Vajra Technique

Before long.

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

This was a complete Zhuqi Realm cultivation method. From the Body Tempering Realm to breaking through into the Zhuqi Realm, all the way to the cultivation path of the Ninth Layer of Qi Casting, everything was recorded with perfect clarity. The crucial points of every layer, the circulation routes of true qi, and the taboos requiring attention were all included.

Moreover, this cultivation method was of no low grade.

The cultivation methods of the world could be divided into five tiers, from low to high: 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 Zhuqi Realm was likewise of the superior tier.

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

It was not as though Guiyuan Sect lacked top-tier martial arts. Everyone knew that the higher a martial art's grade, the greater its power. Martial artists of the same realm who cultivated top-tier martial arts could absolutely crush those who cultivated superior and ordinary martial arts.

But likewise, the difficulty of cultivation multiplied.

For those of mediocre aptitude and without any backing, cultivating high-grade martial arts 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 category and focused on cultivating the physical body.

Although most Body Tempering Realm martial arts also tempered the skin, flesh, tendons, and bones, they generally only went so far.

Take the Mop i stage, for example.

Ordinary and superior cultivation methods merely required one's skin to be as tough as cowhide, enough that blades and swords could hardly pierce it.

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

That process was agonizing beyond measure.

The Duangu stage was similarly harsh; ordinary and Superior Technique merely required sturdy 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 their bones with force, supplemented by secret medicine, making them denser amid minute fractures and healing.

Every impact felt like a thousand needles piercing the bone.

"No wonder no one from Vajra Sect had broken through to the Zhuqi Realm for a hundred years..."

Chen Xuan looked at the descriptions in the manual and understood at once.

The difficulty of cultivating this method far surpassed that of ordinary and superior martial arts, but once mastered, its power would naturally be terrifying beyond compare.

At the same Eighth Layer of Body Tempering, a martial artist cultivating ordinary martial arts possessed four times the physical strength of an ordinary person's limit, while one cultivating superior martial arts could reach around five times that limit. Yet a martial artist who cultivated the Vajra Technique to the Eighth Layer of Body Tempering possessed four times the physical strength of someone cultivating superior martial arts.

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

One punch would be enough to kill a sturdy bull.

But the price was that cultivation progressed incomparably slowly.

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

Those with mediocre talent might not even complete the Fourth Stage of Body Tempering, the Mop i Realm, in their entire lives.

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

At the end of the manual was a page of annotations. The handwriting was scrawled and messy, clearly added by a later generation: "When this sect's founding patriarch traveled the four seas, he accidentally entered the cave dwelling of a senior sage and obtained the Vajra Technique. Beside the manual was a Vajra Relic. After consuming the Vajra Relic, he cultivated this technique all the way to the Ninth Layer of Qi Casting, roaming Tiannan Prefecture far and wide and carving out a formidable reputation. People bestowed upon him the nickname Vajra Iron Pagoda."

"Yet after the patriarch, no one in this sect ever reached the Zhuqi Realm. It is not that the cultivation method is inadequate; rather, cultivating it requires great perseverance, great fortune, and great resources. Not one of these three can be absent. We are of mediocre aptitude, lacking great fortune, great perseverance, and resources to support us. Even if we exhaust our lives, it will be difficult to enter through the gate. How lamentable, how tragic."

Besides that.

There was another small passage at the end of the manual.

"During the cultivation of the Vajra Technique, one must preserve one's primordial yang. Primordial yang is the human body's greatest treasure. Once it is lost, essence and qi leak away, and the foundation of the technique will be damaged. In mild cases, progress will stagnate; in severe cases, all previous efforts will be wasted, and all one's inner force will turn into flowing water. This is the iron rule left behind by this sect's founding patriarch, and disciples of every generation must remember it."

After reading it, Chen Xuan was slightly taken aback.

He could not lose his primordial yang?

Put plainly, he had to remain a virgin.

During the cultivation of this technique, he could not go near women.

For Vajra Sect disciples, this was another shackle.

At an age when their blood and qi ran hot, they had to abide by this rule, while their cultivation progressed at a pace slow enough to make one's hair stand on end. Besieged from 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 a reason Vajra Sect had declined with each passing generation over the past hundred years.

"The Vajra Sect's founding patriarch cultivated to the Ninth Layer of Qi Casting. Though the Vajra Relic certainly played a part, it 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 vast quantities of medicinal herbs.

The manual listed a long series of prescriptions. From the Body Tempering Realm to the Zhuqi Realm, every stage required soaking the body in a different medicinal liquid. Otherwise, relying solely on force and true qi to temper the body would not only double the pain, but also greatly diminish the results.

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

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

"No wonder no one in Vajra Sect could master it..."

Chen Xuan understood in his heart.

Ever since its founding patriarch had passed away, Vajra Sect had been a third-rate force. Where would it find the silver to buy all these medicinal herbs?

Cultivating the Vajra Technique without medicinal herbs was not impossible, but the difficulty would rise severalfold, and the pain would also double.

That founding patriarch had cultivated to the Ninth Layer of Qi Casting because he had received the blessings of a senior sage and consumed the Vajra Relic.

As for the later disciples, even while the Vajra Sect's founding patriarch was still alive, he had not been able to cultivate a single disciple who reached the Zhuqi Realm. At most, they reached the Ninth Layer of Body Tempering. Although they possessed combat strength comparable to ordinary Zhuqi Realm martial artists, they ultimately failed to break through into the Zhuqi Realm.

After those elders of the Ninth Layer of Body Tempering passed away, Vajra Sect no longer even had Zhuqi Realm combat strength. As soon as Lei Hu, the Tyrant Blade Sect's sect master, broke through into the Zhuqi Realm, he destroyed Vajra Sect.

"However... none of this is a problem for me."

The corners of Chen Xuan's mouth lifted slightly.

Cultivating the Vajra Technique required great perseverance, great fortune, and great resources, but in truth, all problems came down to one thing: time. Even without the corresponding secret medicines to aid cultivation, the Vajra Technique could still be cultivated. It mainly required the grinding work of water wearing through stone, steadfast perseverance over years and months.

The medicinal herbs listed in the manual did nothing more than accelerate cultivation and reduce the pain of cultivation.

And Chen Xuan needed neither of those things.

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

Pain did not exist at all.

What was more, Chen Xuan had already reached the Ninth Layer of Body Tempering. Using Huajin to temper his physique would surely produce results far beyond those of Mingjin martial artists.