In the Shrouding the Heavens era, the pure path of body refinement was not actually flourishing.
This was not because Shrouding the Heavens cultivators did not value the physical body, or because their physiques were weak. On the contrary, it was because the bodies forged through the Human Body Secret Realm method were simply too powerful.
In many worlds, even after cultivators reached the highest realm, their physical bodies remained far more fragile than weapons of the same level. But here, Emperor Bodies were incomparably tough, eternal and indestructible.
After Sacred Physiques reforged the Five Great Secret Realms and reached completion, invincible beneath the heavens, the strongest level their physical bodies could attain was only barely at the Emperor level.
That was already an exceptional case seen once in ten thousand years. The number of Completed Sacred Physiques was far fewer than that of Ancient Emperor Great Emperors.
Reforging the Five Great Secret Realms was an exclusive inheritance of the Sacred Physique. Without such a physique, others could not imitate it.
It was nearly impossible for Great Emperors to further strengthen their bodies through body refinement. After all, every aspect of them had already reached the Human Dao Apex.
Almost no one studied how to achieve immortality through the physical body. Everyone placed greater importance on the Primordial Spirit.
Although Shrouding the Heavens cultivators had incomparably sturdy physiques, their most important thing was actually the Primordial Spirit...
Even the strongest fortress existed to protect the "person" inside.
"The physical foundation of ordinary cultivators is not low either. Common body-refinement secret arts can hardly enhance it. Spending enormous effort cultivating them brings little return; it would be better to cultivate a few more secret arts or find several weapons and treasures."
In the original plot, Ye Fan had repeatedly used his