"Very well."
Chen Mu looked at the system panel, his heart at ease.
At this moment, the sore numbness in his body had not yet disappeared, but he didn't rush to enhance himself. Instead, he waited until his body recovered some strength, then went to take a bath first, washing off the mud and sand, before returning to his bedroom.
After he had adjusted his state to good condition and his body had fully recovered, feeling the abundant qi-blood in his body, he took a deep breath, called up the system panel again, and with a thought, he consumed experience points and enhanced the Golden Jade Skin Toughening Technique.
Buzz!!!
This feeling was different from enhancing Blade Technique before.
When enhancing Blade Technique, it was as if countless springs, summers, autumns, and winters had suddenly merged with numerous memories of fierce battles as if he had experienced it firsthand, and everything was infused into his consciousness in a very short time.
However, when enhancing the Golden Jade Skin Toughening Technique, it was instantaneous, as if his body had turned into a cauldron, filled with boiling qi-blood, and then a drop of hot oil tumbled into it, instantly causing thousands of blood vapors to rise.
"Hiss..."
This feeling was indescribable.
It was as if the experiences of several months or even a month of Skin Toughening were all stacked into that moment, causing Chen Mu's consciousness to fall into a standstill immediately. The word "pain" was far from enough to describe this sensation.
This had completely surpassed the upper limit of what human consciousness could endure, causing Chen Mu to faint immediately. But whether he fainted or not, the transformation of his body didn't pause at all.
His skin visibly changed, his originally wheat-colored skin silently gained a jade-like glossiness, which lit up several times before fading away slowly, returning to normal.
It was uncertain how much time had passed.
Chen Mu slowly regained consciousness.
Merely moving slightly, he felt pin-prick pains across his skin, making him want to cry out, but he immediately clenched his teeth and endured, remaining absolutely still.
"This Skin Toughening Technique enhances much more intensely than the Blade Technique..."
Chen Mu endured the changes in his body, slowly adapting while grimacing slightly.
Although Blade Technique also involved a sudden influx, it was ultimately just immaterial memories and insights. However, the Skin Toughening Technique was different—the sudden emergence of tangible medicinal power, the system panel had forced his body to absorb this power in an instant and transformed rapidly within a very short time.
For ordinary people, suddenly withstanding all the medicinal power needed from the initial phase of Skin Toughening to minor achievement could likely result in qi-blood reversed flow and death from vomiting blood. However, the system panel was extremely dominant, sparing his flesh and viscera by affecting only the skin. It seemed like it accelerated the transformation by thousands of times in an instant, allowing his skin to change rapidly.
Although he was in such intense pain that he dared not move, Chen Mu could clearly feel that his qi-blood was much more vigorous than before.
This pain was not a side effect, but because the increased toughness of his skin in such a short time was difficult for him to adapt to.
As time passed,
the piercing pain finally began to subside, and Chen Mu slowly sat up.
He carefully examined his arms; there were no clear changes in color or appearance, but when he gently touched with his fingers, he could clearly feel that the toughness of his skin had greatly improved.
"So this is minor achievement in Skin Toughening."
Chen Mu slowly stood up and clenched his fists, swinging them through the air a few times.
Skin Toughening, Body Refinement, Tendon Changing, Bone Tempering.
Each step was a process of forging his own physique from the outside in, step by step. The most crucial aspect was his own "Qi-Blood"; those externally applied and internally consumed Medicinal Powders were, after all, external substances and could not fully replace the body's natural Qi-Blood, otherwise there wouldn't be sayings about failing to benefit from excessive supplementation.
After the age of thirty, a martial artist's progress in Body Tempering slowed down because at that age Qi-Blood reached its peak. Prior to thirty, it was more about "strengthening", employing various methods to bolster Qi-Blood and stimulate its enhancement, whereas after thirty, it turned more to "nurturing", figuring out ways to nourish the Qi-Blood to prevent it from declining.
The step of Skin Toughening was the most basic, the outermost layer, but it was also fundamental in laying the foundation.
At this moment, Chen Mu could distinctly feel the "warm flow" inside his body, which he had only faintly sensed before, had become much clearer. This was the Qi-Blood generated naturally by a robust physique.
"The increase in the power of punches and kicks isn't much, but the stamina has definitely improved a lot. When swinging the blade at full strength, I might be able to last a quarter of an hour longer than usual..."
Chen Mu estimated roughly.
Don't underestimate that quarter of an hour; many times, in life-and-death situations, having an extra bit of stamina, swinging one more blade, might be the difference between life and death. In terms of explosive power, a Skin Toughening martial artist might not differ much from an ordinary strong man, but in terms of endurance, the Qi-Blood solidified through the practice of the Skin Toughening Technique far exceeded that of an ordinary person.
Another aspect was the strengthening of his own skin and membranes.
Chen Mu remembered the changes in Ren Yan, whose skin had evidently become rougher and more textured, which was undoubtedly due to the practice of the Skin Toughening Technique, whereas he himself was completely different.
The Golden Jade Skin Toughening Technique, with the words 'Golden Jade' clearly indicating minimal damage to the body, was starkly different from the ordinary Skin Toughening Method. Considering Chief Constable Xu Hongyu, whose muscles were like jade, clear and transparent, where there was not the slightest hint of rough Skin Toughening, it was obviously a unique aspect of this technique.
The changes might not be visible on the surface, but the strength of the skin was genuinely enhanced.
Chen Mu went outside, picked up a handful of coarse gravel, and rubbed it over his arm.
If it were before, such action would have at least scraped up a large white mark and felt painful even if it didn't break the skin and bleed, but now he felt only a slight friction without any pain at all, and the sharp and jagged edges of the coarse gravel stones hardly left any marks on his skin membrane.
"Endurance, resistance,"
Chen Mu muttered as he tossed the stone aside.
This first step of the Body Refining Method, Skin Toughening, clearly focused on enhancing these two aspects. Now that he had achieved Minor Achievement in Skin Toughening, his skin had become toughened. While it couldn't block sharp blades, it could certainly withstand hits from common sticks and blunt weapons, if they were not too powerfully driven.
Unlike in the past, although his Blade Technique was sharp, his own body was very weak. If he faced an attack by several criminals and got hit once or twice by mischance, he might have been immediately knocked out. Now, the likelihood of that happening had greatly reduced.
"Technique and physique complement each other. With a tougher physique, you can be more unrestrained in battle and bring the Blade Momentum's skill into full play,"
Chen Mu looked thoughtful.
Thinking back, the day he killed Tang Quan was really fortunate; not only had the opponent been fatally wounded by a sword through the chest from Xu Hongyu and blinded by his limestone, but he also couldn't perform his moves.
Additionally, his Blade Technique had reached the Realm of Blade Momentum, and only then he could break through Tang Quan's skin and slit his throat with that final lethal strike. Otherwise, he might have been easily massacred by the severely injured Tang Quan even if there were ten of him wielding sharp blades.
Achieving Minor Achievement in Skin Toughening was just the first step, but for Chen Mu, it was also a brand-new beginning.
Having a system panel to enhance efficiency, the path of Skin Toughening, which would take ordinary people two to three years, could be significantly shortened for him!