Chapter 39 Adapting to Thunder Bagua in Advance

Unlocking human treasures and enhancing physical strength.

This was precisely what Shano desired most right now. Hesitating for even a second would be an insult to his own body, so he added it straight to the shopping cart.

As for this final item...

[Peter Griffin's Jeans]
[Type: Equipment]
[Price: 500 Points]
[Description: Upon wearing, your intelligence will decrease slightly, and there is a probability of increasing your aggro value in the eyes of others.]
[Seller's Note: Suitable for big bellies as well.]

The effect of this gadget was somewhat interesting, but the cost-performance ratio was low. Shano pondered for a moment, shook his head, and decided it was unnecessary to waste points on such things.

Submit the cart and checkout.

The items generated in this refresh included quite a few that caught his fancy. There were four items in total, costing 3,500 points altogether.

His remaining balance was 37,525 points, still quite abundant.

...

Closing the trading market, Shano opened his backpack inventory and first retrieved the black training suit capable of weight adjustment.

The default initial setting was the lowest at 1KG, similar to standard martial arts attire.

It fit him perfectly, and while possessing extremely high elasticity and resilience, it also offered fairly good breathability.

The bodily sensation was very comfortable. After moving his hands and feet briefly, he immediately began trying to adjust the weight.

"It's better to be safe and take it slow at first. Let's start with 250KG and see how it goes..."

Thud!

With a muffled sound, the pressure on his body increased abruptly. Shano's body sank slightly for a split second before he effortlessly steadied himself once more.

He performed a set of handstand push-ups, jogged slowly around the courtyard, and executed the "Soru" technique several times back and forth among several wooden stakes—

His landing spot remained precise, only his speed was fractionally slower.

"Not enough, far from enough."

Shano shook his head. A load of 250KG might have still posed some pressure to him before he set out to sea.

However, for his current self, he would adapt to it quickly, rendering it of little use.

He continued to dial it up bit by bit.

300, 350... all the way up to 500KG.

Shano finally experienced that sluggish sensation where every movement required a massive expenditure of effort, as if walking through a dense liquid.

Yet it was not so extreme that his muscles could not bear it.

One could say he had found a perfect equilibrium point.

"Let's set it at this figure for now."

Shano was very satisfied with the current effect.

After a while, once he had completely adapted to this pressure and could treat it as nothing during training, he would begin increasing the weight further.

He then opened the secret manual titled "Bronze Skull".

After a skimming through it, he thought for a while and decided to begin practicing it alongside "Tekkai".

Both were physical techniques for tempering the flesh, sharing common and compatible elements, so practicing them together meant there was no need to worry about conflicts or delays.

However, looking at the cultivation methods, the two possessed some fundamental differences.

Although the name "Bronze Skull" sounded crude, the "Flesh and Blood Crucible Art" it belonged to was a legitimate internal martial arts manual.

It leaned more heavily towards comprehension and technique; one had to continuously study and comprehend its profound mysteries while undergoing high-intensity physical tempering in order to truly master it.

As for "Tekkai":

In comparison, it was purely an external art, and its training method was much simpler and more brutal.

As the sole defensive technique among the Six Powers, its principle involved controlling the flow rate of blood, concentrating the blood into the muscles to enhance hardness.

To achieve this, apart from continuously increasing muscle strength through various daily physical trainings,

the core content was actually specialized anti-strike training!

In layman's terms, it meant repeatedly pounding the body with various hard implements to gradually elevate resistance to blows.

When the Marines and CP departments trained in this, they paired up in groups of two, swinging wooden clubs at each other—when you grew tired, I would take over, looping back and forth.

In other words, to ensure the training efficiency of Tekkai, one could not do it alone; a sparring partner was an absolute necessity.

Fortunately, Shano was currently by no means short of people around him.

The processing workshop would not open until next year, and the refugees he had brought over currently only had matters in the orange grove to handle, leaving them relatively leisurely.

He could certainly select a few young and sturdy men from among them every day to accompany him in practicing Tekkai.

He disliked dragging things out until tomorrow. Since he had made his decision, he would not procrastinate.

Thus, after practicing "Bronze Skull" for the entire morning, when afternoon came around for "Tekkai" time—

—Scarface and that "fat bandit" who had once been punched into a tree by him were hauled over to the training ground, each clutching a hardwood club in their hands, gazing at Shano with trepidation.

"My lord, let me confirm this once more. I didn't hear wrong, did I?"

Scarface looked at the club in his hand and swallowed hard. "You really want me to hit you with all my might five hundred times?"

"Mhm, start with the back. But not just five hundred—that's only the first round, in case you get tired and can't muster your strength."

Shano stretched his back muscles and instructed, "After finishing the five hundred blows, switch to Fatty Niu. You can rest on the side, and when Fatty Niu gets tired, we'll swap back to you."

Fatty Niu was precisely the name of that "fat bandit." Possessing a slightly simple and foolish personality, upon hearing this, he nodded repeatedly: "Alright! Got it, Boss!"

"But..."

Scarface was still hesitating.

It wasn't until Shano turned his head and glared at him that he finally dared not delay any further. He gripped the hardwood club tightly and smashed it fiercely toward Shano's back.

Shano had already planted his stance firmly, calming his mind and heart. Following the tips mentioned in the Tekkai manual, he accelerated the blood flow in his back muscles as much as possible, awaiting the arrival of this strike.

Thud, a muffled sound echoed, and the web of Scarface's thumb and forefinger was left tingling slightly from the shock. Instantly, a trace of uneasiness arose in his heart—had he used too much force?

"Hmm?"

Shano turned back, a look of dissatisfaction on his face.

"I told you to use your full strength, what are you holding back for? Are you scratching an itch? I didn't feel a thing!"

Scarface gritted his teeth. This time, he finally used all his strength, smashing down fiercely. Seeing that Shano did not turn back, he immediately followed up with another blow, and then another—

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Dull sounds resembling battle drums echoed continuously through the orange grove, but they did not last long. After swinging about twenty or thirty times, the hardwood club abruptly snapped with a crisp crack, breaking into several pieces.

"Ah?"

Scarface lifted the remaining fragment of the club in his hand, dumbfounded.

This was something he had brought from the Colpo Mountains, the hardest timber to be found in the entire mountain range!

As a result, it shattered into pieces like this after supporting him for only this short a while?

Shano sighed as well, turning back to look at the debris littering the ground with a headache.

His current muscle strength was indeed already very high; pounding his flesh with material like wooden clubs was truly hard to yield much effect.

"Throw the club away."

Shano's gaze shifted to Fatty Niu. "Try using your spiked club."

"Huh?"

Even as foolish as Fatty Niu was, he froze at this. Scarface couldn't help chiming in, "My lord, Fatty Niu's spiked club weighs sixty or seventy kilograms; it's a genuine combat weapon."

"It's fine, I like this weapon."

Shano stared at the large spiked club that was almost as tall as a man, grinning broadly. "Consider it getting a head start on adapting to Thunder Bagua."

"Alright, but... shouldn't we dull the sharp parts a bit?"

Scarface asked with lingering hesitation.

There were quite a few sharp spikes on Fatty Niu's club. If they weren't modified, a blow or two might be fine, but down a round of several hundred strikes, wouldn't he end up pierced like a sieve?

Shano nodded; this suggestion was quite reasonable.

A moment later, the spikes had been modified.

Scarface and Fatty Niu took turns stepping up. Like blacksmiths forging a weapon, they continuously wielded the spiked club, slamming it against Shano's back.

Shano wore a poker face, his gaze fixed straight ahead. Occasionally, when the pain became truly unbearable, he would bare his teeth and grimace, but he quickly forced it down.

Did it hurt? It definitely hurt, but if he couldn't even endure this little bit of pain, how could he rapidly grow stronger?

There was a near-frantic anticipation in his gaze. Just like this! It had to be like this!

—Under the blessing of the statue and the training suit, continuously tempering his body at high intensity, day after day. When "Tekkai" and "Bronze Skull" were both fully mastered, what level would his physical strength reach?