Lin Mu started with physical training first. He ran a few laps, did push-ups, sit-ups, and then practiced his punches while being in the horse stance. In the end, he practiced using the sword, following the methods which he had seen the guards use.
Lin Mu trained for over 3 hours, after which he felt utterly tired and drained. He hurriedly sat down and chanted the calming heart sutra, after which he felt the calming waves spread over his body. This time he could feel the waves of energy not only in his muscles, but also on his skin. The waves increased until they reached a crescendo and then faded, only to repeat once again.
After each repetition, he could feel the vital energy from the meat he had eaten being assimilated. This lasted for over thirty minutes, after which all the vital energy he had obtained from eating the beast's meat had been completely absorbed. Lin Mu stopped after this as he felt like he was starving.
He went inside and put some rice in the pot to cook, while he cut off a slab of meat from the carcass of the boar. He rubbed spices into the fatty meat and skewered it on some sticks, waiting for the rice to cook so that he could place it on the stove.
'I should make a larger stove to cook outside, I don't want to wait every time I'm hungry,' thought Lin Mu.
While waiting, he was adding wood to fuel the stove. He looked to the side and saw that his supply of wood was about to end.
'I'll need to get more wood tomorrow. Though it would be better if I had an axe, I can still chop some thinner trees with my sword as well. I'll just take it as more sword practice,' Lin Mu thought.
Soon enough the rice was cooked and Lin Mu could let the meat roast. The aroma of the rich and fatty meat made his mouth water and his stomach rumble with desire. After a brief wait, Lin Mu ravenously ate his dinner, by the end of which his mouth and fingers were covered in the oil from the meat.
The more Lin Mu trained, the more he could feel his appetite increasing. In fact, the amount of food he ate in this one meal was double the amount he ate a week ago. Lin Mu felt a little surprised at this realisation and wondered how much he would be able to eat once he became a qi cultivator.
He did not know much about the habits or life of cultivators, except that they were much stronger than commoners and had a longer lifespan.
An ordinary cultivator of the qi refining realm could live for 200 years, while few commoners could survive past 100 years. Lin Mu did not even know how long cultivators of higher cultivation could live, but from what the legends say they can become immortals and live forever.
After his meal, Lin Mu could once again feel the comfortable warmth spreading from his stomach; restoring his energy. He once again sat down to chant the calming heart sutra until the vital energy from the meat was completely absorbed. Lin Mu felt that this time he could only absorb about half of the total energy from the meat, with the rest still remaining in his body.
'I guess without training, the effects of the calming heart sutra are not as good. But even so, the energy I absorbed now was already more than I obtained from the entire hook winged swan. The amount of vital energy in a mid tiered beast is simply incomparable to low tiered beasts.' Thought Lin Mu as he understood the correct method of training.
The sun had set a while ago and it was dark now. Even the crescent moon could not be seen, as it was hidden behind the clouds. Lin Mu looked up at the pitch-black sky and pondered on some random thoughts. He used to enjoy gazing at the night sky ever since he was a child, but these days he just seemed to not have enough time to do it anymore.
As he was gazing upwards, Lin Mu felt the mysterious ring buzz.
"It is late this time. I wonder how the ring works. Does it just randomly open the spatial rifts, or is there a pattern to it?" Lin Mu questioned himself.
He had already extended his hand in anticipation of the spatial rift. But this time he felt an even greater force pulling his hand than when the rift opened for the first time. He was pulled towards the forest for over 600 meters, after which he finally came to a halt.
"Damn, this is bad. I better keep all my senses alert for any danger." Lin Mu cursed as he unsheathed the sword with his left hand.
Soon enough a spatial rift opened in front of him, and his hand was sucked in. Lin Mu frantically checked inside the rift to try to find whatever was in there so that he can get away from the forest as fast as possible.
Fortunately, nothing dangerous occurred, and he was able to find the item that was in the spatial rift five minutes later. As soon as the object was stored in the ring, Lin Mu ran out of the forest at the fastest speed he could muster. After reaching the shack, he finally withdrew the item from the ring.
The item that he had obtained this time was a small booklet that was torn and damaged, with most of its pages missing. Lin Mu opened the booklet and read its contents. The more Lin Mu read, the more excited he felt.
"This… this… this is a martial technique!" Exclaimed Lin Mu.
The booklet described a martial technique called the 'Boulder Collapsing Fist'. It was a fist technique that was supposed to have immense force. Though the thing that caught Lin Mu's notice first was the requirements mentioned in the booklet.
It said--- (No minimum cultivation required, can be practiced by persons of any level.)
This meant that he would be able to learn and use this martial technique and would not need to wait until he became a cultivator. Though a major part of the booklet was missing, the introduction and the mnemonics for learning the martial technique were completely present.
The martial technique was composed of a breathing technique and a physical training method, both of which had to be used together to master it. The martial technique described creating a clockwise spiral current of energy in the left hand and an anti-clockwise spiral of energy in the right hand.
There was an incomplete page describing the latter parts of the technique as well. But it was only vaguely instructed to increase the number of energy spirals, not enough to fully understand it. Lin Mu could only wonder how many pages the booklet could have had, and how many parts of the technique it was missing.
The introduction did say that the might of the technique increases exponentially with each higher stage of the technique. If Lin Mu could learn the technique, he would not have to fear other experts of the body tempering realm as much and would be able to have a fighting chance against them.
Lin Mu read the booklet over and over again in an effort to memorise it. He spent a long time trying to memorize it until he eventually fell asleep. He appeared in the dark place again, but this time he had a purpose. He went over the parts that he had memorised in an effort to increase his understanding.
Lin Mu had memorised about half of the breathing technique that was mentioned while the physical training method he could not. He woke up in the morning and felt like he had completely understood the part he had already memorised.
Lin Mu went to the forest to chop some firewood and also to gather some tinder. He found some dried and dead trees that were thin and then used his short-sword to chop them down.
At first, it took him multiple slashes to cut the trees, but after cutting ten he got the gist of it and could then cut them in two slashes.
He checked the edge of the short sword later and found it to be as sharp as ever, with no flaw in it whatsoever.
'It is indeed an excellent sword made by a master craftsman.' Thought Lin Mu.
Lin Mu then carried the wood over to the hunting shack and put it in a small shed attached to the side of the shack. He set some more meat to cook on the stove while he carried over some large stones to make a bigger stove outside the shack. By the time he was done with the stove, the meat was already cooked and ready for him to eat.