Perfect Spirit Body

Perfect Foundation Establishment—how long ago was it proposed, and by whom—could no longer be investigated. What was certain was that the person who designed this method had been a Spirit Formation Master, because it required a special Spirit Formation.

The Spirit Formation was very simple; it could be found in almost any book. Yet to the vast majority of people, it was like a legend. The reason was that it required far too many Body Tempering Pills.

The vast majority of people, even some fairly well-off Lineages and Sects, still lacked such financial resources. Even if they had the money, they would not be willing to spend it all on one person. Every Lineage had quite a few descendants, but at the Spirit Body Realm, it was impossible to tell which descendant possessed extraordinary talent. Using this method on an ordinary person was simply a waste.

Only forces so powerful that they did not treat Body Tempering Pills as anything of value could use this method.

There were two main reasons the Huo Family had not allowed Huo Hai to use this Spirit Formation. First, this method consumed too many Body Tempering Pills and cost far too much. The Huo Family was not a merchant Lineage; such an enormous expense required even the family head to think carefully.

The other reason was that using the Body-Refining Spirit Formation would inflict immense pain on its user. Ordinary people simply could not endure it. The consequences of failing to endure it were not only failed Foundation Establishment, but also severe injuries. Such serious wounds could even affect future advancement. Without absolute certainty, no one would use it lightly.

At this moment, Huo Hai was carefully drawing the Spirit Formation on the floor of his room. Earlier, he had already told his family that he was going into seclusion and was about to break through, telling them not to disturb him.

Even if Huo Hai did not come out for several days, no one would come looking for him. Huo Yuner was even easier to handle. Huo Hai had simply given Little Gold to Huo Yuner to play with for a few days. Huo Yuner would never run into a courtyard full of insects; that was simply too unbearable.

Once the formation had been drawn, Huo Hai evenly spread the powder of materials he had prepared beforehand into the grooves of the formation. Among them were several Spirit Stones that ordinary people found exceedingly difficult to obtain. They were the key to activating the formation.

"Good thing the Body-Refining Spirit Formation is low-grade and only uses the simplest materials. Otherwise, there is no way I could have completed it alone." After piecing the formation together, Huo Hai wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. Even this simple Body-Refining Spirit Formation had taken him more than half a day to complete. A Spirit Formation Master truly was not something just anyone could become.

The Body-Refining Spirit Formation mainly suppressed and harmonized the power of the Body Tempering Pills, making it slow and stable while thoroughly tempering the body, allowing it to reach the level of an Innate Spirit Body. An Innate Spirit Body was a special physique best suited for cultivation.

At minimum, one hundred Body Tempering Pills were required to use it, or failure was guaranteed. Huo Hai had obtained two hundred pills this time, and he planned to use them all at once. Once the tempering was complete, the remaining Body Tempering Pills would be useless anyway.

He could not take them out either; that would draw far too much attention. Besides, the more Body Tempering Pills placed within, the better the tempering effect on the body. An extra hundred pills would not improve the result by much, but for a Spirit Master, even the slightest increase in talent was precious beyond measure. Sometimes, a tiny gap in talent was enough to leave a Spirit Master stuck at one level for life, unable to advance an inch.

Looking at the medicine bottles in the Body-Refining Spirit Formation, their caps already fully removed, Huo Hai muttered to himself, "I should be able to endure it, right? If I want to survive in this world, what does a little pain amount to?" Huo Hai narrowed his eyes.

On Earth, Huo Hai had drifted with the current because he had never been given an opportunity. No matter how hard he worked, he could never become one of the upper class. But in this world, he had been given such an opportunity—the path of a Spirit Master. Since he had an opportunity, if he did not fight for it, would he not be letting himself down? If he was going to do it, he would do it to the best. Could a little pain really stop him?

With that thought, Huo Hai fiercely placed the Spirit Stones into the formation nodes. The instant the last Spirit Stone fell into the formation, the entire Spirit Formation activated. Spirit power emitted by the Spirit Stones began circulating continuously along the formation.

The formation was extremely simple, yet spiritual energy could not leak out of it no matter what. As the spirit power circulated, the formation gradually emitted a hazy glow. From afar, it resembled a special pattern made of neon lights, dazzlingly beautiful.

Huo Hai had no time to consider any of that. With his eyes closed, he circulated his own Foundational Spirit Art with all his strength. Before reaching the Spirit Adept level, regardless of whether a Spirit Art was good or bad, it was considered a Foundational Spirit Art. Thus, the Spirit Art Huo Hai cultivated had no name.

The Spirit Formation reached its limit, releasing an extraordinarily strange power. Merging with the laws of this world, the formation swiftly found the Body Tempering Pills. It was as though it had been created solely for those pills. In an instant, spirit power extracted the strength from the Body Tempering Pills. After merging with spiritual energy, it actually transformed into an invisible Flame.

The invisible Flame burned without fuel, floating in the air just like that. If Huo Hai had opened his eyes at that moment, he would certainly have been utterly shocked.

But Huo Hai no longer had a chance to be shocked. After circling once within the Spirit Formation, the Flame found the only living being inside it. As though it knew its mission, it plunged directly into Huo Hai's body.

The violent power of the Flame entered Huo Hai's body and immediately began burning through his entire body. Nothing appeared to be wrong on the surface, yet he felt as though he had been thrown into a sea of fire, as though his whole body was about to melt away.

The Flame continued to burn. Gradually, things could be seen flowing beneath Huo Hai's skin. Under the effects of the Flame, large quantities of black impurities began slowly being forced out of his body.

The spiritual-energy Flame did not harm any other object at all; it seemed to target only Huo Hai himself. At this moment, earth-shaking changes were taking place throughout his body. His body began to become crystal-clear, and spiritual energy fused with it more and more closely, making it increasingly translucent. Huo Hai's affinity with the spiritual energy between heaven and earth grew ever higher, while the impurities within him were expelled outward.

If Huo Hai had been capable of inner sight, he would even have seen the crystal-clear Spirit Veins within his body becoming increasingly resilient and increasingly luminous under the Flame's effects. Spirit Veins were the key to cultivating spirit power in the future.

Unfortunately, Huo Hai had neither the time nor the energy to pay attention to any of this. All of his focus was concentrated in his mind. From the moment the Spirit Formation began operating, intense pain had surged into his heart.

No, it should have been said that it swept through his entire body. The pain even seemed to originate from his soul. If Huo Hai had not already lost control of his body, he might have wanted to stab himself just to end this horrifying pain sooner.

As time passed, the pain became increasingly terrifying. This was not physical pain that would grow numb over time. The longer it lasted, the more intense Huo Hai felt it become, until it reached a level unbearable to any human being. The last remaining thought in Huo Hai's mind told him that he absolutely could not give up. If he gave up, something would happen that he would deeply regret.

As for what that was, Huo Hai had already forgotten. There was only pain in his mind now. The only words flashing through his mind were: persist. His mind gathered completely together, resisting the pain and refusing to let himself lose consciousness.

The only thing that could be called good news was that this pain did not exhaust him. Not only did it not make him tired, it made his mind increasingly alert. As his senses grew sharper and sharper, the pain became more and more intense.

The agonizing pain did not make his mind muddled, nor did it make him want to sleep, much less cause him to faint. Huo Hai knew that as long as he gave up, he could instantly escape this pain and comfortably fall unconscious. Yet a voice within his heart kept reminding him that he absolutely could not give up. Huo Hai no longer knew why that voice existed.

But no matter what it was, persist. Persist until the end. I want to see what I will encounter if I persist to the very end. Perhaps even these thoughts were beginning to fade from Huo Hai's mind.

All sorts of thoughts grew fainter and fainter, yet the obsession in his heart became ever stronger. Persist, persist, persist... He did not know where the end lay. But that did not matter. He only needed to keep persisting.

He did not know what the final result would be, but that was not important either. He only needed to persist to the end. He had to persist. Even if the pain killed him, he would die on the road of persistence. Gradually, fewer and fewer thoughts remained in Huo Hai's mind. He had even forgotten that he could give up. Only the two words persist remained in his mind.

Outside, after one hundred Body Tempering Pills had been consumed, Huo Hai's body had already been fully tempered. The remaining Body Tempering Pills formed spiritual-energy Flames, but they did not continue tempering his body. His Spirit Body was perfect; further tempering was useless.

Those Flames then began continuously tempering Huo Hai's Spirit Veins. Unknowingly, his Spirit Veins began growing stronger and stronger. This excess power was actually being used entirely to strengthen his Spirit Veins and increase their potential.

In truth, even Huo Hai himself had no idea how enormous an advantage he had gained. No one knew that the Body-Refining Spirit Formation could increase the potential of the Spirit Veins. Everyone only knew that too many Body Tempering Pills would cause greater pain and increase the chance of failure. Even those who could afford the Body-Refining Spirit Formation usually used only slightly more than one hundred pills and would not add too many.

No one knew that after reaching a Perfect Spirit Body, the excess medicinal power would actually strengthen the Spirit Veins and even increase their potential. This meant that, in another sense, it raised the highest achievement one could attain in the future.

Huo Hai did not know, and neither did anyone else. Today, merely because Huo Hai did not want to waste anything, he gained such enormous benefits. These things would only gradually reveal themselves after his cultivation became higher.