60: Chapter 60 Body Refinement Level Two

Jiang Yan clenched his teeth, his molars grinding together with a creaking sound, and the muscles in his cheeks bulged rhythmically.

Sweat streamed down his forehead twice as fast as before, the beads of sweat mixing with the microscopic, grey-black Impurities seeping from his pores, trickling down his neck and into his collar.

These were the Impurities being squeezed out from deep within his bones, expelled from his body along with the sweat.

He circulated the introductory mantra of the "Star Saint Body" — — Draw the stars into the body, refine star patterns into the bones.

Guided by the mantra, the two streams of medicinal power climbed up his spine, starting from the coccyx and inching upward, vertebra by vertebra.

Coccyx, lumbar vertebrae, thoracic vertebrae, cervical vertebrae — — with each vertebra passed, the silver-white star patterns on that bone grew brighter.

The previous seven star pills had already etched vast areas of silver-white patterns onto the surface of his long bones, but after the Breakthrough to Body Refining Stage 1, the speed of the star pattern expansion had noticeably slowed, and the effectiveness of consuming star pills was diminishing.

Now, after the injection of the blood energy from the blood origin pill, those previously dim star patterns seemed to be reignited.

Silver-white starlight shone from deep within his bones, vibrant and shimmering within his Divine Sense, like a miniature, illuminated starry sky.

The newly formed star patterns began to expand outward from the skull.

The original star patterns on the cranium had only covered the top of his head, but now they began to spread toward the orbital bones, cheekbones, and jawbone.

When the star patterns extended to the edge of the orbital bones, Jiang Yan felt a swelling sensation in his eye sockets, as if tiny, fine needles were gently pricking the inside of them.

Next came the cheekbones and jawbone; the bones of his entire face were covered in speckled, silver-white patterns.

The star patterns on his arms extended from the shoulder blades toward the collarbones.

Previously, there were only intermittent traces of star patterns on the collarbones, but now those broken traces were reactivated, converging toward the thoracic ribs.

The star patterns on both sides met in the center of the sternum, forming a brand-new line connecting the left and right ribs.

This line ran through the entire skeletal frame of his torso and was one of the most crucial markers of Body Refining Stage 2.

The star patterns on his legs spread from the upper half of the thigh bones toward the kneecaps and tibias.

When the star patterns on the kneecaps formed, both knees simultaneously emitted an extremely faint, crisp sound, like beans popping in a pan.

That was the sound of the bones re-engaging after the microscopic Impurities inside the knee joints had been refined and expelled.

When more than half of the medicinal power of one blood origin pill had been consumed, the speed of the star pattern expansion began to slow down.

The dark golden vortex in his Dantian was still spinning, but the power of the blood energy had already begun to recede from its peak.

Jiang Yan did not hesitate and immediately swallowed a second one.

The scorching medicinal power surged into his blood vessels once again.

This time, his heart beat even more violently, his chest cavity thumping loudly, and he could hear the sound of blood rushing through his vessels.

Under the impact of the medicinal power, the newly formed connecting line of star patterns in the center of his sternum transformed from intermittent traces of light into a complete silver-white arc, with both ends connecting to the star pattern networks below the left and right collarbones.

He swallowed the third one. The star patterns on his arms spread from the collarbones toward the outer side of the shoulder blades, covering the entire bone surface of the shoulder blades.

When the star patterns on the shoulder blades formed, the muscles on his back twitched a few times, followed by a surge of soreness and swelling emanating from deep within the shoulder blades.

He swallowed the fourth one. The star patterns on his legs extended from the kneecaps toward the ankle bones, and the silver-white lines on the surface of his shinbones lit up all the way from the knees to the ankles.

When the star patterns on the ankle bones formed, his Yongquan acupoints on the soles of his feet suddenly felt numb, as if he had stepped on a red-hot iron plate, but this sensation was fleeting.

He swallowed the fifth one.

After this one entered his abdomen, Jiang Yan could feel that the star pattern coverage of his entire skeleton was approaching a critical point.

Within his Divine Sense, his entire skeleton was wrapped layer by layer in silver-white star patterns; from the skull to the toe bones, every single bone was covered with dense and orderly silver-white light trails.

The tiny bones of his fingers and toes were also covered with intricate star patterns — — previously, there had only been sparse traces on these phalanges, but now they were densely connected, and every knuckle was glowing.

The star pattern coverage of his facial bones was also complete — — orbital bones, nasal bone, cheekbones, jawbone; his entire face was outlined with clear skeletal contours by the silver-white patterns within his Divine Sense.

The moment the star pattern coverage was complete, his entire skeleton emitted an extremely faint hum.

It was not pain. It was an unprecedented sense of fulfillment — — every bone had become denser and tougher, and the density had at least doubled after the bone structure was rearranged by the star patterns.

Jiang Yan slowly opened his eyes, and a flash of silver light, brighter than before, flickered in the depths of his pupils, appearing particularly striking in the dim karst cave before vanishing in an instant.

Body Refining Stage 2.

He threw a punch at the rock wall beside him.

Pure Physical Body strength.

The moment his fist struck the rock, the rock shattered in response — — not just cracking, but shattering.

Gravel splattered and flew everywhere, dust spread outward from the point of impact, and cracks radiated outward for about a zhang, with the furthest crack crawling all the way to the other wall of the karst cave before stopping.

A bowl-sized pit was indented at the point of impact, and the rock at the bottom of the pit had been crushed into powder that fell in a rustle.

Compared to when he had just entered Body Refining Stage 1 and could only create spiderweb cracks, the power of this punch had more than doubled.

He did not swallow a sixth one.

After swallowing five blood origin pills in a row, his Meridians were faintly swelling and aching — — the impact of the blood energy placed a huge burden on his body, and continuing to consume more would only accumulate hidden injuries.

He put the remaining two blood origin pills and the defective one back into the jade bottle and circulated the "Star Saint Body" mantra to end his practice.

The silver-white patterns on his entire skeleton slowly dimmed within his Divine Sense, sinking deep into the bone structure to hide.

The flush on his skin gradually faded, and his sweat had soaked through the back of his clothes; blown by the cool air in the karst cave, his back felt icy cold.

He sat cross-legged to regulate his breathing. The residual medicinal power of the blood origin pill in his blood was guided back to his Dantian by the Bloodthirsty Demon Scripture — — this was an unexpected joy; although the blood origin pill focused on Body Refining, the excess blood energy could also be converted by the demon scripture into a small amount of Qi gain.

After the dark golden vortex absorbed this lingering blood energy, its color became deeper, its rotation path became more smooth and natural, and his Qi Refining Stage 4 cultivation improved by a few points.

He did not swallow the peiyuan pills.

Ten milky-white pills lay quietly in the jade bottle, each emitting a faint silver light and the fresh scent of herbs.

With his Qi Refining Stage 4 cultivation, swallowing all ten Medium Grade peiyuan pills might not necessarily lead to a Breakthrough to Qi Refining Stage 5 — — unless combined with a large amount of Martial Artist blood essence or higher-tier Spirit Medicine.

Rather than wasting them now, it was better to save them for use after he dispersed his cultivation and switched to the Righteous Path.

He sorted all his Magical Artifacts and Medicinal Pills and put them into his Storage Pouch.

He also packed away the Artifact Refining furnace, the lingering spiritual light of the flame gold and purple pattern gold on the furnace wall gradually dissipating.

The karst cave returned to its original temperature, the spring was still dripping water, and the moonlight leaking down from the crevice above had shifted westward, stretching the three silver-white beams of light into slanted parallelograms on the ground.

He stood up and walked to the entrance of the karst cave.

He extended his Divine Sense out of the cave through the rock crevices.

The pine forest of Woniu Mountain swayed gently in the night wind, and the rustling sound of dry branches rubbing against each other drifted from afar.

In the night sky, the moon had shifted west, and the clouds were blown by the autumn wind into long, thin, wispy strands.

He wrapped his cloak tighter.

The dark golden vortex of his Qi Refining Stage 4 cultivation in his Dantian rotated steadily, and the silver-white star patterns on his entire skeleton lay dormant deep within the bone structure, waiting for the next tempering.

Since his Qi Induction, his main combat Magical Artifacts had changed from an ordinary refined iron blade to a High Grade flame gold flying sword, a purple gold thunder sword, a set of Yan Jin Sword Array, a top-tier god-slaying flying knife, a Medium Grade cold iron flying needle array, a High Grade defensive small shield, and a fully repaired top-tier Flying Sword as his trump card.

The Li Fire Killing Array could trap and kill those in the Late Stage of Qi Refining, the six heavenly thunder beads could perform a carpet-bombing in one go, and the Golden Gang Slash Talisman had power equivalent to a full-strength strike from the Late Stage of Qi Refining.

With such a setup, even if he encountered a Cultivator in the Late Stage of Qi Refining head-on, he would be able to win the battle.