Body Temperers

After issuing a few more challenges, Zue Yin sought Yaan out. He didn't tell her where to find him, but she was able to find out where his defeated opponents had lived, and after visiting each of those places, she soon found Yaan.

"You're still reading? Hmph, what about cultivation, huh?" Zue Yin placed her hands on her hips and lectured him disapprovingly.

Yaan glanced at her and sighed. This girl didn't understand the concept of personal boundaries. Even though he had agreed to be her ally, she was getting way too involved with him.

However, after reading through the Fiend Transformation Technique, his doubts towards Rui had been slowly growing, and he wanted to hear someone else's opinion on this matter.

"This is the first time that I have actually read through the technique that I have been cultivating since I became a cultivator…of course I need to read it thoroughly."

"You must have finished it by now though, right?" Zue Yin replied.

"Mm." Yaan nodded. "I'm just…checking something…"

"Checking what?"

"Body tempering…when I was given the Fiend Transformation Technique, I was told nothing about tempering the physical body, only about Vital Energy and Innate Qi cultivation." Yaan slowly explained as he looked up. "Why would someone only explain those two aspects of the fiend path to me, leaving out the third? Why would they miss out those parts, which are even included in the incomplete technique?"

When Yaan asked her this with a complex yet serious tone of voice, Zue Yin became silent for a moment.

"I have no idea…but I would definitely want to understand their reasoning."

"Mm. Really, I just want to understand their intentions. But until then…" Yaan casually rubbed the stone ring on his finger, glancing down at it and sighing.

'Until then, it's for the best that you stay asleep…' He thought in his heart.

In the end, Yaan put down the Fiend Transformation Technique and picked up the other book that the devil spirit had recommended that he read.

"Fiend Alchemy…very interesting. An entire branch of alchemy unique to fiends, just how could something like that work?" Yaan glanced at Zue Yin and asked.

"There's no way I would know that, but admittedly, I'm a bit curious too…if there are any parts that you don't understand, then ask me. It will assist with my alchemy studies after all."

Unexpectedly, Zue Yin sat down beside Yaan and began reading through the Fiend Transformation Technique. He looked at her with a raised eyebrow, to which she smiled brightly, showing no shame towards the fact that she was taking advantage of his unique possession of this guide.

"Two minds are better than one, right? Anyway, from what I've seen so far, this whole 'fiend' path is far too strange. It's like no other demonic transformation, and it…well, isn't it actually multiple separate techniques?"

She was naturally referring to the different paths contained within the technique. Yaan had also thought of this, and whilst it was indeed quite strange, he was yet to come to any solid conclusions.

The two began reading in silence.

Three hours went by, at which point Zue Yin vanished abruptly. Yaan briefly glanced to the side before he continued reading. She returned a few minutes later, then silently sat down and continued reading.

On the 1st, 2nd, and even lower 3rd levels, neither Yaan nor Zue Yin encountered any opponents who gave them any degree of difficulty. Even Zue Yin, with her Qi refining cultivation, did not find the opponents on these levels to be strong.

When Yaan asked her curiously about how she was fairing on the higher levels as a Qi refiner, Zue Yin revealed that the high Spiritual Pressure was actually helping to temper bloodline.

Apparently, the Zue Clan was actually a long lost branch of the phoenix clan! She was only willing to reveal this thanks to their current situation of course. Either way, there was a powerful force of fire dwelling within her blood, which seemed to grow stronger as it was tempered by the relentless Spiritual Pressure, day in and day out.

A couple of hours passed by and Yaan vanished.

Yaan found himself standing on the dirt podium once again. He was facing three opponents, and none of them were push-overs. His three opponents were from the upper 2nd level, the lower 3rd level and the upper 3rd level.

They were all Rank 3 beings, and two of his opponents were actually 3-Star Realm body temperers!

All three openly released their auras, allowing Yaan to judge their strength before the battle had even began. The Qi refiner was at the 3rd Layer Qi Palace Realm, whilst the body temperers were at the Initial and Early 3-Star Realm.

This was the first time that Yaan had faced off against body temperers, as far as he was aware at least. Because of this, he paid special attention to his opponents, scrutinising them carefully as the gong rang out.

Dong!

Following the bell which represented the start of the match, all three individuals charged towards Yaan right away. Clearly, they had made a plan before hand, and they intended to follow through with it.

The two body temperers, each large men towering above Yaan by a couple of feet, curved outwards and closed in on Yaan from the sides. The Qi refiner, a white-robed man with a stern expression, attacked from the front, but he did not draw in close. He remained at a distance and took out three talismans, then lit the talismans on fire using a rapidly cast spell, right as the two body temperers arrived.

Narrowing his eyes, Yaan readied his blade. He did not take a step back, but slashed out twice in rapid succession, choosing to use force against force when dealing with the body temperers.

Clang clang!

His arm trembled and became numb, but he clearly won this exchange. His opponents were forced to take a step back and showed grim expressions.

At this moment, the three burning talismans shot out from the Qi refiner's hand and flew towards Yaan like flaming darts. One aimed for his left eye, one for his throat and one for his heart.

Chi chi chi!

Yaan cut through the talismans, quickly taking a step back to avoid the ferocious flames which exploded towards him upon impact.

Before long, the body temperers had reached him once again.

Yaan used his Agile Sword Arts to hold his own in this battle, he did not use any other methods at first. However, when the trio realised that Yaan was able to endure their assault, they changed tactics and the Qi refiner rushed in.

At this moment, Yaan narrowed his eyes. He immediately used the Synchronised Pierce Art, speeding away from the two startled body temperers and reaching the shocked Qi refiner.

Bang!

Yaan's blade ripped through the Qi refiner's skull, obliterating his brain in an explosion of blood and fragments of skull.

Without wasting a moment, Yaan turned back around and attacked the two body temperers.

Yaan and his surviving two opponents fell into a long deadlock. Yaan clearly possessed the advantage here, but he wanted to use this fight as an opportunity to hone his skills against opponents with powerful physical bodies.

In a way, he found that fighting against body temperers was actually more similar to fighting against demonic beasts compared to fighting against Qi refiners. As time passed by, Yaan adapted to this style of combat, and slowly, the advantage turned in his favour.

As his two opponents became tired, Yaan's eyes flashed. His speed suddenly doubled, and after catching them off guard, he sliced through both of their throats. A grating sound echoed out as his blade ground against their spines, but he simply clenched his fists and forced the blade to cut deeper.

Thud thud…

Two heads fell to the ground, followed by two bodies. Yaan stabbed them each through the brain and heart for good measure. He was unwilling to take any chances when it came to body temperers and their insane levels of vitality.

When he took quarter of an hour to return, Zue Yin raised an eyebrow and teased him.

"What's wrong, encounter trouble?"

"Not exactly, but the standard of strength is increasing. Two of my three opponents were at the 3-Star Realm, the other was at the 3rd Layer Qi Palace Realm."

Zue Yin sat bolt upright, now feeling slightly alarmed. She knew that against this sort of line-up, she would probably lose!

"What, you're still fighting three at a time? And are you deliberately picking body temperers?"

Yaan nodded.

"At higher levels, we'll definitely be forced to face body temperers. You should also get used to it now. They're resilient; after you kill them, kill them again. Remove their head, then burn the body. Do all that and they might stay dead."

It took Yaan longer to finish the fight just now because he wasn't accustomed to fighting against body temperers, but he hadn't been in any serious danger. They were only at the Initial 3-Star Realm and Early 3-Star Realm, whilst Yaan, now that he had finally integrated almost all of the vortex's vitality into his body, had reached the Mid 3-Star Realm!

His Vital Energy was at 54% progress towards the 4-Star Realm boundary, but beyond that, the strength contained within his physical body was reaching shocking heights. Yaan had his own thoughts on this matter after reading through the completed version of the Fiend Transformation Technique, but he needed to study it further before confirming these thoughts.

Life went on. Yaan had very little understanding of alchemy, so it took him some time to properly digest the Fiend Alchemy guide. By the time he finished the book, his expression was extremely dark, so much so that even Zue Yin was stunned.

Yaan decided to let Zue Yin read through the guide, just in case he was wrong. There was no way that he was wrong, however…he hoped that somehow, he had simply misunderstood.

In the mean time, Yaan took the chance to begin reading through other books. Sure, his cultivation was important, but this foundation of knowledge would pave the way for his future.

Time continued to fly by.

He fought more, earned more, sold more…including all but two of his residences. The pagoda on the 3rd level bought and sold real estate, and Yaan had won so many in battle, that he had 20-30 homes to sell across the 1st and 2nd levels. He accepted full payment in Astral Crystals.

Finally, after accumulating a mass of wealth, Yaan returned to the 2nd level's pagoda to have his items appraised by the pagoda's trial spirit.