Chapter 385: Second Stage of Physique Refinement, the Battle of the Two Sects’ True Inheritors (I)

Though some might have called it dull, Luo Chen found immense satisfaction in this kind of life.

There were no fierce battles or deadly schemes. Just the quiet thrill of watching numbers rise on his status panel and the steady evolution of his strength.

Half a month passed in this peaceful rhythm.

That afternoon, Luo Chen was in the middle of refining Spirit Passage pills, grinding away as usual. Suddenly, his body trembled.

His focus slipped for a split second, and the ten batches of materials inside the Ice Emperor Cauldron burned to waste. A full hundred and fifty low-grade spirit stones gone up in smoke!

In the past, Luo Chen would have felt a sharp pain in his heart. The Spirit Passage pill was known for its miraculous effects, but Luo Chen had an incomplete formula that made it three times harder and more expensive to refine than either the Myriad Wonders or Jade Essence pills. Wasting ten batches at once was no small loss.

But recently, Luo Chen had been grinding like crazy, and by this point, he’d piled up nearly a hundred low-grade Spirit Passage pills.

After that relentless effort, he had finally reached to the Proficient level. His success rate had risen to thirty percent, and even the pill quality had reached the middle grade.

Today, he had planned to test whether a mid-grade version would still work on him. Sadly, this mishap happened, but he didn’t feel too upset; if anything, his eyes were filled with a look of excitement.

"Little Ling, help me clean up the Ice Emperor Cauldron. I’m going into seclusion for a while," he called out.

"Yes, Master," Bai Meiling responded. She had been seated outside the alchemy room with a scroll open on her lap, quietly studying the Soul-Gathering Banner.

Upon giving a response, she watched Luo Chen rushed off toward the meditation chamber.

No sooner had Luo Chen entered that he came running back out, heading straight outside.

Hmm?

Bai Meiling tilted her little head.

Didn't Master say he was going into seclusion?

***

“The cave residence is too small!” Luo Chen complained.

It was a strange complaint, especially when uttered within one of Tianlan Immortal City’s second-tier, top-grade cave residences. Meticulously planned, elegantly constructed, and expansive in scale, it could easily fit even the enormous Ice Emperor Cauldron, which stood two zhang tall. Any ordinary cultivator would have called it spacious beyond compare.

Yet for Luo Chen, it now felt cramped.

High atop a broad mountaintop clearing, Luo Chen stood alone in the open, eyes wide and gleaming with spirit light. He fully activated his Spirit Eyes, inspecting every inch of his body.

His body gleamed like polished bronze, his muscles were as tough as fine steel, and his skin had taken on the resilience of a demonic bull's hide. Supporting that reinforced layer of flesh were translucent White Jade bones.

At that moment, all these elements seemed to merge. Within his five organs, a vigorous vitality radiated outward.

A single thought triggered a quake within his body.

A robust wave of energy slowly emerged. A pillar of blood qi smoke soared skyward from his spine. As it ascended, it gradually thinned out.

A powerful force arose naturally as he clenched his fists.

Unlike spirit power, often elusive and intangible, this was real, grounded strength. Luo Chen could feel it coil within his muscles and gather in his bones. He felt as if his punch could shatter a mountain.

“So this is the second stage of Physique Refinement” he murmured.

Luo Chen closed his eyes, feeling the rapid changes happening inside his body. After so many years, with a massive influx of resources, even without deliberately practicing Physique Refinement, he had finally reached this stage.

“Let me see just how strong pure physical power can be!” Luo Chen’s eyes snapped open.

The next moment, he stepped forward and walked straight into the sky. He didn’t use any spirit power or Wind-Control and relied solely on his formidable physical body and the blood qi to envelop him.

The first step was three zhang!

He paused, then activated the blood qi using a set of Rising Dragon Steps from the

Wang Secret Manual

.

The second step was nine zhang!

Though slightly shorter in range than his movement during the battle at Xiaohuan Mountain with Wang Yuan, the force behind it was unmistakable.

Step by step, Luo Chen continued advancing through the air. With each movement, he refined his control, grasping subtle changes in force.

“An explosive burst of strength,” he muttered to himself. “Within short distances... It's almost unstoppable.”

But even as the excitement rose in his chest, his brow furrowed slightly.

Still, using blood qi like this drains it too fast. There’s an inevitable pause after each burst.

Luo Chen paused in the air, his powerful blood qi keep him aloft.

After some careful thought, Luo Chen understood the benefits and drawbacks of the second stage of Physique Refinement.

Its burst power was great, but it was still not as smooth as a Foundation Establishment cultivator’s spirit power. If a Foundation Establishment cultivator controlled the distance from the start, using a kiting strategy, the Physique Refinement cultivator would only end up taking a beating.

A hundred zhang is the best combat range for the second stage of Physique Refinement but what if I combine this with Perfected Mastery of Carefree Wind-Control?

Luo Chen immediately acted on the thought. He stepped forward and one step spanned nine zhang. When his blood qi waned, his spirit power flowed, and allowed him to soar like a giant roc.

He followed the pattern and practiced again and again. At first, he was a bit clumsy, but soon he became more proficient.

𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Whoosh!

His figure appeared before a cliff wall, and he struck out with his right palm from a distance.

Mountain Cleaving Monument Breaking Palm!

Boom!

A massive beam of spirit energy burst forth. It struck the cliff and blasted a hole over ten meters deep. Dust swirled up with a rustling sound.

Luo Chen pulled back and flew into the sky. He looked at his right hand, deep in thought.

The power was indeed fierce. If a Foundation Establishment Initiate takes this palm head-on, they won't be able to block it even with a top-grade defensive enchanted artifact. Only a supreme-grade defensive enchanted artifact can actually stop it. Even so, it's still too weak! The power is more or less equivalent to a strike from a supreme-grade flying sword wielded by a Foundation Establishment Initiate. Is the second stage of Physique Refinement really this weak?

No!

Luo Chen suddenly came to a realization. It wasn’t that the second stage of Physique Refinement was weak; it was that he didn’t have the right combat techniques to match. It was just like how a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator had spirit power hundreds or even thousands of times greater than a Qi Refinement Realm cultivator, yet still needed the right tools to fully unleash that strength. They required supreme-grade enchanted artifacts and second-tier spells.

The same applied here. Physique Refinement cultivators also needed combat techniques corresponding to each realm. In fact, because their power was rooted in their bodies, the requirements were even stricter.

When Wang Yuan first reached the second stage of Physique Refinement, he had frankly admitted he was no match for a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator.

Later, he had painstakingly developed a few minor techniques like Blood Serpent, Rising Dragon Step, and Giant Spirit Transformation. However, these techniques still couldn’t fully tap into the immense blood qi of a second stage Physique Refinement cultivator.

That was precisely why Wang Yuan had confronted Duan Qiankun with confidence yet had been soundly defeated. At the time, he had served only as a shield and a distraction, buying Luo Chen the critical opening for a decisive blow.

It wasn’t until much later, after leaving Dahe Market, that Wang Yuan began to integrate blood qi methods into his Physique Refinement path. From those efforts, he eventually developed a truly lethal technique, one capable of rivaling the might of a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

That technique was none other than the Divine Blood Tribulation Finger.

It was this very move that had allowed him to severely wound Huo Hu from a great distance when the man tried to flee. Divine Blood Tribulation Finger was a proper second-tier technique that utilized blood qi to its full potential.

In contrast, Luo Chen’s Mountain Cleaving Monument Breaking Palm, though practiced to the level of Perfected Mastery, remained fundamentally a mundane martial art. Even Wang Yuan, who had originally created the technique, no longer relied on it in combat.

And just moments earlier, Luo Chen's brief attempt at Rising Dragon Step had felt awkward and forced, clearly the result of unfamiliarity.

“Still lacking in suitable techniques, huh?” Luo Chen muttered to himself. “Should I start practicing some strength-based martial arts?”

But he shook his head right after.

“No. My cultivation path doesn’t focus on brute strength. Better not get distracted. What I should do is master the skills I already possess.”

Even if he didn’t immediately gain new techniques, simply reaching the second stage of Physique Refinement gave him a valuable trump card. Already, he could feel subtle transformations taking place throughout his body. Once everything had settled, the benefits to his cultivation could prove tremendous.

In an instant, Luo Chen cast aside those distracting thoughts. He hadn’t even reached Perfected Mastery in the Foundation Establishment Realm. How could he afford to let his focus waver now?

Just as Luo Chen was about to head back after finishing his experiments, a crisp clapping sound came from afar.

Luo Chen followed the sound and saw a man on a protruding platform along a cliff, watching him with an appreciative expression.

“Fellow Daoist, good technique!” the man called out.

Luo Chen paused for a moment, then let out a hearty laugh. “Fellow Daoist Chu, you flatter me. It was nothing but a Physique Refinement technique.”

As he spoke, the other man flew towards him. The moment he drew closer, Luo Chen’s spirit consciousness stirred.

Up until now, he had only known Chu Kui as an eighth stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. The man had always seemed friendly, so Luo Chen had never felt threatened. But now, with his own divine soul having reached a similar level, he could finally sense the terrifying spirit power concealed beneath Chu Kui’s calm facade.

So pure, so terrifying! His spirit power capacity is probably ten times greater than mine! So this is the power of a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator...

When the gap between realms was too vast, the weaker party often couldn’t truly sense the stronger one’s might.

Now that Luo Chen’s divine soul had reached a comparable stage, he could finally perceive it. It also made him realize the massive gap between the early and late stages of Foundation Establishment.

Forget about challenging someone across realms or battling a Golden Core Adept; even just within the Foundation Establishment Realm, an early stage cultivator had no hope of defeating someone at the late stage.

Such was the truth of the cultivation world!