62: Chapter 62 Heavenly Treasure Qi

The night was like ink splashed across the sky; the sea was no longer a gentle cradle, but a roaring beast.

Furious waves rose like mountain ranges, smashing fiercely against the reefs and exploding into a sky full of white foam. The deafening roar seemed intent on swallowing all light and sound between heaven and earth.

At the edge of this violent curtain of sea, at the bottom of a dark, somber small island, a hidden cave entrance was repeatedly washed by the waves.

A pale hand suddenly reached out from the churning seawater, its five fingers like hooks, gripping tightly onto the wet, slippery rocks at the edge of the cave entrance.

"Splash—"

Jiang Hanzhou freed his entire body from the sea, rolling and falling onto the rough ground inside the cave, slightly above the water line.

He was soaked through, his coarse cloth clothes clinging to his body, and his face showed an unnatural flush in the dim light.

As soon as he reached the shore, he didn't even have time to observe his surroundings before forcing himself to sit cross-legged. He placed his hands in a seal on his knees, eyes watching his nose, nose watching his heart, and fully activated the "Dragon Subduing and Tiger Taming Skill"!

"Ugh..."

A muffled groan escaped his throat, and his body trembled slightly. The pale golden luster of his Qi and blood flickered under his skin, as if fiercely resisting some invisible force.

On his chest, a faint, almost invisible cyan palm print phantom slowly emerged. Although it hadn't truly struck home, the residual cold, penetrating force within it was like a maggot on a rotting bone, rampaging and wreaking havoc through his Meridians and internal organs.

Bean-sized drops of sweat mixed with seawater rolled down his forehead.

He gritted his teeth, his Dantian blood pellet spinning crazily, while colorful rays of light swirled deep within his dao bone, like a furnace, fully refining the foreign force that had invaded his body.

Time passed bit by bit. Outside the cave, waves pounded the shore; inside, there was only the sound of his breathing, which gradually grew heavy before slowly calming down.

A short while later.

"Pfft—!"

Jiang Hanzhou opened his mouth abruptly, and an arrow of foul, pitch-black blood shot out, hitting the opposite rock wall with a "hissing" sound, corroding small pits into it.

As this mouthful of stagnant blood was expelled, the flush on his face quickly faded, replaced by a slightly weak paleness, but his eyes regained their clarity and sharpness.

He slowly opened his eyes and looked out at the boundless, violent darkness outside the cave, a lingering sense of fear remaining deep in his eyes.

"Dragon Elephant Realm... is this the true might of a Dragon Elephant?"

His voice was hoarse, filled with the lament of one who had survived a disaster.

"A palm strike from a distance, and the mere shockwave nearly shattered my internal organs. The cold, penetrating force was like a maggot on a rotting bone... Compared to that superficial half-step Dragon Elephant, Bai Tianxiao, it is truly a world of difference, a chasm of heaven and earth."

He lowered his head, looking at his slightly trembling hands.

These hands had once killed a half-step Dragon Elephant with a punch and slain countless Burning Viscera cultivators with a blade. Along the way, although there were occasional obstacles, he had always been able to overcome them through his exceptional Foundation and adaptability.

Unknowingly, a heart of arrogance had quietly taken root.

He felt invincible among his peers, capable of fighting across realms; with the world so vast, where could he not go?

Tonight's palm strike, however, was like a basin of icy water, dousing his arrogance born of smooth sailing and leaving him thoroughly awake.

"The heroes of the world are indeed as numerous as carp crossing the river," Jiang Hanzhou muttered to himself, the light in his eyes calming down and becoming increasingly deep and restrained. "The path of martial arts is treacherous at every step; there is always a higher mountain. Before, I underestimated the people of the world, and I underestimated the difficulty of climbing this martial path."

"In the future, I must be even more cautious, walking as if on thin ice. When my power is insufficient, I must hide when I should hide and avoid when I should avoid. In this vast world, there are countless people who could nearly take my life with a single palm."

These reflections rolled through his heart, bringing with them a calmness that had shed its impetuosity.

This setback was, perhaps, a bitter but effective medicine.

After a moment of silence, he regulated his breath. Once his Qi and blood were running smoothly again and his injuries were suppressed, Jiang Hanzhou's eyes narrowed.

"Having survived the danger, it is time to reap the rewards."

Although the "Thirteen Transformations of Heavenly Fire" was good, his injuries were not yet healed and his condition was poor; it was not the right time to comprehend such a tyrannical amplification secret technique.

The most urgent task was to use the secrecy of this place to refine the "rare treasure" he had obtained and truly enter the threshold of the "Heavenly Dipper Treasure Refining Art"!

Having made up his mind, he reached into his robe, but in reality, his consciousness was communicating with the sumeru pouch at his waist.

A faint light flashed, and a heavy object the size of a human head appeared in his palm.

It was the "profound iron essence gold" he had spent a staggering eighty-five thousand taels to win at auction.

The Ore had a dark, dull base color in the dim light, but the fine, star-like silver spots on its surface shimmered faintly. It was cold and hard to the touch, and it faintly emitted a restrained yet incomparably sharp Geng Metal Qi.

Jiang Hanzhou took a deep breath, held the profound iron essence gold with both hands in front of his chest, and slowly activated the mental formula according to the method of the first layer of the "Heavenly Dipper Treasure Refining Art", "Golden Essence Body Casting".

At first, there was nothing unusual, but when he carefully channeled a wisp of pure Qi and blood from the "Dragon Subduing and Tiger Taming Skill" along a specific route into the profound iron essence gold—

"Hum..."

The profound iron essence gold trembled slightly, and the silver spots on its surface suddenly lit up, like stars in the night sky suddenly bursting with brilliance!

A sharp, concentrated, and extremely hard Geng Metal Qi was triggered, tracing back along the Qi and blood he had channeled, and suddenly drilled into the Laogong acupoint in his palm!

"Hiss!"

Jiang Hanzhou gasped.

The feeling was like holding a red-hot branding iron, or as if countless tiny steel needles were crazily drilling along his Meridians!

The sharp pain instantly swept through his arms and spread toward his torso.

Veins throbbed on his forehead, but he gritted his teeth, steadied his mind, and fully activated the "Heavenly Dipper Treasure Refining Art".

The Cultivation Technique acted like a precise furnace and mold, guiding this violent Geng Metal Qi to circulate along specific Meridians, washing, penetrating, and finally gathering deep within the bones of his limbs and skeleton, as well as around the Dantian blood pellet.

The process was slow and painful.

Every wisp of Geng Metal Qi refined was accompanied by pain like needle pricks and burning, as well as the sore, roaring sensation of his bones and muscles being forcibly tempered.

His Qi and blood boiled throughout his body; the pale golden luster intertwined with the occasionally darting silver-white sharp light, and his skin sometimes took on a metallic sheen before returning to normal.

In the cave, there was no sun or moon, only the ebb and flow of the Tide to mark the time.

A day passed, and the profound iron essence gold shrank by a circle, its surface starlight dimming slightly.

Two days passed, and on Jiang Hanzhou's exposed skin, extremely faint, fine golden patterns began to appear, appearing and disappearing, as if they were natural golden veins.

Three days and three nights of sleepless, agonizing Cultivate.

At the darkest moment before dawn on the third day, the sound of the waves outside the cave seemed to pause for an instant.

The profound iron essence gold in Jiang Hanzhou's hand, originally the size of a human head, had been mostly consumed, leaving only a fist-sized piece. Its starlight had completely dimmed, turning it into a slightly grey, ordinary piece of metal.

And at this very moment—

He suddenly opened his tightly closed eyes!

A golden light flashed in his eyes and vanished, immediately returning to their deep, profound state.

At the same time, his entire skin was instantly plated with a soft golden hue, as if cast from refined gold, before quickly retracting and fading, returning to its normal color.

An indescribable sense of sharpness emanated from deep within his body.

"It's done!"

Jiang Hanzhou slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air; this breath actually carried a faint metallic tremor.

He opened his palm, looking at his skin which had returned to normal, a glow of heartfelt joy erupting in his eyes.

"The 'Heavenly Dipper Treasure Refining Art', the first layer, 'Golden Essence Body Casting', has finally entered the threshold!"

Ever since his "Late Bloomer" fate advanced to the fourth rank, and his Comprehension Ability and Foundation greatly increased, his Cultivate of all kinds of martial arts had been as smooth as drinking water. When had he ever had a Cultivation Technique that required him to spend so long and endure so much pain just to barely enter the threshold?

The difficulty and miraculousness of this "Heavenly Dipper Treasure Refining Art" were evident.

Putting the remaining small piece of the now greatly devalued profound iron essence gold back into the sumeru pouch, Jiang Hanzhou sank his consciousness into his body.

In his Dantian, the goose-egg-sized dark golden blood pellet was still slowly rotating, but around the blood pellet, there was now a wisp of Qi flow as thin as a hair yet incomparably solid, shimmering with a faint platinum luster.

Like a living dragon, it slowly circled the blood pellet, emitting an incomparably sharp aura capable of destroying anything and piercing anything. Yet, it faintly echoed with the blood pellet's majestic Qi and blood and the dao bone's colorful rays of light, not conflicting with them, but rather having a sense of mutual reinforcement.

"Heavenly Dipper Precious Qi!"

Although it was only a single wisp, it marked the true entry into the "Heavenly Dipper Treasure Refining Art" and opened a door for him to a stronger Physical Body and offensive means.

"With this wisp of Precious Qi as a guide, in the future, when I find other rare treasures, the Cultivate speed will be much faster, and the power can be gradually stacked." Jiang Hanzhou felt satisfied in his heart.

His injuries had been repeatedly washed by his Qi and blood and the Geng Metal Qi during the Cultivate process, and they were already seven or eight parts healed.

With his condition recovered, his mind became active again.

He cast his gaze toward the still-deep seawater outside the cave, and a thought leaped out.

"The 'Thirteen Transformations of Heavenly Fire', amplification and burst, stacking force, rigid and fierce—it needs extreme pressure and contrast to temper and comprehend..."

"Water and fire clashing, Yin and Yang colliding—perhaps this is the perfect environment to comprehend this technique!"

Thinking it, he did it, without any delay.

Jiang Hanzhou rose to his full height, stretched his muscles and bones, and a light sound like gold and jade clashing came from his entire body.

He walked a few steps to the cave entrance, looking at the deep, churning seawater below, his eyes calm with a sharp, eager edge.

The next moment, he leaped.

"Splash!"

His figure was like a fish, falling straight into the cold seawater. He did not float up, but activated the "Turtle Breathing Technique", concealing his entire aura, and continued to sink toward the darkness of the deep sea.

The pressure gradually increased, the light disappeared, and it was bone-chillingly cold.

And Jiang Hanzhou was about to use his body as a furnace and the water as an anvil in this deep-sea forbidden realm, tempering a brilliance that could burn the heavens and boil the seas!