully sensed the state of his body.

"Iron Body Technique, fifth level? What's going on? Yesterday I was only at the second level, how did I jump three levels overnight? And how did my meridians suddenly recover?"

Seeing the state of his body, Eric Bennett was completely stunned.

The Iron Body Technique was a basic body-tempering method distributed by the trading company where the Flying Tiger Squad worked.

Generally, those who joined the Flying Tiger Squad were poor people who couldn't cultivate. Anyone who could cultivate wouldn't do this kind of work, because if you could cultivate, the village would provide some relief, and at least basic living needs would be met.

But those who couldn't cultivate had weak constitutions. Even if they went to collect things, they wouldn't get much. Not to mention, with wild beasts everywhere in the mountains, such frail bodies were just food for the beasts. Therefore, the trading company distributed body-tempering methods to them. Practicing these methods greatly increased their strength and defensive abilities, allowing them to collect more items.

For ordinary poor people, reaching the first level of the Iron Body Technique was already impressive. The reason Eric Bennett had survived four years in the Flying Tiger Squad was because his Iron Body Technique had reached the second level, greatly enhancing both his strength and defense.

That second level of the Iron Body Technique had saved his life more than once.

With no resources and relying on his own exploration, Eric Bennett had managed to cultivate the Iron Body Technique to the second level, showing his talent. But his meridians were naturally narrow and fragile, so no matter how talented he was, it was useless—body-tempering was his only path.

Body-tempering, in this world, was the most thankless of all paths. It was a hundred times harder than orthodox cultivation and even more dangerous—one careless mistake could cost your life.

Moreover, body-tempering never led to any great achievements. None of them had ever heard of a body-tempering practitioner becoming a high-level martial artist, but they'd heard of plenty who died violent deaths.

"Ten years of body-tempering is not as good as one year of martial cultivation"—that was the common view of body-tempering. Most who practiced it ended up with hidden injuries and died violent deaths. Worst of all, body-tempering required a huge amount of resources.