The entire banquet was said to be in celebration of Chen Yu, but the true star turned out to be Chen Ying'er.
At the banquet, the high-ranking members of the family gave overwhelming praise to Chen Ying'er, their words filled with flattery.
That Chen Ying'er was not a humble person either, often adopting a "preaching" tone towards her "little cousin" Chen Yu.
Even a clay figurine has a bit of temper.
Chen Yu was no clay figurine, nor was he someone with a broad heart who repays grievances with kindness. Naturally, he felt a bit uneasy.
"Come, come, Chen Yu! You're the star of the banquet! Congratulations to our Chen Family for having another person stand firm in the sect," the family head Chen Tianwei, as wise as he was old, led a toast to ease Chen Yu's embarrassment.
...
Very late at night, Chen Yu and his parents returned to their small courtyard.
"Yu'er, don't take to heart what happened at the banquet today. Ying'er possesses a middle-grade Spiritual Body and is apprenticed under a sect elder. Her future prospects are limitless. The clan elders praise her, and your uncle dotes on her, which is only human nature," advised Mother Liu Wen.
"It certainly is human nature," Chen Yu said with a bitter smile. After the banquet, he did not dwell on it too much. After all, Chen Ying'er was also his cousin.
Regarding the warmth and coldness of human relationships, Chen Yu had seen too much of it in the sect.
However, now that Chen Yu had returned to the clan, a feeling that this place was "home" gave him a certain contrast with reality.
At that moment, fifteen-year-old Chen Yu finally understood.
Whether in the sect, the clan, or the outside world, the principle of respecting strength was universal.
"It's good that you understand this. I hope you and Ying'er can get along harmoniously," Chen Tiande smiled slightly.
...
Returning to his room, Chen Yu sat in quiet contemplation for a while, then as usual, started operating the "Cloud Evil Heart Method," circulating internal breath through his meridians.
The practice of the mental method emphasized incremental progress through daily practice, requiring only two hours daily; any more would be pointless.
After two hours, Chen Yu had circulated the "Cloud Evil Heart Method" several times and couldn't help but sigh.
In terms of the internal breath of the mental method, his progress was rather ordinary, far less impressive than his stunning performance in the body technique field.
It was imaginable that Chen Ying'er and other geniuses like Le Feng surpassed Chen Yu significantly in the cultivation efficiency and progress of the inner breath heart method.
Chen Yu couldn't help but recall the evaluation of a red-faced old man about himself. At that time, the elder from the sect offered both high praise and a tinge of regret.
"Why not try the 'Copper Statue Technique'?" Chen Yu remembered the unconventional technique the red-faced elder recommended.
In the "Copper Statue Technique," because there was no method for Meridian Passage, Chen Yu initially abandoned it.
This time, Chen Yu revisited the "Copper Statue Technique" and read the descriptions.
Upon close examination, Chen Yu couldn't help feeling a bit delighted.
First, the "Copper Statue Technique" as an ancient body refining technique catered specifically to the "body technique" cultivation, which precisely matched his innate talent.
Secondly, the power and effects of the "Copper Statue Technique" were indeed phenomenal, capable of greatly enhancing physique, strength, and especially defense!
When cultivated to the Great Success of the "Copper Statue Technique," one's entire body became like a copper statue, impervious to sword and spear, with immeasurable strength.
The first part of the "Copper Statue Technique" was divided into three levels: copper skin, copper tendons, and copper bones, corresponding to the Early Stage of Body Refining, Meridian Passage Stage, and Organ Refining Stage, respectively.
According to the description, if Chen Yu could cultivate to the "copper skin" level, he could essentially ignore Body Refining Stage attacks, including ordinary knife and sword slashes.
If he reached the "copper tendons" level, he could withstand Meridian Passage Stage attacks, even relying solely on his formidable physique to dominate the Meridian Passage Stage like a human-shaped beast.
In terms of robustness, the "Copper Statue Technique" was undoubtedly beyond reproach.
However, as an unconventional technique, it demanded a high requirement on physique and perseverance. In fact, the time and difficulty of cultivation were far beyond those of the "Cloud Evil Fist" and other martial arts.
"Ah! Unique Body Refining Techniques, 'Copper Statue Body Casting Method'?" Chen Yu found a specialized body refining method within the "Copper Statue Technique," and his eyes lit up.
The "Copper Statue Body Casting Method" involved various limb movements of the body's parts to temper and invigorate the body. These actions included rubbing, kneading, bending, arching, striking, and twisting, among over a dozen methods.
They targeted every minuscule part of the body, including muscles of all sizes, bones throughout the body, and numerous joints and acupoints.
Just reading through the illustrated introduction opened Chen Yu's eyes to a new understanding of the human body.
He had never realized the body contained so many muscles, bones, joints, and countless acupoints and meridians.
"This 'Copper Statue Technique' regards the body as 'refined iron,' subjecting every part of the body, large and small, to repeated hammering and stimulation, ultimately forging a living 'copper statue.'" Chen Yu roughly understood the principle.
Ordinary people would likely be unable to endure such a cultivation method, as the mere pain was unbearable for most.
Some practices involved leveraging external environments, such as furnaces, freezing, waterfalls, and giant waves, to temper the body, enough to scare off a large number of people.
Even if you had enough perseverance and endurance, success remained a distant vision for the ordinary person.
Because some of the high-difficulty actions in the body refining method demanded a very high requirement on physique, an ordinary person's physique might take weeks just to meet the requirement of one minuscule action.
Whoosh—Chen Yu exhaled a long breath, finally understanding why this manual had a layer of dust when it was taken out.
But the difficulty of this martial art did not deter him.
That very night, Chen Yu began practicing the "Copper Statue Body Refining Method."
In the room, one meticulous, occasionally exaggerated high-difficulty action appeared vividly on Chen Yu's body.
Some refining actions required targeting key parts of the body, involving striking, even bending and twisting in high difficulty.
Yet these actions posed no challenge to Chen Yu.
Chen Yu's physique could no longer be measured by common sense; he could bend when he wanted, twist when he wished.
Some "striking" types of body refining actions were no trouble for him at all; perhaps due to his unique physique, the pain experienced during the refining process was far less than imagined.
If a normal person could barely complete these refining actions half-heartedly, Chen Yu could exceed expectations, achieving precision with an efficiency of one hundred and twenty percent, surpassing the requirements of the body refining method.
Of course, a mere night was not enough to finish the complex "Copper Statue Body Refining Method."
That night, Chen Yu primarily focused on both arms.
By the next morning, Chen Yu raised his arms to find the flesh and skin there had taken on a faint yellow sheen, appearing as firm as iron.
"So quickly?" Chen Yu was a bit surprised himself.
In just one night, his arms had already acquired some characteristics of the "copper skin" level.
He estimated that at this point, some initial Body Refining Stage fist and foot attacks, landing on Chen Yu's arms, would be no different than hitting a wall.
The rapid progress in the "Copper Statue Technique" delighted and thrilled Chen Yu.
Upon further thought, it might be due to his physique, after the fusion with the mysterious heart, having already reached a high level.
The "copper skin" level was perhaps still considered "low-end" for Chen Yu's current physique.
Of course, Chen Yu's powerful physique, insane recovery, and ability to perform highly difficult body refining methods were also crucial factors.
In the days that followed, Chen Yu fully focused on cultivating the "Copper Statue Technique," dedicating most of his time outside of fixed internal breath practice and brief rest, to intensive body refining.
In the blink of an eye, three or four days passed.
Chen Yu's entire body had gone through the tempering of the "Copper Statue Body Refining Method."
By a normal person's progress, it would take at least several months to half a year to temper the whole body once, and the effect would certainly be far less than Chen Yu's.
Late at night, Chen Yu wore only a pair of shorts, revealing skin all over his body with a yellowish sheen like copper.
Whoosh—he stimulated the "Copper Statue Technique," and the skin and flesh all over his body emitted a layer of faint copper luster, inflating in an impressive manner, almost like a copper figure.
"Is this the 'Copper Skin' body?" Chen Yu marveled, casually pulling out a small ordinary knife.
Ding! With the force of a normal Body Refining Stage, the blade was drawn across the arm's skin, producing a crisp sound, the latter unharmed.
"Haha, I'm at least 'Copper Skin Small Accomplishment' now," Chen Yu laughed heartily.
The "copper skin" level was tempering the outermost skin and flesh. The subsequent "copper tendons" were deeper level muscles, and finally, "copper bones" involved deep bone marrow refining.
Now, Chen Yu's "Copper Skin" body was at least in its initial accomplishment.
Because Chen Yu's physique was strong enough, the increase in strength was only slight, with the most significant boost being in bodily defense!
...
The next morning, Chen Yu sought out his father, Chen Tiande.
"Father, I am currently practicing a body refining technique and need to purchase some herbs for body refining baths," Chen Yu spoke.
The cultivation of the "Copper Statue Technique" didn't rely solely on oneself; it required external resources.
Among them, body refining liquid was a means of external assistance. Several types of related prescriptions, ranging from low to high, were introduced in the "Copper Statue Technique."
"Oh?" Father Chen took the two body refining prescriptions.
These two prescriptions were among the relatively low-end ones from the "Copper Statue Technique."
The lowest one was called the "Common Prescription," with precious herbs purchasable even with worldly gold and silver.
The other required the aid of some rare spiritual materials, possibly needing Primordial Stones to procure.
"The first prescription is not a problem. The second one might require some Primordial Stones; I'll apply to your uncle for that. Since you have now broken through to Meridian Passage, the family should grant you some resources," Father Chen nodded, taking the prescriptions and leaving.
Chen Yu, on the other hand, continued relying on his innate physique advantage to practice the "Copper Statue Technique" diligently.
Three days later, Chen Yu successfully achieved "Small copper skin" in the "Copper Statue Technique."
[Small Copper Skin]: The surface defense of Chen Yu's body had greatly increased again, with a certain boost in strength as well.
Reaching this level, typical attacks below Meridian Passage could probably only tickle Chen Yu.
At that time, Chen Yu felt that solely relying on himself to practice body refining methods had slowed his progress significantly.
Fortunately, at that moment, Father Chen had already gathered the materials for the body refining liquid.
But to Chen Yu's disappointment, Father Chen only brought the herbs for the "Common Prescription," the kind purchasable with ordinary gold and silver.
According to the description in the "Copper Statue Technique," this kind of prescription had the poorest effect.
"Yu'er, for now, only the materials for the first prescription are collected. As for the second, since it requires some Primordial Stones, your uncle said the family's finances are very tight and need consideration," said Father Chen apologetically.
He initially hoped that, with Chen Yu's breakthrough to Meridian Passage, the family would allocate some resources for cultivation.
However, he was rejected by the family head, Chen Tianwei.
The reason given was that once Chen Ying'er returned to the sect, she might attempt to reach the "Organ Refining Stage," and the family's vast resources were almost entirely diverted to her.