Chapter 5: Active Metal Source

Silence reigned as time slipped away.

Cheng Lingyu had slept for nine days and nights. Upon waking, he noticed striking changes—his entire body had shed dead skin, leaving flesh smooth as jade and brimming with newfound strength.

When he threw a punch, a thunderous boom erupted. His true energy rippled outward, shaking the surroundings.

In the mine, nearby bones crumbled instantly as shockwaves pulsed relentlessly from his fist.

“The Fifth Layer’s Shock Phase. I’ve broken through another barrier.”

Cheng Lingyu marveled. Unaware of his nine-day slumber, he gaped at leaping from the Luck Phase directly to the Shock Phase—an absurdly rapid progression.

Flexing his limbs, he sensed his Physical Body’s enhanced power, distinctly different from before.

Staring at the fractured stone wall, he struggled to recall recent events. Only three hazy words lingered: Dreamless Technique.

“Dreamless Technique… Could this explain my sudden deep sleep? ‘Eternal dreamlessness, thoughts silenced’—how fitting.”

Returning to the Cheng family compound, he faced his father Cheng Yun.

“Where were you? I scoured every corner!” Cheng Yun fretted, anger tinged with relief.

“Cheng Qinghua lured me to Wushan Mine…”

After summarizing events, Cheng Lingyu demanded answers about Qinghua.

“He left three days ago. Joined the Shenhuo Sect as their true disciple.”

Cheng Lingyu stiffened. “How?”

“By merging with a Beast Soul,” Cheng Yun explained. “His special physique earned Shenhuo Sect’s favor.”

In Tianyang Empire, special Constitutions divided into four types: Heavenly Pulse (legendary), Earth Bone (or Sacred Bone, exceedingly rare), Human Blood (unique lineages), and Beast Souls.

Beast Souls manifested two ways:

1. Natural Martial Soul (innate, uncommon).

2. Acquired through merging (lesser than natural, requiring perfect integration).

Cheng Qinghua possessed the latter. Such Constitution granted easy access to Soul Martial Realm and beyond.

“Thirteen years old, yet scheming like a viper!” Cheng Lingyu spat. Being outmaneuvered by a younger boy chafed, despite their differing chances.

“Save your fury. Strengthen yourself first,” Cheng Yun urged. Both Shenhuo and Xuanhuo Sects dwarfed their family. Without power, Revenge remained impossible.

“I’ll surpass them.” Ice hardened Cheng Lingyu’s voice. Years of hardship had forged unyielding resolve.

Three days later, with stabilized cultivation, he entered the library—his first-ever visit.

This was the place where the Cheng family stored their martial techniques, inaccessible to ordinary people.

As a direct disciple, Cheng Lingyu easily entered the library under his father Cheng Yun’s guidance.

The Cheng family’s library held few books, being merely a small clan compared to great sects.

Cheng Lingyu noticed most techniques emphasized pure Yang energy during his rounds, with scarce soft-style manuals.

Familiar with the library from previous visits, Cheng Yun led his son to a corner containing several soft-style martial arts.

Cheng Lingyu carefully examined the books, his attention caught by one titled “Thousand Layers of Snow”.

This manual served both as sword technique and cultivation method.

At peak mastery, a single sword swing could produce a thousand overlapping blades resembling jade-like snow layers, engulfing everything.

To unleash its full power, internal energy must split into a thousand layers matching the sword overlaps – each with distinct compression ratios growing stronger and harder to control, amplifying destructive force exponentially.

Cheng Lingyu immediately favored this peerless sword technique.

He also selected the Yang-style Crimson Sun Slash – the Cheng family’s most formidable recorded technique.

Returning to his courtyard, Cheng Lingyu began earnest cultivation. His current skills – Gathering Yang Technique, Liéyuè Fist, and Soft Silk Technique – proved adequate against common foes but worthless against experts.

While Crimson Sun Slash held merit, Thousand Layers of Snow’s potential dwarfed it.

Cheng Lingyu’s unique constitution stored true energy not in meridians or dantian, but an unknown region.

Through recent exploration, he’d gained partial understanding of his condition.

Each sleep cycle revealed three distinct light points in endless darkness – stellar entities with individual traits.

The first light emerged after Ruo Xue’s death. Witnessing her coffin-bound form, Cheng Lingyu collapsed into darkness, overwhelmed by emotions.

His soul had wrestled endlessly then, nearly consuming his willpower until something fractured audibly.

This granted sudden cultivation ability. The initial faint light in darkness brightened with his growing power – his true energy’s mysterious storage space.

The purple second light connected to black-gold mine sources, while the silver third linked to liquid metal sources – both energy-storing special spaces.

With three internal storage spaces of unknown nature, Cheng Lingyu’s cultivation gained unique advantages.

Unlike ordinary cultivators storing energy in dantian and meridians, he’d pioneered new bodily spaces brimming with mystery.

The Dreamless Technique in his mind proved miraculous, enabling instant deep sleep that optimized bodily functions and harmonized with external energies, accelerating cultivation impossibly fast.

The two active metal sources within him had mutated imperceptibly, continuously altering his physique beneath the surface.

During Gathering Yang practice, the metal sources remained undetectable. But when training Thousand Layers of Snow, Cheng Lingyu felt them permeate every cell and blood droplet, gradually transforming his physical body.

Thousand Layers of Snow’s principles involved exponentially dividing true energy – splitting halves into quarters, eighths, sixteenths, continuing a thousandfold to unimaginable extremes.

“Thousand” here symbolized infinity rather than literal quantity.

Though active metal source molecules eluded ordinary cultivators, they posed no obstacle for Thousand Layers of Snow.

Starting from basics, Cheng Lingyu implemented the technique’s ultimate tempering method within his bodily limits.

The grueling first-stage Body Tempering consumed a full month, including twelve days/nights of deep sleep.

This foundation-rebuilding process yielded astonishing results – three inches of height gain, light-purple taut skin, refined pores, and enhanced organs, blood, meridians, and bones.

The Energy Gathering stage completed swiftly through three sleep-filled days/nights, optimizing his condition.

Critical Power Gathering required thirty-six days, boosting his single-hand strength from 1,000 to 10,000 pounds – shattering geniuses’ 3,000-pound benchmarks.

The Ordinary Martial Realm’s Fourth Layer – Luck Phase – involved externalizing true energy for telekinetic feats.

While others focused on emission range/strength, Cheng Lingyu prioritized quantity and variation.

Applying Thousand Layers of Snow’s principles, he simultaneously projected 128 true energy streams – multiple task execution beyond ordinary capability.

Fifth Layer’s Shock Phase employed shockwave attacks.

Here, Thousand Layers of Snow shone brighter – overlapping shockwaves from multiple energy streams unleashed multiplicative destructive force, overwhelming same-realm opponents.

Three months of training transformed Cheng Lingyu, effortlessly reaching Sixth Layer’s Shape Change Phase where true energy formed dozens of external phantoms.

Shape Change materialized energy into dragons, tigers, flowers, fish – terrifying visuals crushing opponents psychologically.

While most manifested 1-2 phantoms, Cheng Lingyu’s dozens-to-hundreds proved unparalleled.

Shiyang Town remained peaceful these months, Cheng disciples training routinely while ignoring their “worthless” clansman.

That afternoon, Cheng Lingyu left Cheng Manor to buy memorial fruits for Ruo Xue, encountering Cheng youths harassing Yiyun Calligraphy Academy students.

The small town’s academy had few students – Cheng Lingyu knew them all from seven study years.

Where he’d previously intervened with persuasion, now only disgust filled his eyes.