After that kitchen incident, Lin Chen packed a few food pills to keep his stomach quiet and made his way toward the Inner Techniques Hall, ready to finally do what he'd planned all along.
As always, Aiva handled the tedious parts.
He just stood there—expression blank, posture lazy—while the Aiva in his mind flipped through thousands of jade slips and manuals like an immortal librarian on caffeine.
He was, in essence, the guy who got knowledge without doing the reading.
As he browsed the records related to cultivation physiques, Lin Chen's expression gradually shifted from curiosity… to disbelief… and finally, to silent outrage.
Sword Heart Physique — born with perfect sword comprehension, capable of turning one's intent into blade energy that cuts through Heaven itself.
Supreme Bone — the bone of destiny, a vessel of divinity that allows one to shatter bottlenecks as easily as breathing.
Extreme Yang Body — eternal fire within the meridians, capable of burning all impurities and refining one's blood essence.
Nine Yin Jade Body — purest feminine constitution, capable of nurturing life force and freezing mountains with a single breath.
Heavenly Furnace Constitution — refines all things under Heaven, devours spiritual essence to temper one's body like divine metal.
Heavenly Tyrant Vessel — muscles like iron, bones like jade; a body made to crush demons and defy celestial laws.
Lin Chen stared at the glowing text, his lips twitching.
"These names sound less like physiques and more like cheat codes…"
Then came the bloodlines, and things only grew more ridiculous.
Ancient Azure Dragon Bloodline — dominator of the skies, ruler of storms.
Vermilion Phoenix Bloodline — rebirth through flame, wings that can pierce the heavens.
Primordial Demon Ape Bloodline — strength capable of uprooting mountains.
Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox Bloodline — unmatched charm and illusion, able to enthrall both gods and mortals.
Void Serpent Bloodline — can slip between realms, feasting on the boundary of existence.
Even rarer were the Divine Hybrids—those born from multiple ancient inheritances.
Their probability of birth was so low that even the sect's oldest records listed them as myths rather than facts.
And then came spiritual roots—the foundation of all cultivation.
Heaven's Vein Root — perfect balance of all five elements.
Chaos Root — absorbs any form of energy, defying elemental laws.
Celestial Flame Root — fire that could melt heavenly ore.
Abyssal Ice Root — cold so pure it could freeze time itself.
Thunder Origin Root — body forged by lightning and tribulation, blessed by the wrath of heaven.
Each one seemed more absurd than the last.
The more Lin Chen read, the more his expression soured.
Every description sounded like it was written to insult normal people like him.
These physiques, constitutions, and bloodlines were practically walking plot armor—the type of geniuses who would sneeze and accidentally cause a heavenly tribulation.
He sighed internally.
"Seriously… how is this fair? Some people are born with a Heaven-Devouring Physique, while I'm here with what—average bones and low-grade spirit roots?"
But the more outrageous a physique, constitution, talent, or bloodline was — the rarer its appearance became. Such beings were like living legends, their birth a miracle that defied the heavens themselves.
The probability of one appearing in the current age was so minuscule it might as well be one in a thousand years, perhaps even longer.
Those blessed with such gifts were but a minority among millions of cultivators, shining like stars in the vast darkness of mediocrity. Many of these peerless physiques had not been seen for over five thousand years, and their names were recorded only in ancient scrolls.
"Okay, that's it. This row clearly doesn't have any useful information about increasing talent," Lin Chen muttered under his breath, closing the jade slip with mild irritation. "Just endless pages describing strange physiques and mythical constitutions. None of it helps me."
He sighed and moved toward another rack of scrolls.
One by one, the records unfolded before his eyes.
Spirit-refining techniques that claimed to alter the meridians.
Secret methods to temper one's bones under celestial lightning.
And one particular scroll that proudly declared: 'Awaken supreme talent by being struck by heavenly tribulation!'
Lin Chen stared blankly at the line for a long moment.
"Yeah, right," he muttered. "That's not cultivation—that's suicide."
He tossed the jade slip back onto the rack, rubbing his temples.
After hours of fruitless searching, Lin Chen finally leaned back in his chair and rubbed his temples. The stack of jade slips on the table had turned into a small hill.
"It seems like the Jade Leaf Pill is my only real option…" he muttered with a weary sigh.
The Jade Leaf Pill—a pill said to enhance one's spiritual roots and purify the meridians, allowing smoother energy circulation and a firmer foundation for future breakthroughs.
For cultivators whose innate talent was below average, it was practically a second chance granted by the heavens. Though it couldn't turn a mortal into a genius overnight, it could at least raise a dull root to mediocrity.
Unfortunately, such treasures came at a price—ten thousand high-grade spirit stones.
Fortunately, he already had the Red Lotus Fruit, the main ingredient, which brought the cost down to around eight thousand.
He could ask his master to help cover the rest since she did say he could ask for resources.
But even if he managed to get the money, the pill couldn't be made right away.
The sect's alchemist had already shaken his head when Lin Chen asked about it. Most of the auxiliary herbs were out of stock—Moon Spirit Dew, Verdant Stem Grass, and Essence of Celestial Orchid—all ingredients only gathered once every few months.
Of course, there was a faster option.
For an extra five thousand high-grade spirit stones, the alchemist offered to "pull a few strings" and gather everything immediately.
Lin Chen's eyebrow twitched. "Pull strings, my foot… that's just daylight robbery."
These alchemists were no different from the corporate vultures of his previous world—always ready to profit from someone else's desperation.
***
As Lin Chen stretched out and stood up, ready to take a short break from the endless reading, a book tucked in the corner of a dusty rack caught his attention.
The cover was old and worn, the title written in bold, faded characters—"Tyrant Body Refining Art." Something about it tugged at his curiosity.
He reached out, brushed away the thin layer of dust, and flipped it open.
The first page greeted him with a sharp line of crimson ink—words written with blood instead of brush.
"If you are not in absolute control over your own body… do not practice this technique."
Lin Chen frowned. "What's that supposed to mean? Is it so dangerous you could die from losing focus for a second?"
Yet, the more he stared at it, the more he felt a strange pull—as if something within the pages had whispered directly to his soul.
Against his better judgment, he sat back down and began to read.
Thirty minutes later, disbelief clouded his features.
"This author must've been insane…" he muttered under his breath. "No sane person would write something this barbaric."
The so-called Tyrant Body Refining Art wasn't a refinement manual—it was a ritual of torment, a path that dared mortals to challenge their own limits of pain and survival.
It began with a step that already sounded like suicide. One needed the fresh blood of a Spirit River Realm beast, still boiling with violent life force.
The practitioner was to bathe in it while it was still scalding, allowing the beast's raging Essence Qi to seep through their pores and replace their own.
As blood boiled against their skin, melting flesh and fusing sinew, the cultivator had to consume a Bone-Crushing Pill—a medicine infamous for grinding bones to dust before reforging them anew.
The description went on in merciless detail. When the pain reached the edge of madness, the practitioner should swallow an Azure Flame Fruit, a spiritual fruit known to ignite a cold flame inside the body.
That flame would burn away all impurities, ignite the meridians, and temper the flesh in a storm of freezing fire.
The author described it in chilling words: "The weak shall burn to ash. The worthy shall rise reborn."
It promised rebirth through torment—a chance to shatter one's limits and rebuild the body into something monstrous, a physique capable of rivaling the spirit beasts themselves.
Yet, the notes that followed were nothing short of grim epitaphs
"Pain will devour reason. The unworthy will go mad before their body transforms."
"Ninety-nine will die. The hundredth will live, but he will beg for death before he transcends it."
A faint chill ran down Lin Chen's spine. He exhaled slowly, closing the book . "So this isn't a refinement … it's a death sentence."
Still, his gaze lingered on the description of the results—a tenfold increase in physical strength, and the elevation of innate cultivation talent.
Insane. Suicidal. Impossible.
But it worked.
"Aiva… with your help, what's the success rate of this refinement?"
Aiva's voice echoed softly in his mind.
[One hundred percent.]
[This process cannot be performed by humans alone. Even the slightest mistake in energy control will cause the body to rupture into mist. However… since I am not hindered by pain, I can control every reaction with absolute precision.]
"Yeah… I figured as much. Anyone else would die before finishing step one."
[Indeed]
[But this technique is not madness—it is logic wrapped in pain. Its foundation lies in the concept of adaptability—the body's ability to harmonize with Essence Qi. The Tyrant Body Refining Art forces that harmony through destruction.]
[In simple terms, the blood is the stimulant, the pill is the destroyer, and the fruit is the rebuilder. Together, they trigger a violent evolution.]
[As for the reason the technique demands Spirit River Realm blood—The Spirit River Realm is the fifth realm among the eight great cultivation realms.]
[Any creature capable of reaching that level possesses an innate talent that far exceeds ordinary cultivators. Their bodies are naturally attuned to Essence Qi ]
[By integrating such blood, the Tyrant Body Refining Art attempts to graft a fragment of that natural affinity into the practitioner's mortal shell—forcing the body to evolve beyond its human limits.]
[And I have reached a conclusion regarding what you humans call "cultivation talent." It is not fate, nor bloodline, nor divine blessing.]
[It is merely the adaptability of the human body—how swiftly it can absorb and harmonize with Essence Qi.]
[Those deemed 'geniuses' are simply ones whose bodies evolve faster than others.]
Lin Chen blinked, still processing her words. "Wait… You got all that just from reading this insane manual? We read the same pages, didn't we?"
Aiva gave a faint, amused hum.
[We did. But perhaps the difference lies not in the reading… but in who is doing the understanding.]
Lin Chen narrowed his eyes. "...You're calling me an idiot, aren't you?"
[Of course not,] she replied smoothly, though he could practically hear the smirk in her tone. [Merely stating a statistical observation.]
*****
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