Chapter 122: Body Tempering Path
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Body Tempering Path
"No, not a chance. You're my personal disciple. If you went around challenging Outer Disciples like a madman, what would that do to my image?" Yue Zifeng denied it immediately, giving Xue Bai an odd sense of deja vu.
"But I want to test out my new strength. The Core Elders took me to the sect before I could fully experiment with it." Xue Bai complained.
"In the Training Pagoda on your peak, there are a few Sword Puppets with varying cultivation levels if you want to." Yue Zifeng said.
"But I'd rather fight something with sentience than some Sword Puppet." Xue Bai didn't relent.
However, Yue Zifeng just waved off Xue Bai and spoke mysteriously before kicking him out.
"Don't underestimate those puppets. They are much stronger than you think."
Xue Bai still didn't fully believe his Master, but since he couldn't do much about it, he could only leave and return back to his peak with dropped shoulders.
Along the way, Xue Bai saw the many servants once again going over to Ye Rou's peak. He greeted them normally, flashing a bright smile at them, but after walking away, he came to regret his choice.
"Oh my god, Senior Brother Xue is so cute!"
"He's like a little doll! And his skin is fair and supple!"
"I could pinch those cheeks forever and still be content!"
And with a shiver traveling up his spine, Xue Bai put more effort into his walk and quickly made it back to his peak, where he found Xiao'er once again commanding a group of servants.
Xiao'er was curious as to why Xue Bai was back so quickly, but since she was busy, she decided to wait until nightfall when they were alone to ask.
Xue Bai, seeing that, also did the same and went over to the Training Pagoda that Yue Zifeng had mentioned.
Both of them were busy with their own business, so instead of making the situation awkward by interrupting each other, the two only greeted each other and continued doing their jobs.
The Training Pagoda, Xue Bai learned from Yue Zifeng, had seven floors, each occupied by more than a dozen sword Sword Puppets of varying cultivation realms. And the higher one would go up, the stronger the Sword Puppets would get.
So, for example, the first floor only had Bone Strengthening Realm Sword Puppets that didn't even start comprehending Sword Law, while the top floor had Domain Lord Realm Sword Puppets with Perfection level Sword Laws.
Of course, these Sword Puppets also couldn't be taken out of their respective Training Pagodas and used for war purposes, as they were not only intrinsically connected to it but also powered by the Spiritual Qi on the Mountain. If they could, the Soaring Sword Sect would've long conquered the Southern Continent.
And while Yue Zifeng didn't want Xue Bai to be practicing his combat skills, since Xue Bai looked extremely eager to, he decided to let his disciple do as he pleased. Yue Zifeng knew that Xue Bai couldn't cultivate all day long and decided that practicing his combat skills while his sore veins were recovering was a good idea.
He was even going as far as to recommend different things to practice, like for Xue Bai to go against multiple opponents and hone his skills in one against many fights, or even suppress his cultivation base and fight against the Sword Puppets using only his Sword Law to further perfect it.
Finding his idea rational and more than helpful, Xue Bai planned to follow them and entered the Training Pagoda with high expectations.
Unlike at his home, where he had practiced in a large field, the pagoda he was equipped with now was much different.
The training field at home was much more expansive and helped Xue Bai with many secondary skills, like his movement techniques, his evasion ability, and the one he worked on the most, his archery.
But the Training Pagoda now couldn't help him with any of that. Here, while he wasn't in a small room, there wasn't nearly as much space as he had back at home.
This meant that he was in a forced encounter with the Sword Puppet that was on each floor.
After a moment of hesitation, Xue Bai entered the pagoda and decided to stay on the first floor instead of going up to the second floor with the Organ Tempering Realm Sword Puppets.
Though he had already managed to kill a demonic beast at the peak of the Bone Strengthening Realm, the fight hadn't really tested out any of Xue Bai's strength.
It was more similar to Xue Bai using the Flame Salamander as a testing dummy for his Sword Law.
Looking around the first floor, Xue Bai found it to be around 10 meters by 10 meters with a height of around 3, making it rather spacious. The walls were also made of an unidentifiable silver metal, but after giving it a rather hard punch, Xue Bai only felt a stinging pain in his fist while the wall was completely untouched.
'It has to at least be a High Yellow-grade Spiritual Ore.,' Xue Bai examined from his punch.
Even though he wasn't able to destroy a Middle Yellow-grade Spiritual Ore with a punch, a full-power punch from him could at least leave a dent. But since the wall was completely unscathed, Xue Bai knew that it was stronger than what he guessed.
Continuing to look around, Xue Bai noticed that there wasn't anything in the room besides a control array that presumably controlled the first floor. So after walking up to the control panel that controlled the entire Training Pagoda, he first activated it to release one Sword Puppet at the peak of the Bone Strengthening Realm.
Hearing a door open, Xue Bai turned in its direction and saw the silver wall open up and let out an armored silver puppet.
The Sword Puppet was tall, at around 1.95 meters, and only carried a standard 3-foot long and 2 inches wide Jian sword.
Other than its bright silver armor and sword, there were no identifiable features on it, fully representing its identity as a Sword Puppet and not a sentient being.
But before Xue Bai could further examine it, the Sword Puppet readied its sword and jumped at Xue Bai.
Stunned at the sudden act of aggression, Xue Bai was caught off guard for a moment, but thanks to his training, he was able to regain his composure and quickly managed to pull out Pale Blue from his Spatial Ring and defend himself.
Yue Zifeng took Fire Breath from him, so Xue Bai was forced to make do with his much weaker backup sword.
Thankfully the Sword Puppet's sword matched its cultivation level and wasn't much stronger than Pale Blue.
But after Xue Bai clashed with the Sword Puppet, he immediately found himself at a huge disadvantage.
Since the Sword Puppet didn't have any Spiritual Qi, its strength was classified by its physical strength.
So instead of Xue Bai, who had to reinforce his body with his Spiritual Qi to get his strength, the Sword Puppet was constantly at Xue Bai's peak strength.
Coupled with the fact that Xue Bai didn't plan on using his Sword Law just yet, the physical strength difference quickly showed, as, after more than a few clashes, Xue Bai found his wrists getting numb.
'I should start doing body tempering.' Xue Bai was feeling good that he didn't go ahead and start on the second floor.
Most likely, if he went up there, not only would Pale Blue not be able to hold up, but neither would his physical body.
While the Houtian Great Realm was known to be the great realm where cultivators perfected their physical bodies, it didn't truly strengthen it to its true potential, but instead to the minimum strength needed to prepare for the Qi Sea Realm.
But this path had many downsides, so one day, a cultivator who saw this massive flaw decided to create a cultivation path that could not only stop this problem but also build upon it and make it a strength of the human race and not a weakness.
And eventually, he created the body-tempering path, where one could dig out the true potential of the human body and make it strong enough to not only match up but also defeat the demonic beasts which were born with much stronger physical bodies.
This way, one could take their physical body to new heights where it would eventually even match their Spiritual Qi cultivation.
The realms he decided on, however, were less than original and followed the ranking of items throughout the cultivation world: 4 realms of Yellow, Black, Earth, and Heaven, with four minor realms of Early, Middle, Late, and Peak.
However, this path was also filled with hardships. Besides a strong mind to withstand the physical torment that came from tempering the human body, one also needed deep pockets to supplement their body tempering journey.
Thankfully Xue Bai had both, so after deciding his next move, Xue Bai focused on the losing battle.
Since the young age of 7, Xue Bai had been soaking in medicinal herb baths that were prescribed by his mother, so his physical body was much stronger than the usual youth and was at the Low Yellow-grade. However, compared to the Middle Yellow-grade Sword Puppet, Xue Bai was more than lacking.
A few more minutes went by, and since Xue Bai hadn't used his Sword Law yet but only his swordsmanship, he was still on the losing end. But through this losing fight, Xue Bai was also feeling his already great swordsmanship improve, albeit slightly.
And since his sword skills had recently plateaued because of his practicing other things, Xue Bai gritted his teeth and continued the losing fight he was in.
However, he didn't last long. As the fight ended before the 20-minute mark would come, the Sword Puppet sent Xue Bai's sword flying and pointed his own at Xue Bai's throat.
Since Xue Bai was on the losing side of the fight for the entire time, he also used his Spiritual Qi at a much faster rate than normal. And while the fight was short, the intensity was high. So Xue Bai quickly ran out of Spiritual Qi, giving the Sword Puppet the winning move by knocking away his sword.
The Sword Puppet was programmed not to kill any entering disciple, so it made no further movement after pointing his sword at Xue Bai's throat.
Sighing, Xue Bai turned off the array formation and sent the Sword Puppet back into its storage room. Although he knew that he wouldn't be able to win the fight against the Peak stage Bone Strengthening Realm Sword Puppet, it still felt disappointing.
But instead of moping around, Xue Bai sat down on the floor of the Training Pagoda and went over his performance against the Sword Puppet.
His physical body was too weak, and because of that, he had to use his Spiritual Qi much faster than he was used to and, in turn, lose faster.
Other than that, Xue Bai thought rather highly of his performance against the stronger Sword Puppet.
After all, without his Sword Law, Xue Bai could only fight something four stages higher than him. So with his 4th stage cultivation, Xue Bai could potentially fight something at the 8th stage, and as heaven-defying, as that was, it was 1 stage lower than his opponent.
Done with his performance evaluation, Xue Bai picked up Pale Blue and turned the array formation back on, starting round 2 with the Sword Puppet.
He had nothing better to do, and while the progress he made with his swordsmanship was little, it was still there. So why not continue it?
Cultivating throughout the day would make his veins sore and take away his habitual nighttime cultivation session. And while he could brave through the soreness and pain, Xue Bai decided to play it safe, as it was very common for someone to rupture or even completely cripple their veins from a too-long cultivation session.
So Xue Bai planned to spend his mornings/afternoons practicing his swordsmanship and then cultivating during the night. This way, he could live up to Yue Zifeng's goals and still increase his strength at a rapid pace.
And after turning the array formation back on, Xue Bai once again faced the Sword Puppet.
Hours quickly passed, and Xue Bai slowly improved, but sadly the losses never stopped, and even until Xue Bai left, he still hadn't won a match.
But on the bright side, the fight's length had extended from the original short 20 minutes to 25 minutes giving Xue Bai some satisfaction from his more than poor performance.
Picking up his sore body from the ground, Xue Bai left the Training Pagoda feeling more than content. Progress was slow, but it was there, and with nothing more to do but train, Xue Bai found his growth speed more than acceptable.
Outside, the sun was starting to set, and Xiao'er was once again getting the female servants to leave the Peak as per Yue Zifeng's rules.
"Young Master! Look at our courtyard," Xiao'er yelled out after noticing Xue Bai walking out from the Training Pagoda, "I made it just like the one back at the Dukedom."
Curious at the declaration, Xue Bai followed her and went over to his courtyard and found it true. His courtyard was almost exactly as it was back home. Even the courtyard of Xiao'er was the same as hers back at the maid dormitory.
However, this time, since the materials used for the construction were much better than the ones back at home, the new designs looked much better than the original.
Whether it was the walls used for the outside, or even the curtain at his bedside, everything in the courtyard was an upgrade.
And while he was slightly looking forward to a new home and layout for his courtyard, seeing the nostalgic bedroom back in his new home, Xue Bai couldn't complain. He had stayed in it for his entire life in the Baishen Plane, so seeing it once more, Xue Bai was content.
"Good job Xiao'er." Xue Bai approvingly nodded as he patted her head.
"Of course!" Xiao'er raised her nose in pride, "It's me, after all. How could it be bad."
"Yes, yes, my Xiao'er is the best." Xue Bai nodded plainly, "Now go to your courtyard and cultivate. You can't slack for even a day."
Proceeding to push her toward her courtyard, Xue Bai tried to coax her into continuing to cultivate diligently.
"But Young Master, it's so boring," Xiao'er complained, but after turning around and seeing Xue Bai's stern face, she stopped and grudgingly listened.
"Good girl." Xue Bai felt proud of her progress, "Just make sure not to do any more rushed breakthroughs. I can't have you crippling yourself this young."
And after making sure Xiao'er started cultivating, Xue Bai went back to his own courtyard and sat down before beginning to cultivate for the night.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Huo Long's awakening chapter is complete and will be released in a few hours! Also, I have created an auxiliary chapter that lists the known 'Children of the Plane' while also giving them a small description for anyone who has forgotten, so take a look!
Finally, I want to say beforehand that the cultivations realms were something that I had added in on an impulse of my thanks to a very active reader. But since I think they would translate well with my system, I don't think it seems too out of place. But if anyone sees any jarring plot hole or mistake, please comment on it, and I'll find and fix it.
Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!
Body Tempering Path
"No, not a chance. You're my personal disciple. If you went around challenging Outer Disciples like a madman, what would that do to my image?" Yue Zifeng denied it immediately, giving Xue Bai an odd sense of deja vu.
"But I want to test out my new strength. The Core Elders took me to the sect before I could fully experiment with it." Xue Bai complained.
"In the Training Pagoda on your peak, there are a few Sword Puppets with varying cultivation levels if you want to." Yue Zifeng said.
"But I'd rather fight something with sentience than some Sword Puppet." Xue Bai didn't relent.
However, Yue Zifeng just waved off Xue Bai and spoke mysteriously before kicking him out.
"Don't underestimate those puppets. They are much stronger than you think."
Xue Bai still didn't fully believe his Master, but since he couldn't do much about it, he could only leave and return back to his peak with dropped shoulders.
Along the way, Xue Bai saw the many servants once again going over to Ye Rou's peak. He greeted them normally, flashing a bright smile at them, but after walking away, he came to regret his choice.
"Oh my god, Senior Brother Xue is so cute!"
"He's like a little doll! And his skin is fair and supple!"
"I could pinch those cheeks forever and still be content!"
And with a shiver traveling up his spine, Xue Bai put more effort into his walk and quickly made it back to his peak, where he found Xiao'er once again commanding a group of servants.
Xiao'er was curious as to why Xue Bai was back so quickly, but since she was busy, she decided to wait until nightfall when they were alone to ask.
Xue Bai, seeing that, also did the same and went over to the Training Pagoda that Yue Zifeng had mentioned.
Both of them were busy with their own business, so instead of making the situation awkward by interrupting each other, the two only greeted each other and continued doing their jobs.
The Training Pagoda, Xue Bai learned from Yue Zifeng, had seven floors, each occupied by more than a dozen sword Sword Puppets of varying cultivation realms. And the higher one would go up, the stronger the Sword Puppets would get.
So, for example, the first floor only had Bone Strengthening Realm Sword Puppets that didn't even start comprehending Sword Law, while the top floor had Domain Lord Realm Sword Puppets with Perfection level Sword Laws.
Of course, these Sword Puppets also couldn't be taken out of their respective Training Pagodas and used for war purposes, as they were not only intrinsically connected to it but also powered by the Spiritual Qi on the Mountain. If they could, the Soaring Sword Sect would've long conquered the Southern Continent.
And while Yue Zifeng didn't want Xue Bai to be practicing his combat skills, since Xue Bai looked extremely eager to, he decided to let his disciple do as he pleased. Yue Zifeng knew that Xue Bai couldn't cultivate all day long and decided that practicing his combat skills while his sore veins were recovering was a good idea.
He was even going as far as to recommend different things to practice, like for Xue Bai to go against multiple opponents and hone his skills in one against many fights, or even suppress his cultivation base and fight against the Sword Puppets using only his Sword Law to further perfect it.
Finding his idea rational and more than helpful, Xue Bai planned to follow them and entered the Training Pagoda with high expectations.
Unlike at his home, where he had practiced in a large field, the pagoda he was equipped with now was much different.
The training field at home was much more expansive and helped Xue Bai with many secondary skills, like his movement techniques, his evasion ability, and the one he worked on the most, his archery.
But the Training Pagoda now couldn't help him with any of that. Here, while he wasn't in a small room, there wasn't nearly as much space as he had back at home.
This meant that he was in a forced encounter with the Sword Puppet that was on each floor.
After a moment of hesitation, Xue Bai entered the pagoda and decided to stay on the first floor instead of going up to the second floor with the Organ Tempering Realm Sword Puppets.
Though he had already managed to kill a demonic beast at the peak of the Bone Strengthening Realm, the fight hadn't really tested out any of Xue Bai's strength.
It was more similar to Xue Bai using the Flame Salamander as a testing dummy for his Sword Law.
Looking around the first floor, Xue Bai found it to be around 10 meters by 10 meters with a height of around 3, making it rather spacious. The walls were also made of an unidentifiable silver metal, but after giving it a rather hard punch, Xue Bai only felt a stinging pain in his fist while the wall was completely untouched.
'It has to at least be a High Yellow-grade Spiritual Ore.,' Xue Bai examined from his punch.
Even though he wasn't able to destroy a Middle Yellow-grade Spiritual Ore with a punch, a full-power punch from him could at least leave a dent. But since the wall was completely unscathed, Xue Bai knew that it was stronger than what he guessed.
Continuing to look around, Xue Bai noticed that there wasn't anything in the room besides a control array that presumably controlled the first floor. So after walking up to the control panel that controlled the entire Training Pagoda, he first activated it to release one Sword Puppet at the peak of the Bone Strengthening Realm.
Hearing a door open, Xue Bai turned in its direction and saw the silver wall open up and let out an armored silver puppet.
The Sword Puppet was tall, at around 1.95 meters, and only carried a standard 3-foot long and 2 inches wide Jian sword.
Other than its bright silver armor and sword, there were no identifiable features on it, fully representing its identity as a Sword Puppet and not a sentient being.
But before Xue Bai could further examine it, the Sword Puppet readied its sword and jumped at Xue Bai.
Stunned at the sudden act of aggression, Xue Bai was caught off guard for a moment, but thanks to his training, he was able to regain his composure and quickly managed to pull out Pale Blue from his Spatial Ring and defend himself.
Yue Zifeng took Fire Breath from him, so Xue Bai was forced to make do with his much weaker backup sword.
Thankfully the Sword Puppet's sword matched its cultivation level and wasn't much stronger than Pale Blue.
But after Xue Bai clashed with the Sword Puppet, he immediately found himself at a huge disadvantage.
Since the Sword Puppet didn't have any Spiritual Qi, its strength was classified by its physical strength.
So instead of Xue Bai, who had to reinforce his body with his Spiritual Qi to get his strength, the Sword Puppet was constantly at Xue Bai's peak strength.
Coupled with the fact that Xue Bai didn't plan on using his Sword Law just yet, the physical strength difference quickly showed, as, after more than a few clashes, Xue Bai found his wrists getting numb.
'I should start doing body tempering.' Xue Bai was feeling good that he didn't go ahead and start on the second floor.
Most likely, if he went up there, not only would Pale Blue not be able to hold up, but neither would his physical body.
While the Houtian Great Realm was known to be the great realm where cultivators perfected their physical bodies, it didn't truly strengthen it to its true potential, but instead to the minimum strength needed to prepare for the Qi Sea Realm.
But this path had many downsides, so one day, a cultivator who saw this massive flaw decided to create a cultivation path that could not only stop this problem but also build upon it and make it a strength of the human race and not a weakness.
And eventually, he created the body-tempering path, where one could dig out the true potential of the human body and make it strong enough to not only match up but also defeat the demonic beasts which were born with much stronger physical bodies.
This way, one could take their physical body to new heights where it would eventually even match their Spiritual Qi cultivation.
The realms he decided on, however, were less than original and followed the ranking of items throughout the cultivation world: 4 realms of Yellow, Black, Earth, and Heaven, with four minor realms of Early, Middle, Late, and Peak.
However, this path was also filled with hardships. Besides a strong mind to withstand the physical torment that came from tempering the human body, one also needed deep pockets to supplement their body tempering journey.
Thankfully Xue Bai had both, so after deciding his next move, Xue Bai focused on the losing battle.
Since the young age of 7, Xue Bai had been soaking in medicinal herb baths that were prescribed by his mother, so his physical body was much stronger than the usual youth and was at the Low Yellow-grade. However, compared to the Middle Yellow-grade Sword Puppet, Xue Bai was more than lacking.
A few more minutes went by, and since Xue Bai hadn't used his Sword Law yet but only his swordsmanship, he was still on the losing end. But through this losing fight, Xue Bai was also feeling his already great swordsmanship improve, albeit slightly.
And since his sword skills had recently plateaued because of his practicing other things, Xue Bai gritted his teeth and continued the losing fight he was in.
However, he didn't last long. As the fight ended before the 20-minute mark would come, the Sword Puppet sent Xue Bai's sword flying and pointed his own at Xue Bai's throat.
Since Xue Bai was on the losing side of the fight for the entire time, he also used his Spiritual Qi at a much faster rate than normal. And while the fight was short, the intensity was high. So Xue Bai quickly ran out of Spiritual Qi, giving the Sword Puppet the winning move by knocking away his sword.
The Sword Puppet was programmed not to kill any entering disciple, so it made no further movement after pointing his sword at Xue Bai's throat.
Sighing, Xue Bai turned off the array formation and sent the Sword Puppet back into its storage room. Although he knew that he wouldn't be able to win the fight against the Peak stage Bone Strengthening Realm Sword Puppet, it still felt disappointing.
But instead of moping around, Xue Bai sat down on the floor of the Training Pagoda and went over his performance against the Sword Puppet.
His physical body was too weak, and because of that, he had to use his Spiritual Qi much faster than he was used to and, in turn, lose faster.
Other than that, Xue Bai thought rather highly of his performance against the stronger Sword Puppet.
After all, without his Sword Law, Xue Bai could only fight something four stages higher than him. So with his 4th stage cultivation, Xue Bai could potentially fight something at the 8th stage, and as heaven-defying, as that was, it was 1 stage lower than his opponent.
Done with his performance evaluation, Xue Bai picked up Pale Blue and turned the array formation back on, starting round 2 with the Sword Puppet.
He had nothing better to do, and while the progress he made with his swordsmanship was little, it was still there. So why not continue it?
Cultivating throughout the day would make his veins sore and take away his habitual nighttime cultivation session. And while he could brave through the soreness and pain, Xue Bai decided to play it safe, as it was very common for someone to rupture or even completely cripple their veins from a too-long cultivation session.
So Xue Bai planned to spend his mornings/afternoons practicing his swordsmanship and then cultivating during the night. This way, he could live up to Yue Zifeng's goals and still increase his strength at a rapid pace.
And after turning the array formation back on, Xue Bai once again faced the Sword Puppet.
Hours quickly passed, and Xue Bai slowly improved, but sadly the losses never stopped, and even until Xue Bai left, he still hadn't won a match.
But on the bright side, the fight's length had extended from the original short 20 minutes to 25 minutes giving Xue Bai some satisfaction from his more than poor performance.
Picking up his sore body from the ground, Xue Bai left the Training Pagoda feeling more than content. Progress was slow, but it was there, and with nothing more to do but train, Xue Bai found his growth speed more than acceptable.
Outside, the sun was starting to set, and Xiao'er was once again getting the female servants to leave the Peak as per Yue Zifeng's rules.
"Young Master! Look at our courtyard," Xiao'er yelled out after noticing Xue Bai walking out from the Training Pagoda, "I made it just like the one back at the Dukedom."
Curious at the declaration, Xue Bai followed her and went over to his courtyard and found it true. His courtyard was almost exactly as it was back home. Even the courtyard of Xiao'er was the same as hers back at the maid dormitory.
However, this time, since the materials used for the construction were much better than the ones back at home, the new designs looked much better than the original.
Whether it was the walls used for the outside, or even the curtain at his bedside, everything in the courtyard was an upgrade.
And while he was slightly looking forward to a new home and layout for his courtyard, seeing the nostalgic bedroom back in his new home, Xue Bai couldn't complain. He had stayed in it for his entire life in the Baishen Plane, so seeing it once more, Xue Bai was content.
"Good job Xiao'er." Xue Bai approvingly nodded as he patted her head.
"Of course!" Xiao'er raised her nose in pride, "It's me, after all. How could it be bad."
"Yes, yes, my Xiao'er is the best." Xue Bai nodded plainly, "Now go to your courtyard and cultivate. You can't slack for even a day."
Proceeding to push her toward her courtyard, Xue Bai tried to coax her into continuing to cultivate diligently.
"But Young Master, it's so boring," Xiao'er complained, but after turning around and seeing Xue Bai's stern face, she stopped and grudgingly listened.
"Good girl." Xue Bai felt proud of her progress, "Just make sure not to do any more rushed breakthroughs. I can't have you crippling yourself this young."
And after making sure Xiao'er started cultivating, Xue Bai went back to his own courtyard and sat down before beginning to cultivate for the night.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Huo Long's awakening chapter is complete and will be released in a few hours! Also, I have created an auxiliary chapter that lists the known 'Children of the Plane' while also giving them a small description for anyone who has forgotten, so take a look!
Finally, I want to say beforehand that the cultivations realms were something that I had added in on an impulse of my thanks to a very active reader. But since I think they would translate well with my system, I don't think it seems too out of place. But if anyone sees any jarring plot hole or mistake, please comment on it, and I'll find and fix it.
Body Tempering Path"No, not a chance. You're my personal disciple. If you went around challenging Outer Disciples like a madman, what would that do to my image?" Yue Zifeng denied it immediately, giving Xue Bai an odd sense of deja vu."But I want to test out my new strength. The Core Elders took me to the sect before I could fully experiment with it." Xue Bai complained."In the Training Pagoda on your peak, there are a few Sword Puppets with varying cultivation levels if you want to." Yue Zifeng said."But I'd rather fight something with sentience than some Sword Puppet." Xue Bai didn't relent.However, Yue Zifeng just waved off Xue Bai and spoke mysteriously before kicking him out."Don't underestimate those puppets. They are much stronger than you think."Xue Bai still didn't fully believe his Master, but since he couldn't do much about it, he could only leave and return back to his peak with dropped shoulders.Along the way, Xue Bai saw the many servants once again going over to Ye Rou's peak. He greeted them normally, flashing a bright smile at them, but after walking away, he came to regret his choice."Oh my god, Senior Brother Xue is so cute!""He's like a little doll! And his skin is fair and supple!""I could pinch those cheeks forever and still be content!"And with a shiver traveling up his spine, Xue Bai put more effort into his walk and quickly made it back to his peak, where he found Xiao'er once again commanding a group of servants.Xiao'er was curious as to why Xue Bai was back so quickly, but since she was busy, she decided to wait until nightfall when they were alone to ask.Xue Bai, seeing that, also did the same and went over to the Training Pagoda that Yue Zifeng had mentioned.Both of them were busy with their own business, so instead of making the situation awkward by interrupting each other, the two only greeted each other and continued doing their jobs.The Training Pagoda, Xue Bai learned from Yue Zifeng, had seven floors, each occupied by more than a dozen sword Sword Puppets of varying cultivation realms. And the higher one would go up, the stronger the Sword Puppets would get.So, for example, the first floor only had Bone Strengthening Realm Sword Puppets that didn't even start comprehending Sword Law, while the top floor had Domain Lord Realm Sword Puppets with Perfection level Sword Laws.Of course, these Sword Puppets also couldn't be taken out of their respective Training Pagodas and used for war purposes, as they were not only intrinsically connected to it but also powered by the Spiritual Qi on the Mountain. If they could, the Soaring Sword Sect would've long conquered the Southern Continent.And while Yue Zifeng didn't want Xue Bai to be practicing his combat skills, since Xue Bai looked extremely eager to, he decided to let his disciple do as he pleased. Yue Zifeng knew that Xue Bai couldn't cultivate all day long and decided that practicing his combat skills while his sore veins were recovering was a good idea.He was even going as far as to recommend different things to practice, like for Xue Bai to go against multiple opponents and hone his skills in one against many fights, or even suppress his cultivation base and fight against the Sword Puppets using only his Sword Law to further perfect it.Finding his idea rational and more than helpful, Xue Bai planned to follow them and entered the Training Pagoda with high expectations.Unlike at his home, where he had practiced in a large field, the pagoda he was equipped with now was much different.The training field at home was much more expansive and helped Xue Bai with many secondary skills, like his movement techniques, his evasion ability, and the one he worked on the most, his archery.But the Training Pagoda now couldn't help him with any of that. Here, while he wasn't in a small room, there wasn't nearly as much space as he had back at home.This meant that he was in a forced encounter with the Sword Puppet that was on each floor.After a moment of hesitation, Xue Bai entered the pagoda and decided to stay on the first floor instead of going up to the second floor with the Organ Tempering Realm Sword Puppets.Though he had already managed to kill a demonic beast at the peak of the Bone Strengthening Realm, the fight hadn't really tested out any of Xue Bai's strength.It was more similar to Xue Bai using the Flame Salamander as a testing dummy for his Sword Law.Looking around the first floor, Xue Bai found it to be around 10 meters by 10 meters with a height of around 3, making it rather spacious. The walls were also made of an unidentifiable silver metal, but after giving it a rather hard punch, Xue Bai only felt a stinging pain in his fist while the wall was completely untouched.'It has to at least be a High Yellow-grade Spiritual Ore.,' Xue Bai examined from his punch.Even though he wasn't able to destroy a Middle Yellow-grade Spiritual Ore with a punch, a full-power punch from him could at least leave a dent. But since the wall was completely unscathed, Xue Bai knew that it was stronger than what he guessed.Continuing to look around, Xue Bai noticed that there wasn't anything in the room besides a control array that presumably controlled the first floor. So after walking up to the control panel that controlled the entire Training Pagoda, he first activated it to release one Sword Puppet at the peak of the Bone Strengthening Realm.Hearing a door open, Xue Bai turned in its direction and saw the silver wall open up and let out an armored silver puppet.The Sword Puppet was tall, at around 1.95 meters, and only carried a standard 3-foot long and 2 inches wide Jian sword.Other than its bright silver armor and sword, there were no identifiable features on it, fully representing its identity as a Sword Puppet and not a sentient being.But before Xue Bai could further examine it, the Sword Puppet readied its sword and jumped at Xue Bai.Stunned at the sudden act of aggression, Xue Bai was caught off guard for a moment, but thanks to his training, he was able to regain his composure and quickly managed to pull out Pale Blue from his Spatial Ring and defend himself.Yue Zifeng took Fire Breath from him, so Xue Bai was forced to make do with his much weaker backup sword.Thankfully the Sword Puppet's sword matched its cultivation level and wasn't much stronger than Pale Blue.But after Xue Bai clashed with the Sword Puppet, he immediately found himself at a huge disadvantage.Since the Sword Puppet didn't have any Spiritual Qi, its strength was classified by its physical strength.So instead of Xue Bai, who had to reinforce his body with his Spiritual Qi to get his strength, the Sword Puppet was constantly at Xue Bai's peak strength.Coupled with the fact that Xue Bai didn't plan on using his Sword Law just yet, the physical strength difference quickly showed, as, after more than a few clashes, Xue Bai found his wrists getting numb.'I should start doing body tempering.' Xue Bai was feeling good that he didn't go ahead and start on the second floor.Most likely, if he went up there, not only would Pale Blue not be able to hold up, but neither would his physical body.While the Houtian Great Realm was known to be the great realm where cultivators perfected their physical bodies, it didn't truly strengthen it to its true potential, but instead to the minimum strength needed to prepare for the Qi Sea Realm.But this path had many downsides, so one day, a cultivator who saw this massive flaw decided to create a cultivation path that could not only stop this problem but also build upon it and make it a strength of the human race and not a weakness.And eventually, he created the body-tempering path, where one could dig out the true potential of the human body and make it strong enough to not only match up but also defeat the demonic beasts which were born with much stronger physical bodies.This way, one could take their physical body to new heights where it would eventually even match their Spiritual Qi cultivation.The realms he decided on, however, were less than original and followed the ranking of items throughout the cultivation world: 4 realms of Yellow, Black, Earth, and Heaven, with four minor realms of Early, Middle, Late, and Peak.However, this path was also filled with hardships. Besides a strong mind to withstand the physical torment that came from tempering the human body, one also needed deep pockets to supplement their body tempering journey.Thankfully Xue Bai had both, so after deciding his next move, Xue Bai focused on the losing battle.Since the young age of 7, Xue Bai had been soaking in medicinal herb baths that were prescribed by his mother, so his physical body was much stronger than the usual youth and was at the Low Yellow-grade. However, compared to the Middle Yellow-grade Sword Puppet, Xue Bai was more than lacking.A few more minutes went by, and since Xue Bai hadn't used his Sword Law yet but only his swordsmanship, he was still on the losing end. But through this losing fight, Xue Bai was also feeling his already great swordsmanship improve, albeit slightly.And since his sword skills had recently plateaued because of his practicing other things, Xue Bai gritted his teeth and continued the losing fight he was in.However, he didn't last long. As the fight ended before the 20-minute mark would come, the Sword Puppet sent Xue Bai's sword flying and pointed his own at Xue Bai's throat.Since Xue Bai was on the losing side of the fight for the entire time, he also used his Spiritual Qi at a much faster rate than normal. And while the fight was short, the intensity was high. So Xue Bai quickly ran out of Spiritual Qi, giving the Sword Puppet the winning move by knocking away his sword.The Sword Puppet was programmed not to kill any entering disciple, so it made no further movement after pointing his sword at Xue Bai's throat.Sighing, Xue Bai turned off the array formation and sent the Sword Puppet back into its storage room. Although he knew that he wouldn't be able to win the fight against the Peak stage Bone Strengthening Realm Sword Puppet, it still felt disappointing.But instead of moping around, Xue Bai sat down on the floor of the Training Pagoda and went over his performance against the Sword Puppet.His physical body was too weak, and because of that, he had to use his Spiritual Qi much faster than he was used to and, in turn, lose faster. Other than that, Xue Bai thought rather highly of his performance against the stronger Sword Puppet.After all, without his Sword Law, Xue Bai could only fight something four stages higher than him. So with his 4th stage cultivation, Xue Bai could potentially fight something at the 8th stage, and as heaven-defying, as that was, it was 1 stage lower than his opponent.Done with his performance evaluation, Xue Bai picked up Pale Blue and turned the array formation back on, starting round 2 with the Sword Puppet.He had nothing better to do, and while the progress he made with his swordsmanship was little, it was still there. So why not continue it?Cultivating throughout the day would make his veins sore and take away his habitual nighttime cultivation session. And while he could brave through the soreness and pain, Xue Bai decided to play it safe, as it was very common for someone to rupture or even completely cripple their veins from a too-long cultivation session.So Xue Bai planned to spend his mornings/afternoons practicing his swordsmanship and then cultivating during the night. This way, he could live up to Yue Zifeng's goals and still increase his strength at a rapid pace.And after turning the array formation back on, Xue Bai once again faced the Sword Puppet.Hours quickly passed, and Xue Bai slowly improved, but sadly the losses never stopped, and even until Xue Bai left, he still hadn't won a match.But on the bright side, the fight's length had extended from the original short 20 minutes to 25 minutes giving Xue Bai some satisfaction from his more than poor performance.Picking up his sore body from the ground, Xue Bai left the Training Pagoda feeling more than content. Progress was slow, but it was there, and with nothing more to do but train, Xue Bai found his growth speed more than acceptable.Outside, the sun was starting to set, and Xiao'er was once again getting the female servants to leave the Peak as per Yue Zifeng's rules."Young Master! Look at our courtyard," Xiao'er yelled out after noticing Xue Bai walking out from the Training Pagoda, "I made it just like the one back at the Dukedom."Curious at the declaration, Xue Bai followed her and went over to his courtyard and found it true. His courtyard was almost exactly as it was back home. Even the courtyard of Xiao'er was the same as hers back at the maid dormitory.However, this time, since the materials used for the construction were much better than the ones back at home, the new designs looked much better than the original.Whether it was the walls used for the outside, or even the curtain at his bedside, everything in the courtyard was an upgrade.And while he was slightly looking forward to a new home and layout for his courtyard, seeing the nostalgic bedroom back in his new home, Xue Bai couldn't complain. He had stayed in it for his entire life in the Baishen Plane, so seeing it once more, Xue Bai was content."Good job Xiao'er." Xue Bai approvingly nodded as he patted her head."Of course!" Xiao'er raised her nose in pride, "It's me, after all. How could it be bad.""Yes, yes, my Xiao'er is the best." Xue Bai nodded plainly, "Now go to your courtyard and cultivate. You can't slack for even a day."Proceeding to push her toward her courtyard, Xue Bai tried to coax her into continuing to cultivate diligently."But Young Master, it's so boring," Xiao'er complained, but after turning around and seeing Xue Bai's stern face, she stopped and grudgingly listened."Good girl." Xue Bai felt proud of her progress, "Just make sure not to do any more rushed breakthroughs. I can't have you crippling yourself this young."And after making sure Xiao'er started cultivating, Xue Bai went back to his own courtyard and sat down before beginning to cultivate for the night.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Huo Long's awakening chapter is complete and will be released in a few hours! Also, I have created an auxiliary chapter that lists the known 'Children of the Plane' while also giving them a small description for anyone who has forgotten, so take a look!Finally, I want to say beforehand that the cultivations realms were something that I had added in on an impulse of my thanks to a very active reader. But since I think they would translate well with my system, I don't think it seems too out of place. But if anyone sees any jarring plot hole or mistake, please comment on it, and I'll find and fix it.
