novelraw Chapter 252
Chapter 252
After speaking, Long Yiran hesitated for a moment before saying.
“Give me another half a month to digest it, and then I’ll begin Core Formation.”
According to her, the Dragon Vein Baptism had condensed a mass of golden Qi within her Spiritual Sea. As long as that golden Qi remained, she had full confidence in successfully forming her Core.
Wang Yu, however, had gained nothing of that sort.
This kind of fortune clearly varied from person to person. Most of Wang Yu’s gains lay within the Yin Nether Demonic Dragon Art and the strengthening of his physique, with little benefit in other aspects.
Snowjade’s rewards, on the other hand, were focused entirely on her bloodline potential.
If Long Yiran could successfully form her Core, she would make another breakthrough in formation mastery, which would be of great help for their upcoming exploration.
However, since she had not inscribed any life-bound divine abilities and lacked a life-bound magic treasure, her direct combat strength would not rise drastically.
While she began her preparations, Wang Yu immersed himself in studying the Yin Nether Demonic Dragon Art.
This technique only contained the cultivation method;
there were no accompanying secret technique, prescriptions, or diagrams of bloodline true artifacts.Well, not entirely—there was one formula for a Dragon Blood Elixir.
Better than nothing.
After the Dragon Vein Baptism, it was as if Heaven and Earth themselves had completed the technique, granting him many new things worth studying.
The most valuable among them was the combat art of body cultivators—Demonic Dragon Fist!
It was the most compatible fist technique with the Nether Demonic Dragon Art, capable of perfectly unleashing the full power of his tempered body.
Compared with divine abilities such as Lesser Asura Killing Fist and Yellow Spring Great Hand Seal, this one felt more like a martial technique.
A fist technique.
It emphasized how to exert strength, how to utilize joints, and how to bring out the full might of the physique refined by the Yin Nether Demonic Dragon Art.
Its most powerful move was a physical divine ability.
This was a true fist art, not a spiritual or mind-based divine art like Lesser Asura Killing Fist.
The strongest move within the Demonic Dragon Fist was called Dragon Tail Swing.
At first glance, it looked like a spinning kick, yet it could push the blood-shaped phantom of the Yin Nether Demonic Dragon to its utmost limit.
Shattering mountains and splitting the earth would be trivial.
If he could cultivate it to perfection, Wang Yu’s combat power would skyrocket, and his close-combat ability would surpass others by far.
It would serve as an excellent trump card in life-and-death battles.
Before breaking through to Core Formation, this Demonic Dragon Fist would be his most powerful hidden card, even surpassing the Yellow Spring Great Hand Seal.
After all, the latter required spiritual power, whereas the Demonic Dragon Fist could be performed perfectly once he reached the third rank of Body Refinement, standing firmly among true experts.
Time passed swiftly as he immersed himself in cultivation.
Another ten days went by.
When Long Yiran was almost ready, she notified Wang Yu, then sat cross-legged at the same place where the Thunder Corpse had transcended its tribulation, preparing to form her Core.
She believed she could borrow a trace of good fortune from that place. After all, the Thunder Corpse had succeeded there, and her only reliance was the Heavenly Heart Lightning Dispersion Tribulation Formation Flags.
Normally, Core Formation took years. To transform true essence into Core Power, one had to refine the sea of true essence into a solid Golden Core—
first turning Qi into liquid, then liquid into solid.
Two stages of metamorphosis and sublimation were needed to form the Golden Core, and then the Core Power would once again return to its gaseous state.
A Core Formation cultivator’s path was to absorb the world’s spiritual Qi, refine it into Core Power, and store it within the Golden Core.
When enough Core Power accumulated, it had to be fed back into the Core to enlarge and perfect it—three major thresholds in total.
As for that mass of Dragon Vein Qi within Long Yiran’s Spiritual Sea, it was equivalent to a supreme-grade Core Formation spiritual material.
It pushed her essence, energy, and spirit to their utmost limit.
With that, the three thresholds—Divine Sense, True Essence, and Blood Qi were nothing to her.
Her speed was astonishing. The slowest and most critical accumulation phase was conquered in a single surge, taking only one month.
Given her foundation as a rogue cultivator, this was nearly a miracle.
The value of the Dragon Vein Baptism had risen once again.
However, when she reached the stage of compressing the sea of true essence, her pace slowed greatly. It took half a year of grinding effort before she barely succeeded.
Wang Yu then realized that Long Yiran’s spiritual roots were not outstanding, and her comprehension talent was average. Her achievements in formation mastery came purely from time and persistence.
She was nearly two hundred years older than Wang Yu—a great-grandmother-level figure.
After initial Core condensation, her Divine Sense and Blood Qi were injected into the Golden Core to stabilize its form. Another half year passed.
The sky over the Heavenly Soul Sect’s secret realm grew dark once more.
Tribulation Lightning descended.
The first bolt of lightning was easily overcome through her formation mastery, greatly boosting her confidence.
But the second bolt struck like a hammer.
Her layered formations were shattered in an instant. The remaining lightning power hit her directly, nearly taking her life.
Fortunately, she possessed several defensive artifacts. After sacrificing them, she managed to endure the impact.
Though much of her flesh was charred black, her condition remained barely acceptable.
When the third lightning bolt descended, she did not attempt to resist it.
Instead, she obediently activated the Lightning Dispersion Flags lent to her by Wang Yu.
This time, the process went perfectly.
After the tribulation dispersed, her aura quickly stabilized.
Once her injuries healed and she reinforced her realm, her Core Formation was complete.
Seeing this, Wang Yu did not wait for her to awaken.
He retrieved the twelve flags, then distanced himself from Long Yiran’s meditation spot—and began preparing for his own breakthrough.
A Body Refining cultivator breaking through to the third stage hinges on whether the Divine Marrow can be successfully condensed. It is a life-and-death ordeal with almost no margin for error. Failure means certain death, and the immense pressure easily breeds fear.
However, he was full of confidence. He was certain that the foundation cultivated within his Idle Slot was incomparably deep and solid, and the resources invested on his path of Body Refining were abundant and without omission.
From the very beginning, he had used Dragon Blood Secret Medicine, Dragon Blood Essence, Myriad Spirit Venom Marrow, Bloodthorn Tiger Cane, and many others, culminating in the crucial Dragon Vein Baptism.
If even he could not succeed, then no one else could.
After meditating in stillness for three days, Wang Yu took out a breakthrough treasure known as the Glazed Lotus Heart Liquid.
During his last breakthrough to the second stage of Body Refining, he had used the Vajra Liquid. Both treasures were Body Refining spiritual substances born from the influence of the Buddhist Sect upon this world.
Together with the Prajna Heart Sutra, his karmic ties with the Buddhist Sect were anything but shallow.
Encasing himself within a wall of ice, Wang Yu removed his garments and applied the elixir over every inch of his skin, not sparing even the more sensitive regions such as the perineum.
The effect of the Glazed Lotus Heart Liquid was astonishing. Before he even began, his entire body’s blood and Qi were already boiling, while a chilling Yin aura spread throughout.
Within his dragon spine, nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine drops of essence blood began fusing as he circulated his cultivation art. The process of three condensations and three dispersions was completed in the blink of an eye.
When the third drop of fused true blood dispersed into his limbs and bones, the true essence from the first two dispersions began to resonate with it. Blood, flesh, bones, tendons, organs—every part of his body was ignited with an unprecedented surge of vitality.
All this energy converged toward the dragon spine, while the Glazed Lotus Heart Liquid continuously supplied immense pure power. The force permeated his body, restoring what had been drained dry.
Then, it was pressed again to extract even more Yin blood. This was its purpose—to aid breakthroughs in Body Refining.
The condensation of the Divine Marrow lies in the vitality of blood and Qi.
The more abundant the Qi and blood, the higher the chance of success. The Glazed Lotus Heart Liquid constantly restored his exhausted body, cycling through: restoration, depletion, restoration, depletion—again and again, an endless cycle of tempering.
After three such cycles, the restorative effect of the elixir finally reached its limit.
A deep clang echoed in his consciousness, as if a temple bell had struck in some ancient temple, carrying a profound Buddhist resonance.
Within the dragon spine, an indescribably vast ocean of Qi and blood completely filled the space. Wang Yu strained his divine sense to control it, using the “Marrow Condensation Technique” from his cultivation method to compress it.
The effect was immediate. From one-third progress, the bell sound propelled him forward at severalfold speed.
His thoughts accelerated, and he swiftly grasped one key point after another, condensing the Divine Marrow to sixty percent in a single breath. At this stage, the probability of failure was almost zero.
Wang Yu slowed his pace, refining each step to perfection, determined to emerge from this breakthrough even stronger.
The tolling bell sound was undoubtedly another benefit of the Glazed Lotus Heart Liquid. It not only tripled his overall Qi and blood but also granted him the Buddhist insight necessary for perfecting the Marrow Condensation. Such was the power of a supreme-grade breakthrough spiritual treasure. With a foundation like his, failure was nearly impossible.
Next came the long process of stabilization.
The vitality at the core of Wang Yu’s being grew ever stronger, even as his body, drained of all Qi and blood, turned desiccated and lifeless—like one entering nirvana. The mysteries of decay and rebirth unfolded in that very moment.
Destruction and renewal. Death and vitality.
Half a year later.
On this day, Long Yiran had just awakened after stabilizing her cultivation realm when she saw a naked man floating in midair. His robust physique was so perfect that it made her blush deeply.
Aside from his slightly pale complexion, he was the very image of perfection.
Above the heavens, within the secret realm, the third lightning tribulation was gathering power. The figure floating in midair was none other than Wang Yu. After six months of refinement, his Divine Marrow had formed within his spine.
At once, tricolored blood—black, gold, and blue—flowed from his dragon spine, spreading through his veins to every part of his body.
Wherever it passed, everything was infused with vitality and divine power.
A web-like structure distinct from veins and meridians spread across his body as the Divine Marrow’s blood covered him completely.
At that moment, Wang Yu had officially reached the early stage of the third level of Body Refining, needing only the final tribulation to achieve perfection.
The Divine Marrow granted him two abilities:
• Strength of the Mountain-Throwing God
• Vajra Body
The first greatly enhanced his physical power to an exaggerated level.
The second was equivalent to the indestructible Golden Core of the Core Formation stage, granting his body immense defense and a trace of immortality.
His flesh had become extraordinarily resilient, its toughness vastly increased, and its resistance to all forms of force elevated to a terrifying degree.
Moreover, Wang Yu’s divine soul could now reside within fragments of his body, achieving the wondrous state of Soul Hidden in Bone. If he were to cultivate the Soul Seizing Art, he could use a fragment of his body to seize another’s physical shell, rebirthing himself anew. His vitality and regenerative power had risen to unimaginable heights.
At that moment, the lightning tribulation descended. Feeling the Divine Marrow’s gift of the Vajra Body, Wang Yu spread his arms to welcome the baptism of lightning. This was the true might of a pure Body Refining cultivator.
Bathing in tribulation lightning was like bathing in water, further tempering his physique.
In an instant, three strikes of tribulation lightning passed. The dark clouds scattered. He needed no tribulation treasures. His body alone was the strongest defensive artifact.