Thirteen Guardians' Iron-Body Qigong

Outside the Black Armor Battalion.

Monkey and Dog stepped out of the tent and stood shoulder to shoulder. They still moved as though the camp were deserted; not one patrolling soldier noticed them.

After they had walked a while, Dog said quietly:

"What you did today wasn't exactly wise."

"Not only did you teach him Thirteen Guardians' Iron-Body Qigong, you casually promised him a place with us. We don't have that authority, do we?"

"Of the twelve Attendants, only the chief can make that decision."

"You broke the rules."

Monkey paid no mind to Dog's reproach. He chuckled. "What, do you really think he can master it? I just gave him something to hope for."

"Thirteen Guardians' Iron-Body Qigong is an extreme martial art the chief created specifically to fight those Transcendents. It was never meant for ordinary people. To date, only people like us, who rose above the rest and carry Transcendent blood, have managed to make any progress with it."

"With difficulty like that, what does it matter if the technique gets out?"

Monkey sighed. "Apart from us imperial Attendants, nobody would practice such a martial art. The cost far outweighs the gain."

"Besides, that kid has spindly arms and legs, without even a callus on his hands. One look tells you he's not cut out for hard-body training. He doesn't have secret medicines or precious pills to help him like we do, either. How could he possibly master it? He'll be lucky if he doesn't get impatient and wreck his body instead."

Dog finally caught on.

"So you're just giving him hope, to make him work harder and keep him from dying too soon? Otherwise, he'd sink without so much as a splash?"

"What else?"

Monkey said flatly, "A man needs something to hope for."

"But what if he does succeed?" Dog pressed. "What if he masters the art and survives Longxing County? What then?"

"If he succeeds?"

A faint smile appeared on Monkey's face. "Then we'll take him in. At worst, I'll recommend him to the chief."

"At the very most, we'll put that cloak of yours on his shoulders."

"...Don't talk nonsense."

Dog hurriedly tugged at his cloak.

The Attendant Hall had its own ranks, distinguished most clearly by their cloaks. From lowest to highest came the Black Cloak, Vermilion Cloak, and Violet Cloak.

No one could wear a cloak without earning great merit.

He had earned his Black Cloak by staking his life to quell an Aberration uprising, surviving by the skin of his teeth. Not just anyone could have one.

A mere newcomer would be blessed by heaven just to join the Attendant Hall. And he wanted to wear a Black Cloak? He should know his limits and serve obediently for a few years first. Otherwise, he might end up like Pig not long ago, dead in a foreign land, with even the recovery of his body an impossible luxury.

Their figures gradually disappeared into the distance.

Inside the tent, Wang Ping kept his eyes shut and his Spirit Sense fixed firmly on them. Only after a long while did he relax and let out a breath.

"Good. It's not that I can't detect them at all."

With his Spirit Sense locked on them, he saw exactly how Monkey and Dog moved and finally understood the secret behind their ghostlike passage through the military camp.

"Their boots must be a Named Treasure. Combined with a matching movement art, they can slip easily into other people's visual blind spots."

This was no longer something achievable through physical means alone. It was the uncanny power of a Named Treasure-grade weapon. By staying in blind spots, the two could come and go from the Black Armor Battalion at will, even evading Spirit Sense to appear silently beside him.

"I'll have to be more careful from now on."

Wang Ping took the warning to heart. "Since this rebirth, I haven't formally begun cultivating immortality. The Spirit Sense that comes with the Desire-Realm Celestial Body is still too weak."

"I need to fix that as soon as possible."

"If my Spirit Sense is strong enough to cover every visual blind spot and counter their Named Treasure's power, they won't be able to hide from me."

Wang Ping sat on the bed and calmed his mind.

The next instant, the world froze and spun around him. He entered the Morgue once more, then looked toward a corner of the raised platform.

There lay a mountain of Life Essence Pills.

They were his greatest gain from the Immortal Sect world in his previous life. Together with Life-Stealing Thief, they were enough to send his cultivation soaring even without a Spiritual Root!

"No time to waste."

Having made up his mind, Wang Ping reached toward the mountain of pills. In an instant, the countless pills became a surging torrent that poured into his body.

Rumble!

Sounds like exploding firecrackers roared from within Wang Ping. His once-steady breathing turned ragged, and the scent of blood rose with it.

"It hurts!"

His skin had turned a deep crimson from head to toe. As time passed, that color gradually sank into his flesh.

The rumbling inside Wang Ping grew fiercer. Bones ground together, skin and sinew pulsed, and muscles quivered as his body swelled. His blood-infused skin changed again, taking on a pale yellow hue that deepened until it shone with radiant gold.

"...!!!"

These violent changes, sweeping from the inside out, brought an itch and pain deep in his bones. Wang Ping nearly crushed his teeth from clenching them.

Crack!

Wang Ping stared in shock at the strange feeling in his mouth. He spat, sending a mouthful of blood and broken teeth spraying out.

He really had crushed them!

Alarmed, Wang Ping hurriedly felt his mouth. But instead of an empty gap, his fingers met something as hard as steel.

Are these... my teeth?

Wang Ping froze. He looked with his Spirit Sense and found his mouth packed with small, closely set white teeth—forty of them!

At the sight, Wang Ping couldn't help scratching his head.

Then he forgot all about his teeth.

That scratch had brought away a large clump of hair in his hand, and a strange coolness spread across his scalp...

"Bloody hell!"

Before Wang Ping could react, the coolness spread rapidly. Great clumps of hair kept falling, drifting helplessly to the ground around him.

Am I going bald!?

Wang Ping felt his head again, only to find new hair already sprouting from the scalp that had just gone bare. Before long, he had a crew cut again.

"Is my body being remade?"

Wang Ping finally began to understand. He stopped worrying about it, gritted his teeth, and kept circulating Life-Stealing Thief, ravenously devouring his stored Life Essence.

He had no idea how long it took for the violent changes to subside. It felt as though heavy shackles that had always weighed on him had fallen away. His arms and legs moved several times more freely than before, and an overwhelming sense of strength filled him whenever he opened or closed his hands.

"Incredible!"

Wang Ping examined his transformed body. His arms and legs seemed longer, he had grown noticeably taller, and his shoulders and back had broadened.

Clothes that had fit him perfectly were now tight.

Even his little brother had grown sturdier.

"The fingers are the tips of the sinews, the tongue of the muscles, the teeth of the bones, and the hair of the blood. Sinews, muscles, bones, blood... External Arts Perfection is nothing next to this!"

Wang Ping stretched with delight.

Pop! Pop! Pop!

He threw just two casual punches, yet explosive force sent visible rings of rippling air through the room, accompanied by sharp whistles.

Then he closed his eyes and sensed his body for a moment.

"As expected, Heavenly Roc Force is gone again."

Just as in his previous life, the Celestial Roc Dragon-Subduing Body had been too low-grade. Once he formally began cultivating immortality, it broke down and merged back into his Dharma Body.

From the perspective of Great Shun's Martial Dao, then, he was now merely an external-arts martial artist.

"But compared to an ordinary external-arts martial artist, I should be a little stronger." Wang Ping used his Spirit Sense to assess his current strength carefully.

An Inner Force Martial Master? More than that!

Wang Ping exhaled slowly and circulated his blood and qi. His pale yellow skin gleamed like gold, while the muscles and vessels beneath it glowed with a lustrous sheen.

This was the hallmark of the Perfectly Sealed True Body.

"The Perfectly Sealed True Body does exactly what its name says. With this trait, any physical changes gained through future cultivation remain sealed in."

In short, once attained, forever retained.

"When mortals practice martial arts, they can't slack off for an instant or they start to regress."

"But with the Perfectly Sealed True Body, an immortal cultivator never loses what he's mastered. Once he learns an art, he never regresses. That's the cultivator's advantage."

And that was without counting how the Perfectly Sealed True Body had changed his physique. Wang Ping felt that his physical strength alone now rivaled Xu Bingzheng's!

"No, I should be stronger!"

At least, Wang Ping thought he was stronger than Xu Bingzheng had been that day. And that was comparing strength alone, without counting the scriptures and spells he had mastered.

Wang Ping let out a long breath and reined in his swelling confidence.

"Calm down. That bastard official may have been a Titled Martial Master, but he ranked near the bottom of the Great Shun Court's Weapon Ranking. He isn't much of a benchmark."

Wang Ping thought of Monkey and Dog, whom he had just met.

Those two were probably Titled Martial Masters as well, but they were clearly far stronger than Xu Bingzheng. He wondered which of them would be stronger than him now.

Perhaps because he had just broken through, Wang Ping was itching to test his fists and feet against someone.

It took him a while to calm down completely.

"And I'm not done yet. I can get stronger!"

The next instant, Wang Ping returned to reality and took out the copy of Thirteen Guardians' Iron-Body Qigong that Monkey had given him. He began reading it carefully.

True to its name, the martial art comprised thirteen disciplines: Iron Head Skill, Iron Throat Skill, Iron Arm Skill, Iron Elbow Skill, Iron Fist Skill, Iron Sand Palm, Iron Finger Skill, Iron Knee Skill, Iron Leg Skill, Iron Foot Skill, Iron Cloth Shirt, Iron Abdomen Skill, and Iron Ox Skill. Together they covered the entire body, leaving not a single weakness.

"Every discipline has a corresponding martial manifestation."

By the time Wang Ping finished reading the manual, he was stunned. "Good grief. Was this martial art designed to turn a person straight into a Divine Weapon?"

Extreme. Pure.

Its extremity made it hard to practice, but its purity also made it powerful. More importantly, it suited him extraordinarily well!

"I already have the Perfectly Sealed True Body, so practicing martial arts with a cultivator's Dharma Body takes half the effort for twice the result. Spirit-Communing Thought has also greatly strengthened my Spirit Sense, letting me control the flow of blood and qi precisely and train more efficiently. And I can quickly heal any damage to my body with Qi Suppression."

In this respect, the advantage immortal cultivation held over martial arts could not have been clearer.

If anything could slow his progress, it would probably be comprehension. But for a Peerless Borrowed Talent like him, that was no problem either.

"A Promise Worth a Thousand Gold—lend me your talent!"

Early the next morning.

Wang Ping sat upright on his bed. Though he had not slept all night, he was full of energy. Morning sunlight fell across him, seeming to form layer upon layer of halos.

Each halo that settled on him made him look more solemn and majestic.

Copper Head, Iron Brow; Thousand-Jun Arm; Earth-Standing Vajra.

Hundred-Step Divine Fist; Stone-Splitting Fist; Land-Piercing Steel Step.

Mountain-Sinking Elbow; Bronze-Wall Knee; Armor-Hard Abdomen.

Stone-Piercing Finger; Steel-Blade-Locking Throat; Golden Spear Unyielding.

Steel Sinews, Iron Bones.

Thirteen martial manifestations blessed him at once, making him look less like a mortal man than a divine statue seated in a temple.

And when the thirteen manifestations merged, they formed an entirely new one:

Indestructible Vajra Body!

"Whoever created this martial art was a genius born once in an age!"

Only after mastering it did Wang Ping understand the central idea behind Thirteen Guardians' Iron-Body Qigong, and it left him deeply shaken.

"The creator must have wanted this art to let a mortal body break past the limits of external arts. At full mastery, it could even rival an immortal cultivator's Dharma Body."

Wang Ping could examine himself with Spirit Sense, so he felt the effects of Thirteen Guardians' Iron-Body Qigong with particular clarity. By his estimate, even an ordinary mortal who mastered the art could gain something approaching a cultivation trait like the Perfectly Sealed True Body!

Entering the Dao through martial arts—this was exactly that.

"Incredible. Truly incredible." Wang Ping marveled, his mood lifting. For him, this was a tremendous opportunity.

"Sure enough, I can't underestimate the people of this world."

"Great Shun's Martial Dao may not equal immortal cultivation, but it has its merits. Those at its peak might not be inferior to immortal cultivators."

With that thought, Wang Ping looked down at the manual again.

He had felt nothing unusual before mastering the art. Now, however, he could sense with absolute clarity that it was incomplete—at most, this was only the first volume.

"There must be a more advanced second volume."

Wang Ping's eyes brightened. "Above external arts comes Inner Force. Could the second volume be a corresponding Cultivation-Body Diagram?"

"...I'll ask another day."

Remembering Monkey and Dog from yesterday, Wang Ping felt a stir of anticipation. "With their seniority, they must have received the second volume once they mastered the first."

Unlike him, they were mortals. Still, this Thirteen Guardians' Iron-Body Qigong was hardly difficult. Surely they could master it?

Meanwhile, outside the Black Armor Battalion.

Monkey and Dog, who had also spent the entire night training without sleep, opened their eyes. Exhaustion showed plainly in them, along with disappointment at their lack of progress.

"Still not quite there."

Dog sighed. "Why is this damned martial art so hard? I bet even the chief who created the thing couldn't master it."

"Look on the bright side."

Monkey sounded equally helpless. "Similar martial manifestations conflict with one another. Keeping those conflicts under control is the hardest part of practicing this damned art."

"You've barely mastered seven disciplines. I've done a little better with nine. That's already respectable. We're Titled Martial Masters, so we can use Divine Intent to reconcile the conflicts. For martial artists who don't even have Divine Intent, the difficulty jumps another level."

Dog frowned. "Is there no other way?"

"I wouldn't say that."

Monkey gave a cold laugh. "Ultimately, the conflicts between manifestations come down to the body being unable to adapt to their drastic changes or withstand their power."

"You could let the conflicts run unchecked and allow them to damage your body."

"Then take precious medicine afterward and slowly nurse yourself back to health, letting your body adapt to the transformation as it recovers. That would greatly reduce the harm caused by the conflicts."

"But as the saying goes, injured sinews and broken bones take a hundred days to heal. Even with precious medicine, improving through self-harm is far too slow, and it could leave incurable problems behind. You can only resort to it when every other method has failed and you can't advance any further."

"Dragon, for instance, has recently gone into seclusion to try reaching the thirteenth level this way. I doubt he'll succeed, though."

Dog stared at him, speechless.

"So to master all thirteen levels of this martial art, you first need an exceptionally strong body. Then you need control over it at least equal to Divine Intent—maybe far beyond it. After that, you need a way to heal your body quickly, and considerable comprehension as well?"

Monkey nodded. "That's right."

"This..."

Dog felt his scalp prickle. He couldn't help blurting out, "Are you kidding? This martial art isn't meant for humans to practice, is it? Maybe a Transcendent could manage it."

"Don't count on it."

Monkey sighed. "Those Transcendents have elixirs and miraculous medicines to strengthen their bodies. Why would they waste precious time on our crude methods?"

Dog fell silent at his words.

Monkey let out another long sigh.

"So, ever since the Chief created this martial art, no one but the Chief has ever cultivated it to the thirteenth layer's perfect completion."

"No one in the past."

"And I'm afraid no one ever will."