Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, another month had passed.
Morning light filtered through the crevices of the wooden lattice window, slicing several pale golden bands across the bluestone floor. The mountain mist had yet to completely disperse, blanketing the distant peaks and nearby trees in a thin layer of bluish-gray, like an undried ink wash painting.
Chen Yuan withdrew from the Trinity stance. His blood and qi surged endlessly through his limbs and bones. The coppery luster on his skin had grown significantly deeper than it was a few months ago.
He didn’t rush into his second set of stance training. Instead, he fished out a white porcelain bottle from his robes, tipped out a Bone Strengthening Pill, and rested it on his palm to examine it for a moment. The elixir was dark brown with a coarse surface, its medicinal fragrance as potent as ever. This would be the last Bone Strengthening Pill he consumed. After today, his journey through the Bone-refining Stage would finally come to an end.
He popped the elixir into his mouth. As its medicinal efficacy dissolved at the base of his tongue, a slightly bitter, warm current flowed down his throat. Closing his eyes and sinking his breath, he planted his feet firmly into the ground and settled back into the Rocky Pile Skill stance. He held this stance for nearly two hours.
The Bone Strengthening Pill’s efficacy, mixed with his blood and qi, washed back and forth through his skeletal frame. What began as a trickling stream gradually converged into a surging river. With his Elephant Bone Perfection, his skeleton had already been tempered to a degree far surpassing ordinary Great Success in the Bone-refining Stage. Now, under the dual refinement of the medicinal efficacy and his blood and qi, the last trace of imperfection was slowly erased. Deep within the marrow cavities of his inner bones, a wisp of newly born blood and qi slowly seeped in, silent and nourishing like a gentle spring rain.
At Noon, the last trace of the medicinal efficacy thoroughly integrated into his marrow.
Chen Yuan felt a sudden tremor run through every bone in his body—a resonance originating from the inside out. In that moment, the boundary between the Elephant Bone and his own skeleton completely dissolved, merging flawlessly into a single entity.
He looked down at his hands. His skin retained its ancient bronze hue, but the underlying bones faintly radiated a pale white-gold luster, akin to the cold gleam of iron ore that had just been tempered in a forge. Clenching his fists, his knuckles let out a series of CRACKs. The interlocking of his joints sounded like the clash of metal—deeper and more abrupt than before, like two iron anvils lightly striking each other.
Iron Bones.
The absolute limit of the Bone-refining Stage, a Stage that only those with a Grade B-minus Root Bone were qualified to reach. However, even for someone with a Grade B-minus Root Bone, it would take at least three months of painstaking, gradual effort after reaching Great Success in the Bone-refining Stage to achieve this step. Relying on his foundation of Elephant Bone Perfection, his Grade B-plus Root Bone that exceeded 100 points, and the endless medicinal efficacy of the Bone Strengthening Pills, Chen Yuan had forcefully shortened this process to a mere month and a half.
But it was not over yet.
Just like during his Copper Skin Bone-refining, the moment he mastered the Iron Bones was also the moment to break through the Muscle-refining Stage. Xu Heng had stepped into the Muscle-refining Stage about a month ago, and now, he was closely following suit. If one were to scrutinize the process from Bone-refining Great Success to Iron Bones, Chen Yuan’s foundation of Elephant Bone Perfection actually made him slightly faster than Xu Heng!
Chen Yuan had officially begun his pursuit, and the gap between them was shrinking.
He took out two porcelain bottles from his robes. One contained Blood Replenishing Pills—crimson, slightly warm to the touch, and exuding a rich fragrance. The other contained Muscle-Building Pills—pale gold, just as expensive as the Strong Sinew Pill at five taels of silver each, and serving as the fundamental resource for cultivating in the Muscle-refining Stage.
Attacking the Muscle-refining Stage was different from attacking the Bone-refining Stage. The foundation of the latter lay in the skeleton; as long as the bones were hard enough and one’s blood and qi were sufficient, it could be forced open with brute strength. The Muscle-refining Stage, however, required unblocking the muscle meridians throughout the entire body, allowing blood and qi to seep into every single fiber.
There were two strict requirements for this bottleneck. First, the skeleton had to be resilient enough to withstand the recoil generated by the violent surging of blood and qi. Possessing the Iron Elephant Bone, he had more than enough to meet this condition. Second, one’s blood and qi had to be exceptionally vigorous, capable of rapidly nourishing the damaged muscle meridians after breaking through the barrier.
Having just broken through to Iron Bones, his blood and qi were at their absolute peak, and he also had the Blood Replenishing Pills to assist him.
As the Blood Replenishing Pill entered his mouth, a warm medicinal efficacy dissolved in his stomach. The Muscle-Building Pill followed immediately. The moment it slid down his throat, a medicinal efficacy so scorching it bordered on agonizing erupted from his stomach, violently flooding into his limbs and bones through his meridians. Chen Yuan took a deep breath. Closing his eyes to focus, he guided this medicinal efficacy to converge with the blood and qi in his body, slowly letting it seep deep into his muscles.
At first, it was pleasantly warm. The blood and qi, wrapping around the medicinal efficacy, coated the muscle fibers like a layer of warm oil. It penetrated the fascia, seeping inward through the microscopic gaps between the muscle textures.
Then, it began to heat up. It felt as if a fire had been ignited deep within his muscles. Every single muscle fiber was stretched, torn, and stretched again by this searing heat.
It was a dense, multi-layered infiltration. The blood and qi had to permeate the very tips of every muscle fiber, forcefully propping open all those microscopic, previously blocked meridians one by one.
Fine beads of sweat broke out on Chen Yuan’s forehead. They slid down the bridge of his nose and dripped onto the bluestone floor, instantly vaporized into wisps of white steam by the ground’s coolness. Still, his breathing remained even and drawn out, his Rocky Pile Skill stance unwavering.
His copper skin on the outside firmly locked the medicinal efficacy within his body, while his iron bones on the inside steadily supported his entire frame like an iron pagoda. The physical strength granted by his Elephant Bone Perfection acted like a dormant giant elephant, relentlessly crushing and driving the blood, qi, and medicinal efficacy deep into his muscles.
He didn’t know how long had passed. Perhaps fifteen minutes, perhaps two hours.
The scorching medicinal efficacy finally permeated the deepest depths of his muscle meridians, completely merging with his blood and qi. Chen Yuan suddenly felt his entire body lighten. It wasn’t a loss of strength, but the weightless sensation of unloading heavy shackles.
He looked down and saw the muscles on his forearms subtly undulating beneath his skin. It was a living, unrestrained rhythm, as if every single bundle of muscle had developed an independent breath of its own.