Only when the body tempers into vajra can one be said to have achieved Perfected Mastery in the first stage of Physical-Refining. To advance to the second stage one must transform from vajra to white jade.
According to Wang Yuan, this meant completely transforming the muscles and bones to golden muscles and jade bones. At that level, the body would become pure and flawless, as if reborn entirely from flesh to essence. Only then could one truly claim to have reached the second stage of Physical-Refining.
Three days after the fleet departed from Dahe Market, Luo Chen sat quietly in his cultivation chamber. As usual, he cultivated two cycles of the Medicine King Codex of Yimu before turning his attention elsewhere.
Contrary to what many outside observers might assume, Luo Chen was far from idle. He was, in fact, busier than ever.
He cultivated the Medicine King Codex of Yimu daily. He also persisted in drawing fiend qi into his body, tempering his divine soul and deepening his spirit foundation. In addition to that, he constantly chipped away at the spirit restriction within Duan Qiankun’s storage pouch, using spirit consciousness to wear down the seal in hopes of unlocking it soon.
Only during the occasional lull did he indulge in casual reading. Currently, he was poring over the Wang Secret Manual that Wang Yuan had given him. The title was cliché, but the contents opened a whole new world for Luo Chen outside the realm of Daoist cultivation.
So there was such nuance and depth to physical cultivation after all.
“Breaking through the first stage of Physical-Refining isn’t actually that hard, you just need the right pills.
“Wang Yuan used Golden Jade Liquid to constantly temper his flesh and bones. This elixir didn’t enter the dantian or sea of qi, so there was no danger of pill toxins.”
Luo Chen wasn’t particularly interested in Physical-Refining itself. He had long come to terms with his mediocre talent, it meant he had to focus entirely on qi cultivation.
What did interest him was that incomplete technique him and Wang Yuan had purchased—Sky Roc Transformation.
Wang Yuan had dismissed the technique. He merely borrowed a few useful concepts to enhance his own physical path.
But Luo Chen? He was very interested.
During his Foundation Establishment, he had used the Blazing Cloud Roc to refine Imperial Nectar. That nectar had contained not just a drop or two, but a considerable amount of roc essence blood.
If he used that to train in the Sky Roc Transformation, he’d surely get twice the results with half the effort! However, this was a third-tier Physical-Refining technique.
To use the system to force an Beginner level breakthrough would cost a tremendous amount of achievement points. And the version he had was incomplete.
Aside from alchemy, Luo Chen had far too little background in Physical-Refining to ever hope to restore it himself.
For now, he focused on building a strong foundation. So that if the chance ever came, he wouldn’t be scrambling at the last minute.
The Sky Roc Transformation had strict prerequisites. Namely, the cultivator must have a physique refined to at least the second stage.
At present, Luo Chen had fully completed the first stage and the second stage was just a single step away.
"Golden Jade Liquid?
"That elixir is a specialty of the Golden Stone Pavilion in Taishan Market. Once I get there, I should stock up."
Golden Stone Pavilion. The name wasn’t unfamiliar to Luo Chen, in fact, he knew it quite well.
Its Pavilion Leader, Kang Dongyue, was a Foundation Establishment Initiate. Luo Chen had met him once, years ago, when he came to Dahe Market to attend the grand opening of the Debate Platform. Later, he even sent a message through Shopkeeper Liu, expressing interest in becoming a distributor for Luo Chen’s Myriad Wonders pills.
Unfortunately, by then Luo Chen had already joined the Poshan Gang as an alchemist, and the deal was never made.
But this time, heading to Taishan Market, not only could he buy more Golden Jade Liquid, he might also use them to offload some of his surplus top-grade Jade Essence pills.
“Short on money again...” Luo Chen sighed.
Out in unfamiliar lands, there would surely be countless places needing spirit stones. If Wang Haichao was shameless enough to exploit ticket sales for a quick fortune, that said everything. It wasn’t just the two of them, the Li and Nangong families were likely dipping into their reserves as well.
As Luo Chen was musing over all this, his brow suddenly furrowed.
***
Ah!
“What kind of demonic beast is that?!”
“It’s a first-tier demonic beast, Silver Dartfish. Fast as an arrow, built to pierce through spirit shields, and they always travel in schools!
“Quick, activate the formation! Some of them got in! Sima Xian, take your team and deal with them, don’t let anyone get hurt!”
Luo Chen stepped out from his cultivation chamber, his gaze naturally falling upon Sima Huiniang, who stood at the center of activity, calmly issuing orders. She moved with practiced grace, her voice steady, her gestures precise.
Watching her work, Luo Chen gave a quiet nod of approval. Over the years, she had grown into the role of Director, not just in name, but in action. Whether handling major decisions or minor logistics, she conducted herself with structure and composure. With someone like her in charge, he truly saved himself a great deal of effort.
His eyes then shifted toward the so-called “enemies” encircling them. Though, to call them “people” would have been inaccurate, they were more like fish [1].
One after another, palm-sized silver fish launched themselves from the rushing river below, shooting through like arrows. As the sunlight hit them, their silver-white scales shimmered with a metallic sheen, glinting like polished steel.
With their razor-sharp teeth, even the most stable of defensive barriers stood little chance once the Silver Dartfish drew close. A few bites were all it took to tear through a cultivator's defenses.
And now, they were facing far more than just a few.
All around the massive ship of the Luo Tian Society, Luo Chen could see them, thousands of glittering silver fish, leaping from the river in wave after wave, their slender bodies catching the light like polished blades.
Fortunately, these alone weren’t a major threat.
With the ship’s defensive array fully activated, and the experts of the Battle Hall standing ready and cutting them down relentlessly, the Luo Tian Society’s forces remained largely unscathed. Only a few unlucky cultivators had been injured in the initial chaos, caught off guard before the defense formation flared to life.
But elsewhere, the story was very different.
Luo Chen’s gaze turned outward. He narrowed his eyes and extended his spirit consciousness to get a clearer view.
Across the river, where a dozen other ships traveled as part of the convoy, he saw the flickering lights of countless defensive arrays, but they were struggling. Every vessel was being battered by an unending onslaught of silver light, flashes so dense they looked like a silken net cast across the river's surface.
The lead ship, in particular, had come to a complete halt.
The cries of cultivators in pain had begun to erupt one after another.
And even that, wasn’t the worst part!
The countless rogue cultivators who had refused to buy tickets had either flown alongside the fleet or followed behind on homemade bamboo rafts.