Chapter 132: Third Stage Initial Body Refinement (Part One)
Chapter 132: Third Stage Initial Body Refinement (Part One)
As soon as Tang Jinbiao woke up, he felt refreshed and clear-headed. A constant stream of power burst out from within his body, giving him unending strength throughout his entire being.
“Huh?”
Upon seeing such a reaction after just slightly moving his limbs, Tang Jinbiao was slightly startled.
“Did I advance just by sleeping?”
Feeling that power inside his body, Tang Jinbiao couldn’t help but throw a punch at a dried-up large tree nearby.
Boom!
After throwing that punch, Tang Jinbiao immediately felt an invisible force erupt from within, surge through the meridians in his body, and burst out from his fist.
Bang!
A visible yellow glow shot out from Tang Jinbiao’s fist and struck the tree in the distance with a heavy thud.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Because that old tree was already dead and dried up, Tang Jinbiao’s punch shattered it directly into fragments, blowing it apart.
“What?”
Tang Jinbiao had not realized at all how incredibly powerful his punch was. A look of shock appeared in his eyes.
Before, when he used all his strength, he could only break a tree as thick as a thigh, and he had been scolded countless times by Huang Biaozi for it. Now, with just a casual punch having that kind of power, he couldn’t help but be startled.
“Could it be I’ve gotten stronger? Or is it all an illusion?”
Tang Jinbiao muttered to himself, doubting if he was really awake.
Boom!
Seeming to confirm that thought in his mind, Tang Jinbiao turned around and threw another punch at a different large tree.
Bang!
Sure enough, the same feeling returned. An endless power surged from within his body, flowed through his arm, and that yellow Qi energy reappeared. It crashed into the dried-up tree, which exploded with a bang into fragments.
“Me… illusion, illusion, yes, it must be an illusion!”
Tang Jinbiao had thought it was just an illusion earlier. After this punch destroyed another dried tree, he was speechless, but he still didn’t quite believe he had become so strong so suddenly.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
However, Tang Jinbiao didn’t stop. He swung his fists once more and delivered punch after punch at the dried trees around him.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
With each punch Tang Jinbiao threw, the Qi energy formed by those yellow fist glows wrecked those dried trees.
If a high-tier Body Refiner had been there, they would have recognized immediately that this was the fist Qi energy emerging from the body—something only a Third-tier Body Refiner could achieve!
Although the Body Refiner tier division was as simple as First Tier, Second Tier, Third Tier, each tier corresponded to different supernatural abilities.
For instance, the First Tier Body Refiners focused on honing sinews and bones. Like the roots of a large tree, only when the roots grew deep could the tree become tall and big!
When Tang Jinbiao first started Body Refining, luckily Huang Biaozi guided him. Though he got a bit lazy later, his foundation remained solid enough.
As for the Second Tier of Body Refining, it stressed the practice of skin and flesh. After the sinews and bones hardened, one then tempered the skin and flesh. That phase aimed to forge skin and flesh to be as tough as metal or stone.
When Second Tier skin and flesh refinement reached its limit, the body would turn into a state of Petrification. At this point, the Third Tier was attained.
After a Body Refiner attained the Third Tier, becoming more physically rigid was only secondary; the crucial point was that a Pseudo Qi Sea would form inside the body.
Speaking of the Pseudo Qi Sea, the Qi Sea naturally had to be mentioned.
What was the Qi Sea?
The Qi Sea was the source of a Body Refiner’s power, the very foundation enabling a Body Refiner to become a formidable entity!
If a Body Refiner lacked a Qi Sea, no matter how strong the body was, it would just be a wild beast, like lions or tigers. Even if large and fierce, beasts were beasts, utterly incomparable to humans, as they were merely foolish animals incapable of thinking like humans.
Similarly, if a Body Refiner lacked a Qi Sea, they couldn’t compare to Cultivators and definitely didn’t qualify as Cultivators!
The role of the Qi Sea resembled a Cultivator’s Golden Core—yet while the Golden Core stored Spiritual Energy, a Body Refiner’s Qi Sea stored Qi Energy.
Cultivators needed only to cultivate to a certain stage; through the Spiritual Energy inside them, they could fly or tunnel through the earth. Body Refiners were different—only when they formed a Qi Sea could they overcome gravity via the Qi Energy emitted from their Qi Sea, achieving flight. Even so, the mechanisms of the two were on entirely different levels.
Cultivators attained flight by harmonizing with space itself, while Body Refiners flew by defeating their own gravity—the superiority of one over the other was clear at a glance.
Of course, this didn’t mean Body Refiners were worthless.
In fact, when Cultivators fought Body Refiners, Body Refiners often held great advantages.
Logically, when Body Refiners first began training, their bodies were frail, and their combat skills couldn’t match Cultivators, since Cultivators could use various Talisman Papers and Spirit Artifacts. If any foolhardy Body Refiner dared fight a Cultivator, wasn’t that a death wish?
Moreover, Cultivators had innate perks—if things got tough, they could fly up! “Ah, I’m above you now; what can you do? Unhappy? Come hit me if you dare!”
But theory was just theory!
Actual situations played out oppositely, completely messily.
In early-stage battles between many cultivators and Body Refiners, the Body Refiners solidly suppressed them. Because during fights, most cultivators instinctively tried to engage Body Refiners physically while obsessing over accumulating thick Magical Power, resulting in a chaotic outcome against the Body Refiners.
This fostered an illusion throughout the cultivation world: Body Refiners were invincible early on.
In reality, early Cultivators weren’t defeated by any invincibility; they chased after flashy Spells, neglecting practical combat. Ordinary Cultivators panicked upon meeting Body Refiners, failing to use their full strength, which perpetuated that illusion.
Conversely, Body Refiners—weak at the start—became truly unbeatable later on.
Sadly, advancing further proved tougher for Body Refiners, more so than for cultivators. Across the entire Divine Wind Continent, high-tier Body Refiners were scarce, especially compared to cultivators.
Naturally, to soothe their egos, those cultivators spread rumors: “Body Refining is useless later! Stop it and just seek immortality! What? You doubt it? Fine, find a high-tier Body Refiner to spar with me! See? You can’t find any! If they don’t exist, they must be worthless!”
It could seem funny sometimes—many things worked one way in theory but played out backwards in reality. So people created new theories for solace.
(Don’t mock—many cases existed. Like, if you said chicken eggs tasted bad, someone countered, “Eggs taste bad? Lay one yourself! Can’t? Then how dare you criticize?”)
Thus, the Qi Sea’s importance was self-evident: only after reaching the Fourth Tier could a Body Refiner truly master the path of Body Refining.
Of course, what formed in Tang Jinbiao’s body wasn’t the true Qi Sea, merely a Pseudo Qi Sea.
This Pseudo Qi Sea was weaker than the true one, storing less Qi Energy—just a chaotic ball of Qi Energy. Yet even then, it enabled a Body Refiner to achieve Qi Energy Emission.
Once a Body Refiner could emit Qi Energy, they finally had the strength to contest against Cultivators.
Boom boom boom!
Tang Jinbiao punched out repeatedly based solely on instinct. Flailing yellow Qi Energy flew everywhere, smashing tree after tree. Dozens of surrounding trees turned to dust in moments.
Tang Jinbiao’s such strength and progress entirely resulted from that Nirvana Pill Wang Hanyu had given him. He never imagined that hastily swallowing the pill back then just to prevent it from expiring would actually save his life at that crucial moment.
The potency of the Nirvana Pill was beyond question. This single elixir directly propelled Tang Jinbiao past Body Refining Second Tier, thrusting him into Body Refining Third Tier. Its medicinal force was terrifyingly potent. If Wang Hanyu hadn’t tampered with it, his body would undoubtedly have exploded upon taking it.
“Body Refining Third Tier! I really did reach Body Refining Third Tier!”
After throwing dozens of punches that reduced the surrounding trees to splinters, Tang Jinbiao finally ceased. He stared at his clenched fists, murmuring in disbelief.
This outcome startled Tang Jinbiao. Back then, his mind solely screamed “run,” “escape.” He hadn’t anticipated that after stumbling and falling, then rising once more, he’d skipped Body Refining Second Tier entirely, directly reaching Body Refining Third Tier.
The distinctions and classifications between the various tiers of Body Refiners were etched clearly in his mind.
First Tier: Tempering sinews and bones.
Second Tier: Hardening skin and muscles.
Third Tier: Petrification of the body; formation of a Pseudo Qi Sea; ability for Qi Energy Emission, enabling attacks without physical contact!
Fourth Tier: Formation of the true Qi Sea; capability for flight and tunneling through earth; strength rivaling Cultivators.
Fifth Tier: Rebirthing blood and refining bones; genuine metamorphosis to break personal shackles; utterly overpowering ordinary Cultivators.
Sixth Tier: Martial force shattering the void; making one unbeatable in conflict.
Seventh Tier: Transcending tribulations and ascending; achieving the legend of Martial Sainthood.
He understood every tier of the Body Refiner path with absolute clarity. Now, discovering his ability for Qi Energy Emission, Tang Jinbiao knew without doubt he was at minimum a Body Refining Third Tier cultivator.
His current strength was comparable to a Core Formation Cultivator. He was no longer the helpless, insignificant First Tier Body Refiner. He was no longer the minor character incapable of handling even top Mortal martial artists. If he wished, martial arts masters like Captain Wang could be eradicated by the thousands with a mere flick of his smallest finger. Fraillings like the former Tang Xingchi? Pulverized to dust with a single punch!
This transformation struck too fast, overwhelmingly abrupt – so much he could scarcely accept it.
The sensation mirrored the disbelief of casually buying a lottery ticket during a stroll, stuffing it in a pocket without any anticipation of a win. Returning the next day merely to check “just in case,” only to pull out the ticket and realize in dazed shock: one hit the jackpot. The monumental jackpot.
Crackle! Pop!
Tang Jinbiao slowly unclenched his fists, then tightened them again. Qi Energy surged from his internal Pseudo Qi Sea, bursting forth with audible crackles and pops.
BOOM!
Feeling that raw force surge through him, Tang Jinbiao couldn’t resist punching the ground outright.
THUD!
A blast of yellow Qi Energy erupted upon impact. It instantly excavated a hemispherical crater, roughly one foot long in diameter and nearly one foot deep.
“Holy shit!”
Soil splattered across his face. Yet, witnessing such destruction wrought solely by his fist’s explosive force, Tang Jinbiao couldn’t stifle the vulgar outburst.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Immediately, Tang Jinbiao hammered the ground seven or eight more times. The earth shattered as if struck by consecutive landmines. Within a blink, an identical crater marred the ground each time, leaving the area instantly pockmarked and uneven.
“God damn it! World-devastating power!”
Surveying the miniature craters he’d created, Tang Jinbiao stood at their edge, unable to suppress yet another curse.
But even as he uttered these words, a crippling wave of exhaustion and weakness slammed into him without any warning…