Third-Rank High Stage

Su Yi began testing out his storage ability. The Dragon Abyss Sword vanished from his hand in an instant.

It appeared in a corner of the Consciousness Space.

Su Yi finally understood how the storage ability worked.

Within ten meters, he could wrap an object in Spiritual Power and store it.

It did not consume much Spiritual Power; the expenditure depended on the size of the object.

Su Yi returned to the Consciousness Space and seemed to feel a greater intimacy with this space.

With a thought, the space around the Dragon Abyss Sword twisted and, following his will, turned into a warehouse-like room.

Having done all that, Su Yi smiled in satisfaction.

"This will be the dedicated storage room from now on."

Taking the sword out and putting it back again and again, Su Yi found himself unable to stop.

Su Yi also specifically bought some daily necessities, along with ready-to-eat canned food and snacks, and placed them in the storage space.

Once he went down into the underground cave, he would not be able to light a fire there, and using Energy Stones would cost too much. He was not that extravagant.

With storage space, although he could not store living things, storing food was no problem. It should not spoil.

"It's time to temper my vertebrae. It's been over twenty days from August 27 until now, yet I've only tempered five vertebrae. There are still twenty-one left."

He remembered that Fang Ping had broken through to the Third-Rank High Stage in just one month, but that guy had cheats. There was no use envying him.

Tempering all the vertebrae at once completely spared one the time needed to adapt. Su Yi could not do that; he could only temper them one by one.

Fang Ping had also tempered his bone marrow without the slightest pressure. As long as he had enough Wealth Points, he could keep tempering.

How could Su Yi compare? He had to expend vast amounts of time and resources before he could complete the tempering.

September 27.

Friday.

After finishing today's classes, it would be time for the holiday.

Holding his textbooks, Su Yi was on his way to his afternoon class.

During this period, aside from the adaptation periods when he had no choice but to stop tempering his vertebrae, he had skipped every other class. Su Yi wanted to finish tempering his vertebrae as soon as possible.

However, after optimizing the Tempering Method and becoming able to temper down to the bone marrow, Su Yi found tempering his vertebrae much easier, and the adaptation went much faster as well.

Previously, it had taken ten days to finish tempering five vertebrae. Since the 19th, he had already finished the sixth one today, and this was only the eighth day.

"Su Yi, over here!"

The moment he stepped into the classroom, Su Yi heard someone calling him. Turning around, he saw Xue Hang waving at him.

Su Yi walked straight over to Xue Hang, sat in the empty seat beside him, set down his books, and said, "Senior Brother, you're taking the language class too?"

These days, all the classes he attended had been related to the underground cave.

This class was an Abyss Language class.

But Xue Hang had entered Third Rank a long time ago. Had he not taken it before?

Xue Hang scratched his head and said, "I used to focus entirely on cultivation, so there were a lot of classes I never took. Now that I've started tempering my vertebrae, I came to cram some knowledge."

Su Yi nodded in understanding. After beginning to temper their vertebrae, one's combat strength dropped, so many people chose to make full preparations before starting.

Once one began tempering, they would be unable to fight for nearly two or three months. Zhuang Xuan had spent all his time cultivating Battle Arts after breaking through to the Third Grade Mid Stage and had not begun tempering his vertebrae.

"Junior Brother, you've started tempering your vertebrae too, right?"

"I've tempered eleven."

"You're almost halfway through already. Junior Brother, your cultivation speed is really fast!"

"..."

Soon, the elderly professor teaching the language class entered and began the lesson.

Though the old professor was a language expert, studying language also meant studying everything about the underground cave in order to deduce the meanings of words from its circumstances.

Thus, the old professor's lectures covered everything under the sun, with deep knowledge of both geography and culture.

Su Yi had previously attended quite a few geography classes. Combined with the old professor's lecture, he gained a deeper understanding of the geography of the Demon Capital Underground Cave.

October 17.

Su Yi was tempering his final vertebra.

Time passed bit by bit. Su Yi maintained his Horse Stance, continuously tempering his bones.

Until he felt his spine grow scorching hot, the bones throughout his body leap with joy, and his Blood Qi boil...

Joy appeared on Su Yi's face. He knew he was about to finish.

The next moment, Su Yi's Blood Qi churned violently. The bones throughout his body crackled with pops, while his vertebrae shook without cease.

Filthy blood layered over Su Yi's body dripped down almost like water.

"My body is being remade—the Major Cycle is complete!"

Su Yi was beside himself with joy. He had finally broken through to Third-Rank High Stage.

The Blood Qi that had once been somewhat congested now flowed smoothly through the areas below his skull.

His spine bone burned hot. With every circulation of Blood Qi, it seemed to grow a fraction stronger.

After more than ten repetitions, Su Yi began coughing violently, spurts of turbid, filthy blood spilling from his mouth.

"It's transforming!"

Su Yi felt his skin continuously contracting and expanding. With every contraction and expansion, his skin became a little denser.

His flesh was transforming, and within his body, his bones and Blood Qi were transforming as well.

"Third-Rank High Stage really is different."

Su Yi absorbed the last of the Cultivation Energy Stones with all his might, converting them into Blood Qi to fuel his transformation.

A chaotic series of crackles rang out, and Su Yi finally completed his Third-Rank High Stage transformation.

After all this cultivation, there was barely anything left of the Cultivation Energy Stone in his hand.

Name: Su Yi

Realm: Third-Rank Martial Artist

Blood Qi: 658 cal/1269 cal

Mentality: 466 Hz/629 Hz

Bone Tempering: 176 bones (100%), 1 bone (90%), 29 bones (30%)

Knowledge: Mid Grade Combat Method—Falling Blossom Sword—Major Achievement {Optimization +2}; Mid-Grade Footwork—Cloud Step—Major Achievement {Optimization +2}; Basic Cultivation Method—Tempering Method {Optimization +4}; Horse Stance {Optimization +1}—Void Standing Realm; Basic Fist Technique—Minor Achievement;

Basic Leg Technique—Major Achievement; Basic Sword Technique—Major Achievement {Optimization +1};

...

Energy: 97777 points

Damage Status: 20.33%

Su Yi felt stronger than ever before. His sinews, bones, and skin had all reached an extreme; perhaps Third-Rank Peak was no longer far away.

Having tempered the bone marrow of the final spine bone, Su Yi sighed softly. Of all the bones in his body, only his skull remained untempered.

But he had run out of resources. Only around five grams of Cultivation Energy Stone remained, and that was only because the adaptation period had given him time to recover his Blood Qi.

His control over his strength had also fallen considerably.

Previously, Su Yi could control roughly 70% of his Blood Qi. Now, he could probably only manage 20%, barely enough to count as a trump card.

To regain control quickly, he would need more time and resources.

"I need to settle down and consolidate for a while."

After washing up briefly, Su Yi thought for a moment and called Lyu Zhen.

Yesterday, Su Yi had received a message from Lyu Zhen saying that the Tempering Method experiment had entered its final stage, and asking him to call back when he had time.

The call connected, and Lyu Zhen's laughter came from the other end.

"Su Yi, your call came at just the right time. The experiment was a perfect success. The Tempering Method can indeed reduce Blood Qi consumption by 5% to 10%. The higher a person's compatibility, the less Blood Qi they consume.

"After cultivation, the speed of bone tempering also increases by 5% to 10%.

"Among one hundred test subjects stuck at 149 cal, three directly achieved a Bone Tempering breakthrough after cultivating the new Tempering Method. Three broke through within two days, while two did so within a week.

"After comparing multiple rounds of tests, we found that those with high compatibility were more likely to break through. In two cases, subjects with high compatibility directly reached Second Bone Tempering.

"No one has broken through to Third Bone Tempering yet, but that may be because Third Bone Tempering is simply too difficult. Based on the experimental results, it should increase the success rate for non-martial artists completing First and Second Bone Tempering by roughly 5% to 10%."

Su Yi was also filled with delight. Now that the results were out, didn't that mean the resources they had discussed before would be released soon as well?

"What about safety?"

This was what Su Yi cared about most. Though he knew the Tempering Method was safe enough, it was going to be promoted nationwide. If the experiments determined that further safety reviews were needed, who knew how long that would take?

"There are no safety issues for now. I invited several Eighth-Rank Grandmasters to observe, and everyone who cultivated it has undergone testing. Nothing abnormal was found.

"I've already submitted the Tempering Method to the central Ministry of Education for final testing."

Lyu Zhen remained very confident. He had conducted countless tests and simulations before daring to let the test subjects cultivate it.

The moment they decided to recruit one hundred test subjects, the neighboring military district caught wind of it, and tens of thousands of soldiers eagerly signed up to participate.

"That's good. As long as it's safe."

There was excitement in Su Yi's voice, and Lyu Zhen could not help but feel moved. What a good child indeed.

"Oh, right, Master. I've broken through to Third-Rank High Stage."

Su Yi happily shared the good news with Lyu Zhen, like a child showing off his grades to an elder.

Lyu Zhen laughed and praised him with a beaming smile. "So fast? You really are a genius."

Su Yi said nothing, smiling brightly.

"But, Su Yi, since you've broken through, you need to properly consolidate yourself. Otherwise, you'll just become a Blood Qi martial artist.

As for Battle Arts, you need to study and dissect them in depth, at the very least reaching the stage of controlling your strength..."

Su Yi replied with a smile, "It dropped quite a bit after the breakthrough. Right now, my control over my strength is probably around 20%!"

Su Yi's answer surprised Lyu Zhen somewhat. It was still at 20% even after dropping—had he already mastered a finishing move before that?

He had thought that Su Yi's Bone Tempering had progressed so quickly that he probably hadn't had time to practice Battle Arts yet. It seemed Su Yi's talent in Battle Arts was formidable as well.

"Not bad, not bad. Keep practicing your Battle Arts and raise your control over your strength a little further."

After all, he was already at the Third-Rank High Stage and would soon be heading down to the Underground Cave. Any extra strength was worthwhile.

"Alright!"

Lyu Zhen's guidance happened to align perfectly with Su Yi's own thoughts. Before going in, he needed to practice his Battle Arts a little more and raise his control over Blood Qi.

The explosive power of a trump card and a finishing move were not on the same level at all.

"Alright, let's leave it at that for now. I still have some research to carry out here. If the Ministry of Education sends any news about the Tempering Method, I'll message you."

"Okay!"

After ending the call, Su Yi felt somewhat melancholy. In the end, he was still too embarrassed to ask about the reward.

He had sounded so righteous before; if he changed his mind now, the persona he had built would come crashing down.

But without using resources, his Blood Qi recovery was still much slower.

No, he should still go find his teacher!

Saving even a little time was still saving time!