Chapter 86: Body Forging to Repair Body! (2)
Without wasting another second, Lin Yuan walked to the center of the area and sat down cross-legged in the dirt. He then closed his deep purple eyes, and with a deep exhale, Lin Yuan violently released his aura!
The pressure that erupted from his body was staggering. It was a suffocating wave of Nascent Soul might infused with the tyrannical laws of his intent. This force flattened the remaining tall grass in a rapidly widening circle around him and sent chaotic ripples racing across the pooled blood, exactly like a heavy stone dropped into still water.
The shockwave pressed the very oxygen out of the clearing. Somewhere far off in the deeper, uncharted regions of the forest, lesser demonic beasts and even mid-tier predators froze mid-stride. Every primal survival instinct in their bloodlines screamed at them to flee, warning them of the presence of something existing on a plane far above their station.
In the past, during the initial stages of his journey along the Beast Route, Lin Yuan had gone to extreme lengths to establish the absolute foundation of his physique. He would crack open the bones of the beasts he hunted, extract the raw marrow hidden within, and consume it directly. It had been a necessary process, allowing the unique Beast-Iron properties contained within the marrow to gradually fuse into his body and forge the foundation of his physical strength.
But Lin Yuan was now a Nascent Soul expert. He no longer needed to consume beast marrow directly. The foundational groundwork of his physique had already been established, and his body had long since absorbed and refined the Beast-Iron properties necessary to sustain its growth.
Now, with the power of his Nascent Soul, he could directly draw upon the raw vitality of fallen beasts, extracting their essence without needing to consume their physical remains. The process was as effortless as breathing, allowing him to absorb the beasts’ vitality as naturally as he would absorb the ambient Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth.
Still, before fully initiating the process, Lin Yuan casually reached out. His fingers, wrapped in a thin layer of purple lightning, snapped the massive exposed femur of the Flame Lion lying beside him. He lifted the cracked, glowing bone and carefully extracted a single, heavy drop of marrow essence, letting it fall onto his tongue.
The rich, fiery liquid coated his palate before instantly transforming into a surge of pure, explosive vitality that rushed down his throat and spread throughout his body.
"As sweet as I remember," Lin Yuan murmured softly, a satisfied smirk briefly appearing on his face.
With that brief indulgence out of the way, Lin Yuan shifted his full attention back to the task at hand. Beneath him, the sixteen massive corpses suddenly began to undergo a violent transformation.
Threads of golden light, faint at first but blazing brighter with every passing second, began rising from the dead beasts’ bones. They spiraled through the humid air like slow-burning embers caught in a powerful thermal updraft. The marrow essence, dense with the accumulated vitality of the Flame Lions and Stone Bear, converged directly above Lin Yuan’s crown.
There, it formed a swirling miniature galaxy of pure life force before suddenly plunging downward into his body in a single stream.
He inhaled sharply as the first wave hit his skeletal structure.
It was agony, and it was relief, twisted together into something almost indescribable to the mind. The raw vitality slammed into his cracked and straining bones like a river of molten metal poured directly into damaged mold. It violently scalded every single micro-fracture the terrifying Origin Qi from the cave had left behind, the blinding heat purging the lingering taint, and then slowly, painstakingly, sealing each crack shut from the inside out.
Lin Yuan’s jaw clenched so hard that the muscles in his neck bulged like thick steel cables. He tasted blood again—fresh this time, welling up warm from where he had bitten completely through the inside of his cheek.
His bones groaned with the deep, immensely satisfying creak of something ancient and indestructible being flawlessly reforged. Layer by layer, the Beast-Iron density of his skeleton thickened, becoming increasingly dense and resilient. His marrow greedily absorbed the dual nature of the fire and stone, merging the explosive heat of the Flame Lions with the immovable defensive properties of the Stone Bear.
The integration was flawless.
The lingering, and destructive taint of the Origin Energy finally had nowhere left to hide. Lin Yuan could physically feel it being forced out of his system, driven toward the surface of his skin as a foul, murky mist before being burned away completely by the searing vitality surging through his body.
It was like a severe fever finally breaking after a long night, leaving behind a profound sense of relief and renewed strength.
Minutes stretched into what felt like hours. The sun began its slow descent beyond the distant mountain peaks, casting long shadows through the towering trees. Yet the forest around him remained eerily silent. Not a single bird chirped, and not a single insect buzzed. It was as though even the ever-hungry, chaotic forest understood better than to disturb a true cultivator caught in the absolute grip of such a profound moment.
When Lin Yuan finally opened his eyes, the deep purple light that flashed from his pupils seemed to cut through the gathering twilight. The excruciating pain in his chest had completely receded, fading into a distant memory.
He flexed his fingers experimentally, watching quietly as faint threads of golden light still danced beneath his flawless skin for a few seconds before fully integrating and fading into nothingness. His Ancient Beast Body pulsed with a terrifying density and an unyielding resilience it had never possessed before.
He rose to his feet amid the total wreckage of the clearing. The sixteen massive corpses, completely drained of their marrow essence, lay scattered across the dirt, their bodies withering rapidly in the humid jungle air. Their once-formidable forms were already beginning to shrink, desiccate, and crumble into dry dust, the supreme vitality that had preserved even their lifeless flesh having been ruthlessly stripped away.
"Better," Lin Yuan murmured to himself, rolling his broad shoulders once more. He rotated his torso, testing the limits of his new structure.
Then, a faint satisfied smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as his thoughts drifted. "Now, Qingyue won’t have to wait any longer."
He cast one last glance across the clearing. The steaming lake of blood was already beginning to dry and seep deeply into the forest soil. He turned his gaze back toward the horizon, looking past the wilderness and focusing on the distant expanse of the outer city.
With a crack of violently displaced air, Lin Yuan shot skyward once more. He became a brilliant streak of crackling purple lightning, vanishing back over the mountain ridge and leaving the forest to reclaim its silence.