Chapter 28: Body Tempering Breakthrough!
At this moment.
Outside the cultivation chamber.
Twelve spirit beasts had gathered close.
The Spiritual Energy inside the room was far too dense — the Spirit-Gathering Formation simply could not contain all of it, and nearly half had spilled outward.
Sensing the pure Spiritual Energy, the spirit beasts had all drawn near.
The Thunder-Wing Tiger took the lead, positioning itself to the north of the cultivation chamber and opening its maw to drink in the pure Spiritual Energy drifting out.
The Crimson Blood Python, accompanied by the Black Water Snake, moved to the south and began swallowing great mouthfuls of Spiritual Energy.
The Blazing Demon Wolf settled to the west, while the Mighty Bull took the east.
The remaining spirit beasts squeezed into whatever gaps remained, lying down and absorbing Spiritual Energy as well.
The Spiritual Energy that had spilled from the cultivation chamber was thus divided into twelve unequal portions, each absorbed by one of the spirit beasts.
In this way, not only was the effort of feeding them saved, but any disturbance that might have arisen from Spiritual Energy leaking out of the Cave Dwelling was also avoided.
Every spirit beast's aura rose rapidly, bolstered by the Supreme Qi-Gathering Pills.
Their cultivation was advancing swiftly as well.
Inside the cultivation chamber.
Fang Yuan remained focused on his training, concentrating entirely on strengthening his physical body.
His body had already reached the Sixth Layer of Body Tempering, and the sixth cloud pattern on his bones was rapidly taking shape.
As the cloud pattern solidified, every part of his body grew continuously stronger.
The amount of Spiritual Energy he absorbed kept increasing.
Ten hours later.
The concentration of Spiritual Energy in the surroundings dropped sharply.
Within his body, the sixth cloud pattern on one bone was the first to fully condense.
But that was only the beginning.
The other bones followed in quick succession, each condensing their own cloud patterns.
In just fifteen minutes, every part of his body had completed the condensation of the sixth cloud pattern.
His bones were white as jade.
His organs were powerful and vigorous.
His skin was tough as iron.
He casually drew a mid-grade spirit sword and struck it against his skin — a clear ring of clashing metal rang out.
This level of defense was already monstrous.
Fang Yuan nodded with satisfaction.
At this point, his physical body had reached the peak of the Sixth Layer of Body Tempering, brushing against the bottleneck of the seventh layer.
But to him, that bottleneck was as good as nonexistent!
He took out another ten thousand Spirit Stones and decomposed them all at once.
A vast torrent of pure Spiritual Energy was released once more.
The cultivation chamber turned blindingly white again — so dense one could not see a hand in front of one's face.
Fang Yuan began his breakthrough.
Under normal circumstances, this step would take anywhere from two or three months at the shortest to twenty or thirty years at the longest.
Yet for Fang Yuan now, the bottleneck shattered in a short while.
On one bone inside his body, the sixth cloud pattern naturally linked with the fourth and fifth, the three cloud patterns interlocking and nesting within one another to form a second complete Three-Cloud Formation!
It resonated with the cloud-pattern formation condensed during the first three layers of Body Tempering, and the body-forging effect surged dramatically!
The cloud-pattern formation erupted with tremendous suction, drawing in the Spiritual Energy within his flesh and the Spiritual Power within his Dantian.
Spiritual Energy from the surroundings also began flowing in through his pores and acupoints, replenishing what the breakthrough consumed.
As Fang Yuan swiftly completed the condensation of the Three-Cloud Formation in the second and third bones, more waves of suction arose, and the demand for Spiritual Energy surged again.
Soon, every bone, organ, fascia, Meridian, and patch of skin began madly absorbing Spiritual Energy under the influence of the cloud-pattern formations.
Fang Yuan's body seemed to become a funnel, the surrounding Spiritual Energy pouring into him like a whirlpool.
Just one hour later.
Fang Yuan's body shuddered once more, and his physical strength leapt up by a tremendous margin.
His physical cultivation had reached the seventh layer of Body Tempering!
And once Body Tempering reached the seventh layer of Qi Refining equivalent.
The middle Dantian finally had a role to play.
His bones and flesh were now strong enough to draw out rich, vigorous blood energy.
The cloud-pattern formations reversed their flow, drawing wisps of blood energy out from his bones and flesh, gathering them toward the middle Dantian.
Under the condensing power of the Cloud Body Art, those scattered traces of blood energy coalesced one by one into strands of tangible vital force.
When the breakthrough was fully complete.
One hundred strands of pure blood energy had gathered within the middle Dantian.
These strands of blood energy were the fundamental source for unleashing Body Tempering secret arts in the future.
At the same time, these strands of blood energy could in turn continue to strengthen the physical body!
And as the body grew stronger, it could refine even purer and more potent blood energy — a self-reinforcing cycle.
Sensing the vigorous yet sparse blood energy within his middle Dantian, he could not help but sigh: "So Body Tempering only truly begins now!"
Every strand of blood energy was the essence of the physical body; condensing even one strand was no easy feat, and it would be the most resource-intensive aspect going forward.
Under normal circumstances, once a Cultivator reached the seventh layer of Body Tempering, they would be stuck right there, unable to advance further. Most would then shift their focus to Qi Refining methods and abandon the deeper path of Body Tempering.
Fang Yuan thought for a moment, then suddenly pressed a finger against his own body.
[Species]: Human (Fang Yuan)
[Cultivation]: Seventh Layer of Body Tempering; Sixth Layer of Soul Refining; Fifth Layer of Qi Refining
[Talents]: Thunder Body; Wind Step; Water Step; Water Spitting; Gold Devouring; Shatter Gold; Fire Treading; Fire Spitting; Growth Acceleration; Entangle; Ground Shrink; Earth Spike
[Bloodline]: Yellow Grade, Supreme Tier
[Trait 1]: Prodigy seed among the human race, sharing a thread of racial fortune
[Trait 2]: Genius disciple of a major sect in Yunzhou, sharing a portion of the sect's fortune
[Trait 3]: Royal bloodline of the human race, possessing great personal fortune
"Hm?"
When Fang Yuan saw this information in his mind, he froze on the spot.
He had just had a passing thought — since his decomposition talent could obtain information about other species and objects, could it also inspect his own information?
He hadn't expected it to actually work. The information was rather brief, however, and didn't even list the decomposition talent itself.
What made him laugh and cry at the same time was — when had he become a royal bloodline among the human race?
Could it be because he had absorbed all that Bloodline Power?
"So I carry both racial fortune and sect fortune on me."
Fortune was an intangible and elusive thing; without a certain level of cultivation and specialized techniques, it was utterly invisible.
"Speaking of which — can fortune be decomposed?"
Fang Yuan suddenly had an idea. He wasn't thinking of decomposing his own fortune, of course — he was wondering whether he could decompose someone else's. If he could observe fortune and make physical contact with it, could he decompose it? And what would it break down into?
A fierce curiosity rose in Fang Yuan's heart, but he forcefully suppressed the notion. It was far beyond his current reach — most likely something that would only become possible after Core Formation, at the earliest.
Fang Yuan reined in his thoughts and turned his mind to advancing his Body Tempering cultivation.
"Further Body Tempering requires not just Spiritual Power, but blood energy as well! Spiritual Power can be extracted from Spirit Stones — but what about blood energy?"
Fang Yuan pondered for a short while, then took out a piece of beast meat.
It was a portion of beast meat he had obtained through decomposition — cut as if by a perfect blade, completely intact.
"Decompose!"
Fang Yuan's gaze sharpened, and he immediately triggered decomposition!
A flash of golden light.
The flesh split into two things: a crimson red energy mass, and a dry, colorless, wood-like white substance.
[Demon Beast Blood Energy] + [Flesh Residue]
Fang Yuan immediately seized the blood-red energy mass and decomposed it once more.
Another flash of golden light.
The demon beast blood energy split again — into a pure blood mass and a strange, sinister aura.
[Pure Blood Energy] + [Demonic Aura]
"Demonic Aura again?"
The Demonic Aura rapidly dispersed through the cultivation chamber and drifted outward.
The Spirit-Gathering Formation placed no restriction on Demonic Aura, letting it pass freely.
The twelve spirit beasts standing guard outside the cultivation chamber all opened their maws wide and eagerly gulped down the Demonic Aura.
After each spirit beast swallowed the Demonic Aura, its aura visibly rose by a noticeable degree.