Chapter Four: The Ninth Transformation of the Dantian

Over the years in the tribe, Yi Tian had studied the knowledge of martial arts, including the classification of cultivation techniques. In this world, techniques were divided into three ranks: Heaven, Earth, and Human. Each rank was further subdivided into upper, middle, and lower grades.

Human-rank techniques were the most basic. Even if one mastered a lower-grade Human technique, there was only a chance to break through to the Human rank. The difference between upper, middle, and lower grades lay in the speed of cultivation: for example, an exceptionally talented person practicing a lower-grade Human technique might need thirty to forty years to reach the peak of the ninth level. But with a middle-grade Human technique, it might only take a little over twenty years. An upper-grade Human technique could bring the same result in as little as a few years or a decade, at which point the chance of breaking through to the Human rank would be greatly increased.

Clearly, the quality of the cultivation technique was critical for every practitioner. Of course, aside from techniques, resources were also essential; with abundant cultivation resources, a martial artist’s progress could be hastened considerably.

Yi Tian read over the Savage Ox Mountain-Cleaving Art, the Rampaging Wind Tiger Art, and others, finding it difficult to choose for a moment. Both the Savage Ox Mountain-Cleaving Art and the Rampaging Wind Tiger Art focused on destructive power, cultivating a powerful, variant true energy and greatly tempering the body, bestowing formidable combat strength.

The Profound Wood True Art, on the other hand, produced weaker true energy but granted robust vitality and an affinity with trees, making survival much easier.

The Wind and Thunder Art emphasized movement techniques; once mastered, true energy could transform into wind and thunder, offering great speed and attack power, but its weakness was the lack of bodily strength.

The Soaring Art was the most unique. Training in it could make one as light as a feather; at perfection, one could float dozens of yards in the air. Unfortunately, this art had too many flaws—at its peak, it only allowed one to drift slowly in midair, like a giant target, practically inviting death. Yi Tian immediately dismissed the Soaring Art. Even if it allowed brief flight, not even ninth-level martial artists could truly walk on air; only those who had broken through to the Human rank could manage that.

The last lower-grade Human technique, the Blazing Fire Art, caught Yi Tian’s careful attention. Though listed as a lower-grade Human technique, its description hinted at high potential. The Blazing Fire Art had great advantages: not only did it absorb the world’s energy for cultivation, during the day it could condense the sun’s fiery essence, making cultivation even faster. For its practitioner, the abundance or scarcity of energy in the world made little difference.

However, the Blazing Fire Art had its own drawbacks. Its true energy was exceptionally fierce and violent; a single misstep could lead to self-immolation, making it extremely dangerous. Additionally, the fiery energy tempered the body in all aspects—bone, flesh, meridians, skin—so most of the true energy was consumed in tempering, resulting in slow progress. Without sufficiently tempering the body with fiery true energy, advancing in cultivation would only bring disaster, as the heat could burn an inadequately tempered body to ash.

Even so, the Blazing Fire Art was particularly powerful among its peers. After being forged by fiery true energy, the practitioner’s body could rival those who cultivated top-tier body refinement techniques.

After some consideration, Yi Tian decided to choose the Blazing Fire Art. Slow progress mattered little; with enough resources, speed could be compensated for. But if the foundation wasn’t solid, no amount of speed would bring great achievements. Having lived a previous life, Yi Tian’s gaze was set far into the future.

That day, the youths of the tribe each selected their own technique. Most chose the Savage Ox Mountain-Cleaving Art or the Rampaging Wind Tiger Art, a few selected the Wind and Thunder Art, while the Profound Wood True Art, the Soaring Art, and the Blazing Fire Art were ignored.

Yi Tian was the only one who chose the Blazing Fire Art. Thus, he needed not wait; after reporting to the three elders, he took the Blazing Fire Art aside and began to read and ponder it intently.

Yi Tian’s choice puzzled not only Yi Feng and the others but even the three elders. The other young people in the tribe were even more perplexed, astonished, or openly scornful and mocking. Yi Tian paid them no heed, devoting himself entirely to the Blazing Fire Art.

The technique consisted of just over a dozen pages, containing the essence of the art, meridian diagrams for circulation, breathing techniques, and various cautions for cultivation. The most vital part was the meridian route for the technique’s energy circulation. There were three diagrams, and the route wound through a dense network of meridians, passing through thirty or forty acupoints and coursing throughout the body. Yi Tian seemed to see a red current of true energy winding along the path, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, with a mysterious rhythm.

After a long time, Yi Tian finally set the book down. Only now did he understand why the three elders had said that leaking the techniques would be useless—because the true essence of a martial technique could not be captured in a mere copy. Without the authentic manual, perhaps out of a hundred who tried to follow a copy, only a handful would succeed; the rest would either fall into madness or lose the original’s subtlety and power.

Of course, if Yi Tian perfected the Blazing Fire Art and comprehended all its secrets, any version he recorded would itself become a new authentic manual.

In the days that followed, Yi Tian arrived at the ancestral temple at dawn each day, delving into the mysteries of the Blazing Fire Art and contemplating the secrets of cultivation. Yi Feng and the others did likewise.

Everyone fell into a feverish state, absorbing the techniques with ravenous hunger. Whenever they encountered a difficulty, they would question the three elders. Yi Tian, too, asked about some basic points—ordinary questions to the elders, but to one just starting on the path of cultivation, they were revelations.

After five days, Yi Tian had thoroughly digested everything about the Blazing Fire Art and decided to begin his formal training.

That noon, with the sun blazing overhead and scorching the earth, the vast training ground was almost empty. Yi Tian sat cross-legged on a boulder under the sun, began his breathing exercises, relaxed his spirit, and attuned himself to the omnipresent fire energy around him.

After several days, Yi Tian finally sensed the nearby fire energy. Circulating the technique in his mind, he imagined breathing in the omnipresent fire energy. Before long, warm currents began to flow into his body with each breath, vanishing in an instant.

This was the feeling!

Having grasped the sensation, Yi Tian continued his cultivation. Soon, his body warmed, and as he activated the Blazing Fire Art, streams of heat began to circulate along its prescribed path. After one full circulation, the energy had condensed to less than one percent, and the refined fiery true energy immediately sank into his dantian.

With this initial success, Yi Tian pressed on, immersing himself ever deeper in cultivation. Gradually, he felt the fire energy around him grow thin, its effect now less than a tenth of what it had been. When he opened his eyes, it was already dusk.

In his dantian, only a few wisps of fiery true energy—like tiny snakes—had formed, pitifully small compared to the pond-sized space of the dantian. He had only just begun to produce true energy, not even qualifying as a first-level martial artist.

To become a first-level martial artist, one’s dantian had to be filled with true energy. At the second level, the energy overflowed and began the first transformation of the dantian. From level one to nine, the dantian would undergo eight transformations. Breaking through to the Human rank marked the final transformation, after which the dantian would stabilize, and only with divine objects could it continue to transform and become even more solid and powerful.