308: Chapter 302 Body Refining Method Golden Pill

"These two pieces of Ore are a free gift."

"Just consider it... making a friend."

Making a friend?

Chen Zhiwen sneered internally.

Using a treasure worth over ten thousand Mid-Grade Spirit Stones to make a friend?

This gesture was simply too grand.

"You and I are mere acquaintances, Fellow Daoist. This generous gift is something Chen cannot accept with a clear conscience."

Chen Zhiwen said in a deep voice, not relaxing his vigilance despite receiving the benefit.

Zhang Xing seemed to see through his doubts and stopped playing coy.

He put away his cynical smile, and his expression became slightly more serious.

"Fellow Daoist Chen, there is no need to overthink this."

He said slowly, his voice carrying a hint of profound meaning that others would find hard to understand.

"I, Zhang, come from the Zhang Family."

When the words "Zhang Family" were spoken, a flash of indescribable, complex emotion flickered in Zhang Xing's eyes.

There was pride, and also... a hint of fatigue.

"I observe that Fellow Daoist Chen's swordsmanship is divine, and his Divine Sense far exceeds that of his peers; you are certainly destined for greatness."

"In the future, you will surely be a figure capable of stirring up the winds and clouds of the Eastern Continent."

"Therefore, I am merely building a good relationship in advance."

"Today I gift you the jade marrow; perhaps one day in the future, if my Zhang Family encounters trouble, I can count on Fellow Daoist Chen to help out, remembering today's gesture."

These words were half-true and half-false.

But Chen Zhiwen caught some key information from them.

The Zhang Family, that ancient Cultivator Family renowned in the Eastern Continent for their Divine Soul secret arts and concealment techniques.

It is said that their Family foundation is profound, not even inferior to some top Sects.

They have always been low-key and mysterious, rarely moving about in the outside world.

No wonder this person's concealment technique was so bizarre.

No wonder he could silently deceive both himself and Ren Quanxu.

Chen Zhiwen's thoughts surged.

A complete logical chain quickly formed in his mind.

This Zhang Xing was likely not just an ordinary descendant of the Zhang Family.

Look at those unfathomable means of his.

It is very possible that he is the current head of the Zhang Family, or one of the most core Elders.

For a helmsman of a Cultivator Family to possess top-tier concealment Divine Abilities and Divine Soul secret arts is not surprising.

And everything he did today...

From the deliberate appearance at the beginning, to the frank admission later, and finally the gifting of a heavy present.

It was likely all a carefully planned "investment."

"Fellow Daoist Chen, the connection has been made, so I will not linger."

"We shall meet again."

As the words fell.

Zhang Xing's figure suddenly became blurry.

He seemed to melt into the wind, becoming a part of the light and shadow, and instantly disappeared from where he stood.

There was no intense fluctuation of Qi.

No tearing of space.

He just disappeared, as naturally as that.

Chen Zhiwen swept with his Divine Sense, but he couldn't even capture a trace.

"What a terrifying escape technique..."

Chen Zhiwen couldn't help but sigh.

These long-famous Nascent Soul Old Monsters were indeed None of them simple.

One Ren Quanxu, whose Formation skills were divine, thoughtful and meticulous, planning every step.

One Zhang Xing, whose concealment was peerless, generous with his gifts, with deep ulterior motives.

Every one of them was hiding their true depths.

Each one was like an iceberg; what was exposed above the water was always just an insignificant corner.

Compared to them, his own cultivation and schemes seemed a bit immature.

Chen Zhiwen stood in place, his thoughts running wild.

He looked down at his palm; the cold touch of holding the sword seemed to still linger there.

A strange sense of emotion welled up in his heart.

"However..."

Suddenly.

The corners of Chen Zhiwen's mouth curled into an extremely confident, perhaps even arrogant, smile.

He raised his head and looked toward the endless firmament.

In his eyes, there was no longer any confusion or wariness.

Replacing it was a powerful conviction of controlling everything.

"You are indeed hiding your depths."

"But in this world..."

"The one hiding the deepest is I, Chen Zhiwen!"

No matter how impressive these Nascent Soul Old Monsters were, Chen Zhiwen had absolute certainty that he could slay them.

High in the sky, the gale howled.

Chen Zhiwen transformed into a streak of light, shuttling between the sea of clouds.

His speed was not fast; he seemed to be deliberately suppressing his escape light.

In his mind, the figure of Zhang Xing, dressed in white robes with murky yet shrewd eyes, could not be shaken off.

"What exactly did this person see?"

Chen Zhiwen frowned, muttering to himself.

His gaze was somewhat unfocused, watching the mountains and rivers rushing by below, but his heart was in turmoil.

The feeling of being watched made him extremely uncomfortable.

Zhang Xing's final meaningful look was like a sharp blade, attempting to slice open his skin and see the Soul inside.

He guessed that Zhang Xing might have noticed some anomaly in him.

Could it be that he discovered some clue?

A thought that made his heart stop suddenly popped up—System!

Chen Zhiwen's pupils instantly contracted to pinpricks, and his breathing paused for half a beat at this moment.

If the System were exposed, not to mention this small Eastern Continent, the entire Cultivation World, and even the True Immortals of the Upper Realm, would go crazy for it.

He would surely die, but the next second.

Chen Zhiwen shook his head vigorously, a self-deprecating bitter smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

"I really am being a bit overly paranoid."

He let out a long breath, forcibly calming his agitated heartbeat.

This System was miraculous and extraordinary, its Origin untraceable.

It resided deep in his Soul, integrated with his life Origin.

Its level was so high that it had long exceeded the scope of common sense.

Even if an Immortal were to descend into this world and use their Immortal Dharma Eye, they might not be able to detect its trace.

A mere Nascent Soul Stage Zhang Xing, even if he came from the mysterious Zhang Family, even if he possessed bizarre Divine Soul secret arts, it was absolutely impossible for him to see through the existence of the System.

"Since it wasn't for the System, then what was it for?"

Having ruled out the biggest hidden danger, Chen Zhiwen's thinking began to return to rationality.

He carefully savored every word and action of Zhang Xing.

From the probing deliberate appearance, to the generosity of gifting the ice marrow jade stones, to that final statement about "building a good relationship."

"Heaven-grade mutated Wind Spiritual Root..."

Chen Zhiwen muttered to himself, a sharp light flashing in his eyes.

This was the most core piece of information he had subsequently collected about Zhang Xing.

This kind of Spiritual Root is one in ten thousand.

It is the darling of Heaven.

A Cultivator with this kind of Spiritual Root, as long as they do not fall halfway, can be forcefully piled up to the Soul Transformation Stage even if it's just by using resources.

Within the Zhang Family, Zhang Xing can be said to be the future guardian god of the Family.

"It seems he has taken a fancy to the potential of this body of mine, or perhaps... the means I have displayed."

Chen Zhiwen had a calculation in his heart.

A mighty figure who would most likely advance to Soul Transformation in the future was taking the initiative to show goodwill toward him.

The benefits of this are self-evident.

Being on good terms with such a figure definitely has no downsides.

At least in this land of the Eastern Continent, having one more such friend means one more path.

However.

The look of vigilance in Chen Zhiwen's eyes never faded in the slightest.

"One must always be on guard against others."

He snorted coldly, sealing the two ice marrow jade stones separately in his storage ring, and added several layers of Restrictions.

Before fully understanding the other party's true intentions and confirming whether the other party was truly harmless to him.

He would always maintain full vigilance.

In this Cultivation World, there are too many people with knives hidden in their smiles.

Who knows what fangs are hidden behind that seemingly gentle jade?

Pondering without result, Chen Zhiwen stopped struggling with it.

He gathered his focus and threw all distracting thoughts to the back of his mind.

Improving strength is the only hard truth.

Only if he is strong enough can he calmly deal with either good or bad karma.

His escape light suddenly accelerated, like a meteor, streaking across the sky and galloping towards the distant wilderness.

...

Time passed, like a white horse passing a crevice.

In the blink of an eye, a month had passed.

This was a desolate mountain area rarely visited by humans.

Within a hundred miles, there were no Mortal villages, and even traces of Yao Beasts were extremely rare.

There were only bare rocks and a few withered pines growing stubbornly in the crevices of the stones.

"Rumble—!!!"

Suddenly.

A heaven-shaking roar broke the deathly silence of this world.

It was as if an ancient giant beast was roaring deep within the earth.

Following that.

Dust and smoke rose into the sky, obscuring the scorching sun.

An isolated peak, seventy or eighty zhang high, towering and steep, suddenly collapsed from the mountainside without any fluctuation of Magic power.

That was destruction caused by pure physical force.

Countless tons of rock lost their support and, carrying heaven-destroying kinetic energy, smashed wildly in all directions.

"Clatter—"

The sound of rolling gravel converged into thunder.

In mid-air.

Countless fine stones, due to the huge impact, actually formed a terrifying vortex.

Even the surrounding space seemed unable to withstand this force, faintly showing signs of distortion and tearing.

And in the center of this mountain collapse.

In this chaos of sky-filling dust and stones flying through the air.

A figure in white robes seemed particularly eye-catching and discordant.

Chen Zhiwen.

He walked with his hands behind his back, strolling leisurely among the collapsing mountain body.

His white robes were spotless, and his long hair danced lightly in the wind.

Facing the giant boulders that could smash an ordinary person into meat paste, there was not a hint of panic on his face; there was even a faint smile.

"Whoosh—"

A fierce wind struck.

The sunlight above his head suddenly disappeared.

A mountain fragment the size of a palace, weighing ten million jin, came smashing down toward his head with a whistling wind.

The terrifying pressure was enough to make a Golden Core Cultivator feel suffocated.

If this were before, Chen Zhiwen would definitely have used an escape technique to avoid it, or brought out a Magic Treasure to shatter it.

But at this moment.

He did not dodge or avoid.

He didn't even lift his head.

"Well come."

Chen Zhiwen chuckled, his voice calm as water.

Just at the moment when the huge shadow was about to swallow him completely.

A strange luster suddenly appeared on the surface of his skin.

It was a warm silver light.

It was not blinding, but gave people a feeling of indestructible heaviness.

As the light flowed, it was as if his body had been plated with a layer of divine gold armor.

"Boom!!!"

The loud noise was deafening.

The ten-million-jin boulder slammed heavily onto that seemingly thin body.

Time seemed to stand still at this moment.

Following that.

A jaw-dropping scene happened.

Chen Zhiwen's body did not move a hair, and even his footsteps did not falter by even an inch.

Looking at that huge mountain fragment.

The moment it made contact with that layer of warm silver light, it was like an egg hitting a stone.

Countless cracks instantly covered the entire surface of the rock.

"Crack—"

Then, it completely disintegrated.

The ten-million-jin boulder burst open above his head, turning into a sky-filling rain of gravel and sand, clattering all over the ground.

Chen Zhiwen gently brushed off the non-existent dust from his shoulder.

He stopped, looking at the mess all over the ground, his eyes full of irrepressible excitement.

He clenched his fist, feeling the seemingly endless explosive power within his body.

"Golden Core Body Cultivator, collapsing mountains and splitting seas with bare hands."

Chen Zhiwen took a deep breath, his tone carrying a hint of admiration.

"The ancients did not deceive me."

"This feeling of flesh hitting flesh, breaking all Spells with force, is indeed well-deserved."

More than half a month ago.

After parting with Ren Quanxu and encountering Zhang Xing.

Chen Zhiwen deeply felt the insufficiency of his own Physical Body strength.

Especially when facing those top Nascent Soul Cultivators who specialized in a certain field, pure Spell Cultivator means always made him feel a bit restricted.

Therefore.

He made a bold decision.

He found a hidden Immortal Cave and sacrificed those two incomparably precious Tier 4 ice marrow jade stones directly to the System.

Exchanging them for a large amount of strengthening points.

Following that.

He took out a pile of high-tier Body Refining secret medicines he had treasured for a long time.

Inside, there were Dragon Blood Grass, Tiger Bone Paste, and various Heaven And Earth Treasures whose names he couldn't name.

With the assistance of the System, he swallowed all these medicinal powers, forcibly scouring his Physical Body.

That process was incomparably painful.

It was as if countless small knives were scraping his bones, and raging fire was burning his Meridians.

But he gritted his teeth and persisted.

Finally.

Just a moment ago, his Body Refining Realm completed a qualitative leap.

From the Physical Body of the Foundation Establishment Stage Great Perfection, he leaped to become a "Golden Core Body" comparable to a Golden Core Stage Cultivator.

If other Cultivators were present at this time, they would definitely be shocked to the point of dropping their jaws.

According to common sense.

For a Body Cultivator to break through a Realm, especially the leap from Foundation Establishment to Golden Core, it would inevitably trigger heaven and earth anomalies.

Rolling Heavenly Thunder, clouds of tribulation pressing down.

That is the test of the Heavenly Dao for those who defy the heavens to change their fate, and it is also the final tempering of the Physical Body.

But when Chen Zhiwen was breaking through.

The sky was cloudless for ten thousand miles, and the wind was calm and the waves were still.

Let alone Heavenly Thunder, there wasn't even a whisper of it.

But this was not because he was not strong enough, but because of an iron rule of the Cultivation World.

Chen Zhiwen was very clear about the reason for this.

He mainly cultivated the orthodox Spell Cultivator Cultivation Technique of the Mysterious Sect, walking the path of refining Qi to transform the Spirit.

Within his Dao foundation, Spell Cultivation is the root, the trunk of that towering tree.

And Body Refining, for him, is just a side path.

Just like he also knows how to craft Puppets, and also knows Alchemy and talisman drawing.

This is just one of his many auxiliary means, a branch extending from that big tree.

No matter how thick this branch grows, it is ultimately not the trunk.

Only those who abandon Spells from the beginning, specialize in Body Refining, and regard the body as the only Magic Treasure, the main Body Cultivators.

Will be judged as "True Body Cultivator" by the rules of this world.

Thereby triggering the Heavenly Thunder Tribulation to baptize the Physical Body.