Outer Body, Inner Embryo, Perfected Unity

After paying the fee came the registration of his name, age, place of origin, and other information.

After looking it over, the Short-Garbed Youth took out an iron token, directly carved Li Xijun's name into it with his finger, and handed it to him.

After the Braided Little Girl called out, "Senior Brother Yu, a new junior brother has arrived,"

a young man who looked to be in his early twenties leaped out from the rear courtyard of the Martial Hall Main Residence, crossing dozens of meters and landing before Li Xijun like a great bird spreading its wings.

"Congratulations on joining our Life-Slaying Martial Hall, Junior Brother. I am Yu Xiangyang, Master's personal disciple. Just call me Senior Brother Yu."

Senior Brother Yu spoke with considerable enthusiasm, though his broad grin made him look a little simple-minded.

Li Xijun knew that both the Short-Garbed Youth and Senior Brother Yu were displaying the strength and heritage of the martial hall to him, an "Inner Disciple" who had paid a hefty sum of silver. He was quite satisfied with it.

"Li Xijun greets Senior Brother Yu."

"No need for formalities, Junior Brother Li. I'll first show you around the martial hall, then take you to your residence."

With that, Yu Xiangyang took the initiative to lead Li Xijun around places such as the martial hall cafeteria before finally bringing him to a Small Courtyard with a pleasant environment.

"Senior Brother Zhou should have told you about the treatment for Inner Disciples."

"For the next three months, I will be teaching you martial arts cultivation. Feel free to make any requests or ask any questions."

Senior Brother Yu's attitude was quite kind.

Since he had already spent the money, Li Xijun naturally did not stand on ceremony. He began asking in detail about martial arts knowledge and cultivation methods for the Skin and Flesh, Tendons and Bones, and Viscera Refinement Realms.

"The first three stages of martial arts are not actually difficult. Put plainly, you use the cultivation methods of the major martial halls to stimulate your blood essence and refine yourself fiercely!"

"Refine the skin, flesh, tendons, and bones to their limits, and you will qualify for Viscera Refining."

"However, skin and flesh are one, while tendons and bones are hard to separate, so they are divided into the Skin and Flesh Realm and the Tendons and Bones Realm."

"When your skin is refined to be as tough as cowhide, able to deflect the force of punches and kicks; when you possess the strength of an ox and can easily lift seven or eight hundred jin stone locks, then the Skin and Flesh Realm is complete."

"When your tendons are refined to be as tough as pythons, capable of stretching and contracting; when your bones are like forged iron, while your skin and flesh have advanced to seem as though they were cast from molten iron, leaving not the slightest mark from bows, crossbows, blades, or swords; when your strength reaches sixteen or seventeen hundred jin, then the Tendons and Bones Realm is complete."

"As for Viscera Refining..."

When he reached this stage, Yu Xiangyang paused before continuing,

"To cultivate it, you must first bring the previous two realms to Greater Mastery, and you must also possess the martial hall's Unique Secret Art before you can 'refine' them. If ordinary people dare act recklessly, they may suffer damaged internal organs and lifelong illness; at worst, they will die on the spot."

"You are still some distance from that realm, Junior Brother. Even once you reach it, an Inner Disciple must spend eight hundred taels to have a Viscera Refinement Senior Brother personally guide their Viscera Refining. You cannot be off by even the slightest fraction in this realm."

Li Xijun listened thoughtfully.

Judging solely by strength, Greater Skin and Flesh Refinement and Greater Bone and Tendon Refinement seemed to correspond to Blood Essence Levels four to five and eight to nine.

It seemed that the systems of the two worlds were similar in their first two realms.

However, the foundational cultivation method stimulated the entire body, cultivating the whole Physical Body at once. Even the internal organs received a slight stimulating effect.

Its focus was on raising one's blood essence to Level 9, allowing one to cultivate advanced methods sooner, absorb the spiritual energy of the outside world, and become a Mortal Shedding martial artist.

But this world's martial arts system had no Spiritual Power. Its focus was on tempering every part of the Physical Body to the utmost limit.

Thus, skin and flesh, tendons and bones were cultivated in two separate stages. During cultivation, one even had to consume blood essence and "refine" oneself in an extremely violent manner to raise one's strength to the limit.

And once martial artists of this world had refined their skin, flesh, tendons, and bones to the utmost limit,

they could only seek inward, naturally developing a system of Viscera Refining that used extremely dangerous methods to "refine" all five viscera and six viscera to the utmost limit.

And they had absurdly succeeded!

Yu Xiangyang continued,

"The Viscera Refinement Realm is a major threshold for martial artists. Once you cross it, you surpass the mundane world. Your Physical Body reaches Perfected Unity, Inner Breath arises on its own, and you are enough to rival cultivators of the Sitting in Oblivion Realm. You gain Juren Status; even if you kill someone, you need not pay with your life, only compensate with money."

"You should not think so far ahead, Junior Brother. Focus on cultivating the first two realms properly."

As the one-on-one instructor assigned by the martial hall, Senior Brother Yu's words were indeed well-intentioned and sincere.

But Li Xijun had only one thought in his mind.

Perfected Unity!

After Federation Martial Arts practitioners at Blood Essence Level 9 cultivated advanced methods and absorbed Spiritual Power, they became Mortal Shedding martial artists.

What was Mortal Shedding?

It meant shedding one's mortal form and remaking one's bones. Starting from a human Physical Body with limits, one absorbed Spiritual Power and Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures from the Mythical World to achieve a leap in the essence of life, shed the mortal flesh, and evolve into an existence whose Physical Body strength rivaled mythical creatures. That was Mortal Shedding!

Thus, the second realm of martial arts, the Mortal Shedding Realm, was divided into three steps:

Outer Body, Inner Embryo, Perfected Unity.

From outside to inside, Spiritual Power was cultivated, absorbed, purified, and infused into the martial artist's Physical Body.

When the skin, muscles, fascia, and bones absorbed Spiritual Power, evolved, and underwent transformation, that was the Outer Body.

When the five viscera and six viscera, bone marrow, brain marrow, and other deepest parts of the human body were infused with Spiritual Power and evolved, that was the Inner Embryo.

After completing these two steps, unifying the inner and outer Physical Body transformed by Spiritual Power into one whole was Perfected Unity, representing the completion of Mortal Shedding.

He had never expected this world's martial arts to achieve this in the Viscera Refinement Realm.

This meant that if he completed Viscera Refining during his final year of high school,

then not only could he enter a top Martial Arts University like the Imperial Capital Two Heavens in the College Entrance Exam, he could also become the fastest-advancing and strongest number one in the Mortal Shedding Realm at university!

One had to know that university was the focus of the Ten-Year Talent Cultivation Program. Those who ranked highly there would receive cultivation resources as rewards that even Outer Scenery Experts would envy.

This Da Sheng World is truly a treasure trove!

At first, when I saw that the strongest beings in this world were all powerful existences of madness, corruption, and distortion, I thought this world's cultivation system would offer little to gain.

I never expected that precisely because of the madness and filth outside, the seekers of the Dao on the Eastern Continent—one focused on the Physical Body, the other on the divine soul—would both create such astonishing systems.

By comparison, although Federation Martial Arts has only developed for over 180 years and possesses powerful top-tier combat strength, it truly falls short of this world when it comes to developing the human Physical Body and divine soul in the foundational realms.

But that works out perfectly for me!

With that thought, Li Xijun's fighting spirit immediately surged.

"Senior Brother Yu, time is of the essence. Teach me martial arts now!"

Yu Xiangyang naturally had no idea what Li Xijun was thinking. He merely assumed that Li Xijun had been inspired by the social status of a Martial Graduate.

Thus, he no longer hesitated and pulled a secret manual, a Medicine Packet, and a Porcelain Bottle from his robes.

"I can see that you are full of vigor, so I assume you practiced some of those so-called scientific Western training methods abroad, leaving your blood essence quite abundant. With a Medicinal Bath and powerful medicine, if your talent is a little better, you should be able to reach Greater Skin and Flesh Refinement within a month."