What does my ancestor's pregnancy have to do with me, a mere servant?

Jiang Huaiyue remained unfazed and even winked at her.

"I'm not crazy. I'm more lucid than ever."

Her voice was calm and cold.

"Think about it carefully—the number of people around him will only increase in the future, not just those at the Golden Core stage, but also those at the Nascent Soul stage and even the Deity Transformation stage!"

"But if one of us bears his blood relative—that is a unique bond in this world, one that no one else can replace."

Jiang Huaiyue glanced at the two of them, her eyes filled with a confident and composed air.

The mountaintop fell silent once again.

The cold wind started blowing again, howling and wailing, as if mocking these three proud daughters of the cultivation world for being reduced to fighting for the right to use the equipment in this way.

Wen Yuci clenched her fist, then relaxed it, then clenched it again.

She took a deep breath and tried to make her voice sound calm.

"Are you sure... this method will work?"

Jiang Huaiyue smiled.

Whether it will work or not depends on who takes the first step.

"It seems there's no other way. Since we've made up our minds, let's do it! I'll go first!" Wen Yuci said.

……

Inside the cave, Lin Yuan sat cross-legged, circulating the Hundred Refinements of Mortal Bones Technique.

Reaching the twelfth level of body tempering is already the limit for a mortal's physical body.

Above that is the Transcendent Realm.

As the name suggests, it means to be reborn and shed one's mortal form.

Once you reach this realm, your physical body will undergo a fundamental leap. Your flesh and blood will be as fine as steel, and your bones will rival those of a magical weapon—this is not an exaggeration, but a literal description of your physical body being comparable to a magical artifact.

With his profound foundation in cultivation at the peak of Foundation Establishment, he could even fight against a true early-stage Golden Core cultivator.

Whether it's vying for opportunities in the Taixu Secret Realm or navigating the complex relationships among several fierce female cultivators, this is a crucial trump card that can save one's life in critical moments.

Especially that woman, Li Yang.

His cultivation level was at the late stage of the Golden Core realm, his aptitude was that of an Earth Spiritual Root, and that predatory look in his eyes said, "You'll be mine sooner or later."

If we don't improve our own strength, we'll be devoured sooner or later, leaving not even bones behind.

Lin Yuan closed his eyes and no longer hesitated.

With a thought, the Hundred Refinements of Mortal Bones Technique was activated at full power.

"boom!"

A ball of pitch-black flame rose from his palm.

The black flames did not emit any heat; instead, they released an extreme chill that penetrated to the bone.

The moisture in the surrounding air condensed into tiny ice crystals the moment it approached the flames, and then fell down in a soft rustling sound.

Lin Yuan changed his hand seals and slammed the ball of black flame in his palm onto his chest.

The ghost fire did not burn the clothes.

It penetrated directly through clothing, seeping into flesh and blood without hindrance, like a cold snake spreading along the veins beneath the skin to the limbs and bones.

The extreme cold instantly froze the flesh and blood in its path into a frosty white color the moment it invaded.

Lin Yuan's face turned deathly pale instantly.

The veins on his forehead bulged out one by one, like earthworms frozen under his skin.

The Thousand Derivations Corpse Control Technique operates automatically.

That powerful soul, far surpassing that of other cultivators of the same level, was like an experienced blacksmith, calm and composed in the face of raging furnace fire.

Divine consciousness transformed into countless intricate threads, precisely binding every strand of the Earthly Fiend Netherfire, forcibly locking in this extremely cold power, and pressing it into the eight extraordinary meridians little by little.

The core principle of the Hundred Refinements of Mortal Bones Technique is: Heaven and Earth are the furnace, and oneself is the embryo.

Since it's forging, it can't be done by baking it slowly and gently.

Lin Yuan's breathing became increasingly slow. From its initial fine and long rhythm, it gradually became a faint rise and fall only once every ten or so breaths. The speed at which his blood flowed through his meridians was like a frozen glacier, slowly and infrequently undulating.

A thin layer of black frost began to appear on the surface of the body.

Time passed slowly in silence.

Every bone, every fascia, and every blood vessel in the body undergoes repeated forging and tempering under the extreme cold power of the Earthly Fiend Netherfire.

Impurities are squeezed out.

Those minute impurities, invisible to the naked eye and hidden deep within the crevices of bones and the corners of meridians, had nowhere to hide under the frenzied pressure of the Netherfire. They were frozen, crushed, and peeled away, eventually turning into wisps of turbid black mist that seeped out from the pores.

Time passed by, minute by minute.

Apart from the occasional muffled cracking of bones coming from Lin Yuan's body, there were no other sounds in the stone chamber.

The light from the spirit lamp reflected a dim, flickering glow on the black ice surface of his body, like a sacrifice in some ancient ritual.

……

Three hours later.

Lin Yuan suddenly opened his eyes.

A fleeting, deep blue light flashed in the depths of his pupils, only to be swallowed up by the darkness of his eyes.

"break."

The long-dormant magical power within his dantian suddenly erupted, transforming into a scalding warm current that swept over his entire body.

Extreme cold and extreme heat collide violently within the body.

The two diametrically opposed forces unleashed a devastating storm the instant they converged. Ice and fire tore, crushed, and merged wildly within the meridians.

"Snap!"

A crisp cracking sound rang out in the stone chamber.

The black frost covering the surface shattered with a snap, as if a black mirror had been broken, and countless ice shards scattered in all directions.

Immediately afterwards, the old skin, frozen dry and stiff beneath the frost, cracked open with countless crisscrossing fissures, like a dried-up riverbed.

Large patches of dead skin peeled off Lin Yuan's body, like a snake shedding its old scales.

The detached skin flakes lost all life the moment they left the body, falling onto the stone bed and turning into ashes before dissipating into the air.

The old skin peels off.

The new skin underneath is exposed.

Fair-skinned. Delicate. So smooth and flawless.

It has a faint golden luster, like the warm and restrained light that naturally refracts when the finest mutton fat jade is polished to its limit.

At that moment, the bones emitted a deep and resonant thunderous sound.

"Buzz—"

The fascia is as tough as the tendons of a dragon.

Its bones are as strong as those of a magical weapon.

As the Qi and blood circulate, a faint sound of thunder can be heard rolling within the body.

Lin Yuan stood up.

The joints made a series of crisp cracking sounds, like popping soybeans, which lasted for quite a while before stopping.

[Body Cultivation: Early Stage of Mortal Transformation]

It became.

Lin Yuan slowly clenched his right fist.

An unprecedented sense of fulfillment welled up inside me.

The power contained within this body has increased many times over compared to when it was at the twelfth level of body tempering.

He turned to look at the hard bluestone wall beside him.

This wall is a natural rock formation that originally existed in the cave. After being soaked by underground spiritual veins for thousands of years, its hardness far exceeds that of ordinary stone.

Lin Yuan walked up to the wall.

He did not activate even a fraction of the magical power within his dantian.

There was no practice or enhancement involved.

He simply stood firmly in a horse stance.

Sink your waist.

Send crotch.

Throw a punch.

The simplest form of boxing. No fancy moves, no dazzling lights or shadows.

Only the purest, most primal physical power erupts.

"Bang!"

A muffled, loud bang exploded in the stone chamber.

The instant the fist struck the stone wall, a visible burst of energy exploded outwards in a ring from the fist. The shockwave swept across the stone chamber floor, scattering scattered fragments of stone everywhere.

On the incredibly hard bluestone surface, a three-inch-deep fist-shaped mark was forcefully hammered in.

The edges of the fist imprint were smooth and neat. Centered on the fist imprint, dense, net-like cracks spread outwards, covering half of the wall.