Chapter 868: Tempered into Steel
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Ding Ping put down the huge rock, and looked at Ling Han with suspicion. This guy who was only older than him by a few years wanted to be his master? He said, “What can you teach me, and what can I learn?”
The first question was about Ling Han’s ability, while the second was about Ding Ping’s crippled Spirit Base—did any technique which he could learn exist?
Ling Han’s face broke into a smile. He then walked to the side of that huge rock, stretched out a hand, and pa , easily lifted it up as if it wasn’t a huge rock, but just a mass of cotton candy.
“Pu!” Ding Ping immediately widened his eyes and spew out the entire length of his tongue in shock.
Although he couldn’t cultivate, the strength of his brute force could in fact surpass that of most of the adults in town, but even he couldn’t just lift up such a huge rock single-handedly.
Ling Han casually tossed the huge rock up and down—he did so effortlessly.
Indeed, had Ling Han not been fearful of scaring the kid, he could have lifted up an entire mountain! The current level of his physical strength had already stepped into that of the Shattering Void Tier. Even without drawing strength from his Origin Power, his massive physical strength would strike other people speechless.
Ding Ping couldn’t help but be stupefied—to think that the huge rock in hand was being tossed up and caught again as if it was a small pebble. He had to be seeing a ghost.
“Watch carefully!” Ling Han said with a smile while his right hand exerted a little force to toss, and xiu , the huge rock shot straight into the sky like an artillery shell and became a tiny dot in a flash.
Ding Ping’s mouth was so big that he could have swallowed a whole human head, and there were stars flashing in both his eyes.
Now this was called power!
In contrast, he was completely akin to a little baby—he wasn’t even qualified to be compared with Ling Han.
“So what if your Spirit Base is crippled? If the physical force is strong enough, it can crush everything!” Ling Han said, paused, and stretched out his palm towards the sky. Pa , the falling boulder fell into his hand, and he then put it back onto the ground. “Furthermore, it’s not like the Spirit Base cannot be changed!”
“Master!” Ding Ping, his mind being alert at the arrival of good fortune, immediately knelt down and bowed to Ling Han.
Ling Han received the other party’s observance of three-kowtows-nine-salutations before helping the young man up. He said, “My surname is ‘Ling’ and given name is ‘Han’. You are my fifth apprentice.”
Ding Ping was a little surprised. Ling Han was older than him by only a few years, so how could he already have four apprentices? But then again, those capable were qualified to teach. Just the other party’s action of tossing that huge rock was like a divine miracle to him.
“I need to wait for a person here, and shall take you back to my country in a few days’ time. However, since we are just idling anyway, let’s first remold you thoroughly so as not to waste time,” Ling Han said.
Ding Ping couldn’t help but feel excited. Remolding sounded like a sophisticated affair.
Ling Han took out an alchemist’s furnace, and then a lot of medicinal herbs.
Watching Ling Han bring out so many things out of thin air, Ding Ping could not help but be shocked. Is Master a god? It seemed like he had a treasure trove on hand.
“Oh, you will know later.” Ling Han smiled as he threw herbs into the furnace. He then grabbed Ding Ping before tossing him into the furnace as well, saying, “Remolding can greatly enhance the toughness of your skin, bones, and flesh, making your physical strength and defense stronger. However, this process is also very painful.”
He paused, and said, “You can give up at any time, but once you give up, you will no longer be my apprentice. My apprentice’s aptitude can be less than precocious, but his will must be tenacious!”
“Master, I shall endure it!” Ding Ping said with a resolute gaze. He’d thought that he would be doomed to live his life as trash, but now that he saw hope, he would seize it no matter what.
Would it be any more painful than the heartache caused by scornful looks that he had endured for the past six months?
Now those really were sharp knives that gouged at him—he was in so much pain that he wished he was dead.
Ling Han laughed. Treating Ding Ping like an alchemical concoction, he began refining.
What was the current level of his strength, and how precious were the medicinal herbs used? This furnace was filled with medicinal herbs that would have made the eyes of any Shattering Void Tier cultivator bloodshot with jealousy! One should know that there were actually many cultivators in this world, but how many of them had upgraded their physique up to Level Ten precious metal?
Two!
They were precisely Ma Duo Bao and Helian Tianyun—Ao Jian, a being of the immortal realm, didn’t count.
Also, if such refining was to be done daily, then it might just be possible to refine the physique of any ordinary person up to Level Ten precious metal, but what would it require? Limitless treasured herbs, in addition to an Alchemy Emperor who had reached the ninth layer of the Shattering Void Tier to personally undertake such a task.
It could be said that, other than Ling Han, no one would have such a skill.
“Ah…!!!” Ding Ping soon let out a blood-curdling scream like a pig being butchered.
It hurt too much!
However, the young man only shouted twice before he forcefully kept his mouth shut. He clenched his teeth tightly as blue veins started popping out on his forehead and his entire body shivered uncontrollably. Nevertheless, he forced himself to bear with it.
His cold sweat streamed, and pa, pa, pa , the bones in his entire body crackled noisily.
This wasn’t a simple matter of remolding, but also forging of bones.
Forging of bones—crush the bones to remove impurities, then weld them back together and crush them again. This process would be repeated, treating the bones like cast iron to be tempered into steel.
After a while, Ding Ping’s mouth narrowed into a thin line, his nostrils were letting out sounds of deep breathing, and his eyes reflected the suffering endured with blood and tears. His lips were already torn from biting, but his gaze remained resolute.
Good!
Ling Han nodded internally. The young man’s bone structure was different from ordinary people’s; furthermore, its extraordinary sturdiness made him the best candidate for cultivating Body Arts. However, just having natural endowment wasn’t enough. In order to climb to the peak of martial arts, the most important thing was to have tenacious willpower—a heart that never gave up.
In this way, when you were in danger, you would think about how to get out of trouble and how to solve problems instead of waiting for death.
It could even be said that people who were highly talented but possessed weak willpower might not necessarily reach the pinnacle of success. On the contrary, those who were less talented but had a strong will might be able to do so. Of course, it was the best to have both talent and strong will.
Now that Ding Ping showed he had both talent and will, it made Ling Han very pleased.
This refining process took one day and one night. During this period, the Ding Clan actually did not come looking for Ding Ping. It could be seen that this young man who was once regarded as the rising star of the Ding Clan had been completely abandoned.
Ling Han opened up the furnace, lifted out Ding Ping, and said, “Follow my lead, I will pass on to you a technique to cultivate Body Arts!”
Nine Dragons Tyrant Body Art!
Ding Ping was finally freed from living hell, and immediately found out how great his progress was—he was full of strength, feeling as if he could smash a tall mountain to pieces with a single punch.
He quickly said, “Yes!”
Through a session of drill and practice, Ling Han carefully explained the mnemonic chant. Some parts could not be expressed in words, so he directly pointed out a finger and taught Ding Ping using telepathy.
How could a cultivator who had reached the ninth layer of the Shattering Void Tier not have such ability?
Even the eight Kings could pass on their Mystical Powers, what more Ling Han.
Ding Ping acted in accordance to the law, but after a while, his stomach was making a noise like thunder; he couldn’t help but turn red in the face, looking somewhat sheepish.
He was hungry!