Chaotic Wind Body Tempering

Back mountain, Black Dragon Pool.

Rumble—

Its form was unseen, but its roar arrived first.

A massive torrent poured down from a thousand-zhang cliff, like an enraged silver dragon viciously smashing into the deep pool below.

By the pool, more than a dozen burly men with bare upper bodies and muscles knotted like rock were cultivating hard. Some carried boulders while squatting, while others sparred with each other, every punch landing solidly on flesh.

The air was thick with the scent of hormones and sweat.

When Ye Xingchen appeared here in a thin long robe, he looked utterly out of place.

"Who's that? A newcomer?" A bald, burly man wiped the water from his face and asked in a booming voice.

"Never seen him before. He's all fair skin and tender flesh—he probably wandered into the wrong place."

The men tossed out a few casual jests before ignoring him. In the eyes of body-refining cultivators, muscles alone were truth. Those "fragile skins" from the Qi Refining Stage were beneath mention.

Ye Xingchen ignored the strange looks around him and walked straight to the edge of the pool.

The cold air cut to the bone.

Even the splashing droplets stung faintly when they struck his face.

"This force has enough kick."

A trace of ruthlessness flashed through Ye Xingchen's eyes. He removed his long robe, revealing an upper body that was somewhat lean but smoothly defined, then took a wooden hammer from his storage bag.

"What's he doing?" The bald man froze.

The next second, Ye Xingchen made a move that left everyone dumbstruck.

Hammer in hand, he walked step by step toward the point directly beneath the waterfall!

"Has he gone mad? That's the core area of Black Dragon Waterfall! The water pressure weighs a thousand jun—I wouldn't dare stay beneath it for more than half an incense stick!"

"If he wants to die, he could at least find a better way! No spiritual energy protecting his body? He's relying purely on his flesh?"

Amid everyone's startled cries, Ye Xingchen had already stepped into the waterfall's shroud.

Boom!

The instant he entered, Ye Xingchen felt as though a mountain had come crashing down on his head.

There was no cushioning whatsoever. The immense impact instantly bent his legs, nearly forcing him to kneel upon the slick rocks. His spine creaked with a teeth-grinding sound, as though it would snap the next moment.

"Ah..."

Ye Xingchen let out a low roar as the taste of blood filled his mouth. He did not use even a shred of spiritual energy, relying entirely on his physical body to endure it.

His feet rooted themselves in place, gripping the moss-covered boulder tightly.

Rise!

He struggled to lift the wooden hammer in his hand.

To the onlookers, Ye Xingchen now looked like an ant struggling in a storm—tiny and ridiculous.

First hammer!

Facing the savage torrent, Ye Xingchen swung his first hammer.

Yet the moment the hammer rose above his head, the terrifying water pressure viciously slapped it back down.

Bang!

The hammer handle slammed back into his chest. Ye Xingchen gave a muffled grunt and was sent flying, crashing into the deep pool like a ragged sack.

"HAHAHAHA!"

A burst of laughter erupted from the shore.

"I told you, this kid came here to make a fool of himself."

"If he can last three breaths down there, he can count himself lucky."

Yet the laughter quickly began to thin out.

Splash.

The water churned, and that lean figure climbed onto the boulder again.

He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. There was not the slightest retreat in his eyes; instead, a wild frenzy burned within them.

Again!

Bang! He was sent flying.

He got back up.

Bang! Sent flying again.

He climbed back up again.

Once, twice, ten times...

The muscular men on shore, who had initially worn mocking expressions, now looked grave, even carrying a trace of reverence.

Body refiners valued willpower above all else.

This kid was ruthless.

Not until the sun dipped below the western horizon did Ye Xingchen crawl ashore like a dead dog. His skin was bruised purple and blue, soft tissue injuries covered his body, and even his fingers were twitching uncontrollably.

But he smiled.

"Refreshing!"

Ye Xingchen lay spread-eagled on the pebble shore, looking at the gradually darkening sky. He could only feel a current of heat surging madly through his body.

In the distance, atop a protruding cliff.

A graceful purple figure stood silently there.

The girl looked sixteen or seventeen. Her skin outshone snow, and her aura was as cold and pure as a fairy from the moon palace. Her beautiful eyes gazed down at the half-dead figure on the shore.

"Using the Chaotic Wind Hammer Method... to temper the body?"

The girl's delicate brows furrowed slightly, as though she could not understand such a crude, life-risking cultivation method.

"Interesting."

The next day.

When the first ray of dawn fell upon Black Dragon Pool, Ye Xingchen appeared right on time.

After a night of recovery, his injuries had unexpectedly healed seven or eight parts out of ten.

"So this is the recovery ability after breaking through one's limits?"

Ye Xingchen clenched his fist and felt his strength had increased by another ten percent compared to yesterday.

Without another word, he went straight into the water.

Amid the rumbling roar of water, Ye Xingchen closed his eyes.

He no longer tried to resist the current. Instead, he began to feel it.

He felt the rhythm of the water, felt that overwhelming force descending from the heavens.

The core of the Chaotic Wind Hammer Method lay in finding "order" within "chaos," in borrowing force.

The water striking the hammer was one force.

The turning of the body was another force.

Kicking off the ground beneath his feet was yet another force.

"Open!"

Ye Xingchen suddenly opened his eyes and let out a thunderous shout.

First hammer, rising against the current!

Clang!

Though striking the waterfall produced no sound of metal clashing against iron, the dull blast made everyone's hearts constrict.

Borrowing the rebound force of the water, Ye Xingchen's body twisted in an uncanny motion, and his second hammer blasted out in an instant!

This hammer was faster and fiercer than yesterday's!

Three hammers... five hammers... ten hammers...

His movements grew faster and faster. The wooden hammer in his hand seemed to turn into a shield, forcibly tearing open a gap in the waterfall cascading over his head!

"Sixteen... seventeen..."

Someone on shore began counting without realizing it, their voice dry.

When he swung the eighteenth hammer, Ye Xingchen's momentum reached its peak.

The muscles throughout his body meshed together like precise gears. His spine writhed like a great dragon turning over, strength passing through him layer by layer before finally converging at a single point.

"Break!"

BOOM!!!

That hammer strike actually produced a visible wave of air.

The torrent falling from a thousand-zhang height, weighing ten thousand jun, was in that very instant forcibly smashed backward by the hammer!

The water surged upward against the sky, shooting a full foot into the air!

Though it lasted only an instant, though it rose only a foot.

That scene, which defied all common sense, was like a heavy hammer viciously striking every watcher's heart.

"Monster..."

The bald man muttered to himself as the boulder in his hands hit the ground with a bang.

Using a Qi Refining Stage body to strike back against a waterfall?

Was this even human?

He was a humanoid ferocious beast!

Ye Xingchen lowered his hammer. His body swayed, his face pale, but his eyes were terrifyingly bright.

He had already adapted to the bodily strain of forty-nine hammer strikes.

He even felt that he could go a step further.

The sensation of every cell in his body cheering and leaping with joy intoxicated him.

Dragging his drenched body ashore, Ye Xingchen found that the once-proud body-refining disciples around him had unconsciously made way for him.

Ye Xingchen found a clean rock and sat down. Just as he was about to regulate his breathing, a faint fragrance suddenly drifted into his nose.

The scent was cold, like a lotus blooming atop a snow mountain.

He raised his head.

A girl in a light purple dress was standing before him, though he had no idea when she had arrived.

She was tall and slender, with a narrow waist. Her face was exquisitely flawless, but her expression was far too cold, giving off an aloofness that kept others a thousand miles away.

The burly men around them saw the girl and immediately shrank their necks like mice spotting a cat, not daring to make the slightest sound.

"What is your name?"