With five victories in five matches, Xu Qingtong smoothly secured his place in the elimination rounds. Although his final match against Lin Qian had been perilously close, he had ultimately won by playing his last trump card.
After the points competition ended, there was a five-day break before the elimination rounds officially began. During those five days, every cultivator who had qualified prepared in earnest.
Xu Qingtong did not sit idle either. Besides crafting ordinary mid-tier, low-grade talismans to earn some spirit stones, he also prepared a large supply of Mid-Grade High Grade talismans for himself.
According to the shopkeeper, the mid-tier, high-grade Fireball Talismans and Water Arrow Talismans he had crafted with High-Grade Talisman Paper were extremely powerful. He had not used them in his earlier matches, so he did not know just how powerful they were. He had, however, used a Shield Talisman, and its performance had been passable: it had barely managed to block Lin Qian's flying sword attack.
These Mid-Grade High Grade talismans could serve as another trump card.
His lack of experience in magical combat had also been one of the main reasons he had fallen into danger while fighting Lin Qian. Fortunately, he had his divine sense attack. Otherwise, he would certainly have been the one defeated.
Thinking of his divine sense attack naturally brought the True Origin Scripture to Xu Qingtong's mind. He had been so busy with Talisman Crafting lately that he had forgotten to cultivate it. Ever since reaching its second level, he had made little further progress. What exactly was preventing his divine sense from advancing even an inch?
With no other recourse, he examined the True Origin Scripture again, and Dong Xuanzi's voice rang out once more in his mind: "Form is the vessel of spirit, and spirit is the function of form. Without spirit, form cannot live; without form, spirit has no means to arise."
Xu Qingtong pondered for a long time before finally arriving at a bold conjecture. Could my body be too weak, limiting the growth of my divine sense? Form is the vessel of spirit; without form, spirit has no means to arise. That must be it. My flesh simply cannot contain any more divine sense.
Xu Qingtong had two primordial spirits, so his divine sense was already stronger than that of ordinary people. With his practice of the True Origin Scripture, it had now grown to more than twice that of cultivators at his level. His physical body, however, was no different from an ordinary cultivator's. Perhaps this was the main reason he could not break through to the third level of the True Origin Scripture.
Having grasped the key, Xu Qingtong hesitated no longer and went straight to Shopkeeper Gu. "Shopkeeper, do you happen to have any body-tempering methods?"
Shopkeeper Gu was taken aback at first, then said, "Qingtong, what made you think of body tempering? That belongs to the path of body cultivators, not the great path of immortal cultivation. Body cultivators seek to attain immortality through their flesh. They do not cultivate magic power or rely on external objects, but temper their own bodies into magical treasures. Cultivating that way is extraordinarily difficult and agonizing."
Xu Qingtong replied, "Shopkeeper, I'm not trying to become a body cultivator. I just feel that my body is too weak, and that puts me at a disadvantage in magical combat."
Shopkeeper Gu said, "If you only want to strengthen your body, there are ways. The shop has a body-refining method called the Heavenly Fire Body-Tempering Art, which Jade Spring True Person obtained while traveling through the western regions. Its first level is fairly easy to cultivate. You could give it a try."
"This cultivation method has been in the shop all this time, but no one has ever bought it, mainly because the later levels are impossible to practice. Quite apart from their demanding requirements, even if you met those requirements, the pain is beyond what an ordinary person could endure. A single careless mistake could leave you dead and your path to immortality extinguished."
Xu Qingtong did not take Shopkeeper Gu's words to heart. He had lost both parents at ten and survived only after passing through the jaws of death. What pain could be worse than that?
At this thought, he said with a resolute gaze, "Shopkeeper, I'm not afraid of pain."
Seeing that Xu Qingtong had made up his mind, Shopkeeper Gu could only say, "Go to the eastern side of the downstairs hall. There are two jade slips in the middle of the second shelf. It's the one on the left. Remember, you must only practice the first level. Do not attempt any of the later levels under any circumstances. They can kill you."
Xu Qingtong went downstairs to fetch the jade slip, then returned to his room. He pressed it against his forehead and extended his divine sense into it. The words "Heavenly Fire Body-Tempering Art" appeared before his eyes.
Just as Shopkeeper Gu had said, the first level was relatively simple. He only needed to guide Fire Attribute spiritual power throughout his body to sear his flesh, tempering it repeatedly like iron at the forge until his body became denser and more tightly knit, able to withstand all kinds of attacks.
The second level was far more difficult. It required Fire Attribute spirit herbs to aid the tempering, along with Fire Attribute Artifact Refining materials that had to be smeared over the entire body and absorbed through a Secret Technique. The process was indeed difficult to endure.
The difficulty of the later levels was even more inconceivable. From the third level onward, he would have to place his body within lava and Earthfire to temper it. The fourth level was more terrifying still: it actually required heavenly fire for cultivation.
Xu Qingtong finally understood the danger Shopkeeper Gu had described. Indeed, one careless mistake would plunge him beyond redemption.
Now that he had settled on his course, he would keep walking it, even through a thousand hardships and ten thousand trials.
Following the method's instructions, Xu Qingtong guided the fire spiritual power within him, spreading it through his limbs and every part of his body. Working inward from the surface, he began tempering and forging his skin, muscles, and bones.
The moment he set the method in motion, Xu Qingtong felt as though his entire body had fallen into a fire. The searing pain made him twitch involuntarily, and he wanted to stop, but he endured it.
As the method continued to circulate, the tremendous pain twisted his face, and beads of sweat the size of beans came pattering down.
Xu Qingtong spent an entire day in unbearable agony. His skin had turned purplish red, and his clothes had been scorched. His handsome face had become distorted from being contorted for so long, leaving him looking rather terrifying.
Once the last bone had been forged, Xu Qingtong slowly brought his practice to a halt. A layer of scabs began peeling from his skin, and his face gradually returned to normal.
He moved his body and felt no discomfort, then examined his skin. It was no longer fair, but had turned bronze. Recalling the cultivation process, Xu Qingtong still felt a lingering dread.
He took out a low-tier Fireball Talisman and activated it with his magic power. A fireball shot straight toward his arm. With a pop, it struck his left arm squarely. Yet aside from a slight burning sensation, he felt nothing else.
Xu Qingtong was very satisfied with the results of this body refining, but this was only the first step of a ten-thousand-mile march. He still had to temper all his internal organs before he could complete the first level of the Heavenly Fire Body-Tempering Art.
Thinking of the pain he had endured, he could not help shuddering. He almost wanted to abandon his practice of the Heavenly Fire Body-Tempering Art.
After some consideration, Xu Qingtong activated the Heavenly Fire Body-Tempering Art again and began tempering his internal organs. This session was even more painful than the first, especially when he transformed his Niwang Palace: the agony nearly made him pass out. Without tremendous perseverance, he could never have completed the first level of the Heavenly Fire Body-Tempering Art.
This cultivation session not only tempered his body, but also brought a substantial increase in his divine sense. Xu Qingtong estimated that his divine sense had now reached roughly three times that of cultivators at his level. Even Shopkeeper Gu's divine sense might not be stronger than his.
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