Chapter 341

The former Golden Core ancestor of the Sunset Sect surnamed Ren, it was said, was the only powerful Golden Core cultivator in the past five hundred years to have cultivated the Crimson Yang Great Art to its twelfth layer.

Thus, after this Elder Ren met an untimely end, his cultivation notes were stored in the Sunset Sect's Scripture Hall, so that later disciples practicing the Crimson Yang Great Art could study them and reduce the difficulty of cultivation.

With his super intuition activated by overclocking, Wang Yu quickly scanned the jade slip's contents, effortlessly understanding and internalizing them.

In particular, the sections on marrow washing and entry-level practice mentioned at the start of the notes, he scrutinized repeatedly, leaving no phrase—no matter how ordinary it seemed—unexamined.

According to Elder Ren's notes, he himself had used the Qingyang Lamp for marrow washing, and the entire process had gone exceptionally smoothly with no issues at all—but later he discovered that the effectiveness of marrow washing depended not only on ample fire spiritual energy but also on whether the cultivator's meridians were sufficiently tough and robust.

After achieving Golden Core, Elder Ren added a note in his records stating that only those with exceptionally tough meridians could absorb more fire spiritual energy during marrow washing and thus reap the greatest benefits from the transformation brought by the heavenly spiritual flame.

This point was the key to successfully entering the Crimson Yang Great Art.

After all, only those whose meridians had been altered to withstand the violent force of fire flame could cultivate the Crimson Yang Great Art's incantations without suffering backlash.

Elder Ren's meridians after Foundation Establishment had seemed ordinary, and he gained little benefit from the spiritual flame marrow washing; in his notes, he expressed deep regret.

Tough and robust meridians!

When Wang Yu read this, he was both startled and delighted.

According to what he knew, only two types of people could make their meridians carrying spiritual power thicker than ordinary cultivators'.

One was those born with special body constitutions, naturally possessing thick meridians—this was a matter of innate talent, impossible to compete with.

The other was cultivators who had practiced special secret techniques or body-refining arts.

As for the former, no need to elaborate—secret techniques capable of thickening meridians were unimaginably rare; Wang Yu had only heard of their existence in ancient texts, and at least none of the Four Sects were known to possess such a technique.

The latter, because body-refining strengthened the flesh and enhanced blood and qi, could also nourish and thicken the meridians, making them far thicker than those of ordinary people.

As for Wang Yu, a body-refining warrior who had practiced the Ancient Breathing Method, his meridians and internal organs had been polished and tempered countless times through inhaling and exhaling toxic qi, making his meridians far tougher than those of ordinary body-refiners.

This meant that he, having already achieved the Black Tiger Toxic Body, should gain considerable benefits from the Qingyang Flame marrow washing.

Yet, even with his superior meridians, he had little confidence whether this alone would allow him to successfully enter the Crimson Yang Great Art.

After all, every Sunset Sect cultivator he had previously encountered had spoken of how difficult it was to enter the Crimson Yang Great Art.

Especially Gu Lian, who possessed the rare Essence Fire Body, had still failed to cultivate it—proof enough of how hard its entry was.

Wang Yu put away the milky-white jade slip and examined the cultivation insights in several other jade slips.

Though the owners of these jade slips were not Golden Core ancestors, they were all Foundation Establishment cultivators who had practiced the Crimson Yang Great Art for many years; their insights were equally valuable to Wang Yu's understanding of the art.

Unfortunately, aside from Elder Ren's note emphasizing the critical importance of meridians for entering the Crimson Yang Great Art, others offered little description of their entry experiences, and entry seemed to come naturally to them, with no special sensations recorded.

Yet, under Wang Yu's overclocked super-analysis, he noticed a common trait among these successful Sunset Sect Foundation Establishment cultivators: they were all wealthy, with no lack of resources.

At least, before entering the Crimson Yang Great Art, they had used every available resource they could.

Whether daily medicinal meats and spiritual rice, or long-term rentals of Essence Fire Chambers and large purchases of auxiliary pills, none were missing.

Some of these note-writers had even used high-grade fire spiritual stones to aid their cultivation.

Though fire spiritual stones were the most common type of spiritual stone, high-grade ones were worth at least fifteen thousand low-grade stones—and even though they contained immense pure spiritual energy, how long could a single high-grade stone sustain a Foundation Establishment cultivator?

Two months? Three or four months?

To use such precious items as daily cultivation tools required staggering wealth.

Could this be another key to entering the Crimson Yang Great Art?

Wang Yu pondered, removed the last jade slip from his forehead, and the crystalline glow deep in his eyes finally dimmed.

He would need to prepare more auxiliary cultivation resources—at least two more high-grade fire spiritual stones.

Would using high-grade fire spiritual stones during marrow washing yield better results?

Wang Yu thought deeply.

…

Several days later.

In a dark stone chamber thirty to forty zhang beneath the inner district of Tianyang City.

On the floor lay an ancient-looking pool filled with a little over half its volume of emerald-green liquid, thick with medicinal fragrance, while around it piled high were pale red fire-crystal raw ores.

Wang Yu sat bare-chested in the center of the pool, gripping a crimson high-grade spiritual stone in each hand; directly above his head, no more than a chi above, floated a rusty green ancient lamp.

From a faint oily sheen on the lamp, tiny thumb-sized blue flamelets drifted out, ethereal and dreamlike, slowly descending downward.

"Puh. Puh."

As the flamelets reached just above Wang Yu's crown, they spontaneously dispersed into glowing specks that sank into his body.

On either side of the pool sat two red-robed cultivators, one male, one female, also seated on the ground.

The man appeared to be around fifty, with gray-white hair and an unusually long face, his expression calm.

The woman was around thirty, her eyes sharp as blades, her face expressionless.

Both emitted red light from their skin, their hands constantly forming seals, casting multicolored spells into the air to sustain the continuous flow of flamelets from the green lamp.

Wang Yu's eyes were half-closed, his body flickering with red light; on his bare chest, dense clusters of blue veins writhed visibly, and though his face showed no sign of pain, sweat poured from his forehead and back.

The emerald-green liquid in the pool, though only covering his lower body, bubbled incessantly, releasing wisps of milky-white mist that curled around his entire form…

"Tsk tsk, this younger brother Wang is impressive—even under this, he keeps his composure.

Even though he's sealed his five senses, the pain of Qingyang Flame marrow washing cannot be fully eliminated." The gray-haired male cultivator glanced once more at Wang Yu's face, then whispered to the red-robed woman opposite him.