Chapter 132: Second Level Body Refinement

Due to pain and blood loss, Wang Yu spent three more days recuperating before he was ready.

He took out the Adamant Liquid from his storage pouch. This spirit item, used for body-tempering and foundation-building, had a dazzling golden appearance, like a pool of molten gold. Using his spiritual power, he drew the liquid, allowing it to gradually cover his entire body. He applied an especially generous amount to his spine.

Once enveloped by the Adamant Liquid, Wang Yu felt a warm sensation spread throughout his body. He immediately began to activate the final part of the cultivation method from the "Flood Dragon Strength" technique: "Congealing the Dragon Spine!"

After perfecting the Nine Dragon Tendons, the nine flood dragon tendons were ready for a qualitative transformation into one. Under the influence of the cultivation method, Wang Yu's entire body began to exude a thick, reddish mist. This was a sign of his vital essence taking form.

The dense vital essence emerged from his body and continuously gathered towards Wang Yu's back. Gradually, a small, blood-shadowed flood dragon began to manifest and cling to his back. The flood dragon's head rested on his shoulder, its scarlet vertical pupils emanating a faint draconic might.

"So that's it," Wang Yu realized. "The true purpose of the Dragon Blood Elixir isn't just for cultivation; it's also for forming this vital essence flood dragon when breaking through to the second stage."

Wang Yu felt fortunate that the third-tier flood dragon inner core he had acquired earlier had been added to the Dragon Blood Elixir's creation process. Although only a tiny amount of its essence was extracted, it significantly increased his chances of breaking through, nearly compensating for the vital essence deficit caused by his physical disability. Both the quantity and quality of his vital essence improved!

No wonder it became harder to digest later on; it turns out the medicinal potency accumulated in his body was simply too high in quality.

Upon discovering this secret, his confidence in achieving body-tempering and foundation-building soared. His hand seals rapidly changed, and with a thought from his spiritual consciousness, tens of thousands of spirit stones were drawn from his storage pouch and evenly distributed around him.

When cultivators break through a major realm, they need to absorb vast amounts of spiritual energy from heaven and earth to complete a significant transformation, a complete rebirth. For this reason, the environmental requirements are extremely high.

The Rift Cliff Cavern, where he was, wasn't even considered a spiritual vein location; only faint spiritual energy lingered around, likely diffused from nearby spiritual veins.

Ordinarily, the daily feedback from his item placement feature was gentle, even, and subtle. However, breaking through a major realm required a massive influx of spiritual energy to cleanse the body in an instant. The item placement feature could only support normal cultivation and could not provide large amounts of spiritual energy at such a crucial juncture.

This was a long-standing conjecture of his. For years, he had diligently earned spirit stones, spending very little, accumulating over 100,000 of them specifically for breaking through in such an environment. It proved to be worthwhile.

As the cultivation method circulated faster and faster, the spirit stones, arranged in several small piles around him, rapidly lost their spiritual glow and turned into transparent, crystal-like husks.

Vast amounts of spiritual energy poured into his body, continuously cleansing it. At this very moment, the Adamant Liquid began to take effect, seeping through his pores and transforming into golden rays that protected his meridians and internal organs.

The power of the heavenly materials and earthly treasures merged with the spiritual energy, continuously strengthening his physique. Weak and vital areas like his internal organs, perineum, and head began to improve at a visible pace. As his body's strength increased, the upper limit of his vital essence also surged dramatically, until it completely boiled over! At this point, the breakthrough was more than halfway complete.

"Nine Dragons unite, congeal!" he roared. Wang Yu felt all his muscles activate; they twisted and writhed as if alive, causing him immense pain. Blood seeped from his skin, and his bones began to creak.

At this moment, an unexpected situation occurred: the Heavenly Yin Blood and Corpse Demon Bones, cultivated through the Corpse Demon Secret Art years ago, began to undergo mutations. As body-transforming secret arts, their effects were permanent and irreversible.

The Heavenly Yin Blood granted him talents akin to Yin Souls and ghosts, bestowing him with Yin Cold and spiritual sense aptitudes. The Corpse Demon Bones endowed him with incredibly strong resistance to earthly evil energies like those from corpses, death, and malevolence, allowing him to utilize them and giving him a physique and characteristics comparable to a zombie of the same rank. Combined, they even granted him the powerful divine ability of limb regeneration.

In a sense, these were two unique Demonic Dao physiques, but they were artificially created and could not compare to innate spiritual physiques. They were not even as good as the Profound Origin Demonic Embryo.

However, body-tempering and foundation-building inherently involved the reconstruction of the body and a significant increase in life essence. Everything original was shattered, and other latent powers within his body were forced to merge and mutate.

Wang Yu's previously boiling and fiery vital essence was invaded by the Heavenly Yin Blood, causing its temperature to rapidly drop. It transformed from a vibrant, flourishing scarlet into a dark, cold, and desolate Yin energy. Even the vital essence flood dragon clinging to his back turned black and blue, appearing like a creation of dark, chilling ice.

As his internal bones shattered, the fragmented runes within them were unleashed. Dense Yin and Corpse energies, mixed with spiritual power, washed over his body. Some zombie-like characteristics on his body became more pronounced.

His two upper teeth grew sharper, his fingernails became black and shiny, and his skin turned deathly pale.

However, the mutation of his pupils was halted by the Grand Yin Nether Pupils, which kept them looking normal—one of his few remaining original physical features.

These changes were not without benefits. The power from the Corpse Demon Bones perfectly embodied the essence of zombie strength. Wang Yu's skin transformed; all his body hair disappeared, and numerous mountain-ridge-like scales, a form of Corpse Armor, covered his body surface. This was the Bronze Corpse Armor! Previously, this didn't exist; it was invisible normally and only manifested when he was attacked. This meant he gained an extra layer of defense compared to others.

Its grade was a bit low, though. If the Corpse Demon Secret Art could be restored to the second-tier level, this armor would also advance to the Iron Corpse Armor tier. At that point, a second-tier armored zombie physique, combined with second-tier body-tempering strength... *Tsk, tsk,* it was almost unimaginable.

"Power..." There is always a give-and-take. The Corpse Demon Secret Art's effects were potent; a normal person cultivating it would instantly undergo tremendous changes, becoming a strong cultivator of their realm. Any side effects were acceptable. His physical abnormalities would naturally fade once the secret art was fully restored in the future, so there was no need to worry about immediate gains or losses. In fact, according to his speculation, once it recovered to the second-tier, "Little Wang Yu" would regain its vigor. As long as *it* could recover, he didn't care about mere physical abnormalities.

The breakthrough process was nearing its end. Despite the strange process, the final outcome was good. Wang Yu, who had been sitting cross-legged, sprang up and immediately immersed himself in the healing pool water.

The vital essence dragon clinging to his back, having once again incorporated the essence of the Corpse Demon Bones, became even blacker, resembling a pitch-black flood dragon with icy blue lines along its sides. Its dragon eyes also turned black and blue before finally merging into Wang Yu's spine, leaving behind a snarling black flood dragon tattoo on his back.

In the depths of his consciousness, Wang Yu perceived its name: The Yin Nether Demonic Flood Dragon Spine!

This was a result of the dual mutation caused by the combination of cultivation method and secret art.

The "Flood Dragon Strength" cultivation method could no longer further his body-tempering cultivation, and its orthodox continuation could not be connected. He could only rely on the item placement feature's derivation ability to see if a suitable modification could occur.