Golden Body of the Wisdom King

Even the mightiest soul needed a physical body as its vessel.

Jiang Feng had long since prepared a body-cultivation technique—the Golden Body of the Wisdom King.

The Golden Body of the Wisdom King was no precious technique. On the contrary, it was extremely easy to obtain. The town library distributed it for free at regular intervals, and anyone could claim a copy. Many common households even treated it as something indispensable for the privy.

Yet once such a lowly technique was mastered, its power could shake heaven and earth.

According to the records, once this technique was mastered, one's physical strength could reach several times that of an ordinary person. Before becoming martial artists, ordinary people reached perfection when their physical strength hit one thousand jin, and could not improve any further. But by cultivating the Golden Body of the Wisdom King, one could raise physical strength to two thousand jin. Moreover, by using special methods, one could burst out with several times that strength again for a short period.

For such a powerful body-cultivation technique to be so lowly, there was only one reason: it was far too difficult to cultivate, and almost no one could succeed.

This technique had existed since ancient times, but looking across the continent's past and present over a hundred thousand years, fewer than a handful of successful cultivators had ever been recorded. The most recent was Emperor Longxiang, who had laid the foundation of the empire ten thousand years ago.

Emperor Longxiang had begun cultivating the Golden Body of the Wisdom King at the age of seven and had only completed the first stage at thirty, spending a full twenty-three years!

Although Emperor Longxiang had only completed the first-stage golden body at thirty and stepped through the gate of martial artists then, the moment he entered that gate, he displayed heaven-defying might. In the end, he stood at the peak of the continent, laid the foundation of the present empire, and became a man praised through the ages.

The Golden Body of the Wisdom King was extremely difficult to cultivate, but there was no denying that those who cultivated the golden body successfully were, without exception, people of immense achievement.

Jiang Feng had read the Golden Body of the Wisdom King before. To be honest, he had not understood a single thing, let alone grasped its mysteries and comprehended how to cultivate it. But he believed that after cultivating the Sutra of Observing Heaven and Eternal Treasures, his soul strength was comparable to that of a god, and his comprehension had risen accordingly. Comprehending and cultivating this Golden Body of the Wisdom King should not be difficult.

Taking out the Golden Body of the Wisdom King technique, Jiang Feng began to read.

With this reading, Jiang Feng immediately noticed the difference. Before, he had not understood it at all, but now he could actually grasp its deeper mysteries with great ease. Moreover, with just one glance, he had memorized the entire technique by heart.

"Is this the benefit of having a powerful soul?" Jiang Feng was extremely excited.

"What is 'wisdom'? The sun and the moon..."

The so-called Golden Body of the Wisdom King was, in truth, a physical body cultivated by borrowing the power of the sun and moon. But the sun and moon hung high in the sky—how could one borrow their power to cultivate the body?

Therefore, to cultivate the Golden Body of the Wisdom King, one first needed to perceive the power of the sun and moon. Although the power of the sun and moon was everywhere, it was not like ordinary spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

For martial artists, cultivating and perceiving the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was already no easy matter. Cultivating the Golden Body of the Wisdom King required perceiving the deeper power of the sun and moon; one could imagine how difficult cultivation would be.

The act of perception alone could stop ninety-nine point nine nine nine percent of people.

And even after perceiving the power of the sun and moon, one still had to find a way to draw that power into the body, using it to nurture and temper the flesh. Just thinking about it felt difficult. No wonder that across a hundred thousand years, fewer than a handful had succeeded.

Before ordinary people became martial artists, tempering strength was nothing more than relying on arduous training or consuming miraculous pills and medicines to improve their constitutions. Yet even that stumped many people, let alone using the power of the sun and moon to cultivate the physical body.

After a round of comprehension, Jiang Feng discovered that the Golden Body of the Wisdom King, which in others' eyes was as difficult as climbing to heaven, was something he could pick up as easily as reaching out his hand. His powerful soul not only gave him extremely high comprehension, it also allowed him to easily perceive the power of the sun and moon hidden between heaven and earth. Moreover, with the help of his divine sense, drawing the power of the sun and moon into his body was effortless.

Under the nurturing of the sun and moon's power, Jiang Feng's flesh and blood began to transform. His strength rapidly climbed from a dozen or so jin to several dozen jin, a hundred jin, several hundred jin.

In just one night, Jiang Feng's body underwent a transformation like shedding mortal flesh and exchanging his bones!

In truth, the cultivation speed of the Golden Body of the Wisdom King depended on one's perception of the power of the sun and moon. Emperor Longxiang had spent twenty-three years before completing the first stage. But Jiang Feng felt that perhaps he could finish it in just a few days.

Because his divine sense could clearly sense that all things under heaven hid the power of the sun and moon. To him, he only needed a thought, and he could draw the power of the sun and moon within all things for his own use.

At this speed, Jiang Feng could become a martial artist within several days. When that time came, not only would he no longer need to beg for food on the streets and suffer humiliation, he could also turn himself around and be respected by others. That silk-pants young master of the Qi Family would never imagine that he, Jiang Feng, could actually become a martial artist before the age of sixteen and reverse his fate.

When ordinary people tempered their bodies to lay a foundation for becoming martial artists, it was called Body Strengthening. Body Strengthening was divided into nine stages. Only upon perfection of the ninth stage, when strength reached one thousand jin, could one use brute force to shake the dantian and forcibly open a sea of qi. Jiang Feng's current strength was roughly five hundred jin, which for ordinary people was the strength of the seventh stage of Body Strengthening.

Possessing seventh-stage Body Strengthening strength at fourteen was not outstanding among large clans with abundant resources, but in commoner households with scarce conditions, it was quite good.

Zhushan Town was a small place, after all. Becoming a martial artist at sixteen might not be rare for large clans like the Qi Family, but in a place like Zhushan Town, it truly was uncommon.

Therefore, in the small place of Zhushan Town, Jiang Feng's strength could be considered enough to earn him a place on the Youth Ranking.

Qinghe Prefecture governed thirty-two county cities, and each county city in turn governed over a hundred small towns like Zhushan Town. Therefore, Zhushan Town truly counted as a small place.

But even a small place like this had a population of around two hundred thousand.

So although it was a small town, it actually did not occupy a small area. Quite a few people came and went, and relationships were tangled and complicated.

On a sparsely trafficked street, a party of men and horses clad in armor was rather eye-catching.

Walking at the very front were two girls, a young lady and a maidservant.

"Miss, today the Wei Family father and son came to propose marriage. Instead of staying at home, you ran out on your own. How will you explain it to the master later?" As they walked, the maidservant tried to persuade her.

"Hmph, I don't want to marry that Wei fellow." The young lady snorted coldly.

She was the dignified daughter of the town mayor. With her aptitude, she was meant to become a martial artist before the age of sixteen and enjoy the empire's stipend. If she were to marry, naturally she had to marry a man of even higher standing. How could she willingly marry the son of a mere town guard captain?

However, she also knew that because of the matter involving Jiang Yunhai three years ago, the Wei Family had attached themselves to the great clan of the Qi Family. In the future, perhaps they might even rise further. But that useless son of the Wei Family was already fourteen now, and he still could not punch with two hundred jin of force. How could he be worthy of her?

Her name was Nie Xiaoyue, the only daughter of Nie Hu, the town mayor of Zhushan Town. Nie Hu was an expert at the seventh stage of the Black Martial Realm, a man whose word was law in Zhushan Town, and he doted deeply on Nie Xiaoyue. Nie Xiaoyue herself was also fairly competitive. At the youthful age of fifteen, she already possessed the strength of the eighth stage of Body Strengthening, with her power reaching over seven hundred jin. She ranked in the top five on the town's Youth Ranking, and she was also the only person in the town in recent years with hope of stepping through the gate of martial artists before the age of sixteen.

Therefore, in her own eyes, it was only natural that she possessed this pride. Within Qinghe Prefecture, the only men worthy of her, Nie Xiaoyue, were the descendants of those great clans.

As for the Wei Family, that was truly somewhat forced.

Three years ago, Jiang Yunhai had offended a disciple of the Qi Family and invited disaster. His subordinate deputy captain, Wei Changqing, had been tempted by that Qi Family disciple's benefits and framed him for abusing his power for personal gain and embezzling military pay. After Jiang Yunhai was dismissed from his post, that Qi Family disciple deliberately promoted Wei Changqing to captain of the town guard, and only then did the Wei Family gain a firm foothold in Zhushan Town and acquire a certain status.

Speaking of it, although Wei Changqing could not be considered a good man, he did possess cultivation at the fifth stage of the Black Martial Realm and commanded Zhushan Town's eight thousand city guards, so he could more or less be considered someone of note. But his son Wei Shan was a complete waste. After eating fourteen years' worth of grain, he could not punch with two hundred jin of force, and spent every day carrying a broken birdcage around Zhushan Town, bullying people and throwing his weight around—a thorough bastard.

These past few years, because of Wei Changqing's bit of connection with the Qi Family, and because they worked in the same town, Nie Hu and Wei Changqing had interacted quite frequently. Wei Changqing also wanted to further solidify his position in Zhushan Town, so he had thought of having Nie Xiaoyue marry into the Wei Family.

"..." Nie Xiaoyue still wanted to say something to take Wei Shan down a peg, but the maidservant beside her suddenly stopped her.

The maidservant jutted her chin in one direction. "Miss, look over there."

Nie Xiaoyue followed her gaze and saw a young beggar sitting upright beneath an eave. It was none other than Jiang Feng.

"Miss, why don't we go amuse ourselves with him again?" The maidservant looked as if she did not regard Jiang Feng as a person at all.