Terrifying Cultivation Method

Although the original Ren Jie had been lazy and never cultivated, he had still been born into a great lineage like the Ren Family and had barely reached the Body Refining Realm Fifth Layer. It was just that the qi within his body was far weaker than that of an ordinary Body Refining Realm Fifth Layer cultivator. One had to know that the Body Refining Realm tempered the body and increased the "qi" within it, while the body's strength and the power of its qi would directly affect the strength of the true qi condensed after breaking into the True Qi Realm.

Of course, ninety-nine percent of people would spend their entire lives unable to step into the Body Refining Realm, and only those who reached the True Qi Realm could be considered experts.

If someone with no background could step into the True Qi Realm, it would completely change his life. In a small place, a True Qi Realm cultivator could even support a small lineage and become a renowned expert throughout the surrounding villages.

Even within a great lineage, he could obtain a fairly good status, position, and treatment, and his future prospects would become incomparably broad.

Ordinary people only hoped to achieve something in the Body Refining Realm and basically did not dare to dream of the True Qi Realm. But for the direct descendants of the Five Great Families in Jade Capital City, entering the True Qi Realm was the bare minimum. Ren Jie had clearly never considered such things, so both his body's strength and the qi within him were a complete mess.

Ren Jie swiftly controlled the qi strength within his body and began circulating it according to the Jade Emperor Art Body Refining Chapter First Layer. His realm was high, and his divine sense was now comparable to that of the True Qi Realm Ninth Layer. Controlling this little bit of qi strength within his body was as easy as turning his hand over.

He condensed the qi strength in his body into unique rings, then slowly gathered them together. According to the detailed records, beginning cultivation of this first layer of the Body Refining Chapter would take at least three days to complete. Yet Ren Jie's realm and divine sense were both strong enough. He condensed the qi strength in his body into unique rings and linked them together in different places, completing the first layer's Thirty-Six Qi Strength Rings in less than two hours.

Although Ren Jie had been condensing the Qi Strength Rings according to the Jade Emperor Art Body Refining Chapter First Layer, he had not understood what use these rings had. Once he had fully completed the first layer's chains, in which thirty-six rings at different locations throughout his body were linked six by six, he circulated the remaining qi strength within his body according to the cultivation method recorded in the Jade Emperor Art Body Refining Chapter First Layer.

"Boom... Pfft..." Ren Jie felt as though a thousand hammers had struck his body with crushing force at once, and he could not help but spit out a mouthful of blood.

His body collapsed onto the bed, and he felt as if a mountain were pressing down upon him. Every inch of him seemed about to be crushed apart. This pain had not been imposed from outside; it radiated from within his body, oppressing every inch of muscle. Ren Jie felt even his muscles trembling.

"Ah!" Ren Jie let out a suppressed roar. It was terrifying.

At this moment, Ren Jie finally completely understood what the Jade Emperor Art Body Refining Chapter meant by tempering the body internally and refining the body with qi. The method of condensing these rings was exceedingly strange. Once they were linked together, circulating qi strength according to the Jade Emperor Art Body Refining Chapter's unique body-refining method would cause these rings to produce the effect of a unique restriction.

Gravity Restriction. This was more ruthless than any restriction that used external force to oppress someone, because it directly pressed upon every inch of the body from within.

Ren Jie finally understood why it was said that this required tremendous willpower and perseverance. When one tempered and honed one's body, no matter how hard one worked, there would always be time to rest. But this was different. So long as he did not disperse the qi strength connecting those rings, the force oppressing every inch of his body would continue to exist.

This feeling reminded Ren Jie of the gravity chambers some people had imagined back on Earth. If someone could adapt to enduring gravity ten times, or even a hundred times, stronger than Earth's and then returned to Earth, he would be Superman.

This had something of that meaning, but it was merely a method for tempering the body in the Body Refining Realm. Moreover, Ren Jie discovered that every later layer of the Jade Emperor Art Body Refining Chapter contained more changes and differences, while the number of rings that had to be condensed doubled each time.

It took Ren Jie quite a while before he could barely adapt and sit back up. Fortunately, this was only the first layer of the Body Refining Realm. It had merely been too sudden just now. After catching his breath, Ren Jie began gradually adapting to it.

He did not need to perform many movements now. Slowly doing basic exercises was enough, because it was as if there were a gravity chamber inside his body.

Damn it, fighting someone in this state would put him at a terrible disadvantage. He was bearing such immense pressure, as though he were carrying a small mountain into battle, or standing under two or three times normal gravity while his opponent remained completely unaffected.

Fortunately, the Body Refining Chapter also recorded that he could instantly disperse the qi strength linking the rings in those six locations, and the sensation would disappear. But even so, because most of his qi strength had been used to condense the rings and form this unique restriction-based cultivation method, less than one-third of it remained available for use.

Although qi in the Body Refining Realm was unlike true qi in the True Qi Realm, once one reached the fourth layer, the effects of qi strength gradually began to show. After reaching the sixth layer, one could even use certain martial techniques to enhance one's might.

Ren Jie did not consider those things for now. He had already begun making his body gradually adapt to this state. The previous Ren Jie had consumed quite a few medicinal substances, but very little had been fully utilized. More than seventy percent had dissipated, perhaps five percent had been used, and the remaining twenty-five percent had accumulated within his body. If they could not be properly utilized, they too would gradually dissipate.

But at this moment, under the unique pressure of the Jade Emperor Art Body Refining Chapter's method of refining the body with qi, Cheng Gong's body had no choice but to gradually resist this pressure. Ren Jie gradually began moving his body. His once-lazy body was continuously stimulated, and the medicinal power gradually seeped through it. His body's strength became active and increased bit by bit. After all, he had originally been at the Body Refining Realm Fifth Layer. Although the current Body Refining Realm could not compare with the Body Refining Realm demanded by the Jade Emperor Art, if he had started from scratch, the strength of a complete Body Refining Realm Fifth Layer would have become a solid foundation.

As his body gradually adapted, the medicinal substances within him were activated and gradually transformed into qi strength. The qi strength in Ren Jie's body became increasingly powerful, and its circulation grew faster and faster.

He was completely immersed in this sensation. Outside, the sky gradually brightened from darkness, then the sun rose high overhead before slowly sinking once more.

"Boom..." When the qi strength in Ren Jie's body reached a certain level and his body had completely adapted, he directly used his body's strength to squeeze the qi strength within him, compressing and crushing it. When the gravity of the unique restriction formed inside his body by the thirty-six rings in those six locations was compressed to its limit, it shattered with a thunderous crash.

At that instant, Ren Jie felt incomparably refreshed—so refreshed. It was like someone on the verge of drowning and suffocating finally breathing fresh air at the last moment, like someone imprisoned for decades being released. It was wonderful.

Exhilarating. Comfortable. Under his continuous squeezing and tempering, a great amount of fishy black sweat was forced out from his body.

It felt damn amazing. Ren Jie sensed the strength of the qi within him. It was at least twice as strong as before, nearly equivalent to the qi strength the original Ren Jie would only have possessed at the peak of the Body Refining Realm Fifth Layer. But now, this was only the Jade Emperor Art Body Refining Chapter Second Layer.

Ren Jie did not stop. He immediately began condensing the rings for the Jade Emperor Art Body Refining Chapter Second Layer. This time, he needed to condense Seventy-Two Qi Strength Rings, and the method was even more complex than before. Ordinarily, an average person would need two or three days just to condense these seventy-two rings, but Ren Jie used only five hours.

Though he had been prepared this time, the doubled intensity compared to before still made Ren Jie vomit blood again. It took him a long while to recover, after which he began adapting and cultivating anew.

At the Wooden House in the Ren Family's strange and unique Primeval Forest, Wan Hong was recounting everything Ren Jie had done after leaving the Library Pavilion.

"Having Beast Uncle ram people with a carriage? Interesting. It seems that once this boy was provoked, he did have a little blood in him after all. He has at least a little of Eldest Brother's bearing." Sixth Master Ren Tianzong, who had not concerned himself with lineage affairs for many years, had recently begun paying attention to the lineage's affairs because of Ren Jie's abnormal behavior.

"You said that after returning, he has not come out for two days and two nights?" Several ancient books lay beside Ren Tianzong, and he held another in his hand. He continued sitting there and reading quietly before asking Wan Hong.

"That is correct. Ever since he returned to Jade Emperor Academy two days ago, had Beast Uncle drive the carriage into someone, and went back, he has not emerged again," Wan Hong hurriedly replied.

"What about that little girl from the Fang Family?"

Wan Hong said, "According to my investigation, this matter was probably not ordered by anyone higher up in the Fang Family or the Gao Family. It should have only been their own actions. That girl from the Fang Family was clearly targeting the family head, but judging by the family head's recent actions, he does not seem like someone hiding away because he is afraid to come out."

"Continue watching."

"Yes."

What Ren Jie did not know was that after he began cultivating the Jade Emperor Art Body Refining Chapter and that jade tablet shattered, the trace of special divine sense later attached to it also shattered along with it.

"You little bastard, damn you! I thought a wastrel like him would never touch that legendary thing in his life. If I'd known, I never should have... Hmph, you little bastard. You refuse to be a proper hedonistic young master and instead insist on causing trouble for me. You just have to go looking for trouble, don't you? Damn it, just wait and see how I deal with you." The instant the jade tablet shattered, someone in an unnoticed dark corner of the Ren Family Mansion suddenly opened his eyes and looked in the direction of Jade Emperor Academy.

"Ah..." In Ren Jie's room, Ren Jie roared furiously as he activated all the residual medicinal power that had accumulated and been stored in his body, transforming it into qi strength. After three days and two nights of desperately compressing himself, he had finally reached his body's current limit.

Yet at the very end, Ren Jie still broke through the Jade Emperor Art Body Refining Chapter Second Layer and entered the third layer of the Body Refining Chapter. The qi within him was now not much weaker than that of an ordinary Body Refining Realm Seventh Layer cultivator.

Although cultivating the Jade Emperor Art Body Refining Chapter anew appeared to have made him fall back from the original Body Refining Realm Fifth Layer to the Body Refining Realm Third Layer, his body's strength and the intensity of the qi strength within him had increased severalfold. He was already comparable to an ordinary Body Refining Realm Seventh Layer cultivator.

Ren Jie lay on the bed, nearly limp and completely drained. It took a full half hour before he recovered some strength. Aside from feeling powerful and full of energy, he felt one other thing: hunger.

Only then did he remember that, apart from going downstairs in the middle of his training to eat some pastries laid out in the living room and tide himself over, he seemed not to have eaten anything for a long time.

Just as he wanted to go outside, he discovered that the outer layer of his body seemed wrapped in a suit of armor. A foul odor also rose from him, so bad that Ren Jie nearly vomited himself—if there had been anything left in his stomach for him to vomit.

Ren Jie immediately changed into a fresh set of clothes and hurried downstairs. His mental state was entirely different from three days earlier. He was full of vigor and spirit, though his eyes were shining slightly from hunger.

"Someone, bring me whatever food there is immediately..." Ren Jie stood at the door and shouted outside.

"Where is everyone? Is there anyone alive? I'm starving to death..." At almost the same time, the fat man's somewhat weak and exhausted shout came from the courtyard outside.