Kapitel 72: Body cultivation, three supreme techniques.

After finishing the tour, Mao Zexi and the two other top disciples each entered one of the three towers, leaving Liang Chen on his own. Liang Chen didn't leave the area, sitting down on the square stage of sand that was standing in front of the palace. He crossed his legs and closed his eyes, focusing on quiet cultivation while he waited for morning to arrive.

He didn't use his control over the law of time to speed up the flow of time around him, as he didn't know whether or not he would need his energy for tomorrow. The area in front of the palace was surprisingly populated, an uncountable number of disciples walking around, entering the towers or the palace itself. But even so, the area was peaceful and quiet, none of the disciples making too much noise as they moved, mostly just chatting quietly.

There were some that cast cursory glances at Liang Chen, but it wasn't strange for others to cultivate wherever they found space, so no one moved up to interrupt or disturb him. Thanks to this, Liang Chen got to focus on his cultivation all the way until the sun rose and morning arrived.

Liang Chen opened his eyes the moment the sun rose over the horizon, standing up and ending his cultivation. He then proceeded to quietly wait for Guanyu and the others to arrive, calmly waiting with his hands behind his back.

He didn't have to wait very long, the doors to the palace and the three towers opening after only half an hour. Mao Zexi and the two other disciples were led out of the towers by Long Hai and the two other elders, while Guanyu came sauntering out of the palace, still holding the same clay jug he had taken out after leaving the last time Liang Chen saw him. The three elders and the three top disciples lined up quietly behind Guanyu, who gave a nod upon seeing Liang Chen.

"You arrived early. Good, I like the enthusiasm. Before we take you to test whether or not you have any affinity, let's give you a little lesson on body cultivation and energy cultivation."

Liang Chen's ears instantly perked up, all his focus gathering on Guanyu. Thanks to the information his birth parents had sealed in him, he knew a lot about how the Sebettu cultivated their lotuses, which were called Dragon Lotuses because of their bloodline. But Liang Chen knew next to nothing about how others normally cultivated, and he knew even less about body cultivation, all his information coming from a single jade fragment. Guanyu sipped some of his strong alcohol, savoring the taste before he started his in-depth explanation.

"Body cultivation is very simple, in theory, that is. It is simply strengthening your body until it becomes far stronger and harder than any mortals body. But how could it really be that simple? If it actually were that simple, body cultivators would never be able to stand equal to energy cultivators."

Guanyu's words made sense. If all one had was a strong body, how would they be able to fight against energy cultivators, who could lay waste to whole cities and countries with a single wave of their hand?

Guanyu stretched out his arm, grabbing onto Liang Chen's arm and raising it, stretching out one of Liang Chen's fingers. After he grabbed a hold of him, Liang Chen felt himself lose all control over the Qi in his body, which started to flow into his hand, a small cylinder of golden color Qi appearing above his finger as Guanyu continued his explanation.

"If someone at your cultivation level were to create a finger-sized cylinder of Qi, it would hold the same amount of force as three fully grown men using all their strength. If a body cultivator truly only focused on strengthening their body, how could they ever hope to reach such a level of strength, that a single one of their fingers has the strength of three men?"

Liang Chen had never thought about just how much force Qi actually contained, so he had to admit that he was rather shocked when he heard how much strength it contained. Of course, what shocked him even more was how his Qi refused to listen to him after Guanyu grabbed hold of him. Was this how strong Guanyu was, that he could just rob others of their control over their own Qi? Guanyu paid no heed to Liang Chen's shock, letting go of his arm and continuing to explain.

"Because of this, countless years have been spent creating various body cultivation techniques that can rival energy cultivation. And over the years, a system has slowly taken shape, a shining beacon for all other body cultivation techniques. This system mostly only serves as a guideline for most techniques, with each technique having their own peculiarity and uniqueness. What I am about to explain to you is exactly this standard system, as well as the equivalent energy cultivation system. Whatever technique you end up cultivating or end up creating might have some differences, so keep that in mind."

This universe was far older than any recorded history on this planet, far older than most people were able to believe. So of course, countless different cultivation techniques have popped up over the years, each with their own unique point, some stronger than others.

"An energy cultivator starts by reaching the Ascended Tower realm, allowing him to produce and harness Qi within his own body. The next stage for an energy cultivator is the Heaven's Gate realm, where the cultivator will open the gate of their Ascended Tower and climb to the peak, tearing off the roof and allowing the tower to connect to the heavens, absorbing even purer Qi and starting to contact what we call Laws, the rules that control all things. The cultivator will then enter the Soaring Immortal realm, using these laws to change their bodies, making them ever more attuned to the laws, shedding their mortal coil and drastically increasing their lifespan."

Guanyu started by giving a more detailed explanation of the energy cultivation system, mostly because the sect leader had told him a little about Liang Chen's situation. Since he knew that Liang Chen knew next to nothing about cultivation, he made his explanations a bit more in-depth and varied than they would usually be.

"Reaching the next stage, the Primordial immortal realm requires a cultivator to change their own Ascended Tower, turning the entire tower into a single law, a law that is almost fully unique to the cultivator. The Transcended Immortal realm requires a cultivator to saturate their Ascended Tower with Qi, bringing it to the brimming point and then shattering it. Once the Ascended Tower has fully shattered and the cultivator has managed to turn the fragments, and their entire dantian, into a miniature heaven composed of their own law, they will have reached the Sovereign God realm, becoming a god within their own little heaven. These are the cultivation realms for energy cultivation, if you wish for a more in-depth explanation, I suggest you check out the Fourth Library."

Liang Chen made sure to fully memorize every word that Guanyu had said, astonishment filling his mind. The peak of cultivation was to create one's own heaven and becoming a god within it? But at the same time, he wondered if the Sovereign God realm really was the peak of energy cultivation. If it was, then why did the Sealing God Empyrean have a different title? Was it just because he came from a different planet? There was no answer to his questions, as Guanyu continued, starting to talk about actual body cultivation.

"Next up is body cultivation, which is a bit different, but also rather similar. The first realm is the Bone Forging realm, where you focus fully on infusing your bones with Qi, strengthening them so that they can endure the pressure they will have to bear in the future. No matter what cultivation stage you reach in body cultivation, each of them will require you to strengthen your bones further, so the stronger you can make yours, the better. Between an energy cultivator at the Ascended Tower realm and a body cultivator at the Bone Forging realm, the energy cultivator will always be stronger."

Liang Chen could understand the basis of always strengthening one's bones, as they would have to bear almost all the force of one's attacks. But at the same time, he was once again astonished. A body cultivator at the Bone Forging realm was always weaker than an energy cultivator at the Ascended Tower realm?

"It is only after reaching the next stage, the Body Ascension realm, that this disparity is evened up. The Body Ascension realm requires you to pierce your own organs with Qi, laws, or other sources of energy, causing them to become fully saturated as you strengthen them. Once your organs and bones have become fully saturated and strengthened, they will automatically connect themselves with the heavens, spawning an energy that we call Fiendgod Essence, our version of Qi basically. The next step is the God Forging realm, where you must use this Fiendgod Essence, as well as whatever laws you have gained an understanding of, to pierce your own flesh, bones, and organs, replacing all the Qi within your bones and organs with this Fiendgod Essence and laws, as well as filling every inch of your flesh with them."

Fiendgod Essence was a bit different from Qi, as it could only be found in some rare places, instead of everywhere, as Qi could. Because of this, when a body cultivator ran out of energy, they couldn't just absorb the surrounding Qi to restore their lost reserves, they had to wait for their Fiendgod Essence to naturally restore.

Fiendgod Essence was also a bit different from Qi, as it didn't have an element of its own, one had to use a cultivation technique if they wanted to imbue it with an element. But despite these differences, Fiendgod Essence had two advantages over Qi. The first advantage was that it contained more force, making it stronger than Qi. The second advantage was that Fiendgod Essence, once created, would start to fuse with your entire body, becoming a single, highly integral, part of it. This filled every inch of your body with tremendous force, and it also meant that as long as you had Fiendgod Essence, your body would use it to rapidly heal any wounds, making body cultivators hard to kill with physical attacks.

"Once your bones, organs, and flesh are fully saturated and strengthened for your current realm, things become far, far harder. The next realm is the Mortal God realm, and this realm is difficult because it requires you to not only change all your blood using your Fiendgod Essence and your laws, but it also requires you to force open all 361 of your acupuncture points. Opening the 361 points will strengthen your blood and Fiendgod Essence, as well as letting it flow more smoothly. Once all 361 points have been opened, you can enter the Fiendgod realm, at which point you have to use your laws, and a massive amount of Fiendgod Essence to change every inch of your body, slowly transforming your own body into a small heaven."

Liang Chen quietly listened, growing more and more astonished the more he heard. But there was also a question in his mind, why hadn't Guanyu mentioned anything about strengthening one's bone marrow? Was that not a part of normal body cultivation? After finishing his last sentence, Guanyu stopped for a short second, awe appearing in his eyes.

"And once your entire body has become a new heaven, every inch filled with the might of the heaven's, you can enter the final stage, the Star God realm. The Star God realm is fairly simple and only has three stages, but each stage is far harder than all the earlier stages combined. There are three ways to reach the next stage, the first is to kill someone else at the peak of the Fiendgod realm, refining their heaven into your own. The second is to refine an entire universe into your own heaven, and the third, which is the one that sounds the simplest, is to refine an entire planet into your own heaven."

If Liang Chen had been astonished before, he was not utterly shocked and dumbfounded. Refine an entire universe into your own heaven? Just how did one even go about doing that? And just how strong would something like that make you? The awe in Guanyu's eyes vanished by a little, a light chuckle escaping his lips as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Once you have done any of these things three times, you will have reached the peak of the Star God realm, your body immortal and endless, every move of your body capable of shaking the universes. Or so the legends state at least, I have never heard about anyone in this universe even reaching the late stage of the Mortal God realm, much less the Star God realm."

When Liang Chen heard this, he couldn't help but glance at Yao Ming and the two other top disciples, somewhat surprised. When he saw them and sensed the energy they radiated, he guessed that they had likely reached the Primordial Immortal realm of strength in body cultivation, but now it seemed like he had been wrong. It seemed like it was more likely that they cultivated both energy and body, with their energy reaching the Primordial Immortal realm and their body cultivation lagging behind.

Guanyu had finished his explanation, giving Liang Chen a bit of time to properly digest all the new information he had just heard. Once he saw that it seemed like Liang Chen had fully digested the information, he nodded his head and waved his arm.

"Now you know what body cultivation is, now you know just how long the road ahead of all of us truly is. Now come, let us see if you have an affinity with any of our supreme techniques. Open the gates!"

Right after he waved his arm, the gates of the three towers sprung open. But there was something different about how they opened now. While he had waited for morning to arrive, countless disciples had entered the three towers, but Liang Chen had felt nothing. But now that the three gates shot open, Liang Chen could feel a horrifyingly oppressive energy burst out from the gates, the ground in front of the towers starting to sink downwards.

There were three different types of energies, one that made Liang Chen feel like he was standing on the sun, one that made Liang Chen feel like he was standing in the center of a furious storm, and one that made Liang Chen feel like he was standing at the center of a chaotic maelstrom.

Liang Chen didn't even glance at two of the towers, his eyes immediately landing on the tower that looked like a crooked horn that was deep blue in color. The moment the gates of this tower sprung open and Liang Chen felt the chaotic energy that shot out, his Heaven Devouring Dragon bloodline moved slightly, as if the chaotic energy was resonating with the bloodline.