Chapter Eighty-Eight: Tempering

The contents recorded on the jade slip were vast and all-encompassing, yet everything was only touched upon in fragments. Thus, Ling Tian knew only that the Fires of Heaven and Earth could temper the meridians and the flesh, but he did not know the exact method. Fortunately, the Chaos Art also contained records on tempering the body. Perhaps it was worth trying.

Now a difficult choice stood before him. Tempering the body would lay the foundation for future cultivation; with sufficient spiritual energy, his progress would surely be astonishing. But Ling Tian understood only the barest outline of the process, so he would have to take a risk and test it for himself. If the tempering failed, his already shattered meridians would suffer another devastating blow.

It would not damage his foundation, but it would worsen his injuries. Combined with his internal wounds, which had not yet healed, he would need even more time to recover. Especially now, with powerful enemies all around, Ling Tian dared not be careless. Yet he was equally unwilling to let such a rare opportunity slip away.

“I’ll do it. Even if I don’t temper my body, recovery will still take a very long time anyway.”

He made his decision with complete resolve.

Ling Tian summoned the Fire of Heaven and Earth he had refined. What had once been a formidable blaze was now only a tiny flame, flickering with a crimson glow. “At this level, it is suitable for tempering the body,” he murmured. Once such a flame was refined, it became bound to its master by blood, and its strength depended entirely on the cultivator’s own power.

At present, Ling Tian was only at the middle stage of Qi Refining, unable to draw out the flame’s true might. But for tempering the flesh, it was enough.

Controlling the Fire of Heaven and Earth required spiritual sense. Fortunately, though most of his meridians had been broken, his spiritual sense had suffered no harm. It could not only mobilize a small amount of true qi, but also command the heavenly flame.

Under the guidance of his spiritual sense, the flame transformed into a fire dragon that circled around him. Thread by thread, exceedingly fine strands of flame peeled away from the dragon and landed upon his body. Under such searing heat, his clothes had long since turned to ash, revealing a lean, powerful frame.

Ling Tian withdrew the true qi protecting his body. As the flames landed on his skin, they gave off the sizzling sound of roasting meat, and the air even filled with a rich, savory fragrance. At the same time, a pain like knives piercing his heart tore through him, yet he clenched his teeth and endured, doing his utmost to control both the speed and amount at which the flames separated.

After an hour of testing, his body had begun to adapt to the fire’s power. Only then did he begin to increase both the quantity of flame and its heat.

The Spirit-Gathering Array continuously drew in spiritual energy, which Ling Tian absorbed, transformed into true qi, and then used to support the regeneration of his flesh. With his current strength, he could only mend superficial injuries, so he controlled the flames with extreme care, trying not to inflict any grave damage on himself.

Two hours passed. His body had adapted to one-tenth of the flame’s power. After spending another hour consolidating his condition, he gradually raised the fire’s strength to two-tenths... three-tenths... four-tenths...

Twelve hours later, his body had completely adapted to the full power of the flames. Next, Ling Tian guided the Fire of Heaven and Earth into his meridians. Releasing only a minute amount of flame with painstaking caution, he began tempering them. Compared to the flesh, the meridians proved far more resilient...

When the tempering of his meridians was finally complete, Ling Tian slowly opened his eyes. A sharp gleam flashed through them before fading back to normal.

This time, disaster had turned into blessing. Risking his life, he had refined the Fire of Heaven and Earth; risking severe injury, he had tempered both flesh and meridians. Even the wounds he had suffered before were now fully healed.

His only regret was that his strength itself had not increased. Yet his meridians had become broader and far tougher, capable of bearing much more true qi. This laid the cornerstone for all his future cultivation.

The process had been long and fraught with danger. The slightest mistake could have brought everything to ruin.

Once the tempering was over, Ling Tian let out a long, heavy breath and sprawled lazily upon the ground, resting for about an hour.

“The Fire of Heaven and Earth truly is a marvelous thing.”

Stretching, he rose to loosen his limbs. Only then did he realize that his clothes had long since burned away into ash.

After returning to his room and changing into a fresh set of clothes, he strode back into the courtyard looking utterly refreshed. There he discovered that within a radius of about three meters around the Spirit-Gathering Array, all the weeds had been burned to cinders, and the ground itself had become scorched and blackened. Ling Tian could not help drawing in a sharp breath. The Fire of Heaven and Earth was still in its original state, yet it already possessed such destructive force.

Though, to be fair, this was the result of flames being released continuously for three days and three nights.

Even so, it still proved just how terrifyingly powerful the heavenly flame was.

Ling Tian extended his index finger. At a single thought, a tuft of crimson fire sprang dancing above it, flickering lightly.

“Though it isn’t especially powerful yet, in the future I won’t need a lighter when I want a smoke.”

He laughed at himself.

At this moment, his strength had recovered to the middle stage of Qi Refining. Power surged through every inch of his body. Ling Tian was confident that even if his opponent were an expert at the late stage of Qi Refining, he could fight three hundred rounds without falling behind.

It could be said that at his current level, he was invincible among his peers.

“The Li family? So they actually have someone capable of neutralizing the hidden force I left inside Li Wenhao. It seems the great clans of Yunhai City do possess some depth after all. But they had better pray they do not provoke me again.”

Now that his injuries were healed and his strength restored, Ling Tian finally possessed the power to contend openly with the Four Great Families.

If the Four Great Families did not come looking for trouble, he could not be bothered with them. What mattered most to him now was helping Allure Group grow stronger, while gathering cultivation resources for himself. But if those great families were blind enough to come knocking at his door, Ling Tian would not mind letting them have a taste of the Fire of Heaven and Earth.

“Boss, are you in there?”

From outside the main gate came Zhang Ding’s anxious shout. If Ling Tian had not laid down a strict order before, forbidding Zhang Ding from entering without permission, the worried man would probably have already broken the door down.

When the gate finally opened, Zhang Ding—his face full of anxiety, dark circles hanging under both eyes—saw that Ling Tian was safe and sound. At once, he let out a long sigh of relief.

“Boss, you nearly scared me to death. I’ve been knocking on your door for three straight days. I thought something had happened to you.”

“It’s nothing. I was just resting a little,” Ling Tian said blandly.

Zhang Ding glanced into the courtyard and noticed the scorched marks in the middle. He immediately said, “Boss, that’s not very decent of you.”

“Not very decent?” Ling Tian asked, puzzled. “What do you mean?”

Zhang Ding replied bitterly, “On the first day, I smelled roasted meat. I was wondering about it then, but now I get it. So you were barbecuing in the courtyard and didn’t even call me in to eat with you. By the way, what kind of meat were you roasting? It smelled amazing.”

Looking at Zhang Ding’s curious expression, black lines practically appeared across Ling Tian’s forehead.

Inside, he cursed silently: It was my own flesh I was roasting.