Body Tempering Sixth Layer

[With the powerful medicinal strength of the Tendon Refining Pill aiding you, the injury on your chest healed rapidly. Ten days later, when the medicinal effect was exhausted, the wound had basically recovered. Over the following month, the Tendon Refining Pill continued to take effect, and your muscles and fascia grew tougher and stronger through constant tempering.]

Lu Lin did not hesitate in the slightest. He took out three more Tendon Refining Pills and swallowed them, while pouring one month of cultivation time into practicing the Iron Elephant Body.

Time flew by amid focused, bitter cultivation.

Month after month, a full six months were invested, and the Tendon Refining Pills consumed numbered a full eighteen.

His cultivation rose steadily. His sinews and muscles grew increasingly powerful and resilient, and he gradually touched the threshold of the fifth layer of Body Tempering.

"This sort of trickle-stream infusion improvement really isn't satisfying enough! At this speed, breaking through within a few days will be absolutely impossible. Better to endure for now, wait until I've accumulated enough cultivation time, then pour it all in at once like mad. That would be what you call satisfying!" Lu Lin secretly made up his mind.

In the blink of an eye, another ten days passed.

He focused and looked inward. The panel information of the Martial Dao Melting Furnace appeared clearly:

Martial Dao Melting Furnace: Owner, Lu Lin.

Cultivation: Fourth layer of Body Tempering.

Cultivation time: Six years and three months.

Martial dao cultivation techniques: Demonic Ape Blood Qi Art (Third layer), Iron Elephant Body (Fourth layer).

Mining Essentials: Greater mastery.

Breath Concealment Art: Greater mastery.

Inner space: One foot.

After confirming there was no one around, Lu Lin grabbed a handful of Tendon Refining Pills and stuffed them all into his mouth. Immediately afterward, his mind urged furiously, and the accumulated cultivation time was like a flood bursting through a dike as it poured wildly into the Iron Elephant Body!

[In the first month, with the powerful aid of the Tendon Refining Pills, your cultivation advanced steadily, and your muscles, tendons, skin, and membranes grew tougher and stronger.]

[In the second month, the medicinal effect continued to take hold, and your progress was remarkable...]

[After a year and a half, you endured the tedium and loneliness of long cultivation, cultivating bitterly day and night without ever slacking off. Heaven did not disappoint the determined; your cultivation finally smashed through the barrier, and you successfully stepped into the fifth layer of Body Tempering!]

Lu Lin stopped the infusion and carefully sensed the earth-shaking changes in his body.

The blood qi in his body surged like the tides of a great river, its depth and vigor reaching an even higher level. With just the slightest circulation of his technique, his muscles faintly gleamed with a reddish-black luster, harder than refined iron, as though an iron elephant had possessed him;

When he restrained his blood qi, he returned to normal.

"With medicinal pills to help, the cultivation speed really is the difference between heaven and earth!" he sighed inwardly.

Thinking back, it had taken him a full seven years to break through from the third layer of Body Tempering to the fourth.

The further one cultivated, the harder it became. Without medicinal pills, going from the fourth layer to the fifth would probably require more than ten years of grinding effort. But now, with only two years, including the previous half year, he had succeeded!

Of course, the price was that seventy-two Tendon Refining Pills had been completely used up, leaving only twenty-eight.

Looking again at his remaining cultivation time, there were still four years and nine months.

"Continue!" Lu Lin was not stingy at all. Once again, he swallowed a handful of Tendon Refining Pills and guided the remaining time to continue pouring in.

Lines of prompts flashed one after another.

At the start, with the medicinal pills assisting him, his progress was still swift and fierce. But after the Tendon Refining Pills were exhausted, the tempering speed of his sinews and muscles abruptly plummeted again, becoming as slow as a crawling turtle.

Lu Lin did not use the Blood Qi Pills.

This item had a significant effect on "nourishing blood qi," but its help during the stage of "refining sinews and muscles" was negligible. Using it now would be pure waste, so he planned to save it for cultivating other new techniques in the future.

Very soon, all his cultivation time was consumed. Although his cultivation had improved further, the sixth layer of Body Tempering still felt far beyond reach.

Next would be accumulating through day after day of mining...

In the blink of an eye, fifty more days passed since he had broken through to the fifth layer of Body Tempering.

Over these fifty days, he worked tirelessly, and with his luck bursting through the roof, he actually discovered another small "Spirit Stone nest." Apart from reserving a small number of Inferior Spirit Stones for emergencies, he exchanged the rest.

In the end, the cultivation time he had accumulated reached an astonishing forty years!

"Infuse... for me!" Lu Lin's heart surged with emotion. Driven by his will, the vast, sea-like cultivation time rushed madly into the Iron Elephant Body.

[In the first year, lacking the aid of medicinal pills, you could only rely on food and the thin energy between heaven and earth. Progress was extremely slow, and the strength of your sinews and muscles rose only slightly.]

[In the second year, progress was slow...]

[In the twenty-third year, after twenty-three long years of incomparably dull bitter cultivation day and night, relying on willpower far beyond ordinary people, Heaven did not disappoint the determined. Your cultivation finally broke through once more, and you successfully stepped into the sixth layer of Body Tempering!]

[Remaining cultivation time: Seventeen years.]

"Finally... I broke through!" Lu Lin let out a long breath of turbid air, and actually felt a trace of mental exhaustion.

A full twenty-three years!

Adding the time used before, the years spent breaking through this layer were already close to thirty!

How many thirty years could a life have?

Without the aid of medicinal pills, relying purely on time to endure it by force—the difficulty could well be imagined.

One had to ask, under the heavens, how many people could still keep their mentality from collapsing during long years where no clear hope of breakthrough could be seen, and continue cultivating bitterly day after day? Most could only let the years slip away in vain and finally end in dejection.

And this was only from the fifth to the sixth layer of Body Tempering. The realms after this would probably require an even more terrifying amount of time.

No matter what, since he had already broken through to the sixth layer of Body Tempering, his strength had increased by another nine hundred pounds! Now, the enormous strength in his body had reached a shocking four thousand five hundred pounds!

"Seventeen years left. Just enough to cultivate the first killing move of the Iron Elephant Body—Savage Elephant Charge!"

With another thought, cultivation time began pouring into this killing move.

After three months of bitter cultivation, "Savage Elephant Charge" was successfully initiated.

After another two years of bitter cultivation, "Savage Elephant Charge" reached minor accomplishment.

After another ten years of bitter cultivation, "Savage Elephant Charge" finally reached major accomplishment!

Remaining cultivation time: four years and nine months.

Only then did Lu Lin stop in satisfaction.

The remaining time was clearly not enough to cultivate the killing move to perfection, but the major-accomplishment Savage Elephant Charge already had quite considerable power, enough for use at his current stage.

"Let's test its power!" He took a deep breath, lowering his body slightly. The blood and qi throughout his body instantly surged, producing a wondrous resonance with his tough, resilient muscles.

The next moment, his legs erupted with force. His body shot forward like a raging primordial savage elephant, all the power in his body linking together section by section before finally converging entirely in his fists, which he blasted out fiercely!

Boom!

His fists slammed heavily into the hard rock wall of the mine tunnel, releasing a deafening roar. Broken stones scattered and shot out like rain, and a shocking crater was actually smashed into the rock wall by brute force!

"Not bad! Astonishing power!" Joy appeared on Lu Lin's face. "Before, I had brute strength but no method to bring it out, so I would inevitably suffer in battle. Now that I have this killing move, the enormous strength in my body finally has a place to be used!"

"Tomorrow is another rest day. I need to make another trip to Blood Baleful City and purchase a batch of Copper Essence in advance. In addition, I'll have to buy another martial art as a backup." Lu Lin already had a plan in mind.

The next day.

"You broke through to the second layer of Body Tempering?" Goatee Steward glanced at Lu Lin, slightly surprised.

"Reporting to Steward, yes." Lu Lin nodded calmly.

Three months had already passed since his "breakthrough" to the first layer of Body Tempering. Revealing second-layer cultivation now was perfectly timed.

Breaking through one layer in three months counted as above-average aptitude. It would neither be too eye-catching nor prevent him from laying the groundwork to obtain the later parts of the Demonic Ape Blood Qi Art as soon as possible.

After all, according to the sect's rules, one had to reach the third layer of Body Tempering before they could be granted the "muscle and tendon training" methods for the fourth to sixth layers.

Martial arts bought from the outside world were ultimately common goods, difficult to compare with the Demonic Ape Blood Qi Art, which pointed directly to the realm of Innate Blood Aura.

Sure enough, Goatee Steward did not grow suspicious. Instead, he said with faint approval, "Not bad! I remember that when you entered the sect, your roots and bones were clumsy, and you nearly got eliminated. I didn't expect that after joining, you would actually become enlightened instead. Don't worry, I'll report it for you. At the second layer of Body Tempering, your monthly share of Blood Qi Pills will increase by one."

"Many thanks, Steward!" Lu Lin cupped his hands in thanks, then took the opportunity to apply for rest and headed to Blood Baleful City.

After receiving approval, he collected the reward that had, as usual, been docked, then strode away.

Arriving once more in Blood Baleful City, he made a simple disguise, then visited several material shops one after another and successfully purchased thirty pounds of Copper Essence.

All the shops promised that if he sincerely wanted it, they could transfer goods from other cities, and gathering one hundred pounds would not be difficult.

Lu Lin paid the deposit and signed the contract. Then he turned to the Ten Thousand Scroll Pavilion and purchased a martial art called the Spirit Cat Art.

This art was divided into nine layers in total, so at most, it could only be cultivated to the ninth layer of Body Tempering. What he valued was its unique trait: after cultivating it, one's body would become as light as a swallow, and one's steps would make no sound on the ground.

Especially its first killing move, Spirit Cat Step, which could greatly improve movement speed and concealment. This was precisely what he was currently lacking.

Finally, out of habit, he went around the market again, hoping he might pick up another bargain.

Unfortunately, luck did not favor him. Last month and this time, he gained nothing at all.

It seemed that this kind of opportunity could be encountered, not sought.

At dusk, Lu Lin returned to the shared bunkhouse. Not long after he came back, he saw the other menial disciples in the same room return one after another, but almost every one of them was injured, their faces bruised and swollen.

"What happened to you all?" Lu Lin could not help but freeze at the sight.

"Who else but those bastards from the Blood Wolf Gang!"

A young man covered the bruised corner of his eye and cursed indignantly, "Do you still remember that Li Zitong? His younger brother Li Zitian came back. When he heard his elder brother had gone missing, he flew into a thunderous rage on the spot. Now he's leading the entire Blood Wolf Gang around like mad dogs, investigating people everywhere. Whenever they catch someone, they force them to answer questions, and if they can't get anything out of them, they beat them!"

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