Longevity starts with choosing Hextech enhancement

Chapter 446 The Black Iron Venerable is really too generous!
Xiao Chen hasn't had time to focus on advancing his body-refining skills yet.

Therefore, nominally, he can only be considered a third-tier body cultivator.

Objectively speaking, this is actually not low.

Moreover, Xiao Chen's total blood and qi far surpasses that of ordinary body cultivators, and in this respect alone, he is even stronger than the Sky-Splitting True Monarch of the Heavenly Gang Sect.

However, a major problem is that the Body Tempering Hall was established by the Black Iron Venerable.

For him, even a fourth-level body cultivator might only be considered to have some basic body-refining skills.

"Since we can go in twice anyway, why not be more conservative the first time?"

After thinking it over, Xiao Chen felt that he should prioritize stability.

As the saying goes, "Those who do not heed the advice of their elders will suffer the consequences."

Since the Black Iron Venerable specifically left a stone tablet to warn future generations to be cautious, he had better heed the advice.

Thinking of this, Xiao Chen went around to the right side of the giant cauldron and found the runes that represented the different choices of the upper, middle and lower levels. He raised his hand and gently pressed it on the top.

Then I felt a strong suction force coming from the giant cauldron.

He originally intended to go in for body tempering, so he did not resist and was instantly sucked into the giant cauldron.

"Wow~!"

Suddenly, the sound of a heavy object falling into water came from inside the Body Tempering Hall.

However, Xiao Chen immediately realized that the giant cauldron did not contain water at all, but rather the blood of a fourth-order great demon.

wrong!

The next moment, he was even more surprised to find that it not only contained the essence blood of demonic beasts, but also a lot of body-tempering spiritual medicines!
This is almost equivalent to undergoing a medicinal bath to temper the body using a secret elixir.

"Phew, then everything should be fine."

Realizing this, Xiao Chen felt much more at ease.

As we all know, medicinal baths are one of the gentlest ways to improve one's health, almost second only to dietary supplements.

He even felt a little strange: "If that's the case, what danger could there be? Why did you specifically instruct those without a foundation in body cultivation to avoid it?"

I'm just here to take a bath.

What a big deal!
However, the moment Xiao Chen began to have doubts, he felt as if he were being torn apart by a hundred ferocious beasts at the same time.

"Ah~!"

He shouted out almost reflexively, while subconsciously channeling his true energy to try and resist.

However, it was only at this moment that Xiao Chen discovered that there were even more stringent restrictions inside the cauldron, used to limit defensive spells and defensive magical artifacts.

Despite the exceptional quality of his "Four Symbols Mountain-Suppressing Cover," which temporarily blocked the first attack of the restriction, his "Four Symbols Mountain-Suppressing Cover" was indeed of exceptional quality.

However, after only three breaths, it shattered into pieces under the continuous onslaught.

Fortunately, the restriction was quite well set up, and it withdrew its attack the moment it shattered the spiritual energy barrier, so as not to injure the cultivators who were tempering their bodies inside.

However, without the Four Symbols Mountain-Suppressing Cover for defense.

The essence blood of demonic beasts mixed with spiritual herbs once again completely submerged Xiao Chen from head to toe.

Amidst the churning waves of blood, the ferocious phantoms of various demonic beasts vaguely appeared, emitting silent roars within the cauldron.

It hurts, it hurts too much!
It felt as if thousands of red-hot steel needles were simultaneously piercing the pores, or as if countless poisonous ants were gnawing at the bone marrow along the blood vessels.

Waves of intense pain emanated from every inch of his skin and every hair, reaching deep into his bone marrow.

The churning blood in the giant cauldron seemed to transform into thousands upon thousands of wild beasts, thousands upon thousands of birds of prey, and thousands upon thousands of venomous insects, desperately tearing at him with their sharp teeth and beaks.

Even more terrifying is that the body-strengthening elixir mixed in the blood plasma also takes effect.

The potent medicinal properties bypassed his skin and flesh, penetrating his internal organs and rampaging through his fragile lungs.

At first, Xiao Chen was able to use his true energy to resist.

Gradually, I felt as if my heart had fallen into a furnace and was being mercilessly burned, my lungs felt as if they had been filled with scalding iron filings and were almost charred, and my limbs and bones felt as if they were being torn apart by a thousand knives.

The outer skin constantly cracked and healed, while the internal bones groaned in agony from the unbearable strain.

From the outside in, there was no part of me that wasn't in excruciating pain.

Normally, even the strongest man would find it difficult to endure such pain and would likely faint on the spot.

However, under the influence of the elixir, Xiao Chen's mind became increasingly clear, allowing him to truly feel every bit of pain.

If that were all, it wouldn't be so bad; at worst, I could just trigger Night's Edge to escape.

However, the problem is that he is still a third-level body cultivator, and he has absorbed so many blood crystals that his vitality is exceptionally strong.

Furthermore, being a cultivator with a wood elemental root, he naturally possesses extremely strong self-healing and wound-healing abilities.

Even without active manipulation, the abundant vitality spontaneously begins to repair the injuries within the body.

However, Xiao Chen's entire body was completely covered in blood plasma.

Almost the instant the repair is completed, the newly grown skin and flesh will be torn apart again.

This cycle repeats itself endlessly, truly like suffering the cruelest torture in the world.

Simply put, Xiao Chen was not completely unable to withstand the demonic beast essence and body-tempering elixirs inside the cauldron.

However, due to his lack of sufficient experience in body tempering, he found it difficult to endure the intense pain brought about by the tempering process.

The current situation is largely due to his habit of skipping classes and taking shortcuts in his body training.

For example, he initially relied on the jade bone to directly cultivate his body, and later he strengthened his body by consuming large amounts of demon beast meat.

For example, obtaining blood crystals from Su Li made it almost effortless to reach the peak of the third tier.

During this process, because the resources at hand were always relatively abundant, I did not experience the physical training pain that most body cultivators have to face.

It wasn't until this time, when I chose to enter the giant cauldron to temper my body, that I truly experienced how difficult it was to cultivate one's body.

Of course, the Black Iron Venerable also bears some responsibility for this.

As a rogue cultivator, his style of doing things is based on the principle of "as long as it works."

Therefore, when designing the giant cauldron for body tempering, they only focused on the effect and forgot to improve the comfort.

Various body-tempering elixirs were added to the essence blood of demonic beasts, but no elixirs for relieving pain were added.

Objectively speaking, if we can put aside the fact that I'm currently in pain all over my body, let's talk about it for now.

This experience of tempering his body was actually a good thing for Xiao Chen, as it further solidified his foundation in body tempering and strengthened his physique.

The problem is that all the pain that I avoided for so many years for various reasons has suddenly come back today.

After accumulating, it becomes unbearably painful and difficult to endure.

Xiao Chen even had the idea of ​​slapping himself to trigger the Night's Edge and free himself.

However, he was also very clear that if he could persevere, he could complete a true body tempering and become a genuine body cultivator.

"Being a body cultivator isn't easy!"

At this moment, Xiao Chen wished he could be numb from the pain, but the surrounding spiritual herbs obviously could not fulfill his wish.

No, this kind of forced endurance is not a solution.

Although it felt like a year had passed since he fell into the giant cauldron.

But in reality, it had only been less than half a cup of tea's time since they came in.

If we continue to rely solely on willpower and vitality to stubbornly persevere, it will undoubtedly be the worst possible strategy.

In a flash, a brilliant idea suddenly flashed into Xiao Chen's mind—to alleviate the pain by cultivating the Body Tempering Technique!

If one can master the body-forging technique left by the Black Iron Venerable in time, it will be a hundred times better than gritting one's teeth and enduring it.

Although he had just memorized the technique on the stone tablet, it seemed a bit too late to try to learn it at the last minute.

But it doesn't matter. With Hextech enhancement, it wouldn't take him long to learn a Yellow-level technique anyway.

If one only practices the first half of the cultivation technique, which is a basic introductory incantation for low-level cultivators, then it is undoubtedly even simpler.

With this in mind, Xiao Chen decisively recited the incantation in his mind and began to circulate his own qi and blood according to the description of the Body Tempering Technique.

The four cultivation techniques left behind by the Black Iron Venerable all share a single name—"The Iron-Forging Body Technique".

As the name suggests, it guides practitioners to first regard themselves as a piece of iron ore, and then forge themselves into steel through repeated tempering.

To be honest, this is actually quite ruthless, especially to oneself.

But now is not the time to consider that.

With the help of Hextech enhancement, Xiao Chen immediately began cultivating the "Iron-Forging Body Technique" to resist the pain of tempering his essence and blood.

It has to be said that his method actually worked.

Thanks to a cultivation speed up to a hundred times faster, and a total amount of Qi and blood far exceeding that of ordinary people.

Less than a quarter of an hour later, Xiao Chen had mastered the Qi Refining and Foundation Building chapters of the "Iron-Forging Body Technique" and successfully entered the Golden Core chapter.

In fact, cultivating this technique also requires enduring the pain of transformation and consuming a certain amount of body-tempering elixirs.

But at this moment, this pain is nothing to worry about, and the body-tempering elixirs are plentiful, continuously flowing into the internal organs.

At this point, Xiao Chen finally felt that the pain in his body had lessened by about 30%.

Although it hasn't completely disappeared, it's much, much better than before.

Encouraged by this, he immersed himself even more in cultivation, and with the help of the abundant body-tempering spiritual medicines around him, he advanced the Golden Core stage to the peak of the third level in one go.

"Wow~!"

Inside the Body Tempering Hall, a sudden sound of water could be heard again.

Xiao Chen, who was focused on his cultivation, immediately came to his senses and found himself outside the giant cauldron.

Before we knew it, the scheduled half hour had already passed.

To prevent the tempering process from becoming too arduous and causing the inheritor to actually perish, the cave's restrictions directly sent him out.

"Phew, it's finally over!"

Xiao Chen plopped down on the ground with a completely unrefined attitude, and then lay flat on the spot.

After snapping out of his meditation, he felt waves of intense pain returning to his limbs and bones.

I was pressed against the floor of the main hall, not wanting to move at all.

"Luckily, I didn't choose the bottom floor before."

Xiao Chen's lips curled up slightly: "Otherwise, we'd be wasting a good opportunity."

He muttered to himself as he closed his eyes and began to seriously experience the changes that practicing the "Iron-Forging Body Technique" had brought to him.

The most immediate thing he noticed was that his body felt increasingly solid.

Now that things have come to this, Xiao Chen's physical strength alone is probably comparable to, or even surpasses, that of an ordinary third-tier spiritual weapon.

Even if he lies here motionless, ordinary Golden Core cultivators would have no way to deal with him. Even if he were attacked by fourth-tier spells or spiritual artifacts in the future, and in a situation where there was no time to defend, he could resist more effectively.

In addition, Xiao Chen felt that his condition was better than ever before.

He even had this feeling.

Even if he doesn't go back to absorb the enhanced blood crystals or rely on other spiritual objects, he can now break through to the fourth-order body refinement realm on the spot.

I should be about 70% confident that I can succeed in breaking through on the first try.

If you're willing to pair it with some high-level spirit items, then success is almost guaranteed.

"Hiss~, I should have brought the Enhancement Blood Crystal with me before I came out!"

Xiao Chen hadn't carried it with him before because storing it in a magical artifact could better protect the vital energy within it from being lost.

The main reason was that he didn't know that Black Iron True Monarch was actually a body cultivator before he came, so he was unable to prepare in advance.

"But it's not necessarily necessary to go back."

Xiao Chen then thought, "Perhaps I can find a suitable spiritual item for body tempering in the cave."

"Isn't the miscellaneous storage hall right next to the Body Tempering Hall? Why don't we go inside and take a look?"

Theoretically speaking, he has another way.

That means re-entering the giant cauldron, this time going to the middle level to absorb more essence and spiritual herbs.

After all, every cultivator has two opportunities to temper their body.

If we can take another step forward, then a breakthrough will be practically a certainty.

However, Xiao Chen had another idea: to temporarily save the second opportunity for body tempering and use it later.

Rather than going to the middle level for enhanced body tempering, he would prefer to go to the bottom level for the highest level of body tempering.

However, based on the experience just now, going to the bottom floor now might actually be a waste.

It would be better to wait until you break through the path of body cultivation, then cultivate and master the Nascent Soul chapter of the "Iron-Forging Body Technique," thoroughly consolidate your cultivation, and then go to the lowest level for body tempering.

Only then can the body tempering effect be maximized, and a stronger physique should also allow one to endure less pain.

Therefore, Xiao Chen reserved his second chance to enter the giant cauldron and went directly to the miscellaneous hall at the back.

Although it's called the Miscellaneous Goods Hall, it's smaller in size than the Body Tempering Hall.

However, inside, there were some large wooden crates neatly stacked, as well as several rows of orderly shelves.

As soon as Xiao Chen entered, he saw many fourth-order spirit ores, fourth-order spirit wood and other refining materials on the shelves, as well as many bottles and jars.

Clearly, this is where the Black Iron Venerable stores his daily supplies.

He also noticed that many shelves had empty compartments.

It's obvious that what's left here are gifts that Black Iron Venerable didn't want to take away, or gifts that he deliberately left behind.

"This is... a fifth-order porous calcite!"

Xiao Chen quickly skipped over the common fourth-tier spiritual items and soon spotted a fist-sized dark red stone.

Its surface is covered with honeycomb-like holes, about half an inch in diameter, of varying depths, and some of the hole walls have sulfur-colored crystals attached to them.

He tried to inject some true essence into it, and immediately saw a faint red spiritual light appear on the surface of the stone.

These characteristics are exactly the same as those of the porous nephrite stone described in ancient books.

"Great! We've acquired another Tier 5 spiritual item!"

Seeing this, Xiao Chen couldn't help but smile again. He immediately took out an empty Spirit-Nourishing Treasure Box and carefully put it away.

You know, these are things that you can't buy even if you have money.

"Wow, there's another fifth-grade spirit ore!"

Soon, Xiao Chen discovered another palm-sized, deep red copper block.

Its surface has natural grooves, and the gaps between the grooves occasionally shimmer with a sparkle like sparks.

If nothing unexpected happens, it is indeed the legendary Burning Light Copper that can only be produced in the Central Region.

Xiao Chen certainly didn't think that the other party left these two fifth-tier spirit ores here because they couldn't take them with them.

Since it was ultimately placed here, it must have been intentional.

He also counted that there were a total of 33 fourth-tier spiritual materials and 91 third-tier spiritual materials on the shelf.

I must say, the Black Iron Venerable is incredibly generous!
What a kind person!

"And what are these boxes?"

After counting the spiritual items, Xiao Chen turned his gaze to the large wooden box at the door.

He went over for a closer look and discovered that there were actually two types of boxes here.

There are only two of the light-colored ones, and they are both placed on the left.

The rest are darker in color, there are seven in total, five of which are piled on the right and two are placed on the left.

Xiao Chen first opened the dark-colored box on the right.

They soon discovered that the box was full of mid-grade spirit stones, and after counting, they found that there were exactly one thousand of them.

He then checked two dark wooden crates, which were exactly the same.

"So this should be a reserve of spirit stones?"

Xiao Chen curiously turned to the left and lifted the lid of a light-colored box: "Huh? What's this?"

Judging from its appearance, the light-colored box should also contain spirit stones.

However, apart from being similar in size, its color and the purity of the spiritual energy it contains far surpass those of a mid-grade spirit stone.

"Hiss~, this must be a high-grade spirit stone!"

Xiao Chen gasped; it was the first time he had ever seen this thing in person.

You should know that even after he destroyed the Zhaokong Sect, he couldn't find a single high-grade spirit stone.

This is because this thing is extremely rare in the cultivation world, and it cannot be produced in most places.

According to some ancient texts, only true fifth-order spiritual veins can produce a small number of high-grade spirit stones.

Even a pseudo-fifth-order spiritual vein like Pudu Temple wouldn't work.

Theoretically speaking, such a high-grade spirit stone is worth one hundred mid-grade spirit stones.

In reality, even if someone were willing to offer 110 or even 130 mid-grade spirit stones, they might not be able to exchange them for a high-grade spirit stone.

"Let me count them."

Xiao Chen carefully counted them and found that the light-colored box also contained a full thousand high-grade spirit stones.

He immediately opened another light-colored wooden box, which was indeed full of high-grade spirit stones.

"If we convert it that way... this box alone is worth at least ten million low-grade spirit stones!"

Xiao Chen did a quick mental calculation based on the proportions, and then his eyes widened: "These two boxes are guaranteed to be at least 20 million low-grade spirit stones!"

He had initially felt that if there were only seven thousand mid-grade spirit stones here, it didn't seem like much, and could even be considered a bit too little.

However, considering that Venerable Black Iron was originally a rogue cultivator, it's understandable that he might be poor.

To my utter surprise, the other party actually left him such a huge sum of money!
And you should know that this is the most strategic of strategic resources!

Just as a fourth-order grand formation cannot function without the support of mid-grade spirit stones.

Similarly, a fifth-order grand formation cannot function without the support of high-grade spirit stones unless it has a fifth-order spiritual vein as its foundation.

In other words, high-grade spirit stones have considerable strategic value.

Even though Xiao Chen had never been to the Three Mountains Grotto Heaven or the Holy City.

However, he believed that as long as he offered high-grade spirit stones, it would be enough to make a deal with a Nascent Soul Venerable.

For example, purchasing fifth-tier spirit pills from them, or buying the spiritual items needed to break through the tiers of a Nascent Soul True Monarch, should not be a problem.

Of course, the problem may lie in how to ensure that both parties can complete the transaction normally and leave safely.

This would prevent the other party from directly taking action and snatching all the high-grade spirit stones from your hands.

In short, this is definitely a generous gift left by the Black Iron Venerable, a gift worth a thousand gold pieces!

"The Black Iron Venerable is so generous!"

Xiao Chen sighed again before putting all the spirit stones and boxes into his storage ring.

Then he swept everything out of the storeroom.

We then continued from left to right to the Forest of Steles, located at the very back of the entire palace complex.

As its name suggests, the Forest of Steles contains a large number of stone tablets.

Moreover, their height, size, and thickness are all quite different.

Broadly speaking, this area can be divided into left and right sides.

Dozens of stone tablets stand on each side, including unfinished works and broken pieces that appear to have been broken off due to failed carving.

Xiao Chen first took a quick tour of the Stele Forest to familiarize himself with the general layout.

He then unexpectedly discovered that, although the place seemed somewhat chaotic at first glance.

However, if all the unfinished and defective products are removed, there are 36 intact stone tablets left on each of the left and right sides.

If nothing unexpected happens, this is definitely not a coincidence.

Then, Xiao Chen patiently started looking at the products from the outside, making sure not to miss any of the unfinished or defective items.

Before long, he figured out the specific situation here based on the inscriptions on several different stone tablets.

It turns out that this place was where the Black Iron Venerable practiced his martial arts skills.

After a period of time, his martial will actually assimilated some of the surrounding rocks.

So he simply carved these rocks into stone tablets to pass on martial arts skills to future generations and to conduct trials.

Among the thirty-six stone tablets on the left side of the Stele Forest, there are thirty-six martial arts techniques that he practiced.

Later generations can observe the martial arts essence remaining on the stone tablet and try to comprehend and learn it.

To reduce the difficulty, the Black Iron Venerable specially engraved complete martial arts illustrations and methods on the back of the stone tablet.

If you can't learn it by just looking at the front, you can also consider practicing by referring to the diagrams on the back.

However, the Black Iron Venerable specifically commented that only the martial arts techniques he himself comprehended were the most suitable for him.

Therefore, he suggested that those who came should start by trying to understand the positive aspects first.

If all else fails, then look at the diagrams below.

(End of this chapter)