Vajra Technique

Very soon.

Chen Xuan had flipped through more than half of the Vajra Technique manual.

This was a complete Qi Casting Realm cultivation method. From the Body Tempering Realm through the breakthrough into the Qi Casting Realm, all the way to the cultivation path of the nine Qi Casting levels, everything was recorded in clear detail. The crucial points of every level, the circulation routes of true qi, and the taboos that required attention were all included.

Moreover, this cultivation method was of no low grade.

The cultivation methods of the world could be divided, from low to high, into five tiers: ordinary, superior, top-tier, ultimate arts, and divine arts.

The Giant Whale Body Refining Technique Chen Xuan cultivated was a superior martial art. Even its subsequent advancement method for the Qi Casting Realm was likewise of the superior tier.

The Vajra Technique, however, had reached the top-tier grade.

It was not as if the Guiyuan Sect lacked top-tier martial arts. Everyone knew that the higher a martial art's grade, the greater its power. At the same realm, a martial artist practicing a top-tier art could absolutely crush those practicing superior or ordinary martial arts.

But likewise, the difficulty of cultivation would multiply.

For those of mediocre aptitude and no background, cultivating a high-grade martial art was not necessarily a good thing.

Instead, ordinary and superior martial arts were more suitable.

The Vajra Technique was precisely like this.

This cultivation method belonged to the body-protection type and placed great emphasis on cultivating the physical body.

Although most Body Tempering Realm martial arts also tempered the skin, flesh, tendons, and bones, they generally stopped short of going too far.

Take the Mopì stage, for instance.

Ordinary and superior cultivation methods only required one's skin to be like cowhide, impervious to blades and swords.

The Vajra Technique demanded skin like Copper Skin. Not only did it need to resist blades and swords, it also had to withstand heavy blows from blunt weapons. The practitioner had to repeatedly tear their own skin apart with force, then soak in special medicinal liquid, making the skin increasingly tougher through endless cycles of tearing and healing.

That process was agonizing beyond measure.

The Duangu stage was just as harsh. Ordinary and superior cultivation methods only required strong bones, reaching the level of tiger bones.

The Vajra Technique required bones like iron—not merely hardness, but resilience as well. The practitioner had to repeatedly strike the bones with force, supplemented by secret medicine, making them denser through minute fractures and healing.

Every impact felt like a thousand needles piercing the bones.

"No wonder no one from the Vajra Sect had broken through to the Qi Casting Realm in a hundred years..."

Chen Xuan looked at the manual's descriptions and understood.

The difficulty of cultivating this method far exceeded that of ordinary and superior martial arts. But once cultivated successfully, its might would naturally be terrifying beyond compare.

At the same eighth level of Body Tempering, a martial artist practicing ordinary martial arts possessed physical strength four times that of an ordinary person's limit. One practicing superior martial arts could reach around five times that limit. Yet a Vajra Technique practitioner at the eighth level of Body Tempering possessed four times the physical strength of one practicing superior martial arts.

Chen Xuan's punch already exceeded a thousand jin of force. If he cultivated the Vajra Technique, a casual punch would exceed four thousand jin.

One punch would be enough to kill a full-grown bull.

But the price was that cultivation speed was incomparably slow.

It took four or five times as long as cultivating ordinary or superior martial arts, and consumed an enormous amount of resources.

Those of mediocre talent might not even complete the fourth Body Tempering level, the Mopì stage, in their entire lives.

Even upon reaching the Qi Casting Realm, the Vajra Technique still required one to continuously temper the body with true qi, raising the skin, flesh, tendons, bones, membranes, and organs to new levels. Every advancement required vast amounts of time and effort.

At the end of the manual was a page of annotations. The handwriting was sloppy, clearly added by someone of a later generation: "The Vajra Technique was acquired when this sect's founding patriarch roamed the four seas and accidentally entered the cave dwelling of a senior sage. Beside the manual was a Vajra Relic. After consuming the Vajra Relic, he cultivated this technique all the way to the ninth level of Qi Casting, roaming Tiannan Prefecture and carving out a fearsome reputation. He was bestowed the nickname Vajra Iron Pagoda."

"Yet after the patriarch, no one in this sect has reached the Qi Casting Realm. It is not that the method is inadequate; cultivating it requires great perseverance, great fortune, and great resources. Not one of these three can be lacking. We are of mediocre aptitude, without great fortune, without great perseverance, and without resources at our side. Even exhausting an entire lifetime, we would find it hard to enter through the gate. How lamentable, how sorrowful."

Aside from that.

There was also a short passage in small characters at the end of the manual.

"During the cultivation of the Vajra Technique, one must preserve one's primal yang. Primal yang is the human body's supreme treasure. Once it is lost, essence and qi leak away, and the foundation of the cultivation method will be damaged. At best, progress will stagnate; at worst, all previous efforts will be cast away, and one's accumulated force will turn into flowing water. This is the ironclad rule left behind by this sect's founding patriarch. Disciples of every generation must remember it."

After reading it, Chen Xuan was slightly stunned.

He could not lose his primal yang?

Put plainly, he had to remain a virgin.

While cultivating this method, he could not go near women.

For Vajra Sect disciples, that was another set of shackles.

At an age when their blood ran hot, they had to abide by this rule. Their cultivation progress was already slow to a hair-raising degree; trapped between troubles within and without, how many could hold fast to their original hearts?

No wonder cultivating the Vajra Technique required great fortune, great perseverance, and great resources.

There was good reason why the Vajra Sect had declined with every generation over the past century.

"Although the Vajra Sect's founding patriarch reached the ninth level of Qi Casting with the help of the Vajra Relic, that proves there is nothing wrong with this cultivation method itself."

Chen Xuan put away the manual and began calculating in his heart.

Cultivating the Vajra Technique required the assistance of a great quantity of medicinal herbs.

The manual listed a long series of prescriptions. From the Body Tempering Realm to the Qi Casting Realm, every stage required a different medicinal liquid in which to soak the body. Otherwise, relying solely on force and true qi to temper the body would not only multiply the pain, but greatly reduce the results.

Some of those medicinal herbs were fairly common, while others were rare and precious.

For example, the Body Tempering Liquid needed in the Body Tempering Realm used Iron Bone Grass over a hundred years old as its main ingredient. One jin was worth several hundred taels of silver. The Golden Body Liquid required in the Qi Casting Realm needed precious materials such as hundred-year-old fleeceflower root, hundred-year-old lingzhi, and Cold-Pool Spirit Turtle Shell. One batch of medicinal liquid cost no less than ten thousand taels of silver.

"No wonder no one in the Vajra Sect could cultivate it to completion..."

Chen Xuan understood inwardly.

Ever since its founding patriarch died, the Vajra Sect had only been a third-rate force. Where could it find the silver to buy such medicinal herbs?

Without medicinal herbs to assist them, it was not impossible to forcefully cultivate the Vajra Technique, but the difficulty would increase severalfold, and the pain would double as well.

That founding patriarch had reached the ninth level of Qi Casting because he had received the blessings of a senior sage and swallowed the Vajra Relic.

As for the later disciples, even while the Vajra Sect's founding patriarch was alive, he had failed to nurture a single disciple who reached the Qi Casting Realm. At most, they reached the ninth level of Body Tempering. Though they possessed combat strength comparable to an ordinary Qi Casting Realm martial artist, they ultimately failed to break through into the Qi Casting Realm.

After those older generation experts at the ninth level of Body Tempering passed away, the Vajra Sect no longer even had Qi Casting Realm combat strength. The moment Tyrant Blade Sect's leader Lei Hu broke through to the Qi Casting Realm, he destroyed the Vajra Sect.

"But... none of that is a problem for me."

The corners of Chen Xuan's lips rose slightly.

Cultivating the Vajra Technique required great perseverance, great fortune, and great resources. Yet in truth, all problems boiled down to only one thing: time. Even without the corresponding secret medicines to assist cultivation, the Vajra Technique could still be cultivated. It was chiefly a matter of slow grinding effort, of persevering day after day and year after year.

The purpose of those medicinal herbs listed in the manual was nothing more than to accelerate cultivation and lessen the pain of cultivation.

And Chen Xuan needed neither.

With the Zhaoxi Bizheng fate in hand, cultivating the Vajra Technique would grant him a year of cultivation in a single day. He could skip the cultivation process entirely and directly obtain the result.

Pain and the like simply did not exist.

What was more, Chen Xuan had already reached the ninth level of Body Tempering. Using Huajin to temper his physique would certainly be far more effective than it was for a Mingjin martial artist.