'Remember, boy, most, if not all of the time, it is the first step that will always be the hardest step to take, along with the final step, and that holds true for cultivation as well. The Body Refining Realm is also called another thing by those who are traumatized by the experience.'
'Oh? You want to know what it is called? Fine, this teacher of yours will tell you, the Body Refining Realm is also called Thousand Suffering Gate, HAHAHA.'
It was as if those words told by old Qing Tian were all coming back to him the moment he felt the threshold between the Meridian Cleansing Realm and the Body Refining Realm was broken, weighing down on him as if an ominous foreboding of what he was about to face before he truly stepped onto the next realm of cultivation.
'Well, you don't need to worry too much about it since your talent is quite average, although you entered Meridian Cleansing, so I guess you should be a bit careful as well, as for those who truly need to mentally prepare, it's those monstrous geniuses with absurd foundations…'
Those were the reminders of his first teacher while he prepared to break through to the Body Refining Realm for the first time, said warning even consoling him, as at the end of those words was this old teacher's opinion of the heavens being fair for once, bringing greater tribulation to those who are more talented than the others.
'Hahaha, old Qing, the heavens being fair about this is no longer a blessing to me right now.'
Right now, despite being unaware of it, Argus is already gritting his teeth as he forces himself to endure the suffering he is going through; his body, despite the damage, continues to hold steady and firm as if he refuses to budge, no matter what the problem in front of him is.
If there's one thing that remains intact inside the young man, it is only his meridian that continues to hold strong, and it should keep doing so as it supplies his entire body with the spirit energy that maintains that drastic regeneration it needs to keep up with the damages it is sustaining, the ever-growing progress doing his body severe damage that no normal person will be able to survive from.
It is only logical that the talented cultivator breaking through this realm will give it a nickname of Thousand Pain Gate as bones creak, threatening to break in the process, blood vessels burst, spreading blood where it shouldn't, organs work in overdrive before it starts dropping performance as if it were a warrior who ran out of strength.
Hence, even the mind was affected, all these damages in the body forcing the brain to work and push itself to the fullest in order to take control of the regeneration, prioritizing the worst damages and holding onto it before it proceeds to deal with the other injuries, injuries that just continues to pile up as spirit energy is absorbed and refined by the body.
'If anything, I think it is exactly this process of suffering, continuously building, destroying and rebuilding and then redestroying again that creates the greatest foundation for a cultivator… well, that's only my speculation, feel free to give up on becoming a cultivator if you can't handle the pain.'
Another word from the old teacher pops up in the struggling young man's mind, prompting him steel himself through and continue with the progress of body refining, discovering that the old Qing Tian's words holds true as he notices that the areas that was damaged severely before gradually gets harder and harder to destroy as time goes on, this process being slow in nature, but to his consolation, a steady one as well.
'Just a few more push'
And so the young cultivator consoles himself to brave through the thorny path of suffering that the entry to the Body Refining Realm greets him with, each bleeding, each damage improving his body, pushing it and transforming it into something beyond normal, beyond mortal, almost as if it is preparing a great foundation for the improvements that he will aim for in the future.
Possibly moments, or perhaps it is minutes, maybe hours, that passed as the young man continues to watch the changes happening within his body, the severe bleeding, the thorn flesh, broken bones, the odd functioning organs, the seemingly burning nerves and vessels, and even the meridians that remains solid all throughout the entire process of refinement now gradually acclimating to his current strength.
Gone were the powerful gale of wind that surrounds him and allows him to absorb more and more of the ambient spirit energy previously, but the traces of the havoc it wreaked is apparent as everything is out of place, thrown near the walls as if it was pushed by a powerful force, circling around the center of the commotion that is his position when he was cultivating previously.
"This is…"
Staring at the mess created by a breakthrough to the first realm of cultivation, Argus couldn't help but be baffled as he wondered just what in the world happened during this cultivation session, wondering whether he alarmed his old man with all the commotion that probably happened during this breakthrough.
Shoving those thoughts to the back of his mind for now, though,
Warmth, no, energizing heat surged all across his body as his heart pumps vigorous and powerfully, like the sound of the earth itself, each hum powering his mortal body like never before, making him tremble in shock as he even felt the blood reaching the very tips of his fingers, reaching every single part of his body without trouble at all.
His organs, previously struggling to support his body, now work in perfect harmony with his flesh and bones, delivering power far beyond what he had when he was at the very peak of Meridian Cleansing, his strength making him feel like he is in a completely different body, reborn strong and anew.
Mere clenching of his fist alone starts forcing wind to surge outwards, blowing onto his ashen hair quite strongly before it was silenced as it reaches the distance, his senses, now heightened even further, accurately being able to pinpoint exactly where that surge of wind ends.
Said senses not only become more particular in picking up every single material change within his surroundings, but the metaphysical as well, the vibrant light prancing, dancing all around the air, making him smile, as it is only now that he realizes that he can now sense not only spirit energy, but also mana, in a far better manner than before.
And as he closes his eyes, he smiles, as he knows, he can feel it, the quiet, yet all too familiar surge of spirit energy within his meridians, inside the channels and within the meridian walls, silently being refined into its purest, most powerful form as it continues to refine his body without end, even without the guidance of his cultivation technique.
The sun shone through the windows, allowing a light upon the smiling face of this young man, Argus, who had finally taken the first step in his cultivation path.