Chapter 20 – Tempering in Medicine and Fire
The sky outside was still gray when Hao Tian opened his eyes.
His body felt heavy.
Not weak.
Not injured.
But weighed down by accumulated fatigue and lingering strain.
The battle with the bear had ended more than a day ago, yet its aftermath was still written clearly into his flesh and bones. He sat up slowly and rolled his shoulders. His muscles responded, but with a deep, dull ache that reminded him just how much he had pushed himself.
He exhaled.
Today would not be about hunting.
It would be about repair.
And then—
About tempering.
He rose from bed and began preparing the first medicinal bath.
This one was not for cultivation.
It was for recovery.
He dragged the large wooden tub to the center of the room and poured in bucket after bucket of clean water. Then he lit the stove and placed the iron pot above it, carefully adding the medicinal powders he had bought in town.
Cooling herbs.
Blood-nourishing roots.
Bone-repairing extracts.
Sinew-strengthening leaves.
The water gradually turned a murky brown, and a faint but heavy medicinal scent filled the small room.
When steam began to rise, Hao Tian tested the temperature with his hand.
Hot.
But not scalding.
He removed his clothes and stepped in.
The moment his body submerged, a low breath escaped his lips.
The pain did not disappear.
But it softened.
The medicinal liquid seeped into his skin, carrying warmth deep into his muscles. He could feel it working slowly—easing hidden bruises, soothing strained tendons, repairing tiny fractures in bone that even he hadn't been fully aware of.
He sat down and closed his eyes.
And began to breathe.
Slowly.
Deeply.
Not cultivating.
Just regulating his body.
Time passed quietly.
The heat in the bath faded.
Then returned as he added a bit more hot water.
Then faded again.
He stayed there.
For more than two hours.
When he finally stood up, his body felt… lighter.
Not stronger.
But whole.
The deep soreness had faded into something much more manageable.
He poured out the medicinal water, cleaned the tub carefully, and began preparing the second bath.
This one—
Was entirely different.
He took out the body-tempering medicinal mixture.
Inside were ground beast bones, fire-aspected herbs, blood-strengthening roots, and several aggressive medicinal components meant to stimulate and stress the body.
He hesitated only briefly.
Then poured everything in.
The water quickly darkened.
The smell became sharp and metallic.
Almost biting.
He heated it again.
This time, until steam rose thickly from the surface.
He took a slow breath.
Then stepped in.
Pain exploded across his skin.
It felt as if his flesh had been thrown into boiling oil.
Not from heat.
But from the medicine.
His muscles seized.
His breathing almost broke.
He gritted his teeth and forced himself to sit down fully.
The medicinal liquid invaded his pores and sank into his flesh, carrying a burning, corrosive sensation that made his scalp tighten and his fingers tremble.
This was not a healing bath.
This was tempering.
He closed his eyes.
And began to cultivate.
His breathing shifted.
Slow.
Deep.
Rhythmic.
Qi began to move inside his body.
Circulating.
From dantian.
Through meridians.
Back again.
Each cycle drew in faint traces of energy from the surroundings.
Each cycle also dragged the medicinal effects deeper into his body.
The pain intensified.
His skin reddened.
Then darkened.
His muscles twitched and tightened.
His bones felt as if they were being slowly squeezed.
But beneath the pain—
He could feel it.
His body was being forced to adapt.
Forced to grow denser.
Stronger.
More resistant.
The Qi in his meridians was being compressed and refined by the stress.
He continued.
One circulation.
Then another.
Then another.
His breathing remained steady even as sweat streamed down his face and neck.
After a long while, when the medicinal effect began to weaken slightly, Hao Tian opened his eyes.
His entire body was trembling.
He did not leave the tub.
Instead—
He reached for the pill bottle.
Inside were the remaining blood-condensing pills.
He stared at it for a moment.
Then swallowed one.
The effect was immediate.
A warm surge erupted in his abdomen and spread outward like a wave.
If the medicinal bath was a hammer—
Then the pill was fuel.
The Qi inside him surged.
His meridians were forced to expand further.
His dantian throbbed with pressure.
The pain became sharper.
Deeper.
Almost unbearable.
His breathing wavered.
His vision blurred.
But he did not stop.
He continued circulating Qi.
Again.
Again.
Again.
The stacking effect was obvious.
The pill accelerated Qi accumulation.
The medicinal bath forced his body to endure it.
Together—
They produced a result far greater than either alone.
His skin darkened further.
His muscles tightened like coiled steel.
His bones emitted faint cracking sounds as they were tempered again and again.
Somewhere deep inside—
A barrier began to loosen.
He did not know how long it took.
Time lost meaning inside the bath.
But eventually—
He felt it.
A subtle shift.
A clear change.
The Qi inside his body stabilized at a higher intensity.
His meridians could hold more.
His dantian felt denser.
More solid.
He had fully stepped into high-level 7th stage body-refining.
Not peak.
Not eighth.
But firmly and unmistakably into the high-level of the seventh stage.
When the medicinal water finally cooled and the effect was exhausted, Hao Tian slowly stood up.
His legs trembled.
But his stance was stable.
He clenched his fists.
His strength had increased again.
Not explosively.
But steadily.
Reliably.
He washed himself, changed clothes, and sat on the bed.
"…So the combination really is better," he murmured.
"The bath tempers the body."
"The pill fills it faster."
"Together… they stack."
He lay back and closed his eyes.
His body needed time to stabilize.
But one thing was certain—
He was no longer the same cultivator who had left town days ago.
And once these resources were fully used—
He would need to return to the forest again.
Stronger.
Better prepared.
More dangerous.
......
The day after the first medicinal bath felt strangely quiet.
Not because the world had changed—but because Hao Tian's body had.
When he woke up, the soreness from the previous night still lingered, yet it was no longer the sharp, tearing pain that had plagued him during the tempering process. Instead, it had transformed into a deep, dull ache, like metal that had just been pulled from a forge and left to cool—still hot, still sensitive, but undeniably stronger.
He lay still for a long while, staring at the cracked wooden ceiling of his small room, listening to his own breathing.
Every breath felt… heavier.
No—denser.
It was as if his body had gained weight without actually becoming heavier. His muscles felt more compact, his bones more solid. Even the simple act of clenching his fist carried a sense of restrained power that hadn't been there before.
"High-level 7th stage…"
He didn't say it out loud, but he knew where he stood.
Not peak. Not yet.
But close.
Very close.
He slowly sat up and moved his limbs, testing the condition of his body. The movements were smooth, but there was a faint tightness deep in his muscles and joints—a reminder that the tempering from the medicinal bath had not yet been fully digested.
That was normal.
No matter how miraculous a medicinal bath or pill was, the body still needed time to truly absorb and stabilize the gains.
So for the next two days, Hao Tian did not rush.
He ate simply, drank water, and focused on circulating his Qi through his meridians using the low-grade mortal cultivation technique he had purchased. Without pills or baths, the progress was slow—painfully slow—but that wasn't the point.
This was consolidation.
Each circulation of Qi moved like a slow river through his body, washing over his meridians, smoothing out the rough edges left behind by the violent tempering process. The whirlpool-like effect still drew faint traces of Qi from the surroundings into his body, but compared to the explosive gains from pills and baths, it felt almost negligible.
Still, Hao Tian did not underestimate it.
He could clearly feel that his control over his body was improving.
His breathing became steadier.
His circulation smoother.
His focus deeper.
By the end of the second day, the lingering soreness had mostly faded, replaced by a sense of solidity and stability that made him feel… grounded.
Only then did he decide it was time.
The remaining blood-condensing pill sat quietly in its small bottle on the wooden table beside his bed.
He picked it up and looked at it for a long moment.
This was his last one.
After this, he would have no more cultivation resources—no pills, no medicinal ingredients for baths. Whatever progress he made afterward would depend entirely on slow accumulation or on what he could obtain in the wild.
He did not hesitate.
He had already come this far.
That afternoon, he prepared the second medicinal bath.
The process was familiar now.
He heated the water, carefully added the remaining medicinal ingredients, and waited as the liquid gradually turned a dark, murky red-brown. The bitter, pungent smell quickly filled the room, far stronger than before.
When the temperature was just right, he removed his clothes and stepped in.
The moment his body touched the liquid, the familiar burning sensation returned.
But this time, he did not grit his teeth in panic.
He closed his eyes.
And endured.
The pain spread from his skin into his muscles, then deeper—into his bones, into his organs, into places that felt like they should not even be reachable.
It was as if countless tiny needles were piercing into him, over and over again.
Hao Tian sat down in the bath and immediately began circulating his Qi.
The whirlpool effect formed once more.
The medicinal energy in the bath did not simply stay on the surface of his skin—it was drawn inward, pulled along by the flow of Qi through his meridians, forced into every part of his body.
His muscles trembled.
His breathing grew heavy.
Sweat poured down his face even though he was submerged in liquid.
Time passed slowly.
Painfully.
After nearly an hour, when his body was already on the verge of its limit, Hao Tian finally took out the blood-condensing pill.
He swallowed it.
The effect was immediate.
It was as if someone had poured molten iron into his veins.
The Qi in his body surged violently, crashing through his meridians like a raging flood. The medicinal energy from the bath, which had been slowly seeping in before, was suddenly dragged along at terrifying speed.
His vision went white for a moment.
Hao Tian almost lost control.
He bit down hard, forcing himself to stay conscious and guide the Qi along the correct paths. Any mistake at this point could result in internal injury—or worse.
The pain intensified.
His muscles felt like they were being torn apart and stitched back together at the same time. His bones creaked faintly under the pressure. Even his internal organs felt as if they were being squeezed and tempered by invisible hands.
This was no longer just refinement.
This was destruction and reconstruction.
Gradually, minute by minute, the violent surge began to slow.
The Qi circulation stabilized.
The medicinal energy was no longer rampaging—it was being absorbed.
Hao Tian's body continued to tremble, but now it was a deep, internal trembling, as if every part of him was undergoing a fundamental change.
When the process finally ended, he slumped slightly in the bath, completely exhausted.
His entire body felt heavy.
But beneath that heaviness was something else.
Density.
Strength.
He remained in the bath for a while longer, letting the last traces of medicinal energy settle, before finally standing up and stepping out.
His legs felt a little weak, but when he clenched his fists, he could clearly feel it.
He had advanced.
Not to the 8th stage.
But…
Peak 7th stage.
He sat down on the bed, closed his eyes, and carefully examined his condition.
The Qi in his body flowed more smoothly than ever. His meridians felt fuller, sturdier, as if their walls had been reinforced. His dantian was dense and stable, holding more Qi than before without any signs of strain.
Yet, he could also feel it.
A subtle resistance.
A barrier.
Not a wall—but a threshold.
He was at the very limit of the 7th stage.
If he tried to push further now, he would get nowhere. His body simply did not have the resources to break through.
"One more push…" he thought. "And I'd reach the 8th stage."
But that push would require something more.
Better pills.
Stronger medicinal baths.
Or a long, long time of slow accumulation.
He opened his eyes and let out a slow breath.
For a moment, he just sat there, feeling the weight of his own body, the quiet strength in his limbs.
Then he laughed softly.
Not loudly. Not triumphantly.
Just… quietly.
Three months ago, he had been nothing more than a boy working in the mines, struggling just to survive.
Now, he was a peak 7th stage body-refining warrior.
If someone had told him this back then, he would have thought they were mad.
He stood up and tested a few simple movements.
A step.
A punch.
A turn.
Each movement felt controlled, powerful, precise.
He didn't need to hit anything to know—his strength had increased by a significant margin.
But along with that satisfaction came a familiar, heavy reality.
He was out of resources.
The pill bottle was empty.
The medicinal ingredients were gone.
The small pile of silver he had left after buying everything had been spent almost entirely.
If he wanted to continue…
He needed more.
That night, Hao Tian did not cultivate.
He cooked a simple meal, ate slowly, and then lay down on his bed, staring at the dark ceiling.
His mind, which had been focused only on survival and immediate progress for so long, finally had a little space to think ahead.
"The forest…"
He had already proven that he could survive there.
Not just survive—he could hunt.
The bear, the herbs, the materials, the silver…
All of it had shown him a path.
Dangerous.
But possible.
If he could hunt more beasts…
If he could find more herbs…
He could obtain more resources.
He could continue cultivating.
And beyond that…
His thoughts drifted to the sect recruitment in four months.
High 9th stage body-refining.
That was the minimum requirement.
He was currently peak 7th.
Two stages away.
Two very difficult stages.
Without opportunities, without resources, it might take him years.
But with them…
He slowly clenched his fist.
"I'll go back into the forest."
Not recklessly.
Not blindly.
But with preparation.
He would hunt.
He would search.
He would take risks—but calculated ones.
The next few days, he decided, would be spent resting, stabilizing his cultivation, and preparing supplies.
Then…
He would leave again.
As Hao Tian closed his eyes, a faint, almost imperceptible sense of anticipation stirred in his chest.
He did not know it yet.
But his next hunt…
Would change everything.