79 Peak of Martial Novice
To any sane person, making someone like Shi Shisi a rival was something impossible due to the fact that Shi Shisi is way stronger compared to any normal person. Even Shi Li thought that it was stupid for him to make him his rival.
But after a bit of thinking, Shi Li could not help but laugh as he turned this stupid idea into a fiery flame of motivation that radiated from his eyes. Although it would be impossible to make Shi Shisi an equal rival, he could be a goal to reach and surpass, right?
Sure, Shi Shisi had been cultivating for a few years already, hence he could reach a strength like that. But who was Shi Li? In a span of just a couple of months, Shi Li was able to do the impossible and surpass all of his peers in the Martial Novice stage!
"It's not bad to aim high. Even if you fall off short in the end, it's still high in the eyes of others," Shi Li muttered to himself as he lightly smiled. He then grabbed the two bowls of liquor to tidy up and the jar of liquor to hide, just in case he had to entertain a guest.
A few minutes later, Shi Li sat cross-legged on the ground of his courtyard's training space and opened up the satchel inside his robe.
Plop. Plop. Plop.
In an instant, three Spirit Gathering Pills were on Shi Li's palm, with 17 more pills left for consumption later.
As he looked at these three pills, he started to divide the amount of energy he would obtain from these pills to focus on a certain part of his cultivation.
"One pill is for my soul, one pill is for my body, and one pill is for the auxiliary art." Shi Li thought about this for a bit and nodded slightly after thinking about the requirements needed to break through the Martial Adept stage.
Although most cultivators use pills to supplement the energy they have in order to break through the Martial Adept stage in one fell swoop, Shi Li noticed after consuming a few Spirit Gathering Pills that energy that has been converted to one's own is more effective than an outsider's energy, like from a pill.
Following this train of thought, he decided to use the excess energy from these pills and convert them into his own energy to induce a breakthrough through his soul and body that would allow him to have a stable foundation, rather than one that relied mostly on cultivation pills and medicines. Cultivation pill and medicine induced breakthroughs, from what he had read in the novels back then, would allow cultivators to break through, but they would end up weaker than those cultivators who naturally broke through.
"Let's not waste any time on this. I still need to cultivate my hammer technique," Shi Li closed his eyes and popped one Spirit Gathering Pill into his mouth.
Bang!
A tsunami of pure energy surged throughout his body as the shell that covered the inside of the pill gradually melted off. Since he was used to using the Spirit Gathering Pill, Shi Li exquisitely manipulated the energy from the pill towards his soul, which was almost close to reaching the peak of the Martial Novice stage.
Drrrr...drrrr...
A few minutes later, Shi Li let the pill energy envelop his soul and focus on the spots that were still covered in an iron-like material, hiding the refined steel underneath.
Using the same approach as before, he finely adjusted the strength, speed, and quantity of the drills made out of energy that chipped away at these small spots.
While this was happening, he calculated how much pill energy he would need to reach the peak, and removed the excess as he started to convert it into his own energy.
Since he had an extremely strong soul thanks to cultivation, although it was hard to multitask, it was not to the point of being excruciatingly difficult.
Fwsh! Fwsh! Fwsh!
Like fishes leaping above the water, the excess pill energy which Shi Li placed into his navel, was gradually being converted into an energy that resonated with his own soul, having hints of a metallic property due to the fact that all three of his cultivation techniques were related to metal one way or another. After being converted, the wisps of converted energy headed towards his soul and was absorbed, gradually making his soul glow a faint silver. With each wisp of converted energy being absorbed by his soul, the glow that covered his soul became more and more intense.
This process continued until the sun that illuminated the pure blue sky was replaced with the white moon that was accompanied by the starry sky.
Whoosh!
At the time that happened, Shi Li opened his eyes as everything he could sense around him was clearer than before. He had a feeling that if he wanted to, he could a small grain of rice from a few kilometers away, or hear the sound of a buzzing mosquito from a few kilometers away.
"I've finally reached the peak of the Martial Novice stage for my soul," Shi Li said to himself with glee. He was about to pop another pill into his mouth and cultivate his body, but then, an idea flashed in his mind.
He stood up from he was and walked towards his bedroom where he hid the Wooden War Hammer he crafted in the Forest of Ruin. He then lifted up and walked back to the training space, making sure not to alert Moddy who was still in a state of cultivation.
Seeing that Moddy was not alerted by his presence, Shi Li could not help but let out a sigh of relief as he removed his robe, revealing an extremely well-defined body, with each muscle looking like they were chiseled to perfection. Thanks to these muscles, Shi Li's skinny body looked more plump than before, it doesn't change the fact that he was still skinny though.
He draped his robe over the ground he was going to lie down and lifted his hammer up as he closed his eyes, popping a pill into his mouth.
Bang!
Just like before, he would partition the energy he got from the pill into two sections, one that would cultivate Shi Li's body to the peak of the Martial Novice realm, and the other one being converted into an energy that resonated with his body as they get absorbed by his body not long after.
"Let's start!" Shi Li said to himself as he started hammering his body down with the Wooden War Hammer at every nook and cranny on his body, except his life bearing parts of course.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Although sounds of wood colliding with flesh could be heard throughout the training space, it could not be heard by Moddy at all due to the fact that Shi Li was limiting the amount of noise this did, while still using all of his strength to hammer his body to perfection at the same time.
With every passing hour of the process of hammering his body, refining his tendons, and infusing converted energy into his body, his body gradually looked smoother and smoother, as if it was returning back to the origin, the skin he had as a baby.
Even though that was the case, tyrannical strength could be seen hidden within the nooks and crannies of his body, just waiting to burst out in one go.
And so, after the passing of night and the rising of the scorching sun, a muffled explosion resounded throughout Shi Li's body as an aura of intrepid strength radiated from him, opening his eyes in the process.
He stood up and clenched his fist, feeling the wind break just from him clenching his fist. He then did a few laps around the training space, feeling that he could go even faster than before.
After doing that, he muttered to himself, "Although the late stage and the peak stage of the 3rd Martial Novice stage are only separated by one level, the quality of the strength improves by a lot, allowing a peak Martial Novice cultivator to triumph against multiple late 3rd Martial Novice stage cultivators."
He could not help but smile after getting used to his strength and sat cross-legged as he shouted inwardly, "Now, I just need to complete the third level of the auxiliary technique and I'll be able to breakthrough to the Martial Adept stage!"
