Chapter Ninety-Nine: Master of the Rippling Waves Tower, The Body-Tempering Compendium

"Who?"

Boom!

The great doors suddenly burst apart, and an immense pressure swept inward.

Lu Qian caught an extremely thick, cloying scent of blood.

His gaze passed through the shattered doorway.

There, at the very center of the assembled crowd, stood a man in a gray robe.

The man's age was impossible to discern. His face was covered in fish scales, and his eyes were yellow.

In the instant of the man's fury, Lu Qian seemed to glimpse a bizarre, monstrous beast.

A carp-like head, but ten separate bodies in total.

Like ten yellow-scaled carp sharing a single skull.

Each of the ten bodies had its own extraordinary manifestation—one bathed in fire, one commanding water, one dripping venom, one hard as iron...

Whoosh!

Before Lu Qian could even react, he was seized from midair and drawn forward.

"Milord, wait! This is this pavilion's alchemy cultivator."

Steward Cui hastily intervened.

Only then did the man revert to human form.

"Fish Dragon Fellow Daoist, pay your respects to the Pavilion Master at once!" Cui Shan urgently signaled Lu Qian with his eyes.

"Alchemy cultivator Fish Dragon greets the Pavilion Master." Lu Qian stepped forward and made a formal bow.

So this man was Fu Bo Daoist, the master of Lingbo Pavilion.

He had originally assumed the Pavilion Master was a Dao Foundation cultivator of high standing, but clearly, he had been mistaken.

This was a Body Refiner.

The path of Qi Refining was divided into Fetal Breath, Qi Refining, Spirit Nourishment, Dao Foundation, Pill Tribulation, and so on.

The path of Body Refining shared the same Fetal Breath stage, followed by Drawing Blood into the Body (Qi Refining), Blood Transforming the Flesh (Spirit Nourishment), True Form Manifestation (Dao Foundation), True Form Tribulation (Pill Tribulation), and beyond...

Take Lu Qian's current cultivation level—by the terminology of Body Refining, he would be a Blood Drawing stage cultivator.

Thus, Fu Bo could not be called a Dao Foundation master, but rather a True Form Daoist.

Seeing that Fu Bo remained silent, Lu Qian continued: "Milord, I have successfully refined a Mortal Grade One-Aperture Golden Pill. I have come today to report this."

"Oh?" Fu Bo's interest was piqued at this. "Steward Cui, take him for an examination shortly. If he truly has skill, then promote him to Alchemy Guest Elder."

A cultivator who could refine Aperture Golden Pills was, after all, a talent worthy of entering the view of the great figures.

Still, it was nothing to be held in excessive regard.

Lu Qian surveyed his surroundings. There were cultivators with catfish whiskers, Ox-Nose Daoists, Bird-Beak Daoists.

Among the ten present, only two looked normal. It was as if he had stumbled straight into a nest of Body Refiners.

He wondered why they deliberately displayed their beastly features.

Could it be a way of proving their status?

Thinking on it more, that made sense. When not transformed, Body Refiners truly were unremarkable in appearance. It would be rather awkward if their subordinates looked down on them.

After all, not everyone had the desire to overturn expectations and slap faces.

"You take pills to nourish your spirit?" Fu Bo suddenly asked. "And it seems you practice the art of Body Refining?"

"The Pavilion Master's eyes are truly discerning. I do indeed take pills to nourish my spirit."

"What bloodline do you cultivate? What technique?" the Pavilion Master asked with interest.

Perhaps because they were both Body Refiners, he was more talkative.

After all, Body Refining was different from Qi Refining. If Qi Refining didn't produce results, one simply stayed as they were. If Body Refining didn't produce results, one died. So very few people practiced it.

"I have no formal master. I simply practice as I please. I cultivate the Dragon Blood, Moonlight technique." Lu Qian did not want to go into too much detail.

"Dragon Blood?" The Body Refiners around them wore strange expressions.

"Quite bold of you. Dragon blood may seem formidable, but in truth it's the greatest trap of all. The further you go, the harder it becomes." A cultivator with an ox head and a single eye in the center of his forehead laughed scornfully.

After Blood Transforming the Flesh came True Form Manifestation (Dao Foundation).

As the name implied, one transformed into the form of one's bloodline beast.

Generally speaking, having a physical creature as a reference made it easier to grasp its true essence.

Dragons were ethereal and elusive things. It wasn't simply a matter of rarer bloodlines being better.

Thus, most Body Refiners chose creatures they could see and touch.

For example, Fu Bo's He Luo Fish.

One head, ten bodies, and ten divine abilities.

Steward Cui's partridge bird, or Steward Liu's iron-eating beast.

"I see..." Lu Qian suddenly understood.

Tongyou Abbey had almost no Body Refiners. Having encountered them today, he realized there was far more to the art than he had imagined.

"Off with you, off with you!"

Fu Bo seemed to wish to discuss something with the assembled stewards, and hurriedly dismissed the dazed Lu Qian.

Steward Cui led Lu Qian to the alchemy chamber in the rear.

Lu Qian stepped forward to refine pills. From ten sets of herbs, he produced three pills. Cui Shan nodded in satisfaction:

"Not bad. For someone newly entered into the Mortal Grade alchemy realm, your success rate is passable. From now on, you shall specialize in refining Blood Essence Demon Pills, ten a month."

Additionally, he received the treatment of an Alchemy Guest Elder: one superior-grade cave dwelling, one hundred spirit coins per month, and a thoroughbred Wave-Treading Beast.

If he was dissatisfied with any reward, he could exchange it for money at the original value.

"Then I'll exchange the superior cave dwelling for money."

Renting a residence had its inconveniences—one never knew how many people had lived there before, and with enough effort, anyone could learn all its secrets.

The pill theft incident had happened not long ago.

"Fine. Here's the Blood Essence Pill Formula and a Compendium of Body Refining. Take a look when you have time." Steward Cui then led Lu Qian to the pill workshop at the back.

Several furnaces blazed with roaring flames.

A short, stout Daoist was directing the workers.

"Manager Niu! Let me introduce you. This is Fish Dragon, our newly appointed Alchemy Guest Elder." Cui Shan then looked to Lu Qian. "This is Niu Xing, the Alchemy Director."

The short, stout Daoist had three wispy strands of beard and a somewhat shifty look about him.

Hearing Lu Qian's name, Niu Xing's smiling face instantly turned cold.

He had heard that name before. The Guest Elder position was originally meant to be arranged for one of his relatives, only to be snatched away by this Fish Dragon.

"Greetings, Fellow Daoist." Lu Qian bowed out of courtesy.

"Greetings, Fellow Daoist." Niu Xing nodded, then quickly found an excuse to leave.

"Ordinary pills can be handed directly to the medicine boys, but Aperture Golden Pills must be inspected by the Alchemy Director," Cui Shan said. "Likewise for receiving materials."

...

Mounting the nine-foot-tall white horse with wave-patterned markings, Lu Qian rode across the water at a gallop.

The horse's hooves dashed over the waterways of Blackwater City as though upon flat ground.

Cultivators aboard black-canopied boats cast envious glances his way.

Before long, he arrived at the Rare Goods Brokerage.

"Oh, a rare guest! What brings you here?"

Old Master Tao Zhu hurried forward to greet him.

Ever since Lu Qian had broken through to a new realm, even Tao Zhu's manner of address had changed.

Two maidservants in sheer, half-revealing veils served them tea. The old Daoist groped one of them on the chest and said, "Try this one, sir? She's new."

"Business first. Help me find a cave dwelling—somewhere quiet."

"Excellent! I know just the place."

In less than two hours, everything was settled: a cave dwelling by the banks of the Clearwater River.

Riding the Wave-Treading Beast, Lu Qian returned to his original dwelling and had Mo Chou pack up their belongings before leaving.

The Wave-Treading Beast galloped onward, a beauty in his arms—there was a certain free-spirited, wandering flair to it.

"Oh, that's near my old home!" Mo Chou's slim jade-like finger pointed toward a district.

"Is that so? Have you been home these past few days?" Lu Qian said with a smile.

"This servant is now your lad, Master. Without your leave, this servant would not dare set foot outside."

Lu Qian was quite pleased with Mo Chou's answer. Though she had been marked with the cinnabar talisman and could not betray him, at least having some tact was what truly mattered.

And more than that, severing worldly ties—as a lad, one's eyes should be fixed on one's master and nothing else.

"In the future, you'll be in charge of feeding the horse. I'll also give you twenty paper-man soul soldiers to manage matters within and without."

Lu Qian waved his hand, and black qi merged with the paper figures, transforming them into twenty individuals with faces as red as jade.

"Greetings, Master!"

With affairs arranged, Lu Qian immediately entered the alchemy chamber.

Lighting a white candle, the faint, ghostly glow fell upon his face as Lu Qian opened the Compendium of Body Refining.