The following day, as Jintian sat to assume his meditative pose, he pulled the manual from his father's… his, bag of holding. Setting the bag aside, he once again unfurled the scroll.
He lightly traced his fingertips along the characters that had been written there. The scroll itself was ordinary, and in fact, it resembled Kang Shanxi's scrolls, as if borrowed from one of his own supply. His father had only fell to his village with his sword, which meant that the scroll had been written by him.
The characters were neat and precise, though they all had a signature flick where the brushstroke left the page. Jintian wondered if his father had spent his evenings practicing calligraphy like he did, or if such matters were unimportant to someone as powerful as him.
He shook his head to clear his thoughts, and studied the manual.
It was broken down with precise instruction and technique for each stage of its cultivation, from the Beast-Slayer body to the God-Slaying body. Furthermore, each stage inherently held a technique that one could practice, once a certain threshold of the stage was achieved, and these techniques were further enhanced with the next stage one reached.
Ignoring the others, as he was long away from even reaching the level where he would be able to contend with Foundation Establishment demons, he studied the Beast-Slayer body.
Slay Ten Thousand Beasts, and consume their Cores. Subsume the energy from the Core, and reinforce your body. One hundred Cores is the first minor threshold, and will allow the practicing of the Beast Transformation technique.
While within Beast Transformation, the fleshly body is enhanced by nearly one and a half times. The strength of the transformation is increased with each major threshold reached within the Beast-Slayer body, finally resulting in a bodily enhancement of five times.
However, be warned. Beasts are one of the enemies of Heaven, although the weakest of them. To assume their form, even partially, will thus make Heaven reject you. While within Beast Transformation, the energy of Heaven and Earth will be unavailable to you.
The first major threshold is One Thousand Beast Cores, and will result in the refinement of the skin. This threshold will make one's fleshly body equal to that of a Third Circle cultivator.
The second major threshold is Two Thousand Beast Cores, and will result in the refinement of the muscles and tendons. This threshold will make one's fleshly body equal to that of a Sixth Circle cultivator.
The third major threshold is Four Thousand Beast Cores, and will result in the refinement of the heart. This threshold will make one's fleshly body equal to that of an Ninth Circle cultivator.
The fourth major threshold is Seven Thousand Beast Cores, and will result in the refinement of the blood and other organs. This threshold will make one's fleshly body equal to that of a Great Circle cultivator.
And the fifth major threshold is Ten Thousand Beast Cores, which will result in the refinement of the bones, giving one the Beast-Slayer body. This threshold will provoke Heavenly Tribulation, but if it is survived, it will make one's fleshly body equal to that of a Third Fiord cultivator.
Additionally, surviving the Heavenly Tribulation will allow one to form the Beast-Slayer clone. This Beast-Slayer clone will not be able to use magical techniques; however their bodily enhancement will be ten times that of the original body, and they will be able to use up to three Beast Arts.
And finally… once one reaches Foundation Establishment, one will be able to practice the Beast Legion technique. Using one's Qi, they can summon the specters of the Beasts they have slain to command in battle. While the Beasts' strength will not be equal to that they carried in life at first, as one's cultivation grows stronger, so too will the specters'.
When Jintian finished reading the explanation of the Beast-Slayer body, he felt a sense of wonder. While he did not know of any other bodily cultivation methods, and from the way Kang Shanxi had described them he likely never would, he had the feeling that this cultivation method was extremely abnormal.
It separated whoever practiced it from spiritual energy, even if only while in Beast Transformation. Furthermore, it eventually allowed him to command the dead Beasts he had slain, which made him a general who would control a legion of Heaven's enemies. This essentially meant that to practice this cultivation was equivalent to becoming an enemy of Heaven.
That thought caused a vicious smile to curve his lips upward, and then as he thought about it further, made him frown. Once again, he remembered the fortune teller's words.
You do not just greet death… you command it.
No matter how he thought about it, that woman could not have been an ordinary fortune teller. He resolved to ask his teacher about her before he eventually left to complete his mission.
Setting aside his thoughts, he then reached into his bag of holding, and imagined a Core. Soon enough, he felt something strangely warm brush his fingertips, and he pulled his hand out.
In his grasp was what looked to be a scarlet marble, no larger than the bud of his finger. It was warm to his touch, and there seemed to be a crimson mist that swirled inside of it.
He reviewed the manual again, finding the method it described to absorb its energy. Kang Shanxi had told him once that in the distant past, cultivators had attempted to absorb the energy held within these Cores to further their cultivation.
While it did benefit them temporarily, it was eventually found that consuming too many would lead to the corruption of their soul, and they would lose the ability to cultivate entirely as they were separated from spiritual energy. Furthermore, it was thought that once that happened, when their soul entered reincarnation, they themselves would be reborn as a Beast.
Now, these Cores were used for the creation of magical items, and as an energy source for certain spiritual arrays. There were a few cultivator clans and devilish sects that had found uses for them in other ways, but none that directly enhanced their cultivation.
The consequences he had described were similar to what his father's manual had stated would happen when he used Beast Transformation. However, according to the manual he would not be attempting to merge the Core with his own spiritual energy, but rather, his body.
Hesitating for a few moments, slightly worried that he would turn into a Beast, he eventually gritted his teeth and placed the Core in his mouth. Then, strengthening his jaw and teeth with Qi, he crunched down onto it.
The Core shattered, and his mouth was instantly coated with the taste of blood. He then closed his eyes and focused on the energy that had been released. Beneath his spiritual sense, the energy felt almost vile to his mind, an innate revulsion rising in his chest.
He pushed the feeling down, and swallowed, forcing the energy to enter his body. Almost immediately it began to fight back, rampantly spreading throughout his inner body. It felt like his veins were being filled with miniscule razors that wanted nothing more than to cut themselves out from within him.
Unlike his docile and obedient spiritual energy, this Beast energy was too rambunctious. For the first time, he understood why his teacher seemed so fond of calling him a rascal.
Grimacing, sweat beading on his forehead and his heart thumping painfully in his chest, he forced the energy to subsume itself. It resisted, continuing to spread agonizingly through him.
Finally he snarled. The manual had described this happening. Beast energy was by nature Heaven defiant, and thus tyrannical. Beasts only cowed before strength, so if he wished to control it, he needed to be even more tyrannical than the energy was.
He surged his Qi through his body, sweeping the energy away and drowning it with his will. It attempted to fight back, but the flood of Qi was too forceful to resist. He then forced the energy upwards, to his skin, and continued to press it there underneath his will.
Finally, it capitulated, and allowed itself to be absorbed into his body. A small portion of it merged with his bones, blood, and muscle, but the majority of it soaked into his skin.
Taking a deep breath, he finally opened his eyes, grinning triumphantly. While not immediately noticeable, he did feel ever so slightly stronger. Then, the grin faded as he looked toward his bag of holding.
"That wasn't so bad…" He murmured, as if trying to reason with himself. "At least compared to the pain I used to be in, that was easy."
He then felt a bit sorry for himself. If the feeling of being cut open from the inside was easy, then he figured something was definitely wrong with him. Sighing, he reached into his bag, and grabbed another Core.
He hesitated, his heart beating painfully with anxiety and dread. "It wasn't so bad. Not bad at all." He tried to convince himself again, before gnashing his teeth and throwing the Core into his mouth before the dread would convince himself otherwise.
He continued this process for hours, until after the twentieth Core he felt like if he absorbed any more, he would go insane. Instead of reaching for another Core, he instead pulled spiritual energy into himself, furthering his cultivation. He almost wept when the bliss of spiritual energy filled him.
As if to comfort him, he felt his First Circle pulse out a wave of energy through him, filling his Qi pathways with power and feverish, blissful heat. And then, his eyes snapped open as shock filled him.
It hadn't been comfort.
He had reached the peak of the First Circle!
His inner lake of spiritual energy was forming waves within his dantian, profoundly deep and brimming with power. It seemed that at any moment, it would flood outward into his meridians. He then remembered that in the manual, it described residual energy that would be left behind from absorbing the Cores, purified from the process of being absorbed into him. This residual energy must be beneficial for cultivation as well!
Still, he carefully ensured that he sensed none of the Beast energy lingering in his dantian, a sign of corruption of his soul. When he was satisfied that he felt no revulsion, he rose to his feet. The Second Circle! He had felt that he was at least another week away, perhaps two, but it was now here!
Feeling his excitement flaring and his heart racing painfully in his chest, he rushed out of the cave, running past a startled Kang Shanxi and Shen Xiyun toward his room.
"Young Jin, what is-" Kang Shanxi asked, before being interrupted as Jintian rushed back out of his room with three incense sticks in hand.
"Second Circle!" Was all he shouted in answer, flying past them to once again disappear into the cave. Kang Shanxi shared a glance with Shen Xiyun. The toddler sighed and shook her head sagely.
"Abbub…" She burbled, and Kang Shanxi nodded in agreement, returning to fashioning her a new toy.
In the cave, Jintian hurriedly lit all three of the incense sticks, took off his robe, and then sat on the stone platform. Settling into meditation, in only a few short moments, he once again felt himself bathed in the medicinal spiritual energy swirling around him.
His First Circle was crashing violently against the shores of his dantian, and as he began to absorb spiritual energy, a massive wave formed within the lake. It surged outwards, flooding out of his dantian and flooding his meridians.
Jintian directed its flow, washing his Qi pathways with strength and nourishing them. Just as before, he carefully restricted its access to his heart meridian. Even with that, however, he still felt the agony of his severed pathway merging with the bliss of a cultivation breakthrough.
As he focused inward, once his Qi pathways had been flooded, he felt an instinct to direct its current towards his lung meridian. The energy obeyed immediately, and soon another swirling vortex began to form, its speed nearly twice as his First Circle.
Just as before, his pores opened wide, the spiritual energy soaking into him and purifying his body as the vortex condensed first into droplets, before forming a second lake within himself.
The lake deepened, its waves crashing over each other before finally settling. As it did so, his First Circle calmed as well, both surfaces becoming still but gently lapping at the sides.
He felt a rumbling inside of himself, his body trembling as power almost three times his previous peak surged within him. His skin felt hot and itchy, his muscles burning with feverish strength, and his heart pounding painfully in his chest.
Finally, he settled, and relished in the power he now could feel in his body. Combined with the twenty Beast Cores he had absorbed previously, although his bodily cultivation did not contribute much now, he still felt strong. Stronger even than he had before his fatal wound, if only by a small margin.
He opened his eyes, and again was assaulted with the gag-inducing scent of his impurities having been expelled. His skin was caked with a brownish paste, and he once again dove into the spring, furiously scrubbing himself.
When he was finally clean, he once again pulled on his robe, and reflexively sent out his spiritual sense. He gasped as he realized that his spiritual sense had almost tripled in size. While he could not cover the entirety of the house, he was very close to it. Additionally, he was able to faintly see the outline of two figures sitting at a table and eating, one small and one large, as well as the form of various furniture and other items.
Although they were still faint and blurred, it was still far clearer than his previous spiritual sense had become.
He remembered Kang Shanxi's words from before. Each Circle was explosively more powerful than the previous. Although each person would have minor variation in strength, the gap would only grow more vast between each stage.
His senses as well, he noticed, had grown far more potent. Despite being in the underground cave, he could still faintly hear the clatter of utensils on plate, Kang Shanxi humming quietly.
He took a deep breath, and when he emerged from the cave, Kang Shanxi looked up from his and Xiyun's meal with a smile.
"Congratulations, young Jin." He said. "Only taking a little less than a month to form your Second Circle is quite an accomplishment. While not the fastest I've heard tales of, it is still exemplary."
Jintian flashed a smile, and sat down to join them. However, when Xiyun's eyes narrowed, he chuckled slightly and moved to sit next to her, and she happily resumed eating, even nodding in approval.
No matter how powerful Jintian became, he realized, he would always be an older brother.