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Just as Chunchou had said, the first thing he needed to do was let his muscles form memories, not his brain.

This was Body Tempering!

"Chunchou, you were right. You really are a genius."

Bian Chunchou was even happier. He tried hard to press down the corners of his lips, but he simply could not, so they curled up instead. "Really? Wen Xuxu, your filter is way too thick. I'm actually just okay. What about Chen Zuizui? Why hasn't he come over yet?"

"He should be..."

"Should be what?"

"Still practicing his blade."

Bian Chunchou thought, wasn't that normal? If that grind king ever went a day without practicing his blade, that would be like red rain falling from the heavens.

"In fact, ever since you entered meditation, he has been practicing his blade nonstop. He still hasn't stopped." When Wen Xu had learned about it a few days ago, he had specifically gone to Blade Peak to take a look. Blade Peak was full of blade cultivators practicing their blades. When he asked around, they all said that Chen Zui practicing this way was a good thing and did not need to be deliberately interrupted.

"What? Is his body made of iron?" Bian Chunchou was stunned.

Wen Xu fell silent for a moment. "...In a sense, perhaps his body is even harder than iron."

Bian Chunchou: Now that was something. Put that way, there was absolutely nothing wrong with it.

The two arrived at Blade Peak, where Bian Chunchou indeed found Chen Zuizui still swinging his blade. According to a senior brother nearby, this guy's blade-swinging speed had grown faster and faster over the past two days. He was clearly nearing the brink of comprehension.

"I never expected his cultivation to be this arduous." Bian Chunchou could not help sighing.

Wen Xu could not see Chen Zui swinging his blade, but even the wind in Blade Peak's air was seven parts sharper than elsewhere. Especially where Chen Zui practiced, the wind had changed from its previous chaotic disorder into order amid chaos.

That senior brother from Blade Peak had been right. Chen Zui was already at the edge of comprehension.

Wen Xu thought, the cultivation world was truly wondrous. No matter what kind of aptitude a cultivator had, they could find the path most suited to their cultivation. He silently warned himself that he could not look down on any cultivator who worked hard at cultivation.

After watching for a while, the two returned to their respective peaks to cultivate.

Wen Xu returned to Body Tempering and sword practice. This time, he began trying to empty his mind: attain the utmost emptiness, maintain steadfast stillness; all things arise together, and through them I observe their return. He should have thought of it long ago. Only when one's state of mind was at its most tranquil could one glimpse a thread of the truest essence of cultivation.

But in practice, emptying his mind was very difficult for Wen Xu.

If someone never thought, they would become like Chen Zui, unable to accept complicated things. Yet if one was constantly thinking, an overly active mind would be unwilling to stop moving.

Wen Xu was the latter, but once he truly realized this, he began trying to change.

His Body Tempering progress, which had remained unmoving all this time, finally began to inch forward. The wind in the forging furnace also finally began to flow slowly out of the furnace without him needing to deliberately direct it.

As for Bian Chunchou, after finally entering a stable state of cultivation, the first thing he did was report the good news to his master. Then... narrow-minded as Bian was, he specifically sought out a certain senior brother surnamed Lin and circled around him a full three times. Only after seeing the other man's stiff expression did he return to his peak in satisfaction to consolidate his cultivation.

Just as Wen Xuxu needed Body Tempering, he needed it very badly too.

But his master seemed to have some special ideas about training. Wen Xuxu practiced swordsmanship, while he was... pressed by his master into testing talismans. Though experiments were his personal comfort zone, there was really no need to stay soaked in the laboratory all the time, was there?!

"Master, please, spare this child. The pile of ruined talismans here could supply Artifact Refining Peak with fuel for an entire day."

Venerable Ruoshui frowned. "You are a boy."

"Master?"

"You ought to be sturdier than girls. Your master has not even complained yet. You should persist a little longer."

Thus Bian Chunchou persisted for another three days. When he truly could not hold out any longer, he finally said, "Master, no, I really can't do it anymore. Actually, I can be a girl too."

Venerable Ruoshui smiled. Her little disciple was rather adorable. "Fine, I'll let you rest for a few days."

The moment Bian Chunchou heard that, he nimbly flipped to his feet and bolted out of Talisman Peak like the wind. But he had barely left the peak when he ran headlong into someone.

"Huh? Chen Zuizui, you're not practicing your blade anymore? Why have you become such a mess again?"

Chen Zui held his blade. "I took a bath. Don't slander me."

"Then what is with the beard and eyebrows growing wild across your face?! You're eighteen this year, not eighty! Come, come, I have a Blazing Fire Scorches the Plains Talisman here. I'll scorch every last bit of it off for you!"

Bian Chunchou was now very skilled at using talismans, and he used them both quickly and well. He could not help wanting to show off before his little companion, and then—

"You broke through again?"

Chen Zui nodded happily. "I practiced and practiced, and then I reached the Qi Refining Ninth Layer. You two are still not as impressive as me."

Bian Chunchou: ...

"I originally wanted to keep practicing my blade, but my master said something about excess being as bad as deficiency. I don't really understand, so can you help me ask Wen Xu?"

Bian Chunchou took out a communication talisman. "You can't contact him?"

"I don't know how to contact him."

Very good. Just as expected of you, Chen Zuizui. Bian Chunchou directly stuffed a communication talisman into his friend's hand. "I'll teach you. It's very simple. First, do this..."

Wen Xu had just finished a day of sword practice and was about to bathe and change clothes when he received a communication talisman from Chen Zui.

Wen Xu subconsciously looked up at the sky. The sun had not risen in the west today, had it? Chen Zui had actually sent him a communication talisman?

Only after opening it did he discover that Chunchou had forced him to send it. Then there was no problem.

The three quickly gathered. At their current cultivation levels, they had actually already far surpassed others their age. Cultivation growing too quickly was not entirely a good thing. Before Foundation Establishment came Qi Refining, and Qi Refining was meant to lay a better foundation. Growing too quickly was like swallowing dates whole: the dates went down, but one barely tasted their flavor.

Later, if someone asked what dates tasted like, the three of them would probably be unable to explain it at all.