Mortal: Reborn in Yellow Maple Valley, Awakening the Eight-Nine Arcane Arts

The shattered stone cauldron revealed its true form. It turned out that beneath this outer stone shell, there was another small cauldron encased. The outer stone cauldron was merely a shell formed over time, while the inner small cauldron was the true body.

This small cauldron is only the size of a palm. It is a round cauldron with three legs and two handles. The two handles flare outward like a dragon reaching out its head, and the three legs are carved with tigers swallowing their mouths.

Its entire body is dark purple and black, with a thick and heavy texture, seemingly forged from ancient divine iron mixed with Taiyin Xuan iron. The body of the cauldron is engraved with five elements array patterns, with intersecting and interlocking lines that are obscure and mysterious.

The mouth of the cauldron is covered by a slightly raised circular lid, with a phoenix holding a ring in its mouth cast in the center of the lid, echoing the dragon pattern.

Chu Zifei bit his fingertip and dripped blood onto the patterns on the cauldron. The moment the blood touched the cauldron, it trembled violently and became restless, as if trying to break free from its restraints.

Chu Zifei's expression hardened, and he circulated his spiritual power, trying to suppress the small cauldron. However, the cauldron's trembling became increasingly violent, and in the next instant, it shot directly from his hand and hovered in mid-air. Then, it suddenly unleashed an ancient aura, pressing down on Chu Zifei's sea of ​​consciousness.

At this critical moment, Chu Zifei's Eight-Nine Arcane Arts activated on its own, and a golden light suddenly burst forth from the strange stone deep in his sea of ​​consciousness, shooting out from the pattern between his eyebrows and striking the restless cauldron. The small cauldron instantly calmed down and fell back into his palm.

Chu Zifei seized the opportunity, opened his mouth and spat out a wisp of blood essence, which landed on the cauldron.

In an instant, the cauldron blazed with crimson light, its surface shimmering with radiant glow. Faintly, two illusory figures, a blue dragon and a fire phoenix, appeared, their voices harmonizing, their aura overwhelming. After circling the cauldron once, the two wondrous figures vanished completely within it.

The rosy glow faded, the crimson light receded, the strange phenomena dissipated, and the small cauldron returned to complete peace. Chu Zifei had successfully subdued the small cauldron.

Almost the instant the blood oath was successfully established, a new memory appeared out of nowhere in Chu Zifei's mind.

  

This small cauldron is called the Creation Cauldron. It is a supreme weapon-refining furnace that was naturally born after the Xuan Tian Origin overflowed and wandered in ancient times, absorbing endless spiritual energy from heaven and earth.

Unfortunately, after tens of thousands of years, the original power of the Creation Cauldron has been exhausted, and now it can exert less than one percent of its original power.

Fortunately, this cauldron is uniquely endowed with the ability to repair itself. As long as rare and precious materials are continuously added, this small cauldron can refine and absorb them on its own, slowly repairing its depleted essence.

Chu Zifei was extremely satisfied with this. Now that he had a suitable refining furnace, he could use the earth fire to refine the golden bow and silver bullets once his physical strength broke through.

"Next, I should break through the Eight-Nine Arcane Technique to the peak of the first stage."

Chu Zifei pondered to himself that the purpose of this trip was to prepare for a breakthrough in his physical body.

The usual body-tempering methods are no longer sufficient for the cultivation of the Eight-Nine Arcane Arts. The best way to break through was to temper the body with the essence and evil energy of demonic beasts, but since the conditions are not right now, he has to settle for second best and find suitable pills to assist his cultivation.

With his mind made up, he took the Yellow Dragon Pills out of his storage bag, poured out two pills, and the vermilion pills emitted a spicy medicinal fragrance in his palm.

Without hesitation, Chu Zifei swallowed it whole.

The pill initially had a slightly spicy taste in the mouth, but after entering the stomach, it instantly transformed into a rolling heat wave that traveled through the limbs and bones. This medicinal power made the body feel hot and swollen, while also quietly repairing the hidden injuries left from the previous high-intensity body tempering.

A moment later, the pores on the skin opened, and a layer of slightly black sweat slowly seeped out. The medicinal power of Huanglongdan expelled all the impurities that had accumulated in the body over the years.

After the effects of the medicine were fully absorbed, he clearly noticed changes in himself. His muscles were taut and tempered, and his physical resilience and meridian strength were greater than before. The most obvious change was that his internal energy and blood, nourished by the medicine, became increasingly powerful and abundant!

Chu Zifei exhaled a long breath of turbid air. His hidden injuries were completely healed, and he still had a considerable amount of Yellow Dragon Pills left. However, these pills were only effective for those below the eleventh level of Qi Refining, and would be useless once his cultivation broke through. Therefore, he had to seize the time to use the medicinal power to temper his body.

The next day, Chu Zifei resumed his usual physical training. After getting up in the morning, he swallowed the Yellow Dragon Pill and then ran around the mountain with a heavy load. In the afternoon, he practiced stance training to cultivate his concentration. In the evening, he tempered his skin and flesh to strengthen his strength. He did this day and night without interruption.

After seven consecutive days, with the aid of the Yellow Dragon Pill, the Eight-Nine Arcane Technique showed faint signs of a breakthrough.

Chu Zifei immediately stopped his body tempering cultivation and began to work on breaking through. He returned to the stone house, took out the jade bottle he had previously obtained from Han Li, and inside the bottle was the crucial Bone Tempering Pill.

The jade bottle was gently opened, and a brown pill with fine bone-like patterns on its surface fell into the palm of the hand.

Looking at the pill in his palm, Chu Zifei frowned slightly, feeling hesitant.

Bone Tempering Pills are originally used by Foundation Establishment cultivators to temper their bodies. When Qi Refining cultivators take them, the violent medicinal power forcibly washes over their bones, causing anything from minor bone fractures and internal injuries to severe damage to their meridians. Even though his physical strength already far surpasses that of Qi Refining cultivators, he dared not take them rashly at this moment.

But he knew perfectly well that the first transformation of the Eight-Nine Arcane Arts tempered the skin and flesh, while the second transformation tempered the bones.

While flesh and skin can be forcibly tempered by external force, bones are deeply embedded within the body and cannot be reached by ordinary body-tempering methods. To temper bones, one must either draw upon the essence and malevolent energy of demonic beasts or use high-grade bone-refining pills.

This Bone Tempering Pill is the best choice for him to temper his bones in advance and solidify his foundation for the second stage!

After weighing the pros and cons, Chu Zifei gritted his teeth, raised his hand, and put the Bone Tempering Pill into his mouth. The pill melted instantly upon entering his mouth, and a warm current first traveled through his internal organs.

In an instant, the medicinal properties changed abruptly, transforming into countless fine streams of heat that flowed along the fascia and veins into the bones throughout the body, eventually seeping into the spaces between the bones.

The next moment!

An unbearable, excruciating pain swept through Chu Zifei's body. His entire body felt numb, swollen, and ached as if thousands of ants were tearing at him.

The joints of the limbs were subjected to unimaginable pressure, constantly making a "crunching" sound.

The entire spine was pierced by a continuous, sharp pain, as if it were being repeatedly pierced by countless fine needles, a pain that pierced the very soul! The whole body felt like it was being roasted on fire, turning red and burning hot.

Chu Zifei gritted his teeth, mustered his strength, and used all his might to activate the Eight-Nine Arcane Technique to guide the medicinal power to cleanse his bones.

After an unknown amount of time, the pain throughout his body gradually subsided, and the medicinal power of the Bone Tempering Pill seeped into his blood, nourishing his muscles and bones; while the rest was excreted with the black, sticky, and foul-smelling sweat.

As the medicinal effects wore off, Chu Zifei felt a warm, radiant sensation throughout his body, making him feel light and strong. His Eight-Nine Arcane Technique had also broken through its bottleneck, steadily advancing from the late stage of the first level to its peak!

Chu Zifei suppressed his joy and looked at the sticky, smelly filth covering his body. He had no interest in feeling the strength of his physical body and only wanted to quickly find a pool of clear water to wash himself clean.

So he immediately set off and quickly searched the back mountain, and soon found a pool of water.

Upon seeing the clear pool water, Chu Zifei was overjoyed. He quickly took off his clothes, tossed them aside, and jumped in. A moment later, he emerged from the pool, took out a blue robe from his storage bag, and changed into it.

The once crystal-clear pool has now become murky, the water is black, and layers of impurities float on it.

Chu Zifei stared at the murky pool for a long time before slowly walking to a boulder about ten feet in size and weighing about a thousand pounds, ready to test his physical strength.