Chapter 239: The Matter of Pill Condensation

Chapter 239: The Matter of Pill Condensation

{Nine Transformations Body Refining Art, Volume One, Undying Golden Body (5010/10000)}

A proficiency of 10 points.

Though not a high score, it was still enough to fill Chu Ning with joy. After all, the palm bone had only fused with an extremely small, barely perceptible portion of the Golden Body.

If he could fuse a little bit every day and continue to increase his proficiency at this rate, he wouldn't need two years to cultivate the Undying Golden Body to perfection.

As for the quantity of Jade Bones, Chu Ning wasn't worried at all. After all, he had three pieces in his possession, and the one he was working with now was the smallest of them.

"Previously, I had an abundance of pills for refining qi and refining the spirit, but nothing to promote body refinement. Now, I can make progress in all three aspects simultaneously."

Chu Ning smiled faintly as he carefully put away the remaining two Jade Bones.

Although he had felt a momentary surge of impulse to fuse those two Jade Bones into his body as well, to see if the speed of refinement would increase with three bones being refined at once, he quickly discarded the thought.

The immense life energy contained within this Jade Bone had already surprised him greatly, and he wasn't sure what would happen if he tried to refine three bones at the same time.

Having reached the limit of his progress with the Jade Bone for now, Chu Ning turned his attention back to the few items in front of him. He reached out and picked up the pill marked as Dragon Blood Tempering Body Pill, pouring one out.

"After nearly three millennia, these pills should have lost their efficacy long ago. But protected by the Cloud Sea Seven Stars Array and some minor restrictions within, most of the pill's effects have been preserved. This Nine Floret Sect really has its unique tricks."

As he muttered to himself, Chu Ning carefully examined the dark red pill before him. In recent years, he had delved deeply into the art of pill refining, and while he had never come across this particular pill before, he could still make some educated guesses about it.

A surprised look appeared on his face.

"Indeed, it's a body-refining pill, and a high-grade middle-tier one at that. Its effectiveness in tempering the body seems quite remarkable."

This discovery left Chu Ning somewhat astonished. After all, even in the Nine Floret Sect, a sect renowned for its pill-refining techniques, he hadn't come across such a high-grade body-refining pill. The Black Dragon Saliva Pill he had made himself was only a mid-high-grade pill, barely reaching the level of a high-grade pill after he refined it with his spiritual sense.

"I wonder which sect created this pill? With such a high-grade body-refining pill, there should be someone specializing in the path of body refinement."

Chu Ning mused, his eyes narrowing slightly. He didn't have the subsequent volumes of the Nine Transformations Body Refining Art, so if there was a sect with monks specializing in body refinement, he might be able to obtain some clues about the art. He still had the map of the Nine Transformations Spirit Mountain in his possession, and he guessed that it might be the cave abode of the Nine Transformations Elder who had created the art.

However, he had looked at the map countless times before, and aside from a name, the rest of the map was unviewable.

At this moment, Chu Ning took out another jade box, one of the three he had obtained from the Thunderfire Sect's ruins. He took out the map of the Nine Transformations Spirit Mountain once more and tried to examine it with his spiritual sense, spiritual power, and even by running the Nine Transformations Body Refining Art. But once again, he shook his head; with his current cultivation, he still couldn't view the map.

"I'll take another look at these items after the sect has finished sorting through them," Chu Ning decided. Since the first volume of the Nine Transformations Body Refining Art was circulating outside, there was a chance that the subsequent volumes might exist as well.

At this point, Chu Ning's spiritual sense casually swept over the other two jade boxes in his storage bag. Then, he took out one of them.

One of these jade boxes contained a feather from the Fiery Sun Spirit Bird. Chu Ning had experienced its might before, and he knew that even with his improved cultivation, he still wasn't capable of handling it. So, he didn't bother taking it out.

The other jade box, however, was the one he had obtained from the cave abode of the Divine Dream Elder. In the Ancient Reincarnation Cave, Chu Ning had acquired the Divine Dream Elder's legacy—the Reincarnation Law Plate and the complete Spirit Refining Art—as well as an unopenable jade box.

Back then, Chu Ning's spiritual sense hadn't been as strong as it was now, and he had forgotten about the box after putting it in his storage bag. But now, with his strengthened spiritual sense, he took out the jade box and directed the spiritual sense cultivated through the Spirit Refining Art toward it.

With his vastly improved spiritual sense, he indeed noticed something different.

"So there was a restriction on this jade box, and my spiritual sense wasn't strong enough to detect it before," Chu Ning murmured, a smile playing on his lips. He had mastered the restriction-breaking method left behind by the Divine Dream Elder, so this kind of restriction was nothing to him now.

Thus, Chu Ning immediately formed a spiritual seal with his spiritual sense and imprinted it onto the restriction on the jade box. After repeating this process several times, the jade box flashed with white light, indicating that the restriction had been broken.

Chu Ning easily opened the jade box.

He paused for a moment, surprised by what he saw inside. There was a black, key-like object within, along with a jade slip.

Chu Ning curiously picked up the black key; it felt icy cold to the touch, and he couldn't identify the material it was made from. It didn't seem like metal or black jade; it was quite peculiar.

He instinctively probed it with his spiritual sense and spiritual power but couldn't detect anything unusual.

Chu Ning's gaze then fell on the jade slip beside the key.

There was nothing special about the jade slip; it was just a regular recording medium.

"Shen Meng Shangren actually wasn't from the East Sacred Continent but from the Northern Chuan Kingdom. That kingdom lies north of the East Sacred Continent and the Western Alliance Continent, and it's still tens of thousands of miles away even after crossing the Celestial Prairie."

Chu Ning muttered softly to himself.

If this was the only piece of news, Chu Ning would have merely found it surprising.

However, the other information recorded on Shen Meng Shangren's jade slip filled him with conflicting emotions—both excitement and resentment.

According to Shen Meng Shangren, he originally came from a major sect in the Northern Chuan Kingdom.

He was already a Nascent Soul cultivator when he accidentally arrived on the East Sacred Continent, and due to severe injuries, he was unable to return.

Thus, he became a wandering cultivator on the East Sacred Continent and established his own cave abode.

In the jade slip, this Nascent Soul cultivator from thousands of years ago requested that whoever obtained his legacy should help return the key to the Northern Chuan Kingdom.

In addition to the Reincarnation Law Plate and the Spirit Refining Art as compensation, the cultivator also promised numerous other benefits in the jade slip.

First, according to the jade slip, the Spirit Refining Art was derived from an ultimate secret art of his sect.

However, that secret art was extremely difficult to cultivate, so Shen Meng Shangren created the Spirit Refining Art as an introductory cultivation method.

As long as the key was brought back to the sect, one could request to observe the cultivation of that ultimate secret art.

Chu Ning was astounded by this revelation.

He had thought that the Spirit Refining Art was already challenging enough, but he never expected it to be merely an introductory cultivation method.

To prove that his sect indeed possessed great abilities, Shen Meng Shangren also recorded a secret art in the jade slip.

"Spirit Root Cultivation Technique!"

Chu Ning was left stunned as he read this part.

According to Shen Meng Shangren's jade slip, spirit roots could be cultivated and nurtured postnatally.

Not only would these cultivated spirit roots be no different from innate spirit roots in cultivation, but their quality could even rival heaven-grade and earth-grade spirit roots if successful.

"Cultivate posterior spirit roots by absorbing the spiritual essence of the Five Elemental Spirit Seeds!"

Chu Ning was dumbfounded as he read about this method.

This secret art was something he had never heard of, neither in the East Sacred Continent nor in the Nine Floret Sect.

"Refine the spiritual essence of corresponding Spirit Seeds to condense a spirit root of the same attribute."

Chu Ning's eyes flickered as he recalled his previous refinement of the Wood Spirit Seed's spiritual essence.

However, since he already had a Wood spirit root, and he had already refined that spiritual essence, he couldn't use it to condense another spirit root.

He did have three Jade Bones in his possession, though.

Just as this thought flashed through his mind, Chu Ning shook his head.

While he felt that the Jade Bones were similar to spiritual essence, he didn't have absolute certainty about their nature.

Moreover, Shen Meng Shangren only provided a method for cultivating the Five Elemental spirit roots.

And it was clear that the essence within the Jade Bones didn't belong to any of the Five Elements.

Naturally, Chu Ning wouldn't dare to take such a risk.

After returning the jade slip and the black key to the jade box, Chu Ning sighed softly.

Well, the information left by Shen Meng Shangren on the jade slip was indeed attractive to a certain extent.

However, it wasn't attractive enough for now.

And the Spirit Root Cultivation Technique seemed a bit pointless for Chu Ning at this moment.

So, naturally, he wouldn't go to the Northern Chuan Kingdom just for this.

It would be better to cultivate peacefully in the Nine Floret Sect.

Chu Ning put the jade box back into his storage bag.

At this moment, Chu Ning turned his attention to the most important goal of this trip—the Five Elements Chaos Technique.

Chu Ning immersed his spiritual sense into the unique cultivation technique jade slip, which the Nine Floret Sect's Nascent Soul cultivator, Shen Bai, had called a heavenly-level technique.

He spent two whole days reading through the jade slip, absorbing all the information it contained.

Holding the jade slip in his hand, Chu Ning couldn't help but marvel, "Profound and intricate! It truly lives up to its origin as a technique derived from an immortal-level manual.

Senior Shen's description of it as a heavenly-level technique is not an exaggeration!"

Chu Ning had previously browsed through the two heavenly-level, low-grade techniques in the Nine Floret Sect.

Although he hadn't cultivated them, he was familiar with their general content.

And now, after reading the Five Elements Chaos Technique, he found that its profundity far surpassed those two techniques.

"The only reason this technique is classified as heavenly-level is because it's too difficult for ordinary pseudo-spirit root cultivators to cultivate!"

Chu Ning mused, deep in thought.

Although the founder of the Five Elements Chaos Technique had tried to simplify the cultivation process, cultivating multiple spirit roots and handling multiple attributes of spiritual energy was never easy.

For normal pseudo-spirit roots, or even triple-attribute spirit roots, it would take an unimaginable amount of time to reach the Foundation Establishment stage through this technique, let alone the Golden Core or Nascent Soul stages.

Senior Shen Bai of the Nine Floret Sect had only started cultivating this technique after reaching the Foundation Establishment stage.

It seemed that he must have encountered an incredible opportunity later on to reach the Nascent Soul stage.

The biggest challenge of the Five Elements Chaos Technique was the enormous amount of spiritual energy required for cultivation.

Perhaps influenced by the immortal-level manual, the Five Elements Chaos Technique could improve a cultivator's spirit root quality during the cultivation process.

Having multiple spirit roots already slowed down spiritual energy absorption, and now, some of that energy had to be used to improve spirit root quality.

This was especially true during the Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment stages, when pseudo-spirit root cultivators absorbed spiritual energy at a slower rate.

Naturally, this wasn't a problem for Chu Ning.

Although his spirit roots were lacking, he had spirit bodies! The absorption speed of his Yin Wood Spirit Body and Wu Fire Spirit Body was extremely fast.

Not to mention that with his current pill-refining skills, creating pills suitable for his cultivation would only require some time for research.

However, to avoid the hassle of retrieving it later if he ever needed to cultivate it, Chu Ning decided to keep a copy for himself.

Three days later, Chu Ning set out for the Collection Pavilion, carrying the jade slip containing the Five Elements Chaos Technique. He had received news from Liu Zhaolin that the items brought back by the group, including the sect's legacy and various items from other sects, had been sorted and organized.

Upon entering the Collection Pavilion, Chu Ning was greeted by Xie Sanshui, whom he had met before.

Seeing Chu Ning, Xie Sanshui immediately stood up to welcome him, saying, "Brother Chu, Master is on the second floor. He has instructed that you may go directly to the second floor to find him. Oh, and Master Ling is also there."

"Oh, Master Ling is also there?" Chu Ning was slightly surprised and went straight to the second floor.

Indeed, Liu Zhaolin and Ling Cang were there together, apparently sorting through some pill-refining techniques.

Chu Ning walked up to them and greeted them before taking out the bottle of Dragon Blood Tempering Body Pills.

"Senior Liu, Senior Ling, do you happen to know which sect this Dragon Blood Tempering Body Pill comes from, now that you've finished sorting through the items?" Chu Ning asked.

"Dragon Blood Tempering Body Pill?" Liu Zhaolin took a look and immediately retrieved a jade slip from a shelf behind him, handing it to Chu Ning. "If I'm not mistaken, this should be the pill formula you're looking for."

Chu Ning took it and eagerly examined it with his spiritual sense. After a quick inspection, he confirmed that it was indeed the formula he sought.

He immediately withdrew his spiritual sense and asked Liu Zhaolin, "Senior Liu, do you know which sect this pill formula is from?"

"It should be from the Sky Eagle Sect," Ling Cang replied this time.

"The Sky Eagle Sect wasn't very big back then, but it had a modest reputation in the Double Cloud Alliance for its expertise in body refinement. This Dragon Blood Tempering Body Pill is likely one of their legacy techniques," Ling Cang explained.

Hearing this, Chu Ning quickly inquired further, "Then, among the numerous cultivation techniques brought back, are there any from the Sky Eagle Sect?"

Liu Zhaolin nodded. "There are a few, and I've organized them in the Technique Collection Room on the third floor. You can take a look if you like."

As he spoke, Liu Zhaolin looked at Chu Ning with a hint of surprise. "Nephew Chu, are you also cultivating body refinement techniques?"

Chu Ning thought for a moment before answering, "I practiced the Nine Transformations Body Refining Art for a while, but I haven't come across the subsequent cultivation techniques. So, when I saw these body-refining pills and techniques, I became curious and wanted to take a look."

After all, the Nine Transformations Body Refining Art wasn't a secret technique in the cultivation world.

Moreover, Chu Ning didn't mention his progress in cultivation, so he wasn't worried about these two Golden Core cultivators knowing about it.

Of course, the most important reason was that Chu Ning wanted to inquire about the subsequent techniques from these knowledgeable Golden Core cultivators.

"Nine Transformations Body Refining Art?"

Upon hearing Chu Ning's words, Liu Zhaolin exclaimed in surprise, "The Nine Transformations Body Refining Art, known as the number one body-refining technique in the cultivation world? You're cultivating that art?"

Ling Cang also frowned as he said, "I've heard of this technique as well. It's said that the secret arts within it possess tremendous power. However, most of them have been lost, and it's extremely difficult to cultivate. Nephew Chu, although you have exceptional talent, body-refining techniques are not easy to cultivate. Choosing to practice this art may be a waste of your time."

Chu Ning smiled and replied, "I don't make this art my primary cultivation method. I merely practiced it for a while to strengthen my physique. Since we happened to come across some body-refining pills and techniques this time, I became curious and wanted to take a look."

Only then did Ling Cang nod in agreement. "That's a reasonable approach. Strengthening one's physique and consolidating one's foundation are indeed beneficial to cultivators. Especially for those with robust bodies, their chances of successfully forming a Golden Core are higher as their bodies can withstand the impact during the process. Many cultivators intentionally practice body-refining techniques during the late stages of the Foundation Establishment realm in preparation for this."

Ling Cang paused, then asked with a curious expression, "Did you come looking for body-refining techniques to prepare for your Golden Core formation, Nephew Chu?"

This was the first time Chu Ning had heard about the process of forming a Golden Core, and he couldn't help but stop in his tracks, surprised.

He looked at Ling Cang in astonishment and asked, "Senior Ling, does the Golden Core formation process create an impact on the body?"

Ling Cang nodded and smiled. "It seems you haven't learned much about Golden Core formation yet. As the name suggests, forming a Golden Core involves condensing one's spiritual power into a Golden Core. During this process, not only the spiritual power in the dantian but also the spiritual sense in the sea of consciousness and the cultivator's body will be subjected to the impact of the forced condensation of the Golden Core. The higher the level of spiritual power, the greater the impact."

Ling Cang paused, then added meaningfully as he glanced at Chu Ning, "From what I've seen of your performance in battles, your spiritual power must be quite profound. Now that you've just entered the late stage of the Foundation Establishment realm, your spiritual power will only grow stronger. This means the impact during Golden Core formation will be significant, so it's best to prepare in advance."

"Every few years, we hear of cultivators who perish from the impact of failed Golden Core formation," Ling Cang said gravely.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end