Taking in a deep breath, Cha Ming summoned the Clear Sky Brush and began painting the next sigil in succession for the Seventy-Two Transformations Technique: the gold sigil. He started at the end of the character as always, this time starting with the elementary shape of a blade. He painted these blades together in a crystalline fashion and with practiced ease. After all, his soul was much stronger than it had been when he painted the first three. In addition, he'd practiced 10,000 sigils during the third trial. Although he was hardly proficient in painting complete sigils, he was experienced in painting parts of them.

The crystals formed with blades were clustered around a sharp main spike, just like he had done for the wood sigil and the groupings like trees. He carefully painted eleven other identical spikes before finishing by painting the gold (金) character as per his usual convention. It wasn't much different from the first three. While he could have painted a much more powerful gold character filled with myriad profound truths, he knew instinctively that balancing the five elements was paramount. Therefore, he could only draw up the simplest version possible.

The silver-gold character suddenly shimmered upon completion and shot itself into Cha Ming's chest, just like the last three. The energy from his surroundings surged into him, augmenting the element of metal in his body and strengthening it little by little. The sigil completed, he patiently waited for the strengthening process to take effect. Unlike before, he was barely phased by the pain that wracked his body. After all, he had been through too much over these past months, and his soul was far stronger than it used to be.

Days passed before the process was completed. A resounding crack ran through his body as he got up, wielding the power of half-step bone-forging realm. His physical strength had increased by a large amount. It was now on par with his defensive abilities at initial bone-forging realm. The metal had reinforced his tendons and muscles, transforming them into wires that could handle far more weight than they initially could.

Cha Ming didn't waste any time getting used to his new abilities, however. He immediately used another dose of liquified elemental essence to draw the water sigil. This time, he joined up several tiny droplets into groups, which were breaking off from the main droplet, which served as a stem of sorts. Then he painted eleven more of these and joined them with the final water (水) character.

His body was once more encapsulated in heaven and earth energy, which transformed him. Little by little, all the water in his body was being strengthened. His blood became more concentrated but somehow less viscous. It was an extremely mysterious process. Once the transformation finished progressing, he knew all his senses had increased by a step. His hearing, sense of smell, taste, sight, and sense of touch had sharpened. His control over these senses also increased. For example, he could now choose to reduce them significantly—but not eliminate them—at his leisure.

The strength of his body increased until it arrived at a bottleneck. The strength stored within his body surged, but it had nowhere to go. Unfortunately, he knew the method but not the theory behind pushing through to the next realm. And try as he might, he couldn't push the strength into his bones as was suggested by the description of the bone-forging realm. He could only passively wait and observe as the technique executed itself.

Days passed, and he still struggled at the bottleneck. His strength didn't budge an inch despite the flood of power summoned by the water sigil. Finally, the sigil dimmed and faded, blending with his skin just like the other four. The process was completed.

Just as he was about to get up, however, all five symbols began to glow at once. They were surrounded by a white circle that had not been there before. A large suction force emanated from the white circle, demanding sustenance from Heaven and Earth. It trickled in slowly, and to Cha Ming's surprise, the creation qi accumulated in his dantian migrated to the surface of his chest via an obscure route through his body. It didn't use his existing meridians; rather, it permeated through his cells without triggering creation or growth.

The wisp of qi traveled from his dantian to his chest, and after it made contact with the circle, the five elements and the white circle began to grow increasingly bright. The process continued until all the creation qi in his dantian was depleted, and the growth of the white circle slowed to a crawl.

Cha Ming was surprised at the development, but fortunately he could still move his body and react to the situation. He quickly retrieved the mortal-grade formation plate from the Clear Sky World and placed it in front of him, tossing a pile of mid-grade spirit-stone ores he had accumulated while mining. He then circulated his cultivation base, replenishing his creation qi little by little. Meanwhile, he used the excess five-element qi in his dantian to repeatedly attack the barriers in his qi seas. He held no illusions of breaking through during this process, but even mosquito meat was still meat—it would save him much trouble later.

He continued to cultivate this way for a week. A small pile of dust accumulated before him from the residues and impurities in the raw ore from which he absorbed qi. In truth, he could only absorb thirty percent at best from these unrefined ores and the remaining energy that had dissipated into his surroundings. Fortunately, the lost energy was quickly absorbed from his surroundings through the Seventy-Two Transformations Technique, strengthening the white circle in the process.

By the end of the week, the forces of the five elements in his body had changed substantially. They had all increased to their maximum volume. Even his organs were completely full of energy that patched up various injuries that had accumulated over more than a year of mining. However, he noticed a sharp imbalance between the first three elements and the last two. He knew the reason for this—the body-refining pills that Guo Jia had forced him to consume had increased the purity of these three elements. There was nothing he could do about this.

Soon enough, yet another change occurred to the white circle with five colors. The thin outline of a black star suddenly appeared. Like before, the suction force increased, drawing the energies of Heaven and Earth. In addition, all the destruction qi in his dantian began mystically migrating to the formation on his chest. To his relief, it also passed through his dantian and cells unhindered, feeding the black star on his chest.

Unlike the previous time, the appearance of the black star brought Cha Ming great pain. While it was still bearable, he dumped all of the spirit stones he had accumulated onto the formation plate and focused his efforts purely on absorbing and refining qi.

The process was akin to what he'd suffered with Guo Jia's body-refining pills, only this was ten times worse. Pain ravaged his bones, his marrow, his organs, and his muscles. Even his skin and nerves weren't spared, which made the process all the more unbearable.

Hours turned into days and days turned into weeks as his body was simultaneously destroyed by the black star and recreated with the white circle. With each cycle, the impurities that had accumulated in his body since his birth were eliminated. Even the large portions of his organs that were damaged beyond repair swiftly regained their original functionality. The only things that were not created and destroyed in this process were the new qi pathways and the meridians he'd created. These were already perfect, having been baptized through creation, destruction, and the five elements.

Time passed by slowly. Every time he thought the pain had reached a peak and his body's impurities had been completely eliminated, the pain increased by a single step. The formation was testing the limits of his soul and his ability to tolerate the pain. It would seemingly continue until he could bear it no longer.

Finally, when he'd reached his limit and felt his mind would break from the endless pain and solitude, the technique stopped. The absence of pain left him at a loss, and his enhanced senses wandered around his pure body in search of.. something. His senses wandered through his meridians, which were now perfectly elastic and much larger than when he'd started cultivating. They then wandered through his organs, whose functionalities had all greatly increased during the process.

Cha Ming was no longer sure what his current talent level was, but he knew one thing for certain: It definitely wasn't at the fourth grade like he'd originally speculated. This had to have something to do with remaking his qi pathways, qi seals, and meridians. The calamity that had crippled him was now a blessing in disguise.

After marveling over his increased talent, his soul force wandered over to his bones—the source of his increased curiosity. To his surprise, small crystalline seedlings had appeared, covering the entirety of his bones. He instinctively thought that they had always been there. That the conditions hadn't been right for them to make an appearance before. Only by achieving a basic level of body refining and purification would they appear.

He counted them one by one and concluded that there were seven sets of seventy-two crystal seedlings, for a total of 504. Their distribution didn't seem random; rather, they resembled the outlines of some sort of formation.

With the appearance of these seeds, the Clear Sky Brush trembled, and a piece of information rushed into his mental space. It took the form of an ancient scroll. A look of shock and surprise appeared on his face as he read through the contents.

Seventy-Two Transformations 12/72: First Cycle Complete

First Reward: Physical capabilities increased one sub-realm.

Second Reward: Talent increased according to body's circumstances.

Third Reward: Limited Transformation

As he focused on the third reward, his eyes widened. He quickly became aware that he could change his appearance and aura to that of another being within his species—someone that he'd seen in the past. Unfortunately, it wouldn't allow him to vary his height by more than one foot taller or one foot shorter.

Despite this limitation, the value of this skill was evident. It would be very useful in his upcoming battle against the bandits. In addition, he would even be able to avoid the detection by experts that were specifically trying to chase him using his aura as a guide. This was not an illusion technique but rather a physical change resulting from readjusting his skin, hair, and bones.

After reviewing this technique, he moved on to a second scroll that appeared in his mental space. Unlike last time, this was a complete set of instructions on the next cycle of the Seventy-Two Transformations Technique. He frowned when he saw that there were many ways of completing the technique, many paths to choose from. However, the instructions stated that choosing one would set the path for future advancements in the technique:

Seventy-Two Transformations: Second Cycle Instructions—Bone Forging

Nature Path: A morally neutral method of forging the bones. Using this technique, the bones will be forged and refined like green jade. It is neither the weakest nor the strongest path, relying purely on natural treasures to strengthen the body. The materials required are:

Immortal Wood Jade: 1 jin

Immortal Fire Jade: 1 jin

Immortal Earth Jade: 1 jin

Immortal Gold Jade: 1 jin

Immortal Water Jade: 1 jin

Immortal Jade Core: 1 jin

The list was followed by instructions on the applications of the materials. The five-element jades could be used in any order, but the Immortal Jade Core could only be used as the finishing touch. After noting the materials, he proceeded to the next path.

Malevolent Path: Use the power of sin to forge the bones. Using this technique, the bones will be forged and refined like black obsidian. It is the strongest path, relying on the bone essence of the masses to forge the bones. No sin is incurred in using the technique, but gathering the materials will automatically incur sin. Materials can only be gathered by the user. The materials required are:

Bones of 4 bone-forging experts with a merit halo, alchemically imbued with wood

Bones of 4 bone-forging experts with a merit halo, alchemically imbued with fire

Bones of 4 bone-forging experts with a merit halo, alchemically imbued with earth

Bones of 4 bone-forging experts with a merit halo, alchemically imbued with gold

Bones of 4 bone-forging experts with a merit halo, alchemically imbued with water

Bone essence of 4,444 qi-condensation cultivators with a merit halo

This morally repugnant method forced Cha Ming to reevaluate the Clear Sky Brush. It was no righteous tool that could only be used by the pure. Rather, it allowed complete freedom in one's actions. If the user wanted to use it peacefully, it would allow it. If the user wanted to take an easy path, that was also fine. It would simply obey the whims of its master.

After overcoming the revulsion in his heart, he read the third entry:

Exalted Path: Use the power of Heaven to forge the bones. Using this technique, the bones will be forged and refined like purple dragon bones. It is not as strong as the Malevolent Path but incurs no sin in the process, relying on the approval of dragons to forge the bones. No merit is gained by executing the technique, but only those with sufficient merit will obtain the approval of dragons. Materials can only be gathered by the user, and they must be willingly given. The materials required are:

Arm Bone of 1 Transcendent Silver Dragon

Leg Bone of 1 Transcendent Copper Dragon

Leg Bone of 1 Transcendent Iron Dragon

Arm Bone of 1 Transcendent Gold Dragon

Skull of 1 Transcendent Cobalt Dragon

Bone fragment of a Five-Clawed Gold Dragon: 1 tael

Cha Ming couldn't help but swallow when he saw the list. This path seemed insurmountable to him. For starters, he didn't even know if dragons existed on the continent. Then, he would somehow need to gain their approval. According to the description, they were a lofty and noble species.

Among the three methods, there was only one that he could reasonably practice if he could find the materials: The Nature Path. He refused to take the Malevolent Path, and the Exalted Path would depend on his luck in the following years. Unfortunately, he was on a strict timeline, as he was worried about the issues in the Song Kingdom.

After completing his review of the next cycle, he ended his seclusion, washed himself, and sought out the Custodian. The middle-aged man had a surprised look on his face.

"Oh, a breakthrough so fast?" the Custodian said. "And in body cultivation no less? It's too bad that you won't be able to use magic treasures until you advance your qi cultivation."

Cha Ming chuckled. "This is merely the first step. I will soon establish my foundation. However, I want to acclimatize myself to this new strength. Is there an exercise facility in this library?"

"Of course," the middle-aged man said. "Please come this way."

He followed the Custodian to a significantly larger room. It was completely empty, save for a single pillar in the center of the room. "My apologies, but our limited resources can't accommodate anything fancy. We only have this empty space and a strength-testing pillar. Don't worry about breaking it, though. You'd need to transcend to have even the slightest chance."

Cha Ming's eyes brightened, and soon he found himself holding the Clear Sky Staff and executing the various techniques that he'd learned over a year ago: Soft Staff Art, Swift Staff Art, and Hard Staff Art. All the subsidiary movement techniques and staff techniques were included in his practice.

As he moved, he noticed that his increased speed and power caused significant drain on his qi resources, and that he would need to upgrade his capacity as a qi cultivator in order to fully apply his combat techniques. Still, familiarizing himself with these limitations was very useful, so he continued for a full day. At the end of the day, he walked up to the strength pillar and punched it with a single fist.

Peng!

A number written in runic characters appeared above the pillar. He rubbed his eyes and re-checked the number before confirming that his physical strength had increased to 4,320 jin and increase of four times compared to a few months ago. This was because he had not only broken through to the Bone Forging Realm, but his strength had increased by a sub-realm thanks to the metal transformation. The normal fist strength of someone who had just broken through to the Bone Forging Realm was 2,160 jin.

Cha Ming returned to the seclusion chamber immediately after completing his tests. While he was satisfied with the increase, he knew that he had a long way to go if he wanted to stand a chance against Wei Chen.

It was time to proceed to the next step of his plan: breaking through to Foundation Establishment.