Immortality starts from the liver proficiency

Chapter 502 Refining the Body, Forging the Divine Firmament

At the same time, he looked at the multiple arrays of lightning-attracting, spirit-gathering, and body-protecting formations set up around the cave.

He had already comprehended the basics of array formation to perfection. If he wanted to go further, he would have to go to the Daoist Pavilion of the Primordial Sect to exchange for a higher-level array formation inheritance.

Such secret knowledge, which involves the very foundation of a sect, naturally requires a massive amount of merit points.

What troubled Xu Yunfan even more was the Yuanshi Sect's business strategy; those bastards had dismantled the array system into pieces.

Basic theories, core array structure deconstruction, history of ancient array pattern evolution...

Each type needs to be redeemed separately, and if you want to actually use it, you need to pay an exorbitant fee for each specific ancient formation diagram.

Ancient formations as renowned as the Two Elements Dust and the Primordial Qi of the Heavens, which are famous throughout the Taihua Spirit Ruins, would probably be considered generous if they were split into nine volumes and sold nine times.

Thinking of this, Xu Yunfan couldn't help but admire Emperor Yuan Shizong's profound understanding of the principle of "a steady and long-term approach".

They have forcibly transformed the profound principles of the universe, the true interpretation of the array, into a monopolistic knowledge commodity.

"The first step is to draw upon the primordial energy of the stars and metal to temper the physical body!"

After confirming several times, Xu Yunfan was finally relieved. The Geng metal energy of the stars was easy to obtain. Whether it was drawn from the depths of the earth veins or from the stars in the heavens, as long as it was guided by the array pivot, the energy would be continuous.

He entered the Dao through martial arts and had the True Martial Subduing Demons Scripture as his foundation. Even among Foundation Establishment cultivators, his physique could be considered outstanding, not weaker than those body cultivators, and perhaps even stronger.

As long as the Qi of Geng Metal in the stars does not involve the Qi of Heaven and Earth, everything is easy to handle.

The Heavenly Dippers and Earthly Fiends of this realm are extremely rare, born from the very essence of heaven and earth, and thus scattered throughout the four directions. They require painstaking collection and refinement.

Xu Yunfan formed a hand seal and pointed to a specific pivot array plate on the dome of the meditation room.

The magic array suddenly shone brightly, and a deep spatial vortex, seemingly leading to the origin of the stars in the heavens, slowly began to rotate above their heads.

In an instant, a torrent of cold, sharp, and indestructible Geng metal, like a tangible silver pillar, crashed down from the vortex.

"Buzz!"

A piercing whistling sound echoed through the quiet room.

Xu Yunfan's body, which was sitting cross-legged, suddenly trembled.

This is no ordinary Geng metal spiritual energy. The true scripture of the Divine Firmament Heavenly Dome emphasizes the tempering of the body with Heavenly Geng, and under certain conditions, it naturally descends from the Nine Heavens.

To his surprise, this Geng metal energy was actually filled with the killing energy of the core origin of stars.

The next instant, the Geng metal entered his body like millions of tiny, incomparably sharp star needles, instantly piercing through his skin and penetrating his bones, bone marrow, and meridians.

Severe pain!

An indescribable, excruciating pain instantly swept through my entire body!
This kind of pain far exceeds that of ordinary physical exercise, as if every cell is being pricked, scraped, and reshaped by countless needles.

If Xu Yunfan's will hadn't been tempered to an unparalleled degree through countless additional cultivation sessions, and if he hadn't had the strong physical foundation built from the previous mastery of the "Xuandu Eight Scenery Refining Heaven Creation Cloud Book" and the protection of the Eight Scenery Cloud Qi, he probably would have already fainted from the pain.

Even so, Xu Yunfan couldn't help but twitch his eyes from time to time.

This tempering of the Geng metal body is naturally intended to transform his physical constitution to be more suitable for cultivating the Divine Firmament Nine Heavens Profound Sky Imperishable True Scripture.

The information prompts popping up in the attribute panel were flashing wildly in his field of vision.
'The tempering of your body with Geng metal is underway; your physical constitution is being altered.'

'You are cultivating the Divine Firmament Nine Heavens Profound Vault Imperishable True Scripture'

'You have gained some insights into the cultivation of the Divine Firmament Nine Heavens Profound Sky Undying True Scripture.'

Feeling the excruciating pain, as if thousands of ants were gnawing at his body, this soul-piercing agony made him let out a long breath. There was no need to force himself to endure it.

Xu Yunfan's Eight Scenery Cloud Qi instinctively began to circulate, not to resist this Geng Metal Qi, but to try to harmonize and integrate it, like a millstone accelerating the tempering process.

Time passed slowly amidst the excruciating pain.

As the torrent of Geng metal continued to pour in for nearly an hour, Xu Yunfan felt as if his bones had turned into starlight and fine gold. His internal organs were pierced by the Geng metal energy and then slowly repaired by the Eight Views Cloud Qi. This process gave his organs a metallic sheen.

Impurities within the body are polished out like fine sand by the Geng metal energy and dispersed into ash by the protective spiritual light on the body's surface.

Just as his body began to feel a slight numbness as it adapted to the tempering of Geng metal, the crucial moment for body tempering had arrived.

"The second step is to temper the golden body with the thunder and fire of the Nine Heavens!"

Without hesitation, he changed the magic hand gestures at his fingertips and suddenly pointed to the core of another lightning-summoning array.

“Boom!!!!”

Before the thunderous roar had even subsided, the dark cloud vortex that had gathered above Hanya Pass suddenly collapsed.

The divine lightning from the Nine Heavens, forcibly drawn by the lightning array, finally tore through the Nine Heavens Gale Layer, transforming into a purple-white lightning dragon as thick as an infant's arm. It carried the majestic might of heaven that could shatter all evil, and fiercely struck down towards the location of Xu Yunfan's cave.

A deafening roar exploded inside the cave.

It did not originate from outside the cave, but rather the array plate drew down the power of the Divine Thunder from the heavens above, drawing down a bolt of divine lightning as thick as an infant's arm, yet extremely refined and imposing.

It was not ordinary wind, rain, thunder, and lightning, but the purest thunder and fire from the highest heavens, capable of shattering evil and demons, and containing the power of endless birth and death.

Purple and white lightning instantly filled the entire quiet room, turning everything into a ghastly white light.

Before the lightning even arrived, the unique purifying power of thunder and fire had already penetrated the defensive array, and the foul aura emanating from the quiet room evaporated and dissipated like boiling water poured over snow.

The lightning bolt slammed into the outer defensive array of the cave, instantly causing countless spiderweb-like cracks to appear on the surface of the shield.

The thirty-six high-grade spirit stones embedded at the hub of the array plate turned gray and cracked at a speed visible to the naked eye. In just a few moments, the defensive array was destroyed.

But given this chance to catch his breath, Xu Yunfan naturally didn't hesitate and immediately channeled the remaining lightning and fire precisely into his crown chakra.

The body, which had been tempered by the metal energy of the stars, now became the best conductor.

Thunder and fire surged along the Geng metal meridian straight into the depths of the internal organs, and purple and white lightning snakes exploded into a blinding ball of light inside his chest cavity.

The pain was ten times greater than that of tempering the body with Geng metal.

Xu Yunfan's internal organs convulsed wildly amidst the thunder and fire.

This Nine Heavens Thunderfire contained the pure destructive power to annihilate all things, and it violently collided and merged with the primordial energy of the Geng Metal of the stars within his body, which he had not yet fully adapted to.

If it weren't for the fact that the Gengjin tempering had already transformed his physical body into a structure almost like a conductor, and that the Eight Scenery Cloud Qi had been circulating to protect and repair him, this attack would have been enough to cause his golden body to shatter and his internal organs to turn to ash.

Of course, most importantly, every time lightning strikes, the attribute panel displays numerous prompts regarding the increase in proficiency with the Divine Firmament Scripture.

Every inch of flesh and blood is reborn amidst the scorching and tearing, and the bones are tempered to emit a jade-like crystalline light, while inside, wisps of purple lightning patterns flow.

The information flow from the attribute panel rushed through his field of vision like a waterfall.

Time passed amidst extreme pain and stalemate.

(End of this chapter)