Body Refinement: The First Eight Levels

Starting on the twelfth day, figures of young men and women practicing boxing and swordplay began to appear on the deck of the wooden ship.

Although Wei Daocheng said that it was the same inside and out, and the space array on the ship could not block the Primordial Chaos Qi, the youths unanimously agreed that practicing outside yielded better results.

Yang Ning, however, had not started yet. Instead, he spent the entire night using Deep Blue to calculate the Divine Forms, finally determining the logic of cultivating the Body Refinement Realm.

First Level, Breathing Realm: Improve physical fitness through basic breathing techniques to prepare for cultivation.

Second Level, Stance Realm: Guide and activate Blood Essence through Divine Forms. This stage is still within the realm of mortal martial artists, who are more reliant on ordinary weapons.

Third Level, Body Tempering Realm: When stances are practiced to the extreme, one can sense and guide Blood Essence. With the aid of medicinal drugs, tendons, bones, and skin can be tempered. Martial artists at this stage possess skin as tough as copper and bones as strong as iron, and they are no longer afraid of swords and sabers when they tense their muscles.

Fourth Level, Viscera Realm: Guide Blood Essence to temper the five internal organs. From this point on, appetite and digestive capacity increase dramatically. A Viscera Realm martial artist can consume an entire ox in one meal. Simultaneously, strength begins to grow rapidly. Peak Viscera Realm martial artists can single-handedly pull back a maddened elephant. Cultivators at the Fourth Level are also known as Dragon Elephant Warriors.

Fifth Level, Hundred Transformations Realm: Blood Essence is tempered throughout the limbs and torso. From this point on, one becomes nimble and agile, with light footsteps. Even without practicing with hidden weapons, one can achieve perfect accuracy. Hundred Transformations Realm martial artists can manipulate fine muscles to alter their appearance. When Qi permeates their arms, they gain immense strength. When Qi permeates their legs, their speed allows them to move like the wind, covering a thousand miles in a day. Fifth Level cultivators are also called Thousand Mile Martial Kings.

Sixth Level, Return to One Realm: Blood Essence becomes round and pliable, capable of condensing into a single point instantaneously. A single finger strike can pierce steel. This stage is known as the Martial Dao Saint Realm, or Martial Saint for short. Because martial artists at this stage often use spears or swords as their weapons to maximize their strength in the Return to One Realm, various Spear Gods and Sword Saints have emerged.

Seventh Level, Jade Bone Realm: Blood Essence vibrates like thunder, and its quality increases significantly. Bone marrow cultivation begins. From this point on, blood becomes like mercury, and bones become like jade, further increasing strength.

Eighth Level, Five Senses Realm: Blood Essence flows into the brain through the blood, strengthening the five senses. From this point on, one can see for a thousand miles, hear in all directions, taste myriad flavors with their tongue, no longer fear being poisoned, hear the wind, and hear the flow of Blood Essence within enemies, allowing them to anticipate their opponents' moves. Since the Seventh and Eighth Levels of cultivation are often pursued together, martial artists at both these levels are referred to as Martial Dao Grandmasters.

The Taiheng Sect instructed its disciples that if they were given the Divine Forms, they should just practice them. There was no need to delve deeply into the underlying principles. If they could comprehend them on their own, they should. If not, they should practice more.

Yang Ning, having come from modern times, had been educated in dialectical materialism since childhood. He was accustomed to understanding not only what happened but also why it happened. Once he grasped the logic of cultivation, he immediately felt that the path of cultivation had become much clearer.

Cultivation appeared complex, but in reality, its argumentation was quite simple: it was a process of activating, sensing, and strengthening Blood Essence, then using Blood Essence to reinforce the internal organs and bones, and finally strengthening the brain.

As for the Divine Forms, they were merely methods created by humans, who could not directly control Blood Essence, to indirectly control it.

So, what was the core of the entire cultivation process?

Yang Ning grasped it without even needing to think: it was Blood Essence!

Everything required the operation of Blood Essence for reinforcement. So, what determined the effectiveness of this reinforcement?

Naturally, it depended on the strength of the Blood Essence. The stronger the Blood Essence, the better the reinforcement effect. The higher the control over Blood Essence, the greater the precision of reinforcement. The more parts of the body reinforced by Blood Essence, the better the overall effect.

And what factors influenced the strength of Blood Essence?

One: The body. A strong body leads to strong Blood Essence.

Two: Breathing techniques. Strong breathing techniques are effective at introducing Spiritual Energy, which also makes Blood Essence stronger.

What factors influenced the control of Blood Essence?

One: Mental will. The stronger the will, the greater the control over Blood Essence.

Two: Divine Forms. The more refined the Divine Forms, the greater the control over Blood Essence!

What factors influenced the parts reinforced by Blood Essence?

One: Divine Forms. The parts involved in the Divine Forms would be preferentially reinforced by Blood Essence.

Two: Blood Essence. The stronger the Blood Essence, the more even the parts not reached by the Divine Forms would be indirectly reinforced.

"In summary, breathing techniques should not be discarded after mastering the basics; they must be practiced persistently. And is Sleep Stillness truly the limit of breathing techniques?" Yang Ning knew that in the books he had read in his previous life, regarding meditation, there were multiple realms such as Initial Stillness, Entering Stillness, Constant Stillness, Fetal Breathing, and Sitting into Oblivion. By this classification, Sleeping Breath was merely the Initial Stillness!

Because breathing techniques only involved breathing, they seemed to involve meditation, but it merely required a quiet environment to breathe wholeheartedly. In reality, Yang Ning, who had personally created breathing techniques, knew that breathing techniques did not involve the mind at all and did not require one to reach a semi-conscious, thoughtless mental state.

Therefore, there were still realms above Sleep Stillness. Yang Ning did not aspire to Manifestation, but Constant Stillness, Fetal Breathing, and Sitting into Oblivion were theories that existed on Earth. There was no reason why they wouldn't exist in a cultivation world.

"The cultivation methods in this world were obtained through archaeology, but the Dragon Clan is naturally powerful and does not need to linger too long in their weaker stages. Therefore, it is possible that methods for the introductory stages are missing. Humans are accustomed to imitating their ancestors and dare not rashly alter the legacies left by their ancestors, so they have naturally never considered innovation. This is my opportunity."

Yang Ning had also lived in the feudal dynasties of this world and was well aware of how conservative the interest groups here were. Let alone the Curved Shaft Plow, over hundreds of thousands of years, not even iron hoes had become widespread in the fields.

Therefore, it was possible that breathing techniques were not the limit of cultivation.

As long as breathing techniques continued to improve, they could not only strengthen Blood Essence but also strengthen the mind, achieving two goals with one action.

"As for Divine Forms, their strength is not important; what matters is refinement and comprehensiveness. The greater the control over Blood Essence, the better. The more comprehensive the training, the better. Therefore, I should modify them in this direction! These Divine Forms seem to be limited by the human body's limits, but I don't need to consider that!"

Limited by thought, practicing Divine Forms was already difficult, but it was still within the limits of the human body, referring to the limits of thought.

For example, some muscles could not be trained no matter what posture was used.

Some Divine Forms considered finding others to assist in cultivation, such as having someone strike oneself with a stick, but in Yang Ning's opinion, this was not enough!

He knew two methods for comprehensively strengthening all the organs of the body.

The first was electric current stimulation, and the second was gravity!

Therefore, the Divine Forms he created could be much bolder, not only strengthening muscles but also the five internal organs, and even strengthening the brain before reaching the Body Refinement Eighth Level.

Most people would definitely not dare to do this, as it was too dangerous. But Yang Ning had the Spiritual Realm, which he could use to determine the safety threshold before attempting it outside!

"Calculating it this way, my future in cultivation is still very bright!"

Although the Spiritual Realm could not yet replicate Spiritual Energy, he would take things one step at a time. At least in the Body Refinement Realm, even if he had no backing and could only use the most common cultivation techniques, the Spiritual Realm could help him build a foundation far superior to others!

The Taiheng Sect was ranked among the top two of the Ten Great Immortal Sects. If he could surpass ordinary people within the Taiheng Sect, he could surpass ordinary people in the entire Taiheng Realm.

The success rate of becoming an immortal in this world was so low. Merely being a genius was not enough; one had to be a monstrous prodigy to have even a sliver of a chance to become an immortal!

Yang Ning finally opened his eyes and let out a long sigh!

"You finished so quickly?" Ning Rong looked at the now-awake Yang Ning with surprise. She then glanced at Xun Hu, who was still in a daze beside them, and suddenly realized that her companion might be more than just a child prodigy.

Perhaps, he could also be a powerful asset in cultivation!

Yang Ning smiled and nodded, "It was alright. Okay, let's order food first."

He had spent the entire afternoon grinding parts with a file, and he was starving!