At This night hour, he was unable to practise the Tempered Body Record, but he could practise the basic skills that the Pavilion gave.
"Alright, let's do this."
Yang Kai stretched his arms and cracked his knuckles, staring at the poor, abused wooden training dummy beside his hut. The thing had seen better days—covered in small dents, deep scratches, and even a few faded bloodstains.
"Man, if training dummies had souls, this guy would've reincarnated ten times already."
He took his stance and threw a sharp punch.
Peng!
The impact sent a satisfying vibration up his arm, but it didn't feel
right
. He followed up with another punch, a kick, an elbow—strike after strike, but no fatigue set in.
"This doesn't make sense,"
Yang Kai thought, frowning.
"I should be gasping for air by now, maybe even cursing the heavens for my lack of talent. But nope—I'm fresh as a daisy."
Ever since he got the
Golden Skeleton
, his recovery had gone from "decent" to "why-is-my-body-a-cheat-code?" Fast healing was great and all, but at this rate, his
training
was suffering. If his body
refused
to get tired, then how was he supposed to push himself to the limit?
"Other cultivators probably pray for this kind of thing, and here I am, complaining that I don't get sore muscles anymore. What kind of nonsense protagonist problem is this?"
Frustrated, he stopped and tilted his head in thought.
"Alright, let's be logical. I can't just… not train. That's how you end up as cannon fodder in these sect stories. If I can't force exhaustion the normal way, then I need an external push."
Then, like a
heavenly revelation
, he remembered the
black book
.
"Oh right, my mysterious plot device—I mean, ancient inheritance. Let's see if you've got something useful, buddy."
Yang Kai grabbed the book and flipped to the pages he had already unlocked. The first one gave him the
Golden Skeleton
, which was the reason for his current problem. The second page had some vague information about cultivating with said skeleton.
But the
third page
…
"Last time, this thing refused to open like a gacha banner locked behind a paywall. But now that I'm in the fourth stage, let's see what happens."
The moment he focused on it,
golden characters
started to appear, flooding his brain like a mental data download. Then, from the center of the page, a tiny
whirlpool
appeared, and suddenly—
bam!
—an
antique incense burner
popped out of nowhere, landing right in his hands.
Yang Kai blinked.
"Alright. Not expecting that. But let's roll with it."
He turned the incense burner over in his hands, examining it. It was
nothing fancy
—just a small, ancient burner with a lid and a few holes. No flashy runes. No glowing aura. No dramatic dragon engravings to signify world-ending power. Just a humble little burner.
"Doesn't look like a treasure… Feels like something my grandma would've had on her altar."
He sniffed it cautiously. No scent. No hidden energies. No immediate enlightenment. Just… an incense burner.
Then the
information dump
in his head clicked into place.
"Ohhh, so this thing is basically a cultivation support tool. No built-in OP buffs, but if I burn specific herbs in it, the smoke will help with training."
At first, Yang Kai was
impressed
. Then he read
which herbs
were needed.
Three-Leaved Chaos Spirit Flower and Dead Jedi Tree Grass.
He stared blankly.
"Hold up. I know those. They're not that rare, but they're… mildly toxic."
According to his understanding, the value of these two herbs were not high but they were very hard to find. They also possessed small amounts of toxins. Inhaled over a short period of time these toxins would do no lasting damage, but over many years the accumulation in your body would really injure you.
Yep. The so-called
training aid
required him to inhale
low doses of poison
over time.
"Of course. Because why would anything in this world be simple?"
In small amounts, the toxins wouldn't do much, but over years? Yeah, that would probably mess him up.
Yang Kai sighed and rubbed his forehead.
"So let me get this straight—I need to deliberately poison myself to progress faster. This is some peak Xianxia nonsense."
Still, he couldn't deny it
sounded effective
. He was already planning to visit the
Black Wind Mountains
tomorrow, and since he had hunted there before, he had a rough idea of where to look.
"Guess I'm going herb hunting. Hope I don't run into a random demonic beast or a young master with a superiority complex."
With that decision made, Yang Kai yawned and glanced at the
fourth page
of the book, just in case.
Nothing. Still locked.
"Guess the plot says I need to level up more first."
Feeling
mentally exhausted
, even if his
body wasn't
, Yang Kai collapsed onto his bed.
"Tomorrow into the mountains I shall go!"
And with that, he drifted off to sleep, the incense burner still clutched in his hand.