Go! Junior Brother, let's go for Body Penetration!

At this moment, Ning Feng lowered his head to look at the black stone slab in his hands, his gaze lingering on that line of text for a long time.

"The three stages of the Body Secret Technique: first, Body Penetration, drawing upon the great power of heaven and earth to pierce through the entire body, cleansing the physical form."

Ning Feng read aloud, then looked toward Vina at his side, pointing at the slab as he asked.

"What exactly does this 'great power of heaven and earth' refer to?"

Vina stood very close, and she explained, "This refers to the pure, natural forces between heaven and earth."

"For example, lightning, hurricanes, heavy snow, or raging fire."

"These energies are extremely violent; direct contact with the human body would cause massive destruction. Therefore, we must pair them with specially formulated medicinal herbs, using these energies to forcibly temper the physical body. During this process, the herbs will rapidly repair your injuries, creating a cycle."

After listening, Ning Feng calculated the implications in his heart.

Although this method was incredibly painful, its efficiency was clearly far superior to simply honing oneself through soul power.

He continued reading further down, reciting, "The second stage of the Body Secret Technique: Body Forging."

"Tearing apart the flesh, then reorganizing the physical body with the help of medicinal herbs... what does this mean?"

Vina's expression remained calm as she looked at him, saying indifferently, "Exactly what it sounds like."

Ning Feng's brow twitched.

Tearing apart the flesh?

This method, which sounded like little more than self-mutilation, truly struck him as absurd.

However, thinking of the Body Sect's philosophy of "limitless development," he quickly came to terms with it.

In this world, some were even willing to sacrifice their own lives for power; what was a little pain compared to that?

"Then what about this third step? Innate Qi Invocation?" Ning Feng asked next.

"Once you reach this step, you can fully invoke the innate qi within your body." A trace of yearning appeared in Vina's eyes.

"This qi exists within the human body from the start, but as one ages, it gradually becomes covered by the impurities of the body."

"This secret technique can stimulate it. Simply put, if you originally had the strength of one jin, after invoking the innate qi, you could instantly unleash the effect of ten jin."

"That powerful?" A flash of surprise crossed Ning Feng's eyes. A nine-hundred-percent increase like that was practically a lethal trump card in actual combat.

He turned to look at Vina. "Then, what stage have you reached now?"

Vina shook her head, answering with some regret, "I haven't finished Body Penetration yet."

"In fact, among the younger generation of our Body Sect, most people haven't completed this stage."

"Body Penetration cannot be achieved overnight; it is a long and painful process that requires repeatedly utilizing the great power of heaven and earth to temper oneself."

She paused, then continued, "If one is fast and possesses extremely high talent, paired with the help of our Body Sect's medicinal herbs, it can be completed in about ten years."

"But if one is slower, it might take fifteen or even twenty years to fully penetrate."

"So, naturally, I am still in the exploration stage."

Ning Feng listened in silence.

This information completely reorganized his understanding of the Body Sect's cultivation.

In the original story, although the Body Sect had appeared, the coverage was so sparse that he only knew they were adept at training Body Martial Souls and could allow them to undergo a second awakening.

But beyond that, he had previously known nothing about how they trained or what other specific abilities they possessed.

So now, having heard this firsthand, he finally felt just how profound the Body Sect's power system truly was.

"Then, does the sect take responsibility for these medicinal herbs used for cultivation?" Ning Feng asked the most practical question.

"Of course the sect provides them," Vina explained.

"The Sect Master said on the dais earlier that all disciples of the Body Sect have only one obligation: to stand up when the empire needs them."

"As long as this obligation is fulfilled, the sect covers everything else. Whether it is medicinal herbs, food, or guidance, everything is available here."

Having said this, Vina added one more thing.

"And, I might as well be honest with you: these things are actually provided by our royal family."

"The Heaven Dou Empire royal family and the Body Sect have been a community of shared interests for many years."

"As the royal family, we need the protection of the Body Sect, the guardian deity of the Heaven Dou Empire."

"And because the Body Sect has few members and cultivation is difficult..." they cannot do everything themselves like other major powers on the Douluo Continent. Therefore, things like collecting high-level soul beast meat, gathering various medicinal herbs, and providing financial aid are all bargaining chips in the trade between our royal family and the Body Sect.

Ning Feng suddenly understood upon hearing this.

However, he was actually quite satisfied with this model of the Body Sect.

After all, Compared to Shrek, this place was far more conscientious.

At Shrek, students also had to go out and risk their lives. But they weren't doing it for themselves; they were doing it for the so-called, ethereal glory of Shrek.

But in the Body Sect, as long as you have talent and are willing to contribute, the sect provides everything directly.

This kind of transparent, price-tagged cultivation, while still requiring effort, was truly far better for those who genuinely wanted to become stronger than a place like Shrek Academy, which was nothing more than a site for exploitation.

However, at this moment, Ning Tian thought of another point.

He looked around the Scripture Pavilion and found that it was indeed excessively quiet.

So, he quickly asked Vina:

"However, this power of heaven and earth isn't always available, right?"

After hearing this, Vina nodded at Ning Tian: "That goes without saying."

"After all, the ultimate energy is definitely lightning, which has the greatest power, but it cannot be present all the time."

"But then again, if there is no lightning, using water, wind, or fire energy as a substitute, while less effective, is not impossible."

Just as the two were talking, the sky outside the window suddenly darkened.

The originally clear sky was suddenly covered by large swathes of dark clouds surging from nowhere, looming heavily over the snow-capped mountains.

Muffled thunder rumbled faintly from the depths of the clouds, and that oppressive feeling instantly filled the entire Scripture Pavilion.

Vina's expression shifted slightly as she looked at the sky outside, her tone sounding rather strange: "It seems it really is a coincidence."

Before Ning Feng could react, a series of hurried footsteps suddenly came from outside the door of the Scripture Pavilion.

Wang Yanfeng, Chen Lü, and the others rushed over, their voices carrying into the room before they even entered.

"Junior Brother! Is Junior Brother here?"

"It's thundering! Hurry! Let's go for the Body Penetration!"

The group charged to the doorway in a flurry, and upon seeing Ning Feng and Vina, they immediately waved their hands excitedly: "Junior Brother, this is a rare, good day! A thundercloud of this scale is the perfect opportunity for Body Penetration; if we miss it, who knows how long we'll have to wait! Hurry and come with us!"

Watching the excited expressions on their faces, Ning Feng couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth. Are they really going to get struck by lightning? If I didn't know better, I'd think they were going to collect a reward...