Chapter 30: Body Forging
In the center of a newly formed crater—created by the devastating shockwave of a single punch—sat an enormous bronze alchemy cauldron. This was the very same cauldron that Bai Chen had procured days ago alongside the jade slip of mortal sentiments. Originally no larger than a standard watermelon, it had now been forcefully expanded. By channeling a continuous stream of his spiritual energy into its internal spatial arrays, Lin Yuan had caused the artifact to swell into a colossal vat, easily ten feet in diameter and six feet deep.
Inside this massive vessel, a terrifying liquid boiled and bubbled.
It was blood.
Specifically, it was the raw lifeblood of the two-story-tall giant elephant he had just slaughtered. With a single, devastating strike, the behemoth’s life had been extinguished, and Lin Yuan had swiftly drained its massive corpse of its most vital, chaotic essence.
Lin Yuan sat cross-legged perfectly in the center of the boiling blood, completely submerged up to his collarbones. His upper body was bare, his flawless skin glowing faintly against the viscous red liquid.
This was the ancient, brutal art of physical baptism. This was true body forging.
To a standard cultivator, sitting in a boiling vat of beast blood would be akin to swallowing a lit explosive. Normal cultivation during the Foundation Establishment realm was a delicate process. One carefully absorbed spiritual qi from the atmosphere or from pills. The qi would gently wash over the meridians, pushing the impurities out of the mortal flesh like a gentle stream smoothing a river stone.
But this? This was a hurricane tearing the stone apart and fusing it back together with molten iron.
Lin Yuan’s entire body was aching in absolute agony.
The chaotic vitality contained within the giant elephant’s blood possessed a primal, aggressive will of its own. It did not want to be absorbed. It acted as millions of burning needles, violently piercing through Lin Yuan’s open pores. It tore at his muscle fibers, shredding the delicate tissues, and crashed against his skeletal structure like a relentless, bloody wave.
Crack. Snap.
Faint, horrifying sounds echoed from deep within Lin Yuan’s body. His bones were literally micro-fracturing under the violent pressure of the beast’s vitality.
However, Lin Yuan did not scream. His handsome face was a mask of absolute concentration, his jaw clenched so tightly it looked as though it were carved from marble.
As the chaotic beast blood tore his muscles and fractured his bones, his supreme Root Bone immediately devoured the invasive vitality, using the violent energy as fuel to forcefully rebuild his flesh. The newly forged muscle fibers were infinitely denser, possessing a terrifying elasticity and tensile strength that far surpassed mortal limits. His micro-fractured bones healed in a fraction of a second, the marrow thickening and condensing until his skeleton began to take on the faint, indestructible sheen of profound-grade steel.
He could actively feel his physical strength growing at a terrifying rate.
The pain was constant, a fiery crucible that tested the very limits of his endurance, but Lin Yuan welcomed it. He understood that every ounce of agony was merely weakness leaving his vessel. If he was ever to reach the pinnacle of cultivation, he could not afford to leave a single path unexplored. Spiritual cultivation, Dao cultivation, body cultivation... he would cultivate them all. He would take the strengths of every path and refine them into one. This was now path of his Dao. A path that left no door unopened and no possibility unexplored.
Then, hours passed in a blur.
The sun slowly began its descent, casting long shadows across the clearing. The local wildlife, possessing a sharp, instinctual fear, had sensed the terrifying aura of the dead elephant and the monstrous, oppressive presence of the human who was currently bathing in its remains. They had wisely fled.
As the hours dragged on, the nature of the liquid inside the massive cauldron began to change.
The thick, crimson hue of the elephant’s blood started to fade. The metallic scent of it dissipated into the evening air. The massive pool of vitality was being drained, devoured entirely by Lin Yuan. The blood turned from a deep red to a murky brown, then to a pale pink, until finally, it resembled nothing more than a vat of lukewarm water.
He had completely drained the Typical Beast of every single drop of its essence.
Lin Yuan slowly opened his eyes. He then flexed his right hand under the water. The simple clenching of his fist produced a sharp pop as the sheer density of his newly forged muscles displaced the water with explosive force.
He let out a long breath, a plume of white steam escaping his lips and rising into the air. The agonizing aches in his bones receded, replaced by an intoxicating sensation of pure physical might. He felt as though he could punch a hole through the side of the mountain without even utilizing a single drop of his spiritual qi.
However, the tranquility of his successful body forging was not absolute.
Lin Yuan had felt the subtle, almost imperceptible disruption in the air hours ago. He had simply chosen to ignore it until his baptism was complete.
Lin Yuan did not turn his head. He remained seated in the cauldron, the water lapping gently against his collarbones, and stared straight ahead into the underbrush near him.
"How long are you going to watch me?" Lin Yuan spoke. His voice was entirely calm, yet it resonated with a heavy bass that caused the leaves on the nearby trees to violently tremble.
For a long moment, the area remained dead silent. The shadows seemed to stretch and deepen.
Then, a raspy chuckle broke the quiet tension.
"Heh heh heh..."
The sound echoed through the ruined clearing, possessing a strange quality that made it impossible to pinpoint its exact origin. It seemed to come from the trees, the earth, and the wind all at once.
Slowly, the thick brush parted.
Stepping out was an old man. He was incredibly short and hunched over, leaning heavily on a wooden walking stick. His clothing was little more than a collection of ragged, patched, and deeply stained sacks that hung loosely from his frail frame. His face was weathered and deeply lined, resembling a dried walnut, and an unkempt white beard reached down to his chest.
Resting comfortably across the old man’s shoulders like a scarf was a small, brown-furred sable. The creature’s intelligent eyes locked onto Lin Yuan, its small black nose twitching rapidly as it sniffed the air.
Despite his frail, pathetic appearance, Lin Yuan’s newly forged instincts screamed that this old man was not a simple mortal lost in the woods. To survive in a forest crawling with massive Beasts required a level of strength.
Then, the old man stopped at the edge of the crater, leaning on his wooden stick. He looked at the massive cauldron, the hollowed-out remains of the giant elephant, and then finally at Lin Yuan.
The old man offered a wide grin,
"Good, good," the old man croaked, nodding his head slowly in approval. "Body forging."