Just as I was losing consciousness, I suddenly felt my body getting in position again, a second later I heard a loud noise as if a bomb had exploded next to my ears and then I stopped hearing anymore things .
What was that just now, that was my last thought before I was supposed to be laying on the floor, but the very next second, I felt my mind and body being shocked awake .
I really felt as I was being struck by lightning or being electric shocked, I was jolted awake after who knows how long and was surprised to see that I wasn't laying down with my face kissing the ground as I originally expected .
But I was actually in a meditative position crossed legged sitting on the floor, my head was still a bit fuzzy and my whole body was still a bit numb, it took me a few seconds to finally be able to open my eyes and see what was happening in front of me .
I was sitting facing the rock, I was shocked due to noticing the changes that happened to the huge rock in front of me, I had given my all in striking this steady rock in front of me and it was able to withstand every strike I hit it with, even the last two strong punches I struck it with lastly, both were only able to scratch the surface and making it release some small pebbles .
Then how did what I'm currently seeing in front of me happen, the steady rock which was standing before me like a hill or small mountain, unaffected by whatever I threw at it, now actually had cracks running through it like cobweb, I looked at it like this and instinctively remembered my last regret of not being able to keep my breathing rhythm steady enough to hit the last punch .
At being reminded of this, I stared wide-eyed at the rock in front of me, then involuntarily raised my right hand up in front of me and stared at it, it was bleeding .
I had no memory of hurting my hand to the point of making it bleed, I looked at the big rock and saw that at the edges of the cobweb like cracks and the color red was indeed there, I kept glancing at my right hand then at the rock a few times trying to make any sense of what had happened and what was going on .
Did I preserved enough to be able to punch the last punch, that can't be right, I remembered collapsing on the flo.., no I remember almost collapsing on the floor but there was also one last thing that I remembered and that was getting in position again, but what happened after, I have no clue .
From the looks of it, I really seemed to have delivered that last punch successfully but how, there is no way I would be able execute it without having any control over my body .
My eyes suddenly lit up at recalling a certain situation that I experienced and was quite relatable to this one, what if I wasn't the one who executed the last punch just now, what if it was again that intention and resentment that the original Tian Long left in my body was what took control of me and delivered that last punch on my behalf .
The exact same thing happened before at the Dojo, when these regrets, resentment, intentions whatever they are, took control of my body and made me recklessly began executing the 4 postures, I believe the same thing happened this time, but unlike before, I'm actually glad that something like this happened, it worked in my favor nonetheless .
Let me check the results of the reckless behavior from earlier, for some reason, I was able to feel that my mind have become suddenly clearer than before, it's as if there was something blocking it before but now it was gone, but that wasn't the only thing that I gained, my body currently was still numb, but even though I was able to sense that there was something weird swirling inside my body .
In the area where I felt pain in before, a weird thing was swirling inside me in that exact same position, I wanted to jump in the air out of joy, but my body was still numb so I ended up leaning to the side instead, with my Blood Qi appearing I had officially took the first step in my Martial Path .
I felt something hot flowing suddenly on my cheeks and understood that these were tears of happiness, but those weren't my tears, those were the original owner of this body tears of happiness, his regret was that he wasn't able to take this step while he was alive, but I now granted him that .
Those intentions of his that were left in this body seemed to be also trying to convey some message to me, that message was confirming the guess that I already had, it was also explaining why my mind had become clear and my chest was fully relieved currently .
The regrets and resentment he left was now completely dissipating on its own due to it being exhausted after helping me in executing all the 16 postures from before, from now on I was completely free to do whatever that I wanted to, that was what the last message from those intentions conveyed .
I couldn't help but feel troubled a bit by it dissipating like this, I was happy with how I was feeling, I had completely regained full control of my body, but I was also feeling a bit conflicated at it dissipating after helping me so tremendously .
It's not an exaggeration to say that I might not have been able to make it, if not for the fact that it took control over my body at that crucial moment and helped me in executing that last punch, if not for those intentions help I might have not been able to awaken my Blood Qi this early .
I believe that the original Tian Long must be happy about being the person who contributed crucially to this breakthrough of mine, I'm really indebted to that guy, even with the resentment now gone, I will still be repaying that debt by getting revenge against that Deacon Lu on his behalf .
I don't know if my mind was still fuzzy, but I felt as I saw his face appearing and nodding at me just now before it dissipated as if it never existed, I couldn't help but massaging my forehead a little, I was surprised of two things, the first was that the numbness I felt before has now disappeared and the fact that my skin was now a bit tougher than before .
I jumped up from my mediative posture and began to check the skin on my upper body with my hand, it really wasn't my imagination just now, my skin seemed to be getting tougher and thicker as well, if I were to search for the best way to describe it .
I would say that it was now had a similar touch to leather, the same leather that the saddles in the stables seemed to be made of, I held one in my hand earlier today, so I was able to tell .
Thought that similarity in touch seemed to be a bit faint in my upper chest and abdomen, that tough and elastic touch seemed to be felt more deeply in my shoulders, arms and hands, it seemed that my skin a lot more tougher than before, even after pinching my skin a few times, the pain I felt from doing this seemed close to be non-existent .
If I'm not wrong, I believe that I was now in the first layer of the Flesh Tempering Realm, my skin is now indeed tougher compared to before and that align with the description written in the Solid Rock Fist Manual .
I released a sigh of relief and was trying to calm myself down, but I was just too excited to do that, I kept jumping in place over and over for a few minutes before I finally calmed down, I felt lighter than before, I even felt my strength increased a little bit after this breakthrough, but the thing that increased most was the toughness of my skin .
I was so happy and excited at that, if someone were to tell me that I would have this great change in my opinion of practicing Martial Arts in such a short period of time, I wouldn't have believed it one bit, but now, now everything was different, I'm really beginning to believe more and more in my ability to stand tall in this Martial Arts World .
I need to calm my horses a little, I had only started practicing Martial Arts, so I was far from being able to act in such a conceited manner, but getting stronger was indeed an incredible feeling .
I discarded these useless thoughts from my mind and instead focused more on the fact that after I kept jumping around like this, I was suddenly being assaulted by the feeling of famish .
As if punishing me for ignoring it just now, I suddenly felt that my body was hollowed out of strength, I almost collapsed on the floor just now, I was assaulted by a sense of hunger that I had never felt before, I began to crawl back towards my hut, I was struggling just to reach the food I left in there .
Even through how severed my current situation was, I couldn't help but have a smile on my face, as I opened the hut door, I remembered that I hadn't brought the lantern with me, yet weirdly enough was able to see my steps through the dark, so I couldn't help but marvel at the benefits that improving my Martial Realm brought me .
As I was marveling, I saw and smelled the scent of the food I brought directly after I opened the door, with a newfound strength, that I wasn't able to believe how I was able to acquire it, I hopped on the bed on one swift motion and galloped every piece of meat and vegetables that my eyes landed on .
After kept devouring the food in front of me for over a 15 or 20 minutes as if I was a hungry ghost or something, I finally felt that my hunger was finally satisfied, but my throat was a bit dry .
I looked at the bucket on the room and saw that it was empty, I got the bucket and now that I was able to enough food to quench my hunger, my strength once more had returned to me, just as I jumped out of the bed and tried to open the door, then something weird happened, the moment I tried to open the door through the handle, the handle directly came off the door .
Did this happen because of my increased strength, or was it already loose to began with, I wonder, luckily either way, I wouldn't need to compensate the family for the loss of that handle, I hurried out of the room with the metal bucket in hand and went to the closest well, I changed my clothes and wore the new ones I brought, I will be washing the old clothes of mine in the pond .
As I was heading to the closest well in my mind, using the fire of one of the lanterns hanged around, I discarded of the booklet I had with me wanting to finally get rid of it, by burning it into crisp, I almost burned my hand trying to do so but I was finally able to see the booklet turned to crisp, finally getting rid of that massive burden .
I checked the injury from earlier and saw that it was no longer bleeding, I found a piece of white cloth hanged on a bamboo tree and tied it around the wound tightly, I don't know how long will the wound take to recover, but at least it was good to know that it didn't hurt much .
As I reached the well, I noted that surrounding scene was quite silent, it seemed that I have slept for quite the long time, other servants had already went to sleep, I tied down the bucket and began lowering it little by little, until I sensed it coming in contact with the water .
The second I felt that it was submerged completely in the well water, I start pulling it up, the me before could have a bit of struggle pulling the filled bucket of water up, but I was now able to do it with ease .
I got the bucket and the moment I saw my reflection in the water, I almost threw the bucket from my hands into the well after I untied it due to getting startled by the reflection on the water, my upper body seemed to be flowing with faint red energy that was almost faint to notice if not for the fact that it directly flashed through the waters just now .
It didn't take me long to understand that this was my Blood Qi being displayed on the surface of my skin, just like what Guardian Li and Senior Brother Fu had shown earlier, the first was a bit uncertain case to me, but even though the red energy flashing on the surface of my body, it was much weaker than the level displayed by my senior brother .
But it was indeed the same, but how my Blood Qi began to be displayed outside my body, shouldn't that be the case after I either reach a higher level of mastery or achieve a breakthrough to the Middle of the Flesh Tempering Realm or even the Late Stage, how and why was it appearing now then, how strange .
Did I understand what instructor Lu and senior brother Fu told me about the need to breakthrough at least 3 or 4 layer before the body began displaying Blood Qi outside of the body .
I finally understood what was happening earlier with the door handle, for now I thought that the best course of action was to try and calm my agitated Blood Qi down first, it being displayed outside like this was actually quite consuming .
I sat next to the well and entered meditation and began absorbing the Blood Qi back into my body through the breathing rhythm mentioned in the manual, sensing it entering my body and nesting again in the area under the naval, I couldn't help but try and sense how much Blood Qi did I have left .
After sensing how much did I still have, I couldn't help but take a deep breath, I almost made my Blood Qi flare once more, but luckily this didn't happen .
I opened my eyes and looked at my hands and found that there was no more Blood Qi flashing on my body, I once again sighed a bit tiredly, there were just too many information that I might not have a clue about yet, not to mention that my way of achieving a breakthrough to the first layer of The First Tempering Realm was indeed unorthodox way, so that might have a hand in the weird things going on .
I don't know how much Blood Qi can a person who achieved the first layer of Flesh Tempering, but I'm certain that I have more than that person, how much exactly this I don't know .
Seeing that me staying here was pointless, I held the bucket in hand and began heading back to the hut through the same road I came from, just as I was about to pass by the area where I found that piece of white cloth from earlier, I saw a shadow flashing by me and goosebumps crawled on my skin and I instinctively hid, submerging myself into the bamboo trees and soon after another shadow moved above me and appeard in front of the first shadow .
I was surprised at their style of footwork, they were able to leap through the air like this, meant they either have a high level of strength or they may be just using a high grade Martial Skill that granted them such a unique way of moving, either way that wasn't the important thing, the important thing was to know what these guys even here for .
Voice 1 : Did you do as I told you to ? .
Voice 2 : I did, but I really believe that it was better to let that guy rot, he might not be able to even practice anymore .
Voice 1 : I heard about the heavy hand you dealt with that kid with, you better hope that he will be able to practice, or else hmph .
Voice 2 : I handed the Martial Skill as you instructed, what about the request I wanted you to do for me .
Voice 1 : Don't worry that Lu San will not continue to serve in the Lu Family anymore, as for what you requested, the master didn't seem to issue any orders about it, so us helping you in dealing with him is currently impossible .
Voice 2 : Okay, then was there anything else you wanted me to do or tell me ? .
Voice 1 : Be sure to keep the cloth strapped to the bamboo tree in the area you wish to meet, I kept searching around the place .
Voice 2 : I do remember hanging it myself, so how could it be missing ? .
Just as they were mentioning the white cloth that I was tying my hand with, together with the other information that I heard earlier, I was no longer was able to keep calm and collected as before .
I wanted to escape this place as fast as I could, in trying to do so, I unintentionally caused some noise with my movements, it wasn't loud but that still didn't escape their ears, they both suddenly stared at where I was and said in unison :
WHO IS THERE ? .