Sage Body

"You-you-you... what did you do..." Qin Lang stared dumbfounded at Lin Chuan, who was chewing on a Spirit Core, too shocked to speak.

Bu Lianshi looked as if she'd been scared witless. She stood frozen in place, eyes wide and unblinking as she stared at Lin Chuan.

Seeing their expressions, Lin Chuan jumped. He hurriedly swallowed what was in his mouth and asked, "What's wrong? What happened?"

"What... are you eating?" Qin Lang asked, trembling. He'd seen it clearly, but still couldn't believe his eyes.

"A Spirit Core. What's the problem? You can't eat these?" Lin Chuan asked in surprise. Then he checked his body, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

"Good heavens, you're so talented—why would you kill yourself? Whatever it is, can't we talk it out?" Qin Lang said, his face full of anguish.

"Big Brother Lin Chuan, are... are you terminally ill? But even one more day of life is a good thing. Why would you kill yourself?" Bu Lianshi looked ready to burst into tears.

"Huh? This thing is poisonous?" Lin Chuan jumped in fright and hurriedly checked his body, but found nothing wrong. Still, the expressions on Qin Lang and Bu Lianshi's faces were so horrified that he couldn't help worrying.

Byakugan!

In the next instant, Lin Chuan activated his Byakugan and looked inside his body. He immediately spotted a mass of spiritual energy in his abdomen that didn't belong to him, steadily swelling. But after entering his meridians, this swelling energy didn't mix with the spiritual energy there. Instead, it quickly dispersed throughout his body and vanished. Even his Byakugan couldn't track where it went.

"Is this the spiritual energy in the Spirit Core? Did I absorb it directly? But I don't feel any different!" Lin Chuan stared at his insides in bewilderment and tried circulating his spiritual energy. His cultivation hadn't increased; it was the same as before.

"You're okay?" After waiting a long while without anything happening, Qin Lang and Bu Lianshi stared at Lin Chuan with strange expressions.

"What was supposed to happen to me?" Lin Chuan asked, looking at them in exasperation.

"Spirit Cores contain vast amounts of spiritual energy, but we can't absorb it. They say that if you eat one, the energy will swell until it bursts your body. Why are you fine? Maybe you didn't eat enough?" Qin Lang circled Lin Chuan, but couldn't find anything wrong with him.

Still, it was good news. Qin Lang and Bu Lianshi both breathed a sigh of relief. They had no idea why Lin Chuan had suddenly decided to eat a Spirit Core for fun, but as long as he was okay, that was what mattered. They stopped fighting, too. The Spirit Beast they'd been dealing with had already slipped away while they were looking at Lin Chuan.

Lin Chuan frowned and checked his body again. After confirming there was nothing wrong, he turned his gaze to the fruit slowly rotating in his dantian—the Fruit of the God Tree!

"Could it be because of this thing that I can absorb the spiritual energy in Spirit Cores directly?" Lin Chuan wondered, uncertainly.

"If that's the case, then the only way to see what's happening is to eat another Spirit Beast Core and watch!" At that thought, Lin Chuan immediately took another Spirit Core from his pocket.

"What are you doing?" This time, Qin Lang and Bu Lianshi reacted extremely quickly and snatched the Spirit Core away.

"If something's wrong, just tell us! What's with killing yourself over and over?" Qin Lang shouted.

Lin Chuan was speechless. But seeing the concern in their eyes, he patiently explained, "My body is special. I can absorb the energy inside. I want to see where the energy my body absorbs goes. I really am not trying to kill myself!"

Only then did they hand the Spirit Core back to Lin Chuan, still dubious. They watched nervously as he ate it.

This time, Lin Chuan kept his Byakugan fixed on the Spirit Core as it entered his body. Just as he'd expected, the Fruit of the God Tree released a wisp of purple mist that struck the core. The moment the core absorbed the mist, it swelled—but it wasn't going to burst Lin Chuan's body. Instead, its energy immediately spread along his meridians throughout his body, then entered his flesh and vanished.

"Could this... be strengthening my body?" Lin Chuan thought of a possibility. He tried throwing a few punches, and his strength had indeed increased. Thinking of the relationship between physical stamina and chakra, Lin Chuan immediately began refining chakra. Almost instantly, he discovered that the amount of chakra in his body had strangely increased.

Hahahahaha! It really can strengthen my body! At this rate, conquering the cultivation world is just around the corner! Hahahaha!

At the sight of Lin Chuan raving, Bu Lianshi and Qin Lang quickly backed away, afraid he might explode.

"Could the Spirit Cores be affecting his brain, too?" Qin Lang said, frowning as he looked at Lin Chuan in the distance. If Lin Chuan had eaten his brain into a stupor, how were they supposed to continue the assessment?

"Big Brother Lin Chuan... is he okay?" Bu Lianshi asked anxiously.

"Judging by how things look right now, he's not dead!" Qin Lang said, shaking his head.

"Come on, let's hunt Spirit Beasts! I need more Spirit Cores!" Once Lin Chuan came down from his excitement, he immediately dragged Qin Lang and Bu Lianshi off to hunt Spirit Beasts in a frenzy. He no longer bothered trying to give them practice. Instead, he boldly took action himself, hunting the Spirit Beasts outright.

Lin Chuan's reasoning was simple: changes to his physique were crucial to improving his strength. Now that he'd discovered the use of Spirit Cores, he was almost certain he could use this shortcut to quickly reach a new level—a powerful body he'd coveted for ages: the Sage Body!

That's right, the Sage Body of the First, Senju Hashirama. It came with extraordinarily powerful healing abilities and an enormous amount of chakra. It was practically the ultimate, unkillable cockroach.

Even without this method, Lin Chuan could improve his physique as he gradually digested the Fruit of the God Tree, eventually acquiring the Sage Body. But that would take much longer, and whether he'd even live that long was another question. In this cruel world, the only way to protect himself was to raise his strength quickly. That was the true way forward.

Over the time that followed, Qin Lang and Bu Lianshi witnessed what a real monster looked like. Lin Chuan slaughtered Spirit Beasts as easily as chopping melons and vegetables. With a flurry of Gentle Fist, every Spirit Beast was reduced to scraps. Yet that wasn't even the most terrifying part. What horrified them most was the Spirit Cores Lin Chuan kept tossing into his mouth. He ate them like candy, one after another, until every core they'd collected from their earlier hunts had gone into Lin Chuan's belly.

Qin Lang and Bu Lianshi stayed on edge the whole time, keeping far away from Lin Chuan for fear he might explode at any moment. That was no joke. After eating so many Spirit Cores, he could level everything within several kilometers.