Iron Body

As they both moved deeper into the valley, Shen Ming reached a large plain of green grass with exotic flower fragrances permeating the air. In the center of the plain, he could vaguely see a blurred, white, and soft patch of liquid in the form of a lake.

The white Lake is extremely beneficial for people who are at lower stages of cultivation, especially Body refining, and helps in healing the body from its fatigue and hidden injuries.

Shen Ming rest in the lake every day for an hour until his body is energetic again from his fatigue by practicing the Martial arts daily.

At this moment, the Little Gold went up to a mountain cliff, squeaking and gesturing towards him while pointing its hands to the top of the cliff.

Shen Ming walked over and his eyes followed in the direction pointed by those tiny fingers. Growing almost at the top of the cliff on an Ice crystal tree with three transparent colored fruits hanging.

These fruits could make anyone who is in the Iron Body stage disoriented. Fragrance from the fruits wafted through the air making drool appear on the mouth of Shen Ming.

"Finally! The Ice Crystal Fruits have matured!" Shen Ming shouted with uncontainable excitement. He had been eagerly awaiting this moment for the past three months, and now it was finally here.

Crystal fruits grow on lands of higher energy of heaven and earth. If taken by people who cultivate Body refining art, not only does it increase their cultivation without any side effects, but also increases their resistance against ice elemental attacks slightly.

But since it is only a Mortal Rank fruit (age of 10-100 years), it is only beneficial to people who are at the Iron Body stage in their body refining.

In this world, there are 2 types of cultivation paths followed by people.

Energy Qi and Body refining cultivation paths.

Energy Qi cultivators gather the Heaven and Earth energy inside their bodies by circulating their cultivation techniques, whereas body refinement cultivators would refine their bodies instead.

According to his Grandpa, Body refinement is said to be 10 times more difficult than Energy Qi cultivation, thus very few people practice them unless they have a special physique.

Another reason is that every time a person advances their cultivation in body refining, they experience a tremendous pain that couldn't be described with just the word excruciating. And a small misstep could cause one to suffer serious injuries.

Shen Ming stared at the three pieces of Ice crystal fruits. He then turned towards the Ape as he finally understood why this little Gold looked so excited today.

It wanted to show him that the fruits had finally matured. The Ice Crystal tree was about a hundred meters high on the cliff.

Shen Ming beamed at Little Gold, the Golden Ape, patting its head affectionately. "Well done, Little Gold! Thanks for keeping our tree safe from the other monsters."

"Hoo Hoo Hoo!" Delight showed in the eyes of Little Gold as it nodded enthusiastically.

Moments later, Little Gold leaped up, reaching a height of about ten meters, with its fingertips sunk into the cliff wall supporting its body which dangling mid-air.

Subsequently, it kept on jumping higher up into the cliff wall, and slowly climbed towards the fruits.

Under the watchful eyes of Noah, Little Gold's body finally reached the tree. With its fingers, it carefully plucked the ripe fruits from the branches, one by one. Holding them delicately in its small hands, it approached Shen Ming with a gentle chirp, offering the fruits to him.

Looking at the three pieces of fruits in front of him, Shen Ming's eyes shined brightly as he carefully stored the fruits in his storage bag one by one.

Seeing him successfully store the fruits, the Little Gold started squeaking cheerfully, gesturing happily with his little paws.

Finally giving Shen Ming a happy cry, Little Gold went to a corner of a tree and laid down its body going to sleep.

Seeing it asleep, Shen Ming was not surprised as he was already used to it.

Without disturbing its sleep, Shen Ming too sat down on the side of the shade of a nearby tree took out a piece of fruit, and swallowed it, running the body cultivation technique of the family to absorb the fruit's energy.

When the energy from the fruit dispersed throughout his body, multiple strands of cold energy instantly emerged.

Submerged inside the flow of the energy, felt extremely cold, quickly, waves of indescribable, immense pain radiated from all parts of his body.

The bitter cold clawed at his skin, sending shivers like an electric shock, and his muscles stiffened with the biting chill. With each inhale, the cold pierced his lungs like a thousand needles, leaving him gasping for air.

Shen Ming could feel the frost creeping deeper into his bones, threatening to consume him entirely.

Yet, with unwavering determination, he pressed on, his willpower a flickering flame against the relentless onslaught of the frozen energy of the fruit.

This process was slow, but also extremely painful. It was not something that ordinary humans could endure.

But he did not fall unconscious. He gritted his teeth and bore the endless pain that impacted him in waves.

Time passed slowly, like a crawling snail and Shen Ming did not know how much time had passed.

The pain was excruciating, and finally, a change happened. And an indescribable energy filled his limbs, bones, and every cell of his body.

After a few hours, he finally absorbed all the energy within that fruit and finally advanced his body to the Iron Body 7th stage.

According to his original estimation, to reach the 7th stage he would need at least another two months, but he had now succeeded much quicker!

He felt as if he had been refilled and was instantly more energetic than ever. His physical strength had been increased from 120 to 140 pounds. Shen Ming was satisfied with his achievement.

Just as he thought that a horrible smell assaulted his nose. Looking down, he saw his whole body covered with a layer of sticky, black mud. He knew that this sticky, black mud was the impurities being forced out of his body.

He immediately headed towards the lake in the middle of the grassy area. With a splash, he jumped into the lake to wash the layer of black impurities off his body.

Very quickly, he cleaned himself up and his body felt extremely comfortable as if he was soaking in a hot spring.

Emerging from the lake, Shen Ming swam to the side and put on his clothes.

Suddenly, Shen Ming felt a feeling of trepidation, and he looked around vigilantly. His years of fighting against monsters in his past are giving him a warning signal.

At the same time, he took out the sword from his sheath. Holding the sword in his right hand, his eyes quickly looked around, and suddenly saw a black shadow rushing towards him quickly.

" Squeak.Squeak!" Exactly at this moment, Little Gold woke up from its sleep which made the black shadow run in fear.

Under the protection of Little Gold, he safely left the valley. Without taking any detours, Shen Ming started heading straight to his home.

Along the road, there were quite a few people recognized him and bowed their heads in respect; however, Noah was already used to this and only nodded his head in response.

Normally this kind of respect was only given to the Family heads of the three powerful Clans; but twelve years ago Shen Ming's parents sacrificed their lives to protect the city from destruction, which was the reason everyone living in the city was grateful for him.

But at the same time, he smiled bitterly inside. His past life self was an orphan; so when he got parents and experienced their warmth for the first time he was happy but it was only short-lived.

Shen Ming quickened his footsteps. Although he was used to those stares since he used to receive those even in his past life, he would always end up a bit gloomy as it makes him remember his present life parents.

But at this moment, his path was suddenly blocked by a group of people.

" Hey there Shen Ming! It's amazing to see you again! Judging by the energy emanating from your body, I'm guessing you must have already broken through the Novice Rank 6th stage!"

The teenager before Shen Ming was dressed in luxurious attire and had a friendly demeanor. He was accompanied by two guards and had an angular face with sharp cheekbones, deep brown eyes, and jet black hair styled in a modern cut. He exuded confidence and charisma beyond his years.

The person that stood in front of him was the third young master of the Wang family among the three powerful Clans. He was around his age and was the youngest son of the Family head.

Wang Xuan stood right in the middle of the road and blocked the path of Shen Ming, and to move forward; he would need to pass through him.

If it was the day before Shen Ming, he would have merely nodded his head and walked back, but today Shen Ming was in a happy mood and looked at Wang Xuan, and replied, " Yes it's been a while."

" Shen Ming, do you want to fight with me again in the battle arena? I have also broken through the 6th stage yesterday!." said Wang Xuan in anticipation when he heard a response from Shen Ming who would normally only nod his head and guessed that maybe he was in a good mood today.

" Okay let's do it," said Shen Ming since he also wanted to test out his strength.

Wang Xuan couldn't help but become happy. Even the two guards accompanying Wang Xuan were surprised.