Chapter 052: Seventh Level of Body Refinement

Centered around the one-eyed Cao, blood flowed everywhere, staining the ground red. All around him, the outer disciples lay collapsed, blood streaming from their ears and noses, rendered unconscious. Within a mile radius, most of the birds and beasts had been killed outright by the shock.

After unleashing that earth-shattering strike, the one-eyed Cao picked up his curved blade and began slaughtering the disciples one by one.

The only one barely managing to remain conscious was Nie Han of the Falling Star Sword Sect. Yet, having endured at least half the force of the Blood Essence Forbidden Wave, he now lay far off, completely immobilized.

With a sickening squelch, another unconscious disciple was stabbed and slain by the one-eyed Cao.

His cold and savage gaze occasionally swept over to the ashen-faced Nie Han, as if savoring his struggle in the face of impending death.

Yet the one-eyed Cao was entirely unaware that, amidst the many unconscious disciples, there was another exception!

At that critical instant, Xu Xuan felt as if his entire being—his blood and meridians—were about to rupture. Blood spurted from his ears and nose, and he lost all consciousness.

But his mind had entered the sea of memories.

“What happened? What secret technique did that Cao use? I blacked out instantly,” Xu Xuan, his heart pounding with dread and confusion, looked toward the remnant soul of his past life in the region of shining stars.

“That was the martial forbidden art, the Blood Essence Forbidden Wave. If you don’t wake up soon, you’ll be nothing but a corpse,” the remnant soul of his previous life said abruptly, his tone laced with urgency.

Xu Xuan’s heart jolted. He exclaimed, “Quick, do something—wake me up!”

“There is a price to pay, but if you die, we’ll be forced into the next cycle of reincarnation…” Without hesitation, the remnant soul, hovering in midair, suddenly radiated a transparent, ethereal light, following an arcane pulse as it enveloped Xu Xuan.

In the next moment, Xu Xuan’s consciousness returned to his body, but he was met with excruciating pain so intense he almost passed out again.

He gritted his teeth, suppressing the urge to cry out, when suddenly he heard the shriek of another disciple being slain by the one-eyed Cao, just beside him.

Tap, tap… tap, tap…

Clear footsteps echoed from only a few meters away, sounding like the summons of death itself.

Xu Xuan’s mind became razor-sharp; a chilling cold crept over his skin. The agony wracking his body was almost too much to bear.

He closed his eyes, breathing minutely, clearing his mind of all distractions, entering the profound serenity of the Silent Formula at its peak.

In an instant, the pain could no longer cloud his mind; all emotion was cast aside, his heart as cold and mechanical as a machine.

His blood flowed steadily through his body, coursing through every limb and bone. Xu Xuan found that the power of the Blood Essence Forbidden Wave had left his meridians and bones aching.

Fortunately, his body was exceptionally resilient, and the injuries were not severe. As he began to practice the Breathing Formula, he was surprised to discover that the residual force of the forbidden wave had actually stimulated his body, causing his blood and energy to strengthen, his meridians faintly expanding.

“Who’s there!”

The one-eyed Cao suddenly sensed something, turning toward Xu Xuan’s location. Xu Xuan’s breathing, as he awakened and began the Breathing Formula, had evidently alerted him.

Quickly, Cao’s single bloodshot eye fixed on Xu Xuan.

A wave of murderous intent and the chill of death enveloped him. Even gravely injured and depleted, the aura Cao exuded was enough to paralyze an ordinary man.

Xu Xuan opened his eyes. His gaze was devoid of emotion, his face blank, his body motionless.

At this critical moment, he suppressed his presence to the utmost, feigning utter weakness, at least convincing Cao that he had little strength left.

“It’s you?” The one-eyed Cao’s eyes blazed with even more murderous malice; clearly, he remembered Xu Xuan. The earlier carnage Xu Xuan had wrought upon the Blood Spirit Bandits must have seeded a bitter grudge.

Now, they were even closer.

“I’ll tear you to pieces… and avenge my fallen brothers.”

The chilling voice and approaching footsteps drew nearer to Xu Xuan.

From a distance, Nie Han’s eyes remained cold, his body wracked with pain, unable to move, barely able to watch as events unfolded. When he saw a mere body cultivator awaken early, a flicker of surprise crossed his expression. He watched in secret.

At last, after a span that seemed an eternity, the one-eyed Cao’s menacing face loomed over Xu Xuan.

The curved blade lifted slowly—he intended to hack this man to pieces.

The threat of death loomed ever larger in Xu Xuan’s heart, yet his face betrayed not a single ripple of emotion, as if dazed.

With a hiss, the blade stabbed down, aiming straight for Xu Xuan’s groin. The one-eyed Cao’s face contorted with ferocity.

Had that blade landed, Xu Xuan’s life would have been ruined forever.

At the very brink of disaster,

Xu Xuan sprang up like a wildcat, narrowly dodging the fatal blow.

Clang!

The blade plunged into the rock, sinking a foot deep, sparks flying in all directions—a breathtaking sight!

What!

Missing his mark, the one-eyed Cao was stunned; he had never imagined that this body cultivator still had the strength to move.

But in truth, Xu Xuan had far more than just that.

In the instant he leapt, twisting in midair, his body closed in on the one-eyed Cao.

His cold, lifeless eyes flashed with a murderous gleam.

Smack!

Spinning as he moved, Xu Xuan channeled all his internal force and blood into one palm, crackling with a purple-red aura like lightning, and struck fiercely at the one-eyed Cao’s neck.

Even from over a dozen meters away, Nie Han’s eyes sparkled, nearly crying out—if only he had the strength.

The one-eyed Cao was horrified; it all happened too quickly for him to react.

Xu Xuan’s timing, speed, and that final spinning strike were nothing short of perfection—an impeccable counterattack, almost impossible to evade.

Smack!

His palm struck with deadly force, the energy of the Poison Formula seeping into the one-eyed Cao’s body.

Cao gave a muffled grunt, his body staggering back several paces, blood-red light rippling over him, his face stricken with terror.

Bang!

Xu Xuan felt an astonishingly tyrannical force rebound through him, sending him flying seven or eight meters.

The true power of a martial cultivator dwarfed the internal strength of a body cultivator by orders of magnitude—though the one-eyed Cao was badly wounded, his strength was still formidable.

Seeing this, Nie Han, lying on the ground, showed a trace of regret in his gaze.

Xu Xuan’s attack, though sharp and precise, was ultimately limited by his cultivation; he had not yet reached the level of a qi-refining immortal.

Even the backlash alone sent him flying several meters—though, to his credit, he used the force to buffer himself, flipping in the air, kicking off the stone wall.

The martial cultivator’s force surged within him, nearly lethal, his blood and inner energy churning violently.

With each step, he left a half-inch-deep footprint in the rock wall.

After three steps, his blood and inner energy surged to the limit, his meridians on the verge of rupture—a perilous state.

On the other side, the one-eyed Cao, after being driven back, suddenly sensed a strange energy invading his body, his true power able to block only part of it.

That strange energy was the force of the Poison Formula, infiltrating his meridians and acupoints, damaging vital areas, severing his life force—potentially lethal in an instant.

It was not, as outsiders might imagine, that Xu Xuan’s hands were coated with poison.

Immediately, a bluish-purple hue spread across Cao’s skin—a result of the Poison Formula striking his meridians and vital points, blocking blood and life force.

For an ordinary man, this would have been fatal.

But the one-eyed Cao was a powerful martial cultivator, a dominant figure in the region. His true power surged, flushing out the poison from his vital points and meridians.

Nevertheless, his face grew even paler, his body swaying unsteadily.

Nie Han, watching from afar, was startled.

Meanwhile, Xu Xuan’s blood and inner energy were boiling over, threatening to tear him apart. If he could not resolve this force, he would be crippled, if not dead.

With his cultivation at the sixth level of body refinement, it was impossible to suppress such power outright. The force of a martial cultivator was on an entirely different level—his own father had once been crippled by a single blow from another martial cultivator, Dongfang Ba.

At last, after leaping six or seven times along the rock wall, the chaotic mix of blood, inner energy, and true power inside Xu Xuan surpassed what his body could withstand!

Blood seeped from his skin.

Yet in that life-and-death instant, his mind remained clear, and suddenly the final move of the Steel Formula—the one he’d tried countless times but never succeeded—surfaced in his thoughts.

With a fierce shout, Xu Xuan’s entire body shuddered, his energy exploding outward.

He stamped hard on the rock wall, his body launching like a cannonball, soaring more than twenty meters into the air, spinning rapidly.

In that instant, every pore on his body seemed to open, a faint blood-red light and surging inner energy wreathing his form.

He felt like a great bird, forgetting himself, the world, and everything within it—soaring freely through the sky.

“Inner energy manifesting outside the body… That’s the seventh level of body refinement!”

Nie Han, lying on the ground, cried out in shock—his face, for the first time, alight with hope and excitement, before he muttered, “No… this isn’t just inner energy manifesting. Crossing the void in mid-air? Could it be the legendary physical crossing of the Heavenly Void?”

With another mighty shout, Xu Xuan felt his blood and inner energy burst forth, entering a miraculous state he’d once experienced when plunging from a cliff.

This time, the sensation was even stronger, his energy, aided by the violent true power, breaking through a certain barrier.

“The seventh level of body refinement!”

In that flash, he felt a force of absolute strength and resilience flowing through him, invigorating his blood.

“How can this be… Is this the legendary physical crossing?”

The one-eyed Cao shuddered, momentarily losing all composure.