It seems your cousin has excellent taste, Sister-in-Law. Come, cousin, I toast you on your upcoming marriage. was genuinely happy that his cousin had found the woman he loved.

"Haha... Come, bottoms up."

The two clinked their bowls and drained them in one go.

"But Qing Shan, we won't send the formal betrothal gifts until after the New Year. As for the wedding, my father will set an auspicious date with her family then. So, it will probably be a few months away," explained.

"Are you worried about a few months? But cousin, you must diligently practice the Tiger Fist every day. If you want to stand out when you eventually reach the Gui Yuan Sect, it all depends on real skill," reminded him earnestly.

"I understand," replied with a smile.

During this year's ancestral worship ceremony, the men of the clan drank heartily. After all, having dozens of powerful experts who had cultivated Inner Strength had caused the reputation of Family Village to grow immensely in recent years. Villages like the Li Family Village and Wang Family Village nearby dared not contend with them anymore.

During the New Year festivities, the clan members gathered in groups, enjoying the joyous atmosphere.

At 's home, his mother, Yuan Lan, and Qing Yu had gone out, leaving alone.

"Clack!" The latch dropped onto the courtyard gate.

chuckled to himself, "For the past few days, I've been busy preparing for the New Year rites. Now, finally, some peace. I can officially begin cultivating the Divine Art of the Tiger Form." In the days prior, there were the White Horse Gang and Iron Mountain Gang collecting New Year fees, followed by purchasing festive goods and so forth.

As the strongest expert in the clan, had to handle many matters. Only now, during the New Year, had he been completely relieved of his duties.

"Ancestor Ji Ji Ke created this Divine Art of the Tiger Form, the supreme ultimate technique of my Xing Yi Quan. In my previous life, when the world's spiritual energy was extremely thin, cultivating this for less than a month increased my physical fitness by nearly double. In this life, with such abundant spiritual energy, I wonder how much it will increase!"

lowered himself, his body perfectly straight, and then sprawled out.

"Thud!"

His hands formed tiger claws, gripping the earth. Though his body appeared flat on the ground, in reality, only his hands and feet supported his entire weight.

"Hush!" "Suck!"

Coordinating with his breathing and energy absorption, 's spine undulated like a great dragon, sometimes rising, sometimes submerging. The pressure borne by his ten fingers was rapidly transmitted through successive joints up to his shoulders and spine, and the pressure on his feet similarly traveled joint by joint back to the spine.

Force flowed intermittently from his fingertips to his feet, and from his feet back to his fingertips.

The spine was the main trunk of the entire body.

The breathing caused the internal organs to churn, and the circulation of Inner Strength intensified this movement. It even increased the pressure and stimulation on the joints! Every breath, every circulation of Inner Strength, and every transmission of force were perfectly synchronized. After all, already possessed the experience from his past life.

"Hoo, hoo~~"

A rapid, deep, resonant humming vibrated through all his joints, sounding like a tiger dozing nearby.

Itched!

Every single bone in his body felt an intense itch.

Ache!

Every muscle gradually began to feel sore.

Comfort!

From the inside out, his viscera, blood flow, tendons and bones, and even the skin and muscle membranes were undergoing extremely subtle transformations.

The cells of the tendons and bones, and the muscle fibers, absorbed minuscule amounts of Inner Strength amidst this rapid change. But as every part of the body absorbed a tiny bit, when gathered together, the amount of Inner Strength consumed every moment was a staggering figure.

"Hiss, hiss-hiss~~"

In just a moment, a mist of heat vaporized from 's skin, like thin fog, and the sound of his body's internal mechanics grew deeper.

"Incredible," clearly felt the dramatic change in his body and was utterly amazed. "My physical fitness is tens, even hundreds of times stronger than during my peak in my previous life. And each round of executing the Divine Art of the Tiger Form takes much less time. I never expected that shorter execution time would yield such superior results!"

In his previous life, peak could lift ten thousand catties.

One must understand that once a person reaches their absolute lifting limit—say, ten thousand catties—asking them to lift just one thousand more is a task as hard as ascending to heaven. The higher one pushes the limit, the harder it becomes.

But the current ’s maximum lifting capacity had already surpassed one hundred thousand catties. His strength was dozens, even hundreds of times greater than in his past life. A simple punch now could kill any Grandmaster from his previous existence. This was the manifestation of strength pushed to its absolute extreme, and his tendons and bones were unbelievably hardened.

When performing the Divine Art of the Tiger Form, the conditioning of the bones, breathing, and internal organ control were also much faster.

Each cycle of body forging completed in much less time.

It was like running: many people could endure a ten-kilometer jog, but asking them to sprint ten kilometers at their absolute maximum speed would likely cause their legs to ache and give out shortly after.

In his past life, required a very long time for one complete round of the body-forging process using the Divine Art of the Tiger Form. Now, the speed was more than ten times faster. This rapid acceleration subjected his normally robust body to pressure for the first time, causing the bones to itch and muscles to ache…

Amidst these changes, the body rapidly consumed energy—that is, absorbing Inner Strength!

"Truly worthy of being the supreme ultimate technique of Internal Martial Arts! A skill that can only be practiced when all meridians are completely unblocked—it is truly unbelievable." Even having experienced the effects of the Divine Art of the Tiger Form before, was still astonished now. "The consumption of Inner Strength is also startling. Fortunately, I am in this era of abundant spiritual energy, and I possess a vast reservoir of Inner Strength."

This rate of progress was even more astonishing than during the optimal training phase of physical development.

However, the prerequisites for cultivating the Divine Art of the Tiger Form were too stringent.

Across the Nine Provinces today, those who diligently practiced Inner Strength secret manuals and managed to open the Eight Extraordinary Meridians and Twelve Primary Meridians were few and far between. To speak nothing of unblocking the vast number of extremely fine collateral channels. For most people practicing Inner Strength in the early stages, those collateral channels would likely become completely blocked, making it impossible to open them in a lifetime.

This showed the different outcomes generated by different cultivation methods.

Cultivating Inner Strength secret manuals increased Inner Strength quickly, but opening the meridians was extremely difficult.

Internal Martial Arts cultivation demanded exceptionally high aptitude; Inner Strength increased slowly, but the sole advantage was that opening the meridians was significantly easier.

...

Truly deserving of being called "Divine Art," once he began practicing, was completely immersed in the wonderful sensation of his strength rapidly escalating. For the entire following month, spent the vast majority of his time practicing the Divine Art of the Tiger Form, and his physical fitness improved at an astonishing rate.

In the courtyard.

, who had been coiled like a tiger on the ground, was enveloped in rising heat vapor. When he finally stood up, the mist dissipated.

"This Tiger Form Divine Art imposes too severe a stimulus on the body's fine structures, causing excessive dehydration. I must drink more water after every session," walked to a large water vat nearby, grabbed the ladle, and drank three ladlefuls in one go before he finally felt comfortable.

After this period of training, had grasped the underlying principles of the Divine Art of the Tiger Form.

"If lifting stone locks and rolling iron balls are considered coarse training for muscles and bones in the macroscopic sense," mused to himself, "then this Divine Art of the Tiger Form is microscopic training! It appears as if I am just lying on the ground with little change, but in reality, it relies on Inner Strength, breathing, and force transmission to stimulate the organs, muscle fibers, and bone cells, causing them to improve. In my past life's modern society, I heard some sprinters used electromagnetic techniques to stimulate muscle growth. However, the effects of those scientists' electromagnetic stimulation are far inferior to my Divine Art of the Tiger Form."

Electromagnetic stimulation in his past life was still in its nascent research stages, offering only a slight effect for relaxation, regulation, and promoting muscle enhancement. Moreover, those instruments were extremely expensive.

"But the same stimulus, when done frequently, yields diminishing returns... At a certain point, this kind of stimulation will have no effect at all," understood this clearly. It was like drinking alcohol: the first time you drink, it's easiest to get drunk, and your tolerance builds easily; later on, your tolerance increases further.

But eventually, you hit your limit, and as you age, your tolerance might even decline.

It was the same principle: the Divine Art of the Tiger Form could rapidly elevate 's physical fitness to a brand-new height. But once that height was reached, continuing to rely on the Divine Art of the Tiger Form would no longer produce further gains. In fact, as his body aged, his physical fitness would decline.

"I've been practicing this Divine Art of the Tiger Form for a month now. While I can no longer perceive the magnitude of improvement with each session, my physical fitness is still increasing very slowly," realized. Practicing the Divine Art of the Tiger Form for a year or so would render it almost useless. "However, the progress made in this short month equates to the progress I made over the last two or three years!"

was overjoyed.

From age ten to sixteen—those six years had endowed with immense strength exceeding one hundred thousand catties, making him almost godlike. Yet, this single month of training had increased his strength by nearly fifty percent on top of that existing limit. The higher the ascent, the harder it becomes; to gain fifty percent more strength above the limit in just one month was undeniable proof of the miracle inherent in Internal Martial Arts passed down for over a thousand years.

The current represented the zenith of Internal Martial Arts!

The pinnacle that Internal Martial Arts could reach when the world's spiritual energy was abundant in ancient times!

He was the unparalleled, greatest expert in the history of Internal Martial Arts.

clenched his fist and exerted a slight force in his arm. His seemingly ordinary arm instantly showed bulging veins, resembling tightly wound steel cables, brimming with boundless, immense power: "As of today, I have reached the most ultimate state in the history of my Internal Martial Arts! I truly wish to see just how formidable the experts across the Nine Provinces are."

"However... I still have one thing to attend to right now!"

smiled, "Six years. I have pondered the Bihan Pool for six years, diving in every month, but never reaching the bottom even once. This time, it should be close." He looked up at the sky, which was already growing dark. "Tomorrow. I'll head into the mountains first thing tomorrow morning to explore the bottom of the Bihan Pool again!"