Sage Body

"Y-y-y-you... what have you done..." Qin Lang stared at Lin Chuan, who was chewing on the Spirit Beast core, his face a mask of utter bewilderment as he stood there, speechless with shock.

Bu Lianshi looked as if she had been frightened out of her wits; she stood rooted to the spot, her eyes wide and unblinking as she watched Lin Chuan.

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

"You... what are you eating?" Qin Lang asked, trembling. Although he had seen it clearly, he simply couldn't believe his eyes.

"A Spirit Beast core. Is there a problem? Can you not eat these?" Lin Chuan asked, puzzled. He immediately checked his body, but it seemed there was nothing unusual.

"Heavens! With such talent, why would you choose to commit suicide? Is there nothing you can't talk through?" Qin Lang said, his face filled with grief and indignation.

"Brother Lin Chuan, are... are you suffering from some terminal illness? Even living one more day is a blessing, why would you want to kill yourself?" Bu Lianshi looked as if she were about to cry.

"Huh?? This thing is poisonous??" Lin Chuan was taken aback and hurriedly checked his body again. He found no issues, but the horrified expressions on Qin Lang and Bu Lianshi's faces made it impossible for him not to worry.

"Byakugan!"

The next moment, Lin Chuan activated his Byakugan to look inside his body. He immediately discovered a mass of spirit energy that didn't belong to him expanding in his abdomen. However, as this expanding energy entered his meridians, it didn't mix with his own spirit energy; instead, it dissipated into his flesh at an incredible speed and vanished, leaving no trace even for the Byakugan to follow.

"Is this the spirit energy from the core? Did I absorb it directly? But I don't feel anything wrong!" Lin Chuan looked inside himself, feeling uncertain. He tried to circulate his spirit energy, but his cultivation level hadn't increased; it was exactly the same as before.

"You're... okay?" After waiting for a long time without any reaction, Qin Lang and Bu Lianshi looked at Lin Chuan with strange expressions.

"Should I be having a problem?" Lin Chuan looked at them with black lines appearing on his forehead.

"Spirit Beast cores contain vast amounts of spirit energy, but we can't absorb it. It's said that if you eat one, the expanding energy will blow your body apart. Why are you fine? Could it be because you didn't eat enough?" Qin Lang circled Lin Chuan, truly finding nothing wrong.

Regardless, it was a good thing. Qin Lang and Bu Lianshi breathed a sigh of relief. Although they didn't know why Lin Chuan had the sudden whim to eat a core, as long as he was fine, it was enough. The two stopped fighting, and the Spirit Beast from earlier had long since slipped away while they were focused on Lin Chuan.

Lin Chuan frowned and checked his body once more. After confirming there were no issues, he fixed his gaze on the fruit slowly rotating in his dantian—the Fruit of the God Tree!

"Could it be because of this thing that I can directly absorb the spirit energy from the cores?" Lin Chuan pondered, feeling uncertain.

"If that's the case, the only way to see what's happening is to eat another Spirit Beast core and observe!" Thinking of this, Lin Chuan immediately took another core from his pocket.

"What are you doing?" This time, Qin Lang and Bu Lianshi reacted with lightning speed, snatching the core away from him.

"If there's something wrong, just tell us! What's with this constant suicide attempt?" Qin Lang roared.

Lin Chuan was speechless, but seeing the genuine concern in their eyes, he patiently explained, "My body is a bit special; I can absorb the spirit power within them. I just want to see where the energy goes. I really don't have any intention of killing myself!"

Eventually, the two handed the core back to Lin Chuan, though they remained skeptical, watching nervously as he swallowed it.

This time, Lin Chuan kept his Byakugan focused on the core inside his body. The next moment, just as he had expected, the Fruit of the God Tree released a wisp of purple mist that struck the core. The core, having absorbed this wisp of mist, instantly expanded—but instead of blowing Lin Chuan's body apart, it immediately dissipated along his meridians to every part of his body, eventually entering his flesh and vanishing.

"This... could it be strengthening my physical body..." Lin Chuan considered the possibility. He tried throwing a punch, and his strength had indeed increased. Connecting this to the relationship between physical stamina and chakra, Lin Chuan immediately began to refine chakra. Almost instantly, he discovered that the amount of chakra in his body had mysteriously increased.

"Hahahaha! It really can strengthen my body! With this, my reign over the cultivation world is within reach! Hahaha!"

Watching the manic Lin Chuan, Bu Lianshi and Qin Lang retreated quickly, fearing that Lin Chuan might explode.

"Does the core affect the brain too?" Qin Lang asked, looking at the nearby Lin Chuan with a pained expression. If he had eaten his brain into a mess, how would they proceed with the upcoming assessment?

"Is Brother Lin Chuan... okay?" Bu Lianshi asked worriedly.

"Judging by the current situation, he won't die!" Qin Lang said, shaking his head.

"Let's go! We're going to hunt Spirit Beasts! I need more cores!" Once Lin Chuan snapped out of his excitement, he immediately grabbed Qin Lang and Bu Lianshi and began hunting Spirit Beasts frantically. He no longer cared about using this as training for them; he struck out ruthlessly himself, hunting the beasts directly.

Lin Chuan's reasoning was simple: changing his constitution was crucial for increasing his strength. Having discovered the miraculous use of the cores, he was almost certain that by using this shortcut, he could quickly reach a new height—a powerful body he had long coveted: the Sage Body!

That's right, the Sage Body of the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama—possessing extremely powerful recovery abilities and massive amounts of chakra, he would be practically unkillable.

Although Lin Chuan could eventually improve his constitution by slowly digesting the Fruit of the God Tree without this method, it would take much longer. Whether he could even survive until then was a question. In this cruel world, only by rapidly increasing his strength to gain the ability to protect himself was the true path to survival.

In the time that followed, Qin Lang and Bu Lianshi witnessed what a true monster was. He slaughtered Spirit Beasts as if he were chopping vegetables; a burst of Gentle Fist, and any Spirit Beast was reduced to scraps. And that wasn't the most terrifying part—what shocked them most was the cores Lin Chuan tossed into his mouth from time to time, as if they were candy. One after another, every core they had gathered from hunting was swallowed by Lin Chuan.

This kept Qin Lang and Bu Lianshi in a state of extreme tension, staying far away from Lin Chuan, terrified that he might explode at any moment. That was no laughing matter; having eaten so many cores, it was entirely possible he could level everything within several kilometers.