Chapter 14- Beginning to cultivation

The young girl's body was bleeding, but Zenith's fingers moved over the wound like an expert doctor.

Before long, Zenith brought the dagger closer to his own foot and completely severed his left leg. The place was now a pool of blood, and he was in immense pain, both physically and spiritually.

Zenith placed his freshly cut foot into the girl's womb, placed his right hand on his own wound, and began to focus. Soon, the pain in his foot started to diminish, and after a few breaths, the wound closed completely. While his leg was still missing, at least the bleeding had stopped.

Zenith's ability to do this was due to a technique given to him by that certain god the technique called 'body tempering.' This technique allowed Zenith to heal his and others' bodies using his spirit. Of course, this healing ability came at a cost. If someone could see Zenith's spirit right now, they would notice that it was paler compared to before. If Zenith's wound had been caused by worldly energy, his mortal soul wouldn't have been able to heal it, no matter how many times it tried.

Zenith let go of the dagger and placed his right hand over his heart. He tore a piece of his damaged spirit and infused it into the piece of flesh he had cut from his body earlier. This was done through the 'soul manipulation' technique, allowing Zenith to cut and relocate his spirit at will. Although the spirit flowed like a fluid within the human body, it filled the body entirely. Until a person cultivated and strengthened their spirit, it lacked clear definition, both in the head and other parts of the body. The only noticeable thing from the outside was its resemblance to a cloud of smoke.

Zenith placed both of his hands on the girl's body, using 'body tempering' to heal her. His already pale spirit grew even paler, but as her cheeks slowly regained color, he used a technique he hadn't used until now: 'soul tempering.' This technique worked similarly to body tempering but involved using one's life force to heal spirits.

Zenith spent two days and nights in the same position, nourishing the spirit and flesh placed within her womb. Even though she woke up after 3 hours, Zenith was prepared. Each time, he skillfully knocked her unconscious, continued healing and nourishing her spirit.

Anyone who saw Zenith would think he had just come out of a great battle. With one leg missing, looking frail, vacant, and on the verge of death, Zenith was applying a challenging ritual. As the colossal god had mentioned, he needed to establish a temple for the inheritance. Patriarchs usually led these temples, and anyone who met the requirements could enter the founder's test to obtain the inheritance. If they passed the tests, they could inherit it. According to the colossal god, in the temple patriach was to establish, a virgin would be chosen every generation until a suitable candidate arrived. However, none of this had happened and never will.

After healing the girl, Zenith closed his eyes and focused on his spirit. His spirit, which had been torn apart thounds of little pieces and every piece was afraid to touch others there was little openings in every piece. He closed his eyes and began to use 'soul tempering.'

"Truly worthy of being created by the gods."

Zenith was shocked when he saw the effect of the technique on his spirit. Within a few breaths, his spirit's condition slowly improved, as if it had never been shattered before. Zenith began researching cultivation techniques in his mind after healing his spirit.

"Five Element Body and Soul Harmony."

Currently, this technique contradicted all the knowledge of the planet he was on. As far as Zenith knew, a person could choose only one path: either body or soul. When one chose the body path, they completely merged their body and spirit, but unlike soul cultivators, they remained limited by their bodies. A soul cultivator could survive even if their body was destroyed; they only needed to rebuild their body or find another compatible one.

Zenith needed to heal and fully refine his newly created spirit, but it was impossible at the moment. If he began now, with his current condition, he would likely run out of life force within a few minutes and die instantly. His body already resembled that of a frail old man, with wrinkled and spotted skin, a far cry from his previous youthful and elegant form.

Hetu had been waiting in front of the door for exactly three days. During this time, countless scenarios had crossed his mind. Despite guarding the entrance to the cave, his gaze was always fixed on the sky, as if he expected a lightning bolt to strike down and eliminate Zenith, who had spent the last three days inside with his younger sister. But nothing of the sort happened.

"Come in," Zenith finally said.

Hetu initially couldn't recognize the voice; it was so hoarse that it sounded like someone had gravel in their throat. But knowing that there was no one else inside except Zenith and his younger sister.Hetu entered without hesitation.

The scene before Hetu shocked him. A few days ago, Zenith had a vibrant, youthful body, but now, he sat cross-legged in a pool of dried blood, one leg missing, and he looked like a withered, ancient being. With some effort, Hetu turned his head slightly to see his younger sister lying motionless on the ground, her abdomen covered in dried bloodstains. However, Hetu was certain that Zenith wouldn't harm his sister.

"Prepare a bathtub, fill it with boiling water until it reaches the brim, and make sure it keeps boiling," Zenith instructed.

Zenith had already begun to absorb the worldly energy from the air with their eyes closed using the Five Elements Body and Soul Harmony Technique, which provided an immense opportunity for body and soul cultivation.

As far as Zenith knew, there were five different paths that any body cultivation technique could take: strength, speed, defense, perception, and regeneration. Zenith's only examples of body cultivators they had seen so far were their parents. For instance, his father possessed immense strength, speed, and defense, while his mother theirpracticed a technique specialized in regeneration and perception. On this planet, the most powerful body cultivation techniques allowed for mastery of up to three of these paths, but Zenith's body cultivation technique mastered all five.

For defense used the earth, for strength ,water, for perception, air, for regeneration, fire, and for speed, light. This technique also allowed for soul cultivation, but for now, Zenith had not yet completed the second stage of soul forging and had to wait.

Even though Zenith had absorbed enough worldly energy, they were still far from the body-strengthening stage. After half an hour had passed, Hetu approached and informed Zenith that the bath was ready. Zenith opened their eyes at that moment.

"Get me to the bathtub"

Hetu immediately set to work. As Zenith got into the bathtub, his bronze skin started turning red. The water was already boiling, and Zenith spoke again, his words coming out with immense difficulty due to the excruciating pain caused by the boiling water.

"Bring the herbs and pour them into the bathtub."