The only things in life where every effort yields a tangible reward, aside from studying in school and exercising during one's youth, are probably video games.
But even games can't compare to the thrill of the Experience Panel.
Every drop of sweat, every moment of time, is visibly rewarded.
This kind of thing is downright addictive!
Tang Wen, who used to have such weak willpower that he would stay up late every night scrolling through TikTok, unable to even control his own sleep schedule, was just an ordinary person.
Now, he could actually resist the temptations of beauties like Liu Niang, Taohua, and Cuilian.
He devoted himself to training every day.
If someone had told him before that he could resist such temptations, he wouldn't have believed it himself.
In the palace kitchen.
He poured a large bowl of braised pork into his rice bowl, stirred it with a spoon, and devoured it with gusto.
Qian Dong frowned deeply: "How many days have you been starving?"
Tang Wen didn't have time to respond: braised pork sauce mixed with foxtail millet rice—once you try it, you're hooked!
This time, he had woken up from hunger.
[Body: 8.75 → 8.77; Spirit: 9.4 → 9.49]
A 0.02 increase in physical strength—better than nothing.
A 0.09 increase in spirit—this was due to tolerance.
Just like when an ordinary person starts exercising, the first session is always the hardest, but the body gradually adapts over time.
But Tang Wen wished this tolerance would come a bit slower.
So that his attributes could increase a few more times.
At the same time, the experience gained this time was also less than the first time.
[Meditation Martial Art: Mountain-Cracking Cannon Fist, Proficient (3901/6000)]
About two hundred or so.
"Look at how hungry you are! Uncle, get this guy another bowl of noodles, with extra minced meat!"
Qian Dong shouted, then sighed: "Who knows when this drought will end? It feels like we're back to my childhood! Even eating meat isn't satisfying."
The surrounding guards nodded in agreement.
They ranged from teenagers to those in their twenties and thirties, but each of them had experienced hard times.
...
On the east side of the camp, the first row of waterwheels had been installed.
The first waterwheel scooped water from the lake and poured it into a dug-out pool.
The second waterwheel scooped water from the pool and poured it into a second pool... and so on, until water was drawn from the large lake.
The lake water flowed through the dug-out lotus ponds and tilled fields, gurgling as it went.
The largest lotus pond belonged to the Silver Wolf.
The Silver Wolf pack would come here to drink, and they would also bring their domesticated beasts and Mutated Beasts to drink together.
The fields irrigated by the lake water should also yield abundant foxtail millet by midsummer.
But whether it was the Black Mountain Camp, the Scavengers, or the Mutated Beasts, all posed a threat to these fields and the people working in them.
For the sake of food security, the camp had no choice but to continuously strengthen patrols and vigilance in this area.
They even planned to mobilize a group of people to build a wall around the fields to enclose the land.
However, all of this had nothing to do with Tang Wen, who was diligently training.
His outstanding performance in Five Families City had spread through the camp via word of mouth among the guards.
Now everyone knew that the additional waterwheels and craftsmen outside the camp were largely thanks to Commander Tang Wen.
His colleagues had already come to accept Tang Wen's habit of avoiding work and hiding away to train.
In fact, they felt it was only natural.
In the blink of an eye, another seven days passed.
Tang Wen once again experienced the feeling of "losing himself."
...
Fifth Move: Dragon Emerges from Water, Ocean Floor Trembles.
With a single punch, though the black training dummy was still less than ten centimeters away.
Buzz!
It was as if his fist was ejecting an invisible gas, causing the thousand-pound black dummy to sway slightly.
This feeling?
Was the fifth move about to break through?
Tang Wen felt a surge of joy, recalling the recent martial arts competition in Wujia City.
The experience of the Mountain-Cracking Cannon Fist had surpassed three thousand points, allowing him to directly comprehend the seventh move, the Eight-Armed Divine Fist.
Now, with the experience about to break through four thousand points, was he about to comprehend the fifth move?
"Hmm," his mental energy was depleted.
He grunted, pressing his temples, struggling to walk to the bed he had prepared earlier. His body went limp as he collapsed onto the soft fur mattress, instantly falling into a deep sleep.
[Body: 8.77→8.78; Spirit: 9.49→9.54]
[Meditation Martial Art: Mountain-Cracking Cannon Fist, Proficient (3901→4119/6000)]
After completely exhausting his physical and mental energy for the third time.
In the early morning, he woke up refreshed, noticing an increase in his basic attributes.
His physical strength had only increased by 0.01, and his mental energy by 0.05.
But that wasn't important.
What mattered was that the current experience of the Mountain-Cracking Cannon Fist had surpassed the four thousand mark. Surely, there would be new insights into the fist technique, right?
This was the miraculous effect that came with the upgrade of the Experience Panel.
Thinking this, he opened the parchment he had brought, grabbing a few pieces of dried meat and stuffing them into his mouth.
He then picked up the metal water bottle by the wall, gulping down a mouthful of cold tea.
After eating and drinking his fill, he stood up from the simple wooden bed and walked over to the black metal dummy, focusing his mind to generate force!
Tang Wen's fist stopped three inches away from the black metal dummy.
The gust of wind generated by his fist slammed into the metal dummy.
Clang!
The sound of metal clashing rang out.
The metal dummy fell to the ground with a thud.
Although knocking down a thousand-pound metal dummy was somewhat impressive.
It was clearly not the performance that "Dragon Emerges from Water, Ocean Floor Trembles" should have.
The intricacy and difficulty of this move surpassed even the seventh move, the "Eight-Armed Divine Fist."
And the greater the difficulty, the greater the power should be.
Tang Wen carefully pondered, and indeed, there were some insights in his mind, but not enough.
Not enough to allow him to unleash the full power of this fist technique!
Feeling somewhat unwilling, he practiced "Dragon Emerges from Water, Ocean Floor Trembles" hundreds of times in one go, yet still couldn't grasp the technique.
The difficulty of this move was so high that in the entire camp, perhaps only a few generals and the Queen herself had mastered it.
But the nature of the Meditation Martial Art determined that it couldn't be taught hand-in-hand.
After all, it involved mental visualization.
This was something that couldn't be taught.
Bang!
With a punch, he sent the black dummy flying.
Tang Wen exhaled a turbid breath and stopped.
Recalling the last time he broke through the seventh move, the "Eight-Armed Divine Fist," besides the experience upgrade, it was likely also due to witnessing the "Dark Night Divine Fist - Night Battle in All Directions."
It seemed that accumulation was necessary; it couldn't be forced.
But as long as the experience points were piled up, he would eventually learn this move.
It was just a matter of time.
Just keep grinding!
With this thought, Tang Wen continued to train.
Day after day passed.
The temperature grew higher and higher.
One day, after returning from the palace kitchen to the training courtyard.
He noticed a scratch still remaining on the wooden door of the main hall.
It was a mark he had left when measuring his height during his last seclusion here.
He stood there, his back against the door, reaching up to press his hair, and lightly scratched the wooden door with his fingernail, leaving a new mark.
Hmm, it seems to have grown about three centimeters since last time.
Tang Wen furrowed his brow; there was still a considerable distance to reach his target height.
It wasn't that he was obsessed with height, but his Zhou Meiren was simply too tall.
Not just Zhou Bing, but the Queen, Miss Zheng, and all the women he had seen who had achieved success in Martial Arts seemed to be quite tall.
My body hasn't even reached sixteen yet, surely it won't stop growing, right?
It definitely won't, right?
"Caw, caw, caw."
After practicing for several hours, the sound of the Blood Raven came from the doorway.
Tang Wen opened the door, and the Blood Raven hopped in, leaping onto his shoulder and letting out a series of calls.
"Are you saying Old Crow wants to see me?"
"Caw!" The Blood Raven nodded its little head in a surprisingly human-like manner.
"Alright, should I go now?"
"Caw, caw."
Tang Wen left the underground meditation chamber, went to the courtyard hall to take a bath, and changed his clothes.
With his hair still half-dried, he left the palace and headed toward Old Crow's courtyard in the inner city.
Watching his retreating figure, several guards at the palace gate couldn't help but comment, "It's been two months, hasn't it? Since Commander Tang Wen went into seclusion in the palace."
"Yeah, but it seems like he's been training all day long!"
"Every time I pass by on patrol, I can hear the sounds of him practicing Martial Arts in his courtyard."
"Same here!"
"But how is that possible?"
Their voices were filled with deep confusion.
As everyone knew, overtraining could have the opposite effect.
Prolonged physical exhaustion would weaken the body, and the spirit would eventually wither.
For most Martial Practitioners, even Martial Masters, four or five hours of training a day was more than enough.
Any more than that would be counterproductive.
No one could answer their questions.
As Tang Wen approached Old Crow's courtyard, he caught a strong, pungent smell from afar!
It was the stench of some kind of Mutated Beast.
This was a smell that Tang Wen, the Slayer of Wilderness Mutated Beasts, had never encountered before.
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