Chapter 7. Chaotic Virtues Combat Meridians. Tempering the body
Sky Fortune Martial House has only 80 years of history. It's mainly aimed for ordinary martial artists that are unqualified to join the Seven Profound Martial House.
On the other hand, the Seven Profound Martial House was founded by the Grade 3 Clan - Seven Profound Valley. They possess 600 years' worth of heritage and numerous Legacy skills and cultivation techniques!
Those who practice the Legacy skills from Sky Fortune Martial House have little hope of achieving Pulse Condensation Stage. However, the same cannot be said about the Seven Profound Martial House's Legacy skills. As long as one has a Grade 4 Martial Talent, breaking through into the Pulse Condensation Stage using Seven Profound Martial House's manuals is not difficult at all!
As for Lin Xiang, he only knew the lowest grade heart mantra from the Foundation Spear Technique that he slightly modified based on his spiritual knowledge of daoism and cultivation worlds. It was a far cry when compared to a top-tier cultivation technique from the Divine Realm.
With his old technique and average talent, Lin Xiang's progress was slow and his foundation weak. For the past year, he mainly focused on other aspects of strength apart from cultivation, while cultivation was only something he did in his free time between studies, strength and combat practice. Because of this he even learned the reputation of the 'disappointment of the Lin family'.
Lin Xiang knew that a proper and powerful martial arts manual was a key to becoming powerful in this world. If he practiced anything else then, even if he worked his hardest and advanced in cultivation, he would only damage his foundation and future prospects.
But now the Chaotic Virtues Combat Meridians could be his foundational cultivation technique that would allow him to rise above the ordinary man, having shocking progress and strength!
Lin Xiang was incomparably excited and he voraciously sorted out the knowledge regarding this Legacy skill.
Not long after, this 'Chaotic Virtues Combat Meridians' positively surprised him yet again.
The Chaotic Virtues Combat Meridians is a pinnacle level Body Transformation Manual from the Divine Realm. However, even though it is of the pinnacle level, it is only about Body Transformation and thus was not too valuable within the Divine Realm.
According to Lin Xiang's memories, the Divine Realm is a higher realm that possesses hundreds of millions of years' worth of Legacies. Physical training, martial arts, swordsmanship techniques, technical skills, arrays, all of it have been developed and honed to the extreme. It is a world reserved for the strongest of the Martial Path!
Hundreds of millions of years' worth of Legacies!
In Lin Xiang's current world, the Chaotic Virtues Combat Meridians was simply a divine and invaluable technique!
Additionally, there were even more soul fragments stored within the Magic Cube. Once Lin Xiang's strength had reached a sufficient level, he should be able to incorporate even more of them, learning various high-level techniques.
Thinking of the future where he might gain the full mastery of the Magic Cube, Lin Xiang's heart was incredibly excited.
As Lin Xiang continued incorporating the Chaotic Virtues Combat Meridians, he saw that it was a complete Body Training manual. Everything from Strength Training, Flesh Training, Viscera Training, Altering Muscle, Bone Forging and Pulse Condensation was there.
In Sky Spill Continent, Physical Training Manuals were generally for one stage only. For example, the 'Genuine Altering Muscle Channels' manual is specifically meant for the Altering Muscle Stage, the 'Golden Bone Forging Divine Formula' manual for Bone Forging Stage, the 'Divine Nine Pulse Skill' manual for the Pulse Condensation Stage and so on.
However, the Chaotic Virtues Combat Meridians was capable of propelling one from the Strength Training Stage to the Pulse Condensation Stage.
But there was one even more shocking thing.
Within the Sky Spill Continent, Pulse Condensation marks the end of the Body Transformation Stage after which one will step upon the Primal Assemblage Stage. The Primal Assemblage Stage is divided into Houtian stage and Xiantian stage.
For most people, the Bone Forging Stage is a bottleneck which they cannot break through, unable to reach the Pulse Condensation stage.
Pulse Condensation is the limit for the veins within the human body. That is a commonly accepted knowledge.
However, according to the 'Chaotic Virtues Combat Meridians', there exists another stage beyond Pulse Condensation – Tempering Marrow!
Above the Tempering Marrow Stage, there are many others.
Eight Gates of Hidden Celestial Stems! Using the Eight Trigrams to correspond with the movement of the Nine Celestial Bodies, one could open up eight gates within their bodies.
Nine Variant Dao Palace! With it, one could break through the limits of the body and reach an even higher level of strength!
Regardless of Tempering Marrow or the Eight Gates, neither one of them would affect a martial artist when entering the Post-Celestial or Pre-Celestial Stage. This gives one a far higher degree of martial achievement compared to others. The benefits are self-evident!
Thinking of all this, Lin Xiang laughed. In the lower world in the novel, this Chaotic Virtues Combat Meridians cultivation manual was Lin Ming's foundation and the reason behind his incredible starting strength in the novel.
At the same time, Lin Xiang bitterly smiled as he thought of the latter stages of Body Transformation. He remembered that the body transformation cultivation in this world involved unimaginable amounts of pain.
After thinking about it for a moment, he only laughed. He would deal with things as they come.
At this moment he was fervently excited to start practicing.
But before he began, he checked his pocket within his bosom for the Magic Cube. He was not too surprised when he found out that the Magic Cube had disappeared.
He searched his body as he felt something strange on his chest. He took off his clothes and found a strange symbol on the skin of his left chest. The symbol is exactly the same as the mysterious symbol on the surface of the Magic Cube.
It appeared that the Magic Cube had entered his body.
Lin Xiang tried to summon the Magic Cube, but to no avail. He wasn't surprised either. He knew that at this moment only Mo Eversnow could control the Cube, and he would likely not be able to use it himself at all while in the lower realm.
The control of the Magic Cube and the knowledge within could be left for the future. What Lin Xiang needed to do right now was to learn about the Chaotic Virtuous Combat Meridians and begin training hard in it as soon as possible.
Lin Xiang stopped trying to summon the Magic Cube.
He sat down straight in a seiza position on the floor, his shins resting against a soft carpet. He then began to explore the Legacy Body Tempering technique from the Divine Domain he learned.
The essence of the Chaotic Virtues Combat Meridians was to transform the body into a divine weapon with amazing strength.
Additionally, the Chaotic Virtues Combat Meridians also emphasizes techniques that utilize strength. Its first layer of Strength Training is already far different from the norm.
Normally, once a person is capable of a force of a 1000 jins (604 kg), that person would have achieved minor comprehension and could smash an Iron Tree with a punch.
The Chaotic Virtues Combat Meridians, however, requires not only the training of strength, but also the training of precision, the control over the amount of strength used. Once major comprehension is achieved, one would be able to use their palm to turn a tree trunk into fine fibers!
Lin Xiang quickly got to training, closed his eyes and first began with a breathing technique that he could practice in his room.
What he practiced was the True Primal Chaos Formula, a special method of circulating true primal energies derived from the Chaotic Virtues Combat Meridians' manual.
This formula was much better at utilizing the true primal energies to temper the body and forge the bones. Once major comprehension of this formula is attained, the resulting strength and durability would be greatly improved to a level surpassing those of the same realm!
It was surprisingly easy for Lin Xiang to grasp this method and train with great efficiency. As it appeared, it was thanks to the memories of the expert he gained.
The expert's experience and comprehension had greatly benefited Lin Xiang's training. Even the circulating method of the skill had been deeply ingrained into the senior's soul. All Lin Xiang needed to do was use his body to recollect them.
After Lin Xiang practiced for half an hour, there was a knock on his door. Then a voice sounded out, "Brother Xiang, are you awake?"
Lin Xiang was very familiar with this voice - it was Lin Ming's who probably wanted to eat together and then go out to train in the mountains. He opened his eyes and replied, "I'm awake. I'll go down to the kitchen in a minute."
"Alright," Lin Ming said and left.
Lin Xiang stood up and prepared his backpack. After a while, he left his room and quickly walked down into the Grand Clarity Pavilion's kitchen. Although he acquired the Magic Cube, and even the Magic Sphere, he still wanted to check if there were any changes to Lin Ming.
After asking the cooks, he piled his plate with some left-overs and sat down at a table in the employers' leisure room, sitting down next to Lin Ming.
"What's that mark on your forehead?" Lin Ming casually asked with a curious expression when he first saw Lin Xiang.
"It's nothing, it's fashion," Lin Xiang said, chuckling.
"Aah? Fashion?" Lin Ming asked.
"Yeah, now people won't confuse us anymore." Lin Xiang laughed.
"Aah…" Lin Ming pondered. If not for the fact that Lin Xiang often carried a spear, it was difficult for people to differentiate between them. But now with the mark on Lin Xiang's forehead, that would not be a problem.
Lin Ming did not think much about it and continued eating his breakfast. He knew that Lin Xiang was a bit eccentric sometimes.
After breakfast, the two brothers agreed to cultivate for half an hour in their rooms to settle their bowels, and then they jogged together to train in the Zhou mountains.
…
The glade where Lin Xiang usually practiced was several miles away from the Grand Clarity Pavillion.
Throughout the morning he felt that there was nothing wrong with Lin Ming and separated from him to practice by himself.
Lin Ming was not surprised by this, because Lin Xiang had often trained by himself in the past as well.
After he reached his usual spot, Lin Xiang tossed his backpack onto the ground. In it were some ordinary medicines and bandages, and mostly food and water.
This location was not too far from Lin Ming's training place, but it still provided him a level of privacy.
To restore his breath, Lin Xiang squatted on the ground and began to revolve the True Primal Chaos Formula.
After doing that for a short while, he began his training. He began sending out punches at the tree in front of him with focus, causing heavy sounds to reverberate through the area.
"Peng, peng, peng!"
In the past Lin Xiang used to wear Iron Knuckles that he designed himself when practicing the power of his punches, but the Chaotic Virtues Combat Meridians included the training of precision and the control of one's strength, so he planned to only use his bare fists from now on to get a better feeling.
In the past Lin Xiang had also practiced the control of his strength, with fists and the spear, and he also attempted to perceive the concept of vibration to apply to his true essence, but it couldn't compare to actual practice with the genuine Chaotic Virtues Combat Meridians manual. He only achieved a surface level of success with his training and nothing substantial.
"Peng, peng, peng!"
Lin Xiang sent out another series of punches.
An Iron Wood tree was no different from an iron pillar. Lin Xiang could feel his skin and bones cracking as he striked, having blood paint the bark of the iron tree.
One could only imagine that the method of punching it with bare hands was quite painful. Yet, when Lin Xiang struck out with almost all of his strength, he only lightly frowned while his lips were firmly pursed.
It could be said that throughout these years Lin Xiang had nearly brainwashed himself with affirmations to do anything that could make him stronger, no matter how hard it is.
In his mind, because of the fact that he claimed the Magic Cube for himself, Lin Xiang also had to replace and compete with a person that reached the very limits of cultivation, becoming the most powerful and unrivaled cultivator among trillions of trillions of cultivators across countless worlds, someone unrivaled throughout millions of years of history.
Although there was the aspect of Lin Ming's plot armor, luck and destiny in the novel, making him an ideal fictional hero, Lin Xiang was certain that Lin Ming undoubtedly still worked very hard in his cultivation, doing all kinds of extreme and torturous training and body tempering practices.
Lin Xiang refused to be inferior to the fictional Lin Ming of the novel, especially since he even had an additional cheat item.
At this time he spared no effort when practicing his strength on the Iron Wood Tree. Once he felt that he began running out of breath and the control of his strength was slipping, he would stop his boxing practice and squat down.
He had half of the 100-year-old Blood Ginseng that was gifted to the two brothers by Lin Xiaodong, and he would cut out thin slices to heal his fractured fists.
While waiting for his fists to heal, he would revolve the True Primal Chaos Formula with focus, before returning to punching the Iron Wood trees while also practicing with the breathing technique.
This kind of training continued until late afternoon when Lin Xiang finally decided to return.