Li Dao

The Great Wilderness, Golden Feather Village.

At the first glimmer of dawn, dull, thunderous booms rang out from the mountain behind Golden Feather Village.

The villagers who had risen early felt the faint tremors beneath their feet and could not help remarking:

"Little Dao's getting stronger and stronger. The commotion he makes while training is even more frightening than some ferocious beasts!"

"It's a good thing he's strong. Since Little Dao joined us three years ago, the hunting team's casualties have dropped considerably."

"Exactly! He even gathered a lot of the materials for today's baptism!"

The villagers whispered in twos and threes, looking toward the source of the noise. They could just make out a smooth little hill, polished who knew how many times, slowly moving along.

In the forest, the earth trembled faintly. A heart pounding like a war drum awakened the woods from their slumber.

At the end of a trail of sunken footprints stood a young boy, carrying an enormous boulder weighing a full hundred thousand jin on his back.

He strode through the forest, streams of scalding white vapor rising from his pores.

With every step, the ground sank deeply beneath him.

Yet he showed no intention of stopping, his forehead covered in beads of sweat the size of beans.

Wisps of treasured light shimmered around his body. As he walked back and forth without pause, that light grew increasingly resilient.

Threads of divine radiance escaped from his pores along with the white vapor.

The morning sun rose in the east, but Li Dao still had no intention of stopping.

Only after he had stamped a deep, firmly packed trench through the forest did he finally call it a day.

Boom-

He set down the enormous boulder, smashing a deep depression into the earth.

The surrounding ground cracked inch by inch, spreading out like a spiderweb.

"Whew-"

Li Dao let out a deep breath of stale air, feeling as though he had expelled all his exhaustion with it.

After months of tempering, I've finally raised my strength to a hundred thousand jin!

Once I finish the medicinal bath, I'll be able to break through my limits and let my body undergo another transformation!

Li Dao was thrilled at the thought.

It was no wonder he was so excited. Six years ago, he had been reborn in this Perfect World.

As a lone soul from another world, he naturally knew just how terrifying this world was.

Mighty beings could destroy heaven and earth with a mere gesture, shatter the river of time, and annihilate the starry cosmos with a single thought.

Yet after transmigrating here, he had neither a Supreme Bone nor an extraordinary innate gift such as double pupils.

Perhaps the only advantage he had was the fusion of his souls from two lifetimes, granting him exquisitely precise control over his own body.

And a reasonably outstanding aptitude for comprehension.

He knew that his only chance of surviving in the future lay in constantly tempering his body and bringing his innate gifts to their fullest potential!

Besides, he wanted to see the view from the mountaintop.

And so, he had begun studying runes at the age of one.

At three, he had inscribed runes into his bones and entered the Blood Moving Realm.

At four, he had accompanied the hunting team on hunts, supplying himself with ample energy from flesh and blood.

At five, he had devised a rudimentary flesh furnace to digest energy faster and accelerate his physical cultivation.

At six, he had carried a mountain on his back to temper his bones and physique.

At last, today, he had attained the tremendous strength of a hundred thousand jin with a single swing of one arm.

Looking back over those six years, he had never dared rest for even a moment.

He had either been cultivating or on his way to cultivate, and for a moment, he was filled with emotion.

Nothing but a little wind and frost.

I've only achieved a little success so far. There's still a long road ahead before I can control my own destiny!

I must not let myself slack off!

After examining himself inwardly, he suppressed every stray thought, leaving only the resolve to grow stronger.

He walked to the stream, picked up a blood-colored Treasure Medicine resting on a large blue-gray rock, and swallowed it in one bite.

He had found the Treasure Medicine in a ferocious beast's lair. For the sake of his cultivation, he had wreaked havoc on quite a few ferocious beasts over the years.

This Treasure Medicine was used to temper and nourish the meridians, and it was highly effective at treating the damage left behind by cultivation.

It tasted slightly bitter, and a rich herbal fragrance instantly filled his mouth.

He forced it down. Before it even reached his stomach, it turned into a current of heat as scorching as lava, flowing down his throat.

Stripping off his clothes sewn from beast hide, he jumped into the stream, leaving only his head above the water.

The cool stream washed over his body, soothing skin that felt as though it were being scorched by flames.

He had long since grown accustomed to the pain coming from within his body.

With a thought, blood-colored runes began flashing inside his abdomen.

A gleam of light flashed, and a Blood Furnace appeared within his dantian.

He had devised this rudimentary creation using the Treasure Art Village Chief Grandpa had given him as a reference.

It could rapidly refine spiritual substances into pure vital essence, nourishing his physique.

As the treasured furnace swallowed the lava-like medicinal liquid, the runes on the Blood Furnace's surface began to flash.

The Blood Furnace rapidly refined the medicine into streams of pure vital essence, delivering them to every part of his body.

The muscles damaged by his violent physical tempering were suffused with this pure energy.

Drops of black, foul-smelling waste blood were expelled through his pores, accompanied by tiny fragments of discarded bone as translucent as jade.

In an instant, the once crystal-clear stream was stained crimson, turning into a river of blood.

The blood energy within him surged like a towering smoke signal, bringing the water around him to a boil.

Once the Treasure Medicine's energy had been completely absorbed, Li Dao climbed ashore, dressed, and headed back to the village.

All the villagers had gathered in a large clearing at the center of Golden Feather Village.

There was only one reason: today was the day for the village's children of suitable age to undergo their baptism.

This concerned the children's futures. Every extra portion of energy they absorbed from the medicinal bath would add another measure of potential to their bodies.

The parents whose children were to undergo the baptism waited anxiously.

As soon as Li Dao approached, he saw ten heavy, dark-black, round, three-legged cauldrons arranged together in the middle of the clearing.

Before the medicinal cauldrons stood an old man with meticulously combed silver hair, his right hand resting on a walking stick made from thousand-year-old jujube wood.

He was directing the village's sturdy men as they continually added black ironwood beneath the cauldrons.

It burned, iron-black and hard as ironwood.

For a long time; the moment it was tossed into the fire, crimson tongues of flame leaped up.

When Li Kai saw Li Dao approaching, a warm smile immediately appeared on his face.

The villagers also greeted Li Dao one after another, the atmosphere warm and harmonious.

"Grandpa Village Chief."

Li Dao greeted Li Kai, then turned his gaze toward the ten large cauldrons.

The hot water churned, constantly bringing remnants of Treasure Medicine and fragments of Treasure Bone to the surface.

Mixed with the essence blood of ferocious beasts and boiled over the roaring fires, they became cauldrons of dark-brown medicinal liquid.

With just a light sniff, rich waves of medicinal fragrance flooded his nose.

"Little Dao, finished training?"

"Just in time. The medicinal baths for the baptism are ready. You can get in shortly."