On the fourth day, after finishing his morning training, Tang Wen first returned home.
Four days of sweating profusely, eating dried meat, and drinking plain water were not exactly a pleasant experience.
He took a bath at home and had a good sleep.
Carrying a birdcage and bringing along the Blood Raven, he arrived at the palace kitchen.
This was where meals were prepared for the Guards and the Queen.
"Damn it! Why are you everywhere?" Needless to ask, it was Qian Dong speaking again.
"Here to eat."
"Should we arrange for someone to deliver meals to your courtyard every day from now on?" Qian Dong said irritably.
"Good brother, it's settled then."
Qian Dong: ...I'm more than a decade older than you!
With the meal issue resolved.
Tang Wen returned to his courtyard and carried the fifth, and final, Iron Dummy into the underground chamber.
Bang bang bang.
After a round of explosive strikes, his Cannon Fist experience remained unchanged.
He then tried a round of kicks.
Still, the experience didn't increase.
Mastery (3000/3000)
Tang Wen's mind remained as calm as water, as he had a premonition.
He continued to train as before, constantly exploding and tempering.
Sweat dripped onto the ground.
The chamber was filled with wet footprints.
Half a day passed, and Tang Wen emerged from the underground chamber.
His Mountain-Cracking Cannon Fist experience hadn't increased at all.
Mastery (3000/3000)
His expression was very calm. It wasn't that he stopped training, but the last Iron Dummy had broken.
After lunch, he found Qian Dong.
"What's wrong? Didn't they deliver your meal?" Qian Dong frowned.
"No, the Iron Dummy is broken."
Qian Dong's frown eased, and he waved his hand: "Ha! I thought it was something serious! There are so many in the courtyard, just replace it."
Tang Wen didn't speak, just looked at him.
"Huh? What do you mean? Don't you have a spare in your courtyard?" At this point, he suddenly looked up, as if realizing something, his voice rising sharply: "No way! Impossible! Five, I remember there are five in one courtyard! Did you break all of them?"
He looked at Tang Wen as if he were a freak.
The guards exchanged glances, five, what five? What did Commander Tang Wen do with five?
Tang Wen scratched his nose sheepishly, feeling he had misunderstood something: "That Iron Dummy, isn't it supposed to be replaced weekly? I thought you forgot, so I came to remind you."
"Replaced weekly?"
Like a cat with its tail stepped on, Qian Dong almost jumped up: "Half a year, half a year! The Iron Dummy is replaced every half a year! At most, two or three break at a time, two or three!"
Tang Wen nodded: "Got it, special circumstances then! Get me one that can withstand more beating."
Qian Dong pulled him outside, muttering: "No, I need to see it for myself. You better not have sold off the Iron Dummies!"
When he saw the five neatly arranged Iron Dummies in the courtyard, he was stunned for a while before squeezing out three words through his teeth: "Not human!"
Who could break a sturdy Iron Dummy in a day?
Even Qian Dong couldn't break one in a month of training.
"Wait! You must have used some weapon, a studded club? A sledgehammer? Or what?"
Tang Wen sighed: "I'm just a bit stronger."
Qian Dong scoffed, went down the stairs into the underground chamber, which was completely empty. Not to mention heavy weapons like sledgehammers, there wasn't even half a wooden stick.
"Freak! Not human!" Qian Dong cursed as he left.
Before leaving, he didn't say a word to Tang Wen.
The latter shrugged, watching the guards carry away the iron sphere, then headed straight back to his room to sleep and recover his energy.
Upon waking up, he found a black metal dummy had appeared in the courtyard.
After taking care of his physiological needs, Tang Wen approached it, intending to drag it into the underground chamber.
At first, he couldn't move it.
Huh?
It was a bit heavy.
He had to exert more strength to finally lift it and carry it down.
Can I just have one?
Tang Wen unleashed his fist power, tentatively punching the dummy in the face.
Bang!
Not even a mark was left.
Tang Wen was delighted: Durable, this thing is durable!
The sound of strikes began to rhythmically echo.
One day, two days passed.
Until the Blood Raven was almost ready to fly.
Finally, on the third morning with the black dummy.
Boom!
His fist stirred up a gust of wind, shaking the air.
The dummy hit the wall for who knows how many times.
The Experience Panel flickered slightly.
The Cannon Fist had broken through.
Unlike before, this time he didn't use any fancy methods; he had brute-forced his way through.
After the last panel upgrade, he had this premonition that the bottleneck no longer existed.
[Meditation Martial Art: Mountain-Cracking Cannon Fist, Mastery → Proficiency (0/3000)]
Instantly, countless images flooded Tang Wen's mind.
Moments later, he pulled the dummy back to the center of the chamber.
Meditation, sketching the images, the force erupted.
He quickly raised his knee, whoosh!
The thousand-pound black dummy, like a puppet on an explosive pressure tank, shot straight up, its head smashing into the ceiling before bouncing back down.
Tang Wen's eyes were filled with surprise and joy. He then swung his elbow, smack, hitting the dummy's chest squarely, sending it flying.
"Has my Martial Arts Realm also broken through?"
What a tremendous surprise.
He could now infuse the Visualization Force of the Mountain-Cracking Cannon Fist into his knees and elbows.
His personal combat power had soared once again.
Just a minute ago, he could only use the force with his hands, feet, and weapons.
According to the Martial Master's evaluation criteria.
Tang Wen had now taken a significant step towards becoming a first-class Martial Master!
Looking at the mottled marks on the chamber walls.
He sighed, "The feeling of hard work paying off is great. My current strength is all thanks to—the Experience Panel!"
After the Experience Panel upgraded.
He no longer needed to find ways to break through skill bottlenecks.
Just keep grinding!
And there would be rewards.
How about the Mountain-Cracking Cannon Fist?
Meditation Martial Art, tough, right!
But after just four days of practice, the bottleneck was naturally broken through.
No need for any epiphanies.
It just took a bit longer to get stuck.
But compared to a lifetime of being unable to break through, what's four days?
Hmm.
Tang Wen thought seriously—it could only be considered genius!
The chamber was quiet for a while.
Then, Tang Wen's fists, feet, elbows, and knees all went into action, continuing to abuse the black dummy.
The Cannon Fist had just broken through and needed consolidation.
After the training session, in the evening while he was playing with the Blood Raven in the courtyard.
Qian Dong suddenly came to tell him, "That Old Crow is looking for you, do you want to go?"
With the Cannon Fist breakthrough, there was no need for intense training for now.
Tang Wen said, "Alright, I might not be coming for a while, keep the black dummy for me, that thing is really durable."
"Fine, fine, just go! It's really annoying being around you." Qian Dong pouted.
Tang Wen flipped him the bird and left with the birdcage.
"General, you're here too?"
Upon entering Old Crow's courtyard, General Zhao was also there.
"Alright, I've tested these four and a half doses of medicine, and they're fine. You can go ahead and use them," General Zhao said, offering a few words of encouragement to Tang Wen before leaving with his entourage.
Once he was out of earshot, Old Crow grumbled, "If he doesn't trust me, why did he even ask me to prepare the medicine?"
"Trust takes time, doesn't it?" Tang Wen replied, noticing the old man's displeasure and quickly changing the subject. "What do you think of my Blood Raven?"
Over the past few days, aside from practicing martial arts, Tang Wen had been training the Blood Raven during his rest and free time.
With a slight shrug of his shoulder, the Blood Raven flapped its wings and glided down onto the stone table, tilting its head to stare at Old Crow.
Old Crow was lost in thought, recalling how long it had taken him to train his own Blood Raven to perch on his shoulder. Was it three months or five?
"It's just passable," he said with a dismissive pout.
"Guess it's not as good as yours back in the day," Tang Wen remarked.
Tang Wen then asked if he could take the Blood Raven outside for training.
Old Crow was even more exasperated. "It's a Mutated Beast, not some little bird in your pants! It belongs in the wild!"
Tang Wen looked up, speechless.
A black bird, about twenty centimeters long, flew across the sky.
"Old man! Look."
"Look at what? Haven't you seen a cuckoo before?"
Pointing to the sky, Tang Wen smiled shyly. "Let me briefly introduce you to my bird…"
His words trailed off as he turned and walked out the door.
Old Crow was stunned for a moment before he snapped out of it. "Impossible, impossible, absolutely impossible! That kid is full of hot air!"
(End of Chapter)