My Artifacts Can Upgrade Infinitely

In the blink of an eye, five days passed. During this time, Zhao Zuo even cut back on his Artifact Refining and completely gave up on grinding away at the Hidden Blade Giant Sword. He focused on practicing the Golden Body Technique. After several sleepless days and nights of tireless effort, he made tremendous progress with the technique.

First, Zhao Zuo had grown accustomed to the eighteen movements. His physical strength had increased by several hundred more pounds of force. Most importantly, while mastering these movements, he hadn’t used any Vajra Pills for assistance. After five days, Zhao Zuo’s frame had shrunk by a size, but his overall physique looked more coordinated, as lean and hard as cast iron.

Tonight, he planned to try practicing all eighteen movements of the Golden Body Technique consecutively. First, he ate five pounds of Demon Beast meat to fill his stomach, then immediately struck a rather strange pose in the courtyard. His muscles trembled slightly, and beneath his skin, wisps of Qi Blood could be seen circulating at high speed.

Seeing the time was right, Zhao Zuo immediately formed a seal with his hands.

With a sudden low growl, the Vajra Seal was complete. His Qi Blood violently swelled and erupted, bursting from his heart with the force of a mountain-collapsing tsunami. At this moment, he finally understood why Xue Liang had been so obsessed with his heart, and also why Demon Beast hearts could enhance one’s physique.

The heart is the very source of the body’s Qi Blood, and also where it is stored when at rest. The sound of his heartbeat was like the dense drumming on a battlefield, constantly pumping Qi Blood to every part of his body.

One pose, two poses, three poses.

Although Zhao Zuo’s movements were somewhat awkward, he managed to maintain a continuous flow. He then moved to the next pose. White steam billowed upwards, and the blood coursing through his veins even made a faint gurgling sound.

Suddenly, a somewhat dazzling Golden Light bloomed from the surface of his body. The skin across his entire form vibrated nonstop, humming faintly.

During the Quenching process, Zhao Zuo suddenly felt his Qi Blood begin to wane. As planned, he quickly took out a Vajra Pill coated in gold lacquer, chewed, and swallowed it.

The gold lacquer on the Vajra Pill’s surface dissolved almost instantly upon contact with his saliva. A potent medicinal flavor then assaulted his taste buds—somewhat bitter, somewhat spicy, and scorching hot, as if he were holding a burning coal in his mouth. It felt like molten lava flowing from his mouth down into his stomach.

The extreme heat instantly transformed into searing Qi Blood. Zhao Zuo’s body temperature rose rapidly, and the white steam erupting from him suddenly multiplied severalfold, seeming to converge into a white pillar of air that shot toward the sky.

At this moment, Zhao Zuo had no time to think. He could only rely on his muscle memory to continue with the next movements of the Golden Technique. He transitioned from awkwardness to proficiency, holding each pose for ten minutes to achieve the optimal Quenching effect before moving to the next.

The eighth pose, the ninth pose...

The Energy provided by the Vajra Pill ran out by the twelfth pose. With no other choice, Zhao Zuo had to swallow a second Vajra Pill. This time, he truly experienced what it felt like to be cooked alive.

Of the eighteen poses of the Golden Body Technique, the later ones were increasingly difficult. Correspondingly, their Quenching effects were also enhanced. These eighteen poses, from start to finish, were designed to Quench every muscle in the body. Even muscles that had never been tempered before were now being strengthened.

By now, the originally dim Golden Light on his body was gradually deepening and becoming dazzling. Seen from a distance, he looked like a statue of an Arhat in a temple, covered in gold lacquer. Every muscle on his body seemed as if carved from marble, with lines and curves full of power.

After Zhao Zuo finished the eighteenth pose, he immediately stood up, grabbed the water gourd beside him, and gulped down several large mouthfuls of cool water to recover from his dehydrated state.

He then clenched his right fist, feeling the greater power welling up inside him. He had to admit that Qing Ci’s words were true; the Vajra Pills had a tremendous Quenching effect on the Cultivation of the Golden Body Technique. However... it took two Vajra Pills just to sustain a single complete session.

The cost was hard for him to accept. Eighty Spirit Stones a day!

This had already surpassed the limit of what he could afford. Only now did Zhao Zuo clearly realize just what a deep, bottomless pit this Golden Body Technique—a Cultivation Technique said to be able to fight Foundation Establishment cultivators—truly was.

"Hooo!"

Zhao Zuo took a deep breath, then compressed the air in his mouth, puffing out his cheeks. He then exhaled forcefully. In an instant, the compressed breath shot out like a misty Flying Sword, traveling two meters at incredible speed before slowly dissipating.

Exhaling breath into a sword. Zhao Zuo could now accomplish this with ease. However, this feat wasn’t achieved by strengthening his internal organs, but rather by using his oral muscles to compress the breath.

’In my previous life, I read many novels,’ he thought. ’Their world-building was often quite reasonable—for example, the idea that the body is a complete system. But right now, the Golden Body Technique only Quenches my muscles, with no effect on my internal organs or bones.’

’If this continues, even if my skin becomes as hard as steel and my muscular strength reaches one hundred fifty thousand jin of force, this kind of training, while powerful, will disrupt my body’s overall balance. In my opinion, a superior Body Refining Technique should Quench the bones, muscles, skin, and internal organs all together. But layers four through six of the Golden Body Technique don’t Quench anything besides the muscles.’

Zhao Zuo took another deep breath. Seeing how late it was, he knew he should have taken a Purifying Spirit Pill to raise his Cultivation today. But practicing the Golden Body Technique had consumed too much of his Essence, Qi, and Spirit, and now he was shrouded in a deep exhaustion.

After a quick rinse, Zhao Zuo lay back on his bed and immediately fell asleep.

For some reason, he had a strange dream that night, the first in a long time. In the dream, he transformed into an immensely tall deity, endlessly slaughtering and battling enemies... covered head to toe in blood.

The next morning, Zhao Zuo awoke but couldn’t understand why he’d had such a bizarre dream. It didn’t affect his enthusiasm for eating, however, and he quickly finished a simple breakfast.

Ever since Xue Liang was killed, Zhao Zuo had been in a state of closed-door Cultivation. Before, when he had someone to talk to every day, he hadn’t thought much of it. In fact, he sometimes even found Xue Liang to be a bit noisy.

But now, after more than ten days without speaking to anyone, a sense of loneliness began to grow in his heart.

Zhao Zuo sighed softly. ’I have to get used to this kind of life.’

The Golden Body Technique manual would self-destruct in two days. He took out the book and read it carefully from cover to cover twice. He had even considered copying down the poses, but for some reason, whenever he tried to draw them, the poses would look very similar to the original... but not exactly the same.

The difference was minuscule, yet it was a world apart.

He couldn’t replicate the "spirit" inherent in the original Golden Body Technique manual. That little bit of spirit was like the finishing touch that brings a painting to life, granting these strange poses their body-quenching effects. This was the conclusion Zhao Zuo reached after many attempts.

That spirit was what he was utterly unable to imitate. ’But this is normal,’ he thought. ’If I could perfectly replicate the Golden Body Technique, it would have already flooded the market. How could it possibly still sell for eighty Spirit Stones?’

Still, the price wasn’t actually that expensive, Zhao Zuo analyzed. On one hand, the Saint Buddha Temple was likely using this method as a filter to continuously recruit Outer Sect disciples. If even one of these people could inherit the Indestructible Vajra Body, then all of the Saint Buddha Temple’s efforts would not have been in vain.

On the other hand, they might be using the sale of the Golden Body Technique to promote the sale of Vajra Pills, earning Spirit Stones to subsidize the temple’s various expenses.

But he didn’t give up. Instead, he meticulously transcribed all the textual explanations from the booklet, not even sparing the Buddhist philosophy from the first two pages.

That day, Zhao Zuo attempted to practice the Golden Body Technique again. He prepared in advance, consuming more than five pounds of Demon Beast meat, a full gourd of cool water, and the all-important Vajra Pills.

Once everything was ready, he immediately began his Cultivation. Qi Blood surged ceaselessly through his body. His movements were more fluid than the day before, and he replicated each pose from the book as perfectly as possible. His body was also transforming at a very steady rate, his muscles rearranging themselves.

With each breath, waves of air faintly billowed around him.

But just as Zhao Zuo was immersed in his Cultivation, the gate to his courtyard was pushed open.

......