Chapter 325: Fishing
At this stage, an ordinary Martial Artist with insufficient talent and constitution would often have to spend seven or eight years honing their foundation. Even those with decent aptitude would need no less than two or three years of arduous cultivation to even begin Refining the Internal Organs.
But Xu Yunfan was in a league of his own. With every breath, his Powerful Qi automatically completed a heavenly circulation. His Pure Yang True Qi nourished his internal organs until they were as lustrous as jade, making his entry into the Organ Cultivation Realm a natural progression.
’Being this overpowered is fun.’
But it was also a natural progression. After all, he had long since cultivated his Yijing Marrow Cleansing Skill to the Great Success stage, making him fully qualified to start tempering his internal organs.
The Ten Extremes Martial Arts incorporated elements from many top techniques for the Organ Cultivation Realm, such as the Taoist Sect’s peerless Five Qi Formation Method from within the Golden Locking Jade Twelve Formulas, and the Profound Daoist Sect’s Dragon Tiger Celestial Spirits.
But in Xu Yunfan’s opinion, the Ten Extremes Martial Arts was only successfully integrated because Dugu Jiu had used the sheer power of his high-realm cultivation at the Ninth Realm to force it. It could push the physical body to its absolute limits, even to the point of achieving Mental Transformation.
As for Chen Hong, Xu Yunfan hadn’t made a move. Instead, he was using him as bait, hoping he might catch a Flood Dragon.
Although the man was already deeply suspicious, Xu Yunfan had observed him in silence for several days. He could see that Chen Hong was still clinging to a sliver of hope. After all, fundamentally, Chen Hong’s standing within the sect was more legitimate and proper than his own; he would never dare to leave without permission unless it was a last resort.
To Xu Yunfan’s slight disappointment, Chen Hong had been keeping a low profile and acting obediently these past few days, making no unusual moves.
So, he stopped paying close attention to him, reined in his Heart and Spirit, and ceased to be distracted by external matters. He then immersed himself in the profound mysteries of the *Ten Extremes Martial Arts*.
According to the Ten Extremes Martial Arts, once the Mixed Element Seed formed in the body, it was like a seed from the dawn of chaos. Lodged deep at the intersection of flesh and blood, it connected one’s qi and blood, breathing in and out pure, Powerful Qi.
This Powerful Qi traveled along the muscles, membranes, and bone structures, seeping into the internal organs like spring rain nurturing all things, and began the initial tempering process.
The Ten Extremes Martial Arts absorbed the principles of many organ-refining Martial Arts, positing that the liver belongs to the element of Wood, its qi like a spring shoot bursting with life.
The heart belongs to Fire, its momentum like a raging, ascending flame.
The spleen belongs to Earth, its nature like the supportive ground beneath.
The lungs belong to Metal, their sharpness like that of a blade unsheathed.
The kidneys belong to Water, their rhythm like the deep flow of a Cold Pool.
In this world’s Martial Dao, the stage of Refining the Internal Organs emphasized the Five Elements and the five major organs. One used Powerful Qi to stimulate the creation of the Five Elements’ qi, which then circulated endlessly among the organs, transforming through the cycle of birth and destruction. When the organs were tempered to a certain point, the five organ-qi would in turn nourish the Powerful Qi. A thin film of Gang Qi would then condense on the surface of the body—the sign of Qi Transformation into Gang!
Once he reached this stage, every move Xu Yunfan made would be wreathed in Gang Qi. Before his fist or palm even arrived, the powerful wind it generated would be enough to crush all opposition.
The Protective Gang Force, which an ordinary Martial Artist in the Organ Cultivation Realm would need a Secret Technique to activate, flowed as naturally as breathing for him. This was the domineering power of the Ten Extremes Martial Arts, a technique that forged a hundred different disciplines into one. It refined all five types of organ qi—liver-Wood, heart-Fire, spleen-Earth, lung-Metal, and kidney-Water—and transformed their cycle of Five Elements of Birth and Destruction into the Ten Extremes Mixed Element Gang Qi.
In this respect, the Ten Extremes Martial Arts could be called truly comprehensive, as it refined all five qi of the internal organs. However, this also meant it required a massive amount of time for repeated tempering.
Good thing Xu Yunfan had his Attribute Panel.
If it were anyone else—not to mention the risk of their body exploding—simply tempering the organs to achieve Five Qi Perfection would take at least twenty or thirty years.
Without the thirty years of arduous cultivation memories infused by the Attribute Panel, just tempering the five organs according to the Ten Extremes Martial Arts would have taken decades. That’s not even considering the Five Qi Unity phase, where the slightest misstep could lead to qi and blood flowing in reverse, or in a severe case, the outright rupture of one’s organs.
Even with his Jade Marrow Golden Bone foundation from achieving Great Success in the Yijing Marrow Cleansing Skill, supplemented by the Refined Gold Internal Organ Elixir and the Ginseng Child, it still took Xu Yunfan a full month just to get his foot in the door.
He had plucked so many of the Ginseng Child’s roots that the Ten Thousand Year Ginseng King was almost bald.
Xu Yunfan figured that once he reached the Ninth Realm, he could probably just swallow the Ginseng Child whole.
’Some of these steps are completely wasted effort.’
Using the cultivation memories transmitted to his mind by the Attribute Panel, Xu Yunfan slowly began making adjustments, hoping to better suit the technique to himself.
’The circulation path for the kidney’s Water qi is redundant. It actually detours through the flesh and blood three times...’
The cultivation memories fed back by the Attribute Panel flickered through his mind, allowing Xu Yunfan to observe from a completely comprehensive perspective. He then began to correct the twelve inefficient qi circulation routes in Dugu Jiu’s original Ten Extremes Martial Arts, one by one.
The results proved that the corrections he’d made over the past few days were perfectly viable.
His Gang Qi grew more condensed as a result.
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「Seven days passed in a flash. It was now time for the Great Zhou’s Imperial Martial Examinations to begin.」
The morning mist had not yet dispersed when Chen Hong, a disciple of the Taoist Sect, was already standing outside Xu Yunfan’s private courtyard, lightly tapping the bronze door knocker.
"Senior Brother Xu, the preliminary rounds of the martial examination begin at 7:45 AM."
Chen Hong reported respectfully through the gate. "Per Cui Peak Leader’s orders, your name has already been submitted to the martial register at the Imperial Examination Hall. However..."
His tone faltered, laced with confusion.
"The Sect specifically instructed that you must start from the Martial Arts Arenas of the Seventy-Two Districts and advance through the ranks one by one."
"Oh?"
The courtyard gate let out a heavy CREAK in the morning mist as Xu Yunfan strode out, walking down the bluestone steps.
Beneath his indigo robes, his Dragon Scale Armor glinted with a dark golden luster. The pair of Shaking Mountain Sea-Suppressing Hammers at his waist hummed deeply with his movements, the patterns on their faces occasionally shimmering with the light of the Earth Veins. On his back, the Red Fire Dragon-Swallowing Mace rested like a coiled crimson dragon.
But the most eye-catching of all was the Sky-Sundering Cloud-Piercing Bow slung over his left shoulder. Although this Divine Weapon, which he had forcibly taken from the Sword Burial Abyss, had not yet fully acknowledged him as its master, it was gradually being tamed as his strength increased. The bowstring hummed with a clear, resonant sound of its own accord.
Even more discreet was the vest he wore close to his skin: Yuu Congling’s Extreme Dao Relic Shell. This hide, suspected to be a Celestial Demon Relic Shell, was unbelievably durable; even a Tier Seven Divine Weapon couldn’t scratch it.
He raised an eyebrow at Chen Hong. "A True Inheritor of the Taoist Sect has to compete on the same stage as common Wandering Cultivators?"
Seeing Xu Yunfan emerge from the courtyard decked out in divine armaments, Chen Hong felt his eyes ache from the sheer brilliance. He had never in his life seen one person carrying so many Divine Weapons.
Forget the Six Great Sects; even among other Sects that boasted a Nine Realms Qi Cultivation Supreme Grandmaster, some were still using mere Treasure Artifacts.
Chen Hong was also baffled. "I... I’m not very clear on the details, either. It was a specific requirement from the Sect."
Xu Yunfan nodded slightly. ’It must be related to that ritual,’ he guessed.
"Lead the way."
"Yes!"
Chen Hong replied respectfully, not daring to act out of line in the slightest. The fact that Xu Yunfan had a Nine Realms Qi Cultivation Supreme Grandmaster for a Guardian was proof enough of his revered status within the Taoist Sect.
A few other Taoist Sect disciples brought a horse and carriage forward. Chen Hong stood by the shafts, his eyes flickering beneath his lowered lids as his fingertips unconsciously toyed with a cold Token hidden in his sleeve.
He glanced at Xu Yunfan’s back out of the corner of his eye, his Adam’s apple bobbing once before he lowered his gaze completely.
The carriage rumbled over the bluestone roads of Jade Capital’s Seventy-Two Districts, its noise mingling with a distant, tide-like roar of a crowd.
The moment the carriage curtain was lifted, a wave of sound washed over them. The CLANG of weapons on the martial arts stages, the hoarse shouts of gamblers placing bets, and the cries of vendors hawking iced sour plum drink all mingled with the stench of sweat and perfume, churning the dry heat of early summer into something thick and sticky.
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