Li Yun had come to the Li Family's treasure house with a clear goal: to select a cultivation technique and a martial art. In the Li Family, any child who managed to step onto the path of cultivation by reaching the Bone Refining Realm earned the right to enter the treasure house and claim such manuals.
"Li Yun, what brings you here?" A deep voice echoed through the hall. An elderly man with a long, flowing beard appeared before him. It was Elder Mu, the custodian of the treasure house.
"Elder Mu," Li Yun said respectfully, cupping his fists in greeting.
Elder Mu frowned slightly. "Why are you here, boy? You know the rules. Only martial artists who have entered the path of cultivation are allowed inside the treasure house. And in your case, you'd normally only be permitted entry if you'd become an senior-level pharmacist." His tone was stern as he reminded Li Yun of the strict family regulations.
"I understand the rules, Elder Mu," Li Yun replied calmly. Without further explanation, he circulated his internal energy. Instantly, a surge of powerful energy radiated outward from his body in rippling waves.
"The peak stage of the Bone Refining Realm?" Elder Mu's eyes widened in shock, before his surprise broke into hearty laughter. "I knew it! A genius's son could never truly be trash. I always believed it!" He chuckled deeply, his eyes warm as he regarded Li Yun. "Go on then. You're entitled to choose one cultivation technique and one martial art."
Li Yun nodded and began browsing the rows of jade slips and books stacked neatly on the shelves.
Thanks to the knowledge transmitted to him by the system, Li Yun now understood the nature of his Primal Chaos Body, it was an all-attribute physique. That meant he could cultivate any technique under the heavens, regardless of elemental affinity.
With that in mind, he already had a vision for the path he wanted to follow.
After scanning countless techniques and martial arts, Li Yun finally made his decision.
First, he selected the Blazing Sun Art, a middle-grade Mortal Rank cultivation technique aligned with the flame attribute.
For his martial art, he picked the Crimson Sun Flame Sword Art, another middle-grade Mortal Rank technique. Like his chosen cultivation art, it revolved around flame energy, making the two techniques perfectly complementary.
Li Yun approached Elder Mu, carrying the two books carefully in his hands.
"Blazing Sun Art and Crimson Sun Flame Sword Art…" Elder Mu repeated solemnly, studying the titles. He lifted his gaze to Li Yun, his brow furrowed. "Are you sure about this? You've never even practiced low-grade Mortal Rank techniques. Jumping straight to middle-grade manuals is highly unusual."
Li Yun met his eyes steadily. "I've made up my mind, Elder Mu."
Elder Mu let out a soft sigh. "Ah, youth. You young ones fear nothing." He waved a hand dismissively. "Very well. Take them. But remember, you must return the books within a month after you've copied them."
Li Yun bowed deeply. "Thank you, Elder Mu."
With that, he turned and left the treasure house.
***
Li Yun sat cross-legged in his room, eyes closed in concentration as he cultivated the Blazing Sun Art. A faint crimson glow shimmered around him, like flickering embers. He maintained this posture for six hours straight, completely absorbed in his practice, before finally opening his eyes.
"I've already reached the fourth layer of the Blazing Sun Art," Li Yun murmured to himself, though a slight frown creased his brow. To him, the process felt unbearably tedious, and, above all, far too slow.
If anyone else in Azure Wind City could hear his complaint, they'd probably want to strangle him on the spot. To cultivate a middle-grade mortal rank technique up to the fourth layer in just six hours was the stuff of legends. Even across the vast Martial Dragon Continent, such a feat would be extraordinarily rare.
On the Martial Dragon Continent, all martial arts, whether cultivation techniques or combat techniques, were ranked into four tiers: Mortal, Profound, Earth, and Heaven. Each rank was further divided into Low, Middle, High, and Top grades.
A mortal-rank cultivation technique typically consisted of nine layers. The higher one advanced through those layers, the faster their cultivation speed would become, and the greater the power they could unleash when circulating the technique.
But climbing those layers was no easy task. Many martial artists would spend years struggling to reach even the fifth or sixth layer of a low-grade mortal rank technique. As for middle-grade mortal rank techniques, the difficulty increased severalfold, making progress even more grueling.
"I've managed to reach the fourth layer of the Blazing Sun Art mostly thanks to my Primal Chaos Body," Li Yun reflected, his eyes thoughtful. "It's like the more I cultivate, the more naturally my body aligns itself with the technique."
At that moment, Li Yun truly grasped just how extraordinary the Primal Chaos Body was. It didn't merely allow him to cultivate any technique, it accelerated his progress dramatically, allowing him to achieve what others could only dream of.
Thinking something for a moment, Li Yun muttered. "Status."
---
[Player: Li Yun]
– Cultivation: [Peak Stage of Bone Refining Realm.]
– Physique: [Primal Chaos Body]
– Spirit Soul: [Natural]
– Comprehension: [Natural]
– Experience: [-]
---
'So that's my status,' Li Yun mused as he studied the screen floating before him.
"Spirit Soul and Comprehension…" he murmured, noticing that both fields were currently marked as "Natural."
From what he could gather, Spirit Soul referred to the quality of his soul itself, while Comprehension represented his ability to understand and master martial arts. Still, Li Yun wasn't entirely sure how significantly these attributes impacted his current strength.
---
[Comprehension]
– Experience Required to Level Up: 100
– Condition: Red Spirit Soul
– Upgrade: 1st Tier
---
Just as he focused his thoughts on the Comprehension stat, a new window popped up before him.
"I can upgrade my Comprehension?" Li Yun exclaimed, wide-eyed with surprise. He'd initially assumed the system's only function was to give him quests and grant rewards upon completion. He never imagined it would let him enhance his fundamental abilities directly.
Curious, he shifted his attention to the Spirit Soul stat.
---
[Spirit Soul]
– Experience Required to Level Up: 200
– Upgrade: Red
---
"I can actually level up my stats!" Li Yun nearly leapt to his feet in excitement. "The heavens, or the gods, or whoever's up there, really did me a huge favor by transmigrating me into this world with such an overpowered system."
His eyes gleamed as he clenched his fists. "All I need now is experience points."
Suddenly, the prospect of completing the two pending quests no longer seemed tedious. Instead, a fierce determination blazed within him, urging him to grow stronger.
Without wasting another moment, Li Yun began practicing the Crimson Sun Flame Sword Art. He knew one unshakable truth about this world: strength was everything. His first priority had to be increasing his power as quickly as possible.
The Crimson Sun Flame Sword Art consisted of three distinct moves: Scarlet Sunlight Slash, Flame Serpent Coil, and Solar Flare Burst.
Li Yun threw himself into training each technique in sequence, spending the entire day refining his movements and internalizing the forms.
"Crimson Sun Flame Sword Art… reached the Proficient stage of mastery," he whispered as he finally exhaled, sweat glistening on his brow.
Unlike cultivation techniques, which progressed through layers, martial arts, particularly combat-focused techniques, advanced through five stages of mastery: Novice, Proficient, Advanced, Completion, and Perfection.
It was rumored there existed a realm beyond even the Perfection stage, where a martial artist could unleash the full, boundless potential of their techniques. But for most, that was more legend than reality.
[Ding! Host has triggered the novice quest 'Good Boy Martial Path.' Accept quest?]
"Another quest?" Li Yun was surprised as he opened the quest page.
---
[Quest Level: F]
– Objective: [Achieve the True Meaning mastery of Crimson Sun Flame Sword Art.]
– Reward: [5000 gold coins, 300 Experience point, a hint to master Sword Intent"]
---
"True Meaning stage of mastery?" Li Yun blurted out, startled by the unexpected quest objective. "Is it the stage of mastery beyond perfection stage?" His eyes widened by the understanding.
"But Perfection stage is so far at the moment let alone True Meaning stage of mastery."
Li Yun muttered his eyes burning with resolve. "But I don't believe I can't master the sword technique to Perfection stage of mastery before the coming age ceremony in two months."
"It's time to refine some potions," Li Yun murmured to himself. Now that he could harness internal energy, he was eager to see how it would affect his alchemy.
An hour later, he carefully held up a small vial filled with shimmering liquid, the first bottle of ordinary-grade Bone Refining Potion he'd completed.
"Yes!" Li Yun exclaimed, eyes shining with satisfaction. "Using internal energy makes the entire process so much more efficient. Before, it would take me at least half a day to refine a single bottle of ordinary-grade Bone Refining Potion. Now I've done it in just a few minutes. And the potency seems even stronger than before."
He gently set the bottle aside, handling it like a precious treasure.
"Let's try something harder, an intermediate-grade Bone Refining Potion."
With renewed determination, Li Yun gathered the necessary herbs and ingredients and began the process once again. An hour later, he stared at the potion in his hand, his face lighting up with disbelief and joy.
"I did it? I… I actually did it!" His expression flickered between astonishment and overwhelming excitement. "I finally succeeded!"
Li Yun could hardly believe it. He'd struggled for the entire past week trying to refine an intermediate-grade Bone Refining Potion and had failed every time. Yet today, on his very first attempt with internal energy, he'd achieved success.
Brimming with confidence, Li Yun decided not to limit himself anymore. He wanted to see just how far his abilities could go now that he could channel internal energy into his alchemy.
He refined a second intermediate-grade potion. Then a third. And a fourth. One after another, he worked tirelessly, producing batch after batch. By the time he paused to take a breath, he had successfully refined thirty bottles of intermediate-grade Bone Refining Potion in a row, without a single failure.
Such a staggering success rate would drive any ordinary pharmacist to the brink of madness with envy.
Even Li Yun found it difficult to believe. It felt almost unnatural, but he pushed the thought aside, choosing instead to keep going, driven by curiosity and ambition.
Finally, after refining a total of forty-five intermediate-grade potions, Li Yun held up a new bottle and stared in amazement.
He had done it. He had successfully refined his first excellent-grade Bone Refining Potion.
"Finally… an excellent-grade potion!" Li Yun breathed, sweat dripping down his face. Despite his exhaustion, his focus remained razor-sharp as he stared intently at the shimmering liquid in the small vial before him, the result of his successful refinement.
Determined to replicate his success, Li Yun mentally retraced each step he'd taken in refining the potion and tried again. This time, however, the process fell short, yielding only an intermediate-grade potion.
Undeterred, he made another attempt, but again produced only an intermediate grade.
Li Yun refused to give up. He steadied his breathing, cleared his mind, and tried once more. On his third attempt, his eyes lit up as he successfully refined another excellent-grade potion.
Not wanting to lose his momentum, he pressed on. With renewed confidence, he launched into the process again, and this time produced yet another excellent-grade potion.
Now starting to grasp the delicate nuances and the subtle "feel" required for refining at this level, Li Yun kept going. Once more, he refined an excellent-grade potion successfully.
He didn't stop until he had refined three additional excellent-grade Bone Refining Potions. In total, he managed to craft seven excellent-grade potions before finally halting, not out of fatigue, but because he'd completely run out of ingredients.
"I've got ten ordinary-grade Bone Refining Potions, forty-five intermediate-grade, and now seven excellent-grade…" Li Yun whispered, almost in disbelief. "That's insane!"
In the past, he always purchased enough herbs and materials to attempt around a hundred potions, fully aware that he'd usually only manage to refine twenty successfully from that supply.
But excluding the earlier batch of ordinary potions, this time he'd achieved nearly a 100% success rate in refining Bone Refining Potions, a feat so astonishing it left him stunned.
Even senior pharmacists in Azure Wind City would never dare claim they could produce Bone Refining Potions with perfect consistency. A flawless success rate was simply unheard of.
"Could this be the power of my all-attribute internal energy?" Li Yun murmured, wonder glinting in his eyes. He understood perfectly well that simply inhabiting the body of the previous Li Yun hadn't magically transformed him into a prodigy of alchemy overnight.
No, this extraordinary ability could only be attributed to his unique all-attribute internal energy.