"One room for one day, please."
Wade booked an inn that didn't belong to anyone from his clan or rival powers. He wanted to be cautious since he couldn't afford anything to get out.
"Don't disturb me."
He grabbed the keys and swiftly ran up the stairs to the top floor, annoying some people in the process.
Wade barged into the room and locked all the windows and made sure that the walls were thick enough.
'Just to be sure, I have to use it…'
A pained expression appeared on his face as he pulled out a talisman with the words 'Sound Isolation' on it.
He slapped it on the floor and invisible ripples spread through the room, completely filling every crevasse.
'I hope this book is worth it.'
He quickly took off his black martial robe and neatly folded it on the shelf. Then, he sat naked at the center of the big bed and opened the book.
'Breathing of Devourer.'
'Exercises of Devourer.'
'Practise both simultaneously.'
Those were the first words he saw. There was no description or even a brief history of the book.
'Every historically famous cultivator I know made sure that their legacy is remembered by inking their names and origins with big letters right on the first page.'
'What kind of book is it that the author didn't bother penning their name or is there a greater reason behind this?'
Wade moved on to the next page and kept reading through its entirety. He became confused after reading it whole.
'Many cultivation arts emphasize micromanaging and the importance of focusing on one thing before moving on to the next. Yet, here it is required to simultaneously perform strenuous on both body and mind actions.'
Nevertheless, he decided to give it a try first and jumped off the bed. He first started with slow breaths while taking calculated steps, then he slowly increased the pace and the depth of his breaths.
He kept accelerating and adding new elements. The deep breaths quickly became shallow and calculated steps became an erratic mess. However, there was strange harmony in this, the one that defied the natural order.
'Yeah! I am doing it!'
Wade felt his body become lighter and his mind sharper, but it only took one wrong step and he fell face-first onto the hardwood floor.
'Damn it.'
He swiftly jumped on his feet and started the routine from the beginning. He wasn't willing to give up so easily!
———
After hours of trying to get it right, Wade finally did a complete full routine!
His body felt powerful and his mind energetic like never before.
'I feel like doing this a thousand more times.'
Letting the intrusive thoughts guide him, Wade commenced the intensive routine again.
After the first completion, he was surprised to find that he did all the following rounds perfectly and without mistakes.
'How is that possible?!'
Wade wondered while spinning in the air.
'Doing this feels so empowering!'
———
The next morning.
The receptionist had come to inform him about the time expiry, but instead got a week's worth of copper coins thrown straight into his face, bruising his cheeks.
However, the receptionist didn't make a scene out of this, guessing that he was likely dealing with a young master here.
Meanwhile, Wade hadn't broken the routine since yesterday afternoon. He didn't feel hunger or thirst. His body seemed to turn into a pit of endless energy.
———
Days passed, eventually totalling into a week of stay in the inn.
All this time, Wade hadn't stopped at all. His body felt no tension or exhaustion. His mind tempted him to complete one more round.
At this point, he had entered a trance, living to only perform those exercises. However, he hadn't lost his awareness even for a moment. Instead, his eyes exuded ferocious sharpness, like a hunter preying on the entire creation.
Eventually, something different happened after he completed his nine hundred ninety ninth round.
Popping sounds came from within his body, intense pain followed after, but he refused to break his state of perfect equilibrium.
He kept going, performing the erratic and powerful movements as they shook the air. His rock-hard muscles glistered under the layers of sweat, his veins snaked through his entire body, pumping every single cell with power.
The sight was gory, his shoulders snapped out of the sockets, only to set back in with a louder boom.
His skin peeled off layer by layer. His body seemed to grow taller and stronger.
The previously toned martial frame became ripped to the extreme as a black tar-like substance started to secrete out of every inch of his body.
It flew everywhere, soaking into the hardwood and the fine cotton of the bedsheets. The black liquid easily seared through them, leaving only charred holes.
'My body heat has become too high.'
Wade looked at his steaming body, the room was quickly becoming foggy, giving Wade's figure a majestic silhouette.
'I hope I won't die from dehydration.'
He found himself joking, even while his body was rearranging itself on a structural level.
Once he completed the thousand's round, his body stopped reforming and Wade finally felt his mind become free from thoughts of endless training.
'This room is a mess...'
The topmost room of the inn had become unrecognizable, charred holes were everywhere. The place smelled like a horse stable and the culprit was standing there naked, his muscles bulging, with his skin crystal clear as if he had undergone plastic surgery.
"I feel powerful."
Wade started suspecting that he had broken through and entered the First Stage of the Body Refinement Realm.
Yet, he hadn't practiced by the usual method. He couldn't even feel the flow of Qi!
"That must be something else. Maybe my body just cleaned itself out, releasing its raw mortal potential."
However, Wade's thoughts were soon cut short as a loud voice boomed outside.
"Wade Ren! Get your ass out here and face me!"
Wade frowned, the voice was too familiar to him. He looked out of the window to see a group of ten people blocking the inn entrance.
Their leader was someone who shared his surname, yet didn't look like him one bit.
Gong Ren had bronze, glistening skin and a weirdly huge body. His hair stood like porcupine spikes, giving him a wild aura.
Moreover, he was someone who had become a cultivator a year ago. Thus, wielding inhuman strength.
'He always spoke to me respectfully. Yet, the moment the news of me being a 'waste' spread out he was the first to track me down. How predictable, huh.'
Wade turned around and swiftly put on his black martial robe. The previously flowing robe had suddenly become tight on him.
'Time to beat some goons.'