Body Refining

The next day, Wu Zhen woke up with a sore back. Sleeping on a stone bed really did a number on him. Thankfully, from today onwards, he'd be practicing body refining.

He climbed out of his bed and walked outside to the great white void. His eyesight slowly adjusted to the brightness as he sat down and began to cultivate. The dense qi in the surroundings swirled around him, creating a vortex. It was the first time he had absorbed such a great amount of qi. It was a complete contrast from before. It felt easy, effortless. One day of cultivating now would be worth a thousand before he came here.

He got up and started warming up. One thing he had noticed about Nine Lightning Body was that it was very similar to Storm Cloud palms. All he had to do was to convert all of his qi into lightning, which he would then circulate throughout the body, electrocuting himself but also imbuing his body with the power of lightning. As the name implied, the technique had nine levels. Every time he wanted to break through a level, he would have to encounter lightning. For the first level, he would only have to be struck by mortal lightning. The only problem was, there was no lightning here, and at this stage, getting hit by mortal lightning would hurt him more than it benefits him. He had to build up strength first before he would break through.

As the lightning qi circulated through his body, each and every one of his cells was struck by it. It stimulated them, one by one. When every part of his body could be said to have been tempered by lightning, only then could he breakthrough. This was a crucial part of the technique. As he practiced it, he became more and more aware of his senses. The floor became colder as he practiced, as he felt it more vividly. He could feel the air stroking his skin. The howling of the winds became more clear as he practiced.

As for sight and taste, there was nothing much to eat or see in a great white void. He assumed he'd be served food at least once per day, otherwise he would starve.

He felt like he was truly becoming part of his body. He continued throughout the entire day, absorbing qi and turning it into lightning to continue tempering his body. It was painful, but if he couldn't endure this much pain, how would he survive the second trial?

As expected, in the evening, there was a well-timed parcel delivered at his front door, containing food to eat and water to drink.

He stayed awake for the whole day. Besides, there was no sun or moon here, only void. Where was this place anyway? Was it infinite? He asked himself many questions. After all, he was lonely. At least he had people to talk to and friends to hang out with before he came here. He wondered how Chu Feng was doing. With those beads, he would probably be able to make it to Qi Condensation 3.

As for him, he wasn't worried about cultivation. After all, body refining was much more important as it increased his chances of survival several times over. Even if one had strong cultivation, if they failed to dodge an attack, chances of survival would be slim as cultivators usually don't have strong bodies. Back in his world, only the rich could temper their bodies with expensive resources others couldn't afford. Body refining techniques were very rare.

Was it a good decision to come here? He greatly increased his cultivation, increased his talent, and got a body refining technique, but was it truly worth abandoning everything else? The only thing to do here was to cultivate and survive. Even social interaction would mainly happen during trials.

A week passed. 25 days remain until the second trial.

His body refining had progressed greatly.

Now, a slight amount of electricity remained even when he stopped cultivating, giving anyone who touched him a slight shock.

Wu Zhen thought more since he had nothing else to do. He had already refined his body so many times he continued doing it even when he didn't think about it. Was this place truly an opportunity? It seemed like a prison. Nothing to see, nothing to hear except the wind, and nothing to touch except a stone bed and the floor. Fed only once a day, and only given the most basic necessities. They even tortured him once in a while with trials. At least they gave him rewards, but what good are rewards when you're trapped in a prison? The one reward he valued was a reward that allowed him to go outside.

Cultivation meant giving up on everything else. Family, relationships, status, and wealth.

Wu Zhen continued to delve deeper into his thoughts. Did he truly desire to cultivate? Did he even have a reason to? He didn't want to give up on everything, he wanted to keep both, but which was more important to him? What matters to me?

4 weeks had passed. 3 days remained.

He had found out what he truly wanted, not cultivation, not wealth, not power, but freedom. What he truly desired was to be freer than anyone else, and that was why this prison was hell to him. But when was he ever truly free? Even in the mortal world, he was controlled by those with higher cultivation, higher status, and wealth.

He knew the only way to become free in this world. The only one who is truly free is the one most powerful in the world! Who would dare oppress him? He could wipe out anyone he wanted with merely a thought! He could go anywhere, do anything, and who would stop him? That was freedom! The people who were free were the immortals!

He finally had the answer to his question. His path was one to the ultimate freedom. Once this knot was untied, his potential burst forth like a tsunami. His progress sped up by multiple times, just by solving this question.

Why?

What he had been doing was like a slave being forced to do menial labor.

Meanwhile, now, he had found a reason, he had found his passion!

Obviously, one with the passion to do something would do it faster than someone forced to do it! As long as you have a reason, you'll be better than someone without one.

Within a day, he finished tempering his entire body with lightning. He had reached a bottleneck. He could only hope there was mortal lightning somewhere in the next trial.

He started cultivating, and with only 3 days left, managed to break through to Qi Condensation 3 with only a couple of hours left.

1 minute before the trial began, a countdown showed up. Wu Zhen sighed. Finally, he would be getting another trial. It felt like he had spent ten years in this place. As the countdown timer ended, Wu Zhen disappeared. When he opened his eyes, he was in front of a massive mountain. Next to him stood Chu Feng, who had already broken through to Qi Condensation 3.

Words popped up in front of them again, stating the contents of the second trial.

[Second Trial: Survive for 1 year on Mount Thundersea, or summit.]

Both of them knew that since this was the second trial, it would be significantly harder than the first one. They started climbing the mountain, which was pretty tame at the start. All the animals and beasts could be handled by Chu Feng alone. Soon, they found a small cave with a tiger inside it and killed it. They skinned it for its pelt so that they could wear it later at high altitudes when it became cold. They foraged for sticks and brought it back to the cave, where Wu Zhen would miserably fair to light the fire with his Storm Cloud palms multiple times before finally succeeding. Chu Feng was rolling on the floor, laughing, until Wu Zhen poked his butt with a stick.

After they settled down, Wu Zhen taught the body refining technique to Chu Feng. After all, he was kind of his partner, and the stronger his partner, the higher his chances of survival.

At the beginning of the tower, both of them had seen why this mountain had been called Mount Thundersea. If you looked at the peak of the mountain, you could see that it was constantly being bombarded by lightning. Both of them understood that there was now only one option to complete the second trial: summit. Otherwise, they might miss the only chance to break through they might ever have. They quickly left the cave after a while and continued their journey.

Wu Zhen swallowed his saliva as he looked at how high the mountain went, piercing the clouds. Could they really climb the great Mount Thundersea?