Chapter 173
Chapter 173: Body Tempering
Chu Yao had once said: the living train strength, the dead train qi. Cultivating strength and qi at the same time yielded poor results.
Perhaps those who never cultivated qi had found the correct path.
As for himself, first, he cultivated lock force without limits, and second, he simultaneously trained strength and qi, which was far from ideal.
No matter how he looked at it, his future did not seem bright.
Wang Jie let out a sigh, his gaze falling upon the star disk. Hmm? A wandering star realm qi was steadily approaching. He stared closely, watching as the qi finally halted near his store, not far away.
Recalling the surroundings, there were shops along this street selling wine, clothing, pills, and artifacts. That qi had stopped in an alley beside the clothing store.
It was some distance from him—could it be watching him?
He glanced out the shop window, spotting a familiar figure standing in the distant alley—Gao Chi. That wandering star realm cultivator had always wanted gravity starstones, and was also the one artifact forging dao had sent to deal with him. [So it’s him.] Gao Chi appearing here definitely meant he was watching Wang Jie closely.
Had artifact forging dao still not given up?
At that same moment, as Wang Jie infused a great amount of qi into his star disk, another identical star disk trembled far away across the stars.
“Hmm? Someone’s using it?”
A figure lifted the star disk, instantly pouring an overwhelming qi into it. The star map within shrank infinitely, finally locking onto a single location.
“The Four Path star cluster?”
Putting away the star disk, the figure stepped through the stars, instantly vanishing.
At Four Path marketplace, Gao Chi stopped moving. He chose a nearby tavern and settled in to observe Wang Jie’s shop.
Wang Jie had no idea what Gao Chi planned, but he was growing annoyed. Still, he couldn’t resolve it here, especially without knowing the man’s true strength.
A wandering star realm cultivator’s combat strength began at a hundred thousand, reaching nearly five hundred thousand at its peak.
The gap was considerable.
The strongest wandering star realm he had encountered before was Wu Yun, whose strength barely reached around one hundred seventy or one hundred eighty thousand—not more than two hundred thousand.
But this Gao Chi—he wasn’t certain.
Gao Chi cultivated strange star force as well. By logic, Wu Yun was a deacon, certainly stronger than Gao Chi, but any miscalculation meant trouble for him.
He calculated silently. It would still be two months before he could sell the explosive star pills to Du Xian.
He would use this time to continue training.
After reaching star breaking realm, each training session increased his strength. His power, as it had been in the ten-seal realm, steadily rose. What he lacked was time. If he reached the maximum strength of the star breaking realm, his combat power could rival a peak wandering star realm cultivator.
But that required consistent training.
As for now—the thunder sealing pills.
He sat cross-legged, setting out an entire bottle of thunder sealing pills beside him. Taking one out, he crushed it.
A fierce heaven thunder immediately surged through his body. Wang Jie felt a numbness overtake him, his head growing fuzzy. He sensed scorching heat flickering and flowing across his skin. After a while, the sensation faded.
He glanced downward, noticing his clothes had shredded.
His skin was charred black—was this what being struck by lightning felt like?
After recovering, he continued.
Another thunder sealing pill was crushed, the sensation repeating itself.
He crushed pill after pill, repeatedly feeling lightning’s wrath. His skin turned from pale to black, peeled away, and numbed again and again.
Through thunder tempering using thunder sealing pills, after consuming a hundred pills, thunder patterns formed upon the skin. These thunder patterns indicated the countless heavenly thunder strikes he’d endured. Once formed, a thunder pattern alone could withstand ten thousand points of damage.
It acted as a natural shield on his body.
Currently, his thunder pattern was scorched—a preliminary charred black.
If he endured a thousand pills’ thunder tempering, the thunder pattern would turn brown, able to resist fifty thousand points of damage. That was Wang Jie’s goal.
With the brown thunder pattern complete, he could possibly face Wu Yun directly. The thunder pattern alone could offset fifty thousand points of damage, and he himself could handle the rest.
Thunder sealing pills provided one of the quickest ways for cultivators to increase their power, but their cost-effectiveness was terrible.
One thousand thunder sealing pills cost a staggering one hundred twenty million starstones. Who could afford it? A hundred pills only offered ten thousand defensive points—spending tens of millions of starstones for such a minor increase was foolish. Better to buy a star artifact or other pills.
Thus, using thunder sealing pills for body tempering was most effective in great quantities.
Normally, one pill a day was the limit, but Wang Jie’s powerful physique—his hundredfold strength at ten seals—allowed him to take thirty pills daily.
Within three days, the scorched thunder pattern appeared clearly on his skin.
At first glance, it looked like deep cracks splitting his skin apart.
Touching it, he found his skin tougher than before. However, thunder patterns weren’t permanent. They would fade eventually, needing repeated thunder tempering sessions—a highly expensive method of training.
Yet it was a method capable of greatly enhancing his survivability in a short time.
Still, external methods had their limits.
In a tavern not far from the shop, Gao Chi continued to stare at Wang Jie’s store.
Ji Zheng had temporarily stopped targeting Wang Jie, but Gao Chi refused to quit. This man surely had plenty of gravity starstones, and he wanted them.
Fortune-telling, background—none of it mattered.
He’d reached this point already, so what was there left to fear?
A ray of sunlight touched Wang Jie’s skin. Looking down, he exhaled gently. The brown thunder pattern had formed at last. Now, this was something. With this pattern, facing Wu Yun would be much safer—even in a direct clash, he wouldn’t fear.
As for Qiu Chou, if they fought, that man couldn’t even break through his thunder pattern.
“Now, the eighth set…”
Wang Jie took out cataclysm materials, absorbing them while performing his exercises.
He needed more cataclysm materials. To reach full star realm, abundant materials were essential. Unfortunately, the quantity he required was absurdly large. He needed another way.
Relying solely on Lock Path interval wasn’t enough.
Since he was now at Zhi Academy, he couldn’t influence Lock Path interval directly.
Would Lock Path interval hand over materials to Zhi Qing, or keep them according to their rules?
Once he left, Zhi Qing had countless methods to handle Lock Path interval—especially with Wu Yun still there.
A month passed quickly.
Wang Jie emerged from his shop, heading to the Star Dome trading post.
Seeing him, Gao Chi’s eyes sharpened, but he didn’t move, quietly watching him walk away. He would wait. This man had changed.
Du Xian greeted Wang Jie personally every time he visited.
In the private room, Wang Jie asked curiously, “Did your people ever investigate me? Why no reaction at all?”
Du Xian smiled, “That I don’t know, but probably not. Otherwise, we’d have results already.”
Wang Jie placed bottles of explosive star pills on the table. “Have a look.”
Du Xian recognized the bottles immediately. Explosive star pills?
“Did customer really expect me to buy back these pills?” She remembered asking Wang Jie why he bought so many, and he’d casually replied he would sell them back to her. She’d been baffled. Why would she repurchase what she’d already sold?
“Open it,” Wang Jie said simply.
Du Xian opened one and gasped softly. Taking out a pill, she sniffed. “Bring me a whisper bird.”
Wang Jie sat calmly, pondering how to obtain more cataclysm materials.
Du Xian studied the pill closely—it had changed, radiating scorching heat, like flames. Explosive star pills shouldn’t have such an effect.
She examined another pill. It was strangely heavy—gravity?
Soon, a whisper bird confirmed her suspicion. She turned sharply to Wang Jie. “Customer, what happened?”
Wang Jie met her eyes. “Star refining pills—increasing them by one grade.”
Du Xian was astonished. “You can star refine pills?”
Wang Jie gestured to the pills without answering.
Du Xian’s gaze shifted between Wang Jie and the pills. Testing revealed the effects clearly improved. Her eyes sparkled with amazement. “Customer keeps surprising me. I never imagined you could even star refine pills.”
“Has no one else tried?”
“Of course, but whether they succeeded isn’t something I’d know,” she glanced at him thoughtfully, “Where are the fifth fragrance pills? Did they reach sixth fragrance?”
Wang Jie smiled calmly, “No.”
Du Xian hesitated. “Fifty million per pill. That’s my limit.”
Wang Jie sighed, “I want the money too, but none means none.”
Finally accepting, Du Xian bought the available pills, allowing Wang Jie to swiftly regain his investment.
With starstones in hand, Wang Jie immediately returned to the market.
It was time to stock up on thunder sealing pills—Star Dome had them too.