Chapter 9: Rapid Progress

According to what Lu Yuan had learned during this period.

The Boxiyuan of the Qinglong Gang, acting as the house, held wrestling matches of varying levels every month, and invited other factions to participate and open gambling pools, attracting the powerful, wealthy merchants, and even professional gamblers of Fengyang Prefecture to come and watch, thereby collecting money through the house edge.

The reason it was wrestling rather than martial arts duels was because the Jin Dynasty had always prohibited public martial arts duels and private fights, while wrestling, being a tradition of the Jin Clan, was not restricted.

The people like Lu Yuan participated in matches between low-level Wrestlers; those who took the stage were below the Force Refining Realm, belonging to the appetizer before the main event.

However, even so, the matches were quite bloody and cruel; those who suffered serious injuries or disabilities due to lack of skill were everywhere, and it was not rare for lives to be lost.

Therefore, Lu Yuan felt a sense of urgency, devoting himself heart and soul every day to the study of Stance Technique and wrestling skills, and he made no attempt to hide his frantic eating at every meal, leading everyone in the Boxiyuan to know that his appetite was enormous, like a Glutton.

And with sufficient food digested through the Ingestion Technique, a large amount of vital energy was refined to nourish his body; his physique and strength increased with each passing day, and in just seven or eight days of effort, his strength had increased by thirty percent!

It was not even just his strength; his speed, perception, reactions, and other aspects were also strengthened and constantly improving.

And thanks to his rapidly strengthening physique, his progress in both the Fixed Mountain Stake and wrestling techniques could be said to be flying; later on, even those veteran Wrestlers had to become increasingly serious to take him down.

Such an astonishing rate of progress made the knowledgeable Li Shu value him even more, to the point of separately increasing Lu Yuan's meat supply, making all the new recruits who had been brought in envious.

And as his physique and strength grew day by day, Lu Yuan also unexpectedly discovered a crucial change.

That was, under the feedback of the Heavenly Book, his Qi Luck would spontaneously increase by 1 unit almost every three days!

Having arrived at the Boxiyuan for only nine days, his Qi Luck had already changed from 46 units to 49 units.

Clearly, this was the positive feedback brought about by his physique being strengthened by the Ingestion Technique.

If he could continue to maintain this speed, in less than half a year, he would be able to light up the art of 【Guidance】 and formally begin cultivating immortality!

This day.

It had been exactly half a month since Lu Yuan and the others arrived at the Boxiyuan.

It was currently the afternoon, and most of the people in the entire Boxiyuan were gathered on the courtyard training ground.

Li Shu sat on a grand armchair, with the two brothers Xu Dahu and Xu Erhu standing beside him like door gods, and further back was a circle of the garden's miscellaneous performers and Wrestlers.

Under the gaze of the crowd, the new recruits who had been training for half a month on the open ground were wrestling in pairs one after another.

At this moment on the open ground, Lu Yuan was already a head taller than he had been half a month ago, approaching seven feet in height, and his physique was visibly strong and lean.

He was the last to take the stage, and after his name was called, a tall and sturdy man walked out with a bitter face:

"A Yuan, your strength is so great that I cannot bear it, you must go easy on me."

Lu Yuan laughed: "Rest assured!"

Saying this, he stepped forward and reached out to grab.

The man sparring with him let out a strange cry, crouched down, and nimbly darted forward, intending to hug Lu Yuan's left leg and flip him over.

Facing this move, Lu Yuan's expression remained unchanged, letting the other party hug his left leg; before the opponent could exert force, he slightly bent the knee of his other leg, sinking his center of gravity.

"Hah!"

The sparring man let out a loud shout, erupting with all his might to heave, only to find that what he was holding did not seem to be a human leg, but a rooted tree, impossible to shake in the slightest.

And at this moment, while the man's veins were bulging and his face was red, yet he was helpless, Lu Yuan suddenly reached down with one hand, grabbed his collar, pressed, and pushed, instantly shoving the man away like a rolling gourd.

The man rolled a full three times on the ground before lying there dizzy and disoriented, shouting: "I lost, I lost!"

As the words fell, the onlookers cheered one after another.

Li Shu, sitting on the grand armchair, also nodded with a face full of smiles, speaking in praise:

"Not bad, not bad, to have this level in just half a month can be called a heaven-sent talent; I heard you can already spar with the old Wrestlers now?"

Lu Yuan cupped his hands and said modestly:

"I dare not accept such praise; I am shallow in learning, and I should still have a significant gap compared to them."

Li Shu chuckled: "I have already heard from Dahu that you are naturally gifted with great strength. Do not hide your skills; spar with them, and regardless of win or loss, I have rewards! A Hua, you go and spar with Lu Yuan!"

"Yes."

Among the crowd, a short, sturdy, black-faced youth wearing a short shirt walked out and came before Lu Yuan, his eyes filled with provocation.

Although A Hua was not old, he was a formal Wrestler who had already been Refining Strength, and he was rich in technique and experience.

However, Lu Yuan was no longer what he used to be, and he also wanted to test the upper limit of his own strength, so he immediately cupped his hands:

"Please!"

Whoosh!

As the words fell, the two almost simultaneously arched their bodies and lunged forward, then collided with a bang, actually emitting a faint sound of whistling airflow.

And the moment their palms met and touched Lu Yuan, A Hua's eyes changed slightly, then he suddenly retreated, hooked an arm, and fiercely attempted an over-the-shoulder throw.

However, at the same time as the opponent's move, Lu Yuan's left knee suddenly lifted and pressed against the opponent's back, actually forcibly bracing back his bull-like throwing posture.

Feeling that Lu Yuan's strength was vaguely even greater than his own, A Hua's expression changed repeatedly; he let out a low shout, suddenly twisted his body to shake off the knee strike, and simultaneously reached for Lu Yuan's waist.

Lu Yuan reacted extremely quickly, wrapping both hands around and pressing down hard, while simultaneously stepping with both legs; as the blue bricks on the ground shook, he directly pinned A Hua down with the force of Mount Tai, making it difficult for him to exert his full strength even though he had hugged Lu Yuan's waist.

"Hah—!"

At this moment, with his waist arched and pressed, his strength limited, A Hua roared as his power erupted, his strong legs stepping forward repeatedly, actually charging forward like a mad bull while pushing against Lu Yuan.

However, by now, under the effect of the Ingestion Technique, Lu Yuan's physique and strength were also as strong as a bull; he just sank his knees and gathered force in his soles, and with a boom, he shattered two blue bricks, stopping the momentum of his retreat.

With his momentum thwarted, the two sides fell into a stalemate; A Hua's black face turned bright red, and he discovered that no matter how much he erupted with strength, he could not flip Lu Yuan over.

At this scene, whether it was the refugees who had entered the garden with Lu Yuan or the veterans in the garden, they all cheered repeatedly, whether in surprise or shock.

A Hua was a formal Wrestler who had been in the garden for two or three years and had long since entered the Force Refining Realm, with strength as great as a bull.

That Lu Yuan, a refugee who had been recruited for less than half a month, could actually be evenly matched with him in strength was simply incredible.

"Alright, you two stop here, both of you cease!"

At this time, seemingly afraid that the two would get hurt, Li Shu laughed and stopped them.

With Li Shu speaking, although A Hua was unwilling, he could only slowly withdraw his force.

Lu Yuan also withdrew his hands and cupped them: "Many thanks to Brother A Hua for letting me win."

A Hua's expression finally improved a little, and he returned to the crowd.

"Lu Yuan, oh Lu Yuan, you have truly given me a surprise."

Li Shu was clearly in a very good mood at this moment and beckoned to Lu Yuan:

"In half a month, your strength has grown to be no less than a Martial Student of Strength Refining. Who would have thought there would be a seedling like you among the disaster victims? Protector He truly has a discerning eye for talent!"

Lu Yuan came before him and remained humble:

"Li Shu, you overpraise me; I was just born with a bit more strength."

"More than just a bit more strength? You lad clearly have innate giant strength."

Xu Dahu said with a strange look on his face:

"To have such great strength before even practicing it, what will you be like in the future? Strange, truly strange!"

(End of chapter)