Chapter 89: The Year Ends, Yi Nuo Departs

In the blink of an eye, another two months had passed.

The year-long agreement between Shen Yinuo and him had come to an end.

“Lu Yan, I promised to cook martial food for you for a year, and I’ve fulfilled that promise. Does that make me a person of my word?” Shen Yinuo asked.

“Yes,” Lu Yan nodded.

“It’s time for me to leave. There are so many places I haven’t been, so many martial delicacies I haven’t tasted, and so many things I still need to do.” Shen Yinuo murmured, as if speaking both to Lu Yan and to herself.

Lu Yan was silent.

To be honest, after spending so much time together day in and day out, he felt a pang of reluctance at Shen Yinuo’s departure.

But all banquets must come to an end.

“Lu Yan, you have an innate martial body, don’t you?” Shen Yinuo asked.

Lu Yan nodded, “That’s right.”

“Five times the blood energy?”

Once more, Lu Yan nodded. In truth, he now possessed six times the blood energy, but the difference between five and six was negligible.

“Do you know that for those with innate martial bodies, infusing blood energy into the bones to break through to Martial Marquis is exceedingly difficult? Far more so than for ordinary people.” Shen Yinuo explained.

“Is that so?” Lu Yan’s expression shifted; he hadn’t heard of this before. The rarity of innate martial bodies meant that such experiences weren’t widely known.

“If you want to understand why, first you must know what a Martial Marquis is, what bone force is, and how it is cultivated.”

“Five thousand years ago, the first emperor of the Ancient Dynasty—the legendary figure later called the Martial Ancestor—said that practicing martial arts is about leveraging external forces to unlock the body’s hidden potential.”

“The first realm, the Limit-Breaking Realm, involves shattering five sealed gates, essentially unlocking the potential of flesh and blood. Using martial food, one continually enhances the strength of flesh and blood energy.”

“The second realm, the Bone Force Realm, is about unlocking the potential within the bones. The bones contain five layers of space: surface, inner, core, deep, and abyss.”

“These five layers are nearly indestructible, far more so than the sealed gates. It is almost impossible to break through the bone spaces directly.”

“But as the ancient saying goes, the path of fifty, heaven’s evolution is forty-nine; there is always a sliver of opportunity. Each layer of bone space has a node. If you find this node, and use it as the focal point, you can break through that layer.”

“However, this node isn’t fixed in one place—it constantly shifts. Its location changes every moment, so to break through to Martial Marquis, you must infuse blood energy into the bones, causing vibrations to force the node out. This process is extremely perilous; a single misstep and the bones may explode from the blood energy. At best, you suffer severe loss; at worst, you die.”

“Especially for those with innate martial bodies, whose blood energy is too powerful. Once it enters the bones, the bones cannot withstand it. The stronger the blood energy, the harder it is to break through to Martial Marquis.”

“Although the bones of those with innate martial bodies are stronger than those of ordinary people, the degree of enhancement is nowhere near the increase in blood energy. Your blood energy is five times that of an ordinary person, making the breakthrough even more dangerous.”

Shen Yinuo explained in great detail.

Lu Yan’s mood grew heavier.

By this reasoning, breaking through to Martial Marquis would be extremely difficult for him.

He possessed six times the blood energy of an ordinary person. Although he had cultivated a postnatal martial body, each increase in blood energy came with bodily strengthening.

Yet the bones could not keep pace with the blood energy. With six times the blood energy flooding his bones, they might shatter instantly.

“If the breakthrough is so difficult, why do the aristocratic clans still focus on cultivating those with innate martial bodies? Do they have a solution?” Lu Yan’s mind stirred as he asked.

“There is a solution, mainly through martial food. Do you know why the Mutated Nine-Segment Heart Meat can improve the success rate of breaking through to Martial Marquis? It’s because, after consuming it, it temporarily harmonizes the blood energy, making it gentle and less destructive—thus indirectly protecting the bones.”

“There’s another martial food, one of the Eighteen Bone-Infusing Paths, called Beast King Bone Protection Soup. It’s made by decocting the bones of the Jade Bone Tiger with various auxiliary herbs. When consumed during the breakthrough, a special energy attaches to the bones, providing tremendous short-term protection.”

“There’s also another method: at the peak of the five-fold limit-breaking stage, spend some time tempering your blood energy, refining it to be both rigid and gentle, perfectly controlled as if it were your own limbs. This greatly increases your chances of breaking through, though this step is extremely difficult.”

Shen Yinuo explained.

“Beast King Bone Protection Soup?” Lu Yan mused. He’d often heard of the Mutated Nine-Segment Heart Meat, but this was the first time he’d heard of the soup.

“Yinuo, do you know where in the Six Counties of Lingdong one might find the Jade Bone Tiger?”

“I don’t know!” Shen Yinuo shook her head.

Lu Yan sighed; he would have to search for it later.

Fortunately, he still had time—he was a long way from having full blood energy after five limit-breakings.

“Of course, to force the bone space node out, the quality of blood energy must also meet the standard. That’s why you need a top-tier martial art to break through. So you have another hurdle: you must obtain a first-class martial art.”

After finishing, Shen Yinuo patted Lu Yan’s shoulder. “The conditions are tough, but I believe you can do it. You still owe me for saving your life, remember? I’m waiting for you. Unless you break through to Martial Marquis, you can’t repay me.”

“All right, I’m off. We’ll meet again in the martial world.”

With her iron pot on her back and spatula at her side, Shen Yinuo waved and left with carefree decisiveness, utterly unburdened.

A few days later, Lu Yan began to miss Shen Yinuo.

For no other reason than he had to start gnawing on dried martial food again.

The martial food Shen Yinuo left behind had already been consumed.

The taste of dried martial food simply couldn’t compare to fresh martial food.

Eating fresh martial food was both a culinary delight and a way to absorb energy for martial training.

Eating dried martial food was purely for energy.

The Li clan of Baicao City, with its second-level bloodline veins and more exotic beasts, sold a greater variety of martial food—but the city’s martial artists were numerous and their demand high. The amount of fresh martial food available each day was limited; training still relied mainly on dried martial food.

For the clans, dried martial food yielded higher profits, so they preferred to produce and sell it.

“I really need my own power base,” Lu Yan sighed again.

Cultivating as a martial artist required vast resources, with martial food along every step of the way.

He couldn’t always cook for himself—how would he have time to train?

With his own power base, he’d have a dedicated team of martial chefs and exotic beast breeders, ensuring a steady supply of martial food.

Only then could the value of second-level bloodline veins be fully realized.

This was why Lu Yan had always wanted to keep the Zhou clan under his control.

Martial chefs were the foundation of a power’s growth.

Once he had his own force, he could build an intelligence network and have people help him search for Dao food.

Lu Yan already had a detailed plan in mind.

First, he would open a martial hall in Baicao City, teaching martial arts to cultivate his own loyal followers. Once he broke through to Martial Marquis, he could infiltrate the Zhou clan of Qingyang City and gradually erode their power.

For eight months, Lu Yan had prepared for the opening of the martial hall, selecting a few second-rate martial arts to teach Zhang Jun, Cao Hu, Li Quan, and other core members of the Green Bamboo Gang and Tiger Gang.

Of the thirteen limit-breaking martial artists from the two gangs, three remained in Changfeng City to join other gangs and gather information, while the rest, after spreading the news that the Liu clan’s ancestor was a grandmaster, had arrived in Baicao City.

Lu Yan treated these people as the backbone of his future martial hall.

Anyway, before four limit-breakings, ordinary meat sufficed—it was manageable, and he could afford it.

As for the timing of the hall’s opening, it wasn’t yet right. Lu Yan planned to wait until he mastered a first-class martial art before truly establishing it.

In these days, Wang Cui had been sulking, ignoring Lu Yan and complaining that he hadn’t persuaded Shen Yinuo to stay.

What a fine young woman she was.

Wang Cui’s incessant sighs gave Lu Yan a headache, so he spent his days immersed in the training room and martial kitchen, studying martial arts and culinary techniques, finally enjoying some peace.

(End of chapter)