Ninth Level of Body Tempering!

Yang Xiao returned home, closed the bedroom door, and took out the items he had obtained today from his bosom.

"Iron Cloth Technique", "Demon-Slaying Blade Technique", "Origin-Guiding Qi Gathering Art", and 2 Body-Tempering Pills.

Yang Xiao first focused his gaze on the Body-Tempering Pills.

[Available equipment detected: Body-Tempering Pill (one-time consumable)]

[Effect: Accelerates skin and flesh tempering, strengthens tendons and bones, and significantly improves Body Forging Realm cultivation.]

[Do you wish to equip the "Body-Tempering Pill" to the equipment slot?]

"Yes."

With a thought from Yang Xiao, the Body-Tempering Pill in his hand instantly appeared in the equipment grid. As he silently recited the command to use it, a slightly warm and tingling medicinal power seemed to generate by itself from deep within his body, slowly flowing into his limbs and bones.

He closed his eyes, sat cross-legged, and operated the Breath-Nurturing Method to guide this medicinal power.

Half an hour later, he slowly opened his eyes.

"Peak Body Forging Realm Seventh Stage..."

Yang Xiao felt the changes inside his body, the corners of his mouth curving up slightly.

With just a little more, he could break through to the Body Forging Realm Eighth Stage.

He took out the second Body-Tempering Pill again. This time, after thinking for a moment, he did not place it in the equipment slot, but swallowed it instead.

He wanted to see what differences might arise from a different method of use.

Once again, a warm current of air flowed through his body.

This time, Yang Xiao operated the Breath-Nurturing Method with all his might, guiding the medicinal power to his entire body.

"Boom--"

A muffled sound came from within his body, and his vital blood surged like a tidal wave.

Body Forging Realm Eighth Stage!

Yang Xiao opened his eyes, deep contemplation in his gaze.

"Two Body-Tempering Pills were enough to break through to the Body Forging Realm Eighth Stage."

"However, the medicinal power of the second one was clearly less than the first one which was placed in the equipment slot. That might be due to usage loss, so it's still better to equip them directly in the future."

Feeling the surging power within his body, Yang Xiao nodded with satisfaction.

"Next..."

Yang Xiao's gaze fell upon the Iron Cloth Technique, and he recalled what Zhang Hu had said in the armory's secret room.

The Demon Suppression Division's "Origin-Guiding Qi Gathering Art" could only be practiced after reaching perfection in the Body Forging realm, and the "Demon-Slaying Blade Technique" was unimaginably exquisite; the time required to solidify it through equipment would certainly not be short.

For the short term, he could equip the "Iron Cloth Technique" first to perfect his basic martial arts while simultaneously pushing for the realm of Body Forging perfection.

Thinking of this, Yang Xiao placed the "Iron Cloth Technique" from beside his hand into the equipment slot.

["Iron Cloth Technique"]

[Effect 1: "Iron Cloth Technique" proficiency reaches perfection.]

[Effect 2: Obtained trait (White) Iron Armor: Skin and fascia strengthened, impervious to mortal weapons and blades.]

[Permanent solidification condition: Equip for one hour.]

The moment he equipped it, the vital blood inside Yang Xiao's body surged like a rushing river, continuously impacting his tendons and bones and polishing his skin and flesh in an extremely short span of time.

He followed the cultivation technique to guide the vital blood to the surface of his skin, scouring and tempering it over and over again.

At first, his skin only grew slightly numb and hot, but soon a faint metallic sheen spread across it until the vital blood subsided and faded away.

So this is the effect of the Iron Cloth Technique?

He reached out and touched his arm; the skin was tougher than before, as though covered by a thin layer of iron film.

Yang Xiao stood up and stretched his tendons and bones.

He could clearly feel that his skin and muscles were much tougher than before.

He took out his own saber and aligned it to strike his arm, and it actually produced the dull sound of colliding iron and stone.

"The Iron Cloth Technique has reached perfection, and I've also gained the Iron Armor trait. My skin and flesh are like iron and stone, making it somewhat impervious to blades and spears."

Yang Xiao looked at his forearm, his hand holding the saber increasing its force further as he wanted to test the limit of his body's defensive power.

Three breaths later, a "crack" suddenly rang out.

He saw the blade suddenly shatter, a clear notch appearing on the saber body, while his forearm merely showed a shallow white mark.

"I used almost my full strength and a mortal iron weapon, and my body only showed a white mark."

Yang Xiao muttered to himself, a trace of satisfaction flashing in his eyes. The defensive power is quite good!

Just at that moment, he felt a wave ripple through his body.

"Boom--"

His vital blood surged like a tidal wave, and his tendons and bones resonated in unison.

Body Forging Realm Ninth Stage!

Yang Xiao was stunned for a moment, and then a look of delight appeared on his face.

The perfection of the Iron Cloth Technique, combined with the tempering of his tendons and bones and the driving of his vital blood, had actually allowed him to directly break through to the Body Forging Realm Ninth Stage!

Feeling the surging power within his body, the corners of Yang Xiao's mouth lifted slightly.

With Body Forging Ninth Stage coupled with the grand perfection of all his basic martial arts, as long as demons of higher realms did not emerge in Xiangyun County, he was already invincible!

While waiting for the one-hour solidification time of the Iron Cloth Technique, he could study the Demon-Slaying Blade Technique and the Origin-Guiding Qi Gathering Art in the meantime.

Yang Xiao took out the two cultivation manuals and placed them on the table.

He first opened the Demon-Slaying Blade Technique, but after reading just a few pages, he could no longer read on.

The esoteric and difficult-to-comprehend circulation routes, profound terminology, and certain things he lacked entirely that were referred to as "qi".

The sword stance illustrations of little human figures were indeed clear, but he simply could not discern the movement trajectories of the stances.

He could only tell that this was a blade technique specifically targeted at demons; the stances were fierce, and executing them would produce a certain kind of might, but he seemed to lack certain conditions and was unable to practice it.

Yang Xiao then opened the other book, the "Origin-Guiding Qi Gathering Art".

This one was much more straightforward, with some annotations on the first few pages.

The mortal flesh body is turbid, and can only breed fleshly, brute strength without being able to rouse the spiritual qi of heaven and earth.

This art uses breath-nurturing as its guide and is divided into three steps of cultivation: sensing the origin, opening apertures, and storing qi. It draws the thin spiritual qi drifting between heaven and earth into the meridians, opening the twelve storage-origin apertures throughout the body one by one. Every time an aperture is filled with origin qi, one's cultivation level increases by one stage. When all twelve apertures are fully stored without overflow, it is the perfection of the Qi Gathering Realm.

In other words, whether one can utilize the spiritual qi of heaven and earth is the key distinction in the mortal body transcending mortality!

"Qi", this should be the key to driving the Demon-Slaying Blade Technique. Yang Xiao thought to himself. Therefore, I must practice the "Origin-Guiding Qi Gathering Art" first, so that I can have qi.

An hour later, Yang Xiao looked at the newly vacant equipment slot before his eyes.

He took the "Origin-Guiding Qi Gathering Art" out from his bosom, his gaze flickering.

This cultivation manual was the key to passing through to the next realm.

If the equipment system could make the Origin-Guiding Qi Gathering Art instantly reach perfection just like it did for the basic cultivation methods, then he would have a chance to break through the Body Forging Realm and step into the Qi Gathering Realm!

Yang Xiao took a deep breath, and with a thought, the equipment system interface floated into view.

He placed the Origin-Guiding Qi Gathering Art into the equipment slot.

["Origin-Guiding Qi Gathering Art"]

[Effect 1: "Origin-Guiding Qi Gathering Art" proficiency reaches perfection.]

[Effect 2: Obtained trait (Blue) Spirit Swallowing: Automatically absorbs heaven and earth spiritual qi all over the body, gaining triple efficiency under active spirit-swallowing state.]

[Permanent solidification condition: Equip for twelve hours.]

"Equip for twelve hours..."

Yang Xiao looked at the solidification condition and slightly furrowed his brow; the solidification condition for a Qi Gathering cultivation method was indeed higher than that of a basic cultivation method.

He closed his eyes to sense the surrounding heaven and earth spiritual qi.

Very quickly, he felt an illusory breath flowing around his body.

Yang Xiao guided the heaven and earth spiritual qi according to the circulation route of the Origin-Guiding Qi Gathering Art, only to discover that although he could sense them, he was unable to draw them into his body.

It was as if a certain barrier existed between his body and the spiritual qi, making absorption impossible.

After trying for a moment longer, Yang Xiao opened his eyes with a helpless expression.

As expected, according to Zhang Hu's words, one had to reach Body Forging perfection before they could practice the Origin-Guiding Qi Gathering Art.

Until the mortal body reached perfection, it was unable to absorb heaven and earth spiritual qi.

Yang Xiao furrowed his brows slightly; no matter who it was, being blocked by this obstacle from advancing would feel displeasing in their heart.

However, thinking of how he had gone from the Body Forging 3rd Layer to the present Body Forging Ninth Stage in a mere two days, directly bypassing over a dozen years of detours that ordinary people had to take, he immediately cheered himself up.

It didn't matter; it was just waiting for another day's time.