Although Sheng Wang wasn't a very outspoken person due to the events that happened prior to Sheng Hao's birth. The few things he said out loud were things he later committed one hundred percent to them.
Before escaping from the Jianshen Royal Capital he had promised his son Sheng Hao's father that he would try to escape with him. The curse that was applied the members of the Sheng Clan had affected them too, even taking the life of the newborn. Unfortunately yet luckily, the reincarnated Tim found himself transmigrated to this world, inhabiting the body of the small child.
His soul fused with the remnant of Sheng Hao's original soul that had just died minutes ago. Thus the lack of difficulty when it came to his soul adapting to his body. The grandfather of the child didn't notice anything, simply happy to see the eyes of his grandchildren regain life and move once again.
Upon arriving on the village, he was forced to focus on his injuries to heal with the curse that had targeted the Sheng clan. Even with the help of his own cultivation base and the medication prepared by Flamelle, it had taken him more than two years to turn the situation into something stable.
It could be shown from the way he restarted his old profession, picking up his hammer and working metal once again for the sake of integrating himself as an elder. Through years of return to living as a blacksmith, he had fulfilled hundreds of orders for the other elders of the village and has proved himself as a spiritualist worthy of living in the Toe Village.
Here it was very rare for someone to not propose his services to the rest of the villager as it was very much needed for the autonomy of the village. The rare few things that couldn't be harvested, grown or produced here were bought from the few cities that sat close to the Vast Wilderness. But even then, those resources weren't absolutely necessary when it came to their daily life, usually used for specific crafts or on rare occasion for a specific breakthrough.
Thanks to Sheng Wang's presence, the Toe Village now depended on one less thing from the outside world as they could better process the ore they possessed. Due to the sufficient level of spiritual energy in the village, food was abundant and nutritious with the same being true for the herbs and plants that grew here. When they needed to sell specific resources, they would use the outgoing and energetic spiritualist like Buckethead to take care of these cases.
The mountain-shaped man didn't mind at all getting that task in the village and never thought of his duty as being ungrateful. Despite his appearance of a mountain-shaped giant, the tribal spiritualist had always found it difficult to berooted in the same spot. Always doing services left and right, never afraid to help anyone nor reluctant to befriend anyone. He was open-minded and as outgoing as one could get, the perfect character traits for that role in the village.
But even then, that didn't mean that the tribal spiritualist didn't dabble in crafts. The gift he had offered to Sheng Hao were completely done by him, from the gathering of the material to the crafting process. The tribal spiritualist had simply taken a few times of his days to prepare something for the young toddler, nourishing the material with his own spiritual energy.
"Humphhh…" a deep mouthful of air pumped Sheng Hao's lung flushing his face red like a tomato. The tension coursing his body intensified as the muscles of his tiny back and chest tightened as they contracted for a short second before relaxing.
He dropped the wooden bar on the ground while breathing harshly. His eyes caught sight of his hands, the small callouses that had developed on his palm produced a small smile on his chubby face. He clenched his fist a few times with some difficulty, sending blood coursing through his forearms before patting and massaging his limbs to help relax his entire physique.
"A little less than a month and I'm already feeling some results." He mumbled lightly as he forced his respiration to calm down. "Buckethead was right. Heavy weight would have definitely damaged my growth!" he thought seriously with some fear as he couldn't help but imagine what would have happened if he had damaged parts of his body.
"But thanks to these lighter tools, I can definitely get some work done and better prepare this into something usable." Although he spoke harshly, the tone in his voice wasn't ungrateful and Sheng Hao was truly enjoyed the gift he had received in this life. It was simply due to being used to his old self that the first few years in this world were vowed to be difficult.
However, lately he had started feeling that he had grown quite accustomed with his current body. Through the few journeys he had with the mountain-shaped elder in the area of the wilderness surrounding the village, he had found himself traveling long distances on his own feet and had further synchronized himself with his growing body.
"I can't help but think that using that air fan had some effect in this body's growth." He couldn't help but think if Grandpa Wang had foreseen that this would happen. "Working out like this can solve part of the issues linked to this body, on top of helping me prepare myself for cultivating spiritual energy and learning Sheng Wang's hammer technique."
"To be honest I think that I could use smaller hammer and learn basic technique from everything I've seen. However, to realistically achieve that, I need far too many materials to waste. Thankfully with grandfather's help, he might help me get some lead and direction on my work… That would definitely reduce the need in resources."
His mind wandered silently as his body laid on his back, his face faced the dozens of clouds that rested on top of the Toe Village. Nevertheless, the reincarnated man rose back to his feet the moment he felt that he had left his body ample recovery time. Without any hesitation, he calmly grabbed the wooden dumbbell and moved to the next set of movement.
He inhaled a large intake of air in his lung and raised the bar from the ground, he maintained a specific motion for a few second before repeating the action. His thighs and lower back bulged and tensed in rhythm with his breathing.
Thanks to his past experience from his life in Earth. He didn't mindlessly execute random movements; it was the contrary as he started methodically training his body with knowledge of earth's weightlifting techniques. Before the dark time where he was only known as a depressed drunkard, he had actually been someone that took the time to develop his body as it helped him attain further performance in his musical career.
Although that knowledge wasn't worth the teaching of experts, it was relevant enough for him to go through the novice and intermediary phase. Currently Sheng Hao wasn't focusing on one subdivision or specific group of muscles but was focused on the entirety of his developing body. Back on Earth, he could still remember that the first few months where he started training had gotten him greater results when he had used a full-body type of weight training workout.
Had he asked an expert, he would have learned that the results he had gotten were simply due to the hormonal releases that a full-body type of workout produced. Every single group of muscle was used thus the body's hormonal production is increased.
"If my body is an island and developing the strength of my body is represented by a tower. Then I need to further perfect the island and expand as much as possible before building anything."
He soon finished the set, rested a little minute before resuming the same leg exercises he had just gone through. Before long, he once again lifted the wooden dumbbells and focused himself on finishing the entire session. Even the recovery time between his sets were entirely focused on his own breath and the muscle mind connection that he was building.
He was conscious that building solid foundation would produce the best result, now was the perfect opportunity for him to use the knowledge he already had. Although he was sure that there existed better workouts and training regiments, he was sure that the results it would produce were the one he expected. To this point, the results far out ranged his initial expectations.
Although his strength was difficult to rise, the progress that came with synchronizing different muscle groups of his body couldn't be belittled. If the first week his sets only numbered a few repetitions with the lightest circular disks and wooden bar, barely able to keep his breathing steady and in rhythm with his movements. Now it could be said that he had already developed some practical memory of the exercise he was doing.
With a better technique, he wouldn't injure himself when he raised the difficulty by augmenting the weight of the disks he currently used. On top of that, it would help him further build a solid foundation when it came to learning martial techniques. He didn't know the exact limit of physical strength in this world, but his grandfather and Buckethead were both capable of near super human feats by relying purely on their body.
This past month had felt like he had finally been able to quench a thirst he had been feeling. He ended the entire session of with some light stretching to work on his tendons, breathing deep and long intakes of air before releasing them. He maintained the movement for the duration of dozens of breaths before coming to a stop.
In the end, a long satisfied sigh escaped from his lips and ended his training session with a large smile. The endorphin released by his brain eased the muscle soreness as he couldn't help, however his couldn't help but awake him from that sensation.
He darted toward a corner of the house before meeting his grandfather who was going to smelt some ore, he took out a swift shower using the small well that was sitting there.
He shortly came back to the furnace with clothes soaking on his clothes. His grandfather couldn't help but smile when he noticed the visible progress that were appearing on Sheng Hao's body. None of his muscles were really visible or defined but he had lost some of the roundness he had before, even though he still had the same chubby face. His overall posture had straightened, his movements were energetic and had acquired hints of confidence.
"I'm all pumped up!" He thought as he felt a fresh air current brush his back. He felt pleasantly good despite having gone through a training session, even humming a small melody as he grabbed the air fan.
"What are we smelting today, Grandpa Wang?" he exclaimed with a voice full of energy. His hand mechanically activated the triangular shaped fan, producing steady blows of air. He added charcoal to the furnace's pit and started a fire before frenetically lighting as if he had been possessed by a work devil.
"The usual!" responded his grandfather with a strange gaze in his look. Deep down in his mind, he started wondering if Sheng Hao wasn't already ready to learn about his past.
Sheng Hao's hand movement changed, the rhythm of his arms shifting as he accustomed himself to the fan to produce better results. His focus was entirely put on the work, a specific time of concentration that made him feel as though time was accelerating. Like that time passed, before long, Sheng Hao stopped counting the number of months that had gone without him seeking the moon in the middle of the night and fueled his entire soul on his training.