Around eight o'clock at night, after helping his father to bed, Fang Bai went to a nearby pharmacy to collect a dozen or so Chinese herbs. Returning home, he chopped and crushed them, allocated them by ratio, and packaged them into small paper parcels, prepared to hand them over to Qin Yaorao tomorrow.
Although Fang Gang's clinic had already closed down and the premises had been transferred to someone else, they had kept some of the basic Chinese medicine equipment, which Fang Bai found useful.
In addition, in the storeroom where the Chinese medicine equipment and other items were kept, Fang Bai found a box of silver needles passed down from his ancestors and took them into his possession, planning to save them for later use.
Fang Bai knew that money was tight at home and that in order to give his family a better life, money was indispensable. Thus, he decided that he would discuss with his parents in a few days about reopening the clinic.
Although Fang Bai no longer had the support of True Yuan in his body and his medical skills had greatly diminished, he was still more than capable of treating minor issues like headaches and fever.
Sitting in his room, Fang Bai made plans for the future. With nothing better to do, he rummaged through the medical books treasured by his father, sat at the desk, and carefully read them, comparing them with the medical knowledge from his previous life.
Fang Bai found that the basic theories of Chinese medicine in this world were very similar to those in the Cultivation World he had lived in before ascending to the Immortal Realm.
The difference was that the herbs in the Cultivation World grew bathed in rich Essence Energy and had certain spiritual properties, which made them extraordinarily effective in healing injuries and diseases.
Before transmigration, Fang Bai was adept in concocting various elixirs and, with the aid of Essence Energy, there was no disease he couldn't cure.
The so-called "bringing back the dead and regenerating bones" was not just an empty phrase before his transmigration.
Fang Bai firmly believed that as long as he persisted in physical cultivation, he would be able to possess True Yuan again in this world lacking in Essence Energy and thus restore his medical skills.
At eleven o'clock at night, Yang Mei returned home, exhausted. Seeing the light still on in her son's room, she thought he was still studying. She felt both pain and relief as she urged him to rest soon.
Fang Bai responded and then turned off the light to go to bed.
Unlike ordinary people who would fall into a deep sleep until dawn, Fang Bai silently circulated the "Rise of the Dragon, Tiger, Lion, and Elephant Power," driving the circulation of blood and Qi around his body.
After going through forty-nine cycles, all the fatigue and weariness had left Fang Bai's body, and he felt fully refreshed and spirited. Checking the time, it was around four o'clock in the morning.
Fang Bai got out of bed, dressed in a thin set of clothes, and quietly slipped out of the house.
On a wide street outside the residential area, where there was hardly a shadow of vehicles or pedestrians, Fang Bai loosened up his limbs and gazed toward the rolling mountains several miles away.
"I shall start my cultivation journey in this world from now, from this very moment!"
With a determined expression, Fang Bai adjusted his breathing before starting off with a brisk jog, moving his legs and swinging his arms, and began to run at a fast pace.
Fang Bai's physique was too weak at the moment, and body cultivation required special training methods that pushed the body's limits, breaking free from all constraints and metamorphosing, thereby reaching a new realm.
This process was bound to be arduous and painful.
Fang Bai had already prepared himself mentally.
Back in the medical school's 400-meter track, just one lap would leave Fang Bai huffing and puffing. During physical education classes when they had long-distance running tests, most of the boys managed to grit their teeth and finish running, but Fang Bai would end up walking the whole distance, just like many of the girls.
But at this moment, Fang Bai couldn't afford to walk; he had to run at high speed to challenge his body's limits; otherwise, body cultivation would lose its purpose.
Huff—
Huff—
Huff—
As he ran, Fang Bai continually adjusted his breathing rhythm and movements.
After five hundred meters, he was breathing rapidly and starting to sweat.
At one thousand meters, he was gasping like a bull, drenched in sweat.
At one thousand five hundred meters, Fang Bai was dizzy, his legs heavy as lead.
At two thousand meters, his heart was pounding like a drum, his ears rang like thunder, and he was on the verge of collapse...
Had it been the Fang Bai before his body was snatched, he would have already collapsed on the ground, giving up on running by now, but the current Fang Bai, with a strong faith and resolute will, kept roaring to himself in his heart: Persist! Persist! Persist...
"Overcoming the physical limits is the first step in body cultivation. If you can't even do that, how can you talk about regaining your peak strength and returning to the Immortal Realm for revenge against those Immortal Emperors? Fang Bai, keep going!"
Fang Bai continuously motivated himself.
Roar—
Fang Bai wiped the large beads of sweat dripping down his face, let out a roar to the sky, swung his achy arms with force, and continued running with even faster strides despite his heavy legs.
Three thousand meters...
Four thousand meters...
Five thousand meters...
After running five thousand meters with clenched teeth, Fang Bai felt his body gradually relax, and his footsteps became nimble.
Fang Bai felt a secret joy in his heart, knowing he had endured the most difficult moment and overcome the first hurdle on the path of body cultivation.
Even though he would encounter difficulties a hundredfold or more challenging in the future, everything is hardest at the beginning. Having surpassed this first hurdle, he would have much greater confidence on his journey of body cultivation.
While continuing to run, Fang Bai started to circulate the "Dragon-Tiger-Lion-Elephant Technique," summoning the circulation of blood and energy within his body.
Soon, Fang Bai entered a wonderful state of self-forgetfulness, where his fatigue completely vanished, feeling as if he were treading on clouds.
Half an hour later, Fang Bai arrived at the foot of a peak in the Wolong Mountain Range. He looked up, gritted his teeth, and began sprinting towards the summit.
Although the peak was only a few hundred meters tall, its steepness made the challenge of reaching the top far greater than running dozens of miles.
But Fang Bai was undaunted.
The cultivation technique "Dragon-Tiger-Lion-Elephant Technique" is all about continuously challenging oneself and pushing past one's physical limits.
"Dragon-Tiger-Lion-Elephant Technique" was circulated to its utmost by Fang Bai; blood surged tumultuously through his veins, sweat continuously oozed from his body, his clothes as soaked as if washed by water.
Upon standing at the summit, at the edge of the eastern horizon emerged the pale glow of dawn, with the sun ready to burst through the clouds.
Fang Bai glanced at the cheap digital watch on his wrist; it was almost five in the morning.
The mountain wind was strong, blowing over his body and involuntarily making Fang Bai shiver.
He walked slowly to a flat rock at the summit, sat down cross-legged, cradling his Dantian with both hands, facing the east, and continued to circulate the "Dragon-Tiger-Lion-Elephant Technique" in a long, rhythmic breathing.
A few minutes later, the sun, like a butterfly breaking out of its cocoon, emerged from the gloomy clouds, sending a ray of light onto the earth, brightening the entire world at that moment.
At this time, the chaos of energy rose and fell, harmonizing Yin and Yang, awakening all creatures to exhale the old and inhale the new, with the Essence Energy between heaven and earth reaching its richest level of the day.
Fang Bai accelerated the circulation of the "Dragon-Tiger-Lion-Elephant Technique," as millions of pores on his body slowly opened, greedily absorbing the faint Essence Energy produced around him.
After the sun completely leaped out of the clouds, Fang Bai's whole body was bathed in thousands of golden rays.
Suddenly, Fang Bai felt a thread-like strand of True Yuan condense within his blood and meridians. After circulating with his blood for a moment, this strand of True Yuan, guided by his intention, flowed towards the Dantian in his lower abdomen.
Boom!
Fang Bai seemed to hear a faint sound from within his body as if the area around his Dantian had burst open, creating a new space.
Fang Bai was overjoyed, knowing that he had successfully created a Qi Sea in his Dantian that could accommodate True Yuan, reaching the first realm of the "Dragon-Tiger-Lion-Elephant Technique"—the Sea-Cleaving Realm.
The threadlike True Yuan was stored within the Qi Sea. Although it was almost too weak to detect, for Fang Bai, it was like a speck of light in an endless darkness, extraordinarily significant.