The wonders of the Polar Ice-Fire Body Forging Art were truly breathtaking.
What made this art unique was that it could temper the entire body in every aspect—blood, spiritual veins, muscles, and bones were all included in its forging.
Shen Fan immersed himself in this grueling cultivation. After a round of pounding, waves of foul stench wafted from his body.
Looking down, he saw that his entire body was covered in black sludge, as though he had just crawled out of a filthy latrine.
"Are these the impurities that have accumulated within my body over the years? There are actually this many!" Shen
Fan was filled with shock. After resting for a moment, he took out a Qi Induction Pill and swallowed it.
Once his spiritual qi had gradually recovered enough to barely support walking, he slowly rose and went to take a bath.
Only Shen Fan himself knew the hardships and difficulties of this round of cultivation.
Recalling the scene from his cultivation just now, he began carefully reviewing every detail.
Though the process had been unbearably painful, its effects were nothing short of astonishing.
"Where did that old bastard get this cultivation art?"
Shen Fan secretly pondered. Thinking about it now, Old Man Duan had probably picked up some random cultivation art from some godforsaken corner and tossed it to him.
After all, to anyone else, this cultivation art was practically trash.
What use was it, no matter how good its effects were?
How many people in this world possessed the talent of dual ice-fire spiritual roots?
Ice and fire dual spiritual roots were naturally conflicting attributes. Without a targeted cultivation art, one could only choose one of the two attributes to cultivate.
Otherwise, under the clash of conflicting attributes, the mild outcome would be disrupted qi and cultivation deviation; the severe outcome would be exploding to death on the spot.
Yet Shen Fan, someone with trash five-element spiritual roots, had miraculously mastered this art with the assistance of the Profound Water Freezing Art.
In Shen Fan's eyes, the Polar Ice-Fire Body Forging Art should never have been a low-grade Yellow-rank cultivation art.
Setting aside the pain it brought during cultivation, its body-forging effects alone qualified it as, at the very least, an Earth-rank cultivation art.
Moreover, Shen Fan discovered that the ice spiritual qi produced each time he cultivated the Profound Water Freezing Art seemed to be exactly enough for one session of cultivating the Polar Ice-Fire Body Forging Art.
These are simply a pair of cultivation arts made by heaven and matched by earth! Shen Fan could not help thinking to himself.
According to the descriptions of body cultivator realms along the path of cultivation, Shen Fan felt that the strength of his physical body had likely reached the Bone Tempering realm.
The path of body cultivation had always been regarded as an inferior Dao Path in the cultivation world.
What did inferior mean?
To put it plainly, it was a choice born of helplessness.
As spell cultivators put it: "Body cultivation? Even dogs wouldn't cultivate that!"
It was not something ordinary people could endure. It was practically torture through the eighteen levels of hell.
By contrast, spell cultivators reached Foundation Establishment and Golden Core with elegance and flair, free and unrestrained.
After enduring eighteen years of hardship and finally reaching an advanced body cultivation realm, a spell cultivator could still cut you down with a single sword.
On the path of body cultivation, one first entered Qi Refining, using qi to refine the physique, thus taking the first step of body cultivation—Copper Skin Iron Bones, also known as the Mortal Body realm.
After all, aside from those second-generation immortals, many who could enter an immortal sect had once been martial arts experts who dominated their corners of the mortal world.
And now, after cultivating the Polar Ice-Fire Body Forging Art, Shen Fan could say with certainty that he had reached the Body Tempering realm of body refinement.
The realms of body refinement corresponded to the realms of spell cultivation, in order:
Mortal Body (Copper Skin Iron Bones): muscles were as tough as old oxhide, able to withstand blows from blunt weapons, carry five hundred jin of weight, and heal wounds more quickly.
At this realm, one could rely on pure physical strength alone to contend against early Qi Refining spell cultivators (levels one, two, and three).
Bone Tempering: bones gleamed with a metallic cold light, producing the sound of metal striking iron when knocked. A single punch could split bluestone, and broken bones could heal on their own within ten days.
At this realm, one could contend against mid-stage Qi Refining spell cultivators (levels four, five, and six).
Tendon Transformation: tendons ran through the limbs like white jade cords, stretching and contracting freely like giant pythons. Punches could split the air with an audible crack.
At this realm, one could contend against late-stage Qi Refining spell cultivators (levels seven, eight, and nine).
Blood Exchange: blood was thick as mercury, faintly rumbling like thunder as it flowed. With blood and qi steaming upward, one could go without food for a month.
At this realm, one could contend against peak Qi Refining spell cultivators (levels ten, eleven, and twelve).
Golden Body: the entire body was plated with a faint golden hue, while acupoints exhaled Geng Metal qi. One could withstand direct bombardment from magical treasures.
At this realm, one could contend against Foundation Establishment spell cultivators.
Jade Marrow: bones became translucent like white jade marrow, rosy clouds could be seen flowing through the internal organs, a single drop of blood could crush an ordinary horse, and exhaled breath could freeze into frost blades.
At this realm, one could contend against Golden Core spell cultivators.
Treasure Body: one hundred thousand pores locked in essence and qi, flawless and without leakage. One could tread across rivers as if walking on level ground and swallow flying swords with an open mouth.
At this realm, one could contend against Nascent Soul Realm spell cultivators.
Dharma Manifestation: a blood-and-qi dharma manifestation appeared behind one's back. With a raised hand, it could sever rivers; with a stomp, it could split cities.
At this realm, one could contend against Spirit Transformation Stage spell cultivators.
Undying Stage: severed limbs regenerated like a lizard's broken tail, even a shattered heart could be restored, and Dao patterns were inscribed into flesh and blood.
At this realm, one could contend against Void Refinement Stage spell cultivators.
Nirvana Stage: destroy the physical body and recast the Dao foundation; blood merged with flesh, flesh merged with spirit, soul merged with essence, achieving the great Dao of Body Integration.
At this realm, one could contend against Body Integration Realm spell cultivators.
Grotto-Heaven Stage: a single inch of bloodline became a land of mountains and rivers, the five organs and six bowels gestated heaven and earth, one opened up one's own world and comprehended Mahayana laws.
At this realm, one could contend against Mahayana Stage spell cultivators.
Return to Emptiness Stage: ninety-nine laws, ninety-nine returning to one; one law, one tribulation. After enduring nine tribulations, one could ascend to immortality.
This realm corresponded to the ninth level of tribulation transcendence.
However, the path of body refinement was more than a hundred times harder than spell cultivation.
Some Golden Core cultivators had physical bodies that remained only at body cultivator levels corresponding to Qi Refining, such as Blood Exchange.
Therefore, Shen Fan's achievements were due not only to his own efforts, but also to this marvelous body-forging art.
That night, Shen Fan reaped a bountiful harvest.
He looked out the window and saw the morning mist gradually yielding to dawn.
He immediately excitedly took out the Treasure Gathering Universe Bowl. Looking at the Nine Nether Corpse Refinement Art he had copied the previous night, he slowly opened it with anxious anticipation.
This was the cultivation art he had copied last night. Would copied cultivation arts also be automatically completed?
When Shen Fan flipped to the third level and saw the additional content behind it, he immediately broke into an excited laugh.
"Sure enough, it works!"
As he continued reading, Shen Fan discovered that the contents that followed were precisely the complete contents of the Nine Nether Corpse Refinement Art through the tenth level.
"If that's the case, then once I enter the outer sect or inner sect and see those profound cultivation arts, wouldn't I only need to memorize the first level, copy it after coming out, and place it in the Treasure Gathering Universe Bowl for it to be automatically completed?"
Shen Fan tilted his head, thinking excitedly.
Since even copied cultivation arts could be completed, this method was feasible.
Shen Fan then cast aside his stray thoughts and began reading carefully.
The more he read this demonic sect cultivation art, the more alarmed Shen Fan became.
This thing truly deserved to be something that righteous cultivators all wanted to beat to death!
The first three levels of the Nine Nether Corpse Refinement Art taught one how to refine corpses and use corpse puppets to feed back into one's cultivation.
The fourth, fifth, and sixth levels actually taught one how to refine living people into corpse puppets.
The effects of this method were heaven-defying. If those with extraordinary talent were refined into corpse puppets, the feedback would be equivalent to having a genius cultivate on one's behalf!
Even more horrifying, the seventh, eighth, and ninth levels taught one how to refine the people who controlled corpse puppets into corpse puppets as well.
This way, one could obtain a corpse puppet leader and have that corpse puppet control its own corpse puppets to fight and cultivate on one's behalf.
Upon seeing this, Shen Fan immediately began to suspect whether the so-called Nine Nether Corpse Puppet Sect consisted of only its sect master, with everyone else being corpse puppets under his control.
And this final level actually taught one how to refine oneself into a corpse puppet.
Corpse puppets already defied the natural order, possessing powerful physical bodies and fearing neither life nor death.
Shen Fan truly found it difficult to imagine what it meant to refine oneself into a corpse puppet.
However, the final part of this cultivation art stated that if one refined oneself into a corpse puppet, one could not only retain rational thought, but also gain an indestructible body, withstand lightning tribulations head-on, become immune to pain, and begin directly at the Jade Marrow body cultivation realm corresponding to Golden Core.
Seeing this, Shen Fan could not help licking his lips, greed flashing in his eyes.
"This corpse puppet body refinement is a demonic sect scripture, something immortal sects despise. It should have long since been put to my use!"
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