The moment the technique advanced, a crystal-clear understanding surged along Chen Yan's divine sense and straight into his heart.
Every key point and every layer of meaning in the Hundred Bones Body Forging Technique was as clear as if carved into his bones and blood.
The core of this technique wasn't about strengthening any single part. Instead, it was founded on "tempering the bone marrow," then followed the pattern of "from the outside in," penetrating layer by layer to hone every bone in the body.
If one were to divide the technique into realms, the first would be the most basic and most essential: the Bone Tempering Realm.
This realm focused entirely on honing the bones and bone marrow!
As Chen Yan circulated the technique, he could faintly sense the blood-producing power in his bone marrow growing stronger, while even the density of his bones slowly increased.
With continued practice, his bones would eventually become as hard as divine weapons, and even ordinary martial skills would barely scratch them.
As the source of qi and blood, his bone marrow would also grow more abundant through tempering, laying the firmest possible foundation for his future cultivation.
After Bone Tempering came the second layer, the Muscle Forging Realm, following the path from the outside in.
Here, "muscle" referred to the tissues throughout the body...
This realm was no longer limited to the bones. Instead, it sent the tempering power into the muscle fibers beneath the skin and flesh, carefully honing every inch of tissue like a blacksmith forging iron.
With deeper practice, his skin and flesh would grow firmer without becoming rigid.
Most of the force from ordinary punches and kicks would be dispersed by his muscles.
And when he threw a punch or a kick, his muscles could unleash power far beyond that of others at the same level, truly making "skin and flesh like armor, fists and feet like hammers."
Deeper still lay the third layer: the Organ Nourishing Realm.
Once his bones were hard enough and his muscles resilient enough, the power of the technique would pierce through his skin and flesh and seep into his internal organs, nourishing them with a gentle but lasting force.
So this technique advances layer by layer: first fortifying the exterior, then nourishing the interior.
Chen Yan understood.
He could faintly sense that these three realms were only the foundation of the Hundred Bones Body Forging Technique.
Perhaps more profound realms lay ahead, ones that could fully connect the power of his bone marrow, muscles, and internal organs, truly making "all bones one, the body a furnace"!
But for now, he would focus on mastering these three realms.
Chen Yan quietly split off two strands of divine sense. One began practicing the Hundred Bones Body Forging Technique.
Every breath brought a faint rush of air, accompanied by soft creaking sounds from between his bones and joints.
It was as if a weapon long left unpolished were slowly regaining its resilience and strength as energy seeped into it; his movements were utterly smooth.
The other strand activated Godly Movement.
He lightly lifted a foot, and his figure swept several meters forward like a willow catkin. When he landed, he didn't stir even a speck of dust. He followed steadily behind the modified pickup, keeping a moderate distance from it.
Meanwhile, his main consciousness had already sunk into his body, focusing on examining his dantian.
At the sight, Chen Yan's divine sense paused.
The spot where his rounded dantian should have been was now mostly empty, replaced by a hazy gray sea of qi.
The sea of qi had no clear boundaries. Gray mist flowed and churned within it as if alive.
At times it gathered into a clump, at others it scattered into thin sheets. It moved without any discernible pattern, yet carried a profound heaviness that seemed to come from the very source of existence.
He focused his divine sense and examined it closely, soon discovering something even stranger!
The qi and blood remaining in his dantian were being slowly ensnared by the gray mist...
Threads of bright-red qi and blood flowed like streams, wrapped and dragged along by the mist until they gradually merged into the clouds.
As the qi and blood joined it, the once-pure gray mist began to glow with a faint red light...
Like a flame fed with fuel, it circulated noticeably faster.
In Chen Yan's perception, this gray mist wasn't mixing with his qi and blood at all.
It was clearly treating his qi and blood as nourishment, devouring it as it grew stronger, while quietly assimilating every inch of his dantian.
In the mere ten minutes since he had awakened, the gray mist had spread from a single wisp to nearly a tenth of his dantian.
At this rate, his entire dantian would be completely filled with the gray mist in no more than an hour and a half.
There's no doubt—this change must be connected to the Chaos Dao Body!
Even Chen Yan's divine sense carried a trace of excitement.
Chaos was the source from which all things in the universe were formed. If it were used to rebuild his dantian, or even reshape his body...
Wouldn't that mean his foundation would put other cultivators ten steps behind from the very start?
The thought came to him, and Chen Yan couldn't help smiling. Even the pace at which he circulated the technique quickened slightly.
What excited him even more was the vague premonition that came as the mist spread: the moment his dantian was fully reconstructed would be the moment he broke through to Professional Rank 1!
Earlier, when Chen Yan had gotten up from the ground, he had felt that the gray mist seemed to possess a mind of its own, actively lifting him according to his will.
Not to mention how it had later transformed itself into a set of clothes at his command.
So this gray mist is Chaos Qi? And these clothes... are the Chaos Garment?
Chen Yan raised an eyebrow, and his divine sense instinctively swept over the fitted clothes he was wearing.
He could clearly feel the restrained resilience hidden in the fabric formed from the gray mist. If he were attacked, it might even disperse the force automatically.
He suddenly recalled the system's original description of the Chaos Dao Body: "evolve all things, shatter all laws."
This Chaos Qi could transform into clothes with a mere thought. Wasn't that precisely the power to "evolve all things"?
Though it wasn't the same as his Image Projection Scroll...
The Image Projection Scroll required him to draw before the image came to life. It relied on brush and ink as a medium, then used spiritual power to animate the image.
Chaos Qi, on the other hand, took shape directly from his thoughts, making it seem closer to the source.
Both carried the meaning of "creation," so they shared a certain resemblance.
Qiu Yashuang gripped the steering wheel of the modified pickup. Its tires rolled through ankle-deep mud, splashing dark brown muck in every direction.
The once fairly level wasteland had long since disappeared. All that lay before them now was a stinking swamp.
Yellowed water plants floated on the surface, and every now and then bubbles slowly rose from the mud below.
She lightly pressed the brakes, gradually slowing the vehicle, then turned to call toward the rear:
"Hey! There's no proper road through this godforsaken place. Can you still keep up? If not, just get in!"
"I'm fine." Chen Yan's voice came from behind the vehicle, clear and without the slightest hint of breathlessness.
He lightly tapped the tip of his foot against a dead branch jutting from the water. Using that small push to vault through the air, he landed on a somewhat firmer patch of mud the next moment.
His Godly Movement was nearing perfection, and he had long since outgrown the constraints of the terrain.
Even in the soft swamp, he could find footholds. His steps were quick and effortless, and not a speck of mud touched his trouser cuffs as he steadily followed behind the pickup.
Only after the pickup had gone several dozen meters farther did Chen Yan look up and gaze into the distance. His eyes passed through the hazy mist and settled on a sight a hundred meters ahead.
It was a tall, reddish-brown wall built of massive stone blocks, stretching endlessly in both directions along the edge of the swamp.
It only curved away behind the horizon, but he could just make out its encircling shape, as if it were meant to seal off the entire area.
Chen Yan activated his Eye of Insight and saw that the bricks in the wall varied greatly in age...
Most of their surfaces were weathered, and the cracks were packed with black-brown mud. Some bricks had even split open, revealing their gray-brown interiors—clear proof that they had been there for many years.
Every few meters, several brightly colored new bricks had been fitted into the wall.
Their surfaces were smooth, and even the mortar between them was still a faint grayish white. They had clearly been fired and laid within the past year, as if the wall had only recently been patched.
Dense coils of barbed wire ran along the top of the wall and several meters beyond it.
A group of guards stood behind the wire.
Qiu Jiu leaned his head out. "Uncle Zhou! We're back!"
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