Ye Fan took out a cave residence spiritual artifact from his storage ring. Before coming to the secret realm, Ye Fan went out to buy a lot of things, and this cave residence spiritual artifact was one of them.
The so-called cave residence spiritual artifact was a mobile cave residence with its own protective formation. Under normal circumstances, after raising the protective formation of the cave residence, it would take an hour for a Golden Core cultivator to break through. Its price was not cheap.
Ye Fan passed a body refining method to Bai Yunxi. Bai Yunxi looked at Ye Fan and asked in confusion, “Do I need to refine my body as well?”
Ye Fan nodded and said, “Yes. If you want to be promoted to God Transformation, you must refine your body. Many cultivators pursue speed of cultivation in the early days, using some methods that help promote quickly but have hidden dangers, and ignore body refining. When they try to advance to Nascent Soul or God Transformation, they will perish under the thunder tribulation.”
“However, many cultivators don’t seem to practice body refining,” Bai Yunxi said.
“Body refining is very labor-intensive, and good body refining exercises are hard to find. The strength gained from cultivation is much higher than the strength gained from body refining*. Most cultivators exhaust their life energy and can’t even build a foundation. Naturally, they won’t have time for body refining.”
Ye Fan paused and added, “Yunxi, your qualifications are very good. You don’t have to worry that your lifespan is not enough to support you to enter the next big realm. It’s better to lay a solid foundation.”
Bai Yunxi nodded and said, “I understand, but your technique is the Heavenly Thunder Body Refining Technique. I don’t have a thunder spiritual root. Can I still practice it?”
Ye Fan nodded and said, “Don’t worry. You can, but if you don’t have a thunder spiritual root, the effect of body refining will be worse.”
“This exercise is very precious,” Bai Yunxi said.
Ye Fan nodded and said, “Yes. If you want to buy it with spirit stones, it will cost hundreds of millions. This technique has another advantage. After practicing it, it will be very easy to cross the thunder tribulation. You know, many cultivators have died under the thunder tribulation.”
Bai Yunxi nodded and said, “Sounds good.”
“I heard that in order to avoid overpopulation and a shortage of resources, the Immortal Realm will drop thunder tribulations from time to time to kill some scum, maintain population balance, and maintain the sustainable development of the Immortal Realm. I don’t know if it is true or not.”
Bai Yunxi was stunned for a moment, and said, “It’s too early to discuss this now…”
Ye Fan nodded and said, “That’s right.”
In addition to the cave residence spiritual artifact, Ye Fan circled another area and set up a protective formation and a concealment formation. The two of them were temporarily stationed in the Heavenly Thunder Bamboo Forest.
…
Ye Fan liked body refining very much, but body refining had caused a lot of trouble for Bai Yunxi.
Practicing the Heavenly Thunder Body Refining Technique was to attract heavenly thunder into the body. Lightning would strike down to achieve the effect of tempering the body. The strength of heavenly thunder was very strong, and clothes became a burden.
Every time Ye Fan went to the bamboo forest to refine his body, he would be naked.
Although this area of the bamboo forest was covered by a concealment formation, and other cultivators were busy exploring other areas of the secret realm, so usually no one would come, Bai Yunxi was a young master trained by a big family. In broad daylight, taking off his clothes and cultivating, he always felt a little uncomfortable.
However, Ye Fan always felt that the two of them were naked and cultivating together, and it felt very good. When their underwear was taken off, he liked to pull Bai Yunxi to compare sizes.
Luckily for Bai Yunxi, there was a large area of azure fog in this Heavenly Thunder Bamboo Forest. As long as it wasn’t too close, others should not be able to see clearly.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Ye Fan looked at Bai Yunxi and said, “Yunxi, come and practice. This thunderbolt is very comfortable on the body, like a massage.”
Ye Fan’s cultivation level was currently at the middle stage of Foundation Establishment. He had taken a lot of medicinal pills and absorbed a lot of spirit stones. He had deposited a lot of medicinal and spiritual impurities* in his body that were difficult to absorb. Under the action of heavenly thunder, these impurities were mostly converted into absorbable spiritual energy, and a small part was eliminated from the body.
In the process of body refining, Ye Fan not only tempered his body, but also made a lot of progress in his cultivation.
Bai Yunxi rolled his eyes and thought secretly: he had never seen anyone so happy to be struck by lightning.
Ye Fan went a few meters deeper into the Heavenly Thunder Bamboo Forest, and the thunder and lightning that fell on Ye Fan suddenly became much denser.
Ye Fan entered the depths of the bamboo forest and was hacked a few times. His body was split open with several wounds, and he retreated back in despair.
Ye Fan took a few pills and ran his exercises, and the injuries on his body quickly recovered
“The thunder and lightning inside is too strong. I can’t stand it!” Ye Fan shuddered.
Bai Yunxi looked at Ye Fan, shook his head, and said, “You deserve it. As I said, cultivation should be done step by step.”
Ye Fan looked at Bai Yunxi unhappily, and said sullenly, “You don’t even feel sorry for me.”
…
Ye Fan and Bai Yunxi were stationed in the Heavenly Thunder Bamboo Forest, but they didn’t know there was already turmoil in other places.
Many cultivators who entered the secret realm came for the flame of life. Some people found a green flame in a valley. They were overjoyed and wanted to subdue it, but unexpectedly, the flame turned into a green flame beast and swallowed all the surrounding cultivators.
Someone found a spiritual grass in the secret realm, and when he got closer, he discovered that the spiritual grass was a phantom. He stepped into the trap and died.
The fighting between cultivators was also very fierce. In order to compete for resources, murdering for treasure frequently occurred.
Two months later, Ye Fan showed his muscles to Bai Yunxi and said, “Yunxi, look at me. My body refining technique has broken through.”
Ye Fan’s body turned bronze, and it looked as if a layer of tung oil had been poured on his body. The appearance of Ye Fan’s body was exactly the characteristic of his body refining reaching the realm of bronze skin and iron bones.
Ye Fan ran his exercises, and his complexion returned to normal.
“Your body refining skills are progressing very fast!”
Ye Fan nodded and said, “Well, my thunder technique has also improved very quickly. When I have mastered my body refining, I can go to the center of the bamboo forest and chop two better quality Heavenly Thunder Bamboos to make weapons.”
Bai Yunxi raised his eyebrows. The price of Heavenly Thunder Bamboo was very high, but it was not easy to chop the Heavenly Thunder Bamboo here.
Moreover, once the Heavenly Thunder Bamboo was chopped, it might cause a sudden change in the surrounding thunder and lightning, attracting thunder and lightning strikes. Therefore, this invaluable Heavenly Thunder Bamboo Forest had been preserved to this day.
“Let’s talk about it later,” Bai Yunxi said.
Ye Fan nodded and said, “Okay. Yunxi, let’s go out for a walk. The Heavenly Wood Secret Realm is vast, and it happens that my body refining has reached a certain bottleneck, so let’s go get some herbs suitable for body refining.”
Bai Yunxi nodded and said, “Okay!”
…
Ye Fan collected their things and left the bamboo forest with Bai Yunxi.
Bai Yunxi and Ye Fan met a few cultivators sporadically along the way.
A cultivator was flying with a spiritual weapon. The cultivator’s cultivation base was very low, but the spiritual weapon was very high-grade. It might be that the power of the flying spiritual weapon could not be fully exerted because of the improper operation.
“Junior brother, hurry up!” Feng Mo’er urged Ma Rui behind her.
Ma Rui said with a bitter face, “Senior sister, slow down. I can’t keep up.”
When Feng Mo’er heard Ma Rui’s words, she had the urge to kick Ma Rui, but she forcibly endured it when she thought of Ma Yuanping’s advice before entering the secret realm.
“Hurry up. If you keep taking your time, I’ll leave you behind.” Feng Mo’er said coldly.
Ma Rui said with a bitter face, “Senior sister, I don’t want to stay here anymore. I want to go back to the sect.”
“You can’t go back to the sect. You can’t go back for several years.” Feng Mo’er said angrily.
When Ma Rui heard Feng Mo’er’s words, he was full of misery. “Senior sister, why did grandpa treat me like this! Why did he send me to such a dangerous place!”
Feng Mo’er wished she could kick Ma Rui to death. What was this place? This was the Heavenly Wood Secret Realm. There were so many Foundation Establishment disciples in the sect who wanted to enter, but there was no opportunity. Ma Yuanping used a lot of private means to get Ma Rui a spot. After being sent in, Ma Rui, this useless thing, actually thought that Ma Yuanping was not good to him.
She really didn’t know what Ma Yuanping liked about Ma Rui, this mud that couldn’t support the wall*. If she had such a grandson, she would have kicked him to death long ago.
…
Ye Fan sat on a tree, glanced at Bai Yunxi, and said, “We have met an acquaintance again.”
Bai Yunxi shook his head and said, “Although the secret realm is good, it is not something everyone can afford.”
A cultivator like Ma Rui had better stay in the sect and show off his might. If he ran out, he would only bring shame to Tiangang Sect.
The top level management of Tiangang Sect was too corrupt. In a secret realm like this, it was better to send disciples with higher cultivation bases in. It was simply too wasteful to send in Ma Rui who was at the early stage of Foundation Establishment.
“His spiritual weapon is good,” Ye Fan said.
Bai Yunxi: “…”
Ye Fan showed himself and stopped in front of Feng Mo’er and Ma Rui. Ma Rui, who was like a frightened bird, was startled, but when he saw Ye Fan’s face clearly, Ma Rui calmed down.
“Fellow Daoist Ye, it’s you!” Ma Rui said.
Ye Fan looked at Ma Rui, blinked, and secretly thought: The first time he saw Ma Rui, this guy’s eyes were on the top of his head and he was arrogant. Now he didn’t have the same complacency as the past.
Bai Yunxi looked at Ma Rui and said, “Who are you hiding from?”
Ma Rui said with a bitter face, “I met a strong enemy.”
“Is the reputation of Tiangang Sect useless?” Ye Fan asked.
Ma Rui shook his head and said, “It doesn’t work. It’s a cultivator from outside.”
Ye Fan and Bai Yunxi looked at each other and said, “Cultivator from outside?”
Ma Rui nodded and said, “Yeah! I don’t know where these people came from. Each is more powerful than the last. Half of the cultivators from our area have been killed.”
Bai Yunxi raised his eyebrows and thought secretly: Cultivators from outside. Was it possible that they came from other continents?
Ye Fan looked at Ma Rui and said in confusion, “Half of them are dead, but you are still alive!” Ye Fan secretly thought: Ma Rui was not very strong and had no courage, but his luck was really good!
Ma Rui laughed twice and said, “Luck, luck.”
Seeing Ma Rui’s appearance, Bai Yunxi knew that Ma Rui’s survival was most likely because his ancestor gave him a spiritual weapon for self-defense before he came in.
“Fellow Daoist, where did these foreign cultivators come from?” Bai Yunxi asked.
Feng Mo’er shook her head and said, “I don’t know where they came from, but I know they are very powerful. These people might come from big sects with Nascent Soul cultivators. Whether it is the level of the cultivation technique or the quality of the spiritual weapons on their bodies, they are all very powerful. The starting point is higher than us. Even if we are at the same level of cultivation, we are not their opponents at all.”
Bai Yunxi nodded and said, “I see!”
Ye Fan stared at Ma Rui for a few moments and said, “You seem to have eaten a spiritual medicine, and it’s a very effective spiritual medicine. How can you just take spiritual medicine indiscriminately? Although spiritual medicine is good, its medicinal power cannot be absorbed when taken raw. This damages the meridians.” The important thing was it was a waste of natural resources!
Ma Rui smiled dryly. Feng Mo’er snorted lightly, and a bit of suffocation flashed on her face.
Ma Rui and Feng Mo’er were originally digging for spiritual medicine in a valley, and they actually found a good spiritual medicine. At that time, a cultivator in the late stage of Foundation Establishment came over and ordered them to hand over the spiritual medicine. Ma Rui was used to acting domineering in the sect. How could he accept an inexplicable order from a cultivator he didn’t know? So Ma Rui directly devoured the spiritual medicine.
The cultivator in the late stage of Foundation Establishment saw that Ma Rui was only in the early stage of Foundation Establishment and dared to disobey his instructions. He immediately became angry and chased Ma Rui to extract and refine his soul. Feng Mo’er had to take Ma Rui with her and run away.
That cultivator was very powerful. Ma Rui had to blow up a life-saving wind thunder bead given by Ma Yuanping to save his life. That cultivator in the late stage of Foundation Establishment was unrelenting and continued to chase. Along the way, the life-saving instruments on Ma Rui were all pretty much consumed.
It was only three months after entering the secret realm, and 70% of the spiritual weapons were consumed, which made Ma Rui feel a sense of danger.
***
T/N: Ma Rui was introduced in Chapter 186 and Feng Mo’er in Chapter 188 – Feng Mo’er has also shown up quite a few times since then so hopefully everyone remembers them.
*The type of cultivation practiced in this novel is what is usually referred to as immortal cultivation, which requires spiritual roots to cultivate, but there are other kinds. This novel doesn’t really differentiate in depth like you see in other xianxia, but you can treat the ancient martial arts on earth as another type of cultivation (if you recall, most people on earth don’t have spiritual roots and can’t practice immortal cultivation). Body refining is another type of cultivation and has different stages than the Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, etc. of immortal cultivation.
*In cultivation novels, there’s the concept that you can’t eat too many pills or other spiritual treasures as they cannot be 100% digested or contain impurities. Whatever is not digested and absorbed is left in the body as impurities. If these substances are not cleared and allowed to build up, at a certain point, it hinders further progress in cultivation. Here, the heavenly thunder dissolves these impurities, which is essentially purifying the body. Cultivation novels have a bunch of ways to clear these impurities and heavenly thunder is just one of them.
*Mud that can’t support the wall – Chinese phrase to describe a useless person.
