Body Tempering Third Level

Inside the ruined, cluttered room, a young man stared at the Different Fire Seed before him.

With the appearance of this Different Fire Seed, the pressure of ten thousand beasts rushed straight at him.

As he gazed at the Ten Thousand Beast Spirit Fire Seed, which contained a violent and terrifying aura, Lin Yan felt no fear. Instead, excitement rose within him.

After being worn away by the immemorial years of the endless void, the Ten Thousand Beast Spirit Fire no longer possessed the glory and grandeur it had once enjoyed on the Douqi Continent. It had become a tiny Different Fire Seed, as though it could be extinguished at any moment. Only by sensing it closely could one understand the incomparable violence and terror contained within.

But Lin Yan believed that with him, the Different Fire would surely become renowned across the Tianxuan Continent once more!

What Lin Yan needed to do next was successfully refine the Ten Thousand Beast Spirit Fire's Different Fire Seed.

Calling it refinement was not quite accurate. It was more like activation—or ignition.

After all, over the endless years, these Different Fires had dispersed all their energy, leaving behind only their most essential fire seeds. What Lin Yan needed to do was ignite the fire seed, then seek out the energy of heaven and earth to nourish it, restoring it to its peak state.

Activating these Different Fire Seeds was simple. One merely needed to pour battle qi into them. But this was the Tianxuan Continent, so origin power would work as well.

However, Lin Yan was only at the Body Tempering First Level. Origin power would only arise within the body after one reached the Body Tempering Sixth Level and condensed an Origin Power Seed. In other words, Lin Yan could not even ignite the Different Fire Seed right now.

"Am I supposed to give up for now?!"

Lin Yan cried out unwillingly. Although there were not many difficulties between the Body Tempering First Level and the Body Tempering Sixth Level, and many people could quickly pass through them, weak as Lin Yan was, it might still take him several years.

At that thought, Lin Yan frowned. To someone who had been reborn, wasting time was practically wasting life.

Looking at the dim, lifeless Different Fire Seed before him, Lin Yan's brows drew together. He seemed to think of something, then promptly made up his mind.

He raised his right hand and swiftly cut open his right middle finger. Blood dripped from the wound.

He held out the Different Fire Seed with his left hand, and the blood flowing from his right hand fell directly onto it. Under Lin Yan's watchful gaze, drop after drop of blood landed on the Different Fire Seed before melting away, clearly absorbed by it.

After some time passed, Lin Yan, already thin and frail, turned incomparably pale from the massive loss of blood.

Yet the Different Fire Seed still showed no changes. Just as Lin Yan thought it was useless and was disappointedly preparing to give up, a sudden change occurred.

The once dim Different Fire Seed seemed to come back to life from dead ashes, actually beginning to emit flames. Though they were still extremely weak, as if they could be snuffed out at any moment, it had regained its vitality!

Seeing this, Lin Yan's pale face broke into a grin. He had succeeded!

Although the Ten Thousand Beast Spirit Fire was nourished by absorbing magical beast bloodlines, human blood was not entirely useless to it. After consuming a great deal of Lin Yan's blood, it had successfully been activated.

Next, he only needed to find a large amount of magical beast bloodlines or natural resources to nourish it, and the Ten Thousand Beast Spirit Fire could be restored to its peak state.

But before that, Lin Yan looked solemnly at the Different Fire Seed, which brimmed with the majesty of ten thousand beasts. He took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and swallowed it whole.

Swallowing a Different Fire alive would have been utter suicide on the Douqi Continent, but Lin Yan was not afraid in the slightest. For one thing, what he had swallowed was merely a newly activated Different Fire Seed, its energy extremely weak.

For another, Lin Yan and the Different Fire had already formed a soul-coexistence bond even deeper than that of master and servant. Swallowing the Different Fire brought not only no harm, but many benefits.

Lin Yan's teeth chattered continuously. The Different Fire Seed he had just swallowed seemed to transform into scorching magma at that moment, pouring down through his body. Everywhere it passed, unbearable burning pain erupted.

His arms wrapped tightly around his body as he gradually collapsed to the floor, curling up in agony while resisting and enduring the intense pain spreading through him.

Inside the room, a figure rolled painfully across the ground. His suppressed gasps were somewhat hoarse. He was afraid that if he cried out too loudly, he would alert others.

Although Lin Yan was certain that no one on the Tianxuan Continent recognized Different Fires, there was no guarantee that someone might be driven by greed to seize the Different Fire Seed within him. Though that would be difficult, since the Different Fire Seed was now one with him and not easily separated.

That inhuman torment lasted for a full ten minutes or so before gradually fading away.

As the final trace of burning pain dissipated from his body, Lin Yan's trembling gradually calmed. He took several heavy breaths, then lay weakly on the ground.

As he lay flat on his back, streams of scorching yet non-burning heat suddenly seeped from within his body. The instant this heat appeared, it swiftly merged into the bones throughout his body. Vaguely, he felt something enter deep into his bones, producing a faint tingling sensation.

"I broke through! Body Tempering Third Level!"

On the path of cultivation, body refinement came first. Everything began with oneself. The human body was, by nature, one of the most profound and unfathomable things between heaven and earth.

Body Tempering, simply put, meant cultivating the body and gradually strengthening it. In the end, from the outside inward, when the tendons, bones, and marrow within the body had been strengthened to a certain level, a trace of an Origin Power Seed would emerge. Only when an Origin Power Seed naturally appeared within the human body could one truly become a cultivator.

Body Tempering was divided into nine levels. The first three had no especially great effect, merely making one's physical condition and physique somewhat stronger. Only upon reaching the fourth level, Skin Refining, would the benefits of cultivation gradually become apparent. At that level, the skin of the human body would slowly become as hard as wood and stone, while both strength and speed would improve considerably.

The original Lin Yan had remained at the Body Tempering First Level for several years and had already reached the point where he could break through to the second level at any time. Yet under the tempering of the Different Fire, he had directly crossed the second level and broken through to the third.

That was why Lin Yan had been willing to consume so much blood to activate and refine the Different Fire first. The help it provided was simply too great, saving him a tremendous amount of time.

"As expected of a Different Fire. Even a mere fire seed contains extraordinary energy."

Lin Yan wiped the sweat from his face, his brows lifting slightly with his good mood.

With a thought, Lin Yan raised his right hand. A wisp of flame suddenly emerged from his fingertips.

The flame was scarlet-red, with the faint forms of ten thousand beasts appearing within it. Though it looked incomparably weak, if one sensed it carefully, an aura carrying the violent ferocity of the beast race would rush at them!

"As expected of the Ten Thousand Beast Spirit Fire, ranked twenty-second on the Strange Fire Ranking. Even in its Ember Body state, it can still give off such immense pressure."

After refining the Ten Thousand Beast Spirit Fire's Different Fire Seed, Lin Yan also understood the Different Fire's path of growth.

A Different Fire had four stages in its life: Ember Body, Blazing Body, Flowing Fire Body, and Strange Fire Body. They were like the childhood, adolescence, youth, and prime of humans.

Due to the erosion of the immemorial years, even though the Different Fire Seed had been successfully activated by Lin Yan, it could only begin growing from the Ember Body stage. If Lin Yan did not find resources to nourish it in the future, who knew how many years it would take for it to grow into a peak Different Fire.

With the Different Fire's assistance, Lin Yan was filled with confidence for the days ahead.

"A spark can start a prairie fire. Tianxuan Continent, here I come!"