Marrow Refinement and Transcendence
Six months of marrow and bone refinement ~ what would normally take years for most practitioners ~ flowed past like water through Chi Tao's transformed physique. The flawless grade techniques made all the difference, though even these optimized body refinement sutras paled compared to the Temporal Demon Spirit Book. That ancient text held principles from realms far beyond the Draconic Ruins, containing heavenly laws that no one on this plane could fully comprehend.
By the end of his body refinement, Chi Tao's physique had reached gold rank. He walked through his mansion's hallways, mentally compiling soul force cultivation techniques alongside the flawless methods he'd already optimized.
His "recipe," as he called it ~ an offshoot thought really ~ contained cultivation technique lines and protagonist declarations lifted from fantasy novels of his past life. Heavenly-sounding phrases that were riddled with flaws, yet somehow a few managed to integrate into existing techniques as affirmations of will, boosting fighting capabilities in ways that shouldn't work but did. After all, in a fiction universe, anything was possible.
Now transformation awaited.
Eleven and a half years old. Chi Tao settled into his room, the window framing distant mountains and forests, far from the market's clamor. Nearly two years before the canon events begin. I want to stay a passive observer, but... well, intrusive thoughts have a way of making you act impulsively.
The book before him ~ titled "Mortal Transcendence Sutra" ~ held secrets accessible now that he'd reached Bronze level soul cultivation. Information could transfer directly from the Library of Heaven's Path to his mind without reading.
He positioned himself before the window, letting his perception spread into the natural world around him. Peace settled over him as he consumed the soul condensing, soul assembling, and spiritual enhancing pills he'd prepared. Eyes closed, perception converged inward.
Inside his consciousness, he imagined himself floating in void and began chanting the mortal transcendence scripture.
The sensation started like being squeezed through a narrow passage, but gradually aura converged around his mental figure, assimilating into his being. The imaginative construct became real within the astral plane as soul force circulated through mysterious pathways in his meridians and body structure.
Externally, Chen Tao's realm plummeted ~ from 135 soul force to 100, then 60, 50, finally bottoming at 20. Yet none of the soul force actually left his body. Instead, his soul core strengthened and condensed around the small figure taking shape within.
When the figure anchored at his soul realm's exact center, the condensed space began expanding, absorbing surrounding aura and refining the consumed pills. Five hours later, his realm had grown to 110, cultivation fully restored.
Chi Tao stood, testing his transformed body. Power flowed through his physique as he converged soul force and maximized his stance for an all-out punch at empty air.
BOOM.
The sonic blast rushed outward with tremendous force. Could kill a fifth-rank Bronze cultivator with that. The overwhelming power sensation faded as his body instantly readjusted, evolving to fully control this new strength.
He began training ~ movement exercises, muscle control, commanding every part of his body with precision.
Six months passed without cultivation pressure. His body passively absorbed aura while the inner figure refined soul force at a steady rate. He'd reached 2-star Bronze realm.
More importantly, his body had awakened the energy storage ability he'd wished for. Now he could absorb any energy whose properties he understood ~ blood energy from beasts, chemical energy, spiritual energy, kinetic energy, even gravitational potential. All of it restored his soul force and the creation force God had placed within him.
That creation force settled inside his inner figure, virtual and unobservable but responsive to his will. He could copy any concept within five meters ~ the range had expanded as his life level increased. The divination shield worked similarly, an ethereal protection that shifted at his command while drawing from creation energy that replenished instantly.
I'll only use energy absorption for creation force refilling. Need to experience life's challenges, not become invincible.
Since he couldn't directly manipulate absorbed energy ~ only convert it to replenish soul force ~ absorbing gravitational force merely decreased his weight slightly.
His training had intensified: archery, footwork, movement techniques, sword control, sword intent. All practiced using flawless scriptures and combat memories copied from Shen Yung, a Black Gold rank fighter from the Fighters Guild. The man had Sacred Family affiliations, but more importantly, his memory fragments provided practical solutions to every flaw in Chi Tao's techniques.
Soul force properly employed in combat increased reaction time dramatically. His evolving body had fundamentally altered neural pathways ~ everything moved stupidly fast now. Ideas flowed in torrents, combinations and recombinations reaching solutions instantly.
The world had slowed. Sounds stretched out, wind pressure became noticeable unless offset by soul force coverage.
He'd also trained several younger followers in martial arts ~ everything except cultivation and alchemy. Items from the Academy library included cultural arts like painting and singing. Through the Library of Heaven's Path, he'd reached minor accomplishment in conveying intent through art. Keen eyes could discern it, and when he transcribed scriptures, talented readers could understand his comprehension of the subject. His mother had found this incredibly helpful.
Ten months remained for proper cultivation indulgence.
But he couldn't remain sequestered. Only the elders knew his cultivation talent, and other children his age helped with family businesses or farming, hoping for selection to Holy Orchid Institute. He cultivated three hours daily with foundation stability and growth joy as intentions, keeping refinement steady and deliberately slowing strength gains. The rest went to family business decisions and hobbies.
After two months, he'd reached peak fourth-rank Bronze soul realm.
Recently, he'd been writing down scientific formulas from his past life ~ laws of motion, heat transfer, fluid dynamics, material science, element sampling, relativity theories, fundamental particle assumptions, electricity generation, magnetism, thermodynamics. Mathematical concepts followed: multidimensional geometries, probability theories, calculus. Then biological concepts: human cells, genome, hereditary gene transmission, anatomy.
Whatever his perfect memory could provide. Reading his own creations while applying the Library of Heaven's Path helped fill knowledge gaps through deduction from memory fragments. Many flaws remained undeducible ~ perhaps higher cultivation would reveal these abstract laws.
Interestingly, after absorbing this information, a completely different energy had begun surrounding him. Law energy. Running his cultivation formula with new scientific understanding, he watched these law energies attempt assimilation with his soul realm. But lacking Legend rank and Demigod realm comprehension, they fought against his soul force instead.
He activated energy absorption through activity that reduced his soul force, allowing the chaotic law energy to become absorbable and quietly enter his inner figure. The law energy leakage stopped and disappeared as he reactivated concealing techniques. His physique instantly evolved to accommodate the absorbed energies.
The figure inside his soul sea ~ he finally understood ~ was nothing other than his soul form. Himself.
Peculiar soul force and law energy fluctuations passed nearby during his breakthrough. Ye Mo of the Snow Wind Family ~ Glory City's strongest resident ~ had been alerted. The man couldn't locate Chi Tao's presence through his shield, but probably sensed law energy manifesting from nowhere.
For the next month, the city remained tense. Guards deployed everywhere as rumors of a powerful presence spread. Chi Tao smiled at home, listening to the gossip. Despite his achievements, many people in this city could still swat him like a fly.
His body refinement had stopped at gold rank fighter level. It seemed he needed to bring soul and body cultivation to the same level since he'd merged body refining aspects into the Mortal Transcendence Scripture.
During that tense month, he procured medicinal species for a new soul pill while moving through grasslands and mountainous areas around their home. Through his mother, he had servants order low-rank beast souls as well.
In his room, Chi Tao sat cross-legged before the alchemy pot and array structure he'd copied from the local Alchemy Guild. Medicinal ingredients went in first, followed by beast souls.
Normally, no one could refine beast souls into absorbable pure soul fragments without extremely high cultivation or high-order techniques like Nie Li possessed. But with the Library of Heaven's Path, so could he. Throughout the procedure, he applied its guidance until the refined elixir achieved exceptionally high quality.
Those old fogies at the Alchemy Guild would lose their minds seeing this.
He extended his shield to cover the room, then consumed the soul essence pills while running his scripture. The energy flowed perfectly, another step forward on his path of transcendence.