Chapter 33: Primordial Heaven Metal

Hao Yi smiled upon hearing this and restrained his aura:

"You certainly know how to keep your cool."

Li Fei: "The student simply trusts that the Master will not harm me."

A flash of desolation crossed Hao Yi's eyes, and he said slowly:

"After obtaining an implant, there are several corresponding stages as your cultivation deepens. First is the Embryo-Nurturing Stage, where the implant is nurtured within the body and cultivated slowly. Next is the Body-Breaking Stage; the implant begins to grow rapidly and replaces a portion of your body tissue, thereby granting you various extraordinary abilities. Then comes the Qi-Transformation Stage, where you refine innate Qi through the implant. After the Qi-Transformation Stage comes the Dao-Foundation Stage; at this step, you must construct the foundation of your martial path."

"The martial path foundation requires gathering five implants of different attributes—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—to construct. Different combinations of implants can form different Dao foundations. I want you to construct a martial path foundation of extreme difficulty—the 【Primordial Heaven Metal】."

Hao Yi explained the steps of martial cultivation to Li Fei and also explained what the 【Primordial Heaven Metal】 was.

Five different implants to form a martial path foundation?

Li Fei had not expected the martial path of this world to be like this.

"Master, where does the difficulty in cultivating this 【Primordial Heaven Metal】 lie?"

He asked.

Hao Yi: "The higher the grade of the implant, the more severe the alienation reaction, and the higher the requirements for the human body's tolerance. The first implant for the vast majority of Dao foundations is Grade One, but the five implants that make up the 【Primordial Heaven Metal】 are at least Grade Two. This Dao foundation requires a high capacity for the body to resist alienation, and it also requires a powerful physique and tenacious willpower."

"That you could master the Heavenly Stellar Tyrant Body so quickly shows that your natural bone structure is suited for hard-body training. I told you before that the Heavenly Stellar Tyrant Body has a corresponding implant; that refers to this 【Primordial Heaven Metal】. The higher your attainments in the Heavenly Stellar Tyrant Body, the greater the probability of successfully cultivating the 【Primordial Heaven Metal】 in the future. This is the reason I want you to cultivate the 【Primordial Heaven Metal】. As for your aptitude, it can be improved with medicine."

Li Fei nodded: "I understand, Master. I am willing to cultivate the 【Primordial Heaven Metal】."

This 【Primordial Heaven Metal】 might be as difficult as ascending to heaven for others, but for him, it held no difficulty at all.

A look of gratification appeared on Hao Yi's face. He nodded and pointed to the black powder on the side:

"Implants of every grade are divided into three tiers: superior, middle, and inferior. These Steel Armor implants come from Grade Two Steel Armor Beasts; the implants extracted from them are usually Grade Two inferior. Only one in ten thousand Steel Armor Beasts might yield a Grade Two superior implant, so they are very rare."

"However, there are very few Dao foundations that pair with Grade Two Steel Armor implants. Those that can utilize a Grade Two superior Steel Armor implant are even fewer, and the cultivation difficulty is high. Decades might pass without a single person succeeding, so this box of implants has been in the warehouse for some years, and no one has ever come to extract them. I didn't expect Wang Qitai's granddaughter to be planning to cultivate 【Qinghua Linglong】, which requires this implant."

Li Fei asked: "Master, does this mean that for matching a Dao foundation, the higher the quality of the implant, the better?"

Otherwise, this box of Grade Two superior Steel Armor implants would not have waited for him to use them.

Hao Yi nodded: "The higher the quality of the implant, the greater the difficulty of forming the Dao foundation; that is the first point. Secondly, the five implants that make up the Dao foundation must eventually form a balance. If the quality of one single implant is too high, this balance cannot be formed, and instead, nothing will be accomplished."

Li Fei understood; for some Dao foundations that can use a Grade Two Steel Armor implant, a Grade Two inferior one is sufficient, and using a Grade Two superior one would actually ruin things.

As for those Dao foundations that require a Grade Two superior Steel Armor implant, the cultivation difficulty is extremely high; unless one is a formidable genius, one would not dare to choose them.

Viewed in this light, that woman named Wang Fengqing must be such a genius.

"Although that Wang Qitai is narrow-minded, you are my student, so you need not worry about what he might dare to do. In the future, if anyone gives you trouble here in the Martial Lecture Hall, as long as you are in the right, you need not fear anything. If you truly cause trouble, Master will cover for you!"

Hao Yi said to Li Fei.

If it were someone else, he would not say such things, because there are too many people who rely on their own martial strength to stir up trouble.

But Li Fei looked so upright, and the impression he had always given was that of a well-behaved child who would not proactively cause trouble, which is why he said this to Li Fei.

"I understand, thank you, Master."

Li Fei bowed to Hao Yi.

Viewed in this light, Hao Yi's status in the Martial Lecture Hall was even higher than he had imagined. With these words from him, his future actions within the Martial Lecture Hall would be much easier.

He could not help but feel grateful to Li Lei for finding the right Master for him.

"The water is boiling; go pour in the medicinal herbs."

"Understood."

And so, a heavy medicinal scent began to permeate the medicine bath room.

Li Fei poured over a dozen herbs into the pot, and by the time it finished boiling, only a mass of black, thick, viscous liquid remained.

Hao Yi poured this black, viscous liquid from the pot into containers holding different dosages of Steel Armor implant powder and had Li Fei stir them until uniform.

Finally, Hao Yi poured the contents of all the containers into one large container and had Li Fei stir it until uniform, forming a large mass of black mud.

"Alright, take off all your clothes."

Hao Yi said to Li Fei.

Li Fei did not feel embarrassed; he quickly stripped off all his clothes and stood naked before Hao Yi.

Hao Yi picked up a brush, dipped it into some of the black mud from the container, and applied it evenly over Li Fei's body.

"In the earliest stages, the implants of Grade Two Steel Armor Beasts were just individual scales. At that time, martial artists would sew these scales directly onto their skin, then use medicine and breathing techniques to make these scales fuse with their own bodies."

As Hao Yi applied the mud to Li Fei, he explained the history of implants to him:

"Such a cultivation method was too crude and easily led to bodily mutation. Later, after generations of continuous improvement, the Grade Two Steel Armor implant became what you see today. The scales of the Steel Armor Beast are ground into powder, mixed with medicine, and applied to the skin of the entire body, then slowly absorbed into the body, thereby entering the Embryo-Nurturing Stage."

Upon hearing this, Li Fei could not help but ask:

"Master, once the implant grows inside me, will I be covered in scales?"

Hao Yi shook his head:

"The earliest martial artists would be, but modern martial artists are not. As long as you control it well and no problems arise during the Embryo-Nurturing Stage, this implant will only make your skin tougher, but it will look no different from an ordinary person's."

Hearing Hao Yi say this, Li Fei finally breathed a sigh of relief.

If he ended up cultivating until he was covered in scales, and then grew horns or a tail or something, the aesthetic would be too beautiful to even imagine.

Thinking about it, the early martial artists really could endure anything to gain power.

Soon, Hao Yi had covered Li Fei's entire body with the black mud made of the mixture of implants and medicine.

He told Li Fei to sit still for ten minutes, and once the mud on his body had dried, he was to begin practicing the Heavenly Stellar Qi Stance.

(End of chapter)