Body Tempering

After leaving the External Affairs Hall, Zhang Tie moved like the wind without pausing for even a moment. He even unconsciously used the Wind Riding Art as he sped toward the Pill Repository.

In less than the time it took to drink a cup of tea, he arrived before the Pill Repository.

Looking up at the three gilded characters, "Pill Repository," hanging high above him, Zhang Tie took a deep breath and stepped inside.

The moment he entered, he headed straight for an Outer Sect disciple at the counter. "Excuse me, Senior Brother, I'd like to enter the Pill Repository to read cultivation techniques. How are the fees charged?"

This senior brother had grizzled hair, swordlike brows, a high nose that lent him an air of resolve, and tightly pressed thin lips, making him seem difficult to approach.

"Give me your identity token. Outer Sect disciples may only enter the first floor. One Low-grade Spirit Stone for two hours, with payment settled when you leave.

"If you wish to choose a particular cultivation technique, thirty Low-grade Spirit Stones will get you a copied manual." The senior brother slightly raised his eyelids, glanced at Zhang Tie, then lowered his head again as he spoke coldly.

Zhang Tie did not waste any time. He quickly handed over his identity token, then turned and entered the first floor of the Pill Repository.

The Pill Repository was truly astonishingly large, more than thirty times the size of Zhang Tie's residence. Its books were dazzlingly numerous, far too many to count.

There were sections for the five-element Spells, movement techniques, auxiliary Spells, cultivation knowledge, travel journals and anecdotes, and more.

Without further hesitation, Zhang Tie first headed to the cultivation knowledge section and began reading voraciously.

Time slipped quietly away, and before Zhang Tie realized it, he had remained in the Pill Repository until noon the next day.

During that time, he immersed himself in the ocean of knowledge and forgot everything outside. In the end, he exchanged for a copied cultivation manual. Including his reading time, he paid a total of thirty-eight Low-grade Spirit Stones before hurrying back to his residence.

Zhang Tie sat cross-legged on his bed, his eyes slightly closed as he began recalling what he had gained over the past day and night.

On the path of Immortal Cultivation, aside from conventional cultivation methods, Zhang Tie had truly found a method that might suit him: Body Refining.

The traditional path of cultivation involved absorbing Spiritual Qi into the dantian, then transforming qi into liquid to achieve Foundation Establishment, followed by transforming liquid into solid to become a Core Formation expert. In the end, its purpose was to gradually cause Spiritual Qi within the body to undergo a qualitative transformation through quantitative accumulation.

The methods of Body Refining, however, took a different path and were based on the cultivation methods of demonic beasts.

This method focused on cultivating the physical body, nourishing and tempering the flesh with Spiritual Qi so that it contained immense spiritual power, thereby gradually achieving a leap from quantitative change to qualitative transformation.

The realms of Body Refining were also clearly divided into Body Tempering, Vein Forging, Aperture Opening, and Divine Strength, corresponding respectively to Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, and Nascent Soul.

There were many Body Refining systems. Some Body Refining techniques continuously stimulated the body from the outside, then used spiritual medicine to nourish it and push the flesh to its limits.

Some techniques refined magical artifacts and treasures into one's body. The more powerful the treasures refined into the body, the stronger the flesh became. Others achieved major breakthroughs in the physical body by grafting, merging, and coexisting with demonic beasts.

Zhang Tie had also read a legend in a collection of miscellaneous notes. It said that there had once been an Immortal Cultivator with five-element Spiritual Roots and extremely poor aptitude.

Yet in order to cultivate a Body Refining technique, he forcibly refined magical artifacts into his body. This expert possessed remarkable perseverance and spent forty years refining five magical artifacts into his body.

The result was astonishing defense and boundless strength. He had no rivals below the Core Formation Realm, and even Core Formation experts would not find it easy to kill him.

However, due to the flaws in his technique, this expert's lifespan ended when he was only in his nineties, and he died in bitter depression.

Therefore, one had to choose a suitable Body Refining technique and could not merely pursue power while neglecting everything else.

There were countless cultivation techniques, but they all possessed fatal flaws. Some had extremely low limits, some only increased defense and strength without extending one's lifespan, while others could easily drive a person mad and make them lose consciousness.

Thus, finding a technique suited to oneself was of utmost importance.

Qi Refining and Body Refining each had their own strengths.

Qi Refiners could use magical treasures and the Wind Riding Art. Golden Core experts could even soar through the skies alone without relying on external objects, while Sword Cultivators could take an enemy's head from a thousand yards away.

Body temperers, on the other hand, mainly relied on their powerful physical bodies. They could advance to attack and retreat to defend, and their bodies were their most reliable magical treasures.

But the disadvantages were also obvious. Cultivation was difficult and required a great deal of time, as well as numerous spiritual medicines to nourish the body. At the early realms, if the enemy was too far away, one could easily become a target and be restrained by the opponent. Only at close range could they display their advantages, and their combat methods were relatively limited.

Although Body Refining truly had many drawbacks, Zhang Tie still wanted to give it a try. After all, his Spiritual Root aptitude was far too poor. He could not simply give up on himself and wait to die.

Thus, Zhang Tie carefully selected a Body Refining technique in the Pill Repository. It was called the "Nine Revolutions Annihilating Immortal Body," also known as the "Nine Revolutions Undying Body." Judging by the name alone, it was clearly created by some expert who loved to boast.

The core principle of this technique was that if Body Refining was to continuously grow stronger, one had to possess a powerful bloodline like the demon race. The stronger the bloodline, the stronger the physical body.

Thus, one needed to continuously refine powerful bloodlines into oneself, gradually incorporating them to make the body increasingly stronger.

Its drawback, however, was that if one was even slightly careless and failed to control the strength or quantity of the bloodlines being refined, one would explode and die.

The reason it was named the "Nine Revolutions Annihilating Immortal Body" or the "Nine Revolutions Undying Body" was not because its creator had cultivated it to a realm where he could slaughter immortals or attain an undying body, but because he had theorized that—

If one could raise one's physical body to an extremely powerful level through the first eight revolutions, then refine the bloodline of divine beasts such as a True Dragon, True Phoenix, Baxia, or Vermilion Bird during the ninth revolution, one could not only fulfill the grand ambition of slaying immortals but also bring the body's defense to its ultimate limit.

The expert who created this technique was a Nascent Soul cultivator.

Because he had no hope of breaking through to later realms, he researched and created it in his spare time. Before his death, he had only cultivated it to the third revolution, equivalent to the Aperture Opening Realm.

The reason Zhang Tie chose this technique was not because it was as powerful as it claimed, but because demon blood was relatively easy to obtain and fairly inexpensive.

He had never planned to search for the bloodlines of True Dragons or True Phoenixes. Ordinary demonic beast bloodlines would be enough. If the quality was insufficient, he could simply make up for it with quantity.

At that thought, Zhang Tie's previously gloomy mood immediately lightened considerably.

Zhang Tie got out of bed and pushed open the door. It was already deep into the night, and the sky was filled with stars as far as the eye could see.

Zhang Tie gazed at the sky, his eyes growing ever more resolute. Now that I, Zhang Tie, have been given the chance to pursue Immortal Cultivation, I must not let this opportunity down. Even if the road is rough, I will press forward with all my strength.

Suddenly, he thought of Han Kid, who was determined to become a great martial arts hero. If he finds out that even I can cultivate immortality, won't he be jealous to death? At that thought, Zhang Tie could not help but grin foolishly.