Digestion

Viscera Gate, break!

The final, teetering threshold of the Physical Body Realm—the bottleneck of the Viscera Gate—had long since been ground into ruin by Su Bo's great dragon of qi and blood during the transformation of his dragon blood.

Now, with a thought from Su Bo as he drove his qi and blood against the acupoints, the Viscera Gate shattered in an instant.

Seventh Tempering of the Physical Body Realm...

Qi and blood slowly flowed into the depths of his viscera. The five-viscera essence contained within the Yuanchen Fruits merged into his qi and blood, cleansing and tempering Su Bo's internal organs.

Countless bodily impurities hidden deep within his viscera, difficult to temper, were refined out bit by bit.

The essence also condensed strands of blood qi, merging them into the great dragon of qi and blood, making Su Bo's aura increasingly formidable.

55... 56... 57...

His qi-and-blood value, which had not increased for several days, was rapidly climbing as well.

Su Bo looked inward at himself...

The five-viscera essence poured into his five organs, while specks of stellar essence entered his six bowels.

His heart opened seven apertures, drawing in and exhaling fire-viscera essence. It seemed to transform into a blazing furnace, stirring boundless waves of fire.

The metal-viscera essence pouring into his lungs condensed into an illusory palace of pure gold, dazzling with golden light and brimming with sharpness.

His liver evolved into a flourishing forest with wood-viscera essence...

His kidneys filled with a vast, surging ocean...

Within his spleen spread heavy earth and mountain ranges...

His six bowels, meanwhile, gave rise to flecks of starlight from the stellar essence within the Yuanchen Fruits...

The heart's fire furnace, the lungs' metal divine palace, the liver's verdant wood forest, the kidneys' deep water abyss, the spleen's thick earth mountains—five extraordinary visions rose and fell within his five organs.

Neither Liu Yue nor Yi You had ever mentioned this phenomenon of the viscera forming visions.

Then again...

Su Bo glanced at the Yuanchen Fruits in his hand. When others tempered their viscera, at most they ate a single set of Yuanchen Fruits.

What about him?

He had wolfed down twelve sets of Yuanchen Fruits in one go—all sixty of them.

There was probably no one else in all history who had eaten them like this. The Five-Viscera Yuanchen Tree was exceedingly difficult to cultivate. Even clans as powerful as the Yi Clan and the Celestial Human Race possessed only a few such fruit trees.

They bore a batch of Yuanchen Fruits every three years, and each batch only produced sixty fruits.

Even within the Yi Clan, younger generations had to compete against one another to obtain Yuanchen Fruits and establish their foundation in the Physical Body Realm.

Yi You and Liu Yue had only obtained Yuanchen Fruits because their elders held rather high positions in the clan, and even then, they were limited to lower- and middle-grade Yuanchen Fruits.

The high-grade Yuanchen Fruits were mostly taken by the more monstrous talents of their generation.

The five visions drew in and exhaled five-viscera essence, tempering his internal organs and strengthening Su Bo's qi-and-blood power. The immense great dragon of qi and blood grew ever thicker.

The speed of his internal viscera tempering became faster and faster as well.

Qi-and-blood value: 62... 63...

His surging qi and blood suddenly swelled once more, breaking through the limit of the Seventh Tempering of the Physical Body Realm.

Eighth Tempering of the Physical Body Realm!

"Whew..." As his bodily qi, blood, and strength surged, Su Bo exhaled a breath of turbid air mixed with countless impurities cleansed and tempered from his viscera.

The turbid air shot out like an arrow of qi, striking the surface of Essence Lake and blasting up a wave.

"How many days has it been?" Su Bo had lost track of time.

He had never immersed himself in cultivation for long before. By watching day turn to night, he could tell how many days had passed. But this time, he had thrown himself completely into breaking through and tempering his viscera.

In such immersive cultivation, he could not feel time slipping away at all.

Fortunately...

That kid Liu Yue had prepared for this. Afraid that Su Bo would sink into cultivation and forget the time, he had given him a small item that marked his location and could also keep track of time.

Su Bo pulled it from his chest and glanced at the recorded time. "Three days have already passed?"

"Three days, and I've reached the Eighth Tempering of the Physical Body Realm..."

Feeling the vast qi and blood within his body, as well as the faint sensation of "saturation" coming from it, Su Bo leaped straight onto the lake surface and sprinted toward the shore, stepping on the water.

Having broken through the Viscera Gate in the Physical Body Realm...

His qi, blood, and force had melded perfectly with his flesh, unifying his body inside and out. Treading on water without wetting his feet was nothing difficult.

He ran all the way across the lake to the shore. Su Bo did not see the prodigies he had beaten flat, nor did he care where they had gone.

In a flash, he raced deeper into the Earth-Cang Mountain Range.

His body felt saturated, so he needed to digest it.

Nothing could help him adapt to his newfound strength faster than slaughter and battle, digesting the explosive increase in power after his breakthrough and allowing his body to recover.

Only after recovering could he continue cultivating and complete the Ninth Tempering of the Physical Body Realm at the fastest possible speed.

Earth-Cang Mountain Range...

About ten minutes later, thunderous booms exploded through the mountains.

"Not enough, still not enough—again..." Su Bo's long punches came in an unbroken stream, each one faster and heavier than the last as his immense qi and blood erupted wildly.

Opposite him, two ape-like demon beasts nearly three zhang tall roared as they swung massive bone clubs, smashing them furiously toward Su Bo.

Savage apes—demon beasts comparable to the peak of the Ninth Tempering of the Physical Body Realm.

Fists and bone clubs collided. Their immense force whipped up terrifying gusts that tore up the ground.

Scorching blood qi like the blazing sun clashed with dark, savage demon qi. The blood qi ignited the demon qi, burning the two savage apes until they shrieked wildly in pain and rage.

The already violent demon beasts grew even more ferocious, and the force behind their bone clubs became increasingly terrifying.

Even so...

Boom!!

Su Bo moved as lightly as wind brushing past him. His figure flickered, and he landed atop the female savage ape's head, driving her viciously into the ground with a heavy stomp.

The male savage ape flew into a rage at once. Tossing aside its nearly shattered bone club, it clenched both fists and blasted toward Su Bo like a cannonball.

Bang...

Airwaves surged. Su Bo, standing on the female savage ape's skull, threw out a punch as well. The aftershock from the collision between one large and one small fist...

Snapped trees across an area of nearly a hundred meters, leaving broken limbs and ruined trunks scattered everywhere.

"Roar..." The female savage ape let out a pained howl.

Then its voice weakened, becoming a dying groan.

Su Bo was standing on its head. The tremendous force transmitted through the collision shook into its brain, making its eyes bulge out at once. Flesh split across its skull, spraying scarlet blood.

Cracking, bursting sounds of bones breaking rang out from the top of the female savage ape's head.

Already stomped into the ground by Su Bo and nearly left with a shattered skull, the female savage ape was now thoroughly shaken to the brink of death by the immense force.

At the sight, the male savage ape bared its fangs and roared repeatedly. "Roar, roar, roar..."

Its scarlet eyes looked toward its mate, full of worry, before turning to Su Bo. A streak of savage killing intent instantly burst forth.

"Roar..." The male savage ape growled warily.

"Call over clansmen as strong as you, or stronger. Otherwise, I'll stomp her to death." Su Bo lightly pressed down with his foot.

The overwhelming force drove the dying female savage ape's head several inches deeper into the earth.

"Whimper..." The female savage ape let out a low groan. Its huge body trembled, and its already faint breath grew even weaker.

The anxious male savage ape immediately roared again and again, pounding its chest wildly with both fists.

Then it let out a long roar that carried who knew how far, though its gaze remained fixed on the female savage ape beneath Su Bo's foot.

Seeing that it had called for its clansmen, Su Bo kept his word.

His figure flashed, and he stepped away from the female savage ape beneath his foot. He charged straight at the male savage ape. He had only just finished warming up.

His entire body brimmed with energy. He had to fight fiercely and vent it all.

The male savage ape could not spare any concern for the dying female ape either. With a roar, it swung its fists and charged forward, its savage strength tearing through the air.

Man and ape fought madly amid the mountain forest, fist against fist and foot against foot. The power of qi and blood tangled ceaselessly with demon power in a savage struggle.

The aftershocks destroyed an area several hundred meters wide.

Neither of the two savage apes was a match for Su Bo. A single savage ape was fairly powerful, but for Su Bo, it was only enough to let him warm up a little.

Before long, Su Bo kicked the male savage ape's massive body flying.

After smashing through one giant tree after another, it embedded itself deep in the ground...