The Heavenly Mechanism Scroll records that the Mystic Dragon Physique and the Great Five Elements Thunder Body are rare spiritual bodies that can only appear in the Upper Realm, also known as the Spirit Realm.
The reason the scroll emphasizes these two spiritual bodies is that they possess an incredibly heaven-defying ability.
That is, cultivators who possess either of these two spiritual bodies have at least a fifty percent chance of breaking through the bottleneck of the Mahayana Stage and becoming Mahayana cultivators.
It's important to know that the cultivation world divides realms into three major tiers.
The Lower Tier includes the Qi Refining Stage, Foundation Establishment Stage, Golden Core Stage, Nascent Soul Stage, and Spirit Transformation Stage.
The Middle Tier includes the Void Refining Stage, Body Integration Stage, and Mahayana Stage.
As for the Upper Tier, that is the realm of true immortals, with related records long lost to the river of history.
Among the known realms, the Mahayana Stage is the highest.
The Heavenly Mechanism Scroll records that even in the vast and boundless Spirit Realm, Mahayana cultivators are extremely rare.
A race with hundreds of millions of inhabitants might not even produce one Mahayana cultivator.
Only races protected by Mahayana cultivators can truly establish themselves in the Spirit Realm.
The scarcity of Mahayana cultivators highlights the immense difficulty of breaking through to the Mahayana realm.
This, in turn, demonstrates the heaven-defying nature of the Mystic Dragon Physique and the Great Five Elements Thunder Body.
It means that once a cultivator reaches the peak of the Body Integration Stage, they have a high probability of breaking through to the Mahayana realm, and they will be a powerhouse among Mahayana cultivators.
This is enough to change the destiny of a race.
Therefore, the Heavenly Mechanism Scroll states that once a race in the Spirit Realm discovers a member who possesses the Mystic Dragon Physique or the Great Five Elements Thunder Body, they will pour all their resources into nurturing them.
This is because although these two spiritual bodies are heaven-defying, their growth is far more challenging than that of ordinary cultivators, or even cultivators with other spiritual bodies.
The precious resources required for cultivation are so immense that even an entire race might struggle to afford them, or the conditions are too harsh to fulfill.
For example, cultivators with the Mystic Dragon Physique require spiritual items equivalent to True Spirit blood to assist their breakthroughs starting from the Spirit Transformation Stage.
When breaking through to the Body Integration Stage, they even need to devour the heart of a True Spirit with True Dragon bloodline as a condition for breakthrough to fully awaken the Mystic Dragon Physique.
It's important to note that True Spirits in the Spirit Realm possess at least Mahayana-level strength, and many True Spirits are even stronger than ordinary Mahayana cultivators.
And True Dragons are the most powerful among all True Spirits; even other True Spirits possessing only a portion of their bloodline are still immensely powerful, far beyond the comparison of ordinary Mahayana cultivators.
This illustrates the stringent advancement requirements of the Mystic Dragon Physique. If a cultivator with this spiritual body is not born into a powerful race, it is almost impossible to obtain these high-level spiritual items to aid their breakthroughs.
As for the Great Five Elements Thunder Body, the Heavenly Mechanism Scroll records less information about it than the Mystic Dragon Physique, suggesting this spiritual body is even more mysterious.
Cultivators possessing this physique can be called darlings of the lightning laws, naturally proficient in lightning-based spells, and gain significant bonuses when cultivating lightning attribute techniques.
Furthermore, it possesses a very formidable ability, which is also the origin of its name.
That is, it can unleash the Divine Thunder of the Five Elements, which is incredibly powerful.
These include the Geng Metal Tribulation Thunder (Supreme Metal Divine Thunder), the Yi Wood True Thunder (Supreme Wood Divine Thunder), the Gui Water Yin Thunder (Supreme Water Divine Thunder), the Bing Fire Yang Thunder (Supreme Fire Divine Thunder), and the Wu Earth Nether Thunder (Supreme Earth Divine Thunder).
Among these, the most famous is the Supreme Wood Divine Thunder, which has a more widely known name.
That is the Evil-Repelling Divine Thunder.
The Evil-Repelling Divine Thunder is the bane of all demonic and unorthodox paths. Its fame is so widespread that even low-level cultivators like Ning Fa have heard of it.
This Evil-Repelling Divine Thunder is said to be born from a precious spiritual bamboo called Golden Thunder Bamboo. However, this precious spiritual bamboo has long disappeared from the cultivation world, making the Evil-Repelling Divine Thunder a legend.
Cultivators who possess the Great Five Elements Thunder Body, however, can cast this powerful lightning technique, as well as the other four equally potent Divine Thunders of the Five Elements.
This alone shows the might of the Great Five Elements Thunder Body.
Moreover, the Heavenly Mechanism Scroll specifically mentions that cultivators with the Great Five Elements Thunder Body possess an even more heaven-defying ability.
That is, they can easily withstand the Heavenly Tribulations that strike fear into countless Spirit Realm cultivators.
The scroll records that once a cultivator reaches the Void Refining Stage, as long as their spiritual energy is sufficient, they can achieve true longevity, living for an extended period without any lifespan limitations.
However, this does not mean that cultivators above the Void Refining Stage are immortal.
Because high-level cultivators in the Spirit Realm must endure terrifying Heavenly Tribulations periodically. If they fail to overcome a Heavenly Tribulation, their souls will be scattered.
Cultivators at the Spirit Transformation Stage are fine, only experiencing minor Heavenly Tribulations with lesser power. However, cultivators at the Void Refining Stage and above endure extremely formidable Great Heavenly Tribulations.
These high-level cultivators, apart from perishing due to accidents, all die under the Great Heavenly Tribulations.
The power of the Heavenly Tribulations increases with each successive trial. Withstanding one tribulation might mean being unable to withstand the next.
Therefore, once a cultivator reaches the Void Refining Stage, the most crucial task is to find ways to resist the next Great Heavenly Tribulation, either by increasing their realm or by refining powerful treasures.
This highlights the incredible power of the Great Five Elements Thunder Body in easily resisting Heavenly Tribulations, not to mention its significant bonus for advancing to the Mahayana Stage.
Thus, the Heavenly Mechanism Scroll clearly shows a greater preference for this mysterious spiritual body.
The Great Five Elements Thunder Body also faces difficulties during advancement, requiring the fulfillment of stringent conditions at certain key stages.
However, the Heavenly Mechanism Scroll does not provide detailed explanations, indicating a lack of complete knowledge. It speculates that these conditions likely involve precious spiritual items related to the Divine Thunder of the Five Elements.
Furthermore, it records that cultivators with the Great Five Elements Thunder Body need to gradually awaken their thunder body.
They must pass through four stages: Taiyi, Taichu, Taishi, and Taisu, finally reaching the peak stage of Taiji, also known as Wuji.
Therefore, the ultimate form of the Great Five Elements Thunder Body is called the Wuji Thunder Body.
However, the Heavenly Mechanism Scroll provided no details on how these stages were divided, what abilities each stage possessed, or how to advance.
Furthermore, the Heavenly Mechanism Scroll stated that most recorded cultivators of the Great Five Elements Thunder Body only possessed an Incomplete Five Elements Thunder Body.
In such cases, cultivators with the Incomplete Five Elements Thunder Body had aptitude inferior even to pseudo-spiritual roots, and could at most cultivate to the Foundation Establishment realm before hitting a ceiling.
As for how to distinguish between a complete or incomplete Great Five Elements Thunder Body, the Heavenly Mechanism Scroll was vague.
It was only rumored that cultivators possessing the Great Five Elements Thunder Body seemed to have a mysterious Five Elements Thunder Rune Pattern, and that the completeness of this pattern was the distinguishing factor.
Upon reading this, Ning Fa's heart pounded.
At this moment, he finally understood that he possessed this legendary Great Five Elements Thunder Body!
The mysterious thunder rune pattern within his dantian was, in fact, the Five Elements Thunder Rune Pattern, the symbol of the Great Five Elements Thunder Body!
And judging by this, he had previously possessed an Incomplete Five Elements Thunder Body, which explained his extremely poor cultivation aptitude.
The expert invited by his family, a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator named the Hermit of East Valley, was merely a low-level cultivator by comparison. Naturally, he wouldn't know about the existence of the Great Five Elements Thunder Body, which was why he had mistaken Ning Fa for having an Incomplete Lightning Spiritual Root.
Ning Fa even suspected that even ordinary Core Formation or Nascent Soul cultivators might not know about the Great Five Elements Thunder Body.
This was because the Heavenly Mechanism Scroll clearly recorded that even in the Spirit Realm, the Mystic Dragon Physique and the Great Five Elements Thunder Body were considered secret matters, inaccessible to ordinary cultivators.
Therefore, in the lower realm where Ning Fa was located, it was likely that only ancient immortal cultivation sects would have relevant information.