Chapter 10: Absorbing the Blood Essence + Poll
“The martial way is different from spiritual cultivation. There is no Qi Gathering or Foundation Establishment Realm. Instead, both realms are combined into the Body Transformation Realm. There are six stages in the Body Transformation Realm: Skin Toughening, Muscle Strengthening, Tendon Reinforcement, Bone Refinement, Marrow Enhancement, and Organ Fortification. The first three stages correlate to the Qi Gathering Realm while the latter three correlate to the Foundation Establishment Realm."
"Following the cultivation method, you will take in qi to alter your skin, making it more elastic and tougher than bronze. Then you alter your muscles, making them dense and tough, capable of exerting incredible strength and able to store qi within. Afterward, changing the tendon, so it becomes more durable and flexible enough to absorb all stress."
The next phase would be to strengthen the bone, making it supple with the strength of steel. From which, the cultivator will experience a qualitative change like a spiritual cultivator entering the Foundation Establishment Realm from the Qi Gathering Realm. After the bones have been altered, the marrows will be fundamentally changed. Despite this not being the last stage, it is the most difficult and dangerous process. Once you reach this stage, new blood that can absorb and retain qi will be circulated throughout the body, slowly altering the body without input."
"Once the changes have slowed down, then you can enter the Organ Fortification Stage. This stage is the most arduous and time-consuming process, but once it is done, the body will enter a perfect state that is comparable to a pseudo Core Formation Realm cultivator."
"However, if there is a mistake in the alteration process, the body will be imperfect. You will be stuck in the Body Transformation Realm until you can fix the imperfect.”
Tianyi listened intently as his mother spoke about the early stages of the martial path, her insights greatly deepening Tianyi's understanding of how to cultivate the Dragon Emperor Fist.
“The Dragon Emperor Fist at the early stages is not that outstanding and also requires the blood essence of a dragon after completing the Foundation Establishment. The purer the blood of the dragon, the better. After you finished the perfect Body Transformation, the process can be simply referred to as refining the blood within you to become purer and purer with the end goal of eventually attaining blood similar to the True Dragon. This will continue even after entering the Acupoint Opening Realm, the martial cultivation equivalent of the Core Formation Realm. After each refinement of blood, you will alter your body once more to eventually become a human-shaped dragon."
"You were fortunate enough to attain the blood essence of the Dragon Emperor even though the essence had weakened considerably. The Dragon Emperor’s body could be said to be unequaled even compared to True Dragon, and there is no better blood to use to cultivate the Dragon Emperor Fist."
"If it were an average cultivator of the Dragon Emperor Fist, they would need to seek out numerous treasures to refine their blood, there is a shortcut, and that is to directly take the blood essence of higher rank dragons. But that is nearly impossible in this day and age, not to mention the chance that your body cannot contain the pureblood essence of a dragon resulting in it exploding. So until you reach the Dragon Emperor’s level, you will not need to worry about treasures or attaining dragon blood until then."