"Panel, add points!"
Without the slightest hesitation, Lu Guan poured his remaining cultivation into this brand-new body-refining martial art.
[Year one, you leafed through this martial art and discovered that it was divided into three volumes.] [The first volume corresponded to the Qi and Blood realm, the second to the True Qi realm, and the third to the Gang Condensation realm. Each volume built upon the last, like climbing a tower to admire the scenery, your horizons broadening with every floor you ascended.] [Since you had no foundation in body refining, you began cultivating from the first volume of the Nine Heavens Dragon-Elephant Secret Record.] [You sat cross-legged and regulated your breathing with the unique "Dragon-Elephant Breathing Method" recorded in the secret record.] [With each breath, your chest rose and fell like the tides. Your ribs expanded an inch, then slowly contracted. Your breathing gradually grew long and fine, allowing you to draw in the Qi of a hundred rivers in a single breath.] [To your surprise, you discovered that you seemed quite talented at body refining. In just over a month, you successfully reached basic mastery, your physique comparable to the early Qi and Blood realm.] [Your skin became as firm as cowhide, your muscles defined as though carved by knives and hewn by axes.]
"!!!"
At this, Lu Guan's eyes immediately widened, and his body trembled slightly with excitement.
He clenched his fists, his knuckles crackling.
So I was actually a body-refining genius!
Had cultivating internal cultivation methods before this actually been taking a detour?!
[Year two, you gradually hit your stride, your cultivation becoming increasingly effortless.] [Every morning, you used the Dragon-Elephant Breathing Method to breathe in the rising sun's purple Qi. Wisps of purple Qi entered your nostrils, followed your meridians down into your Dantian, then turned into warm currents that seeped into your bones.] [Year ten, you perfected the first volume of the Nine Heavens Dragon-Elephant Secret Record. Your physique was comparable to the perfected Qi and Blood realm, and standing there, you resembled a statue cast in brass.] [Year eleven, you began cultivating the second volume of the Nine Heavens Dragon-Elephant Secret Record and soon reached basic mastery, your physique comparable to the early True Qi realm.]
At this, even Lu Guan could not help marveling at his cultivation speed.
After all, as far as he knew, body refining placed the greatest emphasis on patient, painstaking work. Haste made waste, and it also required specific, precious medicinal baths and pills every day.
That made it far inferior to internal cultivation methods when it came to breaking through realms.
As a result, there were few martial artists who practiced body refining exclusively. More commonly, people like Lu Guan cultivated it alongside other arts as a means of preserving their lives.
Why had his cultivation progress turned out the other way around?
Wait... medicinal baths and pills?
A thought stirred in Lu Guan's mind, and a possibility suddenly occurred to him.
He had cultivated the Nine Heavens Dragon-Elephant Secret Record without needing powerful medicinal supplements?
Then what had strengthened his body?
After a moment's thought, he soon arrived at an answer.
Cultivation.
Where did cultivation come from? Demons.
It could be called the essence of a demon's lifetime of cultivation.
And demons were known for their powerful bodies.
"So could it be that cultivation also contains the essence of a demon's body, taking the place of medicinal baths and pills?"
Lu Guan vaguely sensed that this guess was close to the truth.
Moreover, judging by the cultivation process displayed on the panel, it seemed quite different from ordinary body-refining martial arts.
It lay somewhere between internal cultivation methods and body refining.
Just what had the Dao Seed extrapolated the Dragon-Elephant Demon Suppression Art into?
As he pondered, the words on the panel continued scrolling without pause.
[Year fifty-two, you perfected the second volume of the Nine Heavens Dragon-Elephant Secret Record, your physique comparable to the perfected True Qi realm.] [Year fifty-three, you began cultivating the third volume of the Nine Heavens Dragon-Elephant Secret Record and soon reached basic mastery. From this point onward, your physical strength entered an entirely new realm.] [Year seventy-two, you reached minor mastery of the third volume of the Nine Heavens Dragon-Elephant Secret Record, your physique comparable to the middle stage of the Gang Condensation realm.] Go [Year eighty-six, you reached major mastery of the third volume of the Nine Heavens Dragon-Elephant Secret Record, your physique comparable to the late stage of the Gang Condensation realm.] [Year one hundred and thirty, you perfected the third volume of the Nine Heavens Dragon-Elephant Secret Record. Your physique reached the cultivation method's limit, comparable to the perfected Gang Condensation realm.] [That day, as you sat cross-legged in the courtyard, every bone in your body suddenly resonated.] [At first, it sounded like countless bamboo slips being turned at once, then it became a deep dragon's cry, surging up your spine to the crown of your head before coursing through your arms to your fingertips.] [Immediately afterward, an elephant's roar surged from your legs, deep and powerful, shaking the blue bricks beneath your feet until they cracked inch by inch.] [A five-clawed golden dragon rose from your left arm, and a six-tusked white elephant stepped out of your right leg.] [Dragon and elephant incarnate, an indestructible body.] Gang Condensation · Nine Heavens Dragon-Elephant Secret Record (perfected)
[Name: Lu Guan] [Age: eighteen] [Remaining lifespan: one year] [Realm: perfected True Qi realm] [Martial arts: True Qi · Demon Suppressing Saber Record (perfected), True Qi · Demon-Exterminating Heart Scripture (perfected), Gang Condensation · Nine Heavens Dragon-Elephant Secret Record (perfected)] [Law techniques: Enlightenment into a Spirit (basic mastery)] [Cultivation: three hundred and sixty years]
Looking at the words appearing on the panel, Lu Guan actually felt somewhat unaccustomed to it.
It had gone too smoothly.
He had spent just one hundred and thirty years of cultivation to perfect a Gang Condensation realm martial cultivation method.
Thinking back, the Demon-Exterminating Heart Scripture, a True Qi realm art, had cost him over a hundred years of cultivation to perfect.
Taking everything together, Lu Guan noticed an issue.
As long as comprehension was not involved, very little cultivation was consumed.
Take the Nine Heavens Dragon-Elephant Secret Record, for example. Its cultivation was simple and direct, requiring almost no comprehension. All he had to do was follow the steps, use the breathing method, and put in patient, painstaking work.
"So... I'm actually not a genius?"
It was simply that body-refining martial arts were not difficult to understand, and cultivation was shouldering the burden for him as he advanced.
Lu Guan licked his lips and cast that ridiculous thought to the back of his mind.
The panel was his extraordinary talent. There was no need for him to be so outstanding in other areas as well.
Otherwise, he really would leave everyone else no way to survive.
As the Nine Heavens Dragon-Elephant Secret Record reached perfection, the wounds on Lu Guan's skin rapidly scabbed over, then flaked away, revealing fresh skin.
The new skin was fair, smooth, and supple, yet carried a faint golden sheen.
He drew the Primordial Saber, rolled up his sleeve, and slashed his arm.
This prized saber, forged by a renowned craftsman from carefully selected materials, failed to cut his skin. It did not even leave a white mark.
Lu Guan increased his strength bit by bit, but there was still no effect.
Finally, he infused the blade with True Qi and brought it straight down on his forearm, the saber's wind howling.
Crack.
His fair forearm did not budge. The blade snapped in two at the middle, and its upper half clattered to the ground.
"???"
Lu Guan stared at the broken Primordial Saber, his expression astonished.
How many days had he even used it?
That crooked merchant. He wanted a refund.
Sighing, Lu Guan bent down, picked up the half-blade from the ground, and slid it back into the sheath.
It had only been a few short days. How had it already fallen behind his pace?
It seemed he would have to find another good saber that suited his hand.
But... would there be a Gang Condensation realm treasure saber anywhere in Qianqiu County?
He weighed the half-blade in his hand, calculating inwardly.
The Primordial Saber was indeed a prized weapon, but prized weapons only corresponded to the True Qi realm.
His physique was already comparable to the perfected Gang Condensation realm, and the demons he faced in the future would also be at the Gang Condensation realm.
Even if the Primordial Saber had not broken now, it would not be of much use later.
"That crooked merchant..."
He thought of Jia Guofu, the black market merchant in Mud and Stone Alley, then shook his head.
That fellow had already been extraordinarily lucky to get his hands on a Primordial Saber. He probably had never even seen a Gang Condensation realm treasure saber.
"Looks like I'll need to make a trip to the commandery city."