The Body Tempering Realm was divided into five stages.
Skin Tempering Stage, Blood Tempering Stage, Muscle Tempering Strength, Bone Forging Stage, and Organs Transformation Stage.
Ken was currently at the Skin Tempering Stage, but he had already tempered his skin to eighty percent.
The percentage was used to indicate his progress. Each ten percent needed a total of twelve tempering processes.
One tempering process could take somewhere between ten square meters of Qi.
Ken would need to absorb spiritual energy from the surroundings, then refine the spiritual energy into Qi using his cultivation technique.
In one hour, he was barely able to fill five square meters of space with Qi.
Since this stage, Qi was always in a gaseous state.
In other words, for just one tempering, he would need to cultivate for two hours first. Then, he would have enough Qi to finish one tempering process.
But if he used Qi Pill, he could instantly fill a hundred square meters of area inside his Dantian with Qi.
This would be more than enough to temper his skin ten times. Of course, a dozen meant twelve.
Fortunately, he had saved up quite a lot of Qi, even if one-third of that was previously exhausted by Dragon Flame.
After finishing his meal, he immediately sat cross-legged on his bed and took out two Qi Pill.
He swallowed both of them at once and started extracting Qi from those pills.
The process only took him two minutes. The Qi followed through several blood vessels into his Dantian.
Normally, meridians were used to move Qi around, but since the main meridians were blocked, only blood vessels and secondary meridians could be used.
As Qi entered his Dantian, he immediately stood up.
He jumped down from the bed and started moving his hands in a certain motion.
This motion could only be described as two hands driving in the air, full of traffic.
But after a few seconds, he stopped and stomped his right foot on the ground. Then, he did the same with his left foot.
He pulled back his hands. He crouched slightly, clenched his fists, and punched straight with his right hand.
His Qi started flaring. It went from his Dantian to his outermost skin, flowing through the layer of his skin.
But he didn't stop there. He pulled back his right hand and punched with his left fist.
His Qi flared once again.
Ken felt a strong pressure on his body. If he hadn't awakened his Dragon Blood Body, he would've collapsed after making a single movement.
'No wonder she didn't give me this technique before awakening my Dragon Blood Body. Every time my Qi flares up, it feels like I am holding the weight of an elephant.'
Ken gritted his teeth and raised his right leg, and kicked straight up. His Qi flared once again.
He pulled back his right leg and kicked with his left, but unlike his vertical kick, this was a sidekick.
His Qi flared, and he pulled back his leg, following it with a right elbow strike in the air.
A similar thing happened and he continued with an upper cut before pulling his fists back.
He used a similar crouching position from before and repeated the process.
But after doing it twice, he felt extremely weak, so he returned to his hand-waving motion.
Although this would slow down his Qi flares, it would help him complete the first dozen tempering processes.
But before he finished it, the day had already passed.
It was already the next day.
Ken was still going through a similar process, but this time, his kicks and punches were taking more than ten minutes.
In an entire day, his Qi flared around fifty to sixty times, but he had only gone through four tempering processes.
This day, he rested for three hours, took some healing pills, and ate some food before continuing with his practice.
Three Days Later;
Ken was covered with a layer of white Qi. Unlike before, he was sitting in a meditative position.
He opened his eyes, and the layer of White Qi popped like a balloon. His skin glistened under the sunlight.
He released a deep white mist from his mouth.
"Finally! I completed my Skin Tempering Stage."
"It's time to visit Apple Mountain."
Saying so, he stood up and left the house. He didn't have to prepare anything.
As he left his house, he crossed several houses. Unlike his, these houses were quite good-looking.
He also saw a few disciples practicing outside their houses.
Originally, he was just going to ignore them and visit Apple Mountain. But when he saw the practice of one of the disciples, he frowned and paused.
A girl was trying to throw a punch. Fire would flicker at her fist, but it would emerge as a force of nature that it was.
Instead, she was just coating her fist with fire and punching the air.
Normally, he would've ignored it. But as a Sect Leader, he would often correct his disciples' mistakes.
And because of his profession, he stopped and walked towards her.
As he approached her, the girl didn't seem to notice him. She was just busy practicing her martial arts.
"You are doing it wrong."
Ken's voice startled her.
The girl instantly turned around and saw Ken. She didn't recognize him.
"Who are you?"
"I am also a disciple of the Golden Dragon Sect." Ken replied.
"Duh! You are wearing the uniform." The girl rolled her eyes and said.
Suddenly, Ken felt embarrassed, but he quickly changed his expression and said.
"Who I am doesn't matter. You are practicing Fire Punch in the wrong way."
"Do you know this Martial Art?" The girl's eyes lit up.
Ken shook his head and said.
"I have not practiced this martial art."
The girl snorted and replied.
"Then, what are you trying to teach me? Or, are you just trying to strike a conversation with me?"
The girl was naturally aware of her beauty. When Ken said he didn't know Fire Punch, she thought he was trying to court her.
Unfortunately, Ken wasn't. He just waved his hand and said.
"You need to release Qi outside your fist. With your spiritual sense, hold a small portion of the Qi in your hand and ignite it using your martial art."
"Only then, your fire would produce the desired effect."
When he told her that, the girl was stunned. She was still thinking about how this person was trying to court her, but his explanation confused her.
Even so, she thought about it for a moment and replied.
"But, wouldn't that mean the fire would be scattered? How will that help?"
"That's why you need Fire Affinity to practice Fire Elemental Martial Art. Those with Fire Affinity have better control over Fire."
"So, you need to control it after you release it. That's the hard part about this martial art, but once you learn to do that, you will be able to use real Fire Punch."
Saying so, he turned around and left.
Whether she would take his advice or not didn't matter.
He was just trying to help her. If she thought his intentions were impure, then just let her believe it.
After he left, her neighboring fellow disciple approached her and spoke with a disdainful tone.
"Junior Sister, don't listen to that guy! He is just trash of the Sect. It has been two years, and he hasn't even completed his Skin Tempering Stage."
Unfortunately, the girl wasn't listening to him. Her mind was full of scenarios and simulations of using Ken's method.
Eventually, she snapped back and clenched her fist. She did hear the guy's words, but she chose to ignore him and focus on what she had on her mind.
Just as Ken told her, she released her Qi that burst out like a wave of air from her fist. Two seconds later, the Qi in her fist ignited, and the entire wave of Qi caught fire.
[Fire]
She gritted her teeth, closing her eyes as she used her spiritual sense to control the flame.
Thankfully, her affinity helped as the flame listened to her and changed into the shape of a fist.
[Punch]
Bang!
The massive fist moved forward, punching the dummy with a powerful impact.
This fire punch had mass and power. It even shattered the dummy by half while burning it.
Looking at the destruction she caused, the girl stared at her fist with confusion.
"I did it on my first try?"
"You…"
The voice came from behind, which startled her. The man behind her immediately put on an ugly smile as he said.
"You did it, Junior Sister. You are such an amazing genius."
The girl shook her head and said.
"I am not a genius. I just succeeded because I was practicing it wrong. That senior brother was right."
Then, she glanced at this man with disdain and said.
"And you are wrong. He has completed his Skin Tempering Stage."