Chapter 218

Wanting to find a secluded and safe spot in the vast Cloud Upper Realm is neither simply easy nor simply hard—especially for Yunhe as he is now.

However, he temporarily doesn't want to spend a lot of time traveling from the North Lodging Island area back to Yun Palace City.

So he found a cloud island that barely possesses a first-stage middle-grade spirit vein level.

This time he is going to refine elixirs, so the richness of spiritual energy doesn't matter much.

On this island, there are actually quite a few mortals living, as well as an "Island Master" appointed from above, whose Cultivation Base is only at the seventh layer of Qi Refining.

With such a presence, even if one wanted to discover Yunhe, it would be difficult.

He simply landed on the island.

The island spans a hundred li, wrapped in a not-too-thick silver sheen; looking out, aside from the plain snow-white, there are also many sparkling emerald hues, with small beasts foraging in the snow and several hunters carrying quivers approaching silently.

As for this, Yunhe caused no disturbance or effect.

Landing on a mountain peak, his body emanated an earth-yellow halo, and he quickly sank down.

Within the mountain body, he simply opened up a cave dwelling not too large.

Taking out the "Fat‑Jade Ice‑Clear Lotus", he sat upon it, closed his eyes to regulate his breath, and circulated his mana through the heavenly circuit.

Soon, he felt a hint of coolness in his heart; the spiritual energy that originally barely reached first‑stage middle-grade spirit‑vein level, under the lotus's aid, as it entered his meridians via the heavenly circuit, had already surpassed second‑stage spirit‑vein level.

This was also the first time he used this lotus after obtaining the Fat‑Jade Ice‑Clear Lotus.

One must admit that the lotus's effect is indeed beyond what the Gathering Spirit Pearl can match; it not only amplifies spiritual energy concentration but also clears the mind and calms the breath, and a faint scent of blue lotus arises, making one feel refreshed and delighted.

"Indeed, it's a fine treasure."

After a day of breath regulation, Yunhe opened his eyes and let out a low sigh.

With a single palm strike, he sent forth several formation implements and formation flags.

Among them, not only did he have the recently acquired third‑stage upper‑grade formation, the Sumeru Thousand Illusions Formation, but also his own self‑refined second‑stage upper‑grade defensive formation "Small Five Elements Mutual Generation Formation" and second‑stage upper‑grade offensive formation "Five Elements Concealed Thunder Formation".

Skillfully, he laid down the two second‑stage upper‑grade formations, then spent a little time placing the Sumeru Thousand Illusions Formation on the outermost layer.

Thus, even a Late Jie Dan Stage cultivator passing by could not possibly detect him within the mountain.

If something were to accidentally approach, under the bolster of these three formations, even a Golden Core cultivator could not enter at will.

During this period, he spent some time wiping clean all the imprints and traces left by the original owner on the Sumeru Thousand Illusions Formation's implements, then imprinted his own mana, making the setup considerably simpler.

"Once my formation path also reaches the third stage, I will enhance the 'Small Five Elements Mutual Generation Formation' and the 'Five Elements Concealed Thunder Formation'; any Golden Core early‑ to mid‑stage cultivator who enters this formation will not die but will at least lose a layer of skin."

However, formations are difficult; wanting to reach the third stage in formations, he doesn't even know how much time it will take.

Shaking his head, Yunhe thought no further.

He took out the formula for the "Blood‑Weeping Elixir" and read it carefully.

Refining this elixir is not difficult; for him, who has already reached third‑stage middle‑grade alchemist level in the Dao of Elixirs, he still has a decent chance.

Bang!!

The elixir furnace opened lightly, and seven or eight pellets fell into his hand: five successful pellets, one failed pellet, and two substandard pellets.

As the elixir's qi retracted inward, the snow‑white pellets were quickly coated with a layer of wine‑red, exuding a strong fishy odor.

The Blood‑Weeping Elixir is done!

After examining them closely for a moment, Yunhe placed all these elixirs into a jade bottle.

The Blood‑Weeping Elixir has been refined, but Yunhe does not intend to take it immediately.

He has never experienced a cultivator breaking through the third‑stage bodily shackle, but he has personally felt the scene when a demon beast breaks through the third stage.

Therefore, to be safe.

He also needs to make more preparations, minimizing the risk as much as possible.

Thus Yunhe spent several more days here, not only constructing a small pool but also consuming a large amount of materials to prepare some spiritual liquid.

In one go, he ground dozens of spirit herbs that heal wounds, nourish meridians, and strengthen qi and blood into a liquid, then mixed in plenty of precious auxiliary materials to neutralize the incompatibility between herbs of different properties.

Preparing these, given his current understanding of elixir refinement and herbal medicine, is not difficult.

Just the spiritual liquid in this pool alone is worth at least several thousand to tens of thousands of Low-grade Ling Stones.

Next, Yunhe took out from his storage ring the best‑quality elixir with the finest wound‑healing effect and set it aside, in case of an accident.

After finishing these, he spent another day and night adjusting his condition, then calmly drifted into the pool.

Only then did he solemnly take out the jade bottle, pour out one Blood‑Weeping Elixir, without the slightest hesitation, and swallow it in one gulp.

The taste of the Blood‑Weeping Elixir is far worse than that of the Spirit‑Stalk Elixir; upon entry it is a strong bloody odor, incomparable to the spiritual liquid in the Nine‑Curved Gourd, yet its effect is far stronger than that liquid.

But as the elixir went down his throat into his abdomen, Yunhe's complexion suddenly changed.

The elixir seemed to come alive, emitting an extremely scorching spiritual‑energy heat wave, as if a river of magma had appeared inside his body, filling all his organs, meridians, and muscles with scorching magma.

Following that came a fierce pain, like countless infinitesimally small spikes madly stimulating his sea of consciousness.

The intense pain caused Yunhe's face to uncontrollably curl into a ball; fresh blood seeped from his clenched teeth, and his heaving chest, like a bellows, made his throat emit strange low growls.

If at this moment he were a body cultivator like Fan Sanjin, he would immediately use a cultivation method to digest and absorb this power, but that is a law‑body cultivator, unlike Yunhe, a pure body cultivator who relies solely on physical strength; he has no other way to ease the pain or speed up absorption and digestion of the medicinal power, so he can only grit his teeth and endure with willpower.

His body suddenly erupted with crimson cracks, a change caused by the domineering medicinal power exceeding the limit of his body's endurance.

Fortunately, he had prepared spiritual liquid in advance.

Strands of cool breath seeped into his pores, skin, and cracks, not only alleviating his pain to some extent but also gradually healing those wounds.

Thus, after an unknown amount of time, his body felt a tingling numbness, as if he had gained considerable benefit; his physical strength increased further on top of its base.

But the distance to the third‑stage level is still obviously far.

Yunhe slowly opened his tightly shut eyes; his pupils showed no ripple, as if the previous pain had been an illusion.

"Relying on just one pellet is indeed not enough."

He also hadn't thought that one elixir would complete his bodily breakthrough; he merely wanted to test the potency of a single pellet.

Now he basically knows.

Casually picking up the jade bottle placed beside the pool, he intends to, while the medicinal power within him has not yet been fully digested, accomplish in one go the breakthrough of his bodily shackle.

As for saying, a single "Blood-Weeping Pill" caused his face to twist in agony; would swallowing more be too much for him to bear?

Yunhe calmly gave a light smile.

He knew exactly what he wanted, and he believed that all the suffering he had endured up to that point was worth it.

Without a moment's hesitation, he lifted his chin.

He swallowed all four remaining "Blood-Weeping Pills" from the jade bottle.

Mmm!!

Yunhe let out a sudden muffled groan, and the veins on his forehead and neck bulged violently.

The familiar sensation surged again, and it was more than twice as strong as before; the instant it touched his inner palace, waves of violent, pure energy frenziedly struck his body.

The ferocity of the onslaught was such that even though Yunhe had prepared himself, he couldn't help but be terrified.

That pain, worse than being sliced by a thousand knives, struck his sea of consciousness over and over; fortunately, his powerful divine sense protected his sea of consciousness, keeping it clear, and his strong magical power shielded his dantian from the impact.

Crack—crack—crack—

The bones throughout his body sounded with 'cracks', muscles were continually torn, meridians constantly ruptured, yet they were swiftly repaired by a powerful life force.

This cycle repeated.

Yunhe strove to control his mind; amidst this pain, he surprisingly discovered.

His "Thousand Gu Myriad Insects Technique" actually loosened!

After all, the "Thousand Gu Myriad Insects Technique" is precisely a process of repeatedly striking, destroying, and repairing the divine sense to strengthen it; this time, the intense pain from breaking through his flesh happened to align perfectly with his "Thousand Gu Myriad Insects Technique".

Yunhe immediately endured the pain, suppressed his surprise, and began to circulate the "Thousand Gu Myriad Insects Technique".

Time passed little by little.

After a full one and a half months.

The pool that had once been rippling with misty spiritual liquid had completely dried up.

Sitting in it, Yunhe's whole body seemed to be covered with a layer of dark red blood scabs, accompanied by numerous dense blood spots, yet there was not a trace of fresh blood scent.

Hum—

Suddenly, a faint tremor sounded, and his pair of extremely bright eyes snapped open; the thick blood scab cracked open like a silkworm cocoon, revealing the unusually clean skin beneath.

As the scabs fell away, his already smooth skin now revealed a crystalline luster, faintly emitting a peculiar sheen; even a simple movement gave off an extremely dangerous yet unusually steady feeling.

Not just the surface, his flesh became extraordinarily tough, and his bones grew more crystalline, like gemstones.

His flesh attested to the "Golden Core"!

"Such a fleshly body would not be inferior to an ordinary third-rank early-stage demon beast by much."

Yunhe stood up and put on a cyan-cloth Daoist robe.

Although not as excited as when his cultivation base broke through to Golden Core formation, his heart was still full of joy.

He took a piece of third-rank ore from his storage ring, grasped it in his hand, and as a muffled explosion sounded from his fingertip joints, the third-rank ore in his hand was actually kneaded and deformed like a lump of clay.

Seeing this, Yunhe's face broke into a smile.

"If a Golden Core cultivator lets me get close now, relying solely on my fleshly body, even a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator would at least lose a layer of skin, and a late-stage Golden Core cultivator would suffer badly even from a slight mistake."

Aside from offensive means, what pleased Yunhe most was undoubtedly his fleshly body's defensive capability.

He summoned the Vermilion Bird Ring, infused it with magical power, lightly brushed it across his arm, and a faint bloodstain appeared.

But after just half a breath, that bloodstain completely vanished.

"Even if an ordinary magical weapon managed to wound me, it wouldn't have much effect; at least it would need to be a third-rank middle-grade or higher magical weapon."

Punching hammer law rings, kicking flying swords with the feet—these are no longer fantasies.

This is what true body cultivation is.

As long as one possesses a formidable body-tempering treasure, and a strong will and spirit capable of bearing the flesh, one can rapidly increase strength in a relatively short span of time.

Precisely for this reason, in the resource-rich Ancient Cultivation Realm, body cultivators once shone brightly, even suppressing spell cultivators to the point of breathlessness; cultivators of the same rank who encountered body cultivators were inherently at a disadvantage.

Of course, as resources were continually used, the overall resources of the Cultivation World were greatly depleted, and pure body cultivators have gradually withdrawn from the historical stage.

Besides this, high-grade body-tempering treasures are indeed exceedingly rare even in the Ancient Cultivation Realm; thus, even though pure body cultivators once flourished, those ancient body cultivators who truly reached the Spirit Transformation Realm are as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.

Furthermore, pure body cultivators are inept at the myriad arts of cultivation, lacking formations, elixirs, instruments, talismans, and all Daoist paths for protection; acquiring resources is also far harder for them than for spell cultivators, which is one reason for the decline of pure body cultivators.

"I don't even know how far my path of body cultivation can go."

Yunhe took out a red jade gourd and gulped down a large mouthful.

After his flesh attested to the Golden Core, the spiritual liquid in the Nine Twists Gourd is no longer overly stimulating for him.

If it weren't for the Nine Twists Gourd and the vast demon beast resources of the Demon Beast World supporting him, his body cultivation path, relying solely on the scarce body-tempering resources of the Cultivation World, would not easily allow him to forge himself to third rank.

"The breakthrough of the 'Thousand Gu Myriad Insects Technique' is actually an unexpected joy."

Once he fully masters the third layer of the "Thousand Gu Myriad Insects Technique", his divine sense should still be able to advance further.

"If he also refines the Lu Shan Turtle's shell into a piece of equipment, his self-defense capability will be about enough."

(End of chapter)