At the Immortal Institute.
Xu Guang stood respectfully before Master Zhao, a white cloth wrapped around his forehead.
"You are more hardworking than I imagined," Master Zhao said, his voice pinched in a leisurely tone. "In just half a month, you’ve actually completed the Cultivation for the Nourishing Body Chapter and met the requirements for Skin Polishing. Therefore, starting today, I will teach you its essentials.
"You should be aware of the pain involved in Skin Polishing, right? It torments not just the skin, but the flesh as well."
Perhaps because his fellow disciples had all tasted the bitter suffering of Skin Polishing, they showed unprecedented enthusiasm toward Xu Guang, their junior brother who was about to begin the process. They couldn’t wait to see him wailing in agony from the torment. Clearly, schadenfreude was a universal trait.
Xu Guang ultimately chose the eager-looking Xu Sanduo as his temporary coach.
With a wicked grin, Xu Sanduo immediately dragged out a large vat and directed Xu Guang to fill it with sand.
"Jump in!"
Jump in? Xu Guang paused for a moment before realizing this was a standard step in Skin Polishing.
Seeing him obediently hop inside, Xu Sanduo chuckled. "Junior Brother, bear with it. Skin Polishing is simply a test of who can endure the most hardship."
Xu Guang remained completely silent. Without another word, Xu Sanduo began churning the sand. He possessed immense strength and churned it at a blistering pace, a process that naturally generated a massive amount of heat. This scorching sensation caused Xu Guang to be drenched in sweat within moments, but Xu Sanduo ignored him and continued relentlessly.
Sweat soaked through Xu Guang’s body. The sand he had managed to dampen was constantly overturned by Xu Sanduo, feeling exactly like salt being rubbed into a raw wound. The intense pain, coupled with the searing heat, made it nearly unbearable. Yet, he gritted his teeth and pushed through, which left Xu Sanduo somewhat surprised.
Before they knew it, over an hour had passed. Feeling fatigued, Xu Sanduo called out, "Fourth Senior Brother, come help our junior brother."
Zhao Yong’s burly figure approached. He looked visibly moved as he stared at Xu Guang, who was entirely covered in sand. Under the constant abrasive friction of sand and sweat, his skin had already begun to fester, exposing blood-red flesh.
"Shall we continue, Junior Brother?"
Xu Guang’s consciousness was blurring. The Essence Blood within the Blood Eye vibrated rapidly, injecting trace amounts of energy into his already overdrawn body. Old Zhao had once mentioned that during the first session of Skin Polishing, the longer one persisted, the more they could stimulate their body’s deepest potential.
Zhao Yong felt a sense of admiration for his junior brother’s ruthless Force. Very few people could endure as much as he did.
In the afternoon.
Xu Guang stepped out of the sand vat, his entire body trembling as Xu Sanduo supported him. It had been three full hours.
It was terrifyingly impressive. Xu Sanduo felt both admiration and envy. With his junior brother’s Will, his speed in Skin Polishing would far surpass theirs.
Old Zhao merely glanced at him, his eyes completely impassive, but he brought over the Secret Medicine—a significantly larger portion than before.
"This is the Secret Medicine for the Skin Grinding Realm of the Golden Willow Skill. It is strictly for external use, once a day."
"Thank you, Master," Xu Guang said, his voice trembling slightly.
"Don’t thank me just yet. The Secret Medicine for the Skin Grinding Realm costs more to produce, so your tuition will also increase to twenty taels of silver per month."
Xu Guang nodded slowly, knowing this was standard practice. Different services naturally commanded different prices.
Satisfied with Xu Guang’s sensible attitude, Old Zhao casually tossed a book to him. "This is a Rubbing of the Golden Willow Skill. Practice on your own using this."
The unrest in the city was becoming increasingly evident. The refugees showed no signs of retreating. In an effort to placate them, Feiyun City joined forces with three neighboring cities to dispatch more grain.
But where did the grain come from? Naturally, it was drawn from the reserves of the prominent local families. Unwilling to suffer losses, these large families raised grain prices, resulting in a growing number of people who could no longer afford food.
Even in broad daylight, street robberies became a common sight. Almost all the officials from the Government Office were out patrolling, including the Prison Guards who usually watched over the cells.
Throughout history, chaotic times have never lacked the emergence of ambitious schemers and conspirators. This was exactly what Xu Guang witnessed on his way home one day.
In a pitch-black alley, a group of emaciated, impoverished commoners surrounded a figure dressed in yellow. They looked as though they were plotting some secret that could not be overheard.
Xu Guang was merely passing by and had no desire to draw their attention, but he did catch a few fleeting words.
"The current ruler is unjust, and heaven has sent down a great flood, drowning three provinces and seventy-six cities in the Central Plains..."
None of this had anything to do with Xu Guang. He generally avoided people, never actively made enemies, and always yielded in street arguments whenever possible.
Xu Guang’s days were exceptionally fulfilling. Every morning, he sought out Xu Sanduo at the Immortal Institute to practice the Skin Grinding Chapter. In the afternoon, he helped Xu Sanduo’s family slaughter pigs, siphoning off the pig blood. At night, he returned home for a medicinal bath and studied the Golden Willow Skill.
He also found the time to put on a Disguise and head outside the city, retrieving the gold and silver items from the ruined temple.
The journey was far from safe. On the way, he encountered a pair of refugees from across the river. However, with Xu Guang’s current physical fitness and the butcher knife in his hand, killing them proved effortless.
This was also his first time testing how much Essence Blood an ordinary person’s blood could condense.
The blood from a standard deceased human was roughly equivalent to that of three pigs. It would take about ten people to help him condense a single drop of Essence Blood.
With the nearly one hundred taels of silver hidden in the God statue, everything seemed to be on the right track.
Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, over two months had passed. Under the gloom of the night sky, inside the Immortal Institute.
Xu Sanduo and Zhao Yong looked cautious, watching Xu Guang with noticeable tension.
"Junior Brother, are you certain you want to begin Fire Refinement today?" Xu Sanduo asked. "Shouldn’t you reconsider? Back then, it took me three full years to progress from Skin Polishing to my first Fire Refinement. And despite your Fourth Senior Brother’s sturdy build, he’s afraid of pain, so it took him a whole five years. You’re still young..."
Crouching on the ground, Xu Guang coaxed the flames of a pile of firewood and said softly, "There’s no need to reconsider. I feel that I’m ready."
His voice wasn’t loud, but the absolute resolve within it was unquestionable. Xu Sanduo’s face was filled with admiration; he had never seen a youth possess such a ruthless Force.
Over the past few days, Xu Guang had pestered him and Zhao Yong so relentlessly that Xu Sanduo was genuinely starting to feel a bit terrified of him.
When the other disciples engaged in Cultivation, they only entered the vat for Skin Polishing every five days when Old Zhao visited. Yet, Xu Guang entered the vat almost daily, acting as if he had a death wish.
The Skin Polishing of the Golden Willow Skill required a gradual progression. Initially, heated sand was churned by human effort. Once the practitioner could withstand it, fine gravel was mixed in. The stones gradually increased in size until one could endure fist-sized rocks. Only then could they proceed to the final step: Fire Refinement, which marked true Skin Grinding Mastery.
As for Fire Refinement, regardless of what martial arts one practiced, the Skin Grinding Realm generally had clear delineations. Being able to endure boiling hot gravel without damaging the skin, remaining completely unfazed, signified reaching Skin Grinding Mastery. In the minor families of Feiyun City, a person at this Realm was formidable enough to be considered a highly skilled expert.
Seeing that the heat was just right, Xu Guang leaped directly into the large vat suspended in the air. With an unwavering gaze, he let out a low shout. "Pour the gravel."
Zhao Yong hesitated slightly, but Xu Sanduo had already picked up the iron shovel.
They only stopped when the gravel completely buried Xu Guang, leaving just his head exposed.
Fire Refinement did not require anyone to churn the sand. It only required someone to stand by, ready to quickly rescue the person inside the vat if the pain became unbearable.
Everything fell into a heavy silence, save for the occasional CRACKLE and POP from the bonfire.
Standing in the distance, Xu Sanduo and Zhao Yong held some pig offal they had brought from Xu Sanduo’s home.
"Our junior brother is truly clever," Xu Sanduo remarked. "My old man has been slaughtering pigs for nearly twenty years, yet he never knew pig offal could be cooked to taste this delicious. It’s genuinely fantastic."
Because Xu Guang had been sticking close to them these past few days, the three of them frequently spent time together, and their relationship had grown significantly closer.
Zhao Yong ate absentmindedly. Though he was born a Mortal, he had never known his father and grew up in abject poverty. Before joining the institute, he had even sold himself to the Liu Family just to scrape together the tuition fee. Because of this, he shared a certain kinship with Xu Guang, bonding over their common struggles as poor folk.
"Do you think Junior Brother can actually succeed? Skin Polishing through Fire Refinement... is far too agonizing. I still feel he is rushing this."
Xu Sanduo stuffed a piece of pig intestine into his mouth, patted his behind, and stood up. "Old Fourth, we both know the pain of Skin Polishing all too well. If it were anyone else, your worries would be justified. But with a temperament like our junior brother’s, worrying is truly unnecessary.
"Alright, put your mind at ease. Once Junior Brother achieves Skin Grinding Mastery, I’ll treat you both to drinks! While we’re at it, we’ll find a new hustle and earn some Great Qian!"