Chapter 12: Cultivation is Hard, Body Refining is Harder (Part One)
Chapter 12: Cultivation is Hard, Body Refining is Harder (Part One)
“I…”
Huang Biaozi was momentarily at a loss for words.
“You didn’t really pick my name, did you? I used to think this name was so damn classy and stylish, understated yet luxurious and profound! Now it just screams trashy wannabe noble dynasty nonconformist! Hand over the Heaven-rank Cultivation Technique this instant, or I swear I’m not finished with you today!”
Seeing Huang Biaozi looking a bit flustered, Tang Jinbiao swore even more fiercely.
“Young master, calm down, ease up! This old man dares to guarantee, your name absolutely wasn’t given by me. However, your great-grandfather and I did cross paths once…”
Trying to soothe Tang Jinbiao’s injured pride, Huang Biaozi began to explain slowly.
“Screw that! If you don’t give me a Heaven-rank Cultivation Technique, I won’t learn anything at all!”
Right now, Tang Jinbiao only had eyes for a Heaven-rank Cultivation Technique. Though he didn’t fully grasp the concept himself, he knew enough after spending time in this world.
On the Divine Wind Continent, cultivation techniques numbered in the millions. But regardless of the specific art, all fell within four ranks: Heaven, Earth, Mystic, and Yellow. Yellow Tier Cultivation Art was naturally the lowest rank, followed by Mystic, Earth, and Heaven. Furthermore, each rank was subdivided into Low, Middle, High, and Peak tiers.
Generally, a Qi Condensation Fourth Layer cultivator using a Yellow-tier Low-grade Cultivation Art could cast only ten or eight simple Fireball Techniques at once. With a Yellow-tier Middle-grade technique, casting twenty or thirty wouldn’t be difficult. For a Yellow-tier High-grade, forty or fifty was natural, and with a Yellow-tier Peak technique, eighty to a hundred was trivial. Simply put, the more advanced the technique, the deeper the cultivator’s Spiritual Energy reserves became. Of course, a high-tier technique demanded extraordinary effort; what you reaped was what you sowed.
As for Mystic-rank techniques, they were on a completely different level than Yellow-tier. If judging Yellow-tier arts by the number of Fireballs a Qi Condensation Fourth Layer cultivator could fire, Mystic-tier was measured by the power behind a single Fireball. The two really couldn’t be compared.
Earth and Heaven-rank? Forget it. Only an idiot would try to cultivate such brain-dead arts during the Qi Condensation Stage; it was basically digging their own grave. If you attempted Earth or Heaven-rank techniques while still condensing Qi, you’d watch peers who started alongside you already reaching Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, and even Nascent Soul Stage while you were still struggling between Qi Condensation layers one through seven.
“Young master, don’t be in such a hurry! Listen to me explain. This old man has Heaven-rank Cultivation Techniques to spare! I’m just afraid even if I gave it to you, you couldn’t cultivate it! You can’t become a fat man with a single bite, can you? You can’t sleep with your wife tonight and expect a son tomorrow, right?”
Huang Biaozi didn’t seem pressed at all, explaining slowly.
“Stop spouting nonsense about women all damn day! Women are the last thing I want to hear about right now! My mind isn’t as filthy as yours!”
The moment Huang Biaozi brought women up again within three sentences, Tang Jinbiao exploded with curses.
“I…”
Huang Biaozi was speechless, though inwardly he cursed, Damn it, you hypocritical beast! Don’t think I don’t know what you’re really thinking?
“Alright, young master. Want a Heaven-rank Cultivation Technique? I can give it to you. But not until after you reach the Nascent Soul Stage at the very earliest! Otherwise, even if you got it, you’d just be wasting your life away! What you need right now is a Yellow-tier Low-grade Cultivation Art. With your talent, plus the materials and resources that old man provides, along with this old man’s guidance, I guarantee it! Within a year, your strength will rival a typical Foundation Establishment Cultivator. Reach Core Formation Cultivator level within a decade. Form your Nascent Soul within a century, refine your Nascent Soul within three centuries, and transcend the tribulation within a millennium! How’s that? Fast enough? Satisfying enough?” Huang Biaozi continued.
“Are you saying… you’re personally scripting hacks for me?”
Tang Jinbiao frowned slightly, not entirely clear on the timescales Huang Biaozi mentioned, but it did sound impressive.
Huang Biaozi hadn’t heard this term before and asked, puzzled, “Hacks?”
“Yeah, hacks. Like… cheats!”
Tang Jinbiao suddenly felt a flicker of hope. He’d resigned himself to a life of mediocrity as a loser, but it didn’t make sense for his story arc to end like that. Now, with Huang Biaozi, this self-proclaimed founder of the Way of Deception and old charlatan, offering guidance, it might actually work. After all, he clearly witnessed the conversation with the Third Elder earlier – no action taken, only Huang Biaozi’s words made the Third Elder completely loyal.
“Haha! Exactly, hacks! So, how about it? Follow me in learning the Way of Deception? The moment you learn it, old man guarantees you’ll become a Three-Step Great Power within a century! There won’t be a single Great World across the three thousand you can’t set foot in!”
Seeing an opening, Huang Biaozi immediately steered the conversation back to the matter of the Way of Deception.
“Argh! No, no! I just want to cultivate right now! Fine, give me a Yellow-tier Cultivation Art! I’ll start cultivating today!”
Tang Jinbiao refused outright. In his previous world, though a loser, he always considered himself kind-hearted. The word ‘deception’, even if packaged as a ‘way’, likely involved schemes and swindles, and he wasn’t keen on that.
“Today?”
Huang Biaozi was startled.
“Yes! Today! I can’t wait any longer! I need to settle the score with those two punks today! They dared to bully me!”
The memory of the earlier humiliation at the hands of Tang Xingchi and Tang Huaxi rekindled Tang Jinbiao’s hatred.
In the other world, he could only vent his dissatisfaction by grumbling to himself, cursing silently, or ranting online. Actually confronting anyone in real life was out of the question; he could only endure silently. But this place wasn’t that world. He had decided to live here now. In this world where everyone cultivated, he couldn’t afford to be dead weight every day. He had to cultivate, to gain the ability needed to survive here.
“Alright, since young brother has made up his mind, this old man Huang Biaozi won’t say more. However, due to the Heavenly Spirit possession earlier, young brother’s Spiritual Root dissipated. Until you’ve attained the Nascent Soul stage, you cannot cultivate ordinary Spells. So now, the only path available is another one. You likely already know this, yes? Precisely, the Body Refining Technique, which Immortal Seekers call an inferior method! Hmph! The Cultivators in this world are all shortsighted and vulgar, utterly failing to grasp that Body Refining is the very foundation for those who cultivate! Only a powerful physique is the true path to supremacy! Hehe, of course, the body requires the mind to support and command it. While the path of Body Refining is indeed a superior Great Dao, it still falls slightly short compared to the Way of Deception. How about it, young brother? Perhaps you should learn the Way of Deception with this old master instead?”
From the moment Tang Jinbiao became aware of Huang Biaozi’s presence, the two had only interacted for a few short hours. Yet Huang Biaozi relentlessly chattered away at Tang Jinbiao with excessive enthusiasm, acting entirely like an old friend and teacher.
“Alright, alright, I get it! Stop rambling and just give me the technique!”
Tang Jinbiao didn’t want to hear any of this and hurriedly urged him on.
“Not just yet, young brother. Your body is far too weak; you aren’t yet at a stage where cultivation techniques can be practiced. What you need most right now is Body Refining. I will only impart the technique once you have trained your physique to a certain level of strength, able to withstand the rigors of the Body Refining method!”
Huang Biaozi wasn’t in a hurry to give Tang Jinbiao the technique; instead, he introduced a new requirement.
“Training? How do I train?”
Tang Jinbiao was already starting to sound impatient, his usual endurance and patience from pursuing the Goddess seemingly vanished, replaced by a distinct restlessness now.
“Hehe, very simple. Running!”
Huang Biaozi chuckled lightly and stated the method plainly.
“Running? Are you sure you aren’t messing with me? Just running? If that’s all it took, wouldn’t those marathon athletes all be Body Refining Cultivators?”
Hearing this training method, Tang Jinbiao’s respect for Huang Biaozi took another dip.
“Marathon?”
Huang Biaozi had never heard this word before.
“Forget it! Just tell me how to run!”
Tang Jinbiao seemed downright irritable at this point, clearly unwilling to listen to anything else.
“Haha, since young brother insists! Then, starting now, you will run down from this mountain peak to its base, and then run right back up!”
Huang Biaozi sensed Tang Jinbiao’s frustration and a sly smile appeared on his face.
Tang Jinbiao frowned. “That simple?”
Huang Biaozi gave a sly laugh. “Heheh, whether it’s simple or not, you’ll find out as soon as you run!”
“Fine! I’ll run!”
Tang Jinbiao agreed outright.
Thump! Thump!
Tang Jinbiao’s body jolted, and his eyes snapped open. Clearly, no profound light shone within them; rather, they radiated palpable impatience. He cursed inwardly: Damn Huang Biaozi, what’s with this Body Refining crap? I’m no laborer doing heavy lifting! Shouldn’t I at least be aiming for a foreman’s job?
“Young brother, no cursing! This old man knows precisely what you’re thinking. You just focus on your run. Slowly, you will discover its… remarkable qualities!”
Just as Tang Jinbiao finished cursing mentally, Huang Biaozi’s creaky voice resounded once more from the depths of his consciousness.
“Damn it! Ptooey!”
Tang Jinbiao swore out loud and spat a wad of thick spit onto the ground beside him.
After cursing, he also stood up, stretched his back, moved his legs and feet around, did a few perfunctory warm-up movements, took several deep breaths, and then started running down the mountain path towards the foot.
Huff! Huff! Huff!
Tang Jinbiao moved without restraint, his feet throwing him down the path in massive, leaping strides. Each step covered roughly half a zhang. Within just a dozen or so breaths, he’d dashed over ten zhang down.
The breeze whistled past his ears! His steps were lightfooted and bold!
Tang Jinbiao felt he looked, damn it, just like an athlete right then. Fuck Liu Xiang or Bolt – they were nothing, mere weaklings!
The four or five hundred zhang – over a kilometer – of mountain path passed in the time it took to finish a cup of tea. He reached the base.
“Hmph, it’s just running? Back in my fighting days, I ran way faster than this!”
Upon reaching the bottom, Tang Jinbiao felt absolutely no fatigue. Instead, he was exhilarated, letting out a disdainful snort as if deliberately aiming his words at Huang Biaozi.
“Hehe, young brother, the matter isn’t concluded, oh!”
Huang Biaozi didn’t seem surprised at all. He chuckled softly, his creaky voice echoing inside Tang Jinbiao’s head.
“Dammit! Running, is it? Whirlwind Charge!”
Tang Jinbiao cursed again. He didn’t choose to rest but instead planted his feet once more and surged forward in the same massive, leaping strides back up towards the peak…