Chapter 38: Swallowing a Golden Core, My Fate is Mine to Command, Not Heaven's!

The more Jiang Ning understood the extraordinary nature of entry-level martial artists, the less confident he felt.

Achieving Great Success in Skin Refining was like being clad in bronze armor; when facing a martial artist below the ranked grades, the difference in pure defensive power was akin to the gap between an adult and a child.

Not to mention the disparity in strength and blood qi between the two—it was a qualitative transformation.

Therefore, the path from perfected blood qi to a ranked martial artist was not a simple one.

It required time to temper, secret methods, and resources.

And right now, he knew neither what skin-refining secret methods existed nor what external materials were required.

Information regarding martial arts legacies was not something he could access at his current level.

For any faction, secret methods concerning the fundamental workings of the human body would not be easily circulated, even if it was merely a skin-refining method for the ninth rank of martial arts.

Thus, he felt quite uncertain at this moment.

Of course, if one had enough money, it wouldn't be difficult to purchase such information and secret methods. It wasn't exactly an unshareable secret.

But Jiang Ning also knew that he didn't need to go that route to obtain a skin-refining method.

He only needed to meet Wang Jin's assessment requirements, just as Xiao Peng had. If he could achieve Great Success in any single technique of the Five Animals Fist within six months of joining the martial arts hall, he would become Wang Jin's true disciple.

A true disciple was a genuine member of the hall, the only one truly qualified to call Wang Jin "Master."

At that time, he would naturally gain access to Wang Jin's legacy and possess skin-refining secret methods.

As it stood, he was at most an outer disciple, or perhaps an unregistered disciple.

If he failed to meet the standard within six months and failed Wang Jin's test, he would have no choice but to pack his bags and leave.

***

At that moment, seeing Jiang Ning accept the banknote he had given, Cheng Ran patted Jiang Ning's shoulder with a smile.

"Now that's what I call being a real pal!!"

Immediately after, "Cough, cough—" Because his loud laughter had strained his internal organs, he couldn't help but cough repeatedly, spitting out thin threads of blood.

"Brother Cheng, are you alright?" Seeing this, Jiang Ning hurried to support his swaying figure.

After a few breaths, Cheng Ran suppressed the urge to cough and waved his hand. "Junior Brother Jiang, help me go rest for a bit. I need to recover!"

On the other side, Xiao Peng watched Cheng Ran being supported away by Jiang Ning and couldn't help but shake his head slightly.

What a pity!

If that kid hadn't stepped in to save him halfway, had Cheng Ran collided with the wall due to my shove, resulting in broken bones or displaced organs, it wouldn't have just been a delay of a day or two.

If that had happened, the threat posed by Cheng Ran—the greatest threat to me—would have been greatly diminished.

A pity, a real pity!!

Xiao Peng slowly withdrew his gaze.

Now, amidst the flattery of the crowd around him, the corners of his mouth curled up slightly, unable to suppress his inner joy.

***

In Jiang Ning's courtyard.

Cheng Ran sat slowly on a small wooden stool.

"Pah—" He spat out a mouthful of bloody phlegm. "That bastard Xiao Peng really plays dirty."

Jiang Ning sat beside him. "How are you feeling now, Brother Cheng?"

"Much better!" Cheng Ran nodded. "It's a good thing my skin refining has seen some initial success. Currently, it's just some internal organ vibration; the injury isn't too heavy. At most, I'll need two or three days of rest. If I have some good healing medicine, it'll be even faster!"

Having said that, Cheng Ran looked at Jiang Ning. "Junior Brother Jiang, your strength must be over two hundred jin by now, right?"

"Brother Cheng's testing is hard to guard against!" Jiang Ning smiled.

"Don't take it personally! I was simply shocked and found it hard to believe, so I had to test it," Cheng Ran said with an apologetic expression.

"It's fine! But please, Brother Cheng, do not spread this around," Jiang Ning requested.

Cheng Ran nodded. "Naturally! Given Xiao Peng's tendency to play dirty, if he finds out you've reached this stage in such a short time, he might try to use some underhanded tactics in secret."

"Speaking of that kid Xiao Peng, I'm still not satisfied!" Anger surfaced on Cheng Ran's face.

"It's because you lack combat experience, Brother. In terms of actual strength, you are superior to Xiao Peng."

Cheng Ran nodded in agreement. "It is indeed a lack of combat experience! I'll have to improve in that area in the future. If I don't settle the score from today, my heart won't be at peace!"

He then looked at Jiang Ning. "Junior Brother Jiang, if you have time in the future, why don't we engage in daily sparring to increase our combat experience?"

Jiang Ning thought for a moment and then nodded. "That works. I've never fought anyone before, so I'm also lacking combat experience."

"Good!" Cheng Ran nodded repeatedly. "Master Wang once said that martial arts are techniques for killing enemies; one cannot reach the peak through mere practice alone. Although we can't kill enemies, sparring can increase our combat experience. If we have the chance to join the Inspectorate, combat experience will be even more vital."

Hearing this, Jiang Ning also nodded in agreement. "Then once Brother Cheng has recovered from his injuries, we shall spar!"

"It's a deal!" Cheng Ran extended his right palm.

Understanding his intent, Jiang Ning extended his right palm and struck it against Cheng's.

Afterward, Cheng Ran rested for several hours until his breathing was steady. Only then did Jiang Ning escort him out of the martial arts hall gates.

"Junior Brother Jiang, don't worry! I will do my best to investigate the matter you entrusted to me within the next two days!" Cheng Ran said.

"Then I shall leave it all in your hands, Brother Cheng!" Jiang Ning cupped his hands in farewell.

His gaze swept over the stalls at the entrance of the hall, but he found nothing unusual.

***

The next day, early morning.

Sitting cross-legged in his small courtyard, feeling the cool breeze blowing toward him, Jiang Ning quietly waited for the rising morning sun.

[Skill]: Inner Dan Vitality Cultivation (Not Started 91/100)

He was currently only nine experience points away from entering the Inner Dan Vitality Cultivation technique.

Jiang Ning was immensely looking forward to entering this technique.

The mere fact that it required one hundred experience points just to enter indicated that the grade of the Inner Dan Vitality Cultivation was extraordinary.

As far as he knew, martial arts techniques were divided into Lower, Middle, and Upper grades. Above the Upper grade, there were even higher-tier techniques.

Based on the changes in experience points, Jiang Ning had two guesses. One was that the Inner Dan Vitality Cultivation was a Middle-grade technique that surpassed Lower-grade techniques.

Since his Five Animals Fist was a Lower-grade technique and only required ten experience points to enter, it was normal for a Middle-grade technique to have a massive jump in the required experience points for entry.

As for his second guess, it was that the Inner Dan Vitality Cultivation was a mysterious technique ranked above the Upper-grade techniques.

Only a qualitative difference would cause such a qualitative leap in the experience points required to break through.

This guess was not just based on the fact that the entry requirement was one hundred experience points—ten times that of the Five Animals Fist.

The greater reason lay in the concept and intent of the technique itself.

The Inner Dan Vitality Cultivation was a method of internal strengthening.

Strengthening the internal organs was a path of internal refinement that martial artists typically only pursued upon reaching the fifth rank.

Such a method of internal refinement was bound to be extremely rare, and there was a high probability that its grade would not be low.

Furthermore, the intent of the Inner Dan Vitality Cultivation left Jiang Ning in awe. It was not like martial arts, but rather similar to the Immortal Path found in the myths of his previous life.

Swallowing the essence of the great sun to strengthen the internal organs; upon reaching perfection, one would even draw the fire of the midday sun into the body, making the body like a furnace to refine a Golden Dan internally.

*Swallow a Golden Dan into the belly, and my fate is mine, not Heaven's.*

With such an intent, it deserved to be ranked above even the Upper-grade martial arts techniques.

Of course, this was merely his speculation.

Aside from these factors that filled him with anticipation, there was another important factor that made him look forward to it immensely.

That was the fact that the fragment he currently possessed only recorded the entry method of the Inner Dan Vitality Cultivation, with no subsequent methods.

Regarding the method of perfection, it only mentioned a word or two.

In other words, under normal circumstances, relying on that fragment, he could at most achieve the entry stage of the Inner Dan Vitality Cultivation; it would be impossible to reach the state of perfection described within it.

It would be impossible to achieve the perfection of swallowing a Golden Dan into the belly and claiming one's fate from Heaven.

But what Jiang Ning anticipated was that, through the magic of the panel, even if it was just a fragment, he could use his ability to grind for experience to push this Inner Dan Vitality Cultivation all the way to the state of perfection.

To truly swallow a Golden Dan into his belly and declare that his fate was his own.