Traveling across the globe for the first time

Zhang Haoran carefully examined the current state of his bones and discovered that the Force could only play a tempering role; the increased vitality still came from within himself.

In other words, one can forge jade bones even without enough life fish, but it consumes one's own life force, which is equivalent to exchanging lifespan for power, and the speed cannot be too fast.

To quickly forge jade bones, one must rely on rare and precious materials to provide sufficient vitality.

Zhang Haoran secretly rejoiced, "Fortunately, I made a deal with the Spirit Emperor and the Northern Emperor beforehand."

Otherwise, the 200-odd life fish given by the War Emperor would definitely not be enough; it would be difficult to even complete one forging.

He tried taking out a living fish and integrating it into his body, and immediately felt a comfortable sensation.

As the life-giving fish entered his body, his golden form seemed to come alive, frantically absorbing this life force. His muscles, bones, meridians, all his organs, even his skin and blood, were desperately absorbing this life force, and his entire being became vibrant with life.

"do not!"

Zhang Haoran said anxiously, "I don't have many life fish. It's not enough to forge the jade bones. Let your golden body absorb less. After the jade bones are forged, I'll let you absorb as much as you want."

He had never realized before that the golden body was so eager for these higher life forms.

But thinking about it, it makes sense. I've never heard of any martial artist getting full from absorbing life force. It seems like there's no limit to how much life force the Golden Body can absorb. The more it absorbs, the stronger it becomes, and thus it can absorb even more life force.

This is also a way to strengthen one's golden body, but it's not cost-effective.

For example, if Zhang Haoran were to absorb the life essence of a ninth-grade cultivator, he would basically not improve at all; it would be a complete waste.

Forging the jade bones is more important right now, so he controlled his life force to flow towards the bones.

"Hopefully, the skeleton's appetite won't be too big! It would be troublesome if it couldn't be filled!"

Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. The life force was quickly divided up by the bones throughout the body and absorbed completely in just a few breaths.

This speed astonished him: "Damn, is it really necessary to be so exaggerated? You know, the life force contained in a small fish is equivalent to that of a saint. How could it be exhausted so quickly?"

"Never mind, the more life force it absorbs, the stronger the jade bones it forges will be."

He dared not be negligent, and took out ten life fish at once to integrate into his body, controlling that they could only be absorbed by his bones.

The absorption speed was not slowed down at all this time, and it was completely absorbed in just over a minute.

Now Zhang Haoran was really worried. He felt that at this rate, his nearly a thousand living fish might not be able to last much longer.

He wondered to himself, "Does the absorption rate also become this exaggerated when others forge jade bones?"

Unlikely?
Not everyone can get so many life fish. Many people rely on their original life force to forge them and then slowly replenish them with life essence.

If everyone could absorb it that quickly, very few people could handle it; they would have been drained dry long ago.

No!

I need to find someone to ask if this is normal, just in case something goes wrong.

There was an expert in this field right in front of him; the Overlord Emperor had forged the Jade Bone twice, so he must be very experienced.

Zhang Haoran opened his eyes, about to ask a question, but found that the Overlord Emperor was staring at him in disbelief.

Unsure of what the other person was surprised about, he quickly asked, "Senior, you are the strongest in the Three Realms when it comes to physical strength. You have forged your jade bones twice and are an authority on physical matters. I have a question I would like to ask you..."

Regardless of why the Overlord Emperor is in this state, let's flatter him first, then he'll feel embarrassed not to answer the questions seriously.

He then asked, "Do you know why I'm consuming my life force so quickly right now?"

Ten fish with lives could only survive for a little over a minute before being completely absorbed!

Furthermore, my jade bone forging progress hasn't improved much. Is this normal? Please advise.

Upon hearing this question, the Overlord Emperor finally came to his senses and replied irrelevantly, "You learned it so quickly? Is my technique really that simple? You can learn it at a glance and use it immediately without even needing to familiarize yourself with it."

To be honest, this incident was a huge blow to the Overlord Emperor.

In the past, the War Emperor often said that he was a simpleton, who only knew how to solve problems with his fists and was unwilling to use his brain, but he never said that he was stupid.

At that time, he didn't care much. He felt that as long as he was strong enough, that was enough. He thought that scheming and plotting was too tiring and didn't suit his personality.

Besides, he's not really incapable of using his brain. If he didn't have enough brainpower, he wouldn't have been able to learn so many combat tactics.

This set of techniques was his pride and joy; no one else could learn it except him. Even the War Emperor saw it and said it was good, and even helped to improve it.

But what's going on now? Zhang Haoran learned it in less than an hour, and even optimized it, using the Force to temper his jade bones.

This dealt a heavy blow to the confidence of the Overlord Emperor. He even doubted whether he was really stupid. The cultivation technique he created was very simple, and others could only not cultivate it because of their lack of talent. If they encountered someone who could cultivate it, they could learn it immediately.

The words Zhan Tiandi used to say were just to comfort himself.

The Overlord Emperor shook his head violently and muttered to himself, "This is definitely not my problem, but this kid is too abnormal."

The fact that he could master combat techniques to that level shows he must have exceptional comprehension. He might even be a chosen one of this era, blessed with good fortune. It's not surprising that he learned so quickly.

Zhang Haoran was speechless. He didn't know how to explain it. If it weren't for the Myriad Realms Tower, it would probably take him several days to learn that technique on his own. To fully understand it and optimize it would take at least several months.

I might have to ask the other party for advice on some details from time to time. I guess the Overlord Emperor is waiting for this.

He learned it without even asking once, which is why the other person was so shocked.

But now is not the time to explain these issues; he is consuming life fish at a rate of ten per minute.

Zhang Haoran said anxiously, "Senior! I already told you, I'm cheating, I have a talent for learning cultivation techniques, so please don't worry about these things."

"Tell me quickly, why am I absorbing life force so quickly? Will there be any problems?"

Then, as if remembering something, he continued, "This is a technique taught by a senior. If I make a mistake while practicing it, you will lose face. Besides, I can only fight you if I can maintain my condition."

Only then did the Overlord Emperor adjust his mindset. After carefully sensing for a while, his expression immediately relaxed. He did not answer directly, but cautiously asked, "Did you optimize my cultivation technique? This is definitely not the technique I taught you. It seems to have been fused with your own technique and tempered with primal force!"

Zhang Haoran quickly nodded and admitted, "Senior has insightful eyes! I only made a small modification, replacing Qi and Blood with Original Force."

He needs to ask the other party for advice now, so he naturally has to be polite.

The Overlord Emperor nodded and said, "Actually, this is normal. Have you ever thought about why it's 'forging jade bones' instead of 'tempering jade bones'?"

Before he could answer, the Overlord Emperor continued, "The process of forging jade bones is actually similar to forging divine artifacts. First, you need to prepare the forging materials, which are your bones and life force, and then fuse them together before you can start forging."

"There wasn't much vitality inside the bones originally; now we're in the stage of filling them with raw materials, so the process will naturally be very fast."

"However, others don't absorb life force at such an exaggerated speed. Most martial artists only break through to the sixth or seventh level when forging jade bones. At that time, the strength of the bones is not high, and forging is relatively easy. After absorbing a few dozen life fish, they are almost saturated and can start tempering."

However, your situation is quite special. Not only did you begin forging your jade bones only after breaking through to the peak of the ninth level, but you also cultivated a body-refining technique. With this physical body, you are already no weaker than an emperor.

Strong bones naturally require more life force. Furthermore, you're relentlessly tempering them, rapidly depleting the life force within your bones, so faster absorption is to be expected.

If you continue to refine it with such full force, it may never be able to be filled.

Therefore, you must slow down the tempering speed, but you cannot stop. Absorb more life fish to saturate your bones before you can begin the formal forging process.

With your invincible body strength, you should be able to absorb about a hundred of them.

Afterwards, as you practice your cultivation technique, it will be continuously refined, forging life force into your bones—this is what jade bones are.

The Overlord Emperor spoke eloquently, displaying the demeanor of a master teacher instructing his disciple, while Zhang Haoran stood with his hands clasped and listened attentively.

"remember!"

The Overlord Emperor said seriously, "The speed of forging is not important, but once you start, you can't stop. Otherwise, not only will the difficulty of forging increase greatly, but the quality of the jade bone will also decrease."

The life force within the bones must be kept active at all times in order to achieve a truly perfect forging.

The more vitality the better, ideally it should always be in a saturated state.

Since you're going to reforge the jade bones anyway, this life force won't be wasted.

"That's it. Thank you for your guidance, senior."

After hearing this explanation, Zhang Haoran suddenly understood and immediately slowed down the tempering speed.

He didn't understand why that life force had disappeared inexplicably, and fearing it would be wasted, he pushed his cultivation technique to its limit, thinking he could refine as much as possible.

As a result, the bones became like a bottomless pit, desperately devouring life force, never able to be filled. Now that the cause is known, the tempering should proceed at a normal pace.

He said with some concern, "My bones haven't been filled with life force yet, and I'm already starting to temper them. Won't that cause any problems?"

You emphasized that once the tempering process begins, it cannot be stopped.

"It's not a big problem!"

The Overlord Emperor said calmly, "That life force was not wasted; it was all used to strengthen your bones, but it didn't develop into jade bones."

However, your bones are already very strong. If you continue to strengthen them like this, I'm worried you won't be able to withstand the increased strain. So, it's best to replenish your life force as soon as possible and begin the formal forging process.”

Zhang Haoran was quite obedient to advice; a strong foundation isn't always better, as an overly strong foundation can make it difficult to improve.

So he immediately took out 20 life fish and integrated them into his body, wanting to reach saturation as soon as possible.

Although vitality is a good thing and will not burden the body, you cannot absorb too much at once, mainly because any excess vitality will be absorbed by the golden body.

He was already worried that his reserves of life force would not be enough.

We should first meet the needs of the bones. After the jade bones have been forged three times, if there is still excess vitality, then let the golden body absorb it. This is a safer approach.

After all, each time the jade bones are forged, they undergo a transformation, and the golden body is also strengthened. Forging jade bones is still more cost-effective at the moment.

One by one, the life-giving fish merged into his body and were quickly absorbed by his bones. Before he knew it, he had absorbed 100 fish.

However, he did not feel the vitality within his bones becoming saturated, nor did his absorption rate decrease.

Zhang Haoran exclaimed in surprise, "Damn, wasn't it supposed to be saturated after 100? How come it's still absorbing?"
Is the Overlord Emperor trying to fool me?

This is impossible!

Why would he want to frame me when we have no grudge against each other?

His judgment must have been flawed; those theories should be correct.

"The Undying Body is a high-level cultivation technique; he only sensed it from a distance, so misjudgment is inevitable."

It must be because his bones were too strong, exceeding the opponent's expectations.

This is a good thing, no need to worry. It will eventually become saturated after absorbing more life force.

However, he slowed down his absorption rate, absorbing it in batches of ten at a time, to avoid absorbing too much at once and wasting it.

110, 120... I absorbed 150 life fish before I felt that sense of expansion.

Zhang Haoran exclaimed with delight, "Haha! I can finally officially forge my jade bones!"

The Force circulated within his body, constantly tempering his bones, and the effect was very noticeable this time.

"Crunch!"

The bones throughout his body shone with a jade-like luster, beginning to transform into jade bones...

"call!"

Zhang Haoran let out a long breath and said solemnly, "Thank you for your guidance, senior. I have now completed the foundation-laying process of the Jade Bone. Now, we can start fighting."

The Overlord Emperor exclaimed, "You really are a freak. When I said there were 100 points, that was already an overestimation."

It should be noted that many people who break through to the seventh level don't even need a hundred life fish when forging jade bones.

You used 150 items just for the foundation work, that's outrageous.

When Lao Tzu forged the jade bone a second time, the amount of energy he consumed was about the same as yours.

But this is only your first time forging.

The Overlord Emperor seemed to have thought of something, and a malicious smile immediately appeared on his face. He said, "Hehe, kid! Although the more life force is consumed, the stronger the jade bone will be."

But if you've already used up 150 life force just to lay the foundation, then the amount of life force required to complete the second forging of the jade bone will be absolutely enormous.

Do you really have that many live fish?
Want me to give you some financial support?

The Overlord Emperor said excitedly, "How about we make a bet?"

Don't use sword intent, and don't use overly exaggerated combat techniques.

Let's have a fair fight, using the same amount of energy and attack power.

If you can last ten minutes under my thumb, I'll give you a fish that can live.

The longer you can persevere, the more you will gain.

Of course, the premise is that you have to unleash your energy as much as possible, pushing Lao Tzu to the limit of what he can withstand.

Let's not talk about explosive power, let's compare our actual combat abilities! (End of Chapter)