Recalling this, a knowing smile involuntarily touched Elara Stonefield's lips.
In the nearly half-year she and Tyg had spent together, because their temperaments were quite compatible and their backgrounds rather similar, they had naturally become close friends who shared everything and supported each other.
Elara slowly uncrossed her legs and reached out to gently rub her calves. Holding a specific posture for an extended period for meditation and energy guidance had made her legs feel somewhat numb, and the energy flow within her body seemed a bit impeded as a result.
She carefully rubbed them a few more times until she felt the sensation in her legs fully return. Only then did Elara stand up from the simple padded mat that served as her meditation cushion. She habitually patted off some dust from her clothes and then pushed open the heavy stone chamber door and walked out.
Looking back at the simple stone room she usually used for cultivation, a slightly self-mocking, bitter smile touched Elara's lips.
This so-called meditation chamber had been entirely hollowed out from the incredibly hard granite mountainside. The stone slab serving as its door was meticulously crafted from a single massive bluestone, exceptionally thick and heavy. If an ordinary person wanted to force their way in from the outside, they would likely have to hack away relentlessly for several hours with a mountain-cleaving battle-axe; otherwise, they could forget about achieving their goal.
A cultivation chamber of such sturdy construction and secluded environment, even within the entire Stonefist Outpost, was not something that even the "Hall of Seven Arts" disciples, considered core elites, could casually possess, let alone anyone else besides the Grand Marshal, members of the Council of Elders, and the heads of various halls, who held certain status. These special stone rooms were built specifically for those cultivating profound inner energy arts or conducting precise magical experiments. Their main purpose was to prevent any external interference during critical moments of cultivation or experimentation, thereby avoiding dangerous situations like energy run-amok or backlash against oneself—colloquially known as "mana backlash" or "spiritual derangement." Elara truly didn't know what methods Physician Morus had used to persuade those usually stubborn elders in the Outpost to agree to carve out such a high-grade stone room for her on the hard mountain wall within Quietstream Valley, a chamber that ordinary apprentices could never hope to use.
Once this special stone chamber was completed, Physician Morus personally designated it for Elara's sole use. This sudden decision had even left Elara herself feeling somewhat overwhelmed by the favor at the time. She truly couldn't understand why Physician Morus was treating her, a newly accepted disciple, so exceptionally well! From the day she officially became his disciple, Physician Morus had her take several different types of special pills she couldn't name almost every day. He also frequently used strange medicinal herbs she had never heard of to brew dark, thick decoctions for her to soak her entire body in. Although Elara herself didn't know the names of these medicines or their specific functions, whenever she saw the usually expressionless, imperturbable face of Physician Morus betray an undeniable look of pained reluctance when he took out these medicines for her use, she could roughly understand that the preciousness of these medicines was far beyond ordinary.
Evidently, this external medicinal assistance had played a quite significant role. With the help of these precious medicines, Elara's speed in cultivating the nameless incantation had noticeably increased. Not long ago, she had finally successfully broken through the first layer's bottleneck, barely managing to complete the cultivation of the first layer of this nameless incantation.
However, at that critical moment of breaking the bottleneck and attempting to advance her realm, several of her more fragile magical conduits, unable to withstand the violent surge of energy, had nearly ruptured on the spot, causing her to suffer an internal injury that was neither too light nor too severe. Thanks to Physician Morus's superb medical skills, the fact that her damaged magical conduits themselves weren't too severely injured, and Morus unsparingly using many precious and highly effective healing medicines on her, she managed to avoid any lasting ill-effects.
After Elara was injured that time, the level of tension and concern Physician Morus displayed surpassed even Elara's own. Throughout the entire treatment and recovery process, he had seemed restless and had lost his appetite. Only after personally seeing Elara's injuries completely heal did he let out a long sigh, as if a heavy burden had been lifted.
These various abnormal behaviors from Physician Morus had far exceeded the proper affection and boundaries between an ordinary master and disciple, causing an inexplicable sense of unease and apprehension to rise in Elara's heart. If Elara hadn't known for certain that, apart from her Uncle Hobbes, no one else in her Stonefield family had ever left their impoverished and remote mountain gully, she might have almost suspected that this mysterious Physician Morus was some distant relative of her family she had never met.
After walking out of the stone chamber, Elara contentedly stretched her stiff limbs and then walked at an unhurried pace towards the small hut where she usually lived. Since officially becoming Physician Morus's inner chamber disciple, Elara and Tyg had moved out of the simple, cramped hut they had previously shared. Now, they each had their own small wooden hut for their independent use.
As she passed Tyg's hut, Elara casually glanced inside. Sure enough, just as she had expected, Tyg was not in his room at the moment. He had probably gone to the base of the massive waterfall at the foot of Crimsonfall Spire to diligently cultivate his unique technique.
Since officially becoming Physician Morus's inner chamber disciple, Morus still only had Elara concentrate on cultivating the nameless incantation, without any mention of teaching her any other offensive or defensive martial arts or magic. However, perhaps to compensate or console her, Morus was unreserved in his instruction of medical arts, one might even say he taught her all he knew, frequently personally guiding her through complex medical principles and potion-making techniques. Physician Morus answered any questions Elara had about medical arts patiently and in detail, ensuring she understood to her satisfaction. Furthermore, he granted Elara permission to freely peruse and study all the precious books and ancient scrolls related to medicine and pharmacology in his study.
As for Tyg, Physician Morus, true to what he had said during the assessment, had taught him a different, special technique said to be very practical but also exceptionally arduous to cultivate.
The technique Tyg cultivated sounded very peculiar. According to Physician Morus, it was an extremely rare and long-lost ancient body tempering art called "Might of the Stonehide." Physician Morus claimed that this art was rarely seen on the continent of Aethelgard today. Many cultivators had not even heard its name, let alone would anyone actually practice it.
Unlike the common martial arts or magic widely circulated on the continent now, the cultivation process for most techniques usually progressed from easy to difficult, step by step. Typically, the higher the level of cultivation, the greater the difficulty, and the effort and hard work required would increase exponentially. This peculiar technique called "Might of the Stonehide" was divided into nine different layers. The first three layers were relatively easy to cultivate, their difficulty not much different from ordinary body tempering techniques. However, once cultivation reached the fourth layer, the difficulty would suddenly increase dramatically, becoming exceptionally arduous. Moreover, in the process of advancing to higher layers, the cultivator needed to endure immense, unimaginable pain and cruel torment. Many who had previously attempted to cultivate this art had to give up midway because they couldn't bear the inhuman, intense pain, and their cultivation stagnated thereafter, making further progress nearly impossible. Not to mention trying to cultivate to the fifth or sixth layer; the pain endured then would be several times greater than before, absolutely unbearable for an ordinary person.
However, once this technique successfully broke through the bottleneck of the sixth layer and reached the seventh layer, the subsequent cultivation path would become smooth and unobstructed, with almost no insurmountable obstacles. Yet, even then, the cultivator would still have fixed days each month when they had to endure the repeated torment of that intense pain, as if dying and coming back to life.
All these harsh conditions and terrifying side effects made those who originally wanted to try cultivating this art shrink back in fear, which was the main reason why this powerful ancient art was now almost completely lost.
Of course, since this art was so peculiar and difficult to cultivate, its power, when cultivated to a profound level, was indeed quite astonishing and world-shaking. It was said that someone who successfully cultivated this "Might of the Stonehide" to the ninth-layer Great Perfection realm would have their physical body become like an invisible, sturdy suit of precious armor, reaching a state where ordinary swords and sabers could hardly injure it, and common water and fire could not invade it. Not to mention ordinary punches and kicks; even exceptionally sharp precious sabers and swords would find it difficult to inflict fatal wounds.
Even more enviable was that after cultivating this art, even an ordinary person with an originally weak body would gradually possess terrifying strength like that of an ancient behemoth as their cultivation progressed. If one could cultivate to a high layer, their strength would become infinitely vast, even capable of fighting ferocious wolves bare-handed and tearing apart savage tigers and leopards, becoming extremely formidable.
This art made those who knew its secrets feel both fear and trepidation, yet also unable to resist a sense of yearning and covetousness. Unfortunately, apart from the mysterious master who was said to have created this art, since ancient times, there had never been a second person who could truly cultivate this art to the legendary ninth-layer Great Perfection realm. Legend had it that the mysterious master who created this art was an extraordinary person born without any sensation of pain, and it was precisely because of this that he was able to create such an extreme and cruel body tempering art and bring its power to its fullest, ultimate expression.
Although Physician Morus had told Tyg all the pros and cons of this "Might of the Stonehide" technique in detail, Tyg at that time had no personal experience or understanding of the terrifying pain that might come with cultivating this art, so naturally, he didn't take it too seriously. He was merely enticed by the astonishing power of the "Might of the Stonehide" after successful cultivation and the prospect of gaining great strength, so he agreed without hesitation, expressing his willingness to cultivate this art. Furthermore, this ancient body tempering art indeed seemed to be very compatible with his physique. After starting cultivation, Tyg had successfully cultivated it to the peak of the first layer in just a short two months, his progress nothing short of meteoric.
Recently, in order to break through the bottleneck of the first layer of "Might of the Stonehide" and smoothly enter the second layer's cultivation as soon as possible, Tyg, under Physician Morus's suggestion, would unfailingly go to the foot of a massive waterfall, dozens of yards high, at the base of Crimsonfall Spire every afternoon. There, he would endure the immense impact force of the huge torrent of water cascading from above to carry out his arduous cultivation.
According to Tyg himself, this method of cultivating with the help of immense external pressure was quite miraculously effective. He felt as if he was separated from the second layer by only a thin sheet of window paper, and it seemed that with just a little more effort, he could successfully break through the bottleneck that had been troubling him for days.