Chapter 3: The Nine Transformations of Five-Spirits Body Tempering
"What? I didn't come last night?" Lin Yi's face was filled with disbelief, and he exclaimed in shock.
"You even have the nerve to say that!" Li Shun said, clearly displeased. "I waited for you all night in front of Zuixian Ju, but you never showed up. I'm really disappointed."
"Could it be… I was unconscious for a whole day and night?" Lin Yi thought to himself. At the thought, his heart shook even more! What on earth was that bracelet? How could it be so powerful? Suddenly, Lin Yi felt an unprecedented fear of the bracelet, but beneath it, a faint spark of interest flickered—a curiosity about the unknown.
"Hey! What are you spacing out for?" Li Shun saw Lin Yi fall silent, patted his shoulder, and said.
"Oh, nothing… nothing at all. Hehe! I'm sorry for making you wait all night for nothing. Let's go to Zuixian Ju right now. Later, I'll罚 myself three bowls as an apology," Lin Yi said, forcing an awkward smile.
"Dammit! I won't let you off until you're dead drunk tonight—can't let my waiting go unavenged!" Li Shun howled, declaring war on Lin Yi before they even started drinking.
Zuixian Ju had four floors. The fourth floor, with private rooms, catered exclusively to those of status. Generally speaking, just sitting in a fourth-floor private room symbolized prestige, regardless of one's actual standing. The lower three floors were for the general public.
Lin Yi and Li Shun sat in a corner on the first floor.
By then, the first and second floors were packed. When Lin Yi and Li Shun arrived at Zuixian Ju, they had to wait a while for a table to free up. It was clear how booming the business was here.
Of course, it was night—prime time for drinking and dining.
Before the dishes arrived, two jars of wine were brought over. With a palm strike, Lin Yi knocked off the seal, filled Li Shun's bowl first, then his own.
"I'll罚 myself three bowls," he said, chugging three full bowls in a row. After a burp, his face flushed crimson with intoxication.
"Haha! Drink up!" Li Shun raised his bowl, clinked it against Lin Yi's, and shouted.
"Drink!"
"Drink!"
Bowl after bowl clinked together.
...
Night deepened. The crowd at Zuixian Ju thinned, leaving only a few tables still drinking. Their tables were all a mess, and the first and second floors reeked of strong alcohol. The third floor was dark, empty of guests.
"Drink!" Li Shun's face was red, his eyes hazy with drunkenness. He swayed his bowl, barely grazing Lin Yi's.
Lin Yi was no better. Though he was a cultivator, his meager spiritual energy couldn't dispel such heavy alcohol fumes. His inner strength, drained by the bracelet, had only barely recovered after a day of meditation.
Their table was stacked with over twenty wine jars, plus five large bowls and a few cold, leftover dishes.
"Brother Yi… Old Man Fan… is so stingy… I… I wanna punch him. He… he scolds me every day. Thinks I'm easy to bully! One day… I'll… I'll trash his shop! See how he acts tough then!" Li Shun slurred, his words broken.
"Trash… trash it!" Lin Yi breathed alcohol, slurring in agreement.
...
"Shunzi, life's hard for me too! Every day, seeing those fellow disciples—seniors, juniors, sisters—staring at me with mockery, disdain, contempt… it cuts me to the bone. I hate it! Why? Why am I stuck with five spirit roots? Why do others have such talent? Why not me? Why do I have to endure their cold stares? It's not fair!" Lin Yi poured out all the sorrow and pain he'd bottled up. If he hadn't been drunk, he'd never have said such things aloud.
"Six years! Six years!" Lin Yi trembled, holding up a hand—three fingers curled, thumb and pinky extended—waving it wildly, roaring with a tilted head.
"Qi Refining Stage 1! Pathetic… laughable!" His voice was nearly hoarse.
"I'm a joke to those Dianxuan Sect disciples—a nobody with no background, a worthless piece of trash with the worst talent!" Lin Yi laughed bitterly at himself.
"Shunzi! Tell me… what kind of immortality is this cultivation even chasing?" Lin Yi pushed at the figure across from him, unconsciously. But his drunken eyes had long lost focus; his head throbbed, and he had no idea what he was saying or doing.
Li Shun, however, had already collapsed onto the table, dead drunk.
By then, Lin Yi and Li Shun were the only guests left in Zuixian Ju.
...
Lingwu Mountain.
Lin Yi had no idea how he'd gotten back. He only knew he'd woken up in his bed, the room reeking of alcohol, with vomit all along the床边.
Clearly, he'd been dead drunk.
Lin Yi苦笑, got up to shower, cleaned the room, then went outside to practice a few sets of Iron Sand Palm. Only then did he feel somewhat sober.
Next, he went to find food—his stomach was starving.
After grabbing something to eat, he returned to his room and sat cross-legged to meditate.
A while later, Lin Yi opened his eyes, a flicker of hesitation passing through them. Finally, with extreme caution, he tapped his storage bag. A flash of light later, a jade slip appeared in his hand.
It was the slip that had fallen from the bracelet.
Fingers brushing the jade slip, Lin Yi still seemed unsure. After what had happened, he was truly terrified of the bracelet—and by extension, the slip it had spat out. His expression wavered, torn. Even though he was a little curious about the bracelet, he had to be cautious when his life was on the line.
After a long time.
Lin Yi gritted his teeth, thinking fiercely: "Screw it! Worst case, I die."
He channeled the little inner strength he'd recovered into the jade slip. Suddenly, his expression froze—stunned. His inner strength couldn't penetrate the slip; it was blocked outright. This was nothing like what he'd imagined.
Logically, if the bracelet had been activated by inner strength, the items from it should also require inner strength. At least, that was his first thought when facing the jade slip.
"If inner strength doesn't work, try spiritual energy."
He withdrew his inner strength, then channeled his spiritual energy into the slip.
Abruptly—
As soon as the spiritual energy entered, a sense of ancientness flooded his mind. It was as if he'd tumbled into an archaic realm, so immersive he never wanted to leave.
Next, countless strange, unrecognizable characters surged into his consciousness, branding themselves deeply in his mind. Lin Yi couldn't resist; he could only passively accept these twisted symbols.
When the last character entered his mind, the jade slip "cracked" and shattered into pieces, slipping from his hand.
Yet those characters—ones he was certain he'd never seen before—now felt familiar. As they merged with his memories, embedding themselves in his subconscious, Lin Yi finally understood what they were.
*Five-Spirits Body Tempering Nine Transformations!*
A technique that used the five celestial energies—metal, wood, water, fire, earth—to temper the physical body. It had nine transformations. The first was "Skin Transformation." As for the second, Lin Yi had no idea—he'd only recognized the core principles and the characters describing Skin Transformation. Perhaps only when he mastered Skin Transformation and prepared for the next stage would he learn what the second transformation was.
After carefully absorbing the core principles and the first transformation, Lin Yi showed no excitement or joy—not even a hint. Instead, his face was full of doubt.
He was utterly shocked by the content, so much so that he couldn't believe it.
The core principles stated that mastering the *Five-Spirits Body Tempering Nine Transformations* would grant an indestructible body—immortality. But in the face of cultivators' great magical powers, could such a body truly exist? Lin Yi didn't know.
Maybe. Maybe not.
But with his current knowledge, he couldn't believe it.
And though the first transformation, Skin Transformation, was described casually, Lin Yi could sense the agony of using the five energies to temper the skin—something beyond ordinary endurance.
"This Skin Transformation is a bit like demonic cultivation," Lin Yi muttered, calming down. He stashed the shattered jade slip in his storage bag.
Demonic cultivators, in their rush to grow stronger, used inhuman methods to stimulate their bodies' potential, enduring cruel torments. Skin Transformation was similar: using spiritual energy to purge impurities from the skin until mastery was achieved.
"Demonic cultivation?" Lin Yi whispered the taboo term again, lifting his head suddenly. His flickering gaze gradually hardened. "So what if it's demonic? If orthodox methods won't make me strong, won't grant me power… then I'll seize strength through other means. If this *Five-Spirits* technique is truly demonic, then let me become a demon!"
He roared the last sentence in his heart.
It was like a vow to some unseen force, or to a belief.
Once determined, Lin Yi hesitated no longer. He carefully recalled the cultivation method for Skin Transformation, making sure he remembered it correctly. Then he sat cross-legged, began absorbing the five celestial energies—metal, wood, water, fire, earth—from the world. Following the technique, the energy didn't enter his dantian; instead, it gathered at a single point,停留在 (lingering on) the surface of his skin, never passing through his meridians.
This concentration of five energies first began tempering his palms—starting from the skin of his fingers, spreading upward bit by bit,淬炼 without pause.
Thanks to his mastery of Iron Sand Palm, his palms had already undergone unique changes from constant practice.
Now, under the tempering of the *Five-Spirits Body Tempering Nine Transformations*' first stage, his palms easily achieved mastery of Skin Transformation.