Hui raced on. His body moved automatically while inside, his mind churned. Body… transmute the body, gain incredible strength. Become something else. Something stronger. Something that won’t be obvious if I’m playing dead, even if my snake skin gets torn apart…

Steel is no good. Stone… white jade still looks strange. Crystal? I’d look strange for sure, but I definitely have ran into amethyst cicadas, creatures that are already made out of crystal.

Crystal… it isn’t bad. What if I could turn it off and on at an instant? Yes… that’s a good idea! Create a body cultivation skill that I can turn on… but that still requires qi. Hmm…

What if I could… superposition the crystal and my body? Crystalize my body while still remaining flesh. Become flesh, while remaining crystal. He put his hand on his chin thoughtfully.

He nodded to himself. “It’s worth a try.”

Hui flipped his hand over and opened it, summoning the purple pills Xixing had refined to his palm. He hesitated, then popped the bottle open and swallowed one. I can always ask Xixing to make more pills! But if I succeed at my Crystal Body Cultivation art by comprehending how the amethyst cicadas can be both crystal and flesh, then I’ll be as strong as these pills would make me, without having to take the pills! …probably.

The pill burst in his stomach, magic surging out. He circulated it, but didn’t circulate it to his body. Instead, he held it in his stomach, observing the power trapped in the pill. Strength and hardness opposed one another, tied in with the crystalline flesh of the cicadas. He focused, drawing each component of the pill’s magic apart from the others to study them alone.

The magic components dissolved immediately. The power circulating in his stomach collapsed, and the entire pill fell apart. Hui coughed and spat black gunk into his hand. I… ruined the pill inside me after I swallowed it! Dammit, a pill wasted! I don’t have that many in the first place. I have to be careful.

He popped another pill out of the bottle and swallowed it. Lesson learned. I can’t pull the components of the magic apart, or the pill collapses. Instead… try to comprehend all the components at once. Master, please bless me with a portion of your comprehension!

Focusing inward, he let his feet carry him forward. He fell back slightly due to his distracted state, but not enough to catch Ding Lao’s eye. However, Liu Baozhai’s eyes flicked toward him. Silently, she watched him as he ran, not interfering nor offering suggestions.

Caught by Hui’s qi, the pills only slightly merged into his body, not offering the usual strengthening they would provide. Even so, they continued to quietly bolster him as he ran, and provide enough energy for him to keep up with the others, if not charge ahead.

The laps wore on. The sun exchanged for the moon, then returned again. At last, the running cultivators staggered to a halt, collapsed into weak puddles on the floor. To rely on only their own fleshly strength to run nonstop for a day and a half… even a high-level cultivator who hadn’t cultivated their body would be exhausted.

Only half the pills remained. Despite his exhaustion, Hui’s brows still furrowed. I still don’t understand. The crystal, the amethyst… I’m on the brink of comprehending it, but I haven’t reached full comprehension yet. And as for how to apply the crystal to body refinement… I’m missing that link! There’s something, some element still outside my grasp!

Ding Lao arrived at a casual jog. Liu Baozhai had long since gotten bored and left. Clapping his hands, Ding Lao looked around at the exhausted cultivators, a broad grin on his face. “Now that we’ve had a good run, it’s time for muscle strengthening exercises! Everyone, go find a big stone. At least as big as you!”

The cultivators grumbled but wandered out into the forest, searching for a stone. Hui followed them. He glanced around as he walked. I could escape now, but… I’m still seeking enlightenment on body refinement. Even if I don’t have karma with my current path, I still want to refine my body. I can continue to follow Ding Lao’s instruction while I seek out my own path, until I need to diverge.

As for Ding Lao’s body refinement method… it might make me stronger and tougher while not being too visually obvious, aside from huge muscles, but… it won’t boost my regeneration or help me fake injuries, as far as I can tell. Physical body refinement is all well and good, but magical body refinement is what this small cultivator needs! …although, if I have no other option, I’ll learn his method, naturally. It’s better than nothing.

He wandered through the forest, searching amongst the roots for rocks. The gnarled roots stood three, ten, twenty meters tall, and at least five meters wide at the base. Hui hopped up one set of roots and down the next, searching among the dirt for boulders as large as him. The other cultivators wandered alongside him.

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More than once, his fellow searchers paused before a boulder easily larger than them, only to frown. “This boulder… it’s too small! It isn’t suitable for a cultivator like myself.”

“Look at the edges on this boulder! It would cut up my back. Not suitable, not suitable.”

“Can you believe how light this boulder is? Ah! It insults me merely by existing. A heavier one, heavier!”

“This boulder is too larg—no! No, it’s… look at that bulbous, unbalanced top half! No, no, unsuitable.”

Hui snorted under his breath. He shook his head at his fellows. How ridiculous. They could simply walk past if they didn’t want to pick that boulder! No need to draw attention to themselves.

He hopped down another root and came face to face with a massive boulder, easily five meters by five meters. Hui frowned at it, then shook his head. Way too big! It would crush me! He started to move on.

An immense pressure bore down on his shoulders. Hui crumpled, dropping to his knees. He grabbed onto the boulder, startled, and looked around. What… who…?

Behind him, Ding Lao cleared his throat. He clasped his hands behind his back and nodded, scholar-like. “Junior Brother… that stone looks sufficient.”

Hui’s eyes widened. Seniors! Please forgive this small cultivator! My enlightenment wasn’t sufficient! I truly underestimated Ding Lao!

As if he’d somehow not seen the giant boulder he stood on, Hui stared down at his feet in wide-eyed shock. “This… this boulder! Magnificent! To think, I overlooked such perfection! Look at the size, the shape… ah, what a boulder!”

He peered closely at the boulder, crawling over it. His eyes widened, then narrowed. “No! This boulder…”

Ding Lao leaned in, a stern expression on his face once more.

Hui lifted his hand and slammed it down on the boulder. The boulder cracked under the blow, breaking in two.

Ding Lao’s expression turned stony. He crossed his arms and strode toward Hui, raising his hand.

“This boulder… it broke so easily! It isn’t worthy of tempering my body!” Hui roared, as if the boulder itself had insulted him. He turned to Ding Lao and bowed. “Elder Brother, this boulder is incredibly insufficient. To shatter under one as weak as I… ah, its size and weightiness truly impressed me, but… ultimately, isn’t it simply unworthy of being used for tempering?”

Ding Lao took a step back. His eyes flew open. “This… you…”

Hui cringed. Oh no. Did he see through me?

“Incredible! Yes! Your devotion in finding a proper boulder… I understand! This is the same hardship I went through, when I sought to temper my body! To find a boulder capable of withstanding one’s might is no mean feat!” Ding Lao clapped Hui on the shoulder, impressed.

All around them, the other disciples paused, quietly listening to Hui and Ding Lao.

Hui bowed to Ding Lao and bounded over the next root. He drew a sigh of relief. Thank goodness I got out of that one! If I’d hesitated a second longer—

An even huger boulder laid in the crevasse of the next tree, pure black and intimidating. Its whole self emanated an aura of impenetrability, and, startlingly, it emanated a faint aura at the first stage!

Hui’s eyes widened. He let out a ferocious howl, as though his family had been murdered in front of him, and lunged at the stone, striking even as he fell. “Insufficient! Too weak!”

His hand struck the stone and rebounded, swinging backward around his shoulder. His bones shattered, and his hand reduced to bloody shreds.

Hui gritted his teeth. I can’t give up now! He popped a healing pill in his mouth and struck at the boulder again. This time, he quietly circulated a strand of qi in his arm, creating an invisible qi blade around his hand. “Pathetic, weak boulder… give in!”

He struck at the boulder. His hand sunk an inch into the boulder, then stopped. The boulder resisted him, as sturdy as steel. A faint aura emanated from within, resisting his blow. He gritted his teeth. How can this boulder be this strong?

Ding Lao hopped up on the root behind him. “That boulder… could it be? A Resolute Boulder? That rarely seen treasure… Although this one’s fluctuations are weak, it’s still incredibly sturdy. There’s no magical traits in a Resolute Boulder except for their extreme stubbornness and sturdiness, but they make up for having no other traits by being extreme in their sturdiness!”

“Not strong enough!” Hui shouted. He tore a scrap of root off the top of the boulder and slammed it into the small gap he’d cut. He lifted his foot and smashed the wood into the boulder, using it as a wedge to drive the boulder apart.

The boulder cracked! It split in two, giving way under the force of his kick and the wedge together. Hui dropped down into the gap, panting. Chest heaving, he wiped his brow and looked up at Ding Lao. He firmly shook his head. “I need… a… a stronger… stronger boulder!”

Ding Lao’s eyes shone. “Truly! Junior Brother, I have never met anyone as daring and committed as yourself. To call even a Resolute Boulder insufficient… I can see that your desire to grow stronger is bottomless!”

Hui nodded, panting too hard to give a reply. Thank goodness he bought that. If he didn’t… I don’t know what I would have done! A boulder this large would kill this small cultivator if I had to lift it with my fleshly strength alone, let alone… whatever this madman wants me to do with it!

A roar sounded out from near them, followed by the crack of a boulder shattering. “The scales have fallen from my eyes! This boulder… it’s simply too brittle! It doesn’t deserve to temper me!”

“Elder Brother, thank you for the enlightenment! To think I nearly chose a boulder this deficient!” From nearby, a shattering echoed through the trees.

“This weak, chalk-like boulder that crumbles in my… argh! There!—hand could never withstand my might! A durable boulder, a truly durable boulder!”

The other cultivators bounded through the forest. As they found fresh boulders, each one shouted and attacked out, striking the boulder asunder. Every boulder they came across was deficient in some way: too weak, too fragile, too easy to cleave, simply unfit for tempering! The fundamental difference from before, however, was that rather than simply passing the unfit boulders by… they directly shattered the boulders! It seemed that if this was allowed to go on, by the end of the day, Mysterious Heavenly Forest Sect would no longer have a single boulder amongst its trees’ roots!