Chapter 425: Second Layer of the Firmament Body Tempering Art
The golden dart was oddly fast, reaching Mach 4. Furthermore, it carried an overwhelming force, containing an earth-shattering aura.
It did not feel like a dart, but a sword that could pierce through the nine heavens.
Everywhere it passed, it pierced the air like paper, leaving behind a long tear.
Xiao Chen felt a dangerous aura. He quickly activated the black-winged Blood Flame Eagles on the Blood Flame Shoes, and his speed instantly reached Mach 4 as he dodged to the side.
“Xiu!”
A body quickly descended, chasing the dart. Then, he grabbed the golden dart as well as the cultivator in green before rushing back with lightning speed.
Xiao Chen was about to pursue them when he felt the auras of a few half-step Martial Monarchs from the city. They were heading for him, moving swiftly.
Thinking about it, the city management had probably sensed the fight and were coming to investigate.
Not wanting to incur more trouble, Xiao Chen quickly left in another direction.
“Qin Pengyu, why did you not help me to kill him?!” the cultivator in green questioned his companion after his rescue.
The cultivator called Qin Pengyu fiddled with the golden dart in his hand and smiled faintly, “We should go back first. I can only use my Golden Flash once a day. Furthermore, the City Lord Residence’s people will arrive soon. Let’s not speak about that now. Have you verified that it is him yet?”
The cultivator nodded and said, “I have verified it. I saw him take out the peak high-rank Blood Demon’s Demon Core.”
When Qin Pengyu heard the words ‘peak high-rank Blood Demon’s Demon Core,’ greed flashed in his eyes. He said, “That is good. Watch him for now. After he leaves the city, we will attack. You can use the time to recuperate as well.”
“Give me one month. When I have comprehended my state of water to the limit, I will kill this brat personally,” the cultivator in green viciously declared.
---
In Heavenly Spring City, Xiao Chen spent some Inferior Grade Spirit Stones and found a courtyard catered for cultivators.
Aside from the bedroom, this kind of courtyard also had a dedicated cultivation room, a dueling ground for practicing Martial Techniques, and all sorts of equipment for tempering the body. One could even hire a training partner.
Xiao Chen took out the Firmament Body Tempering Art while in the cultivation room. His strength had finally reached 150,000 kilograms of force. Now that he had dealt with the mess in his Universe Ring, it was time to cultivate this Firmament Body Tempering Art.
As for news about the Ancient Desolate Tower, Xiao Chen managed to glean enough information to have a rough idea from the cultivator in green garments.
Without a doubt, that was a place all geniuses needed to go. Although he did not know how could he gain entry, one of the basic requirements had to be his strength.
Without being strong enough, even if Xiao Chen knew how to get in, he would not pass the examinations.
As for the seventeenth of the next month, the situation at the Clear Spring Inn that Jiang Zimo had mentioned could be something closely related to the Ancient Desolate Tower. Xiao Chen was somewhat interested in checking it out now.
However, before that, the most important thing was to increase his strength. At this moment, Xiao Chen was not confident of defeating Jiang Zimo.
It would be difficult to become stronger by advancing to Medial Grade Martial King in such a short period. This was because Xiao Chen had a much firmer foundation than others.
Compared to other Inferior Grade Martial Kings, most of their Essence was a pool of water. Regular geniuses were a gushing river. As for Xiao Chen, his Essence was like a vast ocean.
Unless Xiao Chen compared himself to a peak genius, very few could surpass him. Relying on only the Heaven Ranked Cultivation Technique, the Purple Thunder Divine Incantation, he had already left many people in the dust.
Furthermore, Xiao Chen had consumed many Spirit Herbs from the herb garden on Qianren Island. This resulted in Xiao Chen possessing far more Essence than others.
All of this made advancing in cultivation realms difficult for Xiao Chen. It was like a large and tall building. The foundations that he had laid were far deeper than others by several times.
To build up to the fifth floor, the time Xiao Chen would have to spend was also far more than others. However, once he achieved the same height, he could contain more people.
Hence, for now, Xiao Chen prepared to focus on tempering his physical body, focusing on cultivating the Firmament Body Tempering Art.
The Firmament Body Tempering Art had a total of twelve layers. The first three layers were the foundation. They focused on strengthening the bones, flesh, and meridians.
The fourth layer would start to increase the Vital Qi in a cultivator’s body. Every three layers represented a major hurdle. Once one surpassed it, their Vital Qi would massively increase.
Xiao Chen closed the Firmament Body Tempering Art secret manual and sat cross-legged on the prayer mat, closing his eyes.
Xiao Chen started to circulate the Vital Qi in his body in the manner described by the Firmament Body Tempering Art. He formally started to cultivate this Heaven Ranked Body Tempering Cultivation Technique.
Essence and Vital Qi were different. There was a common saying; when cultivators did not use their Essence, they used their Vital Qi. In reality, everyone, even regular people who did not cultivate, had Vital Qi. It was just a matter of how much.
However, only those who cultivated Body Tempering Cultivation Techniques could control their own Vital Qi proficiently like Essence, making it move throughout the body to achieve the effects of tempering the body.
Such cultivators could even release their Vital Qi outside their bodies, doing things like splitting mountains, shattering rocks, or flying. Of course, one could only achieve feats like these by reaching a deep level of cultivation.
After three days, Xiao Chen successfully broke through to the Firmament Body Tempering Art’s first layer. All of his joints started crackling, growing more resilient and unbreakable.
At the same time, Xiao Chen’s bones experienced a tremendous change. From the inside to the outside of the bones, everything started wriggling. This felt extremely painful.
It felt like someone jabbed the bones with a needle. For Xiao Chen, it felt like there were thousands of needles stabbing his bones relentlessly.
Xiao Chen clenched his teeth as he did his best to endure this anguish, not letting his mind collapse.
The pain lasted an hour before it slowly ended. Finally, a warmth quickly spread throughout his bones.
That warmth swept away all of the previous pain, making Xiao Chen feel very comfortable. When looking carefully, one would discover that Xiao Chen’s previously delicate body became more robust.
The angles of Xiao Chen’s face were sharp as if his face had been carved of stone. He was exceptionally handsome.
Xiao Chen managed to endure the process. He continued to ride his success and started to cultivate the Firmament Body Tempering Art again, trying to break through to the second layer.
The first layer tempered the bones, and the second tempered blood. ‘Blood’ referred to the blood, flesh, and skin, not blood alone.
As time crawled by, Xiao Chen cultivated through the nights and days. With the Fasting Pill, he did not even have to stop for food.
Time went by in the blink of an eye; another ten days had passed. Finally, Xiao Chen reached the point of almost breaking through to the Firmament Body Tempering Art’s second layer.
The second layer was different from first, the tempering of bones. Tempering the blood and flesh did not involve much pain, but there was an unbearable itch.
All of the muscles attached to his bones squirmed restlessly. This made one feel fidgety and tempted to abandon making the breakthrough.
Xiao Chen’s expression twisted like he was both smiling and scowling at the same time. His flesh looked like countless worms wriggled beneath his skin.
Xiao Chen guarded his mind and did his best to calm down, trying to forget that unbearable itch.
Such a state continued for two hours before it stopped. Xiao Chen had nearly given up.
This feeling was even more unbearable than the gut-wrenching pain from before. No wonder most of the cultivators on the continent were unwilling to cultivate the physical body.
Such torture could cause most cultivators to lose sight of their goals.
Xiao Chen succeeded in breaking through to the second layer. The flesh under his skin experience and tremendous change. However, there did seem to be too many differences on the surface.
The only difference was that the muscle mass of Xiao Chen’s four limbs had increased. This made his previously seemingly delicate figure look more firm.
Next was the third layer. The third layer cultivated the meridians. It was also the most important layer of the foundations.
Meridians were the base of all cultivations. If the meridians were crippled, the cultivator would be crippled. No matter how talented he was, he would not be able to display any of it.
Tempering the meridians would be greatly beneficial to a cultivator. When the meridians became more resilient and broad, one could circulate more Essence and not fear his meridians bloating and breaking.
The might of all Martial Techniques would increase by a level. These were merely just the visible benefits. There were still several benefits that were inconspicuous.
The breakthrough to the third layer was not something one could prepare for and break through in one breath.
Rather, one had to slowly broaden the meridians, using extreme care in every step. One could neither be too impatient or overly cautious.
If one were too impatient, they might injure the meridians, crippling themselves. If one were overly cautious and did too little, the cultivator might not achieve the intended effect, only wasting time.
One had to maintain their focus every moment of the day, exhausting great amounts of their spirit. They could not stop broadening and tempering the meridians.
After half a month, Xiao Chen finally opened his eyes. He appeared exhausted, and his eyes were sunken; there was no spirit left in him.
However, in the depths of Xiao Chen’s eyes, there was an unconcealed joy. After persevering half a month, he finally saw some results.
Xiao Chen finally broke through to the third layer of the Firmament Body Tempering Art. He spent more than twenty days to lay the foundation for the Firmament Body Tempering Art.
What remained was the continuous consolidation of Xiao Chen’s cultivation. Then, he could prepare to break through to the fourth layer at any time.
Although there was a big difference between himself and Bai Lixi, who took one month to cultivate through to the fourth layer and broke through to the fifth layer, Xiao Chen was still satisfied with his progress.
It seems like, with the aid of the Flowing Light Marigold, Xiao Chen’s comprehension abilities had increased significantly. Otherwise, he would have definitely used more then twenty-odd days to cultivate to the third layer successfully.
Xiao Chen stood up with some difficulty. He thought of going out for a walk to recover his spirit. Unexpectedly, he took a single step and fell over.
Xiao Chen struggled to keep his eyes open but eventually lost to his exhaustion. He fell asleep on the floor.
The high-intensity focus for half a month had exhausted more spirit than Xiao Chen expected. Even with his strong Mental Energy, he could not withstand it.
In reality, at this level, Xiao Chen was the only person who would cultivate day and night as he did. Any other cultivator from the same generation could not achieve such a thing.
Xiao Chen slept for two days and two nights before he woke up. By then, he had recovered most of his spirit.
“Rumble...rumble…!”
Xiao Chen was so hungry that his stomach rumbled loudly. Xiao Chen sat on the ground and smiled bitterly, “The effects of the Fasting Pill ended a few days ago. I need a bath and a big meal.”
Xiao Chen got up and walked out of the cultivation room. He arrived at the front yard and shook the bell. Soon a pretty servant girl arrived outside.
An especially strong power ran this courtyard catered to cultivation. They provided all sorts of services. Naturally, food and hot water were not missing from the list.
Of course, there was a condition. One had to spend Spirit Stones. If one spent enough, they could even provide a courtyard with dense Spiritual Energy not inferior to that of the Heavenly Saber Pavilion.