Body Tempering

After Zhang Tie came out of the External Affairs Hall, his figure was like the wind, and he didn't stop for a moment. He even unconsciously used the Wind Riding Art, flying quickly towards the Pill Repository.

In less than the time it takes for a cup of tea to steep, he arrived in front of the Pill Repository.

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

As soon as he entered, he went straight to an outer disciple at the counter and asked, "Excuse me, Senior Brother, I want to read cultivation techniques in the Pill Repository. May I ask how much it costs?"

The Senior Brother had graying hair, sword-like sharp unibrows, a high nose bridge that exuded a sense of determination, and thin lips pressed together, giving him an unapproachable aura.

"Give me your identity token. Outer disciples can only access the first floor of the pavilion. It's one low-grade spirit stone for two hours. Settlement is done upon exiting. If you want to choose a specific cultivation technique, you'll need to pay thirty low-grade spirit stones for a copied version," the Senior Brother said, lifting his eyelids slightly to glance at Zhang Tie before lowering his head again, his voice cold.

Zhang Tie didn't delay. He quickly handed over his identity token to the Senior Brother and then turned to enter the first floor of the Pill Repository.

The Pill Repository was astonishingly large, easily over thirty times the size of Zhang Tie's residence. Inside, the books were dazzling and countless.

There were categories for elemental spells, movement techniques, auxiliary spells, cultivation knowledge, travelogues, and more.

Zhang Tie didn't hesitate and first headed towards the section for cultivation knowledge, then began reading with insatiable hunger.

Time flowed by unnoticed, and Zhang Tie found himself in the Pill Repository until noon the next day.

During this time, he was immersed in the ocean of knowledge, forgetting everything else in the outside world. Finally, he exchanged for a copied cultivation technique. Including the reading time, he paid a total of thirty-eight low-grade spirit stones and then hurried back to his residence.

Zhang Tie sat cross-legged on his bed, his eyes slightly closed, beginning to recall the gains from the past day and night.

On the path of cultivation, besides the conventional methods, Zhang Tie had indeed found a cultivation method that might suit him: Body Cultivation.

The traditional cultivation path involved absorbing spiritual energy into the dantian, then transforming the energy into liquid to complete Foundation Establishment, and subsequently solidifying the liquid to achieve the status of a Core Formation expert. The ultimate goal was to gradually bring about a qualitative change in the spiritual energy within the body through quantitative changes.

Body Cultivation, however, took a different approach, drawing inspiration from the cultivation methods of demonic beasts.

This method focused on cultivating the physical body, nourishing and tempering it with spiritual energy, allowing the body to contain powerful spiritual power, and thus gradually achieving a leap from quantitative to qualitative change.

The Body Cultivation realms were also clearly divided, namely Body Tempering, Meridian Casting, Aperture Opening, and Divine Strength, corresponding to Qi Cultivation, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, and Nascent Soul realms, respectively.

Furthermore, there were numerous Body Cultivation systems. Some Body Cultivation techniques involved continuous external stimulation, aided by the nourishment of spirit medicine, pushing one's physical body to its limits.

Some techniques involved refining magic artifacts and magic treasures into one's own body; the stronger the treasure that could be refined into the body, the more formidable the physical body would become. Other techniques achieved significant breakthroughs in the physical body through grafting and merging with demonic beasts.

Zhang Tie also read a legend in a miscellaneous record about a cultivator with five-element spiritual roots who had extremely poor aptitude.

However, in order to cultivate a Body Cultivation technique, he painstakingly refined magic artifacts into his own body. This powerful individual possessed extraordinary perseverance, taking forty years to refine five magic artifacts into his body.

The result was astonishing defense and boundless strength, making him invincible below the Core Formation realm. Even Core Formation experts found it difficult to defeat him.

It was only later that due to the flaws in the cultivation technique, this powerful individual's lifespan ended at over ninety years, and he died with regret.

Therefore, it is crucial to choose a suitable Body Cultivation technique and not solely pursue power while neglecting other aspects.

While there were many cultivation techniques, they all possessed certain fatal flaws. Either their upper limits were extremely low, they only increased defense and strength without extending lifespan, or they easily drove people mad and caused them to lose consciousness.

Thus, finding a technique that suits oneself is of utmost importance.

Qi Cultivation and Body Cultivation each had their merits.

Qi cultivators could wield magic treasures and fly using artifacts. Core Formation experts could soar through the sky without external aids, and Sword Cultivators could take an enemy's head from a thousand feet away.

Body cultivators primarily relied on their own robust physique, capable of both offense and defense, their bodies serving as their most solid magic treasures.

However, the drawbacks were also quite significant: cultivation was difficult, time-consuming, and required numerous spirit medicines to nourish the body. In the early stages, when facing enemies at a distance, they were easily targeted and constrained, only able to display their advantages at close range, with relatively limited combat methods.

Despite the numerous drawbacks of Body Cultivation, Zhang Tie still wanted to give it a try. After all, his spiritual root aptitude was too inferior; he couldn't just give up and live a life of idleness.

Therefore, Zhang Tie carefully selected a Body Cultivation technique from the Pill Repository. This technique was called "Nine Revolutions Annihilating Immortal Body," also known as "Nine Revolutions Undying Body." Judging by the name alone, it was clear that it was self-created by some boastful expert.

The core idea of this cultivation technique was that for Body Cultivation to continuously become stronger, one must possess a powerful bloodline like that of the Demon Race; the stronger the bloodline, the stronger the physical body.

Thus, one needed to continuously refine powerful bloodlines and merge them into oneself, gradually strengthening the physical body by integrating powerful bloodlines bit by bit.

However, the drawback was that if one was not careful and failed to control the strength or quantity of the bloodline being refined, one would explode and die.

The reason for naming it "Nine Revolutions Annihilating Immortal Body" or "Nine Revolutions Undying Body" was not that the founder of the technique had cultivated to a realm where they could annihilate immortals or achieved an undying body, but rather that they had theoretically deduced.

If one could reach an extremely strong state through the first eight revolutions, the ninth revolution would involve refining the bloodlines of divine beasts such as True Dragons, True Phoenixes, Baxia, or Vermillion Birds, which would not only fulfill the ambition of annihilating immortals but also bring the physical body's defense to its extreme.

The founder of this technique was a Nascent Soul cultivator.

Unable to break through to subsequent realms, he researched and created it in his spare time. Before his death, he had only cultivated to the third revolution, which was equivalent to the Aperture Opening Realm.

The reason Zhang Tie chose this technique was not because of the boasted power described in the cultivation technique, but because demonic blood was relatively easy to obtain and priced affordably.

He had never thought of seeking the bloodline of True Dragons or True Phoenixes; finding the bloodlines of ordinary demonic beasts would suffice. If the quality was insufficient, quantity would make up for it.

As Zhang Tie thought of this, his previously depressed mood instantly lightened.

Getting off the bed, Zhang Tie pushed open his door. It was already late at night, and the sky was filled with countless stars.

Zhang Tie looked at the sky, his gaze becoming increasingly firm. Since he, Zhang Tie, had the opportunity to cultivate, he would definitely not let this chance go to waste. Even if the road ahead was bumpy, he would strive forward with all his might.

Suddenly, he thought of Han, who was determined to become a martial arts master. If that kid knew that he could cultivate, wouldn't he be extremely envious? Thinking of this, Zhang Tie couldn't help but chuckle foolishly.