Chapter 3

"Regardless, thank you."

After a cold laugh in his heart, Ye Zhong sincerely said to Wang Qian. No matter what, the information she provided made him realize that the remaining time was not much.

"You don't need to thank me. You would have known these things sooner or later even if I didn't tell you," Wang Qian shook her head. "Also, I came to see you today for a reason."

As she spoke, Wang Qian took out a Qiankun Ring from her bosom and handed it to Ye Zhong.

Ye Zhong looked at the Qiankun Ring in Wang Qian's hand and said indifferently, "What's the meaning of this?"

Wang Qian hesitated for a moment before continuing, "There are five hundred low-grade spirit stones inside. It's all I can provide now. You might have looked down on it before, but this is enough to make you a wealthy man for life... I'm giving you this not for anything else, but I hope you can keep a certain distance from Wang Mo."

At this point, Wang Qian sighed again and said, "Ye Zhong, I have no right to meddle in your family affairs, but I'll give you a piece of advice. Since you have no hope of pursuing the path of martial arts in this life, leaving and living as a wealthy man might not be a bad choice. I've said all I can. No matter what, I don't want Wang Mo to be implicated because of you."

Hearing this, Ye Zhong fell silent for a moment but did not refuse. Instead, he reached out and took the Qiankun Ring. No matter what Ye Zhong planned to do next, he couldn't do anything without enough spirit stones. Since Wang Qian had brought them, Ye Zhong didn't refuse.

Ye Zhong didn't explain anything. After looking at Wang Qian, he said solemnly, "Don't worry, Wang Mo is my friend, and I don't want him to be implicated either. I will keep my distance from him."

"Hope you remember your words today." Wang Qian gave Ye Zhong a strange look. Today's Ye Zhong seemed different from the past, both in tone and demeanor. If she weren't extremely familiar with Ye Zhong, she would have thought she had mistaken someone.

Shaking her head slightly, Wang Qian didn't say anything more and turned to leave.

After Wang Qian left, Ye Zhong scanned his surroundings and then quickly headed towards his residence.

Ye Zhong's residence was a courtyard in the suburbs of Jiangzhou City. The small courtyard was not large but was quite elegant. The most important thing was that there weren't many people living around, and the environment was relatively quiet.

After returning to the courtyard, Ye Zhong carefully checked and found no one was following him. He then entered the room and sat cross-legged on the bed.

After a moment of thought, Ye Zhong carefully took out the Qiankun Ring he had received from Wang Qian, took out a spirit stone, and placed it in his palm, gazing at it silently.

Spirit stones were essential for martial artists' cultivation. The earth's spiritual energy contained within spirit stones was crucial in the first realm of martial arts.

The first realm of martial arts was called the Nine Levels of Body Forging. In this realm, martial artists should do everything possible to build a solid foundation for their martial arts, preparing for the future breakthrough to the innate realm.

However, for ordinary people, the Nine Levels of Body Forging was a common threshold, but for the current Ye Zhong, it was an extremely difficult hurdle to overcome.

Those with Six Yin Absolute Meridians had unstable constitutions, weak bodies, and blocked meridians, making it impossible to draw earth's spiritual energy into their bodies for forging. If they forced cultivation, they might die from their bodies exploding before reaching the first level of Body Forging, the Skin Forging stage.

Of course, nothing was absolute. As Ye Zhong gazed silently at the relatively pure spirit stone in his hand, a strange expression appeared on his face.

Those with Six Yin Absolute Meridians were also known as Six Dao in the Three Thousand Divine Realms.

Back in the Three Thousand Divine Realms, Ye Zhong had once found an ancient fragment during a search for ancient treasures. It contained a Body Forging Divine Technique specifically designed for Six Dao, or those with Six Yin Absolute Meridians.

The Six Dao Burial Sword Technique!

This was the name of the Body Forging Divine Technique Ye Zhong had obtained back then. At that time, Ye Zhong's cultivation was already at a level where he could challenge the Three Heavens, so he couldn't cultivate this Body Forging Divine Technique specifically for the Nine Levels of Body Forging.

Although he couldn't cultivate the Six Dao Burial Sword Technique, Ye Zhong later learned that Six Dao was a very peculiar and powerful constitution. Out of curiosity, he always kept it in mind, planning to explore the secrets of Six Dao if he had the chance.

But whether by chance or necessity, the Six Dao Burial Sword Technique was now perfectly suited for his use.

Ye Zhong was somewhat speechless about this Body Forging Divine Technique. It was completely different from ordinary Body Forging methods and did not require daily diligent practice. However, it required an extreme amount of cultivation resources. The materials needed for the first three levels of the Nine Levels of Body Forging were relatively common, like the spirit stones in Ye Zhong's hand. As for the materials needed for the last six levels, Ye Zhong didn't have the time to think about them yet.

"An ancient Body Forging Divine Technique? Let's see what power you have!"

After a moment of reflection, Ye Zhong smiled and scattered the five hundred spirit stones on the bed.

In martial arts, cultivation required spirit techniques, such as the Six Dao Burial Sword Technique.

Spirit techniques were generally divided into three levels: Mundane, Spirit, and Divine, with each level further divided into three grades: Lower, Middle, and Upper. The Six Dao Burial Sword Technique was known as an ancient Body Forging Divine Technique. Although Ye Zhong didn't know which grade it belonged to among the Divine-level spirit techniques, its power was unimaginable. It was likely that in the Great Zhou Dynasty, there was no spirit technique that could match it!

Sitting cross-legged on the bed, Ye Zhong formed a strange seal with his hands and slowly pushed it out. As he did so, threads of spiritual energy from the spirit stones quickly spread out, swirling around Ye Zhong's body.

"Whoosh—"

A strange sound echoed, and Ye Zhong could feel a sharp pain all over his skin. The spiritual energy that should not have entered his body began to rapidly converge into his body as the seal in his hand changed.

A tearing pain spread throughout Ye Zhong's body, and even with his willpower, he felt as if his body was being crushed by five mountains. The pain from deep within his soul almost made him collapse.

"Truly an ancient Body Forging Divine Technique, quite interesting." Ye Zhong's body trembled, and he spat out a mouthful of black blood. However, he gritted his teeth and slowly but firmly changed the seal in his hand.

"Crack, crack—"

The seal in Ye Zhong's hand changed rapidly, and cracks began to appear on the spirit stones. The spiritual energy, like tangible mist, quickly spiraled out and gathered on Ye Zhong's body. In the end, Ye Zhong's entire body was enveloped in a hazy mist.

For the current Ye Zhong, this mist-like spiritual energy was both the most intense poison and the most effective medicine. Each thread of spiritual energy made him almost faint from pain, but at the same time, each thread of spiritual energy entering his body made his originally weak body subtly stronger, as if the spiritual energy was nourishing his flesh.

"Boom—"

After an unknown amount of time, a cracking sound came from Ye Zhong's body, and a thin layer of skin and flesh peeled off like an eggshell. If a great martial artist were present, they would be extremely surprised, as this indicated that Ye Zhong had entered the first level of the Nine Levels of Body Forging, the Skin Forging stage!

The transformation did not end there. After reaching the Skin Forging stage, the spiritual energy that had been swirling around Ye Zhong's body began to converge into his body even faster, as if his body were a sponge absorbing everything.

In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, all the mist-like spiritual energy was completely absorbed by Ye Zhong's body. Then, Ye Zhong slowly opened his eyes, a flash of light in his gaze.

"The first level of the Nine Levels of Body Forging, the Skin Forging stage?"

With Ye Zhong's keen eyesight, he immediately recognized his current state. Compared to before his reincarnation, this was a mere ant's strength. But for him now, it was like a path to the heavens had appeared before him!

The Six Dao Burial Sword Technique was indeed a Body Forging Divine Technique specifically for Six Dao! It was known that ordinary people needed a year or more to reach the first level of the Nine Levels of Body Forging, but Ye Zhong had achieved this in just one night, a speed that could be called monstrous. This alone showed the power of the Body Forging Divine Technique. Moreover, Ye Zhong vaguely sensed that the spiritual energy he absorbed did not just connect his body, as with other Body Forging techniques. Instead, it was absorbed by every inch of his skin, cells, and bones. This feeling was strange but good. With Ye Zhong's keen eyesight, he could see that this Six Dao Burial Sword Technique would make him almost invincible during the Body Forging process. Moreover, he vaguely felt that this Body Forging Divine Technique might have some secrets he didn't yet know. However, these things would need to be verified through future cultivation.

"This Six Dao Burial Sword Technique is good, but it consumes a lot of cultivation resources."

Ye Zhong sighed, looking at the five hundred spirit stones on his bed, now drained of all spiritual energy. These were just low-grade spirit stones, but it took so many to reach the first level of the Nine Levels of Body Forging. He wondered how many spirit stones it would take to complete the first three levels.

"Large amounts of spirit stones!"

Only by obtaining a large amount of spirit stones in the shortest time could he complete the first three levels of the Nine Levels of Body Forging and be prepared for the troubles that might come, including from the Ye family and the Su family...

Given Ye Zhong's current status, obtaining a large amount of spirit stones was an extremely difficult problem.

"Can I only rely on talisman making?"

After a moment of thought, Ye Zhong decided to focus on talisman making. Talisman making was another path outside of martial arts.

Those who specialized in talisman making also possessed great power. Among the great adepts, some could draw talismans in the sky, and the power of the talismans could collapse mountains and rivers and make the sun and moon fall.

Back in the day, Ye Zhong was not only one of the top experts in the universe but also had profound cultivation in talisman making.

Due to his master's generous teaching, besides martial arts, Ye Zhong also cultivated the sect's secret techniques in talisman making. When his master, Bu Yan, discovered that Ye Zhong was suitable for talisman making, he was extremely surprised. Ye Zhong was not only suitable for talisman making but also had a high talent. However, his martial arts talent was also extremely outstanding, so after reaching a certain level, he abandoned talisman making and focused on martial arts.

Although he didn't achieve much in talisman making, Ye Zhong's talent in it was innate. Now, with his lower cultivation, he couldn't draw powerful talismans, but he could easily draw low-level talismans like the Speed Talisman, Protection Talisman, Strength Talisman, and Clarity Talisman.

Talismans were extremely valuable. In the memory of the young Ye Zhong, there were very few talisman masters in the Great Zhou Dynasty who could draw talismans. If he could sell some low-level talismans, it should not be difficult to gather enough spirit stones to reach the third level of the Nine Levels of Body Forging.

Ye Zhong immediately went to the market in Jiangzhou City to buy some demon beast skins and demon beast blood containing a bit of spiritual energy to draw talismans. If he had reached the innate realm and cultivated spiritual energy, he wouldn't use this clumsy method, but now, with no spiritual energy in his body, he had no choice.

Drawing talismans without spiritual energy was not as easy as he imagined. Using the materials he bought with the last of his spirit stones, Ye Zhong only successfully drew one Protection Talisman, one Speed Talisman, and one Clarity Talisman. The other materials were destroyed during the process. This was only possible because of his original talent and experience. If someone else tried to draw talismans without spiritual energy, it would be a dream.

Looking at the three talismans in his hand, Ye Zhong hesitated for a moment and then stuck the Protection Talisman and Speed Talisman on his chest. Although these were the lowest-level talismans, they were extremely valuable.

Ye Zhong knew that his current situation was extremely dangerous, and it was better to keep these talismans for protection. By activating these two talismans, his combat ability should improve, and with his original combat experience and skills, he should have some self-preservation against opponents one or two levels higher in the Body Forging realm.

Looking at the last Clarity Talisman, Ye Zhong sighed. Next, he would have to see if this Clarity Talisman could find a knowledgeable buyer and make a good profit. Otherwise, he would have a hard time gathering enough spirit stones for cultivation.