"Harry, you can't -"
But it was too late. Harry already did.
The Qi in 10 pills rushed through his body. If he had been any other 5th level cultivator, his meridians would have exploded. But his body, strengthened with the Nameless Technique, handled it with no problems.
Through the Lung Meridian, the Heart Meridian, Heart Protector Meridian, Triple Burner Meridian, and Small Intestine Meridian it flowed, and finally stopped at the Large Intestine Meridian.
'It's better to swallow at the pills at once,' he reasoned. 'The pain will be shorter.'
He sent the Qi through the Large Intestine Meridian, and the next moment, let out a scream of pain.
Opening the Small Intestine Meridian was already quite painful, and this was many times worse. The pain of opening each meridian increased exponentially.
'Just endure. Just endure. Just endure,' he chanted in his mind. He continued to push Qi through.
He relentlessly attacked his Large Intestine Meridian, and forced it open. The strain of doing so nearly caused Harry's mind to overload, and he almost blacked out from the pain.
A large hand grabbed onto his shoulder and held his body steady.
He could clearly feel something in his meridian, squirming and attacking back against the Qi flooding in. It was almost as if the poison was alive, as if there were hundreds of tiny insects drilling into his body. It was like a fire in his abdomen, like being stabbed a hundred times, like having his intestine cut open and ripped out. Groaning, he ignored it all and continued cultivating.
Every second was pure agony. More than once, he thought his intestine was going to burst apart and explode, but he forced himself to continue.
One minute… two minutes…
Back when opening the first three meridians, Harry hadn't thought much about the pain. It was so slight that he barely felt it. It was only while opening the 4th meridian when it began to be uncomfortable. For the 5th meridian, the pain intensified greatly, but he was still able to endure.
But with the Large Intestine Meridian, the pain had gone past his endurance. It took all he had, and much more, to continue circulating Qi through his body.
Eventually, he pushed enough Qi into the meridian, and he felt himself take a step into the 6th level of the Body Tempering Realm. The moment he did, the poison stopped fighting back, and he collapsed against the table, gasping for breath.
'Damn you,' he swore. 'Whoever poisoned me, I'll get my revenge. One day, I'll track you down and let you experience this same hell.'
The painful part was done, and the rest of the process was easy. It was only a matter of refining enough Qi, and there was plenty of it in the pills in front of him.
Now that he was at the 5th level of the Body Tempering Realm, his refining speed was even faster than before. It took other people hours to refine a single pill, but he could do it in under a minute. Even more shockingly, there seemed to be no limit on how many pills he could consume. While others refined bits of a pill at a time, Harry shoved an entire bottle of them into his mouth.
Slughorn and the Exalted Cat just stared at Harry speechlessly. They had never seen anyone refine resources like this. It took just an hour for Harry to consume all 70 middle-quality Body Nourishing Pills.
His Large Intestine Meridian was extremely close to opening, so Harry tossed two of the high-quality pills into his mouth. A few minutes later, he stepped into the 6th level of the Body Tempering Realm.
The 6th level!
He even had difficulty believing it. He just accomplished one of his lifetime goals – to surpass Dudley's strength!
How many years had he spent cowering under Dudley's strength? Practically his whole life.
How often did he dream of beating Dudley in a fight? Practically every day.
In fact, part of him wanted to rush back to Crystal Mine City right now, and give Dudley the thrashing of his life. But he held off on that desire. There would be plenty of time to get his revenge later.
"Harry, take a rest for a bit, and clear your mind. I know that must have been extremely painful. But I hope that we'll be able to solve another mystery, the one involving your rapid comprehension speed. When you've recovered, can you show me the 6th Qi Circulation?"
"Sure," Harry agreed. He rested for an hour on Slughorn's soft couch until the pain wore off. Afterwards, he pulled out his copy of the Nine Meridians Qi Circulation Technique and began practicing.
Three days later, and to Slughorn's amazement, his sixth meridian achieved Perfect Opening. It had been incredibly awkward to practice, with Slughorn's face a few centimeters from his chest, and medical equipment poking all over his body. Yet even with the up close and personal examination, Slughorn wasn't able explain how Harry achieved Perfect Opening.
"I don't understand either," Harry admitted. "I mean, I just follow the instructions in the technique, and it works. Isn't that what's supposed to happen?"
"No!" Slughorn vehemently exclaimed. "This process takes months of practice! This is impossible – ah, never mind. I don't even have the words to express how shocking this is. There is just too much about you that I can't explain. Perhaps I'll get another chance when you enter the 7th level."
"Anyways, you and the old cat can head back out when you're ready. Right now, the most important thing is for you to cultivate, so you can free yourself of the poison."
"Thank you for the pills," Harry said as he got up to leave. The Exalted Cat perched itself on his head.
"I estimate you'll need 30 high-quality Body Nourishing Pills," Slughorn called out after them.
Harry groaned and prepared himself for another couple weeks in the woods.
"Exalted Cat, watch this," Harry said. He was standing in front of a small tree, eager to test his power. The tree was tall and thin, about twice his height, and as thick as his thigh.
Strengthening Flesh!
Immediately, the Nameless Seed released Wood Qi into his body. Compared to the last time he used this move, both the amount and purity were much greater. It felt like he donned a set of armor.
CRACK!
Harry's fists landed on the tree. He was at most expecting the tree to sway back and forth. Instead, the area where his fists landed was smashed apart, with a crack running along the trunk. Slowly, the top half of the tree inched closer and closer to the ground, until it fell to the forest floor with a huge crash.
Left in front of him was a jagged stump, about the height of his chest. Harry stared at it with his mouth wide open.
He was this strong?
Moreover, he didn't feel any pain at all! His hands should have been aching after that strike, but he felt nothing. When he examined his fists, there were no bruises on them.
"Hmph. Anyone at the high-level of the Body Tempering Realm can do that. Besides, the wood of that tree isn't hard. If you think you're skilled, try knocking down a Mulberry Tree."
Harry grumbled under his breath. Couldn't the Exalted Cat say something nice? He was only at the 6th level of the Body Tempering Realm, so if he had similar strength to those at the high-level, didn't that qualify him for some praise?
"I'd say your offensive strength is around the 7th level of the Body Tempering Realm. But in terms of defense, not even those at the 9th level could hurt you."
'Not even cultivators at the 9thlevel can hurt me?' Harry thought in shock.
When Harry had left the Crystal Mine City, Vernon Dursley was somewhere in the high-level of the Body Tempering Realm. In just a few months, he had progressed to the point where Vernon would no longer be able to hurt him!
"Try Burning Blood," the Exalted Cat urged.
"I don't know how to use that," Harry admitted awkwardly. "The Nameless Technique says that I should burn the drops of condensed blood, but that can't be right, can it?"
The Nameless Technique was incredibly powerful and profound, but the downside was the lack of clear instructions. More than once Harry was stumped at the vague phrases and confusing directions in his memory. At times, even the Exalted Cat and Slughorn were at a loss.
Of course, he now knew he was to refine Wood Qi, then Fire Qi, then Earth, Metal, and Water, in that order. But that was only the very basics of the technique. There were dozens of phrases that the three of them couldn't understand or piece together, so they simply chose to ignore them. But those discarded pieces mentioned all sorts of information, like 'condense the Ring of Elements, refine twice as fast with half the effort, revolve the Ring of Elements, gather the strength of Creation'.
Incomprehensible phrases like that were scattered all over his memories. Each sounded important and helpful, but Harry simply had no idea how to use them. Of course, he wanted to condense the Ring of Elements, whatever that meant, but without the instructions, there was just nothing he could do.
"Burn the drops of blood," the Exalted Cat muttered. "Can the seed release Fire Qi into your bloodstream?"
Harry tried, but got no response.
"It's not working. I think I haven't absorbed enough Fire Qi."
"That would make sense. Ah, where are we supposed to find you a shitload of Fire Qi?" the cat sighed.
"Exalted Cat, how difficult will it be to get enough Fire Qi?" Harry wondered.
"If it was just getting Fire Qi, it wouldn't be too difficult. There are plenty of places in the empire where you can find sources of Fire Qi. Rather, the difficulty is the sheer amount of it that you need, and also, it's inconvenient for us to leave this area right now."
"Why is that?"
"Slughorn and I have some personal reasons," the cat simply said, choosing to not elaborate further.
"More importantly," it added, "anything you use, I want you to earn yourself. If we handed you everything you needed, would you be your current self? For example, if we didn't have you collect Beast Cores, and just fed you pills for free, where would your strength be at? Could you have beaten those Ox Ford Sect disciples?"
Harry shook his head. He was very clear on this point. If not for his greater combat experience, he would've stood no chance in that battle.
"Remember this, the journey is more important than the ending. The path you take makes all the difference, and distinguishes the true geniuses from the rest. Those who have everything handed to them may cultivate faster, but when it comes to the important qualities, like character, willpower, and determination, they're inferior. In short, the harder you work now, and the more you suffer, the greater you will be later."
'I've already suffered enough,' Harry wanted to complain. Out of everyone in the empire, who else suffered from the cruel Fetal Crippling Poison?
"Speaking of that, I'm not going to protect you against Ordinary Grade beasts anymore. In fact, even against low-level Earth Grade Beasts, you're on your own."
"But there's a huge difference between the Body Tempering and Qi Absorption Realms!" Harry protested.
The gap between successive levels of the Body Tempering Realm was large, but not so large to the point where it was impossible to defeat a cultivator at a higher level. For example, when Harry had been at the 5th level, he could defeat those at the 6th. And now that he was at the 6th, he was confident he could defeat cultivators at the 7th level.
But even those geniuses wouldn't be able to defeat an opponent an entire realm above them. Even someone at the 1st level of the Qi Absorption Realm would be far more powerful than someone of the 9th level of Body Tempering Realm.
And although he had great defensive power, his offensive power lacking in comparison. If he fought against an Earth Grade beast, there was no way he'd be able to injure it. It'd be a completely one-sided battle.
"Boy, you can only get stronger by fighting against those who are stronger. Do you think you'll only ever fight weaklings? Shut up and quit complaining."
Harry closed his mouth and followed the cat into the depths of the forest.
30 high-quality Body Nourishing Pills.
That was how many pills he would need to break through the 7th level of the Body Tempering Realm. That was 30 high-level Magic Beasts that he needed to kill, however, he still had 12 high-quality pills leftover, so he really only needed 18 more.
"I'll give myself two weeks," Harry decided. "Two weeks for 18 Beast Cores, then we'll go find the Scarlet Flame Wolves."
As they walked deeper into the forest, they encountered plenty of middle-level Magic Beasts, but Harry didn't bother with them. Middle-level Beast Cores wouldn't help much, and as long as the Magic Beasts didn't fight him, he was disinclined to fight them.
Not too long ago, these beasts had seemed extremely intimidating to him. Now, he could kill them in just a few seconds. In fact, as long as he didn't run into a Qi Absorption realm beast, he was in no danger. With Strengthening Flesh, no one in the Body Tempering Realm could injure him.
A week later, Harry and the cat aimlessly walked around the Wyvern Woods, looking for beasts. In his bag were 16 high-level Beast Cores that he obtained. Only two more, and he would be finished and could return to Slughorn.
His own progress shocked even himself. He originally gave himself two weeks to collect these Beast Cores, and then they would go after the Scarlet Flame Wolves. He thought two weeks would be a strict deadline, and never imagined he could finish in just one.
Suddenly, Harry stopped in his tracks and stared at the sight in front of him.
"Exalted Cat, what's that?"
"That is sand."
"Sand? Isn't that found near the ocean?"
"Yes, so you should be careful."
Harry didn't dare to doubt the cat's words, and unsheathed his sword before walking forward.
The trees and forest abruptly stopped, and was replaced by a wide expanse of sand. It formed an enormous clearing, a perfect circle around 100 meters wide. On the other side, the forest started again.
Harry bent down and scooped some sand up, letting it fall through his fingers. It trickled through, like water, but solid. He stuck his hand further in, expecting to feel the dirt underneath. But to his surprise, his hand sunk in far deeper than the ground, until his arm was submerged to the shoulder.
For some reason, the Exalted Cat seemed to be smirking.
"Should we walk around it?"
"Boy, what fun is there in that? Go, charge straight through."
"Yes, Exalted Cat."
He began walking through the clearing, his eyes scanning around the circumference of the sandpit for danger. Every step sunk a few inches into the sand, leaving behind a trail of shoeprints in the otherwise smooth expanse.
'Why would there be such a sandy region in the middle of the woods?' he wondered. No matter how he thought about it, he couldn't come up with an explanation.
Sand was found near the ocean, everybody knew that. Even though he had never seen the ocean, he at least knew he was nowhere near it. He couldn't fathom how anyone could have travelled to the ocean and then carried tons of sand to the middle of some woods, or for what purpose.
'Perhaps it wasn't carried here,' he thought.
Questions flurried through his mind as he walked, but he had no answer. In the meantime, he searched left and right for any signs of danger, and even glanced to the sky.
Nothing.
A few steps later, he reached the center of the sand pit, and the sand started trembling.
'Danger!' his instincts shouted at him, and he leapt back.
He was just in time. Out of the place he was standing just a moment ago erupted a massive brown cylinder, squirming and writhing in the air.
On closer inspection, it was a worm. It was like someone took an earthworm, but made it hundreds of times larger. It was practically the size of a tree. The worm flopped onto the ground, sending waves of sand scattering in all directions. Its 'head' faced Harry, and he was treated to the most disgusting sight he had ever seen.
There was a gaping hole, fleshly and red, lined with circles of sharp teeth. Down the hole were splotches of brown, pink, and purple organs, pulsing and oozing slime. It was a creature straight out of a nightmare.
"What the hell is that!?" Harry backed up in horror.
"That's a Gluttonous Bore Worm. They live in the sand, and can sense the vibrations of you walking through it. Judging by its size, it's trapped and eaten hundreds of unfortunate beasts. Go on."
"No way, you want me to fight this disgusting thing?" Harry cried.
"Boy, get on with it."
Harry slowly edged closer to the beast, moving to the side to avoid its mouth.
'They don't have eyes,' he immediately noticed. This should be easy.
But as he walked to the side, the worm also turned to face him.
'Right, the vibrations,' he realized.
As he contemplated what to do, the ground started shaking again. Harry immediately leapt back. A moment later, another massive worm burst out of the sand, right where Harry had been standing. It was identical to the first, just as ghastly and nauseating to look at. The worst part was, the two worms began slithering over to Harry.
'Damn, there's two of them' he swore. He didn't want to fight these disgusting things. And the loose sand was making it difficult for him to find proper footing.
"Boy, hurry up. The sooner you get their Beast Cores, the better."
Harry resigned himself to his fate, and charged forward. He leapt five meters into the air, and then pointed his blade downwards, aiming at the first worm.
To Harry's surprise, the worm made no effort to dodge. The blade sunk into the worm's soft flesh – and a geyser of blood, pus, and other liquid sprayed out like a fountain, drenching Harry.
'Fuck!' Harry swore, nearly vomiting. The fluid coming out was the nastiest thing he ever smelled. Then sensing danger, he leapt to the side and rolled away. Bits of sand stuck to the fluids on his body as he did.
The head of the worm he just stabbed smashed into the ground. Harry only narrowly dodged it. Then sensing danger again, he retreated again, just barely dodging the second worm.
"Boy, these worms don't feel pain. You will have to kill them before they stop," the Exalted Cat called out from the side. One moment it had been perched on his shoulder, the next moment, it somehow reached the edge of the sand pit. Harry didn't have the time to figure out how it did that.
Harry leapt into the air again, this time angling his blade to cut rather than stab. With a mighty crash, it sliced through the injured worm's body, splitting it in half. More body fluids sprayed out of its corpse, drenching Harry even further. He quickly ran away before the second worm launched another attack, but found it wasn't necessary. It switched targets – and started feasting on the dead worm.
'I'm going to be sick,' Harry groaned.
Without a doubt, these were the most repulsive Magic Beasts he had ever seen. In fact, he felt that in the entire world, one would be hard-pressed to find something nastier.
Another attack later, and both disgusting creatures were dead.
Harry looked towards the Exalted Cat, who just stared back.
"Boy, you think I'm going to dig for their Beast Cores? Find them yourself."
"But they're disgusting!" Harry protested.
"Haha, boy," the Exalted Cat chuckled, "I forgot to tell you something earlier."
"What?"
"All this sand… it's not actually sand. You see, Gluttonous Bore Worms eat everything. This sand pit is their nest, created by eating trees, plants, dirt, other beasts, even rocks, then digested and expelled out its rear end. In other words, this 'sand' is its poop, passed through the digestive system multiple times, and hardened over the years."
Harry's face immediately turned green. All sorts of nasty images began forming in his mind, which he unsuccessfully tried to quell.
"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked indignantly.
"Haha, you even stuck your entire arm into it. Hahahahahaha!" the cat laughed wildly and unrestrained.
'Fuck your mother,' Harry wanted to curse, then promptly vomited all over the sandpit.
After a long bath in a river, Harry and the cat set off to find the Scarlet Flame Wolves.
"Exalted Cat, do you know where the wolves live?" Harry asked. Since he first entered the forest, Harry never sought out a specific breed of Magic Beast. Rather, he fought whatever beast he stumbled upon.
"No idea," the cat shrugged.
"Then how are we going to find them?"
"Boy, can you use your brain? How did they find you back then? We'll just do the same thing, and let them come to us."
"Exalted Cat, you're a genius," Harry exclaimed. Why did he have to go and find them? All he had to do was start a fire, and wait for them to arrive.
"Of course, this Exalted Cat's wisdom and strength are unparalleled…" as the Exalted Cat began flattering itself once again, Harry just rolled his eyes and tuned it out.
It was nearing nighttime, so Harry decided to stop moving. Starting the fire took him just a few seconds. With his strength, he could easily get smoke and sparks by rubbing some sticks together. He absentmindedly thought back to when he first arrived at the Wyvern Woods. He crawled to the woods on his broken legs, then struggled to start a fire, while fearing that the wolves would eat him. Now, the situation was the complete opposite.
When he first started training in the Wyvern Woods, every battle was difficult and dangerous. He got dozens of injuries from fighting against middle-level Magic Beasts, and could only flee against the beasts stronger than him. Every victory was obtained at the risk of his life. Now, he could even kill high-level Magic Beasts with ease. Those Wooly Tapirs, or Gluttonous Bore Worms, or the various beasts he had faced in the last week, none of them were his opponent. The only difficult battle had been against the ram, and that was because he had thrown his sword away.
The two of them waited in a small clearing, one relaxing and one practicing with his sword. The sky gradually turned dark, and the stars began to appear. Between them was an enormous bonfire.
"Hey, Exalted Cat," Harry said, breaking the silence.
"What is it?"
"Can you tell me about my parents? You knew them, right?" He long wanted to ask this question, but just never found an appropriate time to ask.
"Sure, why not. What do you want to know?"
"Well, for starters, where are they from?"
"Your father came from the Potter Clan, a clan that dates back many centuries. At one point, it was a powerful clan, even when considering the entire Scarlet Phoenix Empire. Alas, it has deteriorated to point where the only member left is you."
His father's family was actually one of the strongest in the entire empire? Harry never imagined he had that sort of background.
"As for your mother, well, I don't know much about her past. She was Slughorn's student in Alchemy, and your father was one of mine in cultivation. Until the two of them got together, I didn't know too much about her personal life."
"You taught my father? Really?"
"Boy, would I lie to you?"
Harry just grimaced, not daring to mention the thing earlier with the Gluttonous Bore Worms. Even now, just thinking about the 'sand' made him want to vomit.
"Hmph. I didn't teach him personally like I am teaching you. I just gave occasional advice."
"What was he like?" Harry eagerly asked.
"Hot-headed, arrogant, foolish, idiotic, gullible, …" the Exalted Cat spewed out a long list of insults, making Harry feel quite awkward. Was the cat just being its usual self, or was his father truly like this?
"…asked me for advice and then never followed it, fooled around with his friends instead of cultivating, yet, was still one of the most talented cultivators I ever taught. He had a long list of problems, but his cultivation surpassed all his peers, except one."
"Who?"
"Your mother, of course."