Ten Thousand Jin

"Clang!"

The heavy lid sealed the top of the Medicine Cauldron. All light vanished in an instant, plunging its interior into darkness.

Naturally, this was to seal in the medicinal potency, ensuring that not a trace of this cauldron's powerful medicine went to waste.

Shi Yi sensed it all clearly. He remained silent, quietly devouring the medicinal essence around him as he felt various deadly poisons darting wildly through his body like little snakes.

As the bottom of the great cauldron grew hotter, all the ingredients inside melted into liquid and mingled together. Even Shi Yi, seated cross-legged within, felt as though he was about to melt.

Vapor rose in swirling clouds. As the potent medicines fused, a strange transformation took place, releasing faint traces of a medicinal fragrance that refreshed the heart and soul.

Suddenly, strange patterns on the Medicine Cauldron's inner walls activated, giving off a lustrous glow in the darkness. At the same moment, the medicinal liquid boiled, refining vast quantities of divine substances and essence. They became a surging ocean that crashed toward Shi Yi, the only living person inside, one towering wave overtaking the next.

"Boom!"

A blazing sun rose from his chest. The Supreme Bone was displaying its power, devouring immense quantities of essence like the gaping maw of a taotie.

Shi Yi's eyes shone brilliantly as well, splitting the divinity and vital essence entering his body equally with the Supreme Bone.

Throughout this process, he did not refine runes into his flesh and blood. He simply tempered his body, strengthening his innate potential.

The clan elders had told him that even more powerful medicinal baths awaited him, involving the Precious Blood of an adult Primordial Remnant. This was the greatest support Martial King Manor could currently provide.

As for the true blood of a heaven-tier ferocious beast, the clansmen who had gone to Demon Spirit Lake had yet to return. He would have to wait a little longer.

The medicinal bath lasted a very, very long time. Only when the liquid inside the cauldron had almost entirely dried up into a paste, and Shi Yi had absorbed every bit of its essence, did it finally end.

When the Medicine Cauldron's lid was opened, three blazing beams of golden light suddenly shot out. Wind and clouds churned in the courtyard, and all the ancestors looked into the cauldron in astonishment.

Chaos mist wreathed Shi Yi's Double Pupils as they released brilliant beams of light. Within his four pupils, profound runes shifted and flickered. This medicinal bath had helped him peel away a layer of obscuring mist and gain a new ability: he could release faint chaos mist into his surroundings, creating a battlefield favorable to himself.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Bone had also developed further. A terrifying beam densely covered in runes was taking shape within it, and the pressure spilling from it grew increasingly imposing and fearsome, making Shi Yi seem like a young supreme being.

He rose inside the cauldron and leaped out. The development of his two powerful innate gifts had also greatly strengthened his physique.

In the courtyard, an ancestor had already brought out cauldrons of various sizes and arranged them in order from lightest to heaviest.

Clearly, they wanted to see how powerful Shi Yi's physical body was before he had even entered the Blood Moving Realm.

"Yi'er, try lifting the cauldrons with both arms. Let's see where your current limit lies," Shi Yuan said.

Shi Yi nodded and walked toward the row of great cauldrons. He began with one weighing a thousand jin. Such a weight posed no difficulty for him now; he could easily lift it with one arm, even toss it into the air and catch it steadily as it fell.

Soon, he had worked his way from a thousand jin to eight thousand.

A bronze cauldron weighing a full eight thousand jin was actually lifted overhead by a four-year-old child. Such divine strength left the ancestors of Martial King Manor staring, their mouths agape.

At his age, they would have counted themselves fortunate to lift a thousand jin.

This child was only four, yet he could lift a great cauldron weighing eight thousand jin. In terms of sheer strength, he had already reached the upper end of the early Blood Moving Realm, but Shi Yi had yet to begin cultivating that realm.

Shi Yuan's eyes shone as he watched. This child's future was bright; calling his prospects limitless would be no exaggeration. His physical body alone could rival the offspring of a heaven-tier ferocious beast, yet for those with Double Pupils, the physical body was their weakest aspect.

Shi Yi did not stop. He continued lifting the cauldrons, pressing on until he raised the enormous ten-thousand-jin cauldron. Only then did his arms tremble, and he stopped.

"Ten thousand jin..."

The ancestors in the courtyard were stunned by the sight. They could hardly believe that a human child who had yet to set foot on the path of cultivation could lift a ten-thousand-jin cauldron with both arms. Even the young of heaven-tier ferocious beasts could do no more than this, could they?

Yet Shi Yi was not satisfied. He dropped the enormous ten-thousand-jin cauldron, a thoughtful expression appearing on his face.

He had been able to lift that cauldron not because his own body was so powerful, but because the Supreme Bone had bolstered him with the power of blood and vital energy.

The medicinal bath had indeed strengthened his physique, but the improvement was limited. Without the Supreme Bone's support, Shi Yi estimated that lifting a cauldron weighing five or six thousand jin would be his absolute limit.

And the Supreme Bone was merely a passing guest in Shi Yi's body. One day, it would dissipate.

Reaching the utmost limit of the Blood Moving Realm without relying on the Supreme Bone, wielding a hundred and eight thousand jin of strength with a single swing of an arm, would be as difficult as ascending to heaven.

All he could say was that the road ahead was long, and his burden heavy.

As he pondered, the ancestors' praises reached his ears. Every elder lavished him with compliments. Shi Yi nodded gently in acknowledgment, but he felt no pride or complacency. He knew his physical shortcomings all too well.

Leaving the courtyard where he had taken the medicinal bath, Shi Yi followed behind Shi Yuan, quietly lost in thought.

If he wanted to surpass the utmost limit with his physical body, relying solely on the resources Martial King Manor provided would be far from enough.

He ruled out the Supreme Bone. The purity of his own blood was at stake, and Shi Yi had no desire to let Shi Hao's blood merge completely into his own and become entangled in some dangerous karma.

Besides, after spending resources nourishing the Supreme Bone, using it in the Blood Moving Realm would be something of a waste.

Once they returned to his cultivation quarters, Shi Yuan left another pile of scriptures. They were far more profound and abstruse than those he had left last time, and several times more numerous. In addition, he left abundant cultivation resources, Primordial Talisman Bones, and other things for Shi Yi's use.

After giving him some instructions, he told Shi Yi that his next medicinal bath would take place in three months.

"During your next medicinal bath, you can begin trying to fuse runes into your blood and condense Divine Radiance.

"If nothing unexpected happens, the Precious Blood of a Primordial Remnant will be added to the ingredients for your next medicinal bath. It will be an opportunity to advance by leaps and bounds."

Shi Yi nodded.

After Shi Yuan left, he began a new round of cultivation. Seated cross-legged on a meditation cushion, with scriptures scattered across the floor at his feet, he committed every word to memory. They explained the essence of runes and matters related to the Blood Moving Realm.

At the same time, he consumed spirit fruits and Precious Medicines, nourishing the Supreme Bone and his Double Pupils while strengthening his own blood and vital energy, slowly building his foundations.