Chapter 323: 25: Climbing the 79 Steps Again
Chapter 323: Chapter 25: Climbing the 79 Steps Again
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You should know.
Ever since he cultivated the Overlord Divine Physique…
Lin Jing’s body had become so tough that even his own Flawless Sword could only leave a light scratch on it.
With the sixth layer of the Seven Refinement Body Forging Technique, coupled with the augmentation of the Overlord Divine Physique equivalent to the latter stages of the Foundation Establishment…
Lin Jing’s body had reached a terrifying level of strength.
In the past year and a half, Lin Jing had not ceased cultivating, and the cultivation he gained was all condensed within his acupoints, serving as nourishment for the Overlord Divine Physique.
The Overlord Divine Physique did not disappoint.
With its enhancement, Lin Jing’s physical strength had climbed more than just one step.
Especially now that the Overlord Divine Physique had reached the ninth layer of Foundation Establishment, which was equivalent to…
Lin Jing was not only a Cultivator at the peak of the Foundation Establishment Stage in terms of conventional spells but also a Body Refinement Cultivator at the ninth layer of Foundation Establishment.
Body Refinement Cultivators primarily focus on tempering their bodies, their ultimate pursuit being the philosophy of “a single strength breaks all spells.”
This differs from spell Cultivators.
Combining the two, Lin Jing could now face Golden Core Cultivators without fear when fighting his enemies.
However, what Lin Jing faced now was the Trial Grounds.
These Trial Grounds were undoubtedly exaggerated.
If one didn’t possess a physique and a Divine Sense that were far stronger than those of the current stage, it would be nearly impossible to pass through the Trial Grounds.
Lin Jing’s body was already as strong as that of a Golden Core Cultivator.
But that wasn’t enough.
Hence, Lin Jing had to elevate his Overlord Divine Physique to the peak of the Foundation Establishment Stage.
Fortunately, his cultivation had once again reached full capacity.
If Lin Jing didn’t break through now, he might attract the Heavenly Tribulation.
At that moment, Lin Jing was still sitting cross-legged on the ground in the Alchemy Room within the System Space.
All 108 acupoints throughout his body were radiating light, shining through his body.
From the outside, these acupoints looked like small whirlpools, frantically absorbing the Spiritual Power cultivated by Lin Jing into their vortexes.
After these small whirlpools had absorbed the Spiritual Power, they acted like greedy infants suckling their mother’s milk, still not satisfied.
Instead, they emitted brighter lights and absorbed the Spiritual Power Lin Jing had cultivated with even greater frenzy.
As time passed bit by bit, Lin Jing could feel the acupoints filling with more and more Spiritual Power, while the Spiritual Power he had been cultivating was getting less and less.
Finally…
Just before Lin Jing’s Spiritual Power ran dry, the acupoints were finally completely filled with it.
That’s just how the Overlord Divine Physique is—initially, filling the acupoints didn’t require much Spiritual Power.
However, as the Body Refinement cultivation improved, the more advanced it became, the more Spiritual Power needed to fill the acupoints.
Like now, if Lin Jing wanted to advance from the ninth layer of Foundation Establishment to its peak…
It was as if he had to cultivate from the ninth layer all over again.
Only by infusing so much Spiritual Power could he elevate his realm of cultivation.
After the acupoints were filled, there was another step to go.
That was to temper the Spiritual Power within the acupoints and then reforge his body with the Overlord Divine Physique using that power.
Once the tempering was done, Lin Jing’s body would grow even stronger, reaching the peak of Foundation Establishment.
And this step was extremely time-consuming.
Therefore…
After filling his acupoints, Lin Jing did not get up but immediately began the tempering process.
……
Three days later…
As a burst of black light exploded from his body, Lin Jing finally brought his Overlord Divine Physique to the pinnacle of Foundation Establishment.
At this moment, aside from Lin Jing’s body becoming more robust than before due to the practice of the Seven Refinement Body Forging Technique…
A layer of black light that shone through his body continued to glint around him.
This layer of black light, a result of cultivating the Overlord Divine Physique, meant that now even the spells of Foundation Establishment stage couldn’t do real harm to Lin Jing; they were like tickling.
Even facing the formidable spells of a Golden Core Cultivator, this black light could withstand part of the damage, wearing away some of the spell’s power to prevent Lin Jing from being severely injured.
Beyond this layer of black light, the toughness and explosive power of Lin Jing’s body had also substantially improved.
Now Lin Jing, even without using spells and relying solely on his body, could match other Cultivators at the peak of Foundation Establishment.
Afterwards, Lin Jing stood up, clenched his fist, and immediately felt a vast power surge toward his arm.
He swung out his fist as fast as lightning.
And then, with a “snap,” a loud explosive sound erupted, followed by a ripple of air that spread quickly.
The speed of Lin Jing’s punch had already surpassed the speed of sound, and that was merely the power of his physique.
In fact, this wasn’t even Lin Jing’s limit.
If he were to gather Spiritual Power, with its enhancement, Lin Jing could become even stronger.
Today, another leap forward filled Lin Jing with confidence.
He planned to take another run at the Trial Grounds as soon as they reopened.
This time, he was determined to firmly stand on the eightieth step…
……
Soon, time flowed like water, slipping rapidly away.
Another full moon night had come.
And Lin Jing had already been waiting by the water’s edge for a long time.
At that moment, Lin Jing’s condition had been adjusted to its best, ready for the moment the Trial Grounds would open for him to enter directly.
As time slowly passed, the full moon also gradually rose high in the sky.
And when the moon reached its zenith directly overhead, its reflection also appeared in the pond.
Just then…
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A reflection like water appeared above the pool, just like the reflection of the pool itself.
Lin Jing then stood up, looked at the water curtain reflection above, and with a leap, he entered into the reflection.
Stepping through the water curtain reflection, Lin Jing found himself directly in the midst of the desert’s howling winds.
Before.
The sand grains that once could scratch Lin Jing’s skin, now, blowing against him, couldn’t even tickle.
This showed just how strong Lin Jing’s physical body had become.
Upon entering, Lin Jing looked around before heading straight in the direction of the Trial Grounds.
……
Just two quarters of an hour later, Lin Jing arrived beside the dilapidated stone stele.
Lin Jing’s speed was much faster than before.
Moreover, after his physical strength increased, traveling through the sandy areas no longer caused him any deterioration.
At this moment, Lin Jing was still in peak condition.
Turning around, he approached the staircase. Lin Jing looked up at the eightieth and the eighty-first steps, his eyes filled with determination.
This time, Lin Jing was resolved to reach beyond the eightieth step— he even wanted to attempt the eighty-first.
Then, Lin Jing stepped forward and began to climb the first step.
The pressure from the first step was nearly zero to Lin Jing at this state.
Without stopping, he climbed up one step at a time…
After so many trials, Lin Jing knew the pressure on every step like the back of his hand.
It was not until crossing the fifty-fourth step that Lin Jing’s speed finally slowed.
However, he did not pause.
In less than a quarter of an hour, Lin Jing reached the sixty-fourth step.
On the sixty-fourth step, Lin Jing took a short break to adjust his condition before stepping onto the sixty-fifth.
The pressure of the sixty-fifth step could already have a significant impact on Lin Jing.
Yet, this impact was still far from reaching Lin Jing’s limit of endurance.
After that, he paused on each step.
Allowing his body and Divine Sense to adapt before continuing the climb.
In this way, it took Lin Jing over an hour to reach the seventy-third step.
Starting here, it became more challenging, and Lin Jing needed much longer to adapt than before.
Still, even though he reached as high as the seventy-third step, Lin Jing did not activate the boosting feature.
With persistent tempering over this time, the strength of Lin Jing’s Divine Sense was incomparably stronger than before.
This was his greatest gain over the past two years.
Then, from the seventy-third to the seventy-eighth step, it took Lin Jing three days to ascend.
During this period, he entered the System Space several times for recovery.
It was fortunate that he had the System Space to catch his breath.
In this place devoid of Spiritual Power, even if one exhausted their power, there was no way to replenish it. Lin Jing wondered how others managed to climb up here.
From the information left by the Lin Family Ancestor, Lin Jing knew that the highest the ancestor had ever reached was this seventy-eighth step.
He had never managed to climb any higher.
Without the System Space, Lin Jing feared he might not have been able to reach the seventy-eighth step.
At the seventy-eighth step, Lin Jing sat down cross-legged.
He needed to stay here for quite some time—last time, Lin Jing had stayed for nearly half a month.
This time, it seemed he might need less time than before.
Subsequently, Lin Jing began to cultivate, circulating his Cultivation Technique on the seventy-eighth step.
……
Seven days later.
Lin Jing, who had fully adapted to the seventy-eighth step, stood up.
After stretching his body, he stepped towards the seventy-ninth step.
As soon as Lin Jing’s foot touched the seventy-ninth step, the fierce repulsive force came at him, attempting to topple him off.
But Lin Jing was prepared.
He forcefully anchored his foot onto the seventy-ninth step.
Then, lifting his other foot, he stepped up as well…
Once Lin Jing firmly stood on the seventy-ninth step, the repulsive force disappeared.
Instead, he faced the terrifying oppressive force and the vast pressure of the Divine Sense.
Under such oppression, Lin Jing clenched his teeth and desperately held on.
The pressure of the Divine Sense was far stronger than on the seventy-eight step.
Even though he had been more than capable on the seventy-eighth step,
Here, the fierce Divine Sense pressure nearly caused him to lose his composure and cry out in pain.
However, even so, Lin Jing still did not use the boost feature.
If he used it now, the ascent to the eightieth step would become much more difficult.
Thus, Lin Jing needed to use the pressure of the Divine Sense here to temper his own Divine Sense.
To make it stronger, so that when attempting to climb the eightieth step, he wouldn’t fail outright.
Compared to the fierce pressure of the Divine Sense, the physical strain seemed much easier.
Perhaps,
it was because Lin Jing had cultivated the Overlord Divine Physique to the pinnacle of Foundation Establishment stage, Lin Jing’s body felt relatively at ease on this seventy-ninth step.
After stabilizing on the seventy-ninth step, Lin Jing then sat down cross-legged and started to temper his body and Divine Sense using the oppressive force and Divine Sense pressure.