68: Fourth level of body training

Liu Xuan felt an additional mark within his Sea of Consciousness; through this mark, he could control the corpse puppet in front of him.

'This corpse puppet is clearly a dead object, why does it still have a trace of Divine Soul aura?'

"Can you speak?" Liu Xuan communicated via his Divine Soul.

...

The corpse puppet remained motionless, without any reaction.

"Restrain your aura!" Liu Xuan issued the command.

This time the reaction was extremely fast. The cold and terrifying aura in the Cultivation Chamber immediately vanished, and the corpse puppet looked no different from an ordinary person.

"Raise your right hand!"

With a swoosh, the corpse puppet's right hand rose.

"Do a backflip."

"Bang!"

A perfect backflip, and the corpse puppet landed steadily.

"Yo! That's interesting."

Liu Xuan circled the corpse puppet, touching here and knocking there on its dark golden skin.

The dark golden skin was extremely tough, with a texture like cowhide, not like metal.

"Now do a 720-degree aerial spin, followed by landing in a one-legged stance!" Liu Xuan ordered after thinking for a moment.

"Swish!"

The corpse puppet perfectly executed Liu Xuan's command, landing and holding the one-legged stance without moving.

"Holy crap!"

Liu Xuan was shocked; this actually worked!

"Dance some breakdancing?"

The corpse puppet made no move.

"Pour me a cup of tea!"

It walked to the side like a normal person, skillfully poured a cup of tea, and even brought it to Liu Xuan.

...

After experimenting for half an hour, Liu Xuan basically understood the situation of this Early Foundation Establishment Stage corpse puppet.

It had no consciousness, but possessed human instincts. Combined with its connection to Liu Xuan's Divine Soul, it could understand and execute many complex commands, as long as it was capable of doing so.

According to Liu Xuan's knowledge, there were corpse puppets in the Cultivation World. In the south, within the territory of the Nascent Soul Sect, the Peach Blossom Sect, many Sects that Cultivated the Demonic Path and Evil Path would refine them.

Advanced corpse puppets feared no death and were extremely fierce in battle, considered quite a ruthless method in the Evil Path and Demonic Path.

However, the disadvantages were also obvious; not only was refining them difficult, but Advanced corpse puppets were also very prone to losing control.

Corpse puppets had no consciousness, only beast-like instincts. Even if refined using Essence Blood and Divine Soul as a mark, it would be worn down by them, requiring constant expenditure of one's own Essence Blood and Divine Soul to replenish the control mark.

Once out of control, the corpse puppet would attack indiscriminately, and killing its master was perfectly normal.

Liu Xuan had also heard an interesting anecdote where a Golden Core True Person from a corpse refining Sect was backlashed by his corpse puppet, which then slaughtered the entire Sect!

However, this corpse puppet of Liu Xuan's was different from what he knew; he felt absolutely no signs of backlash, and the Divine Soul mark had not weakened in the slightest.

'Could it be because of the System's reward?'

'It must be! Otherwise, with my Early Qi Refining cultivation, how could I refine and control a Foundation Establishment Stage corpse puppet?'

Liu Xuan took a Low Grade Tier 1 magical robe from the cabinet on the left side of the Cultivation Chamber and threw it to it to wear.

This robe was a gift from Lin Tianxiong when he went with Lin Xue'er to see her father. After Liu Xuan had better choices, he had just left it to gather dust, but now it could finally be used.

Generally, magical robes had basic transformation abilities. Liu Xuan controlled the robe to extend a hood to cover its entire head, and then he found a pair of his own spare shoes for it to wear.

"Hmm!"

"Not bad!"

Looking at it now, the corpse puppet just seemed like an ordinary Cultivator who disliked revealing their identity.

Liu Xuan planned to go to the city tomorrow to pick out a mask for it that could block Divine Sense detection, which would make it even more perfect.

"From now on, you will be called Little Shadow. When I don't have orders, you just need to follow by my side. Unless I encounter a life-or-death crisis, you are not allowed to take any other actions."

Besides the mask, Liu Xuan also planned to buy a female Cultivator's robe with Divine Sense shielding functions for it to change into; that would make it even more perfect.

Why a female Cultivator's robe?

It wasn't that Liu Xuan had any special fetish; it was just that with his style of doing things, having a woman following him at all times would be less likely to attract attention.

He touched the Storage Pouch on his body and looked at the Foundation Establishment corpse puppet Little Shadow standing motionless behind him. Having suddenly become wealthy, Liu Xuan felt full of security.

"Cultivate! Cultivate!"

These were all external objects; one's own cultivation was the foundation. One must not put the cart before the horse and get lost in them!

Liu Xuan quickly adjusted his mindset, sat cross-legged, and began his daily Cultivation.

He swallowed a qi gathering pill, and the Medicinal Pill turned into Spiritual Qi, entering Liu Xuan's Meridians and then gathering in his Dantian.

He circulated the Three Yang Body Gathering Qi Refining Method, and the Spiritual Qi gradually refined into mana tainted with the aura of Liu Xuan's Divine Soul, also carrying a trace of scorching pure Yang attributes.

The mana in his Dantian was full, and the newly refined mana could not be stored, so it overflowed into his Meridians and flesh, where it was then refined by the Kunpeng Swallowing Heaven Body Refining Method into qi and blood power.

Once other Cultivators reached a Realm Bottleneck, their refined mana could only dissipate, and they then had to rely on grinding efforts to strengthen their Dantian bit by bit, searching for that sliver of opportunity for a Breakthrough.

Liu Xuan was different. After he reached a Bottleneck, the mana was absorbed by his Physical Body, equivalent to practicing the Body Refining method, and every time he Cultivated, he could experience substantial improvement.

Being able to feel improvement with every Cultivation session could greatly increase his enthusiasm for Cultivation, preventing him from having his will worn down by Bottlenecks and losing confidence in his Cultivation.

Liu Xuan simultaneously operated the Body Refining method and the Qi Refining method. The power of the Medicinal Pill and the Spiritual Qi in the Cultivation Chamber were refined by him together, and his body was gradually covered by a layer of faint white jade light.

Suddenly!

Liu Xuan felt an extremely intense hunger emerge within his body. The Spiritual Qi in the Cultivation Chamber didn't need to be refined and was directly swallowed by his body into his Bloodline.

"A Breakthrough is coming!"

Liu Xuan immediately took out a whole bottle of qi and blood pills from his Storage Pouch and swallowed them. The Medicinal Pills turned into surging qi and blood power and were swallowed by his blood.

"Still too slow!"

Liu Xuan took out that stalk of High Grade Tier 1 Black Spirit Ginseng from his Storage Pouch, opened his mouth wide, and ate it in a few bites.

"Boom!"

The violent medicinal power erupted in his stomach, then was quickly absorbed into his blood, gathering in his heart to condense into Essence Blood.

Swallowing a whole stalk of High Grade Tier 1 Spirit Medicine at once was something even a Late-Stage Qi Refining Cultivator would not dare to do.

But for Liu Xuan, who was in a state of Breakthrough, only a flush appeared on his face, and his condition looked excellent.

Half an hour later.

A cluster of Essence Blood condensed inside Liu Xuan's heart, reaching ten drops, each drop containing extremely powerful strength.

Body Refining Level 4 was achieved!

Body Refining Level 4 was a minor Realm Bottleneck, and Liu Xuan's physical strength underwent a small qualitative change.

In his normal state, his physical strength was now comparable to a Medium Grade Tier 1 Magical Artifact, and his physical fitness was even more exaggerated than a Yao Beast of the same Realm.

Feeling the cluster of Essence Blood in his heart, Liu Xuan slightly guided a trace of it to flow to his right hand.

Clenching his fist, turning his body, he threw a standard straight punch at Little Shadow's stomach.

"Bang!"

"Hiss~"

A sharp pain spread from his right hand. Liu Xuan showed a pained expression, then shook his hand as if nothing had happened.

'Why isn't its stomach soft?'

I was careless!

The Physical Body of a Foundation Establishment corpse puppet was not something he, a mere Middle Stage Body Refining Cultivator, could challenge, even if he was practicing an Immortal Rank Body Refining Method.