“Alright, let’s head to where the Zizhen Fruit grows to take a look!” Zhang Xuan said.
The Phosphor Armored Beast quickly led the way forward.
They returned to the cavern where it had been drinking and eating at previously. Heading into the depths of the cavern, they soon found a few trees that were not too tall.
The ceiling of the cavern had been dug out, allowing starlight to shine right onto the leaves of the tree. A series of crimson fruits hung on the tree, looking fresh and delectable.
There was a formation cast around the trees that prevented anyone whose cultivation was beneath that of the Phosphor Armored Beast from getting to the trees. Of the entire cavern, other than these trees, there was nothing else to be seen.
Zhang Xuan walked up to the formation and stopped it with a stomp of his foot before proceeding further in.
Seeing this sight, the Phosphor Armored Beast shuddered in fear.
It would not have dared imagine that there was a person who could stop its formation with just a stomp of their foot. Even though its master was young, it was apparent that he possessed exceptional capabilities.
Zhang Xuan plucked one of the Zizhen Fruits to take a closer look at it.
It was roughly the size of an apple, and it emanated rich spiritual energy. Just breathing it in left one’s muscles pulsating in excitement.
Zhang Xuan slit the back of his palm with his fingernail, causing blood to ooze out from the cut. After that, he squeezed the Zizhen Fruit and allowed a droplet of its essence to fall on his cut.
Hu!
In just a few moments, his cut had already healed completely.
“Just as I thought,” Zhang Xuan remarked with a smile.
The Zizhen Fruit did not just strengthen a person’s body. More importantly, it also carried exceptional rejuvenation properties.
The Zizhen Fruit strengthened a person’s defense through continuously destroying and regenerating a person’s muscles, forcing them to grow stronger and stronger. As the cycle repeated itself, it was only a matter of time before one’s defense reached a point where nothing could breach it anymore.
It was actually quite similar to how he used his Heaven’s Path zhenqi to temper his body.
“Master, have you found a solution to curing my stiffened meridians?” the Phosphor Armored Beast asked worriedly.
This was its nest, so it was well aware that there was nothing there other than those trees. If there was really something that could cure it in there, it should have long found it.
“That’s right,” Zhang Xuan replied with a nod.
Then…”
“I know that you frequently consume the Zizhen Fruit, but have you eaten its core before?” Zhang Xuan asked.
“The core? Isn’t it inedible?” The Phosphor Armored Beast was taken aback.
The flesh of the Zizhen Fruit was sweet and fragrant, and it was highly beneficial to one’s body as well. As for its core… it had never heard that it was edible before!
“Just give it a try,” Zhang Xuan said as he tossed a Zizhen Fruit over.
The Phosphor Armored Beast sliced the fruit in two, revealing its hard, dry core. As soon as it tossed it into its mouth, a bitter taste immediately spread all over his tongue.
The Phosphor Armored Beast cringed. “It tastes awful.”
“I know that it tastes awful. Try to absorb the spiritual energy released by the core,” Zhang Xuan said.
The core of the Zizhen Fruit harnessed rich spiritual energy as well.
The Phosphor Armored Beast nodded. It closed its eyes and channeled the spiritual energy into its meridians.
Hu!
As soon as it drew the spiritual energy into its body, its meridians, which were as tough as stone, began to soften up. “This…” The Phosphor Armored Beast widened its eyes.
Even though many years of eating the Zizhen Fruit had strengthened its scales, it had cost it the flexibility of its meridians, making it nigh impossible for it to become a Celestial God. It had despaired over this matter at one point in time, but it eventually resigned itself to its fate.
Yet, who could have known that the cure was actually in the bitter fruit core, which it had never eaten before?
If only it had known the solution beforehand, it would never have acknowledged Zhang Xuan as its master.
Ah, its freedom…
“The flesh hardens one’s meridians whereas the core softens them. This is the balance the heavens have granted the world.” Zhang Xuan nodded.
The world was divided into yin and yang, day and night, and the five elements. These were all powers of mutual generation and mutual overcoming, and it dictated that all beings were bound to have a complementary being.
There was nothing in the world that transcended this law.
Even feelings came in pairs as well. With love came hatred, with happiness came sorrow… There was a corresponding counterpart to each and every emotion.
“I see,” the Phosphor Armored Beast replied with a slightly confused look.
It walked over to the corner of its cavern, where the cores of the Zizhen Fruits that it had eaten were stacked up. It had intended to find a place to plant them so as to nurture more Zizhen Fruit, but now that he knew that it was the crux to resolving its affliction, it immediately swallowed all of them without any hesitation.
Geji! Geji!
The cores of the Zizhen Fruit might be tough, but they were swiftly ground down by its powerful jaws. It did not take long for the Phosphor Armored Beast to swallow all of them.
The spiritual energy from the cores flowed through its body and nourished its meridians, swiftly granting it the flexibility that it had lacked for many years. In return, the enhanced flexibility allowed his divine energy to flow faster and faster, causing its aura to swiftly rise.
“I’ll lend you a hand!”
With a chuckle, Zhang Xuan swiftly took out dozens of silver needles and infused them with Heaven’s Path zhenqi before tossing them over toward the Phosphor Armored Beast.
Puhe! Puhe!
The needles lodged themselves into the acupoints of the Phosphor Armored Beast, and the Heaven’s Path zhenqi swiftly tore down the bottleneck standing in its path.
Hong long!
With nothing standing in its way, the Phosphor Armored Beast’s cultivation sprinted all the way toward the Celestial God realm.
“Not bad!” Zhang Xuan remarked.
With a flick of his wrist, he tossed five bottles of God Essence Pills over to the Phosphor Armored Beast.
Even though it had a firm foundation, it would still require a fair amount of spiritual energy to achieve a breakthrough to the Celestial God realm. Given that the valley was devoid of spiritual energy, it would take ages for the Phosphor Armored Beast to complete its breakthrough at this rate.
Zhang Xuan did not have much time to waste, so he could only lend it a hand.
In any case, the Phosphor Armored Beast had already submitted to him, so it was not really a waste of resources.
On the other hand, the Phosphor Armored Beast did not expect its master to give it so many pills at once. With a look of gratitude on its face, it opened its mouth and swallowed all fifty God Essence Pills.
In an instant, it felt spiritual energy charging up its body.
Boom boom boom!
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A series of dull explosions echoed within its body. A faint glossy layer formed on top of its black scales, granting it a texture reminiscent of black jade.
Knowing that the Phosphor Armored Beast was set for a breakthrough, Zhang Xuan heaved a sigh of relief.
Once the other party succeeded, he would have a Celestial God on his side. Furthermore, considering its unparalleled defense, it was unlikely that there were many opponents of the same tier who were a match for it.
In other words, he did not have to fear anyone in Twilight City.
After the Phosphor Armored Beast successfully became a Celestial God, Zhang Xuan passed it a few more bottles of God Essence Pills over the next four hours for it to reinforce its cultivation. Once everything was done, the Phosphor Armored Beast reverted to its form as a young man and knelt on the floor.
“Master, thank you for your help!”
It had previously felt as if it had been coerced into becoming the young man’s tamed beast, and that had made it feel incredibly indignant. However, such emotions had completely vanished from its mind, leaving nothing but relief.
“There’s no need to stand on ceremony. Give me some of your blood. I need to temper my physical body,” Zhang Xuan said.
Without any hesitation, the Phosphor Armored Beast reverted to its original form, and with a swipe of its claws, fresh blood began flowing down its body.
With a wave of his hand, Zhang Xuan turned the fresh blood into a crimson mist before absorbing it into his body through his pores. At the same time, he grabbed a Zizhen Fruit from the tree, reduced it into juice, and swallowed it.
He had already come up with a way for him to temper his body in the four hours that the Phosphor Armored Beast had spent making a breakthrough.
As the Phosphor Armored Beast’s blood and the juice of the Zizhen Fruit flowed through his body, Zhang Xuan’s body began to undergo a change.
Boom boom boom!
His muscles were swiftly torn apart and regenerated, going through an endless process of life and death. It was an extremely excruciating process, but without a doubt, his body was swiftly becoming more compact and powerful.
“Making a breakthrough in one’s physical body is much more difficult than making a breakthrough in one’s zhenqi cultivation…”
Seeing that its master was tempering his body, the Phosphor Armored Beast chose to guard him in case any mishaps occurred.
Even with powerful recovery medicine, many things could still easily go wrong while tempering one’s physical body. A delicate balance had to be struck between the rate of destruction and recovery in order for it to work out well.
As someone who had undergone the process, the Phosphor Armored Beast knew just how much pain it had to go through in order to reach its current level. It had taken decades of hard work before it reached its current level.
On the other hand, its master was only a low-tier God. Even if he was blessed with superior talent, it would take at least several years for him to succeed.
With such thoughts in mind, the Phosphor Armored Beast looked at the young man, only to see that the latter had finish absorbing the blood mist and the fruit juice. The potency of the two ingredients caused the young man’s body to turn incredibly red.
But in the blink of an eye, the young man’s body suddenly turned golden before reverting to normal.
Hu!
Zhang Xuan exhaled deeply. He opened his eyes once more, and for a moment, one could see golden iridescence in his eyes before they swiftly turned black once more.
“Master, aren’t you going to cultivate anymore?” the Phosphor Armored Beast asked in bewilderment.
It could not understand why the young man suddenly stopped cultivating ten breaths after he started.
“I’ve finished cultivating,” Zhang Xuan replied.
You have already finished cultivating?” The Phosphor Armored Beast blinked blankly. “What do you mean by that?”
It was said to be blessed with superior aptitude in terms of its physical body, but even so, it had taken decades of training in order to temper its physical body to its current level. Yet, the young man was actually done cultivating barely after a few breaths? What did that mean?
Was he going to put aside his cultivation for the time being?
Instead of responding to the Phosphor Armored Beast’s question, Zhang Xuan instructed with an excited gleam in his eyes, “Strike me.”
The Phosphor Armored Beast hesitated for a moment before nodding. “Alright.”
It raised its claws and pulled it down on Zhang Xuan.
Fearing that the young man would not be able to withstand its strength, it chose to use only a hundredth of its full might.
However, when its claw met with Zhang Xuan’s fist, it found itself faced with a might far beyond its imagination.
It felt as powerful as the might of a natural disaster. In that instant, the Phosphor Armored Beast had a feeling that it would be crushed into bits if it continued at this rate.
Not daring to waste any time, it immediately increased the exertion of its force.
Five percent!
Ten percent!
Fifteen percent!
Fifty percent!
In a split second, it raised the might of the claw swipe to over half of its full strength.
Peng!
Nevertheless, the Phosphor Armored Beast was still sent crashing into the walls, causing a cloud of dust to fall from the ceiling.
“Master…”
The Phosphor Armored Beast looked at the young man with a look of disbelief.
It had just seen the full extent of the other party’s strength. It admitted that the other party’s swordsmanship was indeed powerful, but when did he become so strong?
Even though it had only used half of its strength, the young man was still able to send it flying into the distance.
In terms of raw strength, that was an attack that even an average low-tier Celestial God would have difficulty withstanding!
In other words, in just ten breaths or so, the young man had managed to raise his raw strength from that of a low-tier God to that of a low-tier Celestial God.
Did you really get so powerful within just ten breaths of cultivating, or have you been lying to me this whole time?
Just as the Phosphor Armored Beast was feeling utterly frenzied by the situation, it noticed that the young man had a depressed look on his face. Instead of celebrating his swift growth, it seemed as though he was disappointed with the results.
“Sigh, my rate of cultivation has really slowed down a lot. Am I starting to run out of talent?”
“Slow down? Run out of talent?”
The Phosphor Armored Beast nearly burst into tears upon hearing those words.
To raise your raw strength from the level of a low-tier God to that of a low-tier Celestial God… Bro, that’s three whole realms!
Yet, you are complaining about slowness?
Are you being serious, or are you trying to show off?