48: Chapter 48 Progress in Body Training

Deep autumn's last thunderstorm arrived suddenly at midnight.

Lin Xuan stood in the center of the valley, wearing only a pair of rough cloth shorts, his naked upper body showing well-defined muscle lines. He looked up at the sky; in the rolling dark clouds, electric snakes darted, and the dull rumble of thunder rolled in from afar.

This was the thirtieth day of Cultivate the "Thunder Body Refining Technique".

The first layer, "Skin and Flesh Tempering," was nearing Perfection—ordinary swords left only white marks, and wooden sticks hitting him felt like scratching an itch. However, the second layer, "Tendon and Bone Tempering," was stuck at a Bottleneck, and progress was as slow as a snail.

"Thunder Body Tempering... since the Cultivation Technique is named "Thunder Body Refining Technique," why not borrow the power of true thunder?"

This thought had sprouted in Lin Xuan's heart three days ago.

He had consulted all the Body Refining classics he could access, and in a tattered "Body Cultivator Miscellany," he saw a sentence: "External thunder to temper the body is extremely dangerous, but the effect is twice as fast."

Danger, he was long used to it.

The rain quickly soaked his whole body, cold and piercing. Lin Xuan activated his Cultivation Technique, Thunder Spiritual Energy surged through his Meridians, and a pale purple faint light emerged on his skin.

With a thought, he communicated with the thunder-attracting vine inside the Spirit-Taming Tower Space.

"Come, help me share some of it."

The thunder-attracting vine seemed to understand his intention; its fifteen deep purple leaves trembled in unison, and the pale golden bud at the tip shone even brighter.

A peculiar suction force passed through the space, creating a subtle resonance with the external thunderclouds.

"Boom—!"

A blinding flash of lightning tore through the night sky and struck straight down!

Just as the lightning was about to touch the top of Lin Xuan's head, the suction of the thunder-attracting vine activated.

Most of the violent thunder energy was absorbed and filtered by the space, leaving only about a small fraction of its power, which turned into a dozen hair-thin purple electric rays that landed on Lin Xuan's shoulders, back, chest, and abdomen.

"Urgh—!"

Lin Xuan groaned, his whole body shaking violently.

That was not ordinary pain, but a torture as if thousands of red-hot steel needles were piercing into his bones and drilling into his bone marrow simultaneously.

Where the electric rays passed, his skin instantly charred black, the flesh curled, and a burnt smell wafted out.

But he gritted his teeth and held on.

The Foundation laid by the "Purple Heaven Divine Thunder Art" manifested at this moment—his Meridians were far tougher than those of Cultivators at the same level, and his tolerance for thunder was extraordinary.

He forced himself to maintain the cultivation posture, guiding that weak yet pure thunder power to wash over his tendons and bones again and again, following the path of the "Thunder Body Refining Technique."

His bones made a "clacking" sound, as if they were being reorganized.

His muscle fibers tore and were reborn, and each Rebirth made them tougher.

Rain mixed with blood flowed down his body, forming a pale red stream at his feet.

Lin Xuan's consciousness gradually blurred in the intense pain, with only the word "persist" burning in his mind like a lighthouse.

One hour, two hours...

When the sky turned white, the thunderstorm gradually ceased.

Lin Xuan collapsed on the gravel beach by the stream, his body charred black, skin torn in many places, his breathing weak.

He barely managed to take out a "Rejuvenation Powder" from his Storage Pouch and tremblingly poured it into his mouth.

The cool medicinal power dissolved and began to repair the damage.

Three days later.

Lin Xuan stood in the front of the pile of bluestones in the courtyard, moving his newly healed arm. The new skin was slightly tender, but the touch was tough.

He took a deep breath, clenched his right fist, and without using any Spiritual Qi, punched out with pure physical strength!

"Bang!"

The basin-sized bluestone shattered at the sound, and gravel scattered everywhere.

Lin Xuan withdrew his fist; his knuckles were slightly red, but not even the skin was broken.

"Tendon and bone strength has increased by at least half a percent." He estimated, "If I Cultivate normally, this half percent would require two months of hard work."

The price was full-body burns and being unable to move for three days.

It was worth it.

Just as he was about to return to the Quiet Room to continue consolidating, a small mound of dirt suddenly arched up on the ground at his feet.

The Pangolin poked half its head out from underground, with dark golden thunder patterns flowing on its scales.

It looked up at Lin Xuan, conveying a clear and urgent emotion through the contract—

It wanted to go to the back mountain.

This was not the first time. For the past half month, whenever Lin Xuan took it to move around Emerald Bamboo Peak, the Pangolin would always show abnormal interest in a fixed area of the back mountain.

Sometimes it would lie on the ground refusing to leave, and sometimes it would use its claws to gently dig the soil, making a "rumbling" low sound.

"What exactly is there?" Lin Xuan squatted down and touched the Pangolin's cold scales.

The response the Pangolin conveyed was still vague: longing, attraction, as if... an aura of the same origin?

Lin Xuan pondered for a moment.

Now that his Body Refining had a small Breakthrough, and his "Earth Escape Technique" had also been trained to the point where he could move over ten zhang underground.

The Pangolin's Earth Perception was more precise; when fully unleashed, it could explore a depth of a hundred zhang. Working together, investigating a bit should be fine.

"Let's go, let's take a look."

He changed into clean clothes, adjusted his state to the best, and took the Pangolin quietly to the back mountain.

The autumn sun shone through the sparse bamboo leaves, and the mountain road was covered with golden fallen leaves.

The further they walked into the depths of the back mountain, the thinner the Spiritual Qi became—this was the edge of Emerald Bamboo Peak, where few people visited daily.

The Pangolin stopped in front of a shaded mountain hollow.

The terrain here was low, covered with withered yellow mugwort taller than a person, and a few moss-covered giant rocks were half-buried in the soil, looking unremarkable.

But the Pangolin's reaction was very intense. It dug itself entirely out of the ground, circling around an open space in the middle of the hollow, its claws constantly digging the ground, appearing anxious and uneasy.

Lin Xuan cast the "Breath Concealment Technique" and swept his Divine Sense around. No one, nor any powerful Yao Beast aura.

"Down from here?" He pointed to the open space.

The Pangolin nodded vigorously.

"Alright, you lead the way, I'll follow. If there's any abnormality, withdraw immediately."

The Pangolin received the order and its body shrank, drilling into the ground. The hard mountain soil was like flowing water to it, easily broken open.

Lin Xuan activated the "Earth Escape Technique," earth-yellow Spiritual light appeared on his skin, and his figure slowly sank into the ground.

It went smoothly at first.

The Pangolin dug in front, and Lin Xuan followed in the passage it opened using the Earth Escape Technique. All around were damp soil and rocks, occasionally earthworms and beetles scurrying away.

Ten zhang, twenty zhang, thirty zhang...

It was pitch black underground, illuminated only by the faint thunder light condensed at Lin Xuan's fingertips.

The direction the Pangolin was digging was not vertically downward, but diagonally southwest—this was also what Lin Xuan requested; diagonal passages were safer and less likely to collapse.

At a depth of fifty zhang, an accident suddenly occurred.

"Boom—!"

A dull crashing sound came from the front, followed by the sound of falling rubble. The Pangolin transmitted feelings of pain and confusion through the contract.

Lin Xuan sped up and used the Earth Escape Technique to reach the end of the passage.

The scene before him made him frown.

The Pangolin was frantically scratching the rock wall in front with its sharp claws, but its previously invincible claws could only leave white marks on the rock wall at this moment, failing to even scratch off any gravel.

Lin Xuan reached out to touch the rock wall.

The touch was cold and hard, the color as deep as ink, with a fine metallic luster on the surface.

He focused his vision and looked closely, discovering countless silver particles the size of needle tips embedded in the rock wall.

"This is... Profound Iron Rock?"