Since arriving in this world over half a year ago, Charles Bennett had taken a medicinal bath every few days—more than ten times in total. Yet, each time he reached the critical moment of breaking through the blocked meridians, he would always feel a sense of exhaustion, causing all his efforts to fall short. So, these days, he had been accumulating strength, hoping to break through the Blood Refining stage in one go.

He piled enough firewood under the cauldron, then Charles Bennett took off his leather armor, leaving only a pair of boxer shorts, and quickly jumped into the cauldron.

Ah!

Even though he had done this many times, the intense medicinal power unleashed by the boiling water still made Charles Bennett cry out involuntarily.

Forcing himself to endure the excruciating pain, he sat down in the cauldron, letting the water cover his shoulders. He calmed his mind and began circulating the Wild Bull Howling at the Heavens technique. A wave of heat rose from within his body, and all the medicinal power he had accumulated over these days erupted at once, rampaging uncontrollably through his body.

Hiss—hiss!

A piercing, bone-deep pain surged through every inch of his body—bones, flesh, and marrow all felt as if they were being gnawed by ten thousand ants.

Bean-sized beads of sweat dripped from his forehead into the cauldron, only to rise up again the next moment. Charles Bennett struggled to control his body, doing his utmost to guide the flow of heat with his technique, directing it toward the loosened meridians within.

In this world, martial cultivation realms included Bone Tempering, Blood Refining, and Heavy Tower, among others. Both Bone Tempering and Blood Refining were divided into four stages: early, middle, late, and perfection.

Martial cultivation was extremely difficult—harder than ascending to the heavens. Perhaps anyone could get started, and even children over ten could possess the strength of a hundred catties, but achieving true success was incredibly hard.

Take the Guyuan Tribe, for example: out of more than ten thousand people, only about eight hundred had become warriors. And the first requirement to become a warrior was to break through to the Bone Tempering stage.

As the name suggests, Bone Tempering meant tempering all the bones in the body. It was the first level of martial cultivation. Generally, upon first entering Bone Tempering, after an initial round of tempering, one would possess several thousand catties of strength, and with each minor breakthrough, gain several thousand more.

Once the entire body was fully tempered, the bones would become as hard as refined iron, and strength would reach about ten thousand catties. Of course, those with exceptional talent or who practiced advanced techniques could surpass ten thousand catties at the peak of Bone Tempering, but that was the realm of elite warriors—and Charles Bennett was among them.

When Bone Tempering was perfected and all the bones had been tempered, one could enter the next stage: Blood Refining. The human body had twelve meridians, and once they were all connected, they formed a great circulation cycle, with true qi flowing endlessly.

Only then could one truly absorb the vital energy that permeated heaven and earth.

Boom—boom—boom!

Sitting upright in the great cauldron, rumbling sounds echoed continuously from within Charles Bennett's body. At this moment, he was using the medicinal power to attack the loosened meridians. Again and again, the impacts gradually caused cracks to appear in the previously loosened meridians.

Boom!

After countless impacts, the first meridian was finally opened. Torrents of energy surged in like a flood, filling the meridian.

Azure currents flowed and rippled within, and at the same time, a blue light appeared on Charles Bennett's skin, faintly emanating a vast and wild aura.

Blood Refining stage! He had broken through!

“So this is the Blood Refining stage?”

Ignoring the fact that he was nearly naked, Charles Bennett excitedly clenched his fists. He could feel a trembling power lying dormant within him, and he was somewhat fascinated by it.

Breaking through to the Blood Refining stage lifted a huge weight from Charles Bennett's heart. Now, he finally had the strength to deal with the covetous eyes of the surrounding tribes, giving the crisis-ridden Guyuan Tribe a measure of self-preservation.

……

The news of Charles Bennett breaking through to the Blood Refining stage did not spread. After all, he had just broken through and his foundation was still unstable. If word got out and provoked the other tribes into a desperate, united attack on the Guyuan Tribe, it would be a huge problem.

It had been two days since Charles Bennett broke through to the Blood Refining stage, and everything in the Guyuan Tribe was as usual. Charles Bennett had been consolidating his cultivation and practicing martial techniques. In private, he had instructed Richard Stone and John King to secretly strengthen surveillance on those who were traitors within the tribe, just waiting for the right moment to catch them all in one net.

Clang!

Sparks flew as a block of blue steel stone not far from Charles Bennett split apart and scattered in all directions. He withdrew his spear, brought his legs together, and stood upright. He was not satisfied with his last spear strike—perhaps because he hadn't handled a spear in a long time, he felt a bit rusty.

Holding the spear in his right hand, he closed his eyes. The three forms of the Wild Bull technique appeared in his mind, and the countless times he had practiced drawing and retracting the spear became familiar once more.

First form, second form, third form… first form, second form…

Gradually, the awkwardness faded, and his spear technique became smooth and fluid, with no more barriers. The thousand-catty spear felt as light as a feather in Charles Bennett's hands.

Swish!

Dust flew everywhere, but Charles Bennett felt nothing, continuing to wield the long spear.

The three spear techniques that came with the Wild Bull Howling at the Heavens technique—the first two had no names, only the third was called Wild Bull Strike. This spear technique was derived from the wild bull, so it was bold and direct, charging with brute force.

“Chief brother, chief brother, something bad has happened! Something terrible! Alice Moore sister and many of the girls from the tribe have been captured by Edward Strong of the Heishan Tribe.”