Body Tempering Spirit Pond

Many hours have passed since Wu Tianyi entered the Center Core, and he'd spent the majority of them fending himself against the illusions created by the Valley of Death.

However, despite spending so much time on the illusions, it was not as though they were wasted, since it cultivated his mind every time he successfully destroyed an illusion, strengthening his soul.

Furthermore, the more illusions he faced, the stronger his resistance to them became.

By the time Wu Tianyi defeated the 99th illusion, he essentially became immune to them.

[Now that I can wander the Center Core without needing to deal with the illusions, I will finally be able to look for the thousand-year-old Spirit Fruit.]

Thus, Wu Tianyi began traversing the Center Core seriously.

The Center Core was much quieter than the other two sections but it was also much more dangerous, as every demonic beast in this area could easily kill Wu Tianyi with a single attack if he's not careful.

Furthermore, because of the thick fog that nearly blinded his vision, it was incredibly easy to get lost in this place. But fortunately for Wu Tianyi, his millions of years of experience gave him flawless memory, allowing him to remember every step he took ever since entering the Valley of Death, so he would be able to retrace his steps even with his eyes closed.

After walking around for an hour while evading demonic beasts, Wu Tianyi found a small pond in the middle of nowhere.

This small pond was only twenty meters in diameter and had azure-colored water, but if one looked into the pond, they would quickly realize that it had nearly infinite depth, as it was impossible to see the floor even with a pair of powerful eyes.

"This is a Body Tempering Spirit Pond. What luck." Wu Tianyi mumbled, feeling quite fortunate to have encountered this treasure in such a place.

Body Tempering Spirit Pond is a naturally born phenomenon that greatly boosts the physique of anyone that bathes in it. However, it's not without its flaws since bathing in the pond will bring unbearable pain to one's body.

However, Wu Tianyi was not someone who would give up a chance to further increase his strength just because of some pain.

A few moments later, Wu Tianyi took off his robes and placed them by the pond, before jumping into the azure-colored pond without any hesitation.

The instant his body touched the water, Wu Tianyi felt as though tiny swords were stabbing into every pore on his body. Furthermore, the water was extremely cold, nearly freezing the blood in his veins.

Wu Tianyi immediately forced his Dantian to work, using every ounce of spiritual energy in his body to keep his consciousness awake.

If he were to lose consciousness now, he would without a doubt never wake up again and disappear into the pond.

Once Wu Tianyi familiarized himself with the new environment and the pain, he began tempering his body by letting the water slowly flow into his body. Subsequently, by allowing the water to enter his body, he would have to endure agonizing pain in every inch of his body that would make even seasoned warriors scream crazily.

However, Wu Tianyi endured the pain in his body and even began diving deeper into the pond, where the water only got colder, whilst his pain intensified.

After staying in the water for a few minutes, Wu Tianyi left the pond and took some time to restore his spiritual energy, before jumping back into the pond again.

Wu Tianyi would continue to temper his body by entering and exiting the pond for the next few days, tempering his body to the extreme.

By the time five days had passed, Wu Tianyi was able to dive over 500 meters into the pond and remain there for nearly half an hour at a time.

The next time Wu Tianyi exited the pond, his body not only looked more refined than before, but it also had this domineering feeling, and his skin even appeared to be shining brightly, almost like it had turned into a treasure.

Indeed, after tempering his body within the pond for several days, his body had become something akin to that of a treasure. In fact, if someone were to try and cut Wu Tianyi's flesh with a sword right now, they would find out that even a sword cannot pierce his skin.

In addition to his new profound body, Wu Tianyi also learned that all the way at the bottom of the pond, there laid a single lotus that emitted a blue light.

[Not only did I manage to temper my body from a Mortal Physique to the Earth Physique, I also happened to find an Azure Jade Lotus, a Grade 6 spiritual herb.]

Just like how Sects are separated into nine different tiers, spiritual herbs are separated into nine grades with Grade 9 being the lowest and Grade 1 being the most precious.

After learning that there was a Grade 6 spiritual herb at the bottom of the lake, Wu Tianyi spent another three days familiarizing himself with the water, which allowed him to slowly approach the bottom.

By the time Wu Tianyi could reach the bottom of the pond, his body has fully adjusted to the extremely cold water, and the pain that would normally torture his body was replaced with a warm feeling that made his body feel energetic instead.

When he finally reached the bottom of the lake, Wu Tianyi gently plucked the lotus from the ground, which left the ground without any resistance, almost as though the lotus wanted him to pick it up.

Once he had the lotus in his grasp, Wu Tianyi immediately began swimming back to the surface.

However, when he poked his head out of the pond, Wu Tianyi noticed a figure casually sitting by a large rock beside the pond, where his robes were neatly placed.

Wu Tianyi stared at this figure for a moment before saying, "Unless you want to speak with me while I am butt naked, why don't you give me a minute to change?"

The figure sitting by the rock remained silent for a moment before picking up his robes and tossing it near him.

Once the figure turned around, Wu Tianyi jumped out of the pond and quickly dressed himself.

"I am done. You can turn around now." Wu Tianyi said to the figure.

After hearing his words, the figure turned around, letting Wu Tianyi see the flawless features on her face.

This figure happened to be a young lady who wore a natural-looking nonchalant expression on her beautiful face and a light blue robe on her tall and slim body. There was also a black sword by her side that was exuding a divine aura that seemed to repel the thick fog that filled this valley, hence why she was not surrounded by the fog.

[Why does she look so familiar?]

Wu Tianyi thought to himself as he stared at this fairy-like goddess.

"So? Why were you waiting for me?" Wu Tianyi asked her.

"..."

The beauty did not immediately speak and continued to silently stare at him, seemingly probing him.

"Are you really at the ninth level of Qi Condensation?" The beautiful lady couldn't help but ask him.

She would normally not meddle in other people's business, but after seeing Wu Tianyi swim in the Body Tempering Spirit Pond as though it was an ordinary pond, her interest was piqued, especially after realizing that he was only at the Qi Condensation stage.

Any logical being would think that Wu Tianyi is hiding his cultivation base right now, but this beautiful lady seemed certain that was not the case, which only further baffled her.

They were currently in the center of the Valley of Death, a dangerous place where demonic beasts at the Core Consolidation roamed freely, yet there is someone with an ant-like cultivation in this place and even swimming in water that would kill even high-level Foundation Establishment experts.

"Yes, I am indeed only at the Qi Condensation stage. Is there something wrong with that?" Wu Tianyi calmly responded.

The young lady looked at him as though she wanted to scream: "Everything is wrong with it!"

After a moment of silence, Wu Tianyi continued to speak, "If you have nothing else to say, I will be excusing myself now."

"Wait!"

The beauty stopped him right as he turned around.

"I know that you took the Azure Jade Lotus that was at the bottom of this pond, and I want to buy it from you," she said.

The young lady showed a sincere expression and spoke in a clear voice, so Wu Tianyi was not too worried that she might steal it from him.

However, he still shook his head and said, "It's not for sale."

After all, the Azure Jade Lotus is an extremely rare spiritual herb that could even rival the thousand-year-old Spirit Fruit. Unless she wanted to rip him off, there was simply no way that some random girl would be able to afford it.