Body Tempering

When they had climbed about nine kilometers, Xiao Wu suddenly stopped, scratched her arm vigorously, and the more she scratched, the more she felt something was wrong. "Xingyu, look what this is?"

Wang Xingyu leaned over and took a look.

Fine lines appeared on the inside of my forearm, not scars, but lines that showed through the skin, as if something was pushing them outwards.

He looked down at his arm and saw the same lines.

"These look like growth stretch marks. Your body is growing too fast, and your skin can't keep up, so they stretch out."

"Huh?" Xiao Wu looked at the lines on her arm from side to side, her expression somewhat bewildered. "Am I still growing?"

It's probably not because of physical development.

Wang Xingyu rolled up his sleeves and pointed to the same lines on his arm, "We both have them. It might be a test."

"All right."

After figuring things out, the two stopped worrying and continued upwards.

After passing ten kilometers, the surrounding temperature had dropped considerably, but the air remained unchanged and did not become thinner, probably because the Ancient Tree of Life is also a tree.

A few clouds hovered around the trees, within reach of someone.

Xiao Wu reached out and tried to grab some, but her hand passed through a cloud of white mist, leaving her fingertips with a damp coolness. She didn't manage to grasp anything.

She waved her hand twice more, watching the cloud disperse and then slowly gather back together. Listening to Wang Xingyu's explanation of the principle, she felt a little disappointed. Who didn't dream of lying on a cloud when they were a child?

After climbing another fifty meters, the tearing sensation suddenly intensified. It was no longer the faint discomfort from before, but rather a feeling that my skin was being forcefully pulled to both sides, every inch screaming.

Wang Xingyu quickly activated his Fourth Soul Skill, Willow Shade Blessing, and the emerald green willow branches enveloped the two of them.

The Willow Shade Blessing favors vitality and has a healing effect, but it can only alleviate the tearing pain, not completely eliminate it.

He plucked a leaf, stuffed it into his mouth, chewed it a couple of times, and tried to replenish his Soul Power.

As the leaves entered my stomach, a cool sensation spread along my meridians, relieving the pain along with the Willow Shade Blessing.

I can feel my skin repairing faster.

"After nine kilometers, the gravity stopped increasing, indicating that the test had shifted its focus. It was now acting directly on the flesh and skin, constantly tearing and repairing."

Wang Xingyu chewed on a leaf as he analyzed the situation.

Another round of Willow Shade Blessing has been urged.

Xiao Wu's mouth was stuffed with leaves. "So that's how it is, so it's tempering our bodies."

Gravity stopped increasing, and the cultivation speed returned to about twice its original speed.

After figuring it out, the two continued upwards.

The higher you go, the tighter your skin feels, as if something is stretching it from the inside out, every inch stretched to its limit.

The joints that are frequently in motion, such as elbows, knees, and neck, are the first to give out. Every time you bend over, it feels like being repeatedly sanded by sandpaper, causing a burning pain.

At 12 kilometers.

My skin felt like it was tightly wrapped in an extremely thin membrane, and my sense of touch became exceptionally acute. I could feel the direction of airflow, subtle changes in humidity, and even the invisible veins on the surface of leaves with just a touch of my finger.

After 12 kilometers, my skin no longer hurt.

Instead, a feeling of soreness and distension seeped outward from deep within the muscles.

Every time I exerted force, whether it was raising my hand to grab a branch or kicking my legs to scoot upwards, it was accompanied by a dull pain—much like the soreness I felt when I woke up the next morning after strenuous exercise in school, with every muscle in my body protesting.

The higher Wang Xingyu climbed, the more he noticed a particular detail.

When Xiao Wu gripped the tree branch, the muscle lines in her forearm were much clearer than before. They weren't the kind of bulging, lumpy shapes, but rather tight and slender contours. With each exertion, you could vaguely see the muscle texture sliding under the skin.

He looked down at his arm—and saw the same change.

Those muscle fibers, tormented by soreness, are being reshaped by this tempering process.

The two of them had bruises all over their bodies, but fortunately Wang Xingyu had a healing Soul Skill. It's unimaginable how much suffering Qing Heng and Lingxi must have endured while crawling.

Xiao Wu lay on the tree branch, looking utterly dejected. "It hurts, it hurts so much! Fighting only hurts for a while, but this hurts forever."

Wang Xingyu sat next to her. "It's normal for it to hurt; it means you're building muscle. Ten to twelve kilometers should be for tempering the skin, and after twelve kilometers, it will be for tempering the muscles. I just don't know what the next stage will be for tempering."

It's a pity it doesn't have a pointed head.

"Can I not have muscles?"

"Don't worry, body tempering won't turn you into a big guy. And it's not that easy to become that big; you need to supplement your protein intake—you can't get that just by eating these leaves."

What is protein?

"It's meat. Try looking for bugs; those can also provide nutrients, and the protein content is several times that of beef."

Xiao Wu paused for a moment, swallowed the leaf in her mouth, and said with unusual firmness, "Then let's forget about it."

After walking for several more days, we reached the 14-kilometer mark.

Just as Wang Xingyu had predicted, after the 14-kilometer mark, the muscle soreness was replaced by a deeper, dull ache.

With each movement, the bones would make a faint creaking sound, as if something was grinding in the bone joints. It wasn't a sharp, intense pain, but rather a dull, aching sensation seeping from the inside of the bones.

Fourteen kilometers is a time to temper one's bones.

The two of them moved even slower.

Each step upwards requires a tentative effort, like someone with a sprained ankle struggling to walk while holding onto a wall; one can probably only move about three hundred meters a day.

The dull pain deep in my bones didn't gradually subside until I reached sixteen kilometers.

Instead, there was an unprecedented sense of smoothness—the joints felt like they had been re-oiled, and every movement—raising an arm, bending a knee, turning around—was more flexible than before.

Xiao Wu tentatively rotated her wrist, and her knuckles made a series of crisp cracking sounds, without any muffled thuds, clean and crisp.

After rotating her wrist, Xiao Wu tried a standing split on one leg, lifting her right leg straight up, her toes easily passing over her head. The whole process was so smooth that it felt like there was no resistance from her joints.

She was stunned for a moment. "Xingyu, I feel like I can add a few more moves to my Eight-Stage Throw."

"Fine, try finding Little San later."

Ten to twelve kilometers to temper the skin.

Twelve to fourteen kilometers to toughen your muscles.

The bones are tempered over a distance of fourteen to sixteen kilometers.

Everyone was looking forward to seeing what kind of challenges the next few kilometers would bring.

This time, the new anomaly didn't appear until 16.5 kilometers.

It's not hurting as much anymore—just a slight ache, but it's still uncomfortable.

It itches, an itch deep inside the body, impossible to scratch.

Some parts of my body feel swollen, as if they've been filled with water, and the swelling is very uncomfortable.

This feeling reminded Wang Xingyu of his childhood, his childhood on Blue Star —those days dominated by injections and IV drips.

The moment the needle pierced my skin, the cool liquid was pushed into my veins. I felt the medicine entering my body, concentrating in my buttocks, causing both pain and swelling.

"It should be strengthening the meridians," he explained to Xiao Wu beside him, rubbing his swollen wrists.

After the pain subsided, the two finally returned to their speed of 500 meters per day.

Actually, it could go even faster, but the body needs time to adapt to the tempering process. Five hundred meters a day is just right.