Chapter 17: Adapting
Chapter 17: Chapter 17: Adapting
Fists are all that matters.
Since there was a way to make his fists stronger, he would work hard to do it.
’I need to find a confined space.’
Zhu Ge looked around.
Cultivating the Great Sun Glaze Body wasn’t something to be taken lightly.
After all, it tempered a person down to the cellular level. There couldn’t be too much wind at the start, otherwise the pain would be unbearable.
Therefore, it was best to do it in a confined space.
There would still be some airflow, but not much, making it bearable for the first refinement.
For some reason, Zhu Ge thought of a coffin.
’A coffin really does seem to be the most suitable place...’
Zhu Ge’s expression turned a little strange.
His own house wasn’t really enclosed; there was too much airflow.
But a coffin was different. Under normal circumstances, no one would go near a coffin. It was a confined space with minimal airflow.
’But which coffin would be best?’
’Wait, does this mean I have to lie in Hua Xiaomei’s coffin?’
Zhu Ge’s face fell completely.
He racked his brain. The only recent plague victims were Hua Xiaomei and her mother.
Anyone else’s coffin would be filthy inside.
The problem was that Hua Xiaomei’s mother, her body covered in sores from the plague, had been cremated to prevent it from spreading.
Hua Xiaomei, on the other hand, had not been as afflicted, so she had been buried in a coffin.
All the other coffins in the graveyard had "occupants," and lying in one of them would not be pleasant.
That was why Zhu Ge concluded that Hua Xiaomei’s coffin was the most suitable.
He had dug it up before; it was clean and comfortable inside, with even a hint of a pleasant fragrance, making it perfect for cultivation.
’This Cultivation Technique couldn’t have been given to me by the Wedding God through Yu the Scholar, could it...’
Zhu Ge couldn’t help but let his imagination run wild.
It was just a random thought, though. He knew it wasn’t possible.
Lost in thought, he arrived at the graveyard at the foot of the mountain, pried open Hua Xiaomei’s coffin, and lay down inside.
It was indeed clean and comfortable inside. One could tell that Hua Xiaomei’s corpse—or perhaps, Hua Xiaomei herself—had disappeared before it even had a chance to decompose.
Of course, he had already anticipated this.
Now, lying down, Zhu Ge closed his eyes.
He didn’t immediately activate the Kunpeng trait to have his soul leave his body. Instead, he closed his eyes and tried to carefully comprehend the sensation.
He had considered this problem before: he couldn’t always rely on the Kunpeng trait to achieve transcendence, which was to say, to have his soul leave his body.
The perspective one had while the soul was out of the body was different from one’s normal point of view.
At times, letting his soul out for a moment to see from a different perspective could have miraculous effects.
Therefore, he needed to overcome this limitation and learn how to do it himself.
He had to make the trait’s ability his own, ideally reaching a state of complete mastery where it was as natural as moving his own arm.
That way, in the future, he wouldn’t have to consume his lifespan activating the Kunpeng trait just to let his soul out.
Zhu Ge even wanted to master that feeling of calm and the sensation of his mind operating at superhuman speed.
It was just that mastering them would be incredibly difficult.
’Deep breaths...’
Lying in the coffin, Zhu Ge closed his eyes, searching for that feeling of "transcendence."
The stillness was absolute, the mystery profound.
This profound sensation came quickly. To his surprise, Zhu Ge almost immediately felt his soul separating from his body.
POP~
Zhu Ge’s soul popped right out of his body.
’It was that easy?’
Zhu Ge, in his soul state, was somewhat taken aback.
Looking down at his physical form, Zhu Ge returned to it with a single thought.
The process was incredibly quick and not nearly as troublesome as he had anticipated.
’This is a good thing...’
Zhu Ge felt a faint sense of delight and began to practice the Great Sun Glaze Body.
The Great Sun Glaze was also known as the Great Sun Five-Colored Glaze.
The five refinements of Wind, Water, Fire, Marsh, and Mountain would grant the five colors of Cyan, Blue, Red, Yellow, and Black.
And the first color was Cyan, from Wind Refining!
Cultivating with the wind, upon mastery, would cause the body to emit a cyan glow and become strong enough to shatter metal and stone.
And if all five colors were gathered, the body would become like glaze, achieving the Glaze Body—unstoppable, slaying gods and Demons who dared to block its path.
For now, all he had to do was let his soul leave his body, and then endure the pain...
HISSS—
The moment he started cultivating according to the method of the Great Sun Glaze Body, an unprecedented agony washed over him.
An unbearable itch, an unbearable pain.
He had wanted to try cultivating without his soul leaving his body, but the moment he used the technique to open his pores, the feeling of the airflow against his skin made him stop immediately.
And this was with the airflow inside the coffin being incredibly weak.
The strongest current was probably just the air stirred by his own breathing.
An airflow this weak probably couldn’t even make a candle flame flicker.
Yet even that was enough to cause him such agony.
He couldn’t begin to imagine how painful it would be to one day cultivate at a place exposed to strong winds.
No wonder the creator of this Cultivation Technique had stopped after mastering only the first color.
No one was a masochist!
’Unless that person is desperate to survive...’
Zhu Ge opened his eyes, only to snap his now bloodshot eyes shut a moment later.
He activated the Cultivation Technique, and his soul left his body.
’Hiss, it really hurts...’
’I can feel the pain even when my soul is out of my body...’
Zhu Ge’s soul, which had the appearance of an egg, wavered as it felt the agony.
It was too painful!
But for the sake of survival, for the sake of power, he had to endure it!
’Ten... nine... eight... seven...’
While his physical body endured the refinement and his soul endured the pain, Zhu Ge also had to keep time.
Because overdoing it was as bad as not doing enough.
Tempering the body was necessary, but it had to be done in moderation.
The limit was generally ten seconds. After that, he had to rest to prevent his body from becoming a lifeless husk and to keep his soul from collapsing in agony.
’...Three... two... one!’
The instant the ten seconds were up, Zhu Ge immediately ended his first round of cultivation.
But the moment his soul returned, a sore, aching, painful, and itchy sensation spread through his entire body.
It felt like the day after an intense, overloading workout; his entire body was miserable!
It was even more than that. Zhu Ge could feel discomfort in his internal organs, like his liver and kidneys.
’So it really refines the entire body...’
Zhu Ge smiled wryly.
But he had no intention of backing down.
Rest for one minute, then continue!
’Ten... nine... eight... seven...’
’Ten... nine... eight... seven...’
...
After just two hours, Zhu Ge felt like he wanted to die.
He didn’t even have the willpower to push the coffin lid open.
Sometimes a person is mentally tired but not physically tired, and other times they are physically tired but not mentally tired.
It was like how some workers are physically exhausted after a day of manual labor, while others are mentally drained after a day of brainstorming.
Right now, Zhu Ge was completely exhausted, both physically and mentally.
He could feel that while his muscles ached and itched, they still had strength. The energy stored within them, like glucose, hadn’t been depleted, but he didn’t have the slightest will to even twitch.
’They call this a Body Refining Technique, but it’s actually a Soul Refining Technique...’
Zhu Ge sighed inwardly, lying silently in the coffin as if he were dead.
Crucially, he didn’t dare to fall asleep.
So he could only calculate the time in his head, planning to rest until sunset before going home.
Lying there quietly, Zhu Ge’s breathing calmed down.
After lying there for only a few minutes, Zhu Ge’s thoughts began to stir again.
’Might as well try to find the feeling of that "calm" trait!’
In his judgment, the Kunpeng trait was a collection of many different abilities.
He hadn’t developed or used many of its abilities yet, but "transcendence," "calm," and "logical thinking" had all been incredibly effective.
Since he had to rest anyway, he didn’t need to just lie there idly.
He’d tried "transcendence," so he might as well try "calm"!
’Calm my mind...’
’Speaking of which, what’s for dinner? Those blue-staining boletes? I hear they’re delicious, but I wonder if they’re poisonous.’
’Right, no distractions. No distractions.’
’That Yu the Scholar fellow has no wife or kids. Why not? Could there be... a physiological issue...’
’Ahem, I shouldn’t be spreading rumors.’
’Calm, calm, stop thinking about random things...’
Gradually, Zhu Ge’s breathing grew longer and steadier, and his eyes took on a profound depth.
’The chirping of insects?’
’Perhaps their chirping is a point of breakthrough?’
’Set a wolf to devour a tiger. If the wolf and tiger are evenly matched, can a leopard be introduced to tip the scales?’