Indestructible Golden Body

The moment five million hit his account, Li Zhengyang had only one thought in his head.

Recharge.

But now was not the time. Pulling out his phone to top up in public might pass as an on-the-spot breakthrough once in a while, but doing it every time would draw far too much attention.

He would collect the items first, then worry about recharging.

The resource vault was on the third underground level of First Fortress. Its entrance was a half-meter-thick alloy door, with two Martial Spirit Rank guards standing on each side.

Zhang Yuan took out a token and swiped it. The door slowly opened.

"Let me go over the rules again. Champion treatment means three items. You are limited to one cultivation technique, while the other two must be one item each from the spirit material and pill sections."

Zhang Yuan walked ahead, his shoulders slightly stiff.

As chief of staff, he usually handled the military region's logistical dispatches. He knew the resource vault's assets like the back of his hand.

Any random item in here was worth hundreds of thousands at the very least.

Taking three at once hurt his heart.

"Don't touch anything once you're inside. Some items have restrictions placed on them. If you touch them, they'll..."

"They'll explode?"

"They'll set off an alarm. And if it goes off, I'll have to write a report."

"Fine, I won't touch anything. I'll just look with my eyes."

The inside of the resource vault was larger than Li Zhengyang had expected.

It was divided into three sections, each separated by transparent spiritual-energy barriers.

The cultivation technique section was on the left, the spirit material section in the middle, and the pill section on the right.

Li Zhengyang headed for the cultivation technique section first.

There were three rows of shelves there: upper, middle, and lower. Several manuals of exceptional quality were locked on the top shelf, behind the thickest spiritual-energy barrier, with their grades marked on the labels.

The middle shelf held Mysterious Rank cultivation techniques, and there were more of them.

The bottom shelf was piled with Yellow Rank ones.

Li Zhengyang's gaze did not linger on either the Yellow Rank or Mysterious Rank techniques.

He looked directly at the top shelf.

There were only two Heaven Rank techniques—one fist art and one sword art—and both were incomplete copies.

"You can't take Heaven Rank ones," Zhang Yuan added from behind him. "Heaven Rank cultivation techniques can only be borrowed with the personal approval of the military region commander. Even champion treatment doesn't qualify."

"What about Earth Rank?"

"Earth Rank is allowed."

There were four Earth Rank cultivation techniques.

Li Zhengyang rose onto his toes and examined them one by one.

The first was the Black Tortoise Heavy Armor Art, an Earth Rank low-grade defensive body-tempering cultivation technique.

The second was the Heaven-Burning Palm, an Earth Rank low-grade palm art.

The third was the Star-Shattering Fist, an Earth Rank mid-grade fist art.

The fourth...

Li Zhengyang stopped walking.

In the farthest corner, a thin, dusty gray booklet leaned at an angle.

Half the cover had peeled away, while the yellowed edges curled up. It looked as though it had been picked out of a garbage heap.

The label read:

[Indestructible Golden Body, Earth Rank high-grade, body-tempering cultivation technique (incomplete scroll—only the first half remains)]

[Note: This cultivation technique came from the Martial King's Ruins. Only the first half was obtained; the whereabouts of the second half are unknown. Cultivating it to completion grants an indestructible vajra body, with Blood Qi feeding back into the flesh and greatly multiplying defensive power. Because the incomplete scroll is missing sections, no one has been able to cultivate it to completion. It has been listed as a display item.]

Earth Rank high-grade.

Of the other three, two were low-grade and one was mid-grade.

Li Zhengyang raised his hand, and the System Interface appeared automatically.

[Detected cultivation technique: Indestructible Golden Body (incomplete scroll—first half)]

[Quality assessment: Earth Rank high-grade]

[The system can automatically deduce and complete the incomplete scroll]

[Required cost: 1,000,000 Great Xia yuan]

Automatically complete it.

One million would restore the incomplete scroll and bring it straight to completion.

What was waste paper in other people's eyes became the very best choice in his hands.

"This one."

Zhang Yuan glanced back and frowned.

"Indestructible Golden Body? An incomplete scroll?"

"Mm."

"Are you sure? It only has the first half. You can't cultivate it fully. The Star-Shattering Fist beside it is a complete Earth Rank mid-grade technique with extremely strong practical combat value. I suggest..."

"This one."

Zhang Yuan opened his mouth, but ultimately did not try to persuade him further.

The champion had made his own choice. He could take whatever he liked.

A registrar came over to make a record. Li Zhengyang signed his name and tucked the dusty gray booklet into his clothes.

Next was the spirit material section.

The items there were a motley assortment.

Ores, beast bones, spirit plants, special metals—they were divided into dozens of compartments according to grade.

Li Zhengyang swept his gaze over them and chose a piece of dark-gold ore.

The label read:

[Fifth-Rank Earth Dragon Essence. Can be used for weapon forging or consumed directly to temper the body. Market price: approximately 800,000.]

It could be sold for money, and it could also be used.

Finally came the pill section.

The items here were more concentrated, with bottles and jars lined up in temperature-controlled cabinets.

Li Zhengyang looked for a long time before taking a bottle from the highest shelf.

[Origin-Consolidating Pill (Martial Sect grade). After consumption, it can help Martial Sect realm martial warriors consolidate their cultivation and accelerate Blood Qi fusion. Market price: approximately 800,000.]

All three items were in hand.

Zhang Yuan finished signing the last entry in the register, closed the book, and let out a long breath.

"All right. Take your things and return to the guesthouse to rest. The Marrow-Washing Pool will open in three days. Someone will come to pick you up."

"Chief of Staff Zhang."

"Mm?"

"Can I return these three items for cash?"

Zhang Yuan snapped the register shut.

"???"

After returning to the guesthouse, Li Zhengyang locked his room door.

First, he handled the important business.

He took out his phone and opened the banking app.

Exactly five million.

He pulled the incomplete Indestructible Golden Body scroll from his clothes and spread it across the bed.

The System Interface appeared.

Recharge amount: 1,000,000.

Confirm.

[Recharge successful!]

[Recharge amount: 1,000,000]

[Current Blood-Qi Value: 92628]

[Technique Deduction initiated: completing the incomplete Indestructible Golden Body scroll...]

[Deduction complete!]

[Indestructible Golden Body has been completed into a full version. Quality: Earth Rank high-grade.]

A massive stream of information flooded into his mind.

It felt different from when he had learned the Mountain-Splitting Spear Art. That time had been about moves and paths of force.

This time, it was the way his entire body functioned.

How Blood Qi settled into the bone marrow, how it wove a protective network between muscle fibers, how skin, fascia, and bones formed three layers of physical barriers.

Once the cultivation technique reached completion, his body's defensive power more than doubled outright.

Li Zhengyang rose from the bed and clenched his fists.

A faint golden sheen spread over his skin, then receded after two seconds.

"Good stuff."

With the hardness of his body now, attacks from Martial Sects of the same rank would find it difficult to break through his defenses.

The next moment, Li Zhengyang's communicator rang.

It was not his phone, but the encrypted communicator issued by the military.

"Li Zhengyang, this is a notice from headquarters."

It was Zhang Yuan's voice.

"Your designation has officially been transferred to the Northern Frontier Military Region's directly subordinate Edge-Breaking Sequence. According to the military region's deployment, you will be reassigned to Fortress No. 7 for garrison duty."

"Fortress No. 7?"

"One of the three foremost fortresses on the Northern Frontier Front. The average grade of the Magic Beasts there is one or two levels higher than at Fortress No. 13."

Li Zhengyang's fingers paused over the communicator.

"When do I leave?"

There was a beat of silence from Zhang Yuan's end.

"Tomorrow."