Outer Refined Heavenly King Armor, Inner Condensed Vajra Furnace

Body Cultivators condensed a Qi and Blood Furnace, devoured Heaven and Earth Spirit Qi for their own use, and those among them who were strong possessed unrivaled combat skills—splitting the heavens with one punch was nothing out of the ordinary.

Magic Cultivators nurtured their primordial spirits and tempered their divine senses, wielded Heaven and Earth Spirit Qi for their own use, and those among them who were strong had endless Dao arts—moving mountains and seizing the moon was entirely possible.

This was how Su Qing understood the difference between Body Cultivators and Magic Cultivators.

From what he knew, Body Cultivators and Magic Cultivators of the same tier each had their own strengths and weaknesses. Neither stood above the other.

For instance, compared with a Tier 1 Body Cultivator, a Qi Refining Magic Cultivator could equip Magic Artifacts and wield Dao arts. A Tier 1 Body Cultivator could likewise wear battle armor and employ combat skills. When the two fought, victory or defeat depended first on their initial distance apart, and second on their mastery of their respective Dao arts and combat skills.

Yet in the Western Sea Cultivation World, Magic Cultivators were at the height of their power. Most of the Great Immortal Kingdoms were led by Magic Cultivator sects, while Body Cultivators were gradually declining. Only certain Body Cultivator families sustained by their bloodlines still persisted on this path.

In truth, though Body Cultivation and Magic Cultivation were two separate systems, the boundary between them was not clear-cut, nor was it a matter of one or the other.

Magic Cultivators like Tang Wanqing, who excelled in combat, would strengthen their physiques while cultivating Dao arts. If their path in Body Cultivation proved smoother than their path in Magic Cultivation, it was not impossible for them to switch over.

For Body Cultivators like Gao Erqiang, whose families passed down their inheritances, if a descendant possessed exceptional Spiritual Root Aptitude, there was no reason to cling stubbornly to the family's combat skill inheritance and make them pick up sesame seeds while throwing away watermelons.

When all was said and done, for most Lower-Class Cultivators, whether they refined the body or refined Qi, nurtured the flesh or tempered the primordial spirit, it came down to what suited them. Only by adapting flexibly according to their own circumstances could they avoid living quite so hard.

Take Su Qing himself. When he discovered that his Spiritual Root Aptitude was truly too dreadful to behold, he had considered taking the path of Body Cultivation. Unfortunately, he was useless at both Body Cultivation and Magic Cultivation. Others chose the best from among the good; he could only choose one that was slightly less useless from among the useless.

I knew I couldn't practice the Immovable Heavenly King Technique. After all, even now, I couldn't make heads or tails of the unranked Five Animals Skill. But there was no harm in taking a look, right?!

Having never seen what a Profound Grade Combat Skill was like, he did not mind spending a few hundred Spirit Crystals to satisfy his curiosity.

[The Immovable Heavenly King externally refines sinews, bones, and skin. Supplemented by demon beast blood, Blood Ganoderma, Purple Poria, and more than twenty other spiritual materials in medicinal baths, it condenses Heavenly King Armor and nurtures an indestructible body.]

[Internally consume Vajra Qi, devour demon beast bones and blood, ingest Mysterious Crystal Iron Fiend, condense an Adamantine Furnace, and nurture boundless Qi.]

[With Heavenly King Armor on the outside and an Adamantine Furnace nurtured within, one may become the Immovable Heavenly King—Immovable as a Mountain, with no peer beneath the heavens!]

[Heavenly King External Refinement Method: ······]

[Diamond Internal Refinement Method: ······]

"Putting aside the useless self-praise and price-inflating introduction, this combat skill truly is a rare Profound Grade Combat Skill."

After spending more than Half an Hour on it, Su Qing rubbed his somewhat sore eyes and muttered softly.

Though he only had a hazy understanding of how Body Cultivators cultivated,

he still knew the basic common sense.

Just as the key to a Magic Cultivator's cultivation was opening up a Sea of Consciousness within the body, thereby allowing them to sense divine consciousness, commune with heaven and earth, obtain spiritual Qi from heaven and earth, refine Qi into essence, and nourish the Sea of Consciousness Primordial Spirit,

the key to Body Cultivation was opening up a Qi and Blood Furnace at the Dantian. This furnace refined all things into Blood and Qi Energy, supplying one's cultivation and expenditure.

External Refinement Methods were easy to obtain, while Internal Refinement Methods were hard to come by.

At the very least, none of the Yellow Grade Combat Skills in White Cloud Market Town possessed an Internal Refinement Method. This Immovable Wisdom King Technique came with both internal and external refinement methods, so it naturally deserved its Profound Grade status.

"It's just far too expensive!"

Su Qing shook his head. Poor scholars, rich warriors—this held true in the Cultivation World as well.

Magic Cultivators could cultivate simply by absorbing Heaven and Earth Spirit Qi. Whatever their cultivation efficiency, Heaven and Earth Spirit Qi was a free ride anyway.

But for Body Cultivators, nourishing Blood and Qi and strengthening the flesh, internal refinement and external refinement alike—all of it cost money.

The Immovable Wisdom King Technique was especially so. Just among the materials Su Qing recognized for the external refinement medicinal bath, every one of them was a Tier 1 spiritual material. One medicinal bath would cost at least several dozen Spirit Crystals.

As for internal refinement, it was even more outrageous.

So-called Vajra Qi was actually the Qi of Mysterious Iron Golden Essence.

One needed to consume metal-element spiritual materials such as Profound Iron Essence and Quartz Gold, extract their essence Qi, and gather a full hundred strands of Golden Essence Qi before one could initially smelt an Adamantine Furnace.

And that was only the beginning. Once the Adamantine Furnace was formed, its demand for Golden Essence would grow even greater. Ordinary Rogue Cultivators simply could not afford to cultivate it.

"No wonder Tu Da had earned quite a bit in the past, yet fell into such dire straits the moment he lost his ability to make money. I suppose all the Spirit Crystals he earned were poured into this technique."

Though Su Qing complained that the technique devoured money, his eyes glowed red as he stared fixedly at it, like an old gourmand who had gone hungry for too long and suddenly spotted a dish he craved.

To him, the wonder of this technique lay in the fact that it could be built up with resources!

The only threshold for cultivating it was having enough Spirit Crystals!

It did have requirements for one's innate bones, but those only affected the efficiency of absorbing resources. As long as there were enough resources, if others could accomplish something with one portion, then using ten portions or a hundred portions would do the trick!

"One medicinal bath costs several dozen Spirit Crystals. Why not try cultivating it first? Even if it doesn't work, at least it won't harm my body."

Several dozen Spirit Crystals meant nothing to Su Qing now. He did not dare attempt the Internal Refinement Method—given his current physical condition, swallowing Golden Essence raw would not smelt anything; it would tear his stomach apart outright. But he could try the External Refinement Method.

Just as he put away the technique, the people from Hundred Treasures Pavilion delivered his goods. He had the delivery clerk make another trip for him and spent over 300 Spirit Crystals to buy enough materials for ten medicinal baths.

He did not dare buy too much. He would first try ten days' worth and see the results.

Seeing another expense added to his list, Su Qing worked exceptionally hard at puppet refining that afternoon.

He did not stop until the dead of night, after refining three Lizard Warriors.

By then, the Wood Spirit Servants had brewed the medicinal soup according to the proper proportions. The huge medicinal vat took up nearly half the room and gave off a bizarre stench that made one want to cover one's nose.

Looking into the vat, red, green, purple, and blue swirled together like a pot of boiling dye, making one even more nauseated.

But however disgusting it was, he had paid for it. Covering his nose, Su Qing slowly lowered himself into the water.

Scalding, numbness, itching!

It felt as though ten thousand fire ants were burrowing into every crevice of his body.

"Pain, pain, pain!"

"Itch, itch, itch!"

"Ah, but honestly, this actually feels pretty good!"

The initial agony made him want to give up, but the pleasure that followed made it impossible to stop.

The sore waist and aching back he had accumulated from refining puppets were eased in that instant. He even had the illusion that his body had grown stronger and was brimming with power.

After roughly Half an Hour, while more than half the medicinal power still remained in the soup, Su Qing's body could no longer endure it.

He knew this was because his body could only absorb this much medicinal power for now. He could only watch helplessly as the remaining majority went to waste.

"Compared to an ordinary person at the start of cultivation, my cultivation efficiency is probably one-eighth of theirs? Does that mean I'll have to expend more than eight times the resources throughout my entire cultivation?"

Su Qing clicked his tongue inwardly. He had only known before that his innate bones might not be very good, but he had never had a direct comparison. He could not have known as clearly as he did now just how rotten his innate bones were.

"With such terrible innate bones, even if I hadn't depleted my Blood and Qi, there would still be no future for me on the path of Body Cultivation, would there?"

He let out a long sigh, then resigned himself to following the methods recorded in the Immovable Wisdom King Technique. He began lifting his legs, swinging his arms, twisting his waist, and rocking his hips to digest the medicinal power.

After going through the whole routine, he could not feel how much stronger he had become. But after sweating profusely, his body felt unbearably grimy. When he rubbed himself with a hand, streaks of black sludge came off, sickening to behold.

"Fine, I have to take another bath."

Fortunately, the Wood Spirit Servants worked day and night without rest, so they had no complaints about serving him through two baths.

Of course, perhaps that was also because their intelligence was not very high, and they had not been engraved with Voice Runes.