8 Second Round Tempering

As he was teasing Tang Mei 'er, Mo Yingyue ran to the kitchen holding a thin sword in her hands.

The sword was thin like a female leg but wasn't overly long, being only half the size of Mo Yingyue. The entirety of the sword is blue like ice and has a small blue gem embedded into the hilt.

Looking at it, Mo Fan could tell that it's a high-grade Spiritual Weapon. Though he couldn't tell what tier it was exactly, he knew that his master would give his sister only the best that he could provide.

"Hehe, it suits you quite well Yue er," Mo Fan said as he rubbed her head and messed up her hair.

After saying his farewell to his teacher the three of them spent their time together until night time where they had dinner. Patting his stomach, Mo Fan nodded in satisfaction as he headed to his room and slept like a log.

For the next few days, Mo Fan's life was the same. He spent his morning tempering his body in True dragon blood then teased Tang Mei 'er and spent time with his sister. Watching his sister cultivate, Mo Fan sat down on a boulder and enjoyed the breeze.

After that, he would have dinner and then go to sleep as the cycle repeated itself until the eighth day of tempering.

Now that the first round of tempering is over, it was time for a new round to begin. This time, instead of bathing in the blood of a True dragon, Mo Fan was to bathe in the blood of a True phoenix.

If the True dragon blood granted him great strength, the True phoenix blood grants him wings as well as an undying body with vast amounts of life force. The True tiger blood would grant him great speed while the True turtle blood would grant him an impenetrable body.

Each round of the Four Corners stage grants him unfathomable power. In front of him, a huge drop of True phoenix's blood dropped into the bath as Mo Fan continued to bear with the great amount of pain.

Though the pain is not as great as the very first day of bathing in the True dragon blood, the amount of pain is still close making Mo Fan's entire body shudder and tremble in pain as his fists clenched together tightly.

His body felt as though he were being refined inside a furnace. The burning sensation filled his entire being from his flesh and even inside his veins itself.

Behind him, the shadow of a phoenix spread its huge wings and cried. Enduring the pain for thirty minutes or so, the pain disappeared as the phoenix blood dried up completely as if it were never there in the first place.

Jumping out of the bath, a golden phoenix appeared on his chest in the spot where the golden dragon first appeared before disappearing just as the dragon did.

Putting on his clothes, Mo Fan didn't see any change to his body. However, he knew that the tempering benefited him greatly as he felt a strange source of energy inside his body that was not Qi.

Closing his eyes, he looked inside his body and noticed a small flame. The flame was about the size of a candle flame as it burned brightly inside the dark space of his body.

"As you complete your tempering, the flame will continue to grow," a voice told him.

"Even though you have completed the first round of refining, you have yet to reach the Body Tempering stage"

"When you complete the first four rounds, that is when you will be at the Body Tempering stage one. Though currently, the state of your physical body is already superior to those at the Body Tempering stage nine"

"Normally, a cultivator will stop refining their physical bodies and focus solely on Spiritual Cultivation once they have completed the Body Tempering realm, and have made a breakthrough to the Qi Controlling realm"

"This is because Body Refining is a much longer journey than Spiritual Cultivation. The amount of resources and time spent on body refiners is much longer than those who practice Spiritual Cultivation which is why many focus solely on the latter"

"The advantage of Body Refining is that a Spiritual Cultivator of the same stage will never be able to beat a body refiner in battle. Body Refiners are able to fight against Spiritual Cultivators who are a couple of stages ahead of them"

"Even so, only a minority of cultivators choose to be a Body Refiner. In your case, you have the talent for both Body Refining as well as Spiritual Cultivation due to your physique. Since you will be cultivating both paths, your journey will be much much longer than others, however, you will be able to fight many stages ahead of you" the voice continued.

"Once you have completed the second round of tempering, your physical body will be comparable to Body Refiners at the Qi Controlling stage three. As soon as you hit the Body Tempering stage one, with just your physical body alone, those at the peak of the Qi Controlling realm cannot hurt you and can kill them with just a single punch"

Mo Fan's jaw dropped in shock as he nodded before he opened his eyes. "Once you have completed the Four Corners tempering, you will not be starting the Five Deity tempering until you have reached the Qi Controlling realm"

"Instead, you will refine your body using a different method" the voice ended.

Mo Fan asked a few questions only to be slapped with silence. Smiling bitterly, he continued his daily life for the next nine days.

During the nine days, Daoist Li, as well as the Sect leader, visited the twins. The two of them came numerous times to check on the twin's progress only to see that Mo Fan still hadn't reached the Body Tempering realm.

As for Mo Yingyue, during the past few weeks, she had made a breakthrough and reached the sixth stage of the Body Tempering realm.

Seeing her results, daoist Li brought the three of them to spare against other disciples of the same stage. Naturally, the only one doing the sparring was Mo Yingyue since she's the only one of the three who is of the Body Tempering realm.

Whoosh!

Standing at the Sparring Platform, Mo Fan could see many disciples had all gathered around the platform. The Sparring platform like its name implies is used for sparring or solving any disputes between disciples.

From what he was told, disciples of different stages from Body Tempering to Qi Controlling realm were gathered. As for those who hadn't gathered, they are either outside of the sect on missions or are already at the Core Creation realm!

Those senior and talented disciples are the future pillars of the sect, though some of them choose to leave the sect behind and expand their horizons, the sect does not blame them.

Of those who came to watch, only two of them are Core disciples at the Body Tempering stage.

"Greetings Grand elder" the disciples all bowed.

Daoist Li waved his hand as the four of them landed below the platform. "Today during the monthly sparring between disciples, I have brought my disciples with me"

Using his qi to push Mo Yingyue forward, he continued his speech, "This is Mo Yingyue, she is currently at the Body Tempering stage six. Though she has no experience in actual combat, those at the Body Tempering stage four and five may challenge her"

The disciples began whispering amongst each other, "I couldn't tell before when they had first come, but that girl is beautiful! I heard the one standing behind her is her brother, tsk he's a pretty boy" one of the Outer court disciples whispered.

"Is your head made of tofu? They're twins, if one of them is pretty, obviously the other would be too!" another disciple replied.

"Hey, Lin Ji Kun, you're at the Body Tempering stage four, how about you give it a go?" one of the Outer court disciples elsewhere said to the one next to him.

"I guess I could, I hope she'll go easy on me" Lin Ji Kun replied.

"A volunteer? Good, Yingyue, go and have a try" Daoist Li said. Mo Yingyue nodded as she looked at Mo Fan before jumping onto the stage. Lin Ji Kun followed suit and jumped on the stage across from her as he took the sword on his back out of its sheath.

"Please," they both said at the same time.

Li Jin Kun made the first move as he held his sword in his right hand and pointed it forward, moving his entire body swiftly at Mo Yingyue.

Mo Yingyue too moved as her palms reached for the sword at point-blank. "What? She's going for his sword unarmed?" one of the disciples shouted.

"Even if she's at the Body Tempering stage six, using her bare hands she will still suffer some injuries" another disciple added.

Ignoring the crowd, Mo Yingyue waved her palms as her right palm hit the sword upward as she flipped her entire body and kicked Lin Ji Kun's chin throwing his entire body into the air along with his sword.

Pow!

His body flew into the air a couple of meters before landing flatly on the platform. With just a single move, Mo Yingyue defeated an armed Li Jin Kun. One of the disciples couldn't help but say "Grand elder, didn't you say that she had no experience?"

Daoist Li paused for a second before replying with an apologetic look "Ah, sorry I didn't think that she could fight this well"

"..."

Lin Ji Kun who had just recovered rubbed his chin and stood up before bowing with his hands cupped, "Thank you for going easy" before jumping off the platform with his sword inside its sheath.

"Would anyone else like to spar against her?" Daoist Li asked. The disciples went silent for a few moments. A majority of the Outer court disciples were only around the Body Tempering stage four and five, even Lin Ji Kun who had been defeated is considered to be strong within his level in the sect.

Suddenly, an Inner court disciple raised his voice "Grand Elder, I would like to have a go" as he jumped onto the stage.

Some of the disciples recognized the volunteer. "Ah isn't that senior brother Wang? He was an Outer court disciple just like us last year. At the time he had reached the Body Tempering stage six, now I wonder how strong he is!"

"Disciple Wang Hong Jun greets the Grand elder!" Wang Hong Jun greeted with his hands cupped. Daoist Li frowned as he saw the aura around the particular disciple who is at the Body Tempering stage seven and approaching the Body Tempering stage eight.

After giving it a thought, he unfurrowed his brows and nodded. Seeing that he gained approval, Wang Hong Jun kept his hands cupped and faced Mo Yingyue. "Junior sister, seeing as I am at a higher realm, I will lower my cultivation to the same stage," he said.

Mo Yingyue nodded without saying anything as her beautiful face remained expressionless. This time, she made the first move. In the blink of an eye, her body approached Wang Hong Jun as her palms are ready to hit him.

Wang Hong Jun remained calm and smiled as he took out a sword from his waist. "Ah! It's senior brother Wang's middle Yellow tier Spiritual Weapon!" one of the disciples cried out.

Facing Mo Yingyue's palms, Wang Hong Jun held his sword firmly as he gently shook his sword in a small circle ahead of him. His small motion disrupted Mo Yingyue's attacks as she had to stop for a brief moment before adjusting herself and attacked again.